July 16 Outfitting for Ministry
The way of Jesus is the way of humble service to Him, His church, and others.
God has given you gifts to build up the Body of Christ; to beautify the Bride of Christ.
Four important truths from this verse:
1. These gifts are from the Spirit “A demonstration of the Spirit”
2. These gifts are a demonstration of the Spirit’s activity in your life “A demonstration of the Spirit”
3. These gifts are given to each genuine believer “is given to each person”
4. These gifts are given for the benefit of the Body and Bride of Christ “to produce what is beneficial”
Opening illustration about being outfitted properly
Finish up our series, “Higher Path”. Our basic premise is that the Higher Path is exactly opposite to what our culture deems the higher path. Our culture says, “Be first; accumulate what you can; get your way.” But Jesus had a completely different message.
His message was: “The lower you bend, the higher you fly.”
If you call yourself a Christ-followers, then what do you do? You follow, you imitate, you model His life, His teaching and His attitude. He is the one who said, “The last shall be first.” He’s the one who said, “The least is the greatest.” He’s the one who divested Himself of all His rights and privileges as God and assumed the role of a lowly slave. He’s the one who donned a towel and washed the filthy feet of His disciples just hours before He of offered Himself as the Lamb of God, slain on a Roman Cross. And when Jesus established the church, He did so so that the church would be built up to be strong and healthy, to enhance His glory and honor, and He calls the church His bride so that what we do to beautify the church also brings honor and glory to Him.
Simply put: The way of Jesus is the way of humble service to Him, His church, and others. I love how Ephesians 2:10 says it. You know Eph 2:8-9, right? 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
We’re saved by God’s grace, not saved by works, Hallelujah!! But look what v. 10 says: 10 For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”
So what are those good works? And which ones are we equipped for and should be involved in?
Let’s talk a little bit about what happened when you surrendered your life and God saved you. At that moment, the Spirit of the living God came into you. Ephesians 1 says that you were sealed by the Spirit. A jar of pickles is sealed, right? When you open it, the seal is broken and there is a pop. As long as it is sealed, nothing can get in and nothing can get out.
You’re not a jar of pickles—but you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. Satan can’t get into you and the Spirit won’t get out of you. Amen?
Now, when the Spirit came into you, He came bearing gifts. There are two main passages that identify the gifts of the Spirit. One is in Romans 12:3-8 (on screen) Let’s read it.
The other main list is found in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (on screen). Let’s read it.
Now we don’t have time this morning to drill down on the individual gifts we just read about. Some of them are controversial. But I do address these in week 6 of “The Higher Path” (pic) so I refer you to that.
What I want you to focus on this morning is this: God has given you gifts to build up the Body of Christ; to beautify the Bride of Christ. When you read those 2 passages, that’s the main teaching that you get from them.
Now let’s focus on v.7 of 1 Corinthians 12 “A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial.” 1 Corinthians 12:7
I want you to notice four important truths from this verse:
1. These gifts are from the Spirit “A demonstration of the Spirit”
We’ve already talked about that a bit this morning. When the Spirit came in you, He came bearing gifts. You didn’t go buy these. You didn’t do anything to get them. They came as gifts when the Spirit came in you and sealed you.
So think about how important and powerful and world-changing those gifts can be. The same God who created the universe with all it’s splendor and beauty, has created gifts in YOU!
And it is the Spirit who decides who gets what gifts! I know it’s customary in our culture for the gift giver to check with the gift receiver to see what they want for their birthday or Christmas. My 66th birthday is coming up and I know Sue is going to ask me what I want for my birthday from her and from the kids. And honestly, all I’ve ever wanted was just to be with her—and be with my family. A couple dozen golf balls wouldn’t hurt…
But the Spirit doesn’t check with us. God doesn’t check with our wish list; He sovereignly bestows gifts on us with His own purpose in mind and for His own glory.
I’ve wised that I had the gift of healing. I’d go down to Cooks and walk through the floors and just heal every sick child. I’d show up at your house and bring healing in my briefcase.
But that’s not how God works. And He decides who gets what gift. And He is the one who decides when and how those gifts are used.
2. These gifts are a demonstration of the Spirit’s activity in your life “A demonstration of the Spirit”
If you have the Spirit, you have at least one gift. If you are under control of the Spirit, He is going to be active in your life and so are the gifts.
The converse of that is true: if you are not aware of your gifts or are not using your gifts, then that is an indication that the Spirit’s activity is being limited in your life.
Ephesians 5:18 says: “Don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit.” What happens when an individual is drunk? They are under the control of the alcohol. The Bible consistently speaks against drunkenness. Believers should not be under the control of anything other than the Spirit of God. And if the Spirit of God is in control of you, your gifts will be active and demonstrated in your life.
Illustration
3. These gifts are given to each genuine believer “is given to each person”
Notice that the gifts are given to each person—this has a qualifier. The context of both passages has to do with believers. The Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Corinth and the church in Rome. These people are far from perfect. In fact, if you read that letter to Corinth in its entirety, you’ll discover that people in the church were MESSED UP! People getting drunk on the wine served at Lord’s Supper—it was so bad God killed some of em! They were gossiping and fussing and fighting. They even had one guy sleeping with his step mom. I’m talkin messed up. Who knows who in that church were genuine believes.
But Paul was appealing to those who were not perfect, but to those who were genuinely surrendered to Jesus. What I’ve noticed is that (DRAW—need chart) the more you yield to the Spirit and grow in the Lord, the less the fleshly, sinful nature is under control (draw line up left to right, line down right to left). In here (triangle on left) is the carnal life. In here (triangle on the right) is the abundant life Jesus talked about. Here (left) You’re a believer but you really struggle with walking in the Spirit. This means you need to keep growing spiritually: reading the Scripture, memorizing Scripture, developing an effective prayer life. You also need to discover your Spiritual gifts and put them in action. This actually aides you in your quest for the abundant life.
4. These gifts are given for the benefit of the Body and Bride of Christ “to produce what is beneficial”
Don’t get me wrong: you will benefit from activating your gifts of service. But the primary purpose of the gifts is to benefit the body and bride of Christ.
Our body here at Rush Creek is stronger the more you are involved in service. God desires for you to serve. We need you to serve. Now, You may not know what your gifts are, but until then you can still serve. And let me give you a place that you can serve almost immediately.
I’ve said for the last couple of weeks that I have a big announcement to make….3rd service.
New Service Times beginning September 10th:
8:30
10:00
11:30
