Tag Archives: gifts

GIFTS OF THE GIVER – 10

Christian Life,

1 Peter 4:10-11 NLT‬
[10] “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. [11] Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.”

I’ve skipped over some of Peter’s instructions to his readers since he echoes Paul’s counsel to those who are children of God, living in the realm of God’s rule in the midst of wickedness.

Peter’s next gem to examine is his emphasis on the use of spiritual gifts. “Gift of the Givers”, to borrow a title, with a slight variation, from a Muslim organisation meeting many urgent needs in my country and elsewhere, is an apt way to understand spiritual gifts.

In today’s church, in many places, there is an emphasis on “my gift”, as though, somehow, I have a gift that must be respected and honoured, elevating me to a position of office and title. There are a collection of self-appointed office bearers in many branches of the church,…Apostle, Prophet, even Intercessor or Prayer Warrior (both unbiblical), who carry great authority globally and must be heeded because “they speak from God!”

Peter emphasises that it is God who is the Giver, ‘Gifts of the Giver’. He chooses both the gift and its recipient. It’s all about grace. The recipient is but a channel through whom the gift is dispensed. No one dare claim an authority or an office by the gift he gives away. There is only one Apostle, Prophet, intercessor, Healer, or anything else, JESUS, and through us, He dispenses His gifts.

There is a purpose and a motive for spiritual gifts that puts Jesus right in the centre.

The purpose…

“Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.”

‘Glory to God’ is the purpose for everything we do, not because He is egocentric but since He is the source and goal of the universe.

The motive…

‭1 Peter 4:10 NLT‬
[10] “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”

… and do it all in love…

‭1 Peter 4:8 NLT‬
[8] “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.“

Loving service in the body of Christ obliterates the little irritations that can so easily creep in to divide. Love is the mortar that holds the living stones in place in God’s temple.

Let’s get this straight. God is the Giver. He decides which gift to channel through His human givers. We are His givers, not elevating ourselves or our gift but freely and lovingly serving the body of Christ so that He gets the glory.

Imagine how much competition in the body of Christ would be eliminated if we all understood our place and honoured one another in our functions. We would be one in our hearts as we love and serve one another to the glory of Jesus!

GIFTED, BUILT UP, AND EQUIPPED – 12

Bible Study, ,

Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT‬
[11]”Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. [12] Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”

Despite Paul’s plea for his readers (and all those who follow after the them) to live out the new lives they have been given, they knew and we know that it is impossible to do this without help.

However, God has given us His Spirit, our Helper, who teaches and guides us from within, but we also need knowledge, information, instruction, to know what to do and how to put our new lives into practice.

So, Jesus has also given to His church people whom the Holy Spirit equips to be our human teachers. Each of these people has a specific function (emphasis on ‘function’, not ‘office’) in the church, to equip and train God’s people with knowledge and practice, as Jesus did with His disciples, so that, together, the church may reach its goal of love and unity.

These five groups of people – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers – are not self-proclaimed or self-appointed. They are given, by Jesus, to His church. They function…they do not rule or have any authority over the body of Christ. They are not superior to or office bearers in the church. They are servants, serving the church by using their gifts to equip the saints to do what they train the church to do.

What is their function, then? Each of these ‘gifts’ helps to hone those who are similarly gifted. No individual has all the gifts but as we live and work together as the church, we display the nature of Jesus in His completeness.

‭Ephesians 4:7 NLT‬
[7] “However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.”

The church is a mosaic of gifts. Each member has a specific function, which creates a complete picture of Jesus in His body. We are all ‘living stones’, built together to form a temple in which we worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

A mature church has as its goal, to be a witness to Jesus – His incarnation, His life, His death, His resurrection – as the foundation of their love for one another and the unity that binds them together. These qualities are not possible outside of the Holy Spirit who lives in the church as well as in each member.

By contrast, the love and unity that might exist in pockets in the community are fragile and easily disintegrate in the face of the words and actions of selfish and self–centred people. The opposite is true in the church.

‭Ephesians 4:13, 15-16 NLT‬
[13] “This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ….
[15] Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. [16] He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

Unlike the fragile unity in the world, the unity in the church grows with increasing knowledge and experience. The church is not an organisation. The church is a living organism, united to Jesus, its head, drawing its life from Him, and growing in faith and obedience through the Holy Spirit who works out the life of Jesus in us and in the church.

This divine/human partnership is the only way in which the church can be the WITNESS Jesus intends us to be to the world. The early church, reflected in the book of Acts, knew this power. The church grew supernaturally through its witness, both to the message of Jesus and to the life of Jesus in them that the message produced.

‭Acts of the Apostles 5:12-14 NLT‬
[12] “The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. [13] But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. [14] Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women.”

So, dear brothers and sisters, the life of Jesus bears fruit in the church only as its members faithfully follow Paul’s ‘therefore’s’. Without the body living in vital union with its head, the church of Jesus becomes just another sterile religion, of no consequence in the world except to be in competition with all other religions.

The Father has made provision for us to grow towards our goal but we must respond with faith and obedience to fulfil His purpose for the church now and in eternity.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS – FOR WHAT?

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SPIRITUAL GIFTS – FOR WHAT?

“We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is  prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.” Romans 12:6-11.

Have you noticed how Paul focuses on the non-spectacular functions in the church here? Are these any less gifts of the Spirit than, say, speaking in tongues or healing? What makes us think that it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to do a miracle but not to be generous or to show mercy? The one reveals God’s power through you, the other, in you, otherwise the old natural selfish nature will still be controlling you attitudes.

The use of spiritual gifts is not so much the issue but the motive for which they are used to benefit others. If you use your spiritual gift as a platform to gain anything for yourself, be it visibility, popularity, admiration, accolades or any other personal glory, there will be consequences in the end. Ananias and Sapphira are a case in point. They sold property, gave some money to the church as if it were all, wanting to appear generous in competition with Barnabas; but they were quickly exposed by the Holy Spirit through Peter and put to death!

Is not this the reason that Paul warned his Roman readers (and us) not to be conceited but to think realistically about ourselves, and not suppose that we are indispensable or have to do everything. It takes humility to admit that we can do one thing well but not something else, and to be content to be who we are. When we can take responsibility for our part, and not try to do what we cannot do, we fit in comfortably with the other members of the body and, in partnership with one another, we can accomplish what Jesus wants His body to do.

Once again, it’s not about us – it’s about Him. Our task, in harmony with one another, is to bring restoration to each member through the use of our gifts and, in this way, to mirror Him to the world around us. The gifts He gives us are His, not ours, and are for the benefit of others, not ourselves. But, like everything God does, the blessing always boomerangs back on us!

We do what we are gifted to do through His grace, but it our attitude that determines whether we are blessed in return, or whether we stand in line for judgment as did Ananias and Sapphira. Behind the attitude with which we use our gifts lies another attitude – our attitude to God. The Bible calls it “the fear of the Lord”. When we have the right attitude towards Him, it will regulate the motives and attitudes we have towards ourselves and the ones we serve.

Solomon summed it up aptly in Proverbs 9:10. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  Wisdom is, very simply, doing the right thing. When we have a reverential awe of God, remembering who He is, and hating anything that infringes on His glory, we will not take what He says lightly or treat Him with contempt because, as Solomon concluded in Ecclesiastes 12:14, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.” In the end, God is inescapable.

Every thought, attitude and motive will one day be exposed in His light. I am sure none of us would like to see our selfish and self-seeking motives in neon lights for everyone to see! How can we prevent our old corrupted nature from intruding into our ministry and service in the body of Christ?

Paul gives us some simple but effective steps:

1. Give God your body for His use and change the way you think – from your thoughts to His thoughts. That comes about as we spend time in His Word.

2. Put yourself in the right perspective. You are not the whole – only a small part. You cannot be and do everything.

3. Do what you are gifted to do and do it faithfully with zeal and fervour.

4. Keep the bigger picture in mind and fit into it with joy. It’s not about competition but about harmony, working towards a greater goal, the health of the whole body.

5. Wrap it up in a blanket of love – for Jesus and for His body. Put Jesus and others before yourself Meet the needs of others at your expense.

Imagine what the church would look like if we all did that!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – GREAT GIFTS…GREAT RESPONSIBILITIES

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GREAT GIFTS – GREAT RESPONSIBILITIES

“The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities.” Luke 12:47, 48.

There is something terribly wrong in the world today. God is glaringly absent, ignored or treated as though He does not exist. Read a glossy magazine, listen to the radio, watch the TV; it’s all the same. People’s gifts and talents are flaunted as if they were solely responsible for acquiring them.

No-one can use the excuse that he or she does not know where they got their gifts because the Bible assures us that everyone knows God. Romans 1:20,21 – “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, having been understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Everyone has been entrusted with something to manage for the Master until He returns, some more and some less, but the attitude is often that these gifts are for us to exploit for our own benefit and advantage. Whether it be beauty, art, music, drama, or any less visible ability, the motive is the same, either money or fame or both. Whatever the reason, it’s all about ‘me’. It’s the ‘evil eye’ at work again, the greedy and selfish nature in control.

There are at least three things that this way of thinking either forgets or ignores: God’s glory, God’s purpose and our future destiny. The manager in Jesus’ story is a glaring example. He was either deliberately rebellious, or irresponsibly ignorant. Neither is an excuse for failing to carry out the master’s requirements. His selfishness cancelled out wisdom. He was living for the moment and forgetting that the master would return.

Tragically, because self dominates, his attitude was even more serious; the greater the gift, the greater the garnering of wealth and popularity for himself. But God looks at it differently; the greater the gift, the greater the responsibility. God gives us gifts firstly so that we can show Him off. Every gift, talent and ability we have is to be honed and used as a witness to what kind of God He is. God is infinitely beautiful, kind and generous and one of the ways He reveals His beauty is through us.

Secondly, God gives us gifts to get the work of His kingdom done on earth. There are a myriad ways in which the things He enables us to do bring, reveal and explain His government on earth. In God’s system, there is order, harmony, purpose, beauty, generosity, mercy, compassion, etc, and these are accomplished through the gifts He has given us. To use them to enhance ourselves is to abuse them and to abort His plan on earth.

Thirdly, there is no way God will let us get away with rebellion or irresponsibility. Jesus will come back. He has promised. He will call us to account. He said so. His justice will be absolutely just because He gives us the choice regarding our future. Whatever we choose in this life He will confirm in the next. Our Romans passage makes it very clear. “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” Romans 1:28 (NIV).

And so Jesus’ warning is a serious one. The ‘thrashing’ unfaithful managers receive will be eternal and so will be the loss, too terrible to imagine, including the loss of the very position He had destined them to occupy in His eternal dominion had they been faithful.

Faithful Stewards Of God’s Grace

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FAITHFUL STEWARDS OF GOD’S GRACE

Each of your should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4: 10, 11)

Get a hold of that!

Spiritual gifts – what are they? In many people’s book, they are the reason to put themselves a cut above other believers. ‘I have the gift of . . . ‘ Tongues? Word of knowledge? Discerning of spirits? Healing? Faith? Wisdom? These all have levels of superiority. If you have this gift, or that gift, you are a very spiritual Christian – in fact, if you can speak in tongues, you have the evidence that you are ‘Spirit-filled’! Really? Is that how Paul classified a true believer?

In my Bible the evidence of a child of God is clear:

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God. (Rom. 8: 13, 14)

What is the purpose of spiritual gifts, then? Whose gifts are they? Some of us act as though they are our gifts – as though we earned them and we have them to enhance our prestige in the Christian world. God forbid! Spiritual gifts are gifts of the Spirit and they are lent to us for only one purpose – to serve the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit channels His power through ordinary human beings who are obedient to Him to minister to the needs of Jesus’s body.

We cannot claim to own any gift. The Holy Spirit gives them according to His will. He is free to give or withdraw His gifts as He chooses according to our availability and obedience. As always, we are to stewards of God’s grace, not owners or dispensers as though we were handing out sweets to little children. God’s gifts are a sacred trust. We cannot use them according to our whims but in obedience to His will.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them it is the same God at work. (1 Cor. 12: 4-6)

Spiritual gifts are not a title or an office but a function. Even functions like apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are not offices or titles which give us a position in the church; they are functions which serve Jesus’s body.

So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. (Eph. 4: 11, 12)

How tragic that people who are supposed to serve in these functions have taken them to be titles and used them to elevate themselves over their fellow believers as the authority in the church! Even people who have had theological training think that they are a cut above unlearned believers, as though head knowledge makes them superior to everyone else.

As for you, the anointing you have received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in Him. (1 John 2:27)

Jesus chose relatively uneducated men to be His disciples so that He could teach them His truth and send them out to replicate Him in the world.

Spiritual gifts are a trust from God to us as His sons and daughters, not a reward for good behaviour, to be used to serve His people, not to enrich ourselves or to enhance our reputation. They will always remain His gifts, not ours. We are accountable to Him for what we do with them. We are to be stewards of His grace as faithful servants, always keeping the mind-set of a servant.

God’s grace is multi-faceted, ministering healing, deliverance and hope to the broken and helpless. He apportions His gifts of grace to reliable stewards who will use and not prostitute His gifts for the enrichment of others. In that spirit let us give freely to the needy of that which He has given us.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.