I have been in several churches that offered classes to help you determine what your spiritual gifts are. One church had a multiple-choice exam that told you what your gifts were.
Scripture clearly teaches that each believer has at least one spiritual gift:i
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant (1 Cor 12:1).
…for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues (1 Cor 12:8-10).
Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy (1 Cor 14:1).
Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel (1 Cor 14:12).
People called cessationists believe that the sign gifts have not been in operation since the end of the apostolic era. In this view there are no apostles or prophets today. No one speaks in tongues or interprets tongues. There are no people who have the gift of healing or miracles. The evidence is overwhelming that the sign gifts do not operate in the church age.
Here are some of the gifts that believers have today: teaching, helps, giving, faith, mercy, exhortation, hospitality, and evangelism.
There are two main ways in which people suggest you determine your gift:
- Get involved in serving Christ in your local church, and you will soon find out what you have special giftedness to do.
- Get involved in serving Christ, and others who observe you will tell you what your gift is.
I hold to a modified version of these views: Do not worry about what your gift is. We are all called to carry out the area of ministry affected by every gift, even though only one––or possibly a few––of the gifts are specifically ours. If you find you are especially effective in one area of ministry, then concentrate more on that. But keep doing all of the things believers are called to do.
For example, let’s say you don’t have the gift of giving. You are still to be a cheerful giver. Even if you do not have the gift of evangelism, you are to share your faith. You may not have the gift of teaching. But you are to teach your children (Eph 6:4). Elders are to be able to teach, though not all elders have that gift (1 Tim 3:2). We are all to be merciful and to encourage others (Heb 10:23-25).
Seek to carry out the area of ministry affected by every gift. In addition, many Bible scholars suggest that you can improve on the use of your particular gift. Dr. Ryrie taught us that if you have the gift of teaching, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to go to seminary, study the Scripture, prepare messages, and take classes on preaching and teaching. Preparation improves your ability to teach. It also improves your ability to carry out any gift.
I can testify to that. I came to faith in Christ in September of 1972. I taught with Campus Crusade for Christ for two years as a student leader, then four more years on staff. Then I went to Dallas Seminary. After four years of training at DTS, I’d rate my teaching as two to three times better than when I was on staff with CCC. In the forty years since graduating from seminary, I’ve improved even more in my teaching. I think my spiritual gift is teaching. But whether it is or not, that is much of what I do, whether by writing or speaking.
I have also improved in the areas of giving, evangelism, mercy, helps, encouragement, and so forth.
It’s possible to use your spiritual gift as an excuse. I vividly remember a class discussion at DTS. The discussion moved to evangelism. When we became pastors in our local churches, how would we evangelize? One guy said that he didn’t have the gift of evangelism, so he didn’t evangelize. He said there would be people in his church with that gift, and they would evangelize. I was, as the British say, gob smacked.
It is also possible for people to feel like second-class Christians because they don’t know what their spiritual gift is. That is a terrible burden to carry around. There is no verse in the Bible that tells us how to determine what our gift is or that even encourages us to try. We should be Nike Christians: Just do it. Be involved in ministry in your home and church.
Keep grace in focus as you serve Him to the best of your ability.
i Considering Paul’s talking about the fact that we are not all the hand, foot, ear, or eye, I think we all have but one spiritual gift (1 Cor 12:15-19). Zane Hodges was adamant about that. It is possible that we have more than one, but that’s not clear in Scripture. I think it likely that Zane was right.
