The Gifts of the Spirit, part 3
What is your gift? Are you using it?
If a disciple expresses a spiritual gift outside of the body of Christ, without the covering of church leaders, simply as an expression of individualism – the gift will become corrupt, the result much less effective, than what it might have been otherwise!
Sadly, some Christians are unwilling to join arms with others. Infected with the individualism that is, on many levels, the curse of our culture, they remain fiercely independent, separate, and alone. They think of themselves rather like, the ‘Lone Ranger,’ riding in to make things right, then disappearing into the countryside. This kind of believer is seriously underdeveloped in many areas of their spirituality.
Whatever their passion may be, whatever gifts the Spirit gives them, are usually out of balance, or even largely unused, because they choose to not partner with others, in the full work of the Kingdom of Christ. The truth is, the individualism that is so revered in our culture, is unknown in the New Testament and foreign to true spirituality!
If you want to be a spiritually gifted, AND, an effective Christian, the importance of cultivating your relationships with other Christians and your connection with a local church cannot be overstated!
Step on an airplane with me for a moment. Buckle up your seat belt, put your earbuds in (or headphones on), turn your music or an audio book on, and settle back for your flight. The pilot turns on the intercom:
“Welcome to, your favorite, Airlines!” This is your captain speaking. The reason your ticket was so much cheaper is that we have done away with the people you never see – the maintenance crew who service the airplane, the navigator, who is really only needed on foggy nights, like tonight, and the air-traffic control team, up in the tower. We also didn’t think it was necessary to have security people checking baggage. Have a nice flight.”
I can assure you of this, I would not want to be on that flight! Would you? From the security person, to the ticket agent, to the person who fuels the plane, to the controller, to the pilot: They all have a critical part in getting you to your destination safely.
The same principle is true in the Church. We each have a differing role to fill. Some of us, like me, get to stand up front and look important. Others do what they do, way behind the scenes, but every one of us is critically important to getting the mission of the Church accomplished!
The Spiritual Gifts lists illustrate the wide scope of the work of God. In the passages we read earlier, there were 20+ different Spirit empowering gifts mentioned. They are some of the general ways, in which God works through us today, to bring benefit to this world, and to bring honor to Himself, through the Church.
Let’s take a look at a partial list from those passages: Administration, Apostleship, Craftsmanship, Communication, Discernment, Encouragement, Evangelism, Faith, Giving, Healing, Hospitality, Intercession, Knowledge, Leadership, Mercy, Miracle working, Prophecy, Serving, Shepherding, Teaching, Speaking in Tongues, Interpreting Tongues, Wisdom.
God is creative and thorough. He wants His Body, the Church, to be fully competent and effective in His work. There are a few gifts not mentioned on that list, but that are also mentioned in the Bible. They are the gifts of celibacy, martyrdom, missionary work, exorcism, and voluntary poverty. These gifts are not widely sought, nor in my opinion, are they widely given within the church, but they are part of the wide range of gifts presented in the New Testament.
Spiritual gifts are critical to the church’s mission; therefore, it is important that each believer desires, and seeks, to be gifted by the Spirit! Yet, oddly, many do not!
I have strong sense that if a random group of believers were individually asked to describe the work, He has called them to do for Him at this time, and/or how He is equipping them to do that work, many, maybe even most, would be speechless! If that is true, it’s no wonder so many Christians are frustrated, wishing they could sense that they were effective in the work of God but unsure of what it is that they ought to be doing for Him.
Continued tomorrow
