How does the Kingsman consider the issue of spiritual gifts?
It was a game. Someone produced a questionnaire. Fill it in, tally your scores, and discover your spiritual gifts. Compare results with others. Marvel at the combinations. What did they get? What were their major gifts? Did we complement each other in any way?
After the game was played, though, not much was done. There wasn’t a sense of recognising, realising, and rehearsing those gifts for the benefit of the Body. There wasn’t a sense in which others saw it and wanted to support its development. There wasn’t an oversight keen to explore how these would work in tandem with everyone else, or how they could be utilised to advance matters of Body development. All of that came across as too much hard work when it was far easier to play the game, get excited for a few weeks, and then wait for the next church game to become the novelty flavour of the month.
The church at Corinth also misunderstood and misapplied the purpose of spiritual gifts — though their problem ran in quite a different direction. Their problem was that the gifts had become a platform to show superiority over others, depending on which gifts you had, especially the use of certain display gifts that would apparently mark someone as clearly of a spiritual stature above others who might not be able to exercise those gifts.
From what we read in the content and context of Paul’s instruction in chapters 12 to 14 of 1 Corinthians, the very heartbeat of understanding who gave the gifts, the nature of the gifts, and their purpose was totally lost in the schisms evoked by the misuse of gifts. This was a pity, because all of the Body was gifted to express itself for the Body’s development. Every member was part of the Body, which meant each had a key role in how the Body operated and grew. Every member. Every part.
Exploring and expressing this is not a game that requires questionnaires or opportunities for comparison. (Although there is always room for fun and games in the family of God, just not at the expense of trivialising the Holy Spirit.) Exploring and expressing this is to be as natural as exploring and expressing who you are and how God has enabled you to contribute to the life of the church. That’s discovered in fellowship. That’s discovered in regular interactions that involve all of life and are centred on the amazing wonder of following Jesus Christ. That’s discovered in the conversations that work out what God is saying to you and what you’re saying to God. That’s discovered in revealing burdens and passions as God’s expression of addressing the needs He sees. It isn’t something regimented that you sit through a twelve-week course and emerge fully equipped. It’s rough and tough, it’s gradual, and it sometimes operates quietly in the background. It is there, though. For the spiritual gift is about the prompting of the Spirit of God, and our response to that prompting is as He leads and guides.
This is also why love is key to understanding how best to embody the reality that every part of the Body of Christ matters. Love is the means by which we understand what we’ve received from Him. For what we first receive is His holy love. From there, we discover that it provides the base for us to grow, prosper, and thrive in the calling He’s given us individually and collectively. We’re not quick to judge and condemn, as love provides the grace and the space to recover and grow on. We’re not quick to dismiss and belittle, because love looks for what God has placed in each other and how we can nurture that and give it the space to express itself for God’s glory.
That’s not theory, and it isn’t pleasant motivational talk. This is what happens when people interact and help one another learn more about Jesus. Learn about Him as a servant, and if we’re following Him, we’re supposed to serve. Learn about Him as a speaker, and if we’re following Him, we’re supposed to, at some point, speak His word. Learn about Him as one who was sent on the mission of God, and if we’re following Him, we’re supposed to realise at some junction that we are sent on the mission of God. Learn about Him as He prioritised what His Father instructed in the demonstration and declaration of the rule of God — meaning that if we’re following Him, we are supposed to at some time, and then for all time, declare and demonstrate that same rule. We’re learning together; we’re learning from each other; we’re growing together; we’re growing in knowing who we are in Christ, and how that blesses each other within and serves and supports others beyond us.
This is why the Spirit among us is not there for us to gather in a building once a week to sing to God, shout to God, listen to someone talk at us, and then pay for the privilege before looking forward to repeating the process the next week. The Kingdom of God and its expression through the church is of far greater and weightier expression than that. The Spirit of God helps us express the life of Christ — recognising the worth of every member in the Body functioning as he and she should, contributing to the display of the wonder of Christ to draw us closer to Him, and displaying to the world that there is a Redeemer. And God’s Son breathes the Spirit that hovered over the waters of creation, to create the new out of the old. He does that through us, as we learn from Him. The gifts are not for games. They are for this — the advance of His Kingdom, through every member, for His glory alone.
Such is the weight and wonder of the gifts of the Spirit in the life of the Kingsman.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
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