I love bumper-sticker theology. And one of my favorites is, “Life is hard try reading the instructions.” Those of you who have assembled toys or furniture may have discovered this principle the hard way. I’ve neglected to count the parts. I’ve put things together upside down and backwards. When I sit down to take a standardized test, I always want to start before the administrator says “go.” And I suspect - no, I know - that I am not alone in this.
We are impatient people. We want to find out instantly. But with God things, it usually doesn’t happen at the touch of a button. God gives us salvation in Jesus Christ for the asking. God gives us the Holy Spirit just for the asking. But - like all other living things - the gifts of the Spirit only grow when the conditions are right.
It’s actually a pretty straightforward process.
Step one is to pray and study. Seek, as Jesus said, and you will find. Proverbs says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” [Pr 3:5,6] Read the Bible - AKA the instructions or the owner’s manual - pray, and listen for what God is impressing on your heart and mind. Studying the lives of Bible characters helps, too... You will probably identify more with some than with others. You might say, “that sounds like me. Maybe that’s how I should consider stepping out to explore my gifts.”
Step two is to try out different kinds of ministry. I think that sometimes we’re afraid that when we volunteer to do a job we are signing a lifetime contract. And I won’t try to tell you that this never happens. But you won’t get stuck doing something you hate if you keep in mind that this is only a journey of exploration. Your lifetime commitment is to Jesus Christ, not to the committee chair! Even elders are term-limited! And there are a lot of short-term opportunities for service. Look at the list in the last issue of Signals, or ask for a copy of the list in the visitor’s packet.
There was a new homeowner who went to the nursery to picked out trees, shrubs, and flowers to landscape his yard. While most of the plants did well, others turned brown and died. So the homeowner went back to the nursery and bought replacements. But they died, too. He went back to the nursery and complained. “Why do these plants keep dying on me?” he asked. The nurseryman said, “Did you plant them in direct sunlight? “ When the homeowner said, “yes, of course, I know plants need light and water to grow,” the nurseryman told him, “They don’t all need the same amount. These get all they can use in the shade.” Some of his other plants needed a more acid soil, others were for indoor use.
We’ve all heard the advice, “Bloom where you are planted,” and that’s true. But no matter where you’re planted, even if it’s both uncongenial and inescapable, if you know who you are, you can sometimes arrange for the conditions to be modified. Arrange for more or less shade or water or nitrogen so you won’t shrivel up and die, wondering what on earth has gone wrong. And sometimes you can pull up stakes and move to another part of the garden. You have options - but you need to know what you’re doing to exercise them.
Max DePree says it in a different way. “A whale is unique as a cactus. But don’t ask a whale to survive in Death Valley!”
That’s what we’re doing in the Monday night class. We’re trying to find out who we are so that we can find our place in God’s great design. Author Philip Edgecombe Hughes points out that an important part of freedom in Christ is to bring us into “harmonious unity with the will of God. As he functions within the purpose of his cre-ation, so, and only so, does he function freely. . . . A fish is not free to fly, nor a bird to live under water, but their freedom is not thereby violated; a reversal of their roles would be lethal for both, and therefore the end of their freedom.” We are truly free only when we have found our place within God’s purpose.
Step three could be called creative restlessness. What is going on inside you? Are you ever restless and twitchy, as if there’s something you ought to be doing but you can’t figure out what? Like there’s something missing and you’re not sure what it is? Maybe God is prodding you to take some risks and try something new. Be on the alert for new opportunities, for new people, for new challenges and directions. God is in the business of opening doors. See what’s opening up around you!
Start by looking in the obvious places. One place to begin is to “find a need and fill it.” It’s a cliche, I know, but like most cliches, there’s a lot of truth in it.
Too many people wait for a personalized neon sign with flashing arrows. But we already know in broad outline what God wants us to do, he wants us to love our neighbors! And furthermore, to show that love in practical ways. Most of the time we should just open our eyes to the obvious. That’s often God’s way of steering us to opportunities to put our gifts to use. Find a need and fill it.
Once you’ve started exploring new activities, check for three things. The first is success. You may be surprised at how well you do at something you never thought you could! The second thing is naturalness, a surprising degree of comfort. Do you feel more or less like yourself when you are doing - whatever it is? It may not feel like the self you’ve been used to all these years, it may be a new side of you that you weren’t aware you had, but when you’re living out your gifts it feels natural. Finally, you should expect to have a feeling of renewed energy. The work feeds you, it doesn’t drain you. It fulfills you in a way that forcing yourself to chores that bore or irritate you can’t possi-bly do. God is on your side, remember. He wants you to be as the old recruiting slogan has it, “All that you can be.”
What kind of activities make you feel drained of energy? What kinds increase your energy levels? Does being with certain people seem to pep you up or drain you? Write down three types of activities that make you forget what time it is when you look at the clock and it’s dinner time already! Time has flown by without your ever looking at your watch and wondering when you can move on to something else. This is an clue that you might be working within your giftedness. When you’re working on something that feels like the longest day of your life, you are probably trying to force yourself into a role that’s not meant for you. Ask yourself, “When do I feel the most fulfilled, the most energized?
Another clue about your gifts is when other people affirm what you are doing. One of the things we are asking the Monday night class to do is to have someone who knows them well answer a questionnaire. What three strengths have other people noticed in you? God uses others to affirm us in our gifts.
Now I’m going to do something that may be kind of boring. I’m going to list the gifts - with a brief definition - that Paul identifies in Romans 12, 1 Cor 12, and Eph 4, and two others that appear in the Old Testament. Some of them you may not even realize are spiritual gifts. It is typical not to recognize something that is so much a part of your life that you don’t even think of it as special. But I want you to listen and write down the ones that ring a bell for you. Some of these we don’t emphasize much in the Presbyterian church, but I’m not going to leave anything out because that wouldn’t be fair. Anyway, here they come, in alphabetical order. Remember, each gift includes both the ability and the desire.
? Administration: to understand organizations, plan and execute procedures.
? Apostleship: to start churches and oversee their development.
? Craftsmanship: to construct beautiful and/or useful items needed for ministry.
? Creative Communication: to communicate God's truth through a variety of art forms.
? Discernment: to distinguish between truth and error.
? Evangelism: to communicate the message of Christ to unbelievers.
? Exhortation (also called encouragement): to encourage, strengthen and affirm those who are discouraged
? Faith: to see the Lord's will and act on it with unwavering belief.
? Giving: to contribute money and material resources to the work of the Lord.
? Healing: to be God's channel for restoring people to health.
? Helps: to do practical tasks needed by the Body of Christ.
? Hospitality: to care for new or needy people with fellowship, food, and shelter.
? Interpretation: to make known to the Body the message of one who is speaking in tongues.
? Knowledge: to accumulate and analyze information effectively.
? Leadership: to envision a goal and to attract, lead, and motivate people to fulfill it.
? Mercy: to comfort and strengthen people who are suffering.
? Miracles: to do powerful acts which authenticate the gospel and glorify God.
? Prophecy (also called preaching): to proclaim God's truth with clarity in a timely and sensitive fashion,
whether in a formal or informal setting.
? Service: to identify and fulfill unmet needs within the body, making appropriate use of available resources.
? Shepherding (also called pastoring): to lead and nurture individuals or groups in the body of Christ as they
grow in faith.
? Teaching: to understand, explain, and apply the word of God to the lives of listeners.
? Tongues: to speak in unknown languages, or a special prayer language.
? Wisdom: to apply knowledge effectively and in a godly manner.
Now, as I said, just giving you a list may be a little boring, and it certainly doesn’t get you very far. But at least you know how broad the range is; and I hope that at the very least you will understand that hospitality is as important as prophecy, if not more so, and that administration can be as spiritual as miracles. Many of these things are expected of all believers. We are all to be merciful, to encourage one another, and to give generously. But to some is given an additional measure, an extra dose of both the passion and resources to be especially effective in one of these roles.
Wanting to be used by God is the most important ingredient of all. Matthew Henry said, “we bar our own doors.” We often set our own limits because we don’t really want to turn over our whole lives to God. But Paul tells us to “eagerly desire spiritual gifts.” [I Cor 14:1] What are we willing to do with what God has given us? In the parable we heard about the talents, the third servant, the one who hid his talent instead of investing it, was afraid to run any risks because he knew the master had very high standards. So some of us don’t unwrap our gifts because we fear failure, or what people will say, or looking stupid, or getting hurt.
If you aren’t actively seeking out or using your gifts to build up the body of Christ, why not? It’s why you were made.
I ran across a marvelous little poem while preparing this sermon:
I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, real service is what I desire.
I’ll sing a solo whenever, dear Lord, but don’t make me sing in the choir.
I’ll do what you want me to do, dear Lord, I like to see things come to pass.
But don’t ask me to teach boys and girls, O Lord, I’d rather just stay in my class.
I’ll do what you want me to do, dear Lord; I yearn for your kingdom to thrive
I’ll give you my nickels and dimes, dear Lord, but please don’t ask me to tithe.
If you do decide to start unwrapping and using your gifts, there are three principles to keep in mind. The first is that the purpose of spiritual gifts is to build up the body of Christ. Let me repeat that: the purpose of spiritual gifts is “to build up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” [Eph 4:12-13]
The second principle is that the possession of spiritual gifts depends upon action. Spiritual gifts only sprout and grow when we exercise them. And just like physical growth, spiritual gifts mature with the application of nourishment, exercise, coaching, motivation, patience - to name only a few.
And third, last, and most important: The practice of spiritual gifts must be in love. Paul tells us to “love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. “ [Rom 12:10) Peter adds to that,
"Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins." [1 Pet 4:8] And of course the greatest reminder of all comes in 1 Cor 13: “if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” [1Cor 13:2]
