In Scripture grace and gifts are closely related. The Greek word for grace is "charis" which also means favour; and the Greek word for gifts of God is "charisma" which also means spiritual endowment.
Gifts are favours or benefits which God bestows on undeserved men. All gifts of God are given by Grace. We cannot earn the gifts of God by good works; we just accept them with thanks giving to God. Things that can be earned are not gifts but wages. Wages are the due rewards of what we have done.
Paul said, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23, NKJV, emphasis added).
In other words, God pays us wages in the form of death if we sin. We earned death by sinning against God. Death needs to be earned because it is not a gift of God.
Paul also said, "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt" (Romans 4:4, emphasis added).
In other words, if we work sin, God must pay us the wages of sin, otherwise God is in debt. The wages paid by God is death.
This is consistent to what Ezekiel said, "Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4, emphasis added).
If the soul who sins does not die, then God is in debt because He fails to pay wages due to the soul who sins!
The Grace Gifts of God
This message is not about the nine Spiritual Gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 although they are also Grace Gifts given by God in exercising His sovereign will. My purpose is to share with you God's gifts in general.
To begin with, it is difficult to understand the nature of God's gifts without first getting to know what grace means and how we receive the grace of God.
Grace is the free unmerited favour of God towards the undeserving soul. In place of evil, God offers us good. There is nothing in ourselves we can find any reason God offers us love, mercy and favour. Everything we received are through the grace of God.
The Truth about Grace
1. Grace has only one channel - Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ God offers grace to no one in any situation or circumstances.
John said, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17, emphasis added).
2. God does not offer grace to everyone, but only to those who are humble.
"Surely He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble" (Proverbs 3:34). Read also James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5.
3. The only way to appropriate grace in one's life and experience is by faith.
Paul said, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8).
Notice that, faith and salvation are also grace gifts of God. Apart from grace and faith no one can receive salvation!
4. The administrator or dispenser of grace is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of grace.
"Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace" (Hebrews 10:29, emphasis added)?
The Truth about Gifts
Paul said, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29).
In other words, what God has given to a person or groups of persons, either gifts or calling, He would not withdraw them. In the context, God called Israel as his chosen people, He would not withdraw His calling. He had given ministrial or spiritual gifts to His covenant people (both Jew and Gentile believers), He would not withdraw them. It is quite logical - anything that is revocable or can be redrawn would not be qualified as a gift - It is only a conditional loan.
The out-working of this truth can be seen in the Corinthian christians.
Paul said they "were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, so that they came short in no gift, .... " (1 Cor. 1:5,7, NKJV, emphasis added).
But, they were carnal, worldly and immature believers (1 Cor. 3). Their character, personality and attitude left much to be desired and yet all Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 12) were manifested in their Church.
It is also true in the contemporary Local Church. We have seen ministers and preachers with the gifts of the Spirit in operation in their ministries - God works miracles through them with signs and wonders following them. And yet, some of them having a life-style that left much to be desired. God uses them for the benefits of others. God will not revoke their gifts according to His Word. But, who knows? - a day may come when Jesus will remind them what He said before:
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7:21 to 23).
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