Theological Reflection: Gifts are the realm of the Holy Spirit.
All good gifts flow from the primary Gift that Jesus gave us in his ascension to the Father: he gave us his Spirit. Prior to Pentecost, the Spirit of God appeared at specific times for specific purposes, but did not invest Godself in people in quite the same way as we see in the New Testament. This was a new chapter in the story of God and Humanity.
I quite like how the New Testament offers us insight into who the Holy Spirit is for us. Saint Paul calls the Spirit a deposit, or down payment, for what is to come later. Jesus says the Spirit is our teacher and advocate, a way to remain connected to him and to one another. We in the Christian household consider our communion with the Holy Spirit to be one of the many ways we come to know the voice of God when taken in concert with nature, scripture, church tradition, and our local community of believers.
The Holy Spirit does much of the work of redeeming our inner and outer worlds. Inwardly, we learn to develop virtue through a co-laboring with the Spirit to help us become more like Christ. Outwardly, we co-labor with the Spirit to affect the lives of others through the spiritual gifts. One of the most interesting developments I see in the modern church landscape, in this country today at least, is the wedding of inner Spirit work through the contemplative traditions and the outer Spirit work through the charismatic/pentecostal traditions. The reality is we need both, and as these two rooms in the Christian household commune and share space with one another, the better we will all be for it.
Reflection:
Meditate on 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. Read the passage through, slowly. consider using a couple different translations to let Paul’s words wash over you.
What does this passage tell you about the Trinitarian God (Father, Son, Spirit)? What specifically is Paul saying about the Holy Spirit?
What does this passage tell you about the Spirit living within you?
How do you best hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit?
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Spiritual Gifts
I began my life in professional ministry in a Vineyard church in Nashville, Tennessee. I had grown up Anglican, settled into an Anglican church in college, and the paradigm shift sent my head spinning. In fact, I initially found a lot of the Vineyard culture rather offensive at first, it was so different to what I knew as the “right” way to do church. However, I felt a strong sense from the Lord there was much there for me to learn. While I had grown up with an awareness of the Holy Spirit, and a recognition and occasional demonstration of the spiritual gifts, here I found a community of young people pursuing the Holy Spirit with abandon. I felt like God told me, “I have given you a strong foundation, now I want you to experience me in a new way.” It became an amazing space to learn and grow, and eventually develop an orientation to the Spirit when I was called to leave behind my life as a high school teacher to become a spiritual director.
The Vineyard Church emerged out of the Jesus Movement in the 1970’s, when a strange stirring brought together young hippy types and Spirit-filled mainline ministers who perceived a new thing was happening in this country. John Wimber founded the Vineyard to create space for this mixing of traditions with a special emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit. We stood on the foundation of a variety of perspectives and demonstrations of those gifts, especially Methodist, Catholic, and Pentecostal. We believed that, while every gift is available to any Christ-follower at any time according to God’s requirements, we were each specifically endowed with certain gifts that would shape our special contribution to the Kingdom. As we each learned what those gifts might be, we could see the rich tapestry emerge in a community, and take stock of the responsibility we each have to hone our skills. Only when all the gifts are present do we get the fullest picture of God possible.
Paul said as much in his wonderful treatise on the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14. There is much there to unpack, but several key truths bear drawing out. Firstly, there is a diversity to the gifts, but they are received from the same Spirit. This ensures we are unified in our diversity. Secondly, the gifts don’t create a hierarchy in the community, something Paul was especially adamant about correcting in the church in Corinth. They, like us, mistakingly thought certain gifts or offices meant one person is more favored or privileged than another, perhaps along the lines you and I might assume. It’s a very natural human endeavor for us to rank our fellow human beings according to systems God never intended. Thirdly, we all need each other if we’re going to be the thriving, Spirit-filled church we’re called to be. We cannot cast anyone aside easily based on our prejudicial assumptions. Finally, we recognize that all gifts from God are temporary aides to help us reveal the Kingdom in the world, but the only eternal gift is that of Love. Simply possessing a gift is not an indicator of intimacy with God (see Matthew 7:21-23). All the gifts find their meaning and effectiveness as an expression of divine love.
How We Discern Our Gifts
Learning how to read our stories and personalities well already sets us up to discover gifts we may be using without realizing it. I believe there are some spiritual gifts that are quite natural to us, perhaps present in our lives from a very early age or even before we met God, while others are granted to us later in life as we sink deeper into Kingdom realities. Our awareness and demonstration of the gifts is also contingent on what we have been exposed to. For example, if you didn’t grow up in a church that practiced speaking in tongues, you are less likely to practice that gift. I’m reminded of what Jesus says the first time he sends his apostles out into the world: “Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward…”, meaning quite simply, to enter into relationship with someone who claims to be able to hear God’s voice opens you to the possibility that you are also capable. Even in the best spiritual assessment tools we must be aware of what we are bringing into them from our story so far, and we should remain open to the possibility God might welcome us into strange territory that equips us for our calling, even if only for a season.
There are a variety of assessments out there, but I have loved using one developed in my Nashville community that modifies the Houts-Wagner test. In it, we identify twenty-three gifts that form a few different categories. These are based upon a few different lists of gifts we see in scripture(1 Cor. 12-14, Rom. 12:6-8, Eph. 4:11), while setting a few aside as more vocational postures (worship and poverty, for example). Most gifts tend to speak to a calling to build the Church vertically through maturing Christians or horizontally through welcoming new people into the community of God.
For a prayer journey and a spiritual gifts assessment, visit https://www.citybeautiful.ch/spiritual-gifts .
THE OFFICES
Often referred to as “the five-fold ministry”, these are gifts that operate like specific vocations in the faithful community. Their role is to establish a firm foundation upon which the rest of the gifts can be used and thrive. These are in no way more important than the others, but they do take precedence for laying the groundwork. Some churches consider each of these to be appointed to one specific office-holder, while others would see them more as attitudes that should be present in leadership in general.
Apostle- the visionaries among us who reveal a big picture of what heaven is like and set the course toward making it a reality. They are gatherers and entrepreneurs.
Prophet - offers the direct revelation of God to the community, in the moment, to keep them in God’s will.
Teacher - uncovers old truths in new ways for the people from scripture, leading to intimacy with God and new understanding of identity.
Pastor - give of themselves in order to protect and guide the flock along the way.
Evangelist - a demonstration of God’s heart that leads to a new awareness of Jesus and his Kingdom.
One other gift often, but not always, undergirds these five to make it more of an office:
Leadership - to have the attention of others and shift direction of a community in accordance with how the role is stewarded.
THE PROCESSORS
This set of gifts often acts as a lens that augments one of the offices, shaping the specific way in which an office might be expressed. The are specifically geared towards how we process the world, and how we put something back out into it.
Knowledge - the capacity to internalize and process information, especially from scripture and human experience.
Wisdom - applying the truth of God’s revelation - from scripture, prophecy and experience - to the present moment.
Intercession - intuitively understanding the needs of others and addressing those needs in service and prayer.
Discernment - a divine understanding of the source of what we know or are experiencing on the surface of life.
Exhortation - seeing the sovereignty of God and encouraging others to move into hope and victory.
THE MIRACULOUS
Sometimes referred to as the “supernatural” gifts(a problematic designation that implies the other gifts are merely “natural”) these gifts nonetheless seem to go beyond the way God has ordered nature to give us an awareness of what God is capable of.
Healing - having particular insight into, and the power to address, any number of infirmities that are a result of a broken world, be they physical, emotional, or mental.
Miracles - extraordinary signs that point back to the power of God, that also reflect God’s heart and personality.
Deliverance - the ability to identify evil and liberate captives from oppression and possession.
Tongues - sometimes split into “speaking” and “interpreting”, the ability to speak another language to convey God’s message outside one’s native tongue. Can be glossolalia as a prayer language (often for personal use), or xenoglossia as a foreign language(often for evangelism).
THE CULTURE BUILDERS
Once a foundation has been established by the offices, people demonstrating these gifts proactively build a sustainable culture that reflects an alternative view of community to what the world might offer. If the offices are the foundation of the House, this is the framework.
Service - radically breaks open the top-down power systems of the world in order to establish a Kingdom economy where the last shall be first, the least is greatest.
Helps - take hold of God’s vision for an initiative, a person, or the church and, through action, thrust us into a new level of effectiveness.
Administration - reveals the orderliness of God by solving problems and accomplishing tasks by creating loving systems.
Hospitality - offers others the dignity and honor of being human, especially through “home” and “kindness”.
Giving - holding loosely to resources, allowing the generosity of God to flow through them to others with a sense of joy.
THE CONTEXT
All the other gifts find their context in two primary values of the Kingdom. These are both our motivation and our goal, and certain people within a community are specially equipped to remind us of what matters most.
Mercy - put the bleeding heart of Jesus on display, and remind us why we do what we do in the Kingdom.
Faith - abiding in who God says God is and what God has promised us, even beyond our current experiences.
Stewarding the Gifts
Each gift, like our personalities, has a healthy side and an unhealthy side. Just because we posses the gift does not mean we have automatic intimacy with God or clear insight into its use. I would even be so bold as to say we have hurt others, and been hurt by others, because we take this for granted. Like our personalities, we have to learn to steward what God has given us. How do we do this?
I find it most helpful to focus on what I believe might be the three primary gifts operating in my life today. This is no way means I’m not open to using the other gifts to impact another person, but it means there is a common thread to my best contribution. When I focus, and can start seeing how these gifts might contribute to one another. For example a person with a teaching gift who also has wisdom (like myself) will preach in one particular way, while a teacher with a prophetic gift may come at the same truth from a different angle.
When I don’t take for granted that a gift means I’m already using it properly, it opens me up to be curious about what that gift is capable of in greatest health. This prompts me to seek out others who are demonstrating the gift in a fuller capacity, not least of which can be found in scripture. Ultimately, I can look to Jesus to see that gift on display. I know for myself, learning how Jesus taught others has been extremely life-giving.
Just as how my personality has a light side and a dark side that sit right next to one another, so do my gifts. Knowing the pitfalls and blindspots in my gifts helps me to become more self-aware as I’m practicing.
Finally, find a safe place to explore and grow is invaluable. I need a community who believe the best in me to practice my gifts, risk being wrong and be affirmed when I am effective. The reality is that none of these gifts mean much of anything if they are not contributing to the work of the local church, either in growing in maturity together or reaching beyond the walls of the church to offer others the love of God.
Reflection:
List your three dominant gifts.
What can you imagine the relationship between those gifts might be for you? How do they craft a specific contribution to the work of the church?
What do each of those gifts look like when used healthily, and when used in a deficiency? Consider your own life, and examples you’ve seen around you.
How did Jesus demonstrate mastery of the gifts you possess? Give specific examples.