Spiritual Gifts - The Big Picture

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ESCAPISM AND VIDEO GAMES / OTHER THINGS.

What have you been escaping from?

God’s laid out his priorities for spiritual gifts - that they start with love, they’re for the common good, they’re meant to operate in a community context and we all have a bunch of different ones that we’re supposed to eagerly use and grow.

Some are supernatural in the sense that they go way above and beyond our limits,

some are supernatural in the sense that they push us towards conclusions and actions that we wouldn’t normally embrace in our own self-centered ways

But there’s a big truth we need to understand. And we need to ask the right question.

Quote from CS Lewis:

“It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one”

Maybe you’ve heard the phrase ‘so heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good’. We think it’s a kind of escapism to be constantly focused on the next life.

But what if the way we act here is the escapism? What if we use comfort to escape sacrifice? Because here’s a real danger -

we can use what we COME here for to escape what we are SENT here for

Why?

Now, I need to be clear on this question. This is different than the standard why we ask God. Why would God want me? Why would God think He could use me?

There’s two WHY’s. The first is, the corporate WHY. Why this way? Why is God equipping His church, growing us connected together in community? Why is He sending His spirit throughout the room and throughout the world to empower believers everywhere?

The second is, the individual WHY. Why should I be a part of this? What’s my WHY for why I should join in?

Because these WHYs inform the who and the how and the what and the where and the when.

The WHY isn’t ‘so that everybody has a quiet, harmless place to hang out during the week’. The why isn’t ‘So that you can have a break from the world’. The why isn’t ‘so that we can have the warm fuzzies each week’.

The WHY ALSO isn’t ‘So that I can feel like this is all for me’ or ‘So that I’m getting exactly what I want out of this’ or ‘So that I benefit the most.’

If these are the WHY’S, then we would make certain decisions about the WHAT’S / WHO’S / HOW’S / WHERE’S / WHEN’S

STORY - I could never have a servant

For sure, he wants there to be places where we gather together in whatever size to worship Him and encourage each other. He wants us to experience His presence and His fullness. And God WANTS to bless us. But the big WHY’S we need to answer for ourselves are the crux of this.

There’s a lot of scriptual and personal answers to each of these. So I’m not giving a comprehensive list. But I think there’s two very big ones that we all need to hold.

Because we are the body of Christ

And we use this phrase to mean a lot of things. We use it to mean ‘united’. To mean ‘connected’. ‘Like minded’.

1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

we tend to spiritualize this phrase, but let’s get back to the basics here.

John 1:14 NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Hebrews 10:5 NIV

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;

And we use this to say, one day, God became man, he became flesh. He had hands and feet, fingers and toes. He had to sleep and eat. We see all of that in the gospels. And what did he do with his body?

He walked around and healed people. He placed his hands on them and they were cured.

he performed miracles, taking a few loaves and feeding thousands. Walking on water.

He travelled place to place and preached about the kingdom of God.

He had meals together with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes.

He put his hands on his disciples and prayed that they would receive the Holy Spirit, so that they could go out and do amazing miracles in His name.

All the things Jesus did with His body THEN - He’s doing with His body NOW

All of the things that Christ did in the flesh, all the things He chose to do - He expects us to continue.

In the stories, we see ourselves as the recipients. We see ourselves as the ones sitting in the crowds, eating the bread. But the thing is, as the chcurch - we’re Jesus in the story. We’re the ones walking around and healing. We’re the ones eating with prostitutes and tax collectors. We’re the ones going to the cross and sacrificing for others.

We’re not just A body. We’re HIS body.

We’re his body now. We’re his hands and feet, his fingers and toes.

It’s not about us. It didn’t start with us, it’s not focused on us, and it shouldn’t end with us. We’re the next ones in line to do the things Jesus wanted to do. And we need to make sure that we never forget - God’s got more people than just us that he wants to bring in.

But there is still something for us.

Because we are looking forward to eternity

As much as we’re called to do something NOW, we’re not supposed to place all our chips in NOW.

1 Corinthians 15:19–22 NIV

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

The cross of christ was such an amazingly powerful, singular event in all of human history.

And paul says - if all we have from God is what we can fit in this life right now, we’re the most pitiable people on earth. That’s how big of a deal life from the dead is.

1 Peter 1:3–4 (NIV)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,

Through the cross, in being part of Jesus’ body here on earth, we have this inheritance.

Never perish, spoil or fade.

Kept in heaven for us.

Our hope in Christ is greater than anything in life - and it goes on forever

STORY - Couple going on a cruise. Brought their own food, told at the end all the delicious food was free in unlimited quantities.

It’s the equivalent of sitting at an endless, infinite buffet, and fighting over scraps that fall on the ground in the hallway on the way in.

We have so, so much waiting for us.

In Christ, even death itself loses it’s sting.

This is what Christ calls us to work in light of. Everything we do as a church, everything we fight for. It may cost us. It may require sacrifice. It may require change, and giving up things we want or things we’re used to.

But paul is clear -anything we may miss, anything we may lose here, any way we may suffer for the sake of furthering the cause of Christ - eternity washes it all away.

That’s why the disciples were willing to do the work of Christ even to their own deaths - because they knew that in death, they won. They received the prize.

Philippians 3:7–8 NIV

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

And if you’ve never made this decision to live for Jesus,

This is an open and free invitation

God says, I have a plan for the world, and you’re welcome to join me. Whoever you are, whatever you look like, whatever you’ve said or done in this life. If you’ve messed up, there’s forgiveness, if you’re weak, there’s strength.

God has a plan and meaning for every single person, the power to back it up and see it done, and a perfect eternity waiting - and all we have to do is ask. All we have to do is say THIS

If you’re here and that’s you, i invite you to just pray with me. And then come and talk to me later.