The Spirit Blows Where He Will

For these past two weeks I've posted studies on spiritual gifts, based upon Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4. Today I'd like to pull these studies together with a brief summary. This is, of course, only a small part of what could be said about this important part of life in the Christian community.

In speaking about spiritual gifts it is easy to overlook what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit and the work of the Spirit. It is easier to focus upon the recipients of the Spirit's gifts by fashioning various inventories and questionnaires so that the congregation can help members identify their gifts, put these members to work in order to grow in numbers and influence. Nowhere in any of the four texts examined are there any instructions given by the Apostles to carry on such a practice. Why not?

The answer to that question is found in the very nature of these inventories. Members are encouraged to look internally at their own experiences and feelings. Here are some questions from one such spiritual gifts discovery tool I found online:

1. I am successful at getting a group to do its work joyfully. 
2. I enjoy making something that is artistically appealing.
3. I can readily sense when someone is promoting God’s purposes or their own personal agenda.
4. I look for occasions to share what Jesus means to me with unchurched friends and neighbors.
5. I welcome opportunities to minister to people who need comfort, consolation, encouragement, and counseling.
6. I see life as an adventure and am not afraid to take risks if it moves God's work forward.
7. I have a real hunger for seeing others spending time together in the Word and in prayer.
8. Without hesitation, I give generously and freely to worthwhile projects and ministries.
9. I count it a privilege to relieve someone in a responsible position of some small task, so that they may attend to more important things.
10. I truly feel that the needs and well-being of others are more important than my own.

Note the emphasis upon 'I' this and 'I' that. I am successful, I enjoy, I sense, I look, I welcome, I see, I have a real hunger, I give, I count it a privilege, I truly feel, etc. Such an emphasis leads us away from the Word of God and from the Spirit speaking directly to our hearts from that Word. Instead we are encouraged to focus upon my experiences, my feelings, my viewpoints, my giving, my senses, etc.

Further, in the discussions of spiritual gifts, we are told that these are different from creaturely or natural gifts. So we are led to believe that the Holy Spirit only wants us to focus upon our spiritual gifts, for these are not the same as our natural gifts. So some would point out that a reborn and truly spiritual Christian will always speak in tongues. In this way, there are two types of Christians, e.g. believers and Spirit filled or born again believers. In that connection it is important to note that in those Scripture verses that speak about disciples being filled with the Spirit nothing is said to indicate that this filling is a permanent and continued gift. In other words, we do not own or control the Spirit. He blows when and where He will (Acts 2:4, 4:8,31; John 3:8). 

Above all the Scripture teaches that everything is by God's grace. The Spirit working in God's Word teaches that everything comes down from the Father as God's wondrous and unmerited gift. Our whole lives, our bodies, our personalities, our intellectual abilities, our artistic talents, our athletic skills, our powers of perception—everything we have and are has been redeemed by Christ and given to us. As Paul says,

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? - 1 Cor 4:7 ESV

 All this we offer back to God in praise and worship as a living sacrifice. 

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. - Rom. 12:1 NLT

What the Spirit also teaches is that not only are we redeemed by Christ, we are members of his body. We are part of that community, that wondrous and varied body of believers in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. Speaking to the entire community in Corinth, Paul writes 

Do you not know that you (plural) are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? - 1 Cor 3:16 ESV

 So it is that we are the temple of God and the body of Christ and individually members one of the other. Each is important and each is God's gift to the other. So God intends that each of us is a gift to the other members of the body. Our unique personalities, experiences, gifts, abilities, talents and vocations are gifts of God through which God blesses others. Thus if I am a father, I have the calling to care for my children and to bless them through the uniqueness of who I am. If I am called to be a pastor-teacher, I have the opportunity and responsibility to bless the flock over which I am assigned with the teaching and application of God's Word. If I am a musician, I shall bless others with my music. So Paul writes,

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. - 1 Cor 12:4-7 ESV

It may be that spiritual gifts inventories could be used to help Christians discover their gifts. The cautions listed above are most important however. At most such inventories must be seen as tools toward the end of helping one another to give as they have received. Pride, discouragement and fear always lurk in our hearts because of sin. The Apostles speak to this as they emphasize in all these matters that we live by grace. It is in the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ that we find our life, our joy and our strength, never in the gifts we have or do not have.