Your Unique Giftings

The first several chapters of Genesis are beautiful as they unpack God establishing creation and culture.  God creates man in his own image as the crown of his creation and commissions him to care for and cultivate his creation.  As I was reading through some of the early genealogy in Genesis 4, I was struck by how intentional God was in establishing culture and community.

Genesis 4
v. 17.  Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.  Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.
vs. 19 - 22.  Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.  Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.  His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of those who play the harp and flute.  Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron.
v. 26b.  At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.

Within ten verses of Genesis 4 we see Cain's intentionality in building a city and his family's unique giftings in construction, farming, music, and metal working.  We also see the beginnings of worship as people start to seek the Lord purposely. 

This passage made me grateful for the unique gifts God has given each person to contribute to the building and flourishing of culture and community.  This is a common grace, given not just to Christians, but to all people.  It's easy to think of "God's work" being vocational ministry set aside for the spiritual elite who are pastors and missionaries.  But all work is holy when one realizes that God has given each person unique interests and gifts to be used not for self-advancement, but for the advancement of His kingdom and for others.  So what are your interests and gifts?  How are you cultivating them to be used for a greater good?  Perhaps you are gifted in finance or cooking or administration or teaching or construction or the arts, etc.  Thank God for your unique gifts and use them for the furthering of others and God's glory.

While God has given all people "cultural gifts," he has uniquely given Christians spiritual gifts for the building up of the church and the furthering of His mission.  Two primary passages that outline spiritual gifts are Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12.  In Romans 12, God calls us to a humble view of ourselves as we realize we are one part of a whole with many functioning and gifted members.  The unique gifts that God has given us are by His grace and should be stewarded well.  In I Corinthians 12, God reminds us again that spiritual gifts are sovereignly appointed by Him for the common good.  In a beautiful analogy of the human body, God warns us of the two temptations of spiritual gifts: under confidence and over confidence.  The former is described by the person who says, "Because I do not have a certain gift, I do not have a place or value in the body."  The latter is described by the person who says to others, "I do not need you."  Both describe opposite ends of the same issue: self-absorption. 

Tim Keller unpacks this concept by saying, "Pride in the form of self-consciousness (the "inferiority complex") or in the form of self-confidence (the "superiority complex") will make [functioning as part of God's body] impossible.  But in the gospel we discover that we are far more wicked that we ever dared believe, yet more loved that we ever dared hope.  Not self-conscious nor self-confident, a Christian in liberated to be self-forgetful." (Ministries of Mercy, p. 64)

Let me encourage you to be intentional in cultivating and stewarding the gifts that God has given you.  Every person has gifts to be used for the common good and that create a thriving culture and community.  Find freedom from the clawing of self-advancement in finding your identity in the finished work of God through Christ.  Christian, you have unique gifts to contribute to the local church.  You have something to offer, but it only finds its fullness when paired with the unique gifts of others in the church.  May God work in you a humble confidence that recognizes your gifts as given graciously by Him and may you be purposeful to engage them through the local church.  You are needed, but you also need others.  Together you form the church that is on God's mission.
 

 

The Dance of OBLIGATION and DESIRE

Obligation: what we ought to do often motivated by duty or law.  Desire: what we want to do often motivated by our deepest internal longings.  Obligation engages the mind; desire engages the heart. 

I think often about these two concepts that are at times pitted against each other and other times are linked together.  When I became a Christian, I camped out heavily in the arena of obligation.  I will read my Bible, attend church, memorize scripture, etc. because it is what I am supposed to do.  I will not drink, curse, etc. because it's not what I am supposed to do.  The danger in this train of thought or motivation is that it can quickly lead to a legalism that justifies a person through actions or inaction.  It can also lead to pride when we are good moralists and despair when we fail.  Swinging to the other end of the pendulum, many try so hard to avoid legalism that they abuse grace.  A false form of Christianity is justified by the notion that God judges the heart and isn't impressed with the fact that I've had two "quiet times" every day for the past 3 years and have memorized 7 books of the Bible.  While this is true, it doesn't condone the abuse of freedom offered by grace in order to indulge in destructive desire.  Neither is the gospel message of Christianity. 

Tim Keller communicates this concept as good as anyone I've heard when he says, “The gospel is neither religion nor irreligion - it is something else altogether. Religion makes law and moral obedience a means of salvation, while irreligion makes the individual a law to him - or herself. The gospel, however, is that Jesus takes the law of God so seriously that He paid the penalty of disobedience, so we can be saved by sheer grace.” (For more on this perspective, check out "Prodigal God.")

Where is the balance between obligation and desire? 

Motivation that stems from a sense of obligation is not in and of itself a bad motivation.  This seems to be the premise of spiritual disciplines.  There are many times we do not want to give, serve, pray, gather, etc. and yet we can train ourselves to do so as an act of faith-fueled obedience believing that if God has asked us to do so, they must be for His glory and our good.  There is also a sense that our mind can mold our hearts.  For example, if we have disciplined ourselves to spend regular time in God's word because we know we should, that the living and active nature of His word can penetrate our heart and change our desires.

The problem is that mental motivation is a shallow motivation.  If mental motivation doesn't engage our heart, then it will lose its power when our self-control runs out, and we decide that our attention and affection are better directed at something or someone else more satisfying.  Heart motivation is much deeper and long lasting. 

A wise friend once described "worship" as that which captures both our mind's attention and our heart's affections.  So what are you worshiping?  What do you spend the most time thinking about?  What captures your affections and longings?  For the Christian, the height of God's holiness, the depth of our sin, and the breadth of God's redemption in Christ should be the primary captor of our attention and affection. 

Keep in mind that our desires consistently vacillate between the flesh (self) and the Spirit (God). For the Christian, God has given us His Spirit to counsel us and direct us, but we have to choose to follow His guidance.  Galatians 5 and Romans 8 provide some great teaching on this battle between the flesh and the Spirit.

Regarding obligation versus desire, the best practical example I can offer comes from the dynamics within the marriage relationship.  Within almost all traditional wedding vows is the promise to love and cherish your partner.  Those are big, heavy words laden with sacrifice and service for your partner.  The problem is that our natural desire is for ourselves; we are selfish people.  If we are motivated simply by head knowledge (this is what I know about how I should treat my spouse), then many times our care and service will be perfunctory.  We will often look to be paid back for our actions and sacrifice.  We accommodate our spouse for what we can gain in return.  We will many times lack a genuineness and sincerity in how we treat our spouse.  But if we are motivated by the gospel that has reached past our mind and into our hearts, then we will see the example Christ set before us (Philippians 2:5-8 provides a good synopsis).  Being humbled by Christ's work for us, we will seek to imitate his example to our spouse not merely out of obligation, but out of a joy grateful for the opportunity to put on display the example of Christ.  Our primary concern is not whether our sacrifice is noticed and reciprocated by our spouse, but whether we are pleasing the Lord and honoring Him in how we fulfill our God ordained role as husband and wife.

Interesting to note, Paul says in Romans 8 that Spirit-led desires spring from a mind set on the Spirit.  Obligation and desire are not mutually exclusive, but instead work hand in hand in more of a dance.  May we be disciplined to think about the gospel, and may that not only capture our mind's attention, but also our heart's affection.