Most of us cannot imagine ourselves in this kind of
situation. We know all about the
presents we buy for each other around birthdays and holidays like
Christmas. We know how much we spent, on
who, and more or less have an idea what they will think of our gifts. But a semi-truck full of stuff we love but
never expected? How could this be? Who would be spending so extravagantly on
us? Followed by an entire train-load of
even more things? It is too much. It is way more than we … expected, deserved,
have room for, perhaps … more than we can even appreciate.
You might begin to think about sharing your new found
fortune with others in your more extended circle of family and friends. If the bounty is even too much for them
(picture an entire train cargo car filled with Playstation 3 gear), you may
even share some bounty with your neighbors.
People would wonder at your new found fortune. It might even make the local news story, how
for some reason you are so richly blessed.
This would be uncommon. This
would look like a real miracle to most.
This entire concept of giving itself is so central to our
gospel. There are those less happy
Christians who believe all they have been given is a second chance. Still others who believe heaven is a gift,
but so uncertain about how freedom from sin will ever occur. Then there are those believers who begin to
understand the magnitude of the gift we have been offered by our God. Freedom from sinful behavior would have been
far more than we deserved, but the gift is nowhere near finished with just
restricting our actions. No, so much
more is offered; freedom from sinful tendencies; from sinful thoughts; from
sinful desires. Our minds are made free
by the gift of salvation. Our bodies
follow.
But the gift is not done yet. The freedom from the pain of self inflicted
misery leads to a life of joy, a life of service that brings contentment and
fulfillment that the world cannot touch, but only envy. Since the world at large is so focused on
self, it cannot understand or appreciate the simple joy of giving with no
expectation. Yet this truth is revealed
in shining glory to those whose minds have been set free from accepting the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mental
clarity; bound neither to tradition or genetic influence; clearness and
presence of mind to realize even more how much this gift keeps on giving.
It is impossible to experience this kind of freedom and joy
and not want to share it with those you love.
When you love someone you want them to be happy, you want what is in
their best interest. So it is plain and
obvious that upon experiencing this kind of life altering event you would want
to share it with those you care about.
You cannot help yourself. You
cannot contain it. And the sharing is so
simple and easy. It is merely pointing
out what made the changes within you, the source of all love, all freedom, all
joy – Jesus Christ and His gift of salvation to man. That’s all there is to it. You don’t need to point out the sin in
others, God will do that; just as surely as He will fix it within them. It does not matter how they live now, what
they do now, what they want now – all those things will be changed by God in
His time when they simply accept the gift.
God will save them, that is not your job either; which makes the sharing
of this gift simple, easy, and burden free.
This is the fulfillment of the text of our brother James
wrote that “Faith without works is dead”.
When you accept the gift of God, and allow Him to transform your life,
He takes away ALL of your pain, and gives you peace. You can face any adversity, bare any
circumstances, tolerate any cruelty the world and the devil send your way – for
the Lord is with you. And the peace that
leaps from your heart is like a light the whole world marvels at. It is impossible to contain it. As our brother James states, you would have
to be dead, not to share what you have found, once you find it.
The biggest problem with Christian “witnessing” today is
that people have no idea “what” it is they are supposed to be sharing. This is because they have NOT personally
experienced it. They know no victory
over sin from the unexplainable power of God.
They know no infinite joy from the freedom over even the tendency to do
evil, as they focus on self all the time and evil that lives within it. Christians call themselves by a name, but
have no idea what the gospel really is.
They sing worship songs, and listen to the relationship stories of
others, instead of having one of their own.
They try to share with others the need to repent of sins they themselves
have every desire to commit. They
condemn others for their lack of faith and interest in God, while offering no
real reason to inquire about the differences He has made in their lives – as
there are none. These poor Christians
must learn to let go of self, and allow God to create a new them.
The joy of sharing the gift with someone else, and watching
God work in their lives like He works in your own is almost unfathomable. But the gift is not done giving there
either. You barely have unpacked the
semi truck of gifts from God, when the message comes that entire TRAIN is
waiting for you. But that is
correct. The third part of our Creator
Godhead, named the Holy Spirit has an additional set of gifts only He can
bestow on the newly changed hearts. Just
when you thought it would be impossible to have room for more joy, here comes a
trainload.
The text outlining them is found beginning in 1 Corinthians
12:8; they consist of … the word of Wisdom; the word of Knowledge; Faith; gifts
of Healing; working of Miracles; Prophesy; Discerning of spirits; Speaking in
multiple languages; and the Interpretation of languages. And along with the various abilities the Holy
Spirit can bestow there are also a number of profiles that believers may find
themselves gifted with as well, they are ordered as follows … Apostles;
Prophets; Teachers; Miracle workers; Healers; Helpers; Administrators; and
Communicators. Not everyone is given every
gift, or can do every function.
But who decides who gets what gifts – as stated earlier God
(in the form of the Holy Spirit). These
are His gifts to give and He makes the decisions regarding who gets what. And herein is the trainload of even more joy. Every believer is given from this
offering. Upon discovering the joy of
altering your entire life, comes the heretofore unknowable joy of interacting
with the divine on a level only a person of faith could begin to
appreciate. Experiencing the Power of
our God in these ways on a personal level tends to make one bold in the face of
evil. As you begin to understand the
infinite power of our God, and the extents He has gone to save you – you are at
the same time humbled to prostrate yourself on your face before our God – but
also emboldened to stand and face any evil the devil may throw at you with no
fear at all – for it is not your power but God’s he must face.
This is how the Apostles could stand in front of the
Sanhedrin or in the courts of earthly kings and preach with the passion of our
God. It is not that they were well
educated, articulate, well read, well spoken leaders born of generations of
Ivy-League privilege. They were merely
simply fisherman, sinners, who bowed their heads in shame before their
Lord. But as these gifts of the Spirit
were given them, they became something more than common, more than meager
fishermen, they became orators such as the world has never known. The convicting power of the Holy Spirit moved
through those assemblies reaching out to every hardened heart trying so
desperately to love them back to reconciliation with their estranged God. But most would have none of it. They stiffened their opposition, burying
selfish motives in moral platitudes thinking they did the work of God, when in
fact though they were the established church to that point in time, they did
the work of Satan himself.
So if God gives us salvation, and then continues to give us
these gifts, what else does that mean for believers. Perhaps it means we should honor our God, by
accepting His gifts and His servants into the roles He intends for them to
perform. Christians were given the Holy
Spirit upon accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not after studying for years
and years and years about it. It was
immediate, and real. And it can be
again. But we must not harden our hearts
and refuse to take counsel or advice from someone because they are too old, too
young, too new at being a Christian, a female, a sinner, perhaps even a
homosexual. To whom God bestows His
gifts, we should not dare to second guess, or impede His plans for us, or for
our brothers in faith. And just when you
think the gift might be done in the giving … there is so so much more …
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