By Pastor Greg ...
A husband looking through the
paper came upon a study that said women use more words than men. Excited to prove to his wife that he had been
right all along when he accused her of talking too much, he showed her the
study results. It read "Men use
about 15,000 words per day, but women use 30,000." The wife thought for a
while, then finally she said to her husband "It's because we have to
repeat everything we say." The
husband said "What?”
If only God would gift some of us
with the ability to listen. Life would
be so much simpler. But if I know God,
when we ask Him to help us become a better listener, He’ll give us plenty of
practice (“so I said to my mechanic, ‘why would you put 10w30 in my car when it
clearly calls for 5w20?’ I mean what’s up with that?”).
Yeah. We can ask God to help us become a better listener. We can ask Him to help us become more loving, patient, and kind as well. But, did you know that we can ask God for Spiritual Gifts?
Right after teaching them how to
pray, Jesus says, 5 “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight
and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of
mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7
and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has
already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give
you anything.’ 8 “I tell you, even though he will not get up and
give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he
will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9 “So I say to you, ask,
and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be
opened to you. 10 “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who
seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. 11 “Now
suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him
a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 “Or if he is asked for an
egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13 “If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”[1] (Luke
9:5-13).
Did you notice the lesson Jesus is
trying to teach here? He tells us to
come to God unashamed because of our need. But what
need? What should drive us to the Father
over and over again? He gives us the
answer in verse 13. Jesus implies that
our need in these instances is
spiritual.
This is where Spiritual Gifts
differ from the Gift of the Spirit. The Gift of the Spirit transforms us and
equips us to overcome the world. The Gifts of the Spirit equip us to be
servants in the world. So, this lesson on asking, seeking, and knocking is tied
together with God’s present strategy in the world. And God’s present strategy in the world is to
save, not destroy; to take broken individuals and transform them into people who
help people meet Jesus. Remember the former demon possessed man from
Gadarene? Jesus didn’t “destroy” the bad
guy, right? He stepped into his life and
transformed the man (Luke 8:35-39), clearly demonstrating God present plan in
the world. His plan is to save, not
destroy … which is why He sent His Son to save, not to judge (John 3:17). And, rather than merely transforming this man, Jesus gave him a task; He sent him home to tell others about how
the Lord changed his life.
This is how the Church fits into
God’s present plan. We too are given a
task. We too are sent to help others find salvation.
But sometimes it can be a little scary, and I think Jesus knew this. I think the Lord knows that sometimes it will
feel like we are in way over our head.
This is why He tells us to Ask,
Seek, and Knock.
In our conversation about
Spiritual Gifts, these two things are foundational: to possess a Spiritual
Gift, one must first be saved and, second, one must be transformed. Makes sense.
However, as a Christian matures they should also transform from being self-focused
to other-focused. As a believer grows in
their faith, they must allow the Spirit to transform them into a Christian who sees
themselves as a servant. They begin to
see the needs around them. They develop
the same attitude which was seen in Jesus.
He humbled Himself and became a servant (Philippians 2:7). So, at some point, a Christian stops seeing the
“bad guy” as bad. Instead, they have
compassion for those unequipped to fight a spiritual battle. They see all the wickedness, begin thinking
“Someone should do something.” And hear
the Lord say, “perhaps that ‘someone’ is you.”
This is God at work in our
heart. This is the Lord giving us a
task. This is the Holy Spirit nudging us
to service. We want to do the work of the church. However, many of us feel unequipped to
serve. How is it possible for a former
messed up person to make a difference in this world? Jesus says it’s possible when we ask, seek,
and knock.
Using the illustration Jesus gave
in Luke 11, we want to serve, but are not prepared. We have no “bread,” so we go to our “neighbor”
asking for what we need. Jesus says this
is how we approach God when we desire to serve Him. We recognize our need and are unashamed to
ask, seek, and knock.
I love this command from Jesus
because it teaches us to ask God for what we need to serve Him in this world. And our Father, who desires to see us
succeed, gives us what we need. By
asking, seeking, and knocking, the Father gives us Spiritual Gifts so we might
become effective servants in this world.
But there is something else here
we might overlook. Because we are
commanded to ask for the gifts we need, it’s clear that the Lord will often put
us in situations where our natural abilities or acquired skills are not
sufficient. God will often call us to a
task that makes us feel utterly helpless.
And He does this so we might learn to depend on Him.
This whole Spiritual Gift issue is
much more than answering a list of questions.
In fact, when we do take this test, we will spend more time examining
our calling than on how God has already equipped us. A more accurate understanding of this gifting
is that God first gives us the passion, then the gifting. God first opens our eyes to the needs around
us; He helps us look at people with compassion; creating the desire within us
to see them changed. It is then we
confess to the Father that we don’t have the skill or the ability. So, we ask, seek, and knock; begging the
Father to give us what we need to fulfill this calling in our life.
And the Heavenly Father will give
to those who ask.
[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Lk 11:5–13). La
Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
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