Tag: Charis

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Trippin over our gift.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭41‬-‭42‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus was super close to Martha, Mary and Lazarus. They were family to him, and their home became a safe, welcoming place to stay and rest. Their home was large enough to host all the disciples as well. It is well known that hospitality was the ultimate expression of love, care and provision in the Jewish culture. The story typifies the struggle between these clashing priorities – serving or sitting with Jesus. The story hits a nerve among those who feel it was unfair to call Martha out for working so hard while her sister seemingly sat around ducking her responsibilities.

We all understand this is Jesus giving the correction! But Jesus has a way of flipping all of our perspectives right-side-up, especially when he challenges our priorities concerning the urgent verses the eternal. We need to let the Holy Spirit sift out preferences so we can see the Kingdom of God.

Jesus says Martha was “perispaó” distracted. Distracted? Martha thought Mary was distracted! What was she distracted about? Luke uses this word Jesus often talked about. She was distracted about “diakonia” the powerful word meaning service. This word was the common Greek word for a waiter, a table servant. The word was constructed from two Greek words meaning “raising dust,” giving us the picture of the sharp attention and speed of a great waiter would look like – moving so fast that dust would fly off their sandals! But this word is also the word for our word – minister! Ministers are supposed to be this picture of ultimate serving. Martha was distracted by ministry, by serving? Ah, yes, our gifting can become so focused, so intense, so singular dimensional that we can’t see, can’t hear anything else happening in the room!

Jesus pointed out Martha’s shadowed side of this beautiful gift of hospitality – she was trippin over her own gift by missing what was more important AND she wanted her sister Mary to join her in her disordered perspective. Martha wanted to pull Mary into her orbit, not Jesus’. Martha wanted Mary to experience what she was experiencing, feel the pressure of her dilemma. Jesus told Martha, she was “merimnaó,” anxious and “thorubeo” disturbed! In Martha’s mind, she WANTED Mary to be anxious and disturbed with her.

If you have ever seen someone excellent in their gift it is amazing. But when you are close enough to someone who excels in their abilities, you’ve also seen how they can be obsessively focused and become situationally blind to everything else. The acuteness of excellence can leave one unable to read the room. And, when this happens, there will be a lot of anger, hurt feelings and unnecessary accusations of others who just don’t “GET IT!” Martha saw Mary as lazy and irresponsible, Jesus saw Mary as dedicated and perceptive!

Jesus corrected Martha because he loved her – but in her “diakonia,” her service, it had brought out her overwhelming intensity, making her anxious, disturbed and critical of her sister. Every single gift can either be shared in a beautiful submission to Jesus OR it can be weaponized with these critical assessments of others! One brings peace and unity, the other brings anger, bitterness and disunity.

Prayer

​Dad,
First of all thank you for loving us enough to correct us in your mercy. I have seen this in my life and have absolutely experienced this in the body of Christ, the Church. And it’s not just our imperfection that causes us to shift or trip over our own gifts and abilities. It’s a tunnel-vision perspective when we are overwhelmed, and start believing it’s more about us and less about you and others. Help us Oh Lord, speak to us Holy Spirit, just as clear as you spoke to Martha. Tell us when we’ve stepped into something that is not helpful, not healthy for us or definitely not others. Help us see when our gift has caused us to produce more fruit of the flesh than fruit of the Spirit.

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The theology of spiritual gifts.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. Through him, God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul, in his second of thirteen letters to churches, wrote to the churches in Corinth around 53-54 AD. In his letter to the churches in Galatia, he writes about the “fruit of the Holy Spirit.” As we see here in Paul’s introductory remarks, he begins to lay out this understanding of spiritual gifts, given to individuals to advance the cause of Christ both in the “ecclesia,” the gathering of believers as well as the marketplace among nonbelievers.

Paul tells the church, “you’ve got every spiritual gift you need.” He also encourages them that these gifts and it will help as they eagerly wait for Jesus’ return, the “parousia,” his coming. It’s Paul’s last thought in his introduction that jumps out at me! Paul writes “for he has called or invited us into “koinónia” this deep, intimate fellowship and communal participation.” It always amazes me that God solely and supernaturally provides for us a way back to himself, through the sacrifice of his son.” And yet, God also asks us, calls us, to JOIN him in this process of salvation, of redemption both within the body of Christ (the church) and those who have not yet believed!

The spiritual gifts that Paul introduced to the church for the first time are THE ways God makes us abundantly rich, equipping us to both be disciples and make disciples. The beauty of this idea of spiritual gifts is that everyone who loves and follows Jesus has them and everyone can begin figuring out how, when and where to use them. This is what we do until Jesus returns! We lavish the love of Jesus on those around us, using the gifts he has given to love one another and be the light, mercy and grace to those who do not yet believe in him.

Paul led one of the wildness churches in the New Testament in this theology of Spiritual Gifts to prove that God can and will use anyone who humbles themselves in obedience and wonder. Do you know there are whole denominations that do not even believe these spiritual gifts are for us today? They won’t teach it, or they will spin it to mean something completely opposite of what Paul intended. These gifts are, and have always been for all believers. There were many years that church leaders and the people in the “pew” were taught that only the priests, pastors, bishops of elders could practice these gifts in the body of Christ. Sadly, there were also too many years that folks let it happen! Terms were used to separate the profession class of “clergy” and the “do as your told” class of “laity.” There are no such distinctions in the New Testament Church! We are all one body under Jesus. Those concepts of the separation of professional and common have caused great harm to Christ’s Church, His body. God help us to return to the Biblical theology of Spiritual gifts that Paul wrote about so long ago.

Prayer

​Dad,

What a joy it is to find purpose and charis, grace or gifts that you assign to us! I know the Church has had several resurgences over the past 50 years, but the average believer is still having difficulty understanding their gifts and using them in the Church and the marketplace. Why is that? Your guy Paul wrote this thousands of years ago! Is it still so controversial? Is it intimidating? Would followers of Jesus still rather leave it to “professionals” or “paid” staff to do it all? There is so much we could do if we all used these gifts you have given each of us. Help us Oh Lord! Let your Word come to life through all of Your body. Amen.