On Spiritual Gifts

I must admit this week’s study on spiritual gifts has been a challenging one. I was one of those who had that old school view that spiritual gift inventories helped guide you in the direction of church ministry. When in reality, it is the Holy Spirit who gives an assignment and the gift for the assignment.

There were two things in last week’s study that stood out to me. The first is the difference between spiritual gifts and talents. I’ve always known that there’s a difference between the two but I’ve always considered a talent to be something like singing, being able to play a musical instrument, even cooking. I never thought of my being able to teach as more likely being a talent rather than a gift and that my spiritual gift might be something else, which the Holy Spirit could use in conjunction with my talent/gift for teaching.

Another thing that stood out to me was the fact that the gifts might change over time. As Jerry said in class, just because you can do something this time doesn’t mean that you will always be able to do the same thing. The secret is to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. As Henry Blackaby said in his Experiencing God study, when the Holy Spirit reveals to you a need or a ministry, that’s God invitation to you to join Him in what He is doing.

I suppose that this is why the statement he made on page 32 is so significant. He wrote: “Don’t look at your abilities and natural talents and serve only in those areas you feel competent. If you do, you’ll eliminate yourself from significant areas of service.” We may not all have a burning bush experience, but God does invite us to join Him in His work. I am convinced that He could use us like He used the Old Testament patriarchs, taking them to foreign lands or to stand before kings, only if we are willing—for He is able. First, we must be willing to talk to the people we live with and work with before He can trust us in something bigger.

One reason why this rang a bell for me is because Saturday night, my three-year and I was watching Veggie Tales and they were doing the story of Gideon. Gideon was a man who God was calling to lead an army. But Gideon didn’t see it. He wasn’t a soldier and he wasn’t a commander. In fact, he seemed to lack courage. But he decided to trust God and go, even though God kept shrinking his army. If he had only thought about what he was good at or what he could do, he would have eliminated himself from this significant area of service. No one would have ever known his name.

What is your area of service? What would God have you do? It used to be said that God would not call you to do something you wouldn’t like. It’s not the liking that the measure, but the gifting. If it is something that causes you to take pause and say, “God, are you sure?”, then you’re likely looking in the right direction. Otherwise, we must ask the question, are we serving for God’s purpose or our own?

CHEAP GRACE

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”- John 4:21-24

I believe this is another one of those misapplied or misused texts in the Bible. This is the text that comes to mind when people say, ‘I don’t have to go to church to worship God. I can worship Him at home or anywhere.’ This is true. The problem comes in when Christians use it as an excuse not to go to church. To miss out on going to church is to miss out on a blessing. People who often say such things know that worshipping God is the farthest thing on their mind when they are not at church. Forgive me, but I don’t see people praising God for their car while they are busy washing it or their yard while they’re cutting it. I doubt they thank God for the beautiful earth while they are putting on the back nine or praise Him for the hole-in-one.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying one must be in church every time the doors are open. There are times when a person must miss. They may be out of town, ill, tending a sick child, or have some other reason. This is directed towards people who habitually miss and who use that scripture as a loophole for not going to church when the real reason they miss has more to do with a desire not to be there than anything else. People say that the ones who live like this are living on cheap grace.

Whether you call it cheap grace or “easy believism”, it essentially says that all you have to do to be saved is to believe in Jesus, be baptized, and you’re in. I call it false faith. The Bible teaches that we are to believe on Jesus and we will be saved. A lot of people merely believe in Jesus. That may have been my problem. When I joined the church in 1984, I believe I did so because I believed in Jesus. It wasn’t until I was in college until I was saved because I believed on Jesus. Here’s the difference;

Believe in Jesus, I did something.
Believe on Jesus, someone other than me did something.

People who don’t go to church but call themselves Christians are just fooling themselves, in my opinion. I do not believe church attendance to be any more optional than church membership. By attending church, we are constantly exposed to the Word of God, encouraged by other believers, find accountability, and receive prayer support. These are just a few benefits of church attendance.

When Jesus made those statements to the Samaritan woman, He was merely pointing out the fact that the worship of God would not be bound to one place. As priests of God, we will be able to worship Him anywhere because He is in us and He is with us.
Those who follow cheap grace should be careful. It is true that grace is free. It is true that we are no longer under the law. But grace has freed us from being bound to ritualistic practices to being able to reflect the image of Jesus. Early every morning, Jesus was up with the Lord. He didn’t avoid church. Instead, He dedicated time to it.

So, you might ask, what’s the big deal about going to church? My question is, how can you call yourself a Christian and not want to worship God and fellowship with His Saints? Lack of church attendance may be a sign of a more serious spiritual problem. Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit.” Lack of fruit can be a sign of either lack of spiritual growth or lack of faith. Those who do not go to church regularly are not likely to study their Bibles, sing praises to God, provide services to His Kingdom, or lead others to faith in Him. If there are no signs of spiritual growth and no evidence of faith, then one what bases does one claim salvation?

If all it takes is a prayer and a handshake to get into the Kingdom, then heaven should not be able to contain all the people who have walked an aisle. God isn’t interested in a membership card as much as He is a contrite heart and a changed life, all evidence of salvation.

A New Year…A New Direction

How many are satisfied with where they were at the end of last year? How many of you want to improve your situation this year? Whether it be in your family life, social life, finances, spiritual life, mental state or physical appearance. You can change. Of course change doesn’t have to happen on January 1st, but most people look at the new year as a starting place for a new beginning. Most make what are called “New Year’s Resolutions.” The thing about resolutions is that they rarely last out the month, to say nothing of the year.

Instead of setting resolutions, we need to set goals. What is it you want to change or improve this year? Write that goal or those goals down. Now, determine what steps you need to make to accomplish those goals. For instance, if you want to bulk up, tone up or firm up this year, some things you can do is visit your doctor to determine what the best way for you to do this is. If your doctor, OK’s exercising and physical activity for you, you can start looking a gym memberships or, if you are a self-motivator, you can do it at home. Look at the price of gym equipment (if you don’t have any). You can get exercise tips and information off the Internet or from a bookstore. There are also magazines dedicated to health and fitness.

The Bible says, “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (Galatians 6:7).” If he plants an apple seed, he will reap an apple tree. If a woman sows good deed, she will reap good in return. If we sow bad seeds, we will reap a tree that bears rotten fruit. The world says it this way: The definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing and expecting a different result. If you want a different outcome than last year, you need change the direction of your life this year. I once read a platitude that said:

You are where you are today because of the decisions you made yesterday;
You will be tomorrow where you will be because of the decisions you make today.

That was the challenge I got from the Lord this year. If you want to end 2009 differently than 2008, financially, emotionally, spiritually, socially, you need to change some things. You need to do things differently than you did last year. You may need to change jobs, change friends, learn new skills, or go {back} to school. My advice to you is to seek the Lord’s counsel then make wise decisions. You will be the better for it (Proverbs 3:5-8).