The Purpose of Your Spiritual Gifts, James 3:13-18

What is the Purpose of Your Spiritual Gifts
James 3:13-18

This isn't what you would normally think of as a passage on Spiritual Gifts. Nowhere in the entire letter or epistle of James do you find a mention of any specific gifts listed as Paul did, instead you find a plethora of writings about how our faith is exemplified by our works. In fact, the most famous verse of the book is 2:17, “Faith without works is dead.” It is for this reason as well as a few others that was James almost excluded from the Bible. If Martin Luther had had anything to do with it once the Protestant church started in the 1500's it would have been removed from the canon, calling it “an epistle of straw.” The early Church Fathers struggled even with who authored it. Was it James the brother of John that we see so prevalently in the Gospels? Some thought so, yet he was martyred around 40 AD. Then there was James the son of Alpheous, but many scholars think that this was the same as the brother of John. The one that many of the church fathers finally agreed upon was James, the brother of Jesus. He had become one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, was strict in his interpretation of the Jewish law, and had been raised with Jesus and would have fully had an understanding of righteous living. (see Barclay, The Letter of James and Peter)
Regardless of who the author was our own John Wesley was incredibly fond of the Epistle of James. He felt that it was a remedy against the general temptation to leave off good works in order to increase faith. When Wesley wrote of James and his writing of this letter he said, “That grand pest of Christianity, a faith without works, was spread far and wide; filling the Church with a 'wisdom from beneath,' which is 'earthly, sensual, devilish,' and which gave rise, not only to rash judging and evil speaking, but to 'envy, strife, confusion, and every evil work'”. (see Sermon 61: “The Mystry of Iniquity,” §19)
Though grace is extremely important in Wesley's theology, his life shows the importance of the works that result from a life changed by Grace. Likewise, James doesn't so much teach of this love and grace that leads to salvation but more about the expectations of those that call themselves Christian. He speaks of what the changed life of believers should look like. Specifically, our passage deals with those who presume to preach or teach but the lessons learned from this passage are reasonably transferable to all Christians and the use and misuse of their Gifts.

So, What then happens when we misuse our Gifts? Well,
Have you ever known of a person who can destroy a meeting by their mere presence? They walk in and the arrogance oozes from their pores. They speak the truth but it is somehow lost because of the haughtiness and selfishness that is a part of who they are. It seems that everything always comes down to them, what they can do, what they have done, who they are. Their pride is rampant and humility is non-existent.
This is the type of person that our passage talks about as having wisdom that does not come from God above but rather from the evil that comes from the devil.

The result of this behavior is disorder and chaos and that is the result of the misuse of our Spiritual Gifts. Our gifts from God are to be used to glorify God and edify others and bring about unity in the Body of Christ, but when they are misused they bring chaos and glorify evil. When we misuse our gifts we let pride and arrogance rule in our life. When we misuse our gifts we disregard the importance of the Body of Christ because we are busy looking out for Number one.
When we misuse our gifts we give the devil control of our life and ignore the rule of God in our life. Not so when we use our Gifts properly.
I tried to think of one human example of the proper use of our gifts. As I thought, one name came to mind.
Agnes = AG-ness
Gonxha = GOHN-jay
Bojaxhiu = boh-yah-JOO
Also known as the Blessed Mother Theresa.
From childhood she felt a call to follow God and by age twelve she had committed to a religious life. She became a Nun and while teaching in Calcutta in the 1940's she felt what she called “a call within a call” and began her work with the poor and dying of the poorest parts of Calcutta. She worked with the starving, at times herself starving and homeless.
She gave up all personal glory the pleasures of modern life, in fact during a particularly hard time she wrote in her diary
“Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food and health. Then the comfort of Loreto [her former order] came to tempt me. 'You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again,' the Tempter kept on saying ... Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard.”
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa)

If there was ever a person who seemed to be a complete and total follower of Christ it was Mother Theresa. Yet, in her humility she never sought honor of her own. She admitted to struggles of faith and times of emptiness.
Never did she let pride or arrogance interfere with her work for Christ.
When we read in our passage about purity, peacefulness, gentleness, righteousness we can see each of these exemplified in the life of Mother Theresa.

Theresa used her gifts to build up the Body of Christ in Calcutta and around the world. She cared for the sick and dying. She fed the hungry, clothed the naked. She lived the life that Christ taught but never did she seek her own way. Never did she seek her own fame. Never did she claim to be anything but a servant of Christ. She is truly an example of what happens when we use our gifts properly.
Will we all serve like Mother Theresa? Will we all live lives of poverty and tend the wounds of the Lepers?
Of course not. But can we all use our gifts to build up the Body of Christ? Can we all use our gifts in a way that exemplifies the life Christ taught us? Can we all use our Gifts in a way that Glorify God and bring about peace?
Of course we can.
When we use our gifts in this way, when we build up rather than destroy; when we live lives of love and mercy; when we produce good fruits with the life God gives us; when we to glorify God and edify others and bring about unity in the Body of Christ, then we know that we are fulfilling the purpose of our Gifts. That is your call from James. That is your call from John Wesley. That is your call from Christ. And that is the call I hope you hear today.