talent vs gifts

In I Corinthians 12 we have been studying the very difficult passage of scripture regarding spiritual gifts. There is no other area of scripture short of eschatology that I believe is more misunderstood than the area of spiritual gifts. And in studying this fact, I think it stems from a basic confusion of talents for spiritual gifts. So many people in the church today are judging things according to the way that they seem from the natural perspective. But the Bible tells us in 1Cr 2:14 that “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised”.
Furthermore, the Bible says that the things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit are diametrically opposed. Rom. 8:6 “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” It’s important to understand this: that when you were born in the flesh, you inherited the color of your eyes, and hair and many characteristics of your body and natural abilities from your parents. You undoubtedly have natural talents that you inherited. You may be a great singer, or a superb athlete, and these are natural talents that you were born with. But those are natural talents and the Bible says that they cannot please God. Remember – no one is born a Christian. You were born dead in your trespasses and sin. Spiritually you needed to be reborn. You did not have the natural capacity for being restored to God, so God had to supernaturally indwell you by the Spirit of Christ and cause you to be born again, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. You now are alive in your spirit because of the indwelling of the Spirit of God.
That’s why Paul says in Gal 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” You see, our natural talents and abilities are not necessarily gifts of God. In fact, they may be an impediment to serving God. But God will supernaturally provide each of us with the gifts of the spirit as needed for the building up of the body of Christ. Not for our personal edification, but for service to the body. Consequently, our natural talents and abilities may not be acceptable for God’s purposes. Because in most cases, it is impossible for us to do so without including our pride in it as well. God says He will not share His glory with man.
Martha may have thought she was exercising her spiritual gift of service in her serving Jesus and the disciples. It was what she was good at. She may have been an accomplished cook and was working hard to prepare this meal for Jesus. And yet, Jesus rebuked her for being concerned about earthly things, when the spiritual things of Mary were so much better. Our churches today look oftentimes at the methods, means and talents of the world and try to apply these things to the church. But they are often diametrically opposed. We hire pastors and youth leaders and promote elders in the church the same way we would hire someone for a secular position. We hire professional musicians to entertain in an attempt to draw people to the church. And as a result our church services resemble a night club and we add more and more entertainment features in order to satisfy the desires of the flesh.
In reality, I think God calls us to do the things we are not comfortable doing, that we have no natural ability to do, that doesn’t match our personality assessment worksheet, and yet He promises that He will supply all our needs to accomplish His will according to His riches in glory. In physical weakness, then am I strong by the power of the Spirit. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the wise. Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. I Cor. 1:31