Gift Giving Part 2
Serving Gifts
1 Corinthians 12:4-9; Romans 12:7-8
Do you know what the hottest toy is this year?
Maybe you remember some from years past
The Razor scooter was one
A few years ago the state of the art Tickle Me Elmo was a huge one
There seem to be stories every year about people getting into fist fights over the hottest toys of the season
But what is it this year?
Well it seems that Elmo may be on the top of the list again
Elmo Live is atop many shoppers list this year
Along with that remote control dinosaur you may have seen on TV or in the stores
Now you do know that boys never grow out of wanting toys for Christmas?
Their toys just get more expensive
Whether it’s a flat screen TV, Blue Ray DVD player, or a new rifle, we still want our toys
But did you ever get your kids a certain toy, and you personally couldn’t wait to play with it yourself?
Oh, I have
A few years ago Emily got this baby doll that looks real
And Jayna was nearly as excited about holding it as Emily was
As we continue to look at spiritual gifts this morning we have another important truth about them to remember
Last week we learned a few things
Every believer has been given spiritual gifts
Your gifts fit you perfectly
And these gifts are vitally important in your ministry for the Lord
Another important trait of spiritual gifts is the gifts belong to God
And are given for the believer to use for the glory of God
We see this truth in 1 Peter 4:11
1 Peter 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ
These gifts are God’s
And we only have them on loan while we are here on earth
The only thing we can do with them is glorify the Lord
That is their only purpose
Last week we studied the temporary spiritual gifts, that were simply that, temporary
These were used during the early church age, to authenticate the Messiah and His apostles
They are healings, miracles, tongues and interpretation of tongues
We also looked at the speaking gifts of prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, teaching, and exhortation or encouragement
Those are gifts that God allows us to have to speak the truth of His Word
And to edify and comfort those who are hurting or struggling with sin
Those gifts are most often found among preachers and teachers
But can be present within any child of God
This morning we will focus on the non-verbal spiritual gifts
The serving gifts
Since these are non-verbal, they are often exercised behind the scenes
Without much fanfare and recognition
But they are just as important and can be used in amazing ways within the body of Christ
STAND AND READ 1 Corinthians 12:4-9 and Romans 12:7-8
Faith
Discernment
Serving
Giving
Leadership
Mercy
These six spiritual gifts compliment each other as well as the speaking gifts
Do you ever feel like you are in something just over your head?
That is precisely where God wants you
Something like this happens in the movie, "The Legend of Baggar Vance."
Baggar shows up, almost like the voice of God, to help a young golfer, distressed by the events of his life, to find his soul again
He says this "Inside each and every one of us is our one true, authentic swing
Something we was born with
Something that is ours and ours alone
Something that can’t be learned ... something that's got to be remembered."
"However, he has given each one of us a special gift according to the generosity of Christ." -Ephesians. 4:7 NLT
I hope after this study you will decide to use your discovered spiritual gifts here at church and in your daily walk
What are you doing with your spiritual gifts?
We have to remember these gifts come from God
Paul warned the Roman Christian about becoming too proud of their God given spiritual gifts
God’s Will was the same for every believer
Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, (insert your church name here)
Humbly use their God given spiritual gifts
Some believers were pretty full of themselves because of their spiritual gifts
Apparently, some of the Roman believers were believing their gifts were pretty special
Don’t get to full of yourself, be humble
If anybody had a right to be proud of their accomplishments, it was Paul
V:3, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you."
Romans 15:15 "I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me."
Paul always pointed to God’s grace as the source of his gift
The grace that allowed Paul to speak with boldness was the same grace that allowed the people in the Roman church to serve with their spiritual gifts
Taking credit for your spiritual gifts is like you taking credit for the sunrise
Our spiritual gifts are given to us by the grace of God
He didn’t have to give you what he did
He didn’t have to spread his gifts around so lavishly
Be careful to stay humble. (Tough!)
It’s easy for a pastor to become proud of his ability to preach/teach
It’s easy for a servant to become proud because of the sacrifices they’ve made
It’s easy for a musician to become proud of their abilities
It’s easy for a contributor of money to become proud because they give bigger gifts than others
It’s easy for someone with gift of mercy to become proud because they are there when someone’s hurting, dead, struggling, etc
Do not be overly prideful of your spiritual gift, it came from God
The first spiritual gift is the gift of faith
This is a confusing one
Kind of like that gift you get from your brother in law
You know what it is, but just don’t know why he gave it to you, or how to use it
So you just stick it up in the closet and forget about it
The gift of faith
Now wait, don’t all Christians have faith?
Of course they do
This gift is distinct from saving faith or persevering faith
Both of which all believers posses
Some however have the spiritual gift of faith
Which is an unusual measure of trust in the Holy Spirit’s power
This gift is exercised in persistent prayer and endurance in intercession along with a strong trust in God in the midst of difficult circumstances
One of the greatest, if not the greatest, tightrope walkers in the World was a man named Charles Blondin
He would scale a tall pole over Niagara Falls and from a small platform he would walk out on a steel cable that stretched across the falls
Well, you can imagine that this always drew a pretty good crowd of people
As he was walking the tightrope he would do different tricks for the crowd
He would jump up and down
He would do somersaults and headstands
The crowd would “ooh” and “ah” and cheer wildly every time he completed one of these tricks
The he would return to the platform where he started from and he would address the crowd and sign autographs
One day when he returned to the platform he did something he’d never done before
When he addressed the crowd he asked them “Did you like my performance?”
Of course, everybody cheered
He asked “Do you think I could do it again?”
Everybody cheered louder. “Do you think I could do it with someone on my shoulders?”
The crowd went absolutely wild!
So he asked, “Who would like to be the first volunteer?”
You could have heard a pin drop
Finally one man stepped out of the crowd
It was Blondin’s manager
He climbed to the top of the pole and he got up on Blondin’s shoulders
He did everything Blondin told him to do and inch by inch they crossed Niagara falls on that tiny 1 inch thick cable
When they got there, the crowd went absolutely nuts
Everybody said, “You can do it!”, but there was only one man who truly believed and it was that man who stepped out of the crowd and put his life in Blondin’s hands
That’s some kind of faith
We’ve seen people go through difficult circumstances with an amazing display of faith
We may even say, I don’t know how they do it
I wouldn’t be able to handle that in that way
Maybe they are blessed with the spiritual gift of faith
This gift is an amazing one to have
For it will carry you through the hard times
But is also has great benefits for the body of Christ
This gift includes persistent prayer and intercession for others
Others can be encouraged by your display of this gift
And uplifted by your prayers for them
James 5:15-16 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. (16) Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
The energetic, passionate prayers of godly people have the power to accomplish much
If you have been given the spiritual gift of faith, you must exercise that gift
It is vitally important
For a prayer prayed in faith can accomplish great things for the Lord and for the church
Our next spiritual gift is the gift of discernment
In verse 10 we see the phrase “discerning of spirits”
Does this mean some kind of spirit world contact or channeling, talking to the other side?
No, discernment, or distinguishing between spirits means the ability to discern whether a person who claims to speak for God is actually doing so
Or is speaking by an evil spirit
Sometimes it can be very easy for all of us to discern whether someone is a true man of God or not
In the movie Nacho Libre the main character, Ignacio is a Mexican friar
He is the cook at a boy’s orphanage
His life long desire though has been to be a luchador, a Mexican wrestler
But this is forbidden by the monastery
He has been living a double life, by day a humble friar, but by night he is Nacho, the luchador
In a freak candle accident his robe catches fire and he runs out of the church
The burning robe disintegrates revealing his wrestling clothes underneath
Another friar yells out, “I knew it, he’s not a man of God”
Some people are obviously not a man of God
But others are not so easily discovered
It is sad to say, but there are ministers preaching the Word of God simply for the money
They see it as just a second job, easy money
They don’t put much effort into their ministry
They throw together a few sermons a week, and that’s it
Believe me, this happens
And many people are fooled
But some have the gift of discernment
They can see, through the power of the Holy Spirit that these ministers are not truly working for the Lord
There can be many false teachers that come from evil spirits
This gift is necessary in order to distinguish the true from the false
Satan is the great deceiver and his demons counterfeit God’s message and work
Christians with the gift of discernment have the God-given ability to recognize lying spirits and to identify deceptive and erroneous doctrine
When this gift was not being exercised in the Corinthian church, grave distortion of the truth occurred
1 Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Though its operation has changed since the completion of scripture, it is still essential to have people in the church who are discerning
They are the guardians, the watchmen who protect the church form demonic lies, false doctrines, perverted cults and fleshly elements
And this gift requires diligent study of the Word of God
In order to know when the truth isn’t being taught
You must know the truth to begin with
You can see how the gift of discernment the ability to sense honesty, sense when a person is acting in accord with God’s will, is vital in His church
Our next spiritual gift is a great one, the gift of serving
This gift is probably the most humble of all
This word service is from the same Greek word as deacon comes from
The KJV uses the word ministry
In Greek it is the word dee-ak-on-ee-ah which literally means an attendant, a waiter
It refers to those who serve
This gift has broad application to include every kind of practical help
We see in
1 Corinthians 4:12 And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
The apostles did manual labor which Greeks, including some in the church at Corinth, considered beneath their dignity and suitable only for slaves
But Paul was not resentful about any necessary labor needed to support Gospel preaching
Do you know someone with this gift?
They are always there, doing something for the church
Helping with a meal, cleaning up, working hard on clean-up day, helping with an outreach program
They are first to volunteer for Bible school
This gift has such a practical application
And people with this gift are often under appreciated
Taken for granted
But we all know there is more to church than just Sunday mornings
These things need to be done
Somebody has to do them
And these things are part of the ministry of the church
They are a vital piece in the puzzle that holds this church together
And each one of us can do our part
Another gift often done in the background and often taken for granted is the spiritual gift of giving found in Romans 12:8
Givers are generous and trusting
It says let him do it with simplicity
That really means he who gives liberally, generously
Whoever shares with others what he has, must do it generously
This denotes the sacrificial sharing and giving of one’s resources and self to meet the needs of others
2 Corinthians 8:3-5 They gave as much as they could afford and even more, simply because they wanted to. (4) They even asked and begged us to let them have the joy of giving their money for God's people. (5) And they did more than we had hoped. They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, just as God wanted them to do.
This doesn’t mean that a person with the spiritual gift of giving must be wealthy
It simply means they give what they can
Whether it is financially, giving of one’s self or of one’s time
They give what they can
They give with simplicity, single-mindedness and openhearted generosity
The believer who gives with a proper attitude does not do so for thanks and personal recognition, but to glorify God
Churches desperately need givers
Pastors desperately need givers
People that give generously to the church with their finances and with their time are the lifeblood of every successful sustainable church
If a church loses it givers, the church is sure to crumble
A giver experiences joy by meeting the needs of others
They give because they know everything belongs to God
They not only give to others, they give to God
Mark 9:37 "When you welcome even a child because of me, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me."
Next we see the spiritual gift of leadership
In Romans 12 it is referred to as one that ruleth
What do you think of when you think of a leader?
Someone who is organized, someone that can organize a group, resources and time effectively
Maybe they are a good at delegation
Someone with an effective plan, the man with a plan
Paul calls this “governments” in 1 Corinthians 12:28 where he again is speaking of gifts
To lead is literally means “standing before”
When Paul uses the word governments it can be translated administrations
A word that means “to guide” and is used of the person who steers a ship
You might be thinking, hey that’s not me, sounds like a pastor’s role to me
Well in the N.T. this word is used to describe only leadership in the home as in
1 Timothy 3:4-5 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (5) (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
And leadership in the church
1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
Yes pastors and deacons must exercise this gift
But it is certainly not limited to them
Philemon is a great example of this gift
Philemon wasn’t on record as being a preacher or a deacon
But is shown to be a leader at the church at Colossi
People looked to Philemon as an example
He had exemplary hospitality skills and had a large influence on the church
David was a great leader, Joshua, Gideon
Many big names throughout the Bible were great leaders
Leaders are good organizers and managers
You ever have to suffer through a meeting or an event that wasn’t being organized by a good leader?
Leaders are needed in the church to keep things organized
1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace
In worship, everything must be done in harmony and with order
Even when the gifts of the Holy Spirit are being exercised there is no excuse for disorder
When there is chaos, the church is not allowing God to work among believers as He would like
That is why leaders are so important
How distracting is it when a certain function of the church is full of unorganized chaos
The goal, the purpose of this church is to glorify God in all we do
Whether it is a worship service, a fellowship supper or a yard sale, all should glorify God
All are opportunities to reach the lost
Disorder and poor planning only takes away from that opportunity
If your spiritual gift is leadership you need to lead diligently
Our final spiritual gift is mercy
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness
If it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully
Showing kindness to others
Those who show mercy are caring people who are happy to give their time to others
This is one who actively shows sympathy and sensitivity to those in suffering and sorrow
And who has both the willingness and the resources to help lesson their afflictions
Frequently this gift accompanies the gift of exhortation
One who does well to encourage others has the ability to show mercy
And they portray this cheerfully
As you can see many of these gifts work hand in hand
Mercy is often paired with encouragement, giving and serving
Wisdom and knowledge are usually present in one with the gift of prophecy or teaching
Leadership and discernment often work together
But it would be difficult for one person to embody all these gifts
An assertive prophet would not usually make a good encourager
And a generous giver might fail as a leader
We must realize we need each other to work together with our gifts
Romans 12:5 tells us how we are to use our gifts
Romans 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Do I belong to you? Do you belong to me? Do we belong to each other? Yes to all!
My gifts were given to me by God to be used on others/you
Your gifts were given to you by God to be used on others/me
I Peter 4:10 "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to SERVE OTHERS faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms."
Your gift to be used for me and my gift is to be used for you
Paul used the word "belongs."
If I don’t use my gift I’m not only being a bad steward of what God’s given me, I’m actually stealing from you
My gift is YOURS.
If you don’t use your gift. . (bad stewardship), your denying the people in the pew with you
Your gift belongs to them. Give them what belongs to them
I want each of you to imagine you had one Lego piece
Build something with your Lego blocks, but I only have one rule. . . you cannot use anybody’s else’s Lego block
Now, what can you build with one Lego? (NOTHING!)
Some might imagine having big blocks, others small blocks
But still can’t build anything by yourself
When you add these large & small blocks together, you can build great things
There are two traps about your spiritual Lego’s you need to be aware of
Thinking the church can function without you
Your spiritual Lego is small, not easily seen, not bright & spectacular
God gave all of us Lego’s
Thinking the church can not function without you
Teach, preach, perform, leader, administrate, speak well
The church isn’t the church without me
If this last lie offends you...ask yourself why?
God gave all of us Lego’s
God gave every single believer in the early church just the right gift
God has the perfect gift for every believer
Your spiritual gifts fit you perfectly
Your spiritual gift came from God
Your spiritual gift was given to enable you to do ministry
I hope you will decide to use your discovered spiritual gift
Accept that God has given you a spiritual gift
Only you can use your gift that God has given you
What are you doing with your spiritual gifts?
Bill Wilson pastors an inner city church in New York City
His mission field is a very violent place
He himself has been stabbed twice as he ministered to the people of the community surrounding the church
Once a Puerto Rican woman became involved in the church and was led to Christ
After her conversion she came to Pastor Wilson and said, "I want to do something to help with the church’s ministry."
He asked her what her talents were and she could think of nothing---she couldn’t even speak English---but she did love children
So he put her on one of the church’s buses that went into neighborhoods and transported kids to church
Every week she performed her duties
She would find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English
"I love you. Jesus loves you."
After several months, she became attached to one little boy in particular. The boy didn’t speak
He came to Sunday School every week with his sister and sat on the woman’s lap, but he never made a sound
Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday School and all the way home, "I love you and Jesus loves you."
One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered
I---I---I love you too!" Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug
That was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon
At 6:30 that night he was found dead
His own mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash
"I love you and Jesus loves you."
Those were some of the last words this little boy heard in his short life
From the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English
This woman gave her one talent to God and because of that a little boy who never heard the word "love" in his own home, experienced and responded to the love of Christ
There are no small gifts
Use what God has given you
Have you discovered your gift?
At Christmas time we search under the tree for those gifts with our name on it
God wants you to search and discover what your gifts are
And open them, use them, humbly and with love
1 Corinthians 13 is know as the love chapter
And verses 1-3 speaks about using our gifts in love
1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Although people have different gifts, love is available to everyone
I have provided a spiritual gifts survey that you might wish to take
I encourage each of you to pick one up on your way out
Answer the questions honestly
They can help you discover what gifts God has given you
And once you know USE IT
God’s gift giving is the best of all
Give your gift to Him and to others this Christmas season
