Varieties of results

Now this word, the Greek word here is energemata from which we get our word energy. I believe this refers to the results of our service. So, we have seen that there are different gifts and there are different spheres in which we exercise our gifts. Then thirdly Paul says there are differing results. Different things happen. The energy is seen in different ways. Let me explain that in two or three ways.

What does Paul mean when he says there are different results? Well, I think the first one is obvious: the results are different in kind, because the gifts are different. Through the gifts of the Spirit people can be encouraged, converted, taught, organised, led, clothed and fed, given a rest, guided, rebuked, convicted, befriended, challenged, knocked down (if they need knocking down), lifted up (if they need lifting up), and they can be kept going. The list is endless. The gifts of the Spirit do many different things. They have many different results. There are many different kinds of fruit.

I think some of us, as young Christians, were held back and damaged when we were taught that the only fruit really was conversions. We were to ask ourselves: are you bearing fruit for God? And if you did not see people converted through your life, you felt very guilty and thought, I have no fruit. That is not the teaching of the New Testament. There are all kinds of fruit. Christians are leading very fruitful lives. Maybe some of them would say, Well, I am not sure if I can think of anyone who has been brought to faith through me except for my own family. I am not saying that that is a good thing, but that there are different kinds of fruit. We do not have to conform to a narrow template and the expectation of others.

If you have befriended somebody and through that they are encouraged and stronger, you have exercised your spiritual gifts. If your children have been taught something about God that they did not know before, you have exercised your spiritual gift. If you have gone along and babysat for a young couple to enable them to go out and have an evening of rest, you have exercised a spiritual gift of encouragement and showing mercy.

I would also say these gifts can differ over a period of time. As we grow and develop in our use of gifts, they become more effective and more fruitful. One would hope that as you preach and teach you will learn something, and that after ten years, you are a better and more effective teacher than you were at the beginning. It remains the same gift and the same sphere, but there are varieties of activities or results.

Perhaps, and this is frightening, we become less effective as time passes. Less faith, less zeal. There are differences in effects. God determines this. Jeremiah, as far as we know, saw very few visible results from his long ministry. He preached and preached and preached for decades. Most of the people paid no attention. There was no reformation. Nothing happened. People laughed at him. He really got no where. But do we say that he was not a faithful man? Do we say that he was not fruitful and that he was not serving God?

Peter had three thousand converts through one sermon. I would be doubtful if our Lord Jesus had three thousand converts as a result of three years’ ministry; we do not know of course, but we are not told of great numbers. Was Peter a more effective preacher than Jesus Christ? Well, of course not. There are varieties of activities.

Samuel Zwemer, the father of Muslim missions, spent his life in Islamic countries. He was one of the most gifted, dedicated missionaries who has ever lived. He saw practically nothing and got nowhere. Nobody listened to him, not over all his life. Yet some years later, a revival burst out in Indonesia, a Muslim country, and tens of thousands of people came to Christ in a short space of time.

Some gifts are wonderfully used. The same gifts in the same sphere can have different outcomes. One man can preach and see his congregation expand; another equally gifted, equally faithful man can preach and then see his congregation dwindle. We cannot draw any conclusions about the two men. Some of our children respond quickly to the gospel. Other children from the same family, having the same mother teach them, do not respond to the gospel—at least not for a long time. It takes many years of praying, teaching, persevering, and loving. Some people appreciate our help. Other people are pretty ungrateful. There are varieties of activities.

This is an important truth to grasp. We are never to be proud. If God blesses our use of our gifts, do not be proud. Equally, do not be discouraged. There are varieties of activities; that is part of the variety of the Spirit. It does not necessarily mean you are unfaithful. Do not envy other people. There are varieties of activities. Persevere, persevere, persevere; that is what we have to do. It is God who gives the growth. There are varieties: varieties of gifts, varieties of spheres of service, and varieties in the results that come through the exercise of our gifts.

Remember I mentioned at the beginning that variety is a wonderful thing, and it is. Let me leave you with three words of counsel.

Admire: Admire the variety of the Spirit’s work. How fascinating it is to think that all the people in one church have all got a story. Everyone has a different personality. Everyone has got something to contribute to each other. How delightful to get to know each other! How delightful is the variety of the Spirit’s gifts and the varieties of the spheres in which we can exercise! No Christian can ever say: there is nothing for me to do in the church.

Accept: Accept yourself for who you are. Do not try to be somebody else. God has made you who he wants you to be.

Appreciate: Appreciate others, especially those who are very different from yourself. The body, says Paul, does not consist of one member, but of many. We thank God for the varieties of the gifts.¹

Edward Donnelly