Righteousness

Earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way. (I Cor 12:20)

Think for a moment about physical handicaps. 

I once had a friend who was a paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair.  The thing he wanted most to do was to walk.  When Jesus asks blind Bartimaeus what he wants, Bartimaeus says, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight” (Mk 10:51).  Even if you’ve never been blind or paralyzed, you understand the sentiment.       

Paul likens spiritual gifts to parts of the body – hands, feet, eyes, ears — and that picture portrays the need for the gifts.  The church needs the gifts as a body needs a leg.  The gifts serve the church, and the absence of those gifts is a handicap on the church.  A church without sound teaching is blind.  A church without evangelism is lame, and a church without service has no hands. 

When Christians merely sit and soak in sermons without ever serving their church, they hurt their church.  Finding your gifting and using it for the church is necessary for your own spiritual health but also for the health of the church.  Spiritual gifts are as needed as a hand, an ear, or an eye. 

Having said this, however, spiritual gifts are not the most important aspect of your life with Jesus.  In I Corinthians, Paul talks about the body and spiritual gifts and then goes on to say, “But let me show you a more excellent way” (13:1).  He then says that if you have great gifts but don’t love, you are nothing.  As necessary as the gifts are, love is more needful yet. 

In addition, when Paul gives the criteria for elders (I Tim 3 and Titus 1), most of the criteria deal with character.  And even the one criterion that deals with a skill requires only that an elder be able to teach, not that he be gifted at teaching.  Elders do not have to have the spiritual gift of teaching, but they do need to be able to explain the faith to any who need an explanation.  Thus, even with elders, spiritual gifts are not the primary qualifications the church should look for.

Biblical character is more important than spiritual gifting.   Love is more important than spiritual gifting.  Your relationship with Jesus is more important than spiritual gifting.  Righteousness and holiness are more important than spiritual gifting.  It is better to be holy than to be a gifted evangelist.  It is better to love God and neighbor than to be a gifted church planter. 

If spiritual gifts are like hands and eyes, then love, holiness, intimacy with Jesus, and righteousness are like heart and liver. 

The church may be handicapped without the spiritual gifts, but it is dead without love or holiness.  In fact, it is not a church.  Godly character and a godly heart are essential markers of genuine Christianity.  Without them the church cannot survive.  John puts it this way:

            “Little children, let no one deceive you.  He who practices righteousness is

            righteous as he is righteous.  He who practices sinning is of the devil, for the

            devil has been sinning from the beginning . . . By this it is evident who are the

            children of God and who are the children of the devil.  Whoever does not

            practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

            (I John 3:8,10)

You can be of God without practicing your spiritual gifts, but you cannot be of God without practicing love and righteousness.  Of course, if you are of God, you should practice your spiritual gifts.  You use them for the church as a man uses his feet to carry the body. 

We, thus, need this twofold emphasis that Paul gives in I Corinthians.  On the one side, your gifts are important and you need to use them.  On the other side, some qualities are more important still. 

Thus, spiritual gifting should be important but not the overall focus of a believer.  If you gain strong hands but lose your heart, you have made a bad trade.  The main things need to be the main things, and spiritual gifts, good as they are, are not the main things. 

Walk in holiness.  Love Jesus.  Love your brother.  If you do these things, you put the word “spiritual” into spiritual gifts.  But if you don’t do these things, you rip the word “spiritual” out of the gifts.  That was a problem Paul had to correct in Corinth.  It is a problem that some people still have today. 

A church board calls a man to be pastor because he is a gifted communicator only to find later that he is also addicted to pornography.  A ministry calls a man who is a gifted evangelist only to find later that he abuses his power. Many people emphasize gifts instead of humility.  Ability instead of prayer.  Flash instead of substance.  Corinth is alive and well today. 

Don’t let it be so with you.