How many of you ever get gifts? Do you open them? Weird question! Right? Of course we open gifts we receive. Who would leave gifts unopened? Hopefully we all get some really neat gifts from time to time, but I’ll guess, some of you get gifts that aren’t “all that.” Right?
Does anyone ever feel, like me though, a bit awkward during gift openings, whether it be Christmas, bridal or baby showers, birthdays? Sometimes I feel a little nervous, like at Christmas, when we open gifts. I wonder if everyone will like what I got them, if I “evened” things out enough, if I got them enough, if they’ll wear or use it or get home and shove it in the closet, if I should of just given them a gift card, or if I gave them a gift card, should I have not done that. Or I see them open other people’s gifts, see the joy on their faces and think, “Ah, I should have gotten them something different. They are going to hate what I got them.”
Then there’s “kids opening gifts”. That can be very awkward. Our children teach their children good and proper etiquette, including gratefulness for gifts, but I’ve got to tell you, kids don’t or can’t fake it! When our grandchildren open their gifts at Christmas, we all KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt what their favorite gifts are because the other gift gets tossed aside. In fact, if we don’t slow them down, they rifle through presents pretty quick until they get the “one” that makes their eyes light up. Sure! They’re good at politely saying, “Thank you” for every gift, giving us hugs and kisses in appreciation, but the utter joy over gifts they really love is unmistakable.
Did you know there are gift etiquette experts out there to help us adults navigate the whole gift giving and receiving extravaganza? I figure they are there to help us fake it, you know, hide our true feelings, about certain gifts because though receiving gifts is wonderful it can also put us in a predicament in certain situations. Like if we receive a gift from someone we didn’t expect, or if a gift is way better than what was given, or if the gift is just totally wrong for us. The goal they say is to stay even keel; don’t get overenthusiastic about gifts we love, or be under enthusiastic for gifts we don’t love. Just smile and say “thank you” for every gift, great or lousy. That way, if a gift feels “wrong” like say, a gym membership when you’re a tad overweight, a gift certificate for a hairdresser because you have a mullet, a cooking class coupon from your husband who is always saying, “let’s just go out tonight”, you won’t blow the relationship by your reaction.
There’s also that awkward moment when you open a gift and either don’t know what it is or wonder, “What were they thinking?” That happened to our seven-year-old granddaughter at a gift exchange at school. I asked what she got. She said, “Buma, we ran out of time so I didn’t get to pick a different gift.” “Why did you want a different one?” “Well, I opened my present and I didn’t know what it was. So I wanted to trade it but we didn’t have time.” “Where’s the gift. Maybe I can help you figure out what it is and what to do with it.” She said, “Oh, it’s in the car. But nobody knows what it is.”
She might have been thinking, “What were they thinking?”
Okay…all this talk about gifts has a purpose! It’s because every one of you has gifts, given to you by God. I am 100% sure of that because when you received Jesus as Lord, you got one or more! Now, some of you have opened your gifts, some haven’t. Some of you who have opened them, like and use what He has given you, while some of you aren’t too sure. Some of you feel a little awkward with the gifts and wonder what God was thinking when He handed them out. Some of you are very thankful for the gifts but have put them aside in lieu of other things you’d rather do. Or some of you think you’re too old or too irrelevant to use His gifts anymore. And some of you see the gifts others have and would like to trade yours in for theirs.
Turns out we have our own gift expert and He wants us to know about the gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:1"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:” Ignorance just means, “we’re in the dark” or “not in the know” about something. God doesn’t want us to be uninformed. Spiritual gifts are divine abilities given to us by God’s own design and grace. They’re to be used for the common good of the body of Christ. If we don’t unwrap, open, and use these gifts, if we don’t know what they are once we’ve opened them, if we aren’t sure how or where to use them, the whole body suffers.
Anytime we struggle with any kind of gift it’s likely because we’re looking only at the gift instead of the Giver. See, if we focused only on the spirit of the person giving us a gift, we would NEVER be disappointed with a gift. Likewise, if we only concentrated on Holy Spirit as He distributes gifts, we would never be disappointed but would be thankful and want to honor and please Him by using the gift.
So, have you unwrapped and opened your spiritual gifts? Do you know what they are? Do you struggle in knowing what to do with them or how to share them? Do you need expert help to navigate spiritually? Are you feeling let down by the gifts you’ve received when you look at the gifts of others? Ever feel like trading yours in?
Verses 2-3 (MSG) encourage and challenge us to allow Holy Spirit to give us insight now that we know Jesus as Lord of our lives. “Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say, “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit.”
When we are informed and then receive insight from Holy Spirit, we can identify the diversity of His gifts and it gets really exciting because there is such great variety. 4-6 “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.”
Notice the D words “Diversity, differences, and diversities again! There is a great assortment of gifts, ministries, and activities yet the same Spirit, same Lord, same God! He works, (that means, “gives us the energy”) to do everything. He stays the same yet makes all things different for one purpose...to profit everyone. 7 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all…” That means as we use our gifts, we are literally allowing the Spirit of God to manifest, “make Himself plain and apparent” here on earth. The gifts are a reflection or extension of Him through us. These are free grace gifts received, not achieved. They are listed in Verses 8-10 “…for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”
The common denominator in all these gifts is the same Spirit. Verse 11”But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills." Holy Spirit decides who gets what, when, how, and where! As we receive His gifts, let Him work in us what He has given, His ministry intensifies among us and extends to the world. What a relief we don’t have to choose which gifts we get! We just get to unwrap, open, and follow as He wills!
Let me end today with a little parable to help us understand the need for us to receive the gifts He’s given, unwrap them to reveal His calling in our lives, so we’ll allow Him to use us as He wills and bless those around us.
One day, the Master Carpenter’s tools were talking! Brother Hammer spoke up first, but just as he did, several others suggested he leave because he was too noisy. He said, “If I have to leave, Brother Saw has to go with me. He only uses cutting words.” Brother Saw said, “True. But then Brother Screwdriver has to go too. He doesn’t do anything but press and turn until it hurts.” Brother Screwdriver spoke up. “Fine. I’ll leave. But Brother Planer has to leave, too. His work is all on the surface. He has no depth.” Brother Planer responded, “No problem. But then Brother Ruler has to get out too because he measures like he’s the only one who is right.” Brother Ruler said, “Okay! But then Brother Sandpaper has to leave, too, because he always rubs in a rough way.” And so went the discord.
The Carpenter of Nazareth walked in, put on His apron, went to the workbench with the plans to make a pulpit to proclaim the gospel from. As He worked, He used Brothers Hammer, Saw, Screwdriver, Planer, Ruler, Sandpaper, and other tools as well. At the end of the day, when the pulpit was finished, Brother Saw declared, “Wow! That was fantastic. The Carpenter worked with all of us together!” Brother Hammer said, “Yeah, maybe we ought to do this more often.” Brother Screwdriver said, “We all did our part. That was fun!” Brother Planer said, “It sure was. I had no idea how important my surface work really was!” Brother Ruler piped up saying, “It was great guys. Thanks for doing what you all do!” Brother Sandpaper finished up saying, “I’m sure glad He showed up when He did so we didn’t all miss this. This pulpit is going to bless a lot of people.”
As members of Christ’s body, each of us is gifted, unique, and needed in the Church. As we allow God to work in, with, and through us, He will make beautiful things. Just like we unwrap and open gifts people give us, let’s unwrap, open, and use our spiritual gifts. No need to compare our gifts with anyone else’s or try to trade them in because; if we’ll just be available to Him, we’ll be amazed at what HE can do with us, what HE can create, what HE will work through us for the good of everyone. Amen!
