Gifts of Grace

At Christmas time we give and receive gifts.  Do you know that the One who received gifts as a child also gave gifts when He came to maturity?  When he ascended, He gave gifts to men (Eph. 4:8).  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each have gifts for us.  There are spiritual gifts, which are manifestations of the Spirit working through us for the good of others.  There are ministry gifts which are expressions of the ministry of the Word of God.  And there are function gifts from the Father who makes us members of the Body of His Son.  The gifts of the Spirit are listed in 1Corinthinans 12, the ministry gifts in Ephesians 4, and the function gifts in Romans 12.  All of these are gifts of grace.  They are all expressions of God through His people.  It is He that has placed you in the Body and given you a special function.  If you are a believer, God has anointed you for service.  He has appointed you to bear fruit.

I still remember the first Sunday after I had been placed on staff in the church where I attended Bible College.  After the service, I was aware of the presence of God with me as I greeted people.  I had not preached or ministered in that service in any way, but I was aware of a special grace or anointing.  It was like a special ability had been placed on me to be a minister to the congregation.  I was aware that this ability was not my own; it was a gift.  I understood in that moment what Paul meant when he advised Timothy that a bishop (elder) should not be a novice (new believer), lest he get puffed up (1Tim. 3:6).  A ministry anointing would accompany the appointment, which a novice could misinterpret as having earned.  All anointings are gifts of grace.  They are not merited; they are received.  Many a minister has tried to copy someone else’s anointing, but that is the flesh.  We can flow under someone else’s anointing, and this will help to develop our own anointing, but it is important to realize the difference. 

The first time I preached in the church I mentioned above was a midweek service.  I had never preached to a congregation that size.  The congregation was accustomed to hearing sermons from a much anointed pastor.  It was somewhat intimidating.  In prayer before the service, I became quite aware of the prayers that were being made on my behalf by the team of intercessors.  Offering up my concerns to the Lord, I was impresses with thoughts that encouraged me to be myself; I did not have to be like the pastor.  The anointing would flow through me according to how I was made; the congregation would receive the anointing.  It was liberating for me to realize that I only needed to serve Him with the gift I had received; I did not have to imitate anyone else.  When I preached that evening, it was the first time that I walked out from behind the pulpit.  There was a freedom that I had never know before and I was able to deliver the message in peace, without striving.

Just like a preacher receives an anointing to minister, every believer also receives a gift.  It is the believer’s function gift as a member of the Body of Christ.  This function gift is different than the gifts of the Spirit, or ministry gifts, but it works with them.  Your particular gift of grace determines how you tend to hear from God, which in turn affects what you are motivated to pray about and do.  God works in us differently “both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 1:13).  Romans 12:6-8 lists these gifts as:  prophecy, serving, teaching, exhorting, leading, giving, and showing mercy.  As the body is made up of many different parts, there are multiple combinations of these basic gifts.  Although we operate to some degree in all of these functions, we are dominant in just a few of them.  Much has been written about these motivational gifts, but most of it focusses on our natural inclinations which reflect our individual talents and personalities.  Although these are good indications of our function gift, they are not our gift.  Natural abilities are part of the vessel which contains the gift.  The gift itself is the expression of the life of God through us.  I have tried different “tests” for motivational gift and all of them reveal that I have a “teaching/leading” type of gift.  I can function with the natural side of this gift but that will not cause me to receive eternal rewards.  In 1Corinthians chapter 3, Paul exhorts us to be careful how we work for God.  Each man’s work will be tested as through fire.  Like Paul, I want to be a skilled workman according to the grace of God.  Only what I do through grace, by the Spirit, will abide.  Natural talents used in the flesh may bring natural rewards, but they will not survive the test of fire. 

As we grow in the Lord, both individually and corporately, we need to become strong in the grace of our Lord.  As Peter said, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.  If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies…” (1Pe. 4:10-11)