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Date Posted: 23:29:50 07/24/06 Mon
Author: David A. DePra
Subject: Concerning Spiritual Gifts




As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Rom. 11:28-29)

Verse 29 carries a tremendous principle. It shows that what God gives is never withdrawn. Those He calls are never "uncalled." This statement actually shows the Truth of grace. How?
Well, think about it. If there is no possibility that God will ever take back His calling or gifts from us, then they don't depend on us, do they? Nope. Not even if we disobey God, turn from Him, or even desert Christ. His calling and gifts remain. The only possible way God's calling and gifts could be without repentance is if they
depend solely upon His Son.
We must get it settled once and for all: We have nothing to do with meriting what God gives us. Nothing. Our works, obedience, and even our willingness to believe are, if real, a product of God's calling, and not the qualifying traits which convinced Him to call us.
This puts to rest once and for all any question as to the Truth of the cliche "use it or lose it." It just isn't so. If you don't use a gift God have given you, you won't lose it. That doesn't mean you are right in neglecting the gift. It just means God never takes back what He gives by His grace.
This also explains some of the abuses in the church regarding the ministry and the gifts. While God's gifts and calling are without repentance, that alone does not insure that His gifts and calling will be valued by those He calls. There are many, even though they have received salvation and gifts from God, have used those things for their own purposes. Instead of using the gifts of the Holy
Spirit to God's glory and to the edification of the Body, they have used them for their own glory. Yet God allows them to do so. He doesn't take back what He has freely given.
We must distinguish between natural gifts and spiritual gifts. Sometimes we get them mixed up. If I can sing, or play the piano,or have some other talent, it is not a spiritual gift. It is a gift I have been blessed with through natural birth, and one which God did not
necessarily "give" me in the sense of adding it to me in a
supernatural way. These natural gifts are good and right, and should be used to God's glory.
Spiritual gifts, however, are not acquired through natural means. I cannot study to acquire a spiritual gift. I can't go to a seminary to acquire a spiritual gift. I cannot practice for hours to learn how to obtain a spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is not of me, or of this world. It is of the Holy Spirit.
None of this means we should belittle natural gifts. Indeed, it is possible that a spiritual gift of God could be expressed through a natural gift. But the two remain distinct. One is of this world, and the other isn't. Generally speaking, natural gifts are those I give to God -- offer to Him for His glory. Spiritual gifts are those God gives to me. They have nothing to do with merit or favor. They belong to God and are to glory Him and edify others.
It is, of course, possible to counterfeit any spiritual gift with a soulish counterpart. This happens all the time, and can come across as being incredibly real. These things can seem to work, and seem to be of the Holy Spirit. But when all is said and done, sooner or later, the counterfeit will glory man. They will, in one way or another, put the man, the movement, or the "gift" itself at center stage, instead of Jesus Christ.
In the final analysis, God is responsible for what He gives. We are, by the grace of God, responsible for what we become because of it. What we become once we have been enlightened by the grace of God will determine the basis of eternity for us.

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