Spiritual Gifts Are for Service, Not Personal Fulfillment

I loved watching the Chicago Bulls in the 90s because Michael Jordan was the best player in the world. Even when Michael Jordan retired from basketball to play professional baseball, the Chicago Bulls were still one of the best teams in the NBA. Why? Because of superstar Scottie Pippen. Pippen was a fierce defender and could play every position on the court. One play during Pippen’s career still lives in infamy.

The Bulls were tied with the New York Knicks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. There were 1.8 seconds left on the clock. Without Jordan, everyone expected Pippen to take the last shot. But head coach Phil Jackson didn’t call on Pippen. Instead, he drew up a play for rookie Toni Kukoc. Pippen expressed his frustration during the timeout. After all, he was the team’s leader, one of the best players in the entire league. Pippen felt disrespected so he chose to remain on the bench for the last play. When his team needed him the most, Pippen let his ego get the best of him. He forgot that his God-given talents served one ultimate purpose: to help his team win the game, even if it meant inbounding the ball instead of taking the last shot (Spoiler alert: with Pippen on the bench, Kukoc swished the game-winning shot at the buzzer.)

Basketball fans know that Pippen’s career was not defined by that single moment. We should be slow to pass judgment. In fact, we should see something of ourselves in his weak moment. We’ve likely never been denied the opportunity to take a game-winning shot in an NBA playoff game, but we may have been the child that grumbled over not getting playing time we thought we deserved. Maybe we have thrown a pity party when we didn’t get the promotion. Maybe we were offended when the pastors told us we weren’t ready to preach. Or maybe we have been angry when our spouse doesn’t seem to appreciate the work we do at home. When we are not recognized as we think we should be, we often take it as a personal offense. We feel disrespected, unappreciated, and undervalued if our gifts and talents don’t get the platform for expression that we think they deserve.

Spiritual Gifts and the Misguided Need for Self-Expression

I wonder how often Christians think their spiritual gift needs a platform for expression in the local church. Of course, no Christian would ever admit it, but how often do we use spiritual gifts to justify selfishness and individualism? It’s the posture that says, “I am gifted in teaching, so I need to preach.” Or, “I am gifted in evangelism, so I need to lead an evangelistic outreach.” Or, “I am gifted in discipling women, so I need to start a women’s ministry.” Or, “I am gifted with children, so I need to lead the children’s ministry.”

Don’t get me wrong, churches will benefit from letting gifted people lead official church ministries. The problem is not platforms or public ministries. The problem is when we start to think about ourselves more highly than we ought (Rom. 12:3). We might think about our spiritual gifts as vehicles for personal fulfillment and self-exaltation. We care more about reaching our potential than building up the body. If we are denied the opportunity to express our gifts, we feel disrespected, unappreciated, and perhaps offended. Even worse, the offense we feel becomes an excuse for disobedience. For example, a woman is gifted at teaching, so she is given a platform to preach during corporate worship.

Your Gifts Are Not About You

The New Testament corrects our misunderstandings and our propensity to curve inward on ourselves. Peter instructed his readers in 1 Peter 4:10: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (emphasis mine). The apostle Paul wrote that God gives each one of us a “manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7; emphasis mine). Paul reminded the Ephesians that gifted leaders “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11–12). Every equipped and gifted member does his or her part to build up the body in love (Eph. 4:13–16).

Simply put, spiritual gifts are given to Christians so that Christians can serve the church. Spiritual gifts are not about providing a sense of self-worth or fulfillment. They are not inherent to our identity so that we are somehow incomplete if we can’t exercise our gifts.

What if your church doesn’t need you to express your spiritual gift the way you want? You can still pray, you can still share the gospel, you can still show hospitality, you can still help behind the scenes, you can still show mercy, you can still encourage others. Maybe you need to think less programmatically about your spiritual gifts and more relationally.

In other words, find people to serve, not platforms to stand on. Maybe you are gifted in teaching, but your church has enough elders and other teachers. That’s fine. Can you take a new believer to coffee and disciple him? Can you work through an edifying book with a fellow church member? Can you teach in the children’s ministry? Maybe you have the gift of mercy? Can you find a fellow saint that needs encouragement? Your spiritual gifts are not about you. Spiritual gifts are gifts, after all. They are given to us by God so that we can take part in building up the body. Even the execution of our gift comes from the strength that God supplies so that God gets all the glory (1 Pet. 4:11).

Think with Sober Judgment

The reality is that we probably don’t possess the spiritual equivalent of Scottie Pippen’s basketball talent, yet we have a propensity to overrate ourselves. We need to think with “sober judgment” about our gifts and not think more highly of ourselves than we ought (Rom. 12:3). In my experience, the people who think they deserve to take the game-winning shot are usually the ones who need to inbound the ball. We often lack self-awareness. How many young aspiring pastors entered the ministry thinking they would be the next John Piper, R.C. Sproul, or Tim Keller only to find themselves disappointed and disillusioned? I will never preach like George Whitfield, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, or John Piper, and that’s okay. The sovereign God who gifted them to fulfill their calling is the same God who has given me what I need to fulfill mine. God knows best how to care for his church.

My level of giftedness is not what defines me. Your spiritual gifts are not what defines you. “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it” (1 Cor. 4:7)? When we realize that spiritual gifts are for the common good, we will be less concerned with ourselves and start serving people with the strength that God supplies. We will gladly inbound the ball or, in our case, serve our churches in whatever way necessary. The goal is for everyone around us to be built up in love. We may even find that this kind of self-forgetfulness, this kind of self-denial, is where true fulfillment and joy are found.