For the last two Sundays in Ukraine, our host dad, who is the pastor of a local church, has been preaching on the Gifts of the Spirit in the body of Christ. This week he was focusing on the facts that all of the gifts are equal, and not everyone will have every gift, using 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 as his starting reference. Some people will have one, and someone else may have another. All must be present for a well-rounded church though.
There were several points he made that were incredibly true and logical, yet so many people miss them, or ignore them.
First, we should be seeing ALL of the gifts in churches today. Paul laid out a picture of the church as a complete picture with ears, eyes, hands, feet, and so on. A body needs all members to function as a full body. A body of just ears would not be able to see and understand, not to mention being a hideous being of just ears… A body of only brains would have all the ideas in the world but never be able to truly see people and listen to them. Too often churches try to conform everyone to one type of person, and push those who are different to the outside edge of the group. It’s like telling someone, “we only accept you if you are eyes. Since you are a tongue, you are not welcome here. Go find a bunch of other tongues.” The biggest challenge, then, is living in unity with all the gifts in the church.
The second point our host made was how church try to make some gifts matter and others fall away. He gave a great illustration of Paul’s fully-inclusive church
He held up one hand with the five fingers spread. That was Paul’s church in 1 Corinthians 12. He then held up his other hand with three fingers turned down. This was the church now. Too often churches try to make the open hand match their version with the fingers bend down, when they should be striving to bend their fingers up to match Paul’s church. Our host brought up the fact that it is the Holy Spirit who assigns spiritual gifts (verse 11). We have no right to tell anyone else what gifts they have or should have, because we are not the Spirit. His challenge to us was to get away from labeling each person a certain way because of their gifts, and to start to learn to understand each other.
I agreed with everything our host shared on Sunday, but it may be harder to get the information to my heart. It is so easy to say, “you aren’t like me; I don’t understand you. I’m going to go be with the people who are like me, and who I understand.” That is the easy road. It’s a little harder when God only gives me people who are unlike me. Will I press in or give up because there are too many obstacles?
I will go deeper than my feet could ever wander.
How about you?
#GodIsInControl #redefiningdisciple
#THIRD
