It's jarring, then, to read about spiritual gifts. In his first epistle to the church at Corinth, Paul addresses the topic ... for several chapters. He establishes the concept in chapter 12.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Cor 12:4-7)What do we know? The gifts are provided by the Spirit. They're not inborn talents, acquired skills, trained actions, or anything that we produce. Further, each of us have at least one. No one is without a spiritual gift. Finally, the purpose of these spiritual gifts is "the common good." They're not for you; they're for the Body of Christ. Paul gives a sample list of gifts (1 Cor 12:8-10) (as in "varieties of gifts"), but he reiterates "All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills" (1 Cor 12:11). He wills who gets what; not us.
Paul draws word pictures after that of the function of gifts in the Body by using the human body (1 Cor 12:12-26). No parts are without purpose; no parts are better than any other. Your gift is just as important as anyone else. Your gift is not more important than anyone else. All are individual. All are from the Spirit. All are necessary.
Which brings us to the modern "favored" category of "the Nones." These are people who consider themselves "spiritual" but not "religious." Self-identified Christians often tout this category. "Yes, I believe in Jesus, but I don't need some gathering of people to believe in Jesus." If it's not that far out, it's often more like, "Sure, I go to church; I just am not really involved." "Once a month or so." "At least on Christmas and Easter." We've grown, perhaps as an exercise in "American liberty," to disconnect "Christian" with "church." Go for a good sermon if you must, but let's not get too connected, you know? We've got enough going on in life; we don't need more "stuff" to do.
To every true believer, please let me be clear. That is not a biblical concept. Every true believer is part of the Body of Christ. Every true believer is gifted specifically to function in that Body. You've been given something from God (the Spirit) that you are supposed to share with other believers. It's not for you; it's for them. You can't function properly in the Body by disassociating yourself ... from the Body. And that includes emotionally disassociating yourself. "Oh, I'm there; I just don't want to be too connected." The Spirit gives us each a purpose and a gift to meet that purpose and if we simply ignore it, what does that say about our relationship with God? "Yeah, You're all right with me ... just don't ask me to do too much." Good luck with that.
18 comments:
How can we demonstrate that we believe in Christ without showing love to Christians, and how can we show love to Christians without being where they are?
That's what Jesus said, right? "They will know you are My disciples by your love for one another." Although, for a few of us, perhaps staying out of their way might be an act of love. (Kidding.)
I've been trying to be more mindful to be letting the Word infuse my speech. It tends to be easier to do in writing so far.
Stan, can you offer any instructions on how to get bold, italics, and underline formatting to work when commenting in this new Blogger format? For example, how were you able to italicize the word "out" in your reply to David above? I cannot figure out how to do this, and I often need to do so for clarification in my remarks. (I didn't know how to do it in the previous Blogger version either.) Google says to highlight desired text to be formatted and then click on the B or I buttons, but that does nothing when I do it. (The B button actually deletes highlighted words when I click it.) (And when I copy & paste formatted text from my Word document, the formatted is not retained.) Thanks!
All of my formatting is done in HTML. So, for instance, italics are achieved by a "less than" symbol, the letter "i", and a "greater than" symbol at the beginning of the italic section and a "less than" symbol, a forward slash, the letter "i", and a "greater than" symbol. If you look up "HTML," you'll find how to bold (replace "i" with "b") and underline (replace "i" with "u") and all sorts of other fun stuff.
Stan, you wrote: “The gifts are provided by the Spirit. They're not inborn talents, acquired skills, trained actions, or anything that we produce.” I agree that the gifts go far beyond those things you mentioned; however, I believe that our spiritual gifts usually flow out of our natural temperaments and utilize the personality characteristics that God instilled in us at our conception. (I happen to believe that God created our personalities to support the gifting He foreknew and predestined would come, rather than the other way around.) I see the spiritual gifts as application of our “inborn talents”--but ones the Holy Spirit has empowered for His purposes, transforming natural qualities into supernatural ones, as it were. I agree that our spiritual gifts are granted to us by the Holy Spirit, but I believe they will very much build upon our “inborn talents.” (In fact, I have heard that considering one’s natural inclinations and strengths is helpful for ascertaining where one’s spiritual gifting might lie.)
I realize that your theme today is quite another point, but it occurred to me that the inclusion and involvement you are encouraging is very much a celebration of all the unique and well-equipped personalities that the Lord has gathered together to form the Body of Christ.
Thanks for the reply. I will try to get that to work. I do remember seeing those instructions below your Comment box in the previous Blogger version, but then as now, I am not sure how to combine HTML and Word (which I write in). I will research it and try a sample submission. (As I said, Google already steered me wrong.)
I'm not sure where you are going with this. Does the Spirit choose what gift to give us based on our innate abilities or the like?
I think that many people believe that is the case (it sounds reasonable, afterall), while I think the opposite is true: we are created with personality traits (with many latent aspects for later development) that will support the gifts we will receive. (I have become acutely aware of this on a personal level in recent years.) You wrote that the gifts were not “inborn talents,” but I think that they are--i.e. we were given abilities that will become our gifts (or be used in them). (I think that “acquired skills” are also part of our gifting, actually.) Maybe I misunderstood your intended meaning in the lines I quoted from your post. Perhaps you meant the gifts are not “merely inborn talents”? [See, I really wanted to italicize “merely” there but don’t know how when I copy & paste from Word.]
I believe she's saying that He gives both our innate abilities and our gifts. I have often heard preachers when taking about figuring out spiritual gifts say to look at your normal talents. If you are incapable of speaking in front of a crowd, don't try to "gain" the gift of preaching because you feel "called" to be a pastor. It's a both/and on where the gifts and temperaments come from, He doesn't react to what temperament you have gift accordingly, but knowing what He wanted to do with you long before you even considered being a Christian, have you the temperament that would fit the gift He had in store.
I think both Lorna and David are saying (basically) the same thing. And while we cannot disagree that God gives both our innate and our spiritual gifts, I'm uncomfortable saying that He makes me with the innate abilities to allow me to do the spiritual gift I'm given because it seems as if I'll have something to boast about. "Yes, the Spirit gave me that gift, but that's because I'm a natural." Of course, I think of spiritual gifts as more at motivations. A person with the gift, say, of service is motivated to serve people, not because of abilities, but because of the heart to serve. In this case, we find ourselves invigorated to be doing what God has motivated us to do. But this is not a hill I'll die on.
If you're able to come out of the idea that our abilities and gifts are given by God and believe you have something to boast in, then that is a sign of wrong thinking on your part, but does that invalidate the true statement that gifts and abilities are given by God? I'm sure there are a lot of truly saved people that believe they mustered up the faith they needed to believe. They are wrong in that belief, but being wrong about the source doesn't make the source wrong. Yes, it will lessen God's glory, and that's bad, but we are glory destroying factories.
No, but it seems to diminish "spiritual gifts" over "innate abilities." Everyone has innate abilities. How do we differentiate between "innate abilities" and "gifts of the Spirit" (especially for those who aren't even saved)?
Through my previous comments, I was essentially acknowledging and appreciating God’s Hand in my own development (I feel God’s assurance that He made me the way I am for His good reasons).
Of course the motivations for using our gifts are important, as you say, but serving the Body of Christ well requires many practical, applied aptitudes, which don’t just arrive magically but had been conceived in us at some past point and then nurtured throughout our lives for God’s use; therefore, I would never want to dismiss those “inborn talents” and “acquired skills,” since I have come to recognize them as part of God’s equipping of His people. No, it’s not “something to boast about”--other than realizing that if “I’m a natural” at a particular gift (which is a very happy circumstance indeed), it is due to His wisdom and enablement.
Off-hand, I see a few clear distinctions: (1) setting and purpose, (2) empowerment, and (3) motivation. (1) We use our God-given, innate abilities in service to the Body of Christ in the advancement of the Kingdom of God. (2) We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to apply our natural abilities in a supernatural way (again, for spiritual advancement). (3) We serve God and the Church for His glory and His Kingdom (rather than fame or fortune, etc.). Yes, everyone has innate abilities--saved or unsaved. We don’t know who will join the elect, but whomever they are, they will need natural abilities to draw upon once they begin to serve God.
Stan, you commented above: “A person with the gift, say, of service is motivated to serve people, not because of abilities, but because of the heart to serve.” Yes, they should have the heart to serve (i.e. motivation), but they also need abilities to be of use (barring simply being a willing set-of-hands type of service). “I am motivated (feel God leading me) to serve because I have useful abilities to offer” strikes me as the perfect provision of God. Who is more useful to God and the Church in a practical sense--one who shows up and says “I am here to help, but I can’t do a lick of what you all need doing” or one who is equipped, able, and naturally gifted? Yes, God can use the “useless,” but I am sure He prepares servers for just what He needs done.
I don't see the spiritual gifts as "things we do," but why we do them. We all, for instance are supposed to serve. We all are supposed to be evangelists. Just two examples. We're all supposed to do most of what the gifts list. That's why I understand them to be motivations. Bob sets up chairs (serves) because it gives him a chance to talk to others (exhortation) while Bill sets up chairs (serves) because it gives him a chance to serve (service). I see them less as roles and more as motivations that empower us.
As for innate abilities or even acquired skills, because I don't see them as "spiritual gifts" in the sense that Scripture uses the term doesn't mean we don't use them for the good of others. I don't know. To me "spiritual gifts" are somewhat supernatural and skills and talents are natural and I like to think that the Holy Spirit gifts supernatural gifts beyond human skills and talents. Just a dreamer, I guess.
I guess I understand the spiritual gifts differently from you. In view of that, I’d like to express my appreciation for the time and attention you gave to consider my input into this thread.
Post a Comment