Being Everything That God Wants You to Be
I was not brought up in a Christian home. Although it was a loving, functional family, the subject of religion was taboo in our household. We never went to church, we didn’t pray, the word “Jesus” was only mentioned in expletives, and we were one of the 13 percent of American homes that did not own a copy of the Bible. Thinking back to my years growing up, I cannot recall knowing anyone who was a Christian.
So when I left home, I knew nothing about religion. In the course of events, I met a beautiful young woman whom I decided to marry. After a relatively brief courtship, I asked her if she would marry me. She said, “I can’t.” I said, “Why not?” She said, “Because I’m a born-again Christian, and I promised God that I would only marry a Christian.” My response? “Well, what does it take to be a Christian? Can you show me how?” She told me that she could, so we knelt down in that farmhouse in upstate New York and I received Christ as my Lord and Savior. At this writing, Doris and I have celebrated our fifty-fourth wedding anniversary.
What does this have to do with spiritual gifts? At the time we were married, I was a university student. For all I knew, I was the only born-again Christian on the whole campus. I enrolled in a course on public speaking, and when my turn came to give a speech to the class, I decided to tell them about my conversion experience. Afterward, another student came up and told me that he also was a Christian and that a small group of Christians, as a part of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, met together regularly on campus. I immediately joined them, and they started teaching me how to live the Christian life.
One of the things they taught me to do was to memorize Scripture. They told me to memorize Romans 12:1-2: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” I loved this verse because, as a new believer, I was so thankful to God for saving me that I wanted desperately to do His “good and acceptable and perfect will.”
But when I thought about what Romans 12:1-2 said about doing God’s will, I realized that I was in over my head. Present my body a living sacrifice? Don’t be conformed to this world? Transformed by the renewing of the mind? As a new uninstructed believer, I had no idea what these rather abstract concepts could mean for me.
Later I discovered that my mistake had been to stop memorizing this passage with verse 2. If I had added the next four verses, the abstract would have become very concrete. Here is where spiritual gifts come into the picture.
This Scripture passage goes on to say that the key to coming to practical terms with the will of God for our lives involves, first of all, not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (see Rom. 12:3). In other words, there is no room for pride. All right, we must be humble.
But the other side of that same coin is to “think soberly” (v. 3) of ourselves. This obviously means that each of us needs a realistic self-evaluation as a starting point for doing the good and effective and perfect will of God. How do we go about this?
The first clue is to recognize that part of our personal spiritual constitution is a “measure of faith” (v. 3), which God has distributed to every Christian person. The implication is that each Christian will probably receive a different measure and, therefore, every believer is unique. But unique in what sense? Before Paul answers this question, he gives us the analogy he is preparing to use in order to help us understand spiritual gifts, namely, the analogy of the human body: “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ” (vv. 4-5).
WHAT IS THE BODY OF CHRIST?
What, precisely, is the “Body of Christ” to which we have been introduced? This is a very important question because in every one of the three major biblical passages on spiritual gifts, namely, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, the gifts are directly compared to members of the human body. Because the Bible says that we Christians are all one Body in Christ, we understand that it is a group of believers. It is the Church. This is confirmed in Colossians 1:18: “[Jesus Christ] is the head of the body, the church.”
But how did God decide to organize the Church, the Body of Christ?
On the one hand, God did not plan that the Body of Christ should be organized around the model of a dictatorship, in which just one person rules, benevolent as that person might be. Martin Luther reacted against that idea, and so should we. On the other hand, neither did God intend that the Church should be a democracy, in which every member rules. This latter point needs to be emphasized, especially here in America, where our civil culture prides itself so much on democracy and where this cultural value is frequently carried over into our churches as if democracy were a biblical principle, which it is not.
Instead of making the Body of Christ a dictatorship or a democracy, God has chosen to make it a living organism, Jesus being the head and each member functioning with one or more spiritual gifts. Understanding spiritual gifts, then, is the foundational key to understanding the organization of the Church.
The major biblical passages on spiritual gifts reinforce the above conclusion. It cannot be mere coincidence, as I have mentioned, that in all three of the explicit passages on spiritual gifts, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, the gifts are explained in the context of the Body. To be specific, Romans 12:4-5 reads, “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” First Corinthians 12:18 reads, “God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” Ephesians 4:16 reads, “From whom [Christ] the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” This means that God has not only designed the Body on the model of an organism, but He has also gone so far as to determine what the function of each of the individual members should be.
If each one of us knows what our particular function is in the Body, we are then able to “think soberly” of ourselves and to launch into doing the will of God. Simply put, do you want to do the good and effective and perfect will of God, as Romans 12:2 says? If so, an essential step, not an optional one, is to know for sure what spiritual gifts He has given you.
Not everybody in the world has spiritual gifts. Unbelievers do not. But every Christian person who is committed to Jesus and truly a member of His Body has at least one gift and quite possibly more. The Bible says that every Christian has received a gift (see 1 Pet. 4:10) and that “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all” (1 Cor. 12:7). First Corinthians 12:18, as we have just seen, stresses that every one of the members is placed in the Body according to God’s design. Possession of one or more spiritual gifts is part of God’s plan for every Christian.
This comes as good news to the average believer. It is wonderful to be assured that God knows me, He loves me, and He considers me special enough to give me a personal gift so that I can serve Him. This is especially true in a society such as ours in America, where many school districts establish special programs for “gifted children.” The implication of that is that ordinary citizens aren’t gifted. Not so in the Body of Christ! God gifts us all!
WHAT ARE GIFT-MIXES?
Many Christians are multigifted. In fact, I would suspect that probably the majority of Christians, or perhaps even all, have what we could call a gift-mix, instead of a single gift.
Given the variety of spiritual gifts, the degrees of giftedness in each personal case and the multiple ministries through which each gift can be exercised, the combination of these qualities that each one of us has been given may be the most important factor in determining our spiritual personalities. Most of us are used to the idea that each individual has his or her own personality. For example, my wife, Doris, and I have three daughters, all born of the same parents and raised in the same household, but each one of them is unique. God’s children are similar. All Christians are unique members of the Body of Christ, and their individual identity is determined to a significant degree by the gift-mix that God has given them.
The health of the Church and its subsequent growth depend on this fact. I realize that it comes as a surprise to some Christians, who may have been only marginally active in church for years, to find out that they are actually needed, wanted and gifted to do their part in their local church. But it is true. In order for you to be everything that God wants you to be, there is no substitute for finding your gift-mix and knowing for sure that you are equipped to do the “good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2).
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD’S GIFTS AND GOD’S CALL?
Christians often speak of their calling. We frequently say things like “God has called me to do such and such” or “I don’t believe God is calling me to do such and such.” At this point, it is helpful to recognize that a person’s call and his or her spiritual gifts are closely associated.
When related to doing God’s will, your general call should be seen as equivalent to your spiritual gift. No better framework exists within which to interpret your call than to know your specific gift-mix. God does not give you gifts that He does not call you to use, nor does He call you to do something for Him without equipping you with the necessary gift or gifts to do it.
Besides a general calling, however, you may also have a more specific calling. Some like to refer to this specific call as a person’s ministry. Your ministry is the particular way or the particular setting in which God wishes you to exercise the gift or gifts that He has given you. For example, you can have the gift of teaching and be called specifically to use that gift among children; others may use the gift of teaching on the radio or in writing books or in the pulpit. You can have the missionary gift and be called to use that gift in Zambia; others may be called to Paraguay or to Sri Lanka or to a different ethnic group in their own American city. Within the general calling provided by each gift, then, are many more specific ways that God assigns such a gift to be ministered by different believers.
WHAT IS A SPIRITUAL GIFT?
At this point, let’s pause and define just what “spiritual gift” means. The working definition I like to use is as follows:
A spiritual gift is a special attribute given by the Holy Spirit to every member of the Body of Christ, according to God’s grace, for use within the context of the Body.
This is as tight a definition as I have been able to formulate and still retain what I consider to be the essential elements. Two of these elements, namely, “special attribute” and “to every member of the Body of Christ,” have been sufficiently discussed. Three other important phrases remain.
According to God’s Grace
“According to God’s grace” is a phrase that moves us into the biblical words themselves. The common Greek word for spiritual gift is charisma; the plural is charismata. Our contemporary terms “charismatic movement” and “charismatics” are derived from this Greek word. But note something else. “Charisma” comes from the root word charis, which in Greek means “grace.” A close relationship exists, then, between spiritual gifts and the grace of God.
By the Holy Spirit
Let’s look at the phrase “given by the Holy Spirit.” Unfortunately, there have been some people who have taught, mostly carrying over excesses in early Pentecostalism, that if you want a certain gift bad enough, you can have it if you agree to do the right things. There are even seminars that assure you that if you register and attend and follow instructions, you will leave with the gift. Think of the implications of this. It implies that your efforts, or your works, can get you a gift. If this is the case, it violates the principle of grace that we have just established. In other words, it takes the “charis” out of “charisma.”
Here is the biblical truth, pure and simple: “But one and the same Spirit works all these things [spiritual gifts], distributing to each one individually as He wills” (1 Cor. 12:11). And “God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased” (v. 18). You have your gifts, not because you chose them, but because God chose them for you.
Some will respond to this by quoting 1 Corinthians 12:31, “But earnestly desire the best gifts,” followed up by 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts.” Doesn’t this indicate that the desire we have for certain spiritual gifts has something to do with the ones we receive? Good question! Let me give two responses.
First, when I checked out 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 in the original Greek, I found that both of these admonitions to “desire” are directed collectively to the whole church at Corinth, not to individuals. The church there was overutilizing the gift of tongues and underutilizing the gift of prophecy. That is what Paul wanted to correct.
But my second response relates to you as an individual. Should you pray that God will give you a gift that you really want to have? Here is my answer: If you are a committed Christian, if you are living a holy life and if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you can be assured that if God has chosen to give you a certain gift, He is also, more often than not, going to create in you the desire to receive that gift. Your desire is not from your carnal nature, but from the Holy Spirit. Then you should pray for it, keeping in mind that it is God, by His grace and not by your works, who has initiated the whole process.
For Use Within the Body
The final phrase of the definition, “for use within the context of the Body,” reminds us that individual Christians disconnected from the Body are not as useful as they could be. Spiritual gifts are not designed for Lone Rangers. They are designed for members of the Body. Most of the things God does in the world today is done through believers who are working together in community and complementing each other with their gifts, not only in their local congregations, but also in the workplace.
The biblical Greek word for “Church” is ekklesia, which refers to the people of God. Sometimes the people of God are gathered and sometimes they are scattered. Most Christians are affiliated with local congregations that gather together one day a week. In our minds, the word “Church” has been strongly tied to these local congregations. However, most of the people of God spend the other six days of the week out there in the workplace. When they are in the workplace, are they still the Church? Yes, because they are still the ekklesia, the people of God. The terminology I like best for these two forms of the same Church is “nuclear Church,” namely, the Church gathered together once a week; and “extended Church,” the Church scattered the rest of the week.
In light of this, spiritual gifts are operative “within the context of the Body,” as the definition says, wherever the people of God are found. Most of the information we currently have on the practical application of spiritual gifts relates to the nuclear Church. However, a movement sometimes called faith at work has recently gained widespread acceptance in Christian circles, and many leaders are actively analyzing just how the whole range of spiritual gifts operates within the extended Church. This comes as good news to believers who spend most of their lives in the workplace and who meet together in a local church building only one day a week. What they do in the workplace, like repairing automobiles or writing insurance policies or teaching school, is legitimate ministry just as much as singing on the worship team or leading a home group or serving on a church board.
This means that spiritual gifts are needed for ministry seven days a week.
ARE YOU READY TO DISCOVER, DEVELOP AND USE YOUR GIFT?
If putting your spiritual gifts into practice is a key to help you be all that God wants you to be, let’s get practical. In light of the clear teaching of God’s Word, I think it is safe to say that one of the primary spiritual exercises for any Christian person is to discover, develop and use his or her spiritual gift. Other spiritual exercises may be equally as important, such as worship, prayer, reading God’s Word, feeding the hungry, the sacraments or what have you. But I do not know of anything more important than discovering, developing and using your spiritual gifts.
Notice that I put “discovering” before “developing.” This is because spiritual gifts are received, not achieved. Let me repeat that God gives the gifts at His own discretion. First Corinthians 12:11 talks about the Spirit distributing gifts “to each one individually as He wills” (emphasis added). Later in verse 18 the text says that God sets the members in the Body “just as He pleased” (emphasis added). God has not entrusted any human being to give spiritual gifts. No pastor, no district superintendent, no seminary president, not even the Pope himself is qualified to distribute spiritual gifts.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS?
What happens if you do decide to discover, develop and use your spiritual gift or gifts? Several things.
First of all, you will be a better Christian and will be better able to allow God to make your life count for Him. People who know their gifts have a handle on their spiritual job description, so to speak. They find their place in the church with more ease.
Christian people who know their spiritual gifts tend to develop healthy self-esteem. This does not mean they “think of [themselves] more highly than [they] ought to think” (Rom. 12:3). Instead, they learn that no matter what their gift is, they are important to God and to the Body. The ear learns not to say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body” (1 Cor. 12:16). Crippling inferiority complexes drop by the wayside when people begin to “think soberly” of themselves (Rom. 12:3).
Some are inhibited by a misguided idea of humility. They refuse to name their spiritual gift on the grounds that this might be seen as arrogant or presumptuous on their part. This unfortunate mind-set only exhibits their failure to understand the biblical teaching on gifts. Others may have a less noble motive for not wanting to be associated with a gift—they might know that they have a spiritual gift, but they do not want to be held accountable for its use. In that case, appealing to humility can be used as a cover-up for disobedience.
Second, not only does knowing about spiritual gifts help individual Christians, but it also helps the Church as a whole. The Bible tells us that when spiritual gifts are in operation, the whole Body matures. It helps the Body to gain “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
The third and most important thing that knowing about spiritual gifts does is that it glorifies God. The apostle Peter advises believers to use their spiritual gifts and then adds the reason why: “That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Pet. 4:11). What could be better than glorifying God? I agree with the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which affirms that glorifying God is “man’s chief end.”
If using spiritual gifts helps me glorify God, I want to use my gifts! I know that you do also. It helps all of us be everything that God wants us to be!
Making It Personal