If you need surgery who do you want? The appropriate medical specialist of course. Whether it be medicine, the court system, counseling, mechanics, marketing or just about any other field, we are constantly being taught that only those specially trained are capable of doing the job right. And in some areas such as brain surgery you do only want a specialist.
It should not be surprising that people defer to the experts to get a job done. Should this mentality also influence how God's people view Christian service? Is it biblical or merely a lame excuse to deny that we have responsibility in some area of Christian service by saying "this is not my gift?" To put it another way, must we be gifted in order to perform some service or were these gifts intended to assist certain members of God's household to rise above normal levels of expected service?
The New Testament on Gifts and Functions
God's people are described in scripture as a body composed of different parts fulfilling a variety of functions.(1) Through the language of giving gifts, scripture attributes Christ and the Holy Spirit as having distributed different functions and special abilities to various individuals within the body.(2) Some of these gifts which have been given have been miraculous in nature while others are not.(3) The question of which or if any of these gifts are still being distributed is beyond the scope of this article. My focus here is not upon finding your gift or whether giftedness exists today, but rather I am wanting to consider what seems to be one consequence of giftedness having been taught, namely, the idea that "I cannot do this because that is not my gift."
What was the New Testament trying to teach its readers about gifts? How were God's people supposed to think about the non-miraculous gifts such as: serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing to the needs of others, leadership and showing mercy? Is serving God through one these avenues a case of all or nothing; that is, either you have the gift or you are totally inept to do anything in this area? Would anyone dare say, "showing mercy" or "serving" is not my gift and therefore I do not have to be merciful or serve others? Of course not! Every Christian must be merciful and serve(4) and yet these are also described as being gifts. Gifts were intended to provide additional resources of strength and functioning to Christ's body. The fact that some ability or function might be given as a gift does not necessarily mean that those who do possess that gift are totally incapable of offering any form of that service.
"Evangelism is Not My Gift"
I would suggest that, (and here is the reason for this article), it is unbiblical to say "evangelism is not my gift" to imply that I am justified for not being evangelistic. The fact that God has given some to be evangelists does not preclude any of us from the responsibility of telling others about Jesus. To claim, "I cannot serve God in evangelism because I do not have the this gift" is to create a human excuse. Some are evangelists, but all are to evangelize.
Someone might protest my reasoning by claiming, "But Paul wrote that Jesus gave some to be apostles and elders and not everyone can be one of these. Likewise, not everyone can be an evangelist." For someone to attempt to use this line of argumentation is to grasp at straws. What is significant is that there is a difference between being responsible to perform a particular function within the body of Christ and being capable to do some aspect of that role. For example, any Christian might encourage another Christian even though he or she might not be responsible for the flock as a shepherd. Similarly, every Christian can teach someone else about Christ without needing to be designated as an evangelist.
The temptation to create a parallel between our secular world dominated by specialists and my service in Christ's body can be strong. Unfortunately, when the mentality of "leaving it to the experts" spills over into our service to God the result can be not only unbiblical but disastrous.
1 Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 27-31
2 Ephesians 4:8-13; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
3 Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 27-31
4 Luke 6:36; Galatians 5:13
Copyright © 2002 Barry Newton
Other Articles Which Might Be of Interest:
Peter and John's Evangelistic Secrets
Acting Differently Than You Feel - Is This Hypocritical?
The Framework for the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit