Jesus, The Gift Giver

[HKHaugan]

Jesus, the Gift Giver

       We’ve talked about Jesus being a one-attitude Person, the perfect Spirit-filled Person.  Now we want to talk about Him as the Gift Giver.  He was and is 100% Spiritude motivated and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit when we receive Him in our hearts. 

       We want to see Jesus as the Person who touches us personally (grace) with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  I would venture to say that spiritual gifts are rarely taught as basic for the new believer in Jesus to understand.  Spiritual gifts are the personal spiritual abilities the Lord gives through the Holy Spirit for us to grow spiritually and the Body of Christ to grow.  They are the ministry of Jesus and the extension of His personality in us.

       Five practical reasons make this evident.  They are always functional and available for service, identity, intimacy, maturity and confidence.   

       First, spiritual gifts serve others.  They enable a new believer to exercise their faith relationally.  Someone who receives Jesus wants to do something for Him, something meaningful. Gifts minister to the spiritual needs of every individual.  Gifts are immediate in their application. 

       Second, they give us a spiritual identity in the Body of Christ.  We are known to each other spiritually through what the Lord has designed each to do.  They are part of the spiritual machinery, the living parts so to speak, that energize the Body of Christ.

       Third, they encourage intimacy, spiritual and social intimacy as God designed.  Spiritual intimacy is what matures the family of faith.

       Fourth, they work by maturing the person who ministers them.  They bring the experience of God’s grace to the sharer and the one with whom the gift is shared. Oh yes, the Lord is blessed because He is directing the mix.  Everyone we meet in the course of a day is in need.  A gift conscious person is ready and equipped to meet the moment.

       Fifth, they build confidence as spiritual gifts are shared.  You begin to look forward to the next opportunity to be of help to another thus reducing your self-centeredness. 

       A really super by-product of spiritual gifts is humility.  We are letting the Lord be the Lord through us.  Spiritual gifts make us more interested in what others are like than making sure they know about us.  We are not only reducing our self-centeredness, but in that process, we are less conscious of what we don’t like in the behavior of others and of problems in our local congregation.  While they may have some bearing from time to time, they are not our primary concern.  We just don’t have time to fuss and fume over insignificant issues. That also refers to political, social and national issues over which we have no control.

       Last but not least, the practice of spiritual gifts deepens our worship experience.  We really have something to bring into gathered worship.  Our praise, thankfulness and looking forward to be with others who praise the Lord increases.   Our testimony to what He does in our lives strengthens with every experience.  The blessing is just watching what the Lord does when He is shared.  Jesus the gift giver has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to grow and flourish.  Then there is Spiritude enabling the gifts to function, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Gal.5:22-25).”