It is with both joy and sadness we say goodbye to our most recent series, CHARISMATA. Over the past fifteen weeks we have explored the spiritual gifts, given to us by the Spirit of Jesus to love people back into relationship with God. It is my hope that you have gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for how God has specifically crafted you to partner with Him in Kingdom work, and that you have a deeper appreciation for others in our community who do it differently than you.
It almost didn’t happen. While I had felt the direction from the Lord at the beginning of the year as part of our vision “maturing in Christ for the sake of the world”, with the unforeseen pandemic, racial tensions, and ongoing political divide in our country, doing a series on spiritual gifts initially felt irresponsible. Yet, as we prayed into where to head next (we should always hold our plans loosely before the Lord), I felt it was still the right direction for us, and that God would reveal some surprising insight into what’s going on in our country and around the world through the spiritual gifts as a lens. By seeing the task before us as the Spirit-led church, the way God has prepared us to meet the moment has gained a new vitality and urgency.
The gifts give us insight into the core values of the Kingdom of heaven over and above the status quo of the society around us. In them we see all these facets of the heart of God on display through people He has rescued and redeemed, a family made of strangers. And by practicing these gifts in community we find ourselves working out our salvation together.
Here are a few observations I have found especially helpful for understanding the spiritual gifts as a whole:
All the gifts are available to all of us all the time, but some gifts are specifically invested in some of us as part of our calling. When we know which gifts are dominant in us, we can reflect on the intersection of those gifts with our stories (how God has brought us to this point) and our personalities (how we interpret and interact with the world around us). It is by cultivating our dominant gifts that we find the long-term work God has called us to.
We are healthiest when all the gifts are present in our community. By taking careful stock of here we’re at now, we can champion people so gifted to raise the bar in certain areas of what it means to be the church. We can also ensure members of our community are able to serve in ways that play into their gifts, and know how to encourage health in service. Most importantly, the heart of God is most fully revealed when every gift is celebrated.
Our gifts are both an affirmation of who we are and a challenge to greater responsibility in our work. While some gifts are radically imparted at a particular moment in our stories, many of our gifts will seem like the most natural extension of our personalities. The worst thing we can do is feel like we are entitled to power or are automatically “in” because of the spiritual gifts we possess. Jesus challenges us in strong terms in Matthew 7:21-23 about action without intimacy, and Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 points out how dangerous it is to think giftedness means privilege among God’s people. We have a responsibility to learn how to steward our gifts well, so that we don’t find our value in what we do, or hurt ourselves or others by missing the point of our abilities.
We know we are stewarding our gifts in the right way when we look more like Jesus, and our community is growing in maturity. We must always keep our trajectory intact when engaging with the spiritual gifts. That means walking in humility and confidence, simultaneously.
Take time in the coming weeks to examine the intersection of your story with God, what you know of your personality, and the spiritual gifts you believe He has gifted you with. Where do you see common threads that might point to your calling?
If you are still trying to figure out which spiritual gifts you may have, feel free to use our assessment by clicking here.
Grace&Peace,
Ryan