In his remarkable book Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl details the moments that forever changed his life. Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who had spent years researching and writing a book on the importance of finding meaning in life. But in the middle of his work during World War II, he was arrested by Nazi soldiers and stripped of everything, including his property, his home, his family, and his possessions. Fortunately, before he was taken to the infamous Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, Frankl managed to hide a copy of his manuscript in the lining of his coat.
At the camp Frankl tried to take an older prisoner into his confidence. One day he pulled prisoner aside and showed him the rolled up manuscript in the coat lining. "Look", he said, "This is the manuscript of a scientific book. I know that you will say that I should be grateful to escape with my life and that should be all I can expect of fate. But I cannot help myself. I must keep this manuscript at all costs because it contains my life work. Do you understand that?"
At first the prisoner looked as if he were beginning to understand. But then a grin spread slowly over his face. At first the grin was pitiful and sad, and then it grew amused. Then it became mocking and insulting until finally the prisoner bellowed out an expletive that was ever-present on the lips of inmates.
In that moment Frankl felt as if his entire life's work had been reduced to an expletive. Later on he was forced to give up the clothes in which he hid his precious manuscript. As he wrestled with the brutal realities of Auschwitz and as he found himself confronted with the question of whether under such circumstances his life could have any meaning, he received the worn-out rags of an inmate who had been sent to the gas chamber.
In the pocket of his newly acquired coat he found a single page torn out of a Hebrew prayer book which contained the main Jewish prayer, Shema Yisrael. The prayer reads, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
Suddenly in that instant Frankl found meaning for his life again. Frankl would later write, "There is nothing in the world that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning to one's life."
Another Christian basic, the laying on of hands.
Frankl found meaning for his life not in the purposes he assigned to himself, but in the purposes God had called him to through his holy word. Today we come to the fourth phrase that appears in Hebrews 6. Like the other phrases we have explored in recent weeks, it also is a Christian basic. It is an elementary teaching that is as fundamental to Christianity as is repentance, faith, and baptism. It is what is known as the laying on of hands.
Now I have to confess that the laying on of hands is a somewhat obscure phrase. To be honest, there is a lot we don't know about the laying on of hands. But what we do know is that the laying on of hands signified a setting apart for ministry. It was the setting apart of a Christian for service to God's purpose. The laying on of hands was the Christian's commissioning, his ordination, his dedication service, and his public statement of his intention to be a minister. In the Old Testament the laying on of hands signified that an object (such as an animal sacrifice) or a person (such as Moses or Joshua) was being consecrated for a specific task.
During my senior year of Bible College I experienced the laying on of hands. At my home church in front of the entire congregation, I took a knee and bowed my head as the elders of the church and my father-in-law placed their hands on my shoulder and prayed for my life and ministry. On that day I was ordained into the ministry. I was set apart for God's purposes. I was charged to remain true to God's word forever. It was a powerful experience, an experience I will keep with me forever. It was the day I chose to find meaning for myself through serving God.
The fact that the laying on of hands appears in the Hebrews 6:2 list of Christian basics, tells us that it has application to the Christian community at large. Few if any of us here have been through an actual laying on of hands ceremony. Few if any of us ever will go through an actual laying on of hands ceremony. Regardless, the laying on of hands teaches us three things about every Christian.
We are set apart for God's purpose.
First, as Christians, we are set apart for God's purpose. Last July writer Doug Stanton interviewed George Clooney for Men's Health Magazine. The article was titled, "Why George Clooney Never Sleeps." Stanton points out that at just thirty-nine years of age, George Clooney is working harder than ever. Every morning at 4:30 AM, his restless brown eyes usually snap open for a full day of filming. He awakes feeling wired and ready to work. His closely cropped hair, which he cuts himself, is graying at the edges. There are bags under his eyes. People tease him about looking forty-two. By his own admission you can see the years on his face.
In that interview George Clooney had this to say about himself. "Most of the time, I wake up and feel like I've somehow missed something. Sleep is something I actually have to make myself do. I don't look forward to it."
Wow! What could George Clooney have possibly missed? What could he possibly be losing sleep over? What hasn't he yet accomplished? He is healthy, attractive, energetic, successful, wealthy, and popular. He is in high demand. My wife says all these things.
From my experience I would venture to say that George Clooney is not alone. There are a lot of men and women who feel like they have missed something. There are a lot of men and women who feel like they have yet to achieve that one big thing that they were born to accomplish. How many sleepless nights have you stayed up staring into the darkness wondering, "Is there more that I have yet to accomplish than this?"
Do you ever come home at night after a full day's work and think, "My whole day is shot and I haven't accomplished a thing, and tomorrow doesn't look good either!" Have you ever experienced this discontentment, this dissatisfaction, this desire to deepen your humanity, and to really accomplish something great?
Like George Clooney and Victor Frankl, people today are as interested as ever in finding meaning for their lives. Could it be that we are looking for meaning in all the wrong places? In Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) Paul says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Did you know that God specifically created you for a purpose? He created you, he especially created you, to accomplish something great. He created you to do a specific ministry, to take on a specific set of responsibilities, and to accomplish a specific goal that will forever quench that hunger to achieve. God's got a plan for your life, a great plan, a big plan, a satisfying plan, a plan that is worth considering, and a plan that is of enormous importance.
The laying on of hands is a reminder to all of us that God has set us apart for his purpose. His purpose is so much greater than our purposes. His purpose is not like the things we squander our lives on. His purpose is significant and life changing. We tend to give our lives to our work, to the pursuit of pleasure, to the accumulation of things, to the indulgences of the flesh, to sports and recreation, self-promotion, to the amassing of wealth, and the like. God's purpose is greater than each of us individually. God's purpose is eternal. It outlasts us. It stands the test of time. It's a plan perfectly crafted for each of us to participate in.
We are gifted by God's Spirit.
There is a second truth that the laying on of hands teaches us about. As Christians we are gifted by God's Spirit. The testimony of scripture is that God has given all of us a spiritual gift. In 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) the author says, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."
Romans 12:6 (NIV) says, "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us."
In 2 Timothy 2:6 (NIV) Paul instructs Timothy, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands."
In 1 Corinthians 1:7 (NIV) Paul says, "Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed."
It all makes perfect sense when we think about it. If God has created all of us to accomplish a specific purpose, then it also would make sense that he has gifted, or enabled us to accomplish that purpose. Every Christian has a spiritual gift. Many Christians have multiple spiritual gifts. Every gift is meant to be discovered, opened, shared, and used for God's glory.
What are spiritual gifts?
Some of you are no doubt asking, "What is a spiritual gift?" A spiritual gift is something that you cannot do without relying on God's power.
One of the spiritual gifts God has blessed me with is preaching and teaching. Now please, I am in no way implying that I have arrived, or that I preach perfectly, or that every message I preach retrieves the desired response. What I am saying is that I cannot preach and teach without God's power. I know this is true because I have tried to preach and teach without God's power.
There have been times when I have tried to write a sermon without first praying and studying and relying on God's spirit to guide me. There have been times when I was up late on Saturday nights, as late as 1 AM, staring at a blank computer screen through blurry eyes and wondering what I was going to preach on in seven or eight hours.
There have also been times when out of frustration and exhaustion I have given up on a message, only to find myself suddenly energized with fresh ideas and fresh insights and enthusiasm and passion. And that energy comes in a way that left no doubt in my mind that God was ever present and enabling me through his Spirit.
A spiritual gift is something that you cannot do without God's power. There are some people who have an extra measure of generosity, the gift of giving. They just go above and beyond. They give to the point that they virtually embarrass themselves and the person they're giving to. There are some who have the gift of hospitality. On a moment's notice they are willing to open their homes to anyone, to surrender their personal space, and to be inconvenienced.
There are some who have the gift of encouragement. They have this knack for speaking the perfect word at the perfect time. Their sincerity, their timing, their tone, their approach, and their grace are breathtaking. There are some who have the gift of wisdom. Their counsel is sound and their advice is delivered with precision and accuracy. There are some who have the gift of service. They are always available, always willing to do anything you ask. They'll run errands, grab a paintbrush, fix a meal, lend a hand, and change a tire. You name it and they are there to help.
The laying on of hands teaches us that every Christian has been set apart for God's purpose. And every Christian has been gifted by God's Spirit.
We are interconnected with God's people.
The laying on of hands also teaches us that as Christians we are interconnected with God's people. We are connected with one another. In 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV), Peter says, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." Of all the verses that talk about the Church, 1 Peter 4:10 is among my favorites. On one level it tells us that we have a responsibility to use our gifts to serve others.
We are not to squander God's gifts. We're not to be idle in the Lord. None of us is to be sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone else to pick up the slack. Rather we are to be actively using, developing, and honing our gifts, and leveraging our talents for the greatest good, for the benefit of the body.
Our spiritual gifts are not for our glory. They're for the Church and for God's glory. God gave them to us so that we would put them to good use.
But this verse takes things a little further. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others. Simple enough. But look at the second half of this verse, "...faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."
There are several points worth mentioning. For one, our spiritual gifts are a channel of God's grace. Just think, right now you and I are the answer to someone's prayer in this room. Someone in this room, in our congregation, has been praying to God for help, and God has specifically placed you in this place and at this time to administer his grace to that individual. Second, God's grace comes in many different sizes and shapes and colors. There are no two people in this room that God has gifted in the same way. Your personality, your abilities, your talents, your spiritual gifts-- everything about you is unique. And that's not just to this church, but to the world.
There is great diversity among God's people and for a good reason. A hammer is a useful tool but it cannot do what a screwdriver does. A screwdriver is a useful tool but you need both a standard and a Phillips tip to get most jobs done satisfactorily. But at times even that is not enough. There are different types of standard tips. Some are wide, some narrow, some thick, and some thin. And there are different types of shafts on screwdrivers. Some are extremely long in order to reach deep places. Some are short for convenience. Some are bent into an angle for those hard to reach places. Some have flexible shafts. And if that isn't enough, there are 9.6 volt screwdrivers, 12 volt, 14.4 volt, 18 volt, and 24 volt. There are manual screwdrivers, ratchet screwdrivers, etc.
The point is that God wants to administer his grace through your uniqueness. You are just what God needs at this time and in this place. You're the perfect tool. He has specifically crafted you and molded you and gifted you with his Spirit. You are part of his perfect plan, his eternal purpose.
Your life. Your life. Your life has significance and meaning.
You don't have to stay up nights anymore wondering if you missed it. You no longer have to find satisfaction in the empty purposes you've chosen for yourself. You can enter into God's purpose and find that perfect fit you have been searching for. It's the fit that God created you for!
God has created you for himself and for his people, the Church. We are all interconnected and interdependent on one another.