Epiphany 9 Why Spiritual Gifts?

[HKHaugan]

Romans 12 “¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (NIV).”

When Paul talks about offering up our bodies “as living sacrifices” we need to give that a careful look. Who we are, what we are and the way we are, make up what goes on inside our bodies. It is our mind, our heart and our spirit that run the show within and determine the way our physical body acts. The first thing that comes to mind here is the Cross, the ultimate sacrifice upon which is based Jesus’ call to each of us to take up our cross every day. What was in His mind, heart and Spirit? The Cross was His act of placing His Father first in mind, heart and spirit even if it meant His death. That is what made it an act of worship.
Worship is the practice of placing worth. Jesus placed His Father’s worth first even though they were equal. His will was His Father’s will. For us worship means placing God’s worth above self worth (“the pattern of this world” and Jesus said, “He who seeks to save his life will lose it but he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”). Sunday worship services are designed to bring the Body of believers together so that they can, in mind, heart and spirit, experience and lift up the ultimate worth of God together then carry that experience into the rest of the week.

Being a living sacrifice brings three thoughts to mind.
First, Jesus went to the Cross because it was His Father’s will. He was obedient even unto death.
Second, He went to the Cross because He loved us. That was how He showed His Father’s love for us.
Third, He went to the Cross because that was the visible picture, the pattern for how we begin to experience the invisible spiritual God within personally. Jesus tells us in His Word to take up our cross everyday. We open our minds, hearts and spirits to being transformed by His Holy Spirit. Why? because God created us to be spiritual beings living in a human body. Sin separated our minds from being spiritually motivated by God. Our first thoughts are for ourselves and not God. It took the Cross to challenge our pride, our self-indulgence and self-protective attempt at self-salvation and it takes taking up a takeable cross daily. The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ gift to us for the process.

It is obvious from what Paul says that spiritual transformation begins with the mind, how we think, what we think and the way we use our mind to reason and justify our behavior. He tells us in Philippians 2, “⁵Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: ⁸And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (KJV).”

There are seven unique purposes in God giving us spiritual gifts.

First, spiritual gifts are the means by which we not only take up our cross but also help one another in their daily cross bearing. They are the living spiritual means to return broken humanity to its spiritual base in God through Jesus by the direction of the Holy Spirit who distributes them as He chooses to accomplish the Father’s will.

Second, spiritual gifts are also the way we thaw out the individual heart from the freezer of aloneness and fear in which sin placed it.

Third, spiritual gifts are the means by which the Body of Christ is built and God’s Kingdom is spread.

Fourth, spiritual gifts are given because we are created to be relational and these gifts are designed to relationally restore us to God and one another. We are all in this together and it is God’s way of bringing us into a maturity that not only galvanizes the Body for worship and action but also draws lonely, frightened and drifting hearts back to the Father.
Fifth, the gifts are spiritual because this is the only way our spiritual God has chosen to accomplish His purposes with His spiritually created people.
Sixth, spiritual gifts help us experience the way God works in the Spirit to renew and strengthen our personality and character thus bringing us to a deeper worship of Him.
Seventh, spiritual gifts are given since they are the only means by which human personality and character can be spiritually re-formed and readied for our returning Lord.

More on spiritual gifts. Stay tuned……..