Missionaries: The Gift

These are comments on this week’s Sabbath School lesson 12, Gifted for Service: Philip.

Going through this lesson, one of the thoughts that came to my mind is how differently the initial believers viewed the relative importance of administration vs. field work. Today quite a few ministers think it is a promotion and a step up to leave the pastorate and become administrators. That is not how things were viewed in Acts 6. Though the text uses the word “deacon,” I think it was in the Good Word discussion that one of the individuals there noted that the deacons were more akin to what we would call today, administrators.

For the first generation of believers, field work, the evangelist and the pastor were doing the most critical work. Administration was something that became a necessity, but it was not seen as a step up. Looking at the story of Philip, how he soon became a preacher, evangelist, and effectively a pastor at Caesarea, I could even imagine administration functioning as a training ground for field work. That got me thinking how we’ve got things quite upside down today, and is it even realistic to think of placing new ministers into administrative positions and as they become more experienced to place them in the field? What if the pay scales were turned upside down so that the president made the least money and the youth pastor was given the most? I haven’t really thought through this, but I think it’s worth thinking about.

Another idea that was triggered by the lesson was how the name “Philip” being a Greek name, could mean that Philip was a Hellenistic Jew, one who was already accustomed (to some extent) to other cultures. There is an interesting study note on the NET Bible for Acts 8:1:

“Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.”

For me these provide some insight into how and why Philip was able and eager to share the gospel to non-Jews. He may have harbored less prejudice than the non-Hellenistic Jews. He may already have had multicultural perspectives. He obviously had a heart for those outside Judaism and understood, even before the Apostles, that the gospel was for all people.

The main theme of this week’s lesson is the Holy Spirit and the gifts given through Him for service. One of the most helpful books I’ve read on the subject of spiritual gifts is Henry and Mel Blackaby’s What’s So Spiritual About Your Gifts? The thesis is that whereas many Christians focus on specific spiritual gifts, the real gift is the Holy Spirit Himself. The manifestations of specific gifts depend upon what is needed at a specific place and time. The authors also clearly differentiate between natural abilities and talents vs. spiritual gifts. The former is always available whereas the latter is something specifically given by the Holy Spirit to meet a specific need. They also suggest that in many cases, God may lead believers into areas where none of their strengths are of use, just so that they may learn to depend upon Him so that any success can only be due to His strength working through human weakness.

The lesson references a couple of the standard “spiritual gifts” passages in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. Romans 12:6 is quite interesting in that “gifts” in Greek is “charisma” and “grace” is “charis.” One could say that spiritual gifts are directly related to grace that is given by God. When I read 1 Corinthians 12 (specifically vv. 4, 7, and 11) and put it together with Jesus’ words in John 14 and 16, it is quite clear to me that the Blackabys are onto something when they write that “the Holy Spirit is the gift.”

Philip appears to be an example of what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (ESV) Philip didn’t know from one moment to another what was going to happen, but the important thing is that he was open to the Spirit’s leading, wherever it lead.

As missionaries for God, we should be open to the Spirit’s leading. We should be confident that when the Spirit leads, He will also equip. Too often, I know that I’ve been afraid of taking risks and going into the unknown because the destination didn’t seem to fit in with my strengths and skill-set. We often want the equipping before the going. We might even use a pre-equipping as a “test” of God’s calling. But more often than not, if I am willing to go first, God is also able to strengthen and equip.