Concerning
Spiritual Gifts
By
Charles S. Price
It
is possible for spirit filled people to be ignorant regarding spiritual gifts. It is even possible for people who have received
the gifts of the Holy Ghost to be ignorant regarding the exercise of them in the service of the Christian life. There is a
difference between the “gift” of the Spirit and the “gifts” of the Spirit. The “gift” of the Spirit means that the Holy Spirit
Himself is offered to men with the assurance that He will come in to abide. He is the “parakletos,” the one who works alongside
to help. The scriptures very clearly teach the difference between having the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. “He
is with you,” said Jesus, “but He shall be in you.” The Holy Spirit Himself comes into our hearts to abide and He is God’s
gift to the church and His coming fulfills the promise. “Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
A
man who is filled with the Spirit will begin to grow on the tree of his life the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It may not be large
and ripe and luscious fruit at first, but still it will be there. Apples are apples when they are green and small, just as
much as when they are big and ripe and luscious. They are apples by nature, and they are apples for it is natural for the
apple tree to grow them. The gift of the Holy Spirit; that is, the coming of the Holy Spirit into your heart will naturally
mean that fruit will commence to grow on the branches of your life tree. All Spirit-filled people should manifest the fruit
of the Spirit.
What
a change takes place in our hearts when He comes in! What a transformation takes place in our lives when we are baptized with
the Holy Ghost according to Acts. 2 :4. If it is real and deep and scriptural love will take the place of jealousy and envyings,
and long suffering and kindness will grow in their place. We don’t have to struggle to grow this It just grows. It grows easily
and naturally, just as apples grow on the apple tree. It can increase in volume. It can become sweeter and riper and more
beautiful, it is true, hut Praise the Lord it is there just the same. It is not the fruit of our own struggle. It is the fruit
of the Spirit It is not the fruit of our own will, it is the fruit of the Spirit It is not the result of our own endeavor,
it is merely letting Him take complete control. Praise the Name of the Lord for the manifestation of the presence of
the Holy Spirit in the fruit of the Spirit- filled life.
But
the gifts of the Spirit are imparted after the gift of the Spirit. In other words, you must have the giver, that you might
receive the gift. It is impossible for anyone to receive any of the gifts of the Spirit through any other means than by the
act of the giver himself. Jesus gives the Spirit and the Spirit gives gifts. It is possible for you to have the Holy Spirit
and to have a glorious experience in the things of God and yet not be the possessor of any or all of the gifts of the Holy
Ghost. When a person tries to operate a gift they have never received, when they try to do in flesh what can only be done
in the Spirit we find fanaticism. When we do in the Spirit the thing that the Spirit would have us do there is perfect harmony
and co- operation in the church.
THE CHURCH – HIS BODY
What
a glorious picture this is of the Spirit-filled church! What a beautiful Cathedral of Divine Grace! What an emblem of love
and power of God! Ephesians the second chapter and nineteenth to twenty-second verse gives us a portrait of the perfect church
upon which God places His Divine approval.
“Now,
therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of Cod; and
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all
the building fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for an habitation
of Cod through the Spirit.”
Is
not that a glorious picture? Is not that a magnificent ideal? We are built together, a great, beautiful, magnificent, symmetrical
Cathedral of Divine Grace. That is the church! Not a thing of bricks and mortar and of wood and of stone, but a building of
blood-washed, Spirit-filled saints of God in whom the fullness of the Lord Himself does dwell. Every brick in its place, the
foundation being solid and sure, a foundation of the apostles and prophets and the chief cornerstone the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. We are not only built, but we are built together. One stone is not the Cathedral. One brick is not the habitation,
but brick joined with brick, and stone with stone makes the completed edifice. There is the relationship of the Holy Spirit
to the individual and there is the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the church. By the mortar of Divine Love we are held
together. By the artistry of the Master Himself we are fitly framed together unto a holy temple in the Lord.
GOD’S
ETERNAL PURPOSE
But
there is a purpose in all this. There is a deep spiritual significance to it all. The twenty-second verse tells us that we
are huddled together that God might dwell in us. It declares that we are built together for “a habitation of God, through
the Spirit.” So we ought to realize that it is not our working through God, but God working through us that will bring the
result. It is not the power of man through God. It is the power of God through man. “Once I tried to use Him, but now He uses
me. The great passion of the heart of Jesus was to save the souls of men. To save the souls of men He left His kingly throne
and was born in the manger at Bethlehem. To save the souls of men He preached and taught by the waters of Galilee, and in
the hamlets and villages and towns of Judea and of Samaria. He faced the rabble in the judgment hall of Pontius Pilate that
He might save the souls of men. He hung between two thieves on the summit of a skull-shaped hill that men might be saved.
The passion of His heart then was souls, souls, souls. The passion of His heart in the day in which we live is that men might
be saved.
The
purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was not primarily to fill the hearts of the disciples with
joy. The coming of the Holy Spirit was to endue that little group of people with all the power of the presence of God. The
Master had promised them, “Ye shall receive power.” Power for what? Power for emotion? No, not that. Power to feel good? Could
that be possible? Was that all? No, a thousand times no. You will feel good. Praise the Lord! Your emotions will be stirred
and billows of heavenly ecstasy will surge through your innermost being, but that is not the purpose of the coming of the
Holy Spirit! I can hear the clear, clarion ringing tones of the Master’s “Ye shall be my witnesses, my representatives, my
ambassadors. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and the signs shall follow them that believe.”
Signs of what? Signs of the power of the disciples? No, my friends, signs of the presence of the Spirit of God. Signs that
would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord was in the midst. The casting out of devils, the speaking with new tongues,
the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead. Mighty, marvelous, divine signs of His presence. They were to be manifestations
of His power and His power was not to be received apart from His presence.
THE WORKS THAT I DO
There
is a beautiful analogy in the New Testament regarding the body of Jesus and the body which is called the church. Jesus was
God localized; Pentecost is God universalized. Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus was the Son of God born of a virgin. Jesus
was the second person in the adorable trinity performing His ministry in God’s great redemptive plan. He spoke about the power
that was in Him that came from the Father. He told of the works that He did not of Himself, but because of the Father’s presence.
He told of words that He said Here received of the Father, but remember this truth, do not forget this fact. When He was in
Nazareth He was not in Jerusalem. Mary said to Him, “Master, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” She deplored
the absence of Jesus, and believed it was because He was not there that her brother was laid in the cold, silent tomb. The
ministry of Jesus did not last very long as far as this earthly life is concerned. Three years, and three years soon pass
away. He went on no foreign missionary journeys. He crossed no seas except an inland lake during the short span of His ministry,
but He did complete the work the Father had given Him to do.
But
He knew that while the physical body was to be glorified and go back to the heavenlies, the body was yet to remain. The mystery
of the ages was about to be revealed. A new body was to he born. A new something was to come into existence. It was to be
His body. It was to be the church. The work that He did, the church was to do. The ministry that he performed, the church
was now to perform, and Jesus said, “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”
There
is a picture, my friends; the glorious photograph of a spirit-filled church. Not only a group of separate members, not merely
a collection of individuals, but members and individuals fitly framed together, joined together in the bonds of the Holy Spirit
and joined together for a purpose. That the church might become the habitation of God through the Spirit.
In
the New Testament church every one of the gifts should be manifest ed. Every single one of the gifts of the Spirit should
be in operation and by the operation of the gifts the work that the Holy Ghost wants to do us can be accomplished. After we
have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit we should pray just as earnestly for the gift that we need to make us efficient
in our ministry as we prayed for the coming of the Spirit Himself. Not all have the same gifts. To one is given one gift and
to some one else another gift. Let us read I Corinthians 12: 4 to 11:
“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are
differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which works
all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every. man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit
the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the
gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles to another prophecy: to another discerning of spirits
to another divers kinds of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues but all these works that one and the selfsame
Spirit dividing to every man severally as He will.”
What
an error it is for us to believe that because the Holy Spirit has come we can exercise all of the gifts and operate them at
will. It is possible for the Spirit to give a gift at the time of His coming. He might even give more than one. But the fact
remains that because we have received the Spirit we do not necessarily possess any or all of the gifts. We are told to pray
for them we are told to covet them earnestly and I believe with all my heart that we should seek sincerely before the Lord
that the Blessed Giver might impart the gift He has for us. Let me repeat. Every one of the gifts should be working and in
operation in the church. What had happened at this church at Corinth and why was Paul writing in the way he did? Let me remind
you in this connection that he in no way intimates that the gifts were spurious and that they had be come possessed of a false
spirit. As a matter of fact he emphatically declared them to be of God.
But
the flesh had crept in. Human desires were taking the place of the purposes of God. Instead of being led by the Spirit they
were trying to lead the Spirit. Divisions had crept in among them. Instead of being “fitly framed together” the church was
being divided. They were commencing to open up new missions in town. They were getting mad at the pastor and were beginning
to be unteachable, and as a result nothing was being accomplished in the way of saving souls. There was a crowd that followed
Cephas, and another sect that clung to Paul, and still another group liked Apollos and wanted to become followers of him.
Paul, Cephas and Apollos each had their ministry. Paul upbraided these Corinthians because of their error. What a world of
meaning there is in the words of the question Paul asked, “Is Christ divided ?” He is trying to impress upon them the necessity
of a united body. He is trying to emphasize the fact that they are the body of Christ and as God dwelt in Him who was Jesus,
God can dwell in the church which is His body.
FLESH AND SPIRIT
I have often
noticed that when splits and divisions come people often try to vindicate their position by the use of the gifts. Someone
will jump up and say, “I am right and the other fellow is wrong because God spoke through me in an unknown tongue.” Another
will say, “I know I am right because God helped me preach and I spoke under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.” In our endeavor
to vindicate our position there is often a decided tendency to do things in flesh that can only be done in the Spirit. God
will bless you, my brother, many times in spite of your mistakes, and not because of them. If God had to wait for absolute
perfection in all of us be fore He manifested Himself I am sure He would have to wait a long time for. some of us. I have
my gift, you have yours. I have my calling, you have yours. The hand cannot tell the foot that it is not needed because it
does not handle things and the eye cannot dismiss the ear because the ear cannot see. Many members and many gifts, but only
one body. Many members functioning in many ways. Many gifts operated in many ways, but still there
is only one body. But in the operation of the gifts there will be perfect harmony and wonderful coordination. There are not
one hundred Holy Spirits. There is only one. There is not one Holy Ghost in me and another Holy Ghost in you telling us to
do diametrically opposite things. The Holy Spirit does not tell me that a thing is true and tell you that the same thing is
a lie. When divisions start it is a sure sign that somebody is wrong somewhere. What is the purpose of your gathering together
in your public assembly? I am not talking about the prayer meeting. I am not discussing the upper room and the tarrying meeting.
I am asking what is the purpose of you assembling yourselves together in the body and in the capacity of the church? Is it
merely for what you can receive or is it for what you can give? Is it merely to be blessed or is it to be made a blessing?
Is it to make sure of the salvation of your own soul or is it to try to bring the sinner who comes within your gates to the
knowledge of real salvation that he will find in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why are the gifts given? Merely to give you something
to play with or something to enjoy? Do you believe in your heart that that is the purpose of the gift? Is not every gift for
a purpose? Is there not some object in the joy in all the operations of the Holy Spirit? The mission of the church is to point
men to Christ. The ministry of the body is a ministry of service; every member operating and cooperating and working harmoniously
with one great object in view. The church that loses its missionary and evangelistic vision is the church that will soon be
losing the presence of the Holy Ghost. The church that is alive to its glorious opportunity and that will get on its knees
and cry out, “Lord, give us souls, give us souls, give us souls” that is the church through which the Spirit will minister.
That is the church to which the Holy Spirit will impart His gifts.
