Excel In Your Gift, Grace And Ministry

In Matthew 25: 14-30, Jesus told a parable of a man who gave talents to three of his servants. The first received 5 talents, the second servant 2 talents and the third was given 1 talent. The talents were not shared arbitrarily; haphazardly, blindly, aimlessly, by chance, by coincidence or randomly. The distribution of these talents were based on the ability of each servant. The master knew what each servant could comfortably handle and that was what he gave to each one. “And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability…” (Matthew 15:15).

The parables of Jesus are not fiction stories. They are not imaginary events, something that is invented or untrue. The parables of Jesus are what He uses to pass across an important lesson or teaching. They are illustrations which reflect what is really happening in people’s lives, they are an opener into what we see in our world today.

The three servants in the parable of the talents represent or are symbolic of the body of believers. Each servant received something from their master. So also every one of us has received at least one gift from God. 1 Peter 4:10 says “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another. As good servants of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Corinthians 12:7 says “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” Each of us has been given through the Spirit of God, something to do for God, a gift to operate in or serve with. Ephesians 4:7 says “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift”. No child of god is excluded, we all have a gift, grace and ministry. Everyone has a ministry that God has put under you care, every one of us has a measure of God’s grace. The measure of grace we have is in direct proportion to the assignment, the ministry God has called us into, it is linked to the gift God has given us. This grace is the divine strength and enablement to function and serve in a particular area, it is the divine ability to do certain things for God effortlessly, without struggling.

These three scriptures use the phrase ‘each one’, ‘each of us,’ to emphasize the fact that there is no child of God that doesn’t have a part to play in the work of God, there is no believer that God hasn’t given a responsibility or an assignment to carry out.

GIFTS, GRACE AND MINSITRIES ARE DISTRIBUTED ACCORDING TO GOD’S SOVEREIGN WILL AND PLAN FOR OUR LIVES

Just as the three servants in the Parable of the Talents, were given different things, not the same thing, Jesus, our Lord and Master has given us, His servants, His children, different gifts, different grace, different ministries. God has given some people five different responsibilities or assignments to handle. Some could have three or four. Some others two. Some one. The sharing formula God uses for the distribution of gifts and ministries to His children is our ability; what we can comfortably handle, what we have grace to do. We don’t choose our gift, we don’t determine and dictate what our assignment will be. God gives them to us based on His will; on His plan and purpose for our lives. “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11).

EXCELLENCE CAN BE ACHIEVED WHEN WE ARE OPERATING IN THE GIFT, GRACE AND MINISTRY GOD HAS GIVEN US

The servant with 5 talents and servant with two talents, went at once to put their talents to use, to trade with what they had been given, to serve with their talents. They both doubled what was given them, they both exceled, did very well that when their master returned, he commended them for their diligence and faithfulness. He was pleased with their performance (Matthew 25:16-23). It was easy for these servants to excel because what they put to use, was what they had received from their master. Excellence can be achieved when we are operating in the grace, gift and ministry God has given. It is within the ambit; the expressions of the grace, gift and ministry God has given us that we have the potential to be the very best, to do exceedingly well.

RECOGNIZE YOUR OWN GIFT, WHAT YOU HAVE GRACE TO DO, WHAT YOUR ASSIGNMENT IS AND STICK TO IT, DON’T DEVIATE FROM IT

Paul recognized the grace of God on his life and operated under that dimension of grace. In Ephesians 3:8 he said “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Paul recognized that God had given him a burden to reach out to the Gentiles. God had filled him with divine strength and wisdom to unfold the mysteries of the gospel to the Gentiles, to impact their lives and turn their hearts to Christ (Ephesians 3:9, Galatians 1:16, Romans 1:5). Paul recognized that the work God wanted him to do was different from what God wanted Peter to do. Though they were both called into an apostolic ministry, their assignments were different. The people they were to reach out to were different (Galatians 2:8). Paul devoted his time to doing what God wanted him to do, not what God had called Peter or anyone else to do. He wasn’t struggling or fighting preaching assignments, followers and members with Peter. He faced his own assignment, he focused on the people he was called to.