Different Gifts - All Useful

Alba 5-1-2022

DIFFERENT GIFTS – ALL USEFUL

Romans 12:3-8

In December of 2004, Dave Barry, a columnist for the Washington Post, wrote his comments about the typical male in the first week of December.

He wrote, “Your standard man, at this point in the Christmas season, has purchased zero gifts. He has not yet gotten around to purchasing an acceptable gift for his wife for last Christmas.

“He did give her something last year, but he could tell by her reaction to it that she had not been dreaming of getting an auto emergency kit, even though it was the deluxe model with booster cables and an air compressor.

“Clearly this gift violated an important rule, but the man had no idea what this rule was, and his wife was too upset to tell him.”

(Dave Barry, “Your Gift Is in the Male,” Washington Post, December 7, 2004)

Sometimes we get gifts we don’t really appreciate. But there is Someone who knows exactly what we need, and He delights in giving us good gifts. That One, of course, is the Lord.

The greatest gift we can receive is the gift of salvation. It is ours because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

But God's gift giving does not end there. God provides us with gifts that enhance our lives and builds up the body of Christ, the church.

It’s like Oprah giving away cars: “You get a gift, and you get a gift, and you get a gift. Everybody gets a spiritual gift!”. There is a list of some of them in Romans 12:3-8. Lets turn to that text this morning.

“3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

While every Christian has been gifted to benefit others, we are not given the same gifts. Nor are we given all the gifts. So this text warns us not to think that we have been short changed if someone else seems to have a better gift.

But also we are warned not to think that we are better than others just because our gift seems to gather more attention or praise. We are all part of one body, working toward one purpose.

In the same way our physical body has many parts that work together for the benefit of the whole, so it is in the spiritual body. That is why there is no need for competition or pettiness.

Every gift is useful for the church, and needed within the church. Think about various parts of your body and how needed they are even if they do not seem to get much notice.

What if the right coronary artery said, “I hate being in this position. I never get any rest. My work never stops. And to make matters worse, nobody pays any attention to me. I quit!” Suddenly we discover that the whole body is in real trouble, all because one artery quit doing his job.

What if the eardrum would say, “All I ever get to do is sit here and get beat on by everything that comes down the canal. I hear everything that’s going on, but I never see anything. I hate this job! No one cares and they are constantly poking at me with something. I’ll show them! I quit!”

What if my thumbs decided they wouldn’t work because I put a ring on this finger, but not on them? I’d be pretty clumsy!

What if my hand would not help my foot when I accidentally dropped something on it because I spent $100 to cover my feet, but only $20 on gloves for my hands?

Every single part of my physical body is essential for me to be a whole and complete person, even though they don’t get equal credit or honor. Well, the church is the body of Christ, and each of us are the various parts of that body and we are all needed.