Thursday, October 27, 2011

Divine Gifting

God has divinely created a body of believers that we call the Church, His bride.  The Church is a complex organism made up of diverse peoples with a wide variety of abilities, experiences, and godly giftedness.  Ideally, the Church is made up of microcosmic churches comprised of the same sort of complex organic composition.  When we understand the Church and churches in this way, certain hues began to color the beautiful picture of Christ's bride.

First of all, because we (believers) make up the Church through our churches, commitment and consistency to a particular body is essential.  More than that, because we each are part of the body, whose head is Christ, we should always strive for humility throughout every action, especially within the Church.  

Paramount to this is the fact that no one person has the entirety of God.  Again, no one can have the wholeness of God.  We each have parts, yet when put together, we make up the body of Christ.  This means that we should never lord authority over one another.  Not ever.  On the contrary, those who wish to be overseers and leaders within the Church must humble themselves as servants of all and never lord authority over anyone (Mk. 10:42-45).  We are to look to Christ's example in this regard.  Although being in very nature God, He humbled Himself and suffered the penalty for all man's sin (Phi. 2:1-11).

Part and parcel to this is spiritual gifting and divine placement.  These two things work in concert so that individuals are most effective within their ministry positions.  Everyone has a ministry position, we are all called to the priesthood of believers (1 Pet. 2:5).  Additionally, whatever we do, in word or deed, we are to do utterly for the Lord (Col. 3:17, 23).

Spiritual gifting refers to specific divine-equipping that God has done for every believer.  Every believer.  God has uniquely gifted every believer for a specific role in the body.  The Holy Spirit gifts each and every believer by grace according to the will of God (Rom. 12:4-6; Heb. 2:2-4).  These gifts include but are not limited to: teaching, leading, prophesying, exhortation, healing, wisdom, knowledge, discernment, mercy, generosity (1 Cor. 12:4-11; Rom. 12:4-6).  The gifts aren't the important thing.  What matters is that these gifts are given to us by His grace and for His will, not our pleasure or misuse.

Spiritual gifting is paired with divine placement.  Divine placement is the working of the sovereign hand of God placing us in the perfect situations for our benefit and strategic usefulness.  Essential to this is prayer and patience because we do not always know where we will be most effective.  Some people do, some do not.  If you are of the latter, do not fret but be patient and steadfast in your pursuit of Him during this season of waiting.  Remember, God is preparing you just as He is preparing a specific place for you.  This is how He works.  

It is akin to a chess board.  Every piece on a chess board has a specific purpose paired with a distinct set of skills as well as drawbacks.  A pawn cannot move like a knight, but a knight cannot regain a queen.  There is design and order in this.  In the Church, it points to the need for community between the body.  Think of a tapestry.  If it was just one type of thread and a single color, it would not be very desirable.  Luckily, God weaves us together as distinctly different threads for His purpose and as His Church.  A concert wouldn't be very pleasurable if the band only played one note on one instrument.  Instead, how splendid is the masterful creativity of the Heavenly Composer!  

Again, remember that we are to be a single body of diverse parts woven together by the blood of the lamb for His good pleasure, for His glory, and as His church.  Because of this, we should always be respectful and modest regarding other's gifts.  We cannot know how God is using or planning to use them.  Therefore, we should not ever lord our gifts over others (1 Cor. 12:14-26).  Instead we should always strive to encourage one another to growth in efficacy in whatever function God has called us to.  And remember, God is the one who gifts.  He alone should be who receives all the praise for gifts, calling, and placement.  To God alone be the glory!

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