Various schemes have been advanced to show us how to discover and exercise our spiritual gifts. Romans 12 is the real answer to this question when interpreted in its contextual setting. These verses give us 6 guidelines:
- You Must Make an Unconditional Presentation of your total being to the Holy Spirit. It must be voluntary, decisive and wholly (holy) (Rom. 12:1). To sacrifice a part of an animal in the Old Testament was unthinkable. For a Christian to pretend to give the Lord a part of his life – the convenient part – is an abomination, a form of blasphemy. llus: Chapman the great evangelist asked William Booth, “Mr. Booth, would you tell me the secret of your life and why the Lord has used you so.” Booth did not have to search for an answer. “God has had all there was of me. Other men have had greater brains and greater opportunities than I, but from the day that I had a vision of what God could do with poor old London, I made up my mind that God would have all there was of William Booth.” Have you ever given God all there is of you?
- You Must undergo a Definite Separation from the Thinking of this world. “…do not be conformed to this world”….(12:2a).
- You Must Also Experience a Radical Transformation of Your Mind. “… but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (12:2b). You are more than spirit, you are mind and soul. Mind and soul is that part of you which thinks, imagines, remembers, and wills. You may want to do right in your heart, but your mind stops it. I tell you your mind must undergo a radical change through the internalization of God’s Word. What you are is what you think and what you think is what you will do (Prov. 23:7).
- You Must Make a Thoughtful Evaluation of Your Gifts. “I would say to every one of you not to estimate himself above or below his real value, but to make a sober rating of himself, in accordance to the degree of faith God has apportioned him”(v.3). Avoid two great errors (1) sinful exaggeration (2) False humiliation.
- Having done these four things, you will enjoy a Thrilling Participation in the exercise of your gifts in the body (Rom. 12:4ff) Knowing our gifts, we can know God gives us grace to exercise them and we can do so with great joy and confidence.
- It is thrilling to know we have an indispensable function in Christ’s body. “No one is indispensable,” someone said. Paul says the opposite, in 1 Cor. 12. He says every member with his gift is indispensable to the well being of the whole body. Of course, the man who feels he is indispensable and must run the show has made himself unusable in the body.
- It is thrilling to know the God who gives us the gift equips us to exercise it.
- It is thrilling to know God is using me to build up the Body of Jesus in the world.
- It is thrilling just to exercise the gift. There is fulfillment, challenge, and a sense of belonging, a sense of being linked with Jesus in the great task of redemption.
- The thrill does not diminish. It increases the more I exercise the gift in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, these 5 will produce a Glorious Harmonization in the Body of Christ. Let’s suppose we are having dinner at church. Somebody drops the desert on the floor. Let’s see how different people would react. If you had the gift of prophecy you’d say, “That’s what happens when you are not careful.”
Mercy – “Don’t feel badly, it could have happened to anybody.”
Serving – “Oh, let me clean it up.”
Teaching – “The reason it fell is, it was too heavy on one side.”
Exhortation – “Next time let’s serve the desert with the meal.”
Giving – “I’d be happy to buy a new desert.”
Administration “Jim, would you get the mop? Sue, please pick it up. Mary, help me fix another desert.”
The most beautiful and functional organization on earth is the local church where each member is exercising his or her gifts, thereby creating the real “Body of Christ” in the world –until everyone who observes the church will see Jesus ministering through His body. It is God’s purpose that His church be the reincarnation of Jesus on earth.