Tozer: Showered In His Gifts

Excerpted from Keys To The Deeper Life by A. W. Tozer

IN THEIR attitude toward the gifts of the Spirit, Christians…have tended to divide themselves into three groups: First, there are those who magnify the gifts of the Spirit until they can see little else. Second, there are those who deny that the gifts of the Spirit are intended for the Church in this period of her history. Third, there are those who appear to be thoroughly bored with the whole thing and do not care to discuss it.

     …Another group, so few in number as scarcely to call for classification, consists of those who want to know the truth about the Spirit’s gifts and to experience whatever God has for them within the context of sound New Testament faith. It is for these that this is written.

What Is the True Church?

A proper understanding of the gifts of the Spirit in the Church must depend upon a right concept of the nature of the Church…. The true Church is a spiritual phenomenon…composed of regenerated persons who differ from other human beings in that they have a superior kind of life imparted to them at the time of their inward renewal.

•  They are children of God in a sense not true of any other created beings.

•  Their origin is divine and their citizenship is in heaven.

•  They worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Jesus Christ, and have no confidence in the flesh.

•  They constitute a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.

•  They have espoused the cause of a rejected and crucified Man who claimed to be God and who has pledged His sacred honor that He will prepare a place for them in His Father’s house and return again to conduct them there with rejoicing.

     In the meantime, they carry His cross, suffer whatever indignities men may heap upon them for His sake, act as His ambassadors, and do good to all men in His name. They steadfastly believe that they will share His triumph and [thus] are perfectly willing to share His rejection by a society that does not understand them. They have no hard feelings—only charity and compassion and a strong desire that all men may come to repentance and be reconciled to God.

     This is a fair summary of one aspect of New Testament teaching about the Church. But another truth, more revealing and significant to those seeking information about the gifts of the Spirit, is that the Church is a spiritual body, an organic entity united by the life that dwells within it.

     Each member is joined to the whole by a relationship of life. As a man’s soul may be said to be the life of his body, so the indwelling Spirit is the life of the Church. The idea that the Church is the body of Christ is not an erroneous one…. The Apostle Paul in three of his epistles sets forth this truth in such sobriety of tone and fullness of detail as to preclude the notion that he is employing a casual figure of speech not intended to be taken too literally.

     [His] clear, emphatic teaching…is that Christ is the Head of the Church, which is His body. The parallel is drawn carefully…. Conclusions are drawn from the doctrine, and certain moral conduct is made to depend upon it.

     As a normal man consists of a body with various obedient members [and] a head to direct them, so the true Church is a body, individual Christians being the members and Christ the Head.

     The mind works through the members of the body, using them to fulfill its intelligent purposes. Paul speaks of the foot, the hand, the ear, the eye as being members of the body, each with its proper but limited function; but it is the Spirit that worketh in them (1 Cor. 12:1-31).

     The teaching that the Church is the body of Christ in 2 Corinthians 12 follows a listing of certain spiritual gifts and reveals the necessity for those gifts.

     The intelligent head can work only as it has at its command organs designed for various tasks. It is the mind that sees, but it must have an eye to see through. It is the mind that hears, but it cannot hear without an ear. And so [it is] with all the varied members—the instruments by means of which the mind moves into the external world to carry out its plans.

     As all man’s work is done by his mind, so the work of the Church is done by the Spirit, and by Him alone. But to work, He must set in the body certain members with abilities specifically created to act as media through which the Spirit can flow toward ordained ends.

How Many Gifts?

     Paul mentions no less than 17 (1 Cor. 12:4-11, 27-31; Rom. 12:3-8; Eph. 4:7-11). These are not natural talents merely but gifts imparted by the Holy Spirit to fit the believer for his place in the body of Christ…. [T]hrough the body of Christ, God is doing an eternal work above and beyond the realm of fallen nature. This requires supernatural working.

     Religious work can be done by natural men without the gifts of the Spirit, and it can be done well and skillfully. But work designed for eternity can only be done by the eternal Spirit…through gifts He has Himself implanted in the souls of redeemed men….

     Certain evangelical teachers have told us that the gifts of the Spirit ceased at the death of the apostles or at the completion of the New Testament. This, of course, is a doctrine without a syllable of biblical authority back of it…. The result of this erroneous teaching is that spiritually gifted persons are ominously few among us. When we so desperately need leaders with the gift of discernment, for instance, we do not have them and are compelled to fall back upon the techniques of the world. This frightening hour calls aloud for men with the gift of prophetic insight. Instead we have men who conduct surveys, polls, and panel discussions. We need men with the gift of knowledge. In their place we have men with scholarship—nothing more…. [highlighting is mine. CMR]

     [T]he Scriptures plainly imply the imperative of possessing the gifts of the Spirit. Paul urges that we both “covet” and “desire” spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:31; 14:1). It does not appear to be an optional matter with us but rather a scriptural mandate to those who have been filled with the Spirit.

     But I must also add a word of caution. The various spiritual gifts are not equally valuable, as Paul so carefully explained. Certain brethren have magnified one gift out of 17 out of all proportion.… [T]he general moral results of this teaching have…not been good…. [I]t has resulted in much shameless exhibitionism, a tendency to depend upon experiences instead of upon Christ, and often a lack of ability to distinguish the works of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit.

     Those who deny that the gifts are for us today and those who insist upon making a hobby of one gift are both wrong, and we are all suffering the consequences of their errors.

     …We have every right to expect our Lord to grant to His church spiritual gifts, which He has never in fact taken away from us but which we are failing to receive only because of our error or unbelief.

     It is more than possible that God is even now imparting the gifts of the Spirit to whomsoever He can and in whatever measure He can as His conditions are met even imperfectly. Otherwise, the torch of truth would flicker out and die.

     Clearly, however, we have yet to see what God would do for His Church if we would all throw ourselves down before Him with an open Bible and cry, “Behold Thy servant, Lord! Be it unto me even as Thou wilt."

Writing is a Funny Thing

I'm taking a little break from the usual today. Writing can be quite the taskmaster, a slave driver that requires feeding every single day. So I'll just share a little bit of how and why I started this blog.

Until recently, I have not written for a number of years. It's not that I didn't want to write. There were times that I sat down to do just that. But I couldn't.

For many years I wrote continually. I wrote "Letters to the Editor" for many different newspapers and, as I recall, every letter was published with the exception of two. Those two were political. I suspect my opinion was not always popular. In fact, I suppose it has never been popular. Most of my writing was about the faith, Christianity, and I suppose some of the editors didn't know any better than to publish them :-)

Popularity has never been of much importance to me, anyway. Of course I want people to like me, but not if it costs me anything at all in terms of my belief system. That's another beautiful thing about writing. It's not targeted at anyone. You say what you believe. They choose to read or not.

Oh, and that reminds me. My husband has never, ever read one of my articles or blog posts in all these years. Can you believe that? Does it bother me? No, not in years. Remember, after all, he hears it verbally all the time...and far more than once :-)

Then, all of a sudden, I could no longer write. It happened abruptly. Remember when I talked about God's Waiting Room? Well, now that I think about it, those eight years in the waiting room were approximately the same years I found it impossible to write.

It wasn't that I had nothing to say (that'll be the day!). It was that it was impossible for the words to make the trip from my head to paper. They couldn't get from here to there.

That was God's doing.

I knew it then, and I know it now. He controls our gifts. He enables them...and He disables them. All according to His will and His plan for our lives and the lives of others.

So he didn't want me to write. Okay. I accepted that. It didn't really bother me because I doubted that what I wrote made much difference, anyway. I doubted that many people ever read them. It was my pleasure to write. I still had the thoughts; I just couldn't get them down on paper. Besides, I was very, very busy reading and studying. It wasn't as if I depended in any way on writing for anything at all. I rarely even missed it. I just found it curious. Actually, I almost forgot that I had ever written. It was in the past, although I occasionally talked about starting a blog, but not really believing it.

And then one day - out of the blue - I had to write. I dismissed it at first because I hadn't been able to do it for so long. Why waste the time trying if the Lord had turned it off?

But I heard that still, small voice say to me, "I want you to write. Right now." (The Lord does have a sense of humor.) "Okay, Lord. About what?" Silence.

I got up and went to my computer ... and I wrote. And wrote. And wrote. I can't stop. It's a spigot that is broken and can't be turned off. I am broken. The Lord turned it on, and He will turn it off when He is good and ready. I never know what will come out when I sit down to write. Sometimes I am amazed. Once in a while I think ahead about something I might write. That's seldom what comes out, though. At times it's not even in the ballpark - not even the same topic. It's as if I started to make lasagne, and a roast came out - which is a ludicrous example because I hate to cook.

One of the things I enjoy most about writing is that you never have any idea who is reading it, which gives a person a total freedom, seldom experienced in any other endeavor. What you are saying is not compromised in any way by virtue of a known audience. It's a lark!

The Lord and I are having a wonderful time.

I hope you are, too.

A Child of The King

Properly Using Your Gifts

Yes, there is a wrong way to use the gifts God gives to us. People like me have to live a long, long time to figure this out. The basic lesson is this: don't try to fit a round peg (yourself) into a square hole (Christian service).

Permit me to explain.

God gives each of us a specific nature to be used with our specific gifts. The proper use of our gifts will bring great joy to us, be of spiritual benefit to others and, above all, will glorify the Lord. If someone asks you to do something, and you hate every second of it, that's a huge clue that it may not be your gift. Using your gift as the Lord intends brings incredible satisfaction.

For example, we often expect our pastors to be brilliant preachers, gifted teachers, wise counselors, have the administrative skills of corporate CEOs, have perfect marriages, children to die for, be witty writers...and that's just for starters. We expect them to be on call 24/7, take a cut in pay when times are tough, never complain or show irritation, never disagree with anyone and generally keep everyone happy with themselves and with him. And the thanks he gets? If he makes one wrong move the members go home after church on Sunday and have 'roast pastor.'

How do I know this? My parents were in the ministry.

Now this is clearly impossible. We cannot make everyone happy. The Lord Himself certainly didn't. And yet the man is clearly called to the ministry, one of the toughest jobs on the face of the earth. Who does he go to for support and succor? The stress of the ministry is horrendous. Do you pray for your pastor and his family? Make sure you do it. And often.

(Now how did I end up going down that rabbit trail?)

This is not a case of a man going into the wrong field or misusing his gifts. He was called of the Lord. It's a case of people expecting too much of one individual. This is especially true in the smaller churches, and it's a shame because pastoral burnout is a rampant problem. Where is the class that teaches this truth to church members? There are all kinds of retreats, seminars, conferences, support groups, etc. for church members to attend, but I have never seen one that addressed support and consideration for the pastor's family.

Another example is my own experience. My gifts are essentially speaking, teaching, writing, counseling and music. The Lord gave me a nature to accommodate those things. I have done all of these for many years and have seldom run into any problem. You may notice that these are not 'team' gifts as a general rule. There is a ton of preparation to do any one of them, and I love working alone...thinking, reading, etc. I've been doing all of these for so many years that they are second nature to me. Give me a subject, give me five minutes, and I can talk about it, write about it, counsel others about it, maybe even write a song about it! That comes from experience.
I love to do them.

On the other hand, if you ask me to be on a church board, there's no way it's going to happen. To me, that would be like going to an insurance seminar or something. I would be bored, restless, and disgusted that there was so much talk about something like what color to paint the nursery. I couldn't care less. And all that discussion seems to me a colossal waste of time. It will irritate me no end. (But I won't say anything...I just won't make that mistake again.)

What else don't I do? I can't sew. I hate crafts. I feel that I don't relate well to children ... I don't know what to say to them. I dislike small talk. Preparing and taking a dish to a potluck makes me wonder if this is what having a nervous breakdown is like (although I will do it). I wouldn't want to ever plan an event. I hate practicing anything. Sitting and just being an observer is absolute torture, with one exception: the sermon is my favorite part of any service. In other words I must be learning, thinking or accomplishing something in order to sit still at all.

So, when one gets to a certain age in life, saying 'no' is not a problem. You've had your gifts for a long, long time. You've sifted out the things that do not spiritually benefit yourself or others, nor do they glorify the Lord. If anyone tells you they wish they could do what you do, tell them that they can do things you cannot do. No one does everything. I always wished that I (round peg) could be a soloist (square hole), but the Lord in His infinite wisdom did not give me that gift. Perhaps when I get to heaven.... :-)

Know thyself. There is no rule that says you must bake the best pie at the county fair.

And don't forget to pray for your pastor and his family.

A Royal Heir

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