Using Our Spiritual Gifts

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware.
(I Corinthians 12:1)

When we live for Jesus, we learn to serve his interests. We also learn to live for the glory of God (Matthew 5:15; John 15:8; I Peter 2:12). Living for Jesus will take us outside of our comfort zones and encourage us to invite others to follow Jesus. This is because being loyal to Christ is meant not only to impact us, but also to make an impact in the lives of others. We do indeed benefit from having an intimate relationship with the Lord. But others are also to benefit by our serving his church and making a kingdom impact within our community.

We might ask, how we are to serve and make an impact? The answer is through the spiritual gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:7). God doesn't call us to Himself for what we bring or have to offer, for we have nothing to offer. God calls us into a relationship with Him, the people He created. Likewise, when God sends us out to serve, He does not send us out under our own power and with our own skills. Rather, we receive the Holy Spirit who gives us the spiritual abilities we need in order to serve God's interests. Thus, those who grow into mature Christians use the gifts of the Spirit for the building up of the body of Christ. We are called and equipped to serve. Living for Christ is seen in serving others through the spiritual gifts we are given by the Lord when we come to him.

Growth towards Christian maturity

What's in it for Me

Apart from Christ, we have no knowledge of the spiritual gifts or even the Holy Spirit. We have some talents and interests that we seem to have been born with and ones that we have developed through our own efforts, but these are not the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In addition, we employ the talents and interests which we have in order to benefit ourselves. Sure, others may benefit from what we have to offer, but that is not our focus. We are loyal to ourselves, so if we can help others while helping ourselves we might help. But if helping others costs us more than we are willing to give, then forget it, we are not interested.

Discovering God's Plan

Encountering the Body of Christ

Part of a Body

When we come to know Christ and follow him, we are grafted into his body, the church; much like a branch may be grafted into a vine. Our becoming part of the body of Christ is certainly a benefit to us. We grow in our knowledge and love of God through the ministry of the people around us. As we grow, we come to realize that we too are equipped by the Holy Spirit to serve others. At first we may get involved in a ministry area to help out because we think it sounds interesting or seems to be right up our alley. What is happening is we are being given opportunities to serve others. Without our realizing it, the Holy Spirit has start working through us by means of one or more spiritual gifts intended for the building up of the body. As we are faithful and loyal in the use of our gifts, opportunities continue to open up to us. We are discovering that we are part of a community of believers. Within this community we are finding that each person has spiritual gifts that are being used for the benefit of everyone else, for the whole of the body. Likewise, others are recognizing in us that we have specific gifts that are being put to us. Thus, as we grow in Christ, we come to recognize and use our gifts. Initially our focus will be more on ourselves, but as we mature, our focus will shift from ourselves to others. Sure, we are blessed in being able to serve others with our gifts, but it becomes more important to us to see others blessed. Not only is the desire of our heart shifting more towards serving others, but our understanding of our spiritual gifts is shifting as well.

Discovering My Gifts

Using My Gifts

For the Sake of Others

The step into Christian maturity comes about through our learning that our surrender to Christ means serving his interests. During our growth, we have mixed motives. We are partly motivated by what we get out of serving. It makes us feel good and we know that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves or this physical world. We are also motivated by our desire to see others come to know Christ and experience what we are experiencing. Beyond these two motives, we are also motivated by our growing love and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is just something about him that keeps drawing us closer to him. It is in his drawing us to himself that we make the shift from serving from our interest to serving his interests. What happens to us is no longer our main focus or motivation. We hear and believe the promises of God and in faith we trust that what He says will be do, it will indeed be done. Thus, we focus on Christ and not ourselves. The result is that the spiritual gifts given to us are being used to serve the church and our community. We are not serving ourselves. In fact, we may be going far beyond what others might see as the call of duty. But that is because it is not a "duty", it is an act of love. Love for God and for neighbor motivates us to serve Christ's interests and do what he does. Not only are we serving others in various ways, but our service is resulting in others coming to know Christ. When once we felt like we had to work hard at convincing others about Jesus, now we are more naturally sharing him with others as we live for him. In walking with others as they are coming to know Jesus, we are also helping them discover the part that the Lord has for them in the function of his body. We help people become his disciples and discover the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit bestows upon them. Then we help them find ways to serve others through the use of those gifts.