Last week Roger Fate, member of Epsilon, began a new series called “Created to be God’s Masterpiece.” This comes from Ephesians 2:10 of the NLT, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
This means you are God’s work of art. God has created and shaped you in a unique way, There is no one else exactly like you. Last week Roger shared how he is a twin and yet as much as they look alike, they are completely different, because God has fashioned them uniquely. No two people have the exact same combination of spiritual gifts, abilities, passion, personality, or experiences. God has given you a unique S.H.A.P.E., and we will be exploring your SHAPE over these next four weeks. The “S” stands for Spiritual gifts. The “H” stands for Heart or passion. The “A” for Abilities or natural skills. The “P” stands for Personality. The “E” stands for Experiences, these might be good or bad events in our life.
According to this same verse, the purpose of shaping us in this way is not for our own benefit rather it is to accomplish the “good things,” or good works which God had already planned long ago for us to do. These “good things” include serving God and others. Your unique shape is not for your benefit alone. God has gifted you in a particular way to serve others. God gave you gifts and talents and abilities and passion and personality and experiences all combine together for the benefit of serving others in the name of Jesus.
1. God Has Given Us A Unique Combination Of Abilities, Skills, And Gifts.
A. We Are All Given Natural Abilities And Skills.
I am going to begin a little out of order by beginning with “A” of SHAPE. God has created us to be his masterpiece by giving each of us certain natural abilities including the ability to grow and learn new skills. It seems that right from birth we are wired in such a way that some are good at one thing, while others are good at others. I have a niece who is 2 ½ years old now, and ever since she was able to point we noticed she had an amazing ability of observing details most of us miss. Any time she would go into a room she would scan the room for what was new or out of place and she would point to that object. What I completely looked over she noticed. Perhaps she will be a future Sherlock Holmes. Personally, I was never very good at English, it took my English teacher grandmother years to get the word ain’t out of my vocabulary, on the other hand I did well and enjoyed math and sciences.
I believe God has hard wired us with different abilities in order to complement each other. You are able to do things well that I cannot do. I am able to do things well that you can’t do well, but when we bring them together as the people of God we are able to accomplish together what God has called us to do.
We read about these natural abilities and skills in the Bible, and how these individuals used them to serve God. In the OT when God commanded Moses to build a Tabernacle or a tent which was to serve as a place of worship for God’s people, God employed people who had talents and skills in certain areas.
NLT Exodus 31:1 The LORD also said to Moses, 2 "Look, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri... 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, intelligence, and skill in all kinds of crafts. 6 "Moreover, I have given special skill to all the naturally talented craftsmen so they can make all the things I have instructed you to make.”
A few chapters later in Exodus it mentions women employed in making the tabernacle.
NLT Exodus 35:25 All the women who were skilled in sewing and spinning prepared blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen cloth, and they brought them in. 26 All the women who were willing used their skills to spin and weave the goat hair into cloth.
Notice it says God had given these individuals the natural ability or talent. It is not by chance or luck that you have the abilities you do, they are exactly the way God planned it. Why? To serve God. In this case in Exodus it was to construct the Tabernacle and all of its furnishings.
Let me give you a few examples of abilities: administration, building or constructing, computing, communicating, cooking, designing or creating, decorating, leading, music, organizing, planning, teaching, welcoming.
Later it goes on to say God also gave them these abilities so they could teach their skills to others. We see two things here. First, God gives natural abilities which we are born with, but he also gives us the ability to learn a skill. The people with natural ability who were also skilled at their craft helped others develop the skill.
God has also given the ability to learn skills. An infant doesn’t come out of the womb knowing how to sew, play a piano, or build a house. They may have a natural ability in a particular area but it must be learned. In high school I knew some brilliant people whom God had gifted in areas of science and math but they were never willing to learn how to use it. One even flunked out of the special math and science center they attended. I think what a waste of the natural ability God gave them.
There are three things I want you to remember.
1) God gives us natural abilities
2) God gives us the ability to learn and grow in different skills, and God largely leaves that up to you to pursue. He gives you the raw talent but it is up to you to develop.
3) God gave these abilities so we can serve God and others
The sad reality is that many people, even Christians, have never really explored who God has made them to be. The natural raw talent and abilities are there, but are never discovered or utilized. Most people have not tapped into all the potential God has given us. On the other hands we may know some of our natural abilities, what we are good at, but we haven’t been using them specifically to serve God.
B. As Believers We Are Given Spiritual Gift(s).
Not only are we all born with natural abilities, and the ability to learn and grow in skills, but the Bible tells us every Christian is given at least one special ability, called a spiritual gift. When we believe in Jesus, that he died and rose from the dead to set us free from sin and death, and we choose to follow him, the Bible tells us we are filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). The Holy Spirit in turn gives us these supernatural gifts as he chooses. While God creates every person with natural abilities, spiritual gifts are reserved only to those who have faith in Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Cor. 12:1 we are promised that each believer in Christ has received at least one spiritual gift.
NLT 1 Corinthians 12:1 And now, dear brothers and sisters, I will write about the special abilities [spiritual gifts] the Holy Spirit gives to each of us.
I know some of you here may be thinking, “I don’t have any gifts,” or, “I’ve never seen any special abilities in my life.” God’s word tells us that if we are believer in Jesus we have a gift, so either a) you are selling yourself short, or b) you haven’t yet discovered your gift yet. And you need to unwrap your gift.
The Bible mentions several gifts here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, also in Roman chapter 12, and Ephesians chapter 4. Some of these spiritual gifts include the gift of prophesy, pastoring, preaching, teaching, leading, speaking in tongues (some refer to this as the ability to speak in a spiritual language while others refer to this as a gift of speaking in earthly languages), wisdom, encouragement, giving generously, hospitality, mercy, intercession (long periods of praying for others), and healing. This is not a complete list but it gives us a peek at some of the giftings or graces that God gave us when we were filled with the Holy Spirit.
I am not going to go into a lot of detail on the different gifts because the focus isn’t which gift you have or how many you have. I want you to know your gifts because I believe they will be helpful, but the focus isn’t on the gift it is on what we are to do with our gift which is to serve God and your fellow Christians.
2. God Expects Me To Use My Abilities And Gifts To Serve Others
NLT 1 Corinthians 12:7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.
NIV 1 Peter 4:10-11 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms…Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ.
If we are given only one gift, unwrap the gift, find out what that gift is and use it to serve God and others. If we are given five, find out how to use all five. Jesus told a parable called the parable of the talents (Mt. 25:14-30), and in that story a master of three servants left and gave each of the servants money called talents. The first was given 5 talents, the second 2, and the third only 1. While the master was away, the first used his 5 talents to make 5 more. The second used his 2 talents to make 2 more, meanwhile the last took his one talent and buried it because he was afraid of losing it so he hid it. When the master returned each servant brought before him the talents they had. The first showed him the 10 talents, the second 4, and the third only 1 talent. The first two were praised because they were prudent and put their talents to good use. The last servant however only had one talent which he had buried, and the master scolded him because he hadn’t done anything with his talent except. The master took his one talent and gave it to the servant with 10 talents. The moral of the story is clear, whatever God gives us, whether it is talents of money or talents of spiritual gifts, we are to put them to use for him. As Jesus taught, “To whom much is given, much is required.”
You may be wondering how do I know what my natural abilities and spiritual gifts are? There are two things you can do. First, ask people you know well what they think you do well. For some reason we are not able to see ourselves clearly, we are more apt to see our weaknesses than to see our strengths, but other people who know us sometimes have a better perspective on us than we do.
Second, start serving in an area you feel God is leading you. Pray and ask God where he wants you to serve. For many of us our gifts and abilities may not be apparent until you are actually doing it. Ask God what does he want me to do, where is there a need in the church which I could fulfill, or what new place of service is God calling me to.
I have told you before how I dismissed my calling as a pastor because I didn’t have the gift of preaching, however it wasn’t until after I had preached a sermon at our church that I realized, perhaps God is calling me to this, perhaps this is a gift (although judgment may still be out on that one). What’s the worst that could happen? You decide the place you are serving is not for you and try something else.
The Bible reminds us we are gifted to serve each other, and when we don’t use our gifts and abilities to serve the whole body or the whole church suffers. The Apostle Paul illustrated this in 1 Cor. 12. Paul compares the church to a body with many parts. Just as a body has many parts; eyes, ears, hands, and feet which function together in harmony so that the body works the way it should, so the church has many parts, you and I, and each one of us has a part to play by serving one another. When we don’t play our part it effects everyone around us, it is like having a body part that doesn’t function. We call that sickness, the body is sick when even one part doesn’t work right. The church is sick when even one person isn’t using their God given abilities and gifts in some form of service.
There are no unimportant gifts or places of service in the church. Whether small or large, upfront or behind the scenes they are all vital and necessary for the health of the church body. Paul even tells us that the parts which seem the weakest or least important are really the most necessary (1 Cor. 12:22).
Trust me, I know from experience, we find the greatest fulfillment when we are using our gifts and abilities to serve God.
We all have to ask ourselves this morning, what are the natural abilities, skills, and special gifts God has given me? And how am I using these to glorify and serve God and others?
Remember how you find these.
1. Ask others
2. Observe what needs are in the church or in the community, and listen for where God is guiding you to serve. Don’t limit yourself based on what you think you can or can’t do, rather ask God where he wants you to serve.
3. Serve.
[Invite lay person up at that point to award for Laity of the year]
