Finding a Real World in An Unreal World

[HKHaugan]

Epi.18 Finding a Real World in An Unreal World

When you fill out a resume you try to make it look as good as possible. You want to impress the one who might hire you. But the real test is the interview. It is a face-to-face meeting with a personnel manager. That’s usually with a skilled interviewer who has learned how to assess attitudes, dress and personal presentation which reflect more of what lies behind the resume. It’s not only the skills you bring but also the unseen factors like confidence, the way you speak, attitude and the ability to fit in with others.

In the Body of Christ there is another approach to qualifying. Every disciple has two qualifications, their testimony, how they became a follower of Jesus and secondly, their witness, how they are presently living as a disciple. Every believer is a disciple who spends their life learning, practicing and sharing how a personal relationship with Jesus works. Different from secular employment, it is not so much what you bring to the table as it is what God brings. Through Jesus, you are equipped to function in the Body. Believing is the start. It is the Spirit of God that equips a believer with the spiritual ability to function in the Body. Through faith and practice, a disciple grows and as a disciple grows, the Body of Christ develops and grows.

There are three sections to Chapter 12: the gifts of the Spirit, personal job descriptions (vs.3-8), the fruit of the Spirit, God’s atmosphere (vs.9-13) and our spiritual attitude in every next moment (14-21). God provides it all. That’s where we’ll be going go after we look at the reason for spiritual gifts. The nature of the gifts reproduces the likeness of Christ in our experience in the Body of Christ. They are direct, personal and productive. They give us a spiritual identity, a spiritual confidence and an extended purpose. Let’s look at their influence.

First, identity.

A spiritual ‘gift’ means that it is not only given but it is meant to be given. It means we are spiritually identified in a way that helps and serves. A spiritual gift is a gift given to be shared and seen as spiritual, meaning, its true source is God the Spirit. It identifies us as a messenger, a bearer, a servant of God, with a special purpose in the Body, to be someone that has a gift that can help another person in the Body. We depend on them for their gift as they depend on us for ours. Thus, it is an identity that stands above all the things that we use to identify us in the world. We are not looking for worldly status recognition like a manager (pick any other position), athlete (pick any physical attribute), friend (pick any adjective), president (pick any category), beautiful girl (pick any characteristic), worker (pick any kind), black, white (pick any ethnicity).

A spiritual gift supersedes any and all secular descriptions because it gets to the heart of what makes an individual the most productive, spiritual identity. We are spiritual images of God serving other of the same. We have spiritual needs that stand above our physical and emotional needs. We are serving one another’s hearts. When we serve someone’s heart it leaves an impression. Two things happen. A person helped is a person grateful and they know the source of the help is the Lord. That helping gift becomes their spiritual identity in the Body. That identity spreads. It is a blessing to the gift sharer, the receiver is made more whole and God is glorifgied. Each gift has that threefold effect. It deepens both the faith of the sharer and the faith of the receiver. One more thing. It builds the faithful life of the Body in which these persons, the gifted and the receiver of the gift, recognize their spiritual identity as brothers and sisters in the Body. As we look at each gift that will become quite apparent.

Second, confidence.

If you are a super athlete you get your name on TV, the newspapers and are asked to speak at big dinners and conferences. Your photograph is hurled across the globe. People ask for your autograph. You gain confidence in public and among friends. But for how long? And for what purpose? Is it ultimately going to serve the needs and hearts of others as well as the heart of the athlete? How many famous people live with face lifts, stored away trophies and clutch for media coverage to preserve an identity that fades? It’s only when you serve the world in which you live; the world of family, friends and actual relational contacts. This is the real world where everyone really lives. When this is your absorption, fame is not the issue but the function you offer that can change the human condition where you can see it. You can feel it personally and relationally. That is what builds real confidence because it takes place in the daily world you know, feel and interact with. That real world is the one God calls us into and the confidence is what He builds in us as we share who we spiritually are with those around us. That lasts into eternity.

Third, extended purpose.

As our confidence builds, others around us find their confidence increased because they begin sharing what God has done for them. When that happens someone is moved to organize that experience into an ongoing program to help others. This is exactly how different kinds of gifts spark different kinds of ministries, and missions are begun. Gifts free us to unleash what we have been born with, like our natural skills and talents, which can further a ministry especially when it enables us to identify with others who may not know the Lord.

All this is to say that when we are spiritually oriented, the world’s identities fade and reality, the awareness of our local world, takes over. Our focus changes and everyone we come in contact with is seen as an image of God with potential to be a disciple who could very well develop their own personal vision. You can’t help thinking of former football players like Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow who used their reputation to build ministries to people in need. I know you can name many professionals whose experience of the Lord Jesus changed their entire lives and who now are operating local ministries of all kinds where they live. Others are led to begin local missions in other countries.

Spiritual gifts are the direct means every believer has to minister right where they are. As we continue this trek into spiritual gifts, think of the things you like to do. As a start consider them as a place to let the Spirit guide you into something unique. Again, all of us who have accepted the Lord have been given the ability to minister. Spiritual gifts are the power points. Tap them, It’s God’s will---”His good, pleasing and perfect will (12:2).”