The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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STEWARDSHIP OF GIFTS: DANGERS AND DELIGHTS
The Bible tells us clearly and directly that Christians are stewards of their spiritual gifts
(I Pet. 4:10).
Stewardship, in the New Testament sense, is an awesome responsibility. It is awesome
because it carries with it an important dimension of accountability.
According to I Corinthians 4:2, “It is required in stewards, that those who have been given a
trust must prove faithful.”
The meaning of stewardship is clearly shown in the account of The Parable of the Talents
(Mt. 25:14-30). Here we see that faithfulness was directly related to success.
Every spiritual gift we have is a resource that we must use and for which we will be held
accountable at the judgment. Some will have one, some two, and some five, etc. The quantity to
begin with does not matter. Stewards are responsible for what the master has chosen to give
them. But the resource that we do have must be used to accomplish the Master’s purpose. There
is not a better time than now to begin to prepare to answer that question which each of us
eventually is going to hear from our Lord: “What did you do with spiritual gift(s) I gave you?”
EQUAL DANGERS
There are many ways that spiritual gifts can be abused. The two equally extreme and
dangerous positions are “charisphobia” and “charismania.”
“Charisphobia” is fear of spiritual gifts (especially the “supernatural” or “spectacular” gifts
because of their potential counterfeit). Jesus warned against counterfeit leaders and gifts (Mt.
24:24; 7:22-23). Satan can counterfeit gifts because he is a supernatural being and he has
supernatural powers. His power was shown in a spectacular way in Egypt when Pharaoh’s
magicians could match practically all the works that God did through Moses (Ex. 7,8). However,
Satan’s power is limited and controlled (Job). As Robert Tuttle put it, “Satan is on a tether. If,
however, we slip within reach or range of this tether, yielding to some particular temptation, he’ll
have us for breakfast.” 2
The word “counterfeit” by definition means that there must be the real. “Charisphobia” is the
attitude of leaving gifts alone because of their potential abuse. It is throwing out the baby with the
bathwater. This is probably why Paul warned:
“Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt . . . be eager
to prophesy . . .” (I Thess. 5:19-20; I Cor. 14:39).