Spiritual Gifts
I want to share on the subject of Servanthood. I’m going to be taking some quotes from the book “The Life You Always Wanted” by John Ortberg. He is an Associate Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, in Illinois.
Humility is worked into our lives through the discipline of service…nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving behind the scenes. I’m not saying that you need to serve in concealment, but it may be required if you have a strong spirit of pride in your life and you need to work on some humility. There are many places of service in the Church Body that are both hidden and exposed.
When Jesus came in the form of a servant, He was not disguising who God is…He was revealing who God is. It is through servanthood that we will come to see the truth about ourselves. The primary reason Jesus calls us to servanthood is not just because other people need our service. It is because of what happens to us when we serve. This has to do with the nature of the relationship between authentic helping and healing.
Bill W. realized not long after he found sobriety that he was about to get drunk. He sought and found the name of another alcoholic, Dr. Bob, to whom he could tell his story. Ultimately, Dr. Bob also became sober and with Bill W. became the cofounder of AA. Bill W. understood that the main reason for telling his story was not to save Dr. Bob; rather, if he didn’t give away what he had, he would get drunk again. Bill W. could help because he was weak, and in helping, he received strength. We can minister out of weakness. The reason we help others is not because we are strong and they need us; it is because if we don’t help them, we will end up a hopeless relic. If we wait to be strong, we will never do anything.
When we begin to serve naturally, effortlessly, for the joy of it, then we will begin to understand how life in the Kingdom works. It is impossible to serve without creating a greater sense of intimacy and community.
It doesn’t really matter what we do, what our gifts are…the Bible tells us that:
“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts different according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them…” Romans 12:4-6a
When we give our lives to Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us. The Holy Spirit gives each of us gifts of the Spirit. These gifts range from Preaching, Teaching and Administration to Giving, Service and Hospitality, as well as others. We are all parts of one Body, the Body of Christ. The gifts that the Spirit gives to us, we are to use for the Body of Christ.
“God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.” Ephesians 2:10
Every gift is as important as the rest. We all need each other. In fact, it works just like our physical body does, when my foot gets a new pair of shoes, my hand is willing to help put that shoe on my foot. It’s not jealous of my foot. When I bump my head, my hand rushed to comfort the pain. We need to be like that with each other. Always willing to help each other and to comfort each other in our pain and struggles. Paul speaks of the physical body analogy in I Corinthians, Chapter 12, he also speaks of the Spiritual gifts in Chapter 14, but…the chapter in between these two is known as the “Love Chapter”. I find that interesting, I believe it is because our service and place in the Body of Christ increases our love walk, and gives us an attitude of humility. We cannot have Chapter 12 and 14 without having Chapter 13.
Jesus also taught us:
“And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, I so far as you did it for one of the least (in the estimation of men) of these My brethren, you did it for Me,” Matthew 25:40