The Road to Redemption - Spiritual Gifts 2

    Part 1 of our discussion on Spiritual gifts focused on the fact that the people God chose to accomplish God's mission in this world were never prequalified or pre-trained for the task. God chose individuals (who often seemed unsuited to the work) gifted them and then gave them on-the-job training in order to accomplish the tasks to which they were set. We see this especially in the lives of individuals such as Amos and David (shepherds who became a prophet and a king) in the Old Testament and the Apostles (fishermen, tax-collectors, etc. who became church leaders and evangelists) in the New Testament.

    The task to which all of these people were set was not only to be faithful to God but to help build a community and Kingdom in which individuals could love God and neighbor. This task is also the task that has been given to the church; past, present and future. As surely as Amos and the Apostle Paul were called to serve God, each and every one of us is called to serve as well. Every person who professes faith in Jesus Christ is called to be part of the great mission of loving God and neighbor and working for the reconciliation of the world. None of us are exempt.

    We are made capable of accomplishing this task because God gifts us with the abilities necessary to the mission set before us. This is the point that the Apostle makes in several of this letters. In his letters to Rome, Corinth and Ephesus he lays out the spiritual gifts with which Christ followers are equipped. In Romans 12:6-8 he writes, "⁶We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;⁸the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness." ." In Ephesians 4:11 Paul keeps it brief by telling his readers that "The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers..."

    In I Corinthians 12:4-11 the Apostle puts it this way. "4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; ⁶and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.⁷To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.⁸To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses."

    There are several things that I hope we will notice about these passages. First Paul reminds his readers that everyone receives at least one spiritual gift. "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit…" (I Corinthians 12:7) What this means is that all of us are gifted. There is no follower of Jesus Christ who does not have some spiritual specialty that they can offer to the collective body of believers. Second, the purpose of these gifts is the building up of the church so it can accomplish its mission. So often in life, both inside and outside of the church, we see our giftedness only as it applies to our success. Spiritual gifts are intended for the body of Christ and for the world. "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (I Corinthians 12:7) Third, these gifts are given by the Holy Spirit. In other words we cannot go shopping for them at the Spiritual Gifts Hut. "All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses." (I Corinthians 12:11) Finally no gifts are better than other gifts because all are needed to make the church complete. Paul writes, "On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…" (I Corinthians 12:22) While we may envy the spiritual gifts of others we are to trust that the Spirit has given us just the right gifts, for the time and place in which we live in order that we might be Kingdom of God builders.