I have a few questions for you. You don’t have to answer out loud. No show of hands required. You don’t need to nod your head. You don’t need to shake your head. But these are not rhetorical questions. They are real questions, serious questions, important questions.
What do you think God wants from you? What do you think God wants for you?
Two questions: What do you think God wants from you? What do you think God wants for you? How you live your life has a lot to do with how you answer these questions.
If you think the fullest answer to the first question is that God wants you to be good and to do good things, then eventually you are going to end up in one of three places: (1) You are going to spend your life trying really, really hard to be good and to do good things until you are exhausted. (2) You are going to spend your life with your head down trying not to be noticed by God because you gave up the impossible task of being good and doing good all the time. (3) You are going to convince yourself that all God really wants is for you to be a basically good person who does more good than bad most of the time.
I have a friend who grew up in a very legalistic Christian tradition. He learned to try really, really hard to be good and to do good things. Being a sinner, just like the rest of us, he was unable to live up to the highest standard of goodness for very long at a time. Every time he fell short, he suffered shame, humiliation, and self-doubt. Even when he succeeded for awhile, he lived in anxiety, wondering if he was being good enough and doing enough good. I don’t think he even thought much about the second question. He was so focused on what he had been taught God wanted from him that he didn’t have energy left over to wonder what God wanted for him.
Have you ever known anybody who lived her life like she was just marking off the days on the calendar until it’s all over? This person has such a clear sense of her own sinfulness that she also has a sense of futility. Why even try to be good or do good when you know you can’t succeed? Just keep your head down. Try to stay out of the way. Don’t call attention to yourself. Don’t try anything new. Go through the motions. Go to work. Go to church. Attend family functions. Just get through today. Then get through tomorrow. Then get through the next day. And so on. Why even ask what God wants for you? How could he want anything for such a wretched soul?
These two examples are extremes. Many people lean one way or the other, but few actually live at that extreme.
On the other hand, millions upon millions of church-going Christians have convinced themselves that all God really wants is for us to be basically good people who do more good than bad most of the time. Many of us never articulate this position in words, we just live it out in our approach to life. We know we aren’t perfect, but we don’t intentionally cause harm to other people…at least not very often. We haven’t murdered anybody. We don’t lie…not really, not about big things. We don’t cheat…unless, of course, we feel like we got cheated first. We don’t steal…a few pens from work now and then don’t count, do they? It’s ok. God can’t possibly expect perfection from us in such an imperfect world. As long as I’m basically a good person, I’ll be ok.
What does God want for me? Why surely he just wants me to be happy. And because God wants me to be happy, he’ll excuse a little sin here and there as long as I’m simply pursuing happiness.
What do you think God wants from you? What do you think God wants for you? How you live your life has a lot to do with how you answer these questions.
If you think there’s something more to the answer to the first question, then your life will be different. You won’t have to try so hard you drive yourself to exhaustion. You won’t have give up in despair. You’ll meet a God who isn’t so wishy-washy as to expect us merely to be basically good and who is way too awesome and glorious to wish us nothing more than the vain pursuit of happiness.
What do you think God wants from you? What do you think God wants for you? How you live your life has a lot to do with how you answer these questions.
The Bible gives a different answer to the first question.
Don’t get me wrong. The Bible certainly affirms that God wants us to be good and do good. But that is not the sum total of what God wants from us. And it is not even close to being the first thing that God wants from us.
Consider the Law of Moses. The first commandment: You shall have no other gods before me. The second commandment: You shall not make for yourself an idol. The third commandment: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The fourth commandment: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy; just as God rested on the seventh day, so are we to rest. The first four commandments are about loving God and honoring him. Then come six commandments about what to do in relationship with one another: honor your father and mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not covet what belongs to another. It’s worth noting that the commandment about doing nothing (keep the Sabbath holy) comes higher on the list than the commandments about doing good.
Consider also Jesus’ teachings about the two greatest commandments. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.
God wants us to be good and do good. But he wants something else more. He wants something else first. He wants us to love him with heart and mind and soul and strength. He wants us to put him first and foremost in our lives. He wants us to look to him for provision and hope and healing and guidance…and to no other. He wants us to recognize that we are not God and that he is God.
This is what God wants from us. So what does God want for us?
The Bible never particularly promises happiness to God’s people. But the Bible does promise joy…over and over and over.
Jesus described the kingdom of God in terms of joy: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44).
When Jesus was giving his disciples final instructions right before his betrayal, he said to them, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 14:11).
Paul’s letters are filled with statements about joy. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
What do you think God wants from you? What do you think God wants for you? How you live your life has a lot to do with how you answer these questions.
Which brings us to the spiritual gifts.
If you think what God wants most from you is to do good and be good, then you have good reason to be leery of the spiritual gifts…for every gift brings with it a task, a role to fulfill within the body of Christ.
In Romans chapter 12, Paul writes “If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it…If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give…if it is leadership, let him govern…” (Romans 12:6-8). If you have a gift, use it!
If you think the spiritual gifts do nothing more than raise the ante of what it takes for you to do good and be good, then it would make sense to shy away from the spiritual gifts. Don’t seek any you do not already have. Don’t look very hard to discover the ones you do have.
If you think that what God wants most for you is happiness, then you have good reason to be leery of the spiritual gifts. The gifts are not designed to help you pursue your own happiness. The gifts are designed for the common good—to build up the body of Christ. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).
What do you think God wants from you? What do you think God wants for you? How you live your life has a lot to do with how you answer these questions.
If you think what God wants most from you is to love him with heart and mind and soul and strength, to put him first and foremost in your life, to recognize that you are not God and that he is God, then you will be open to the spiritual gifts. You will be excited about them. You will explore with awe what gifts God is working in you, and you will seek to develop them to the fullest.
The spiritual gifts are not responsibilities that hang around our necks like millstones weighing us down with guilt.
The spiritual gifts are just that—gifts!—and exercising the gifts is an exercise in loving and honoring the God who gives them.
If you think that what God wants most for you is joy, then you will be open to the spiritual gifts. You will be excited about them. You will explore with awe what gifts God is working in you, and you will seek to develop them to the fullest.
The spiritual gifts are not assignments that distract us from the pursuit of personal happiness.
The spiritual gifts are just that—gifts!—and you can trust that God will not give you a gift designed to make you miserable. God gives you gifts custom-designed for who you are and whom God, in his love, is making you to be. Exercising the gifts involves walking toward the joy of knowing the God who loves you and joining him in his purposes.
So what are the gifts?
The gifts are talents and abilities that God gives to his people so that they might fulfill a function within the body of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul lists wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues. Later in that same chapter, he names some (but not all) of these again, and he also mentions administration and helping.
In chapter 12 of his Letter to the Romans, Paul lists some of the same gifts (again, not all) and includes some more: teaching, serving, encouraging, giving, leadership, and mercy.
Neither of these lists is comprehensive. Paul is citing examples of spiritual gifts. He is not attempting to give a final word on what is or is not a gift. Throughout the New and Old Testaments, many other gifts are mentioned: craftsmanship, music, leading worship, pastor, evangelist, and so on.
Some of the gifts apply to activities that some Christians are called to do and others are not called to do. Some are called to be prophets; most are not. Some are gifted to speak in tongues; many are not.
Many of the gifts overlap with activities that all Christians are called to do. We are all called to show mercy, to serve, to give generously, to encourage one another, to have faith, to be agents of God’s healing love, to share the Good News and teach Christ’s commands. But some of us receive particular gifts for mercy or serving or giving or encouraging or evangelizing or teaching.
The gifts are talents and abilities that God gives to his people so that—the gifts always come with a purpose—so that—they might fulfill a function within the body of Christ.
This is what makes the gifts of the Spirit different from the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, etc. The fruit of the Spirit are attributes of our character that the Spirit is at work growing in each and every Christian. The fruit of the Spirit are the marks of being conformed more and more in the image and likeness of Christ.
No Christian can rightfully say God has chosen to grow in them the fruit of patience but is saving gentleness for someone else.
On the other hand, no one Christian has all the spiritual gifts. Some one who has the gift of teaching may be lousy at administration. Someone with the gift of music may have no talent for craftsmanship. Someone with the gift of tongues may not have a particular gift for leading.
But all Christians have at least one spiritual gift. That is the promise of scripture. Your gift may be hidden. Your gift may be underdeveloped. But if you belong to Christ then you have a gift. You probably have more than one.
As a member of the body, you have a function within the body—not as a responsibility to weigh you down, but as a way for you to love and honor the God who loves you.
Your spiritual gifts are for the common good, but they are also just for you. Your spiritual gifts are no reason to boast of superiority, but they are a mark of your uniqueness.
God does not randomly assign gifts. Your gifts were specially picked out just for you. God knew you before you were born. He knew what attributes would be written into your DNA. He knew what family traditions and family secrets would go into shaping you. He knew how your life experiences would contribute to the mix. And, most of all, he knew his plans for molding you, as a potter molds clay, out of these ingredients. “All of these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives [gifts] to each one, just as he determines” (1 Corinthians 12:11).
If your gift is teaching, then teaching will not always make you happy. Not all students desire to learn and some are rebellious. But, as you develop your gift, teaching will flow from you as an expression of your love for God, and it will bring you joy.
If your gift is mercy, then showing mercy will not always make you happy. It can be difficult and painful to walk with someone else in their pain. But, as you develop your gift, showing mercy will flow from you as an expression of your love for God, and it will bring you joy.
If your gift is giving, then giving will not always make you happy. If you give your money generously where it is needed then you may not be able to get that vacation home you have always wanted. But, as you develop your gift, giving will flow from you as an expression of your love for God, and it will bring you joy.
If your gift is serving, then serving will not always make you happy. You will often take on tasks that no one else wants to do and you will frequently receive no notice or thanks. But, as you develop your gift, serving will flow from you as an expression of your love for God, and it will bring you joy.
I know someone who was elated the first time she participated in a spiritual gifts inventory. She told me, “Now I have a reason to say ‘no’ when the Christian Ed. people ask me to teach Sunday School! Teaching is not my gift. I scored a ‘two’ on teaching. What a relief! And now I know what else to tell them: when you have an event to organize to kick-off Sunday School for the kids and parents or to honor the teachers at the end of the year, give me a call. My gifts are hospitality and administration and I can do that!”
What do you think God wants from you? What do you think God wants for you? How you live your life has a lot to do with how you answer these questions.
