Spiritual Gifts
Week 05: Love Gifts
It’s a universal reality that husbands have a propensity to mess things up. Are you with me? This is a universal truth for all men everywhere. We inevitably miss the mark whenever our wives ask us to do something. Paul was right… we all fall short. It's true. Laurelle asks me to do stuff, and I just can’t seem to get it right.
A few months ago, Laurelle and I were on our way to meet some friends. We were taking the ferry to Bowen Island to have dinner. So, being the proactive husband that I am, I got us out there early enough to miss all the traffic.
But when I pulled into the parking lot, I soon realized that getting there early wasn't good enough. I had to get the right parking, too. What I didn’t know was that I parked in the main lot. This was news to me, but Laurelle had no hesitation in letting me know it was the expensive lot. How was I supposed to know?
So I pulled myself together and said, “Stay here! I can fix this.” I left my wife in the hot car while I frantically ran around looking for a cheaper parking spot. Finally, I found it—a spot just across the street. It was a whopping $10 cheaper!
So, I ran back to the car, yelling, “Get in! Get in!” I wanted to get the spot before someone else did. But as soon as I said that, Laurelle shut the door, and the car beeped. We both looked at each other, realizing that the car just locked with the keys inside.
I was so relieved that at least I wasn’t the one who shut the door! The keys were locked in the car, and it wasn’t my fault! Now, I didn’t say that. But I felt like I finally measured up as a husband. How messed up is that?
We eventually called a tow truck, and they told us they would be there in four hours! What were they so busy doing that it would take four hours? And here’s the best part—it was a whopping $100, and the car was stuck in the expensive lot! Good thing I wasn’t to blame for this one.
In the meantime, we were stuck with the dilemma of what to do for four hours. It was only five o’clock, and the tow truck wouldn’t be there until nine. I told everyone to just go without us. “We’ll, be fine. We’ll just wait it out. Help is on the way. We’ll just wait here.”
Our friends looked at us and said, “Don’t be dumb. Just come with us. We’ll be back just in time for the tow truck.” So we had a great time with our friends while waiting.
I want you to think about this question: What should we do while we wait? Sure, Jesus is coming back, but what do we do until then? Are we just supposed to sit around and do nothing?
What if we’re not just waiting it out till the end? What if we’re not just waiting for God to whisk us away to heaven? What if we can see heaven touch down here and now? And what if we participate in this through spiritual gifts?
This week, we want to focus on love gifts—serving, guidance, mercy, and generosity. While power and word gifts manifest God's power and word, love gifts manifest God's love.
We often think that if a gift is spiritual, it should be ‘powerful.’ In other words, we think that if it’s a supernatural gift, it has to feel supernatural. But when we do this, we reduce all gifts to power gifts. Some gifts manifest God’s power, some manifest God’s word, and others manifest God’s love. They’re all spiritual gifts. And we need all three types of gifts. However, the Bible does put a particular emphasis on love (1 Cor. 13:1-7).
Serving is the ability to serve others and meet their practical needs. Don’t just think of serving at church on Sunday, as Paul probably didn’t have a modern church service in mind. Certainly, it includes serving on Sunday, but there is so much more to it than that.
This gift can include serving behind the scenes, leading a community group, helping with slides on Sunday, or serving at youth camp. It can also include serving your neighbor, your community, or wherever there’s a need. These people have a supernatural ability to help and serve others and meet their practical needs.
Guidance is the ability to lead people to a specific destination. Often, people associate this gift with someone who does modern administration and paperwork. They think of a receptionist or someone who enjoys spreadsheets and emails. However, the New Testament does not have this in mind when it mentions this gift.
This gift is only mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:28. There is no other mention of this gift. However, the same word is used in both Acts 27:11 and Revelation 18:17 to refer to the master of a ship. The gift is often translated as “administrating” (ESV), but I prefer the way the NIV translates this word as “guidance,” as the gift is more about guiding people toward the end destination.
Therefore, we must conclude that this gift is a lot like steering or guiding a ship. It involves a type of leadership that brings people to a specific destination. For example, I exercise this gift when I create a discipleship pathway for our church that brings them to the destination of Christ-likeness. Like a captain of a ship, those who have this gift bring people from point A to point B in their apprenticeship to Jesus. This gift requires a vision for people and the ability to lead them to the end of that vision.
Like a sailor, this gift requires brave individuals who will endure the storm that will come their way as they lead others. It also requires endurance, patience, and courage to lead people through thick and thin. It requires faith to lead people into the future—the great unknown.
This gift is not for the weak-kneed or faint of heart. These folks lead ministries, make disciples, and lead/steer people toward a mature faith. This Spirit-empowered gift is vital to a healthy and thriving church that leads people deeper in their apprenticeship to Jesus.
Mercy is the Spirit-empowered ability to do justice in the world. This gift is about compassion in action. It’s about alleviating people’s suffering and undoing the effects of sin in the world. These people don’t just want to sit around and pray for things – they want to do something about it! These people are seen as activists. They’re people like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. These people have been empowered by the Spirit to bring show to others.
Generosity is the ability to be generous with the things you have. These people like to give and express generosity. We’re all called to be generous and give with a cheerful heart (2 Cor. 9:7), but these people have a passion for it! They manifest God’s love in the world through generosity.
You may have assumed you simply enjoy serving, giving, standing up against injustice, or loving people. But these may be your spiritual gifts. Without the love gifts, the church would fail to do justice, love the least of these, serve, and be a prophetic witness of God’s love in the world.
01 – Ask God for gifts. Ask God for gifts. There is a connection between asking for gifts and receiving gifts. If there wasn’t, there wouldn’t be such an emphasis on asking for gifts of the Spirit (Lk. 11:13; 1 Cor. 12:31; 14:1). So ask!
02 – Step out and practice. We are told to grow or excel in spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:12). The only way to know if you have a gift or to grow in a gift is to step out and practice. This week, choose gifts that you’d like to step out and practice.
03 – Stay faithful. Spiritual gifts require faithfulness. We need to keep with it. Even when you don’t feel gifted, keep with it. Keep practicing. We need to fan our gifts into flame and grow in them (1 Cor. 14:12; 2 Tim. 1:6). Keep practicing spiritual gifts. Stay faithful.
Recommended reading: Charismatic Christianity by Helen Collins