The Holy Spirit - Gifts of the Spirit

            Imagine you had the latest and greatest smart phone. It could be an iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Droid Maxx, whatever. Imagine you got a plan with unlimited data, minutes, and texting, the whole shebang with all the accessories. Imagine, then, that all you ever did with that phone was take selfies. You never texted your mother, brother, closest friend, boss. Nor called them. Neither did you access Facebook, email, twitter, or any part of the internet. You just took selfies, never uploading them to Facebook or even showing them to anyone. That would be weird, having something with so much potential and using it for the tiniest of things when it could do a lot more.

            Last Thursday, Tim focused on the gifts of the Spirit. In convicting sin, pointing to Truth, and glorifying Jesus that we may love and live for Jesus and others, the Holy Spirit grants us certain gifts for the benefit of the church body and the life Jesus calls us to live.

            Paul, in the book of 1 Corinthians, speaks of gifts given by the Spirit. “For to one is given through the Spirit utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).”

            This is by no means a complete list. Other books in the Bible describe different gifts granted by the Holy Spirit, and the gifted using them for the good of others. These gifts are not ordered by importance, either, but are equally important among the body. For example, Moses may have been the one speaking directly to God, but he couldn’t very well make all the articles for the tabernacle and all its contents at the same time. That is why God sent His Spirit to empower Oholiab and Bezalel to work for Him in a different way than Moses did (See Exodus 31). Moses would speak and relay God’s words to His people. Oholiab and Bezalel would build God’s tabernacle while Moses was busy relaying messages.

            For us to use our spiritual gifts for building up the church body, it requires faith from us. We must have faith that God gifted each of us with unique skills and talents and so on to serve in ways where others are unable. We can explore and use these gifts through interaction with others, serving God alongside them and getting their feedback and insight on our spiritual gifts.

            There are multiple barriers to using our gifts as God intends. Sometimes we envy other gifts, believing our own to be not as important. I can’t read a missionary biography without feeling a touch jealous of whatever spiritual experience they had and wishing God spoke to me more like that. Once again, this is countered with the truth that everyone has been given what they have been given for God’s purposes and He is faithful to complete His work in us as we follow Him. Another barrier is passivity. We could sit around for a long time and wait for God to provide us opportunity to use our gifts. Instead, we should actively seek ways to serve Him. It is part of interacting with and serving alongside brothers and sisters in the faith. Pride can be a blinding barrier. When we utilize our gifts to great effect, reaching out to so many people, providing the care they need, the words they must hear, often we might forget God and believe we are the driving force and the power behind our success. Then, when things go wrong, we panic or get upset when the power we thought was ours does not fix the situation. Giving glory to whom it is due, remembering we serve God ultimately, and that our gifts are for His purpose - these will disarm pride.

            Some might act and say they are using their gifts, but are not doing so guided by the Holy Spirit. What we can do when we don’t know if they, or, yes, even we, are guided by the Holy Spirit is to consider the following criteria: does the action match God’s character as revealed in the Bible? What is the fruit of the action? How is the gift used or for what purpose?

            Something to ponder: what does it look like for us in our church body to live out the gifts the Holy Spirit has given to us? We might not see an outpouring of prophesy and tongues on a Sunday morning, but we are witness to many other gifts: people who sing, who pray or preach, who minister to children, to high-schoolers, who teach, who help with potlucks. Beyond these gifts, interacting with those who are blessed with these gifts, supplementing them with the gifts the Holy Spirit has given to us – what does it look like for you?