Gift Giving...In My Broke Season

I am about to get "Churchy..."

God has given certain gifts to be used for ministry to others..to be clear I am not talking solely about the others in the church. These gifts are not just gifts for pastors or for those in full-time ministry to earn a living. They are gifts that are deep and wide in the body of Christ to give a full expression of the gospel in every nook and cranny of the world. Everyone born has some natural gifting and natural talent. Some have more than others. But our natural gifting is not capped off or complete until the Spirit works in us through our faith. Natural gifts are perfected by our faith in Christ so that they are completed in us and made spiritual gifts for the glory of God and the gain of the church.

There are several places in scriptures that name the gifts (i.e…Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4 are the most prominent places). All in all there are 22 gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the scriptures and they cover everything from prophecy to celibacy. Each of these texts gives a list of gifts to be aware of. I will say that these lists are not in competition with each other and are not to be ranked against each other. They are all compliments of each other and complete the thoughts of Paul on what the Spirit does in the life of a believer in order to bear fruit in the kingdom of God. No one gift is to be elevated, but all gifts are to be appreciated and applied to the work of the church.

1 Corinthians 12:4 reads…

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.(verses 4-7, ESV)

It is likely that our eyes fix on the word “variety” used 3 times (so far) because it strengthens our position to be the way we want to be and do faith the way we want it to be. We love the idea of variety. The truth is that while we like to hold up the right to having variety in church or in theology, what we end up arguing for is that “our variety” is the right one or even the only one. We think somewhere down deep inside that we have discovered a secret way to God and everyone else should just follow us, think like us, buy into what we have bought into. This passage is not saying such. It calls us to be who we are, but to be who we are in Christ for…wait for it…the common good. So, our varieties are not points of power or privilege, but expressions of the gospel that collects us into all others confessing Christ as Lord even if they are of a different variety.

The common good here is a drastically underused term in the church today, but it is paramount to the vision of how we all fit together. The common good is not about socialism or about undeserved charity (as if they were a sin.) Common good is an ideal of the Apostle Paul to draw people together - not in their language, heritage, preferences, or traditions - but in their faith in Christ Jesus as Lord. To be clear in what he is saying, the common good is the application or the intention of all acts or gifts of ministry. Never is the good of one or a few the focus of the work of the Spirit. Bringing the gospel into the experience of all people of faith in all situations and circumstances is the intention of the Spirit and the hope of Christ.

So how does the Spirit bring about the common good? Through you and through me.

Read on…

For to one is given through the Spirit the 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. (verses 8-11, ESV)

Wisdom, knowledge, extreme faith, healing, miraculous working, prophecy, discernment, and languages or interpreting languages are all named here. They are gifts needed in the church for the common good of doing life together and working out faith together. These gifts help us discern how God is leading, helps us seek the help and healing for hurt or conflict, helps us handle complex ideas or thoughts, and helps us bear the suffering that is a part of all human experience. I have benefited from the gifting of other who were given these gifts for my common good and for the common good of the body of Christ.

Even before we knew we needed knowledge, healing, discernment and other kinds of help, God gave it to us through others. He did so because it was good for the common experience of faith and the common practice of Christian witness. Without such gifts the opportunity to grow in Christ and the challenge of navigating life on earth by faith is a much greater challenge and likely impossible. We need these gifts. I do not have all (I only have a strong two in my opinion) of these spiritual gifts and neither do you. But our church does and our community does. And we are thankful for it.

So, I have these or some supernatural gifts from God that make me necessary. Now what? Keep reading…

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (verses 12-13, ESV)

I Thank God for these last two verses. This is where it comes together for understanding and application. This phrase - “one body/Spirit” - used 5 times here is at the heart of the teaching. It helps us fit our gifts into our common experience with the world. So when our spiritual gifts come into a direct conflict with the world, we know just what to do or how to be. We lean into our oneness rather than holding onto our “otherness”, our “varieties”, our even what we think to be our “God given rights.” We hold the common good to be the framework for our voting, our virtues, and our values. Christ of course is the foundation, but the walls and the roof construct a dwelling for the common good to abide and to align their hopes and prayers. The scriptures uses the word “one” over and over again to draw us away from being alone, being too unique for unity, being in the majority, or being our own number one priority in everything. Oneness calls us out of the shadows of separation and superiority and into the light of serving and surrender.

Common good. Gifts of the Spirit. Oneness.

God created and called us to be gifts for the common good and that starts in our home, our neighborhood, our church, and our workplace before it ever seeps into our social media following or what have you. Don’t worry about how you will succeed. He has already gifted you for spiritual success.

Think of others (the common good) first. That is what God did and what God does. He gifted us to do the same. He is all about the common good in the world. What about you?