As we are now into the New Year, has the excitement and thrill of the Christmas season come to an end for you? Have you taken down your Christmas tree? Are your children already bored with their new Christmas toys they received? Have some of the new clothes become stained or damaged as you have worn them? Perhaps they became a little smaller after the first washing. The thrill and excitement of the Christmas gifts that you received is often short-lived. Our joy in material things is not a lasting joy. Once the newness wears off we tend to push them aside and find something else that captures our attention but that joy is also very brief.
There is, however, one gift you received at Christmas that does not fade, become stained, or damaged. It’s a gift in which our joy is not short-lived. I am of course referring to the gift of the Christ Child. God has given us the gift of salvation in his one and only Son. By the work of the Holy Spirit through the gospel, we are given the gift of faith in his Son. This morning I’d like to talk to you about some other special gifts God has given you. You can use these gifts in his service as a way of saying thank you for the gift of your Savior Jesus and I encourage you to Rejoice That You Are God’s Gifted People. Recognize the gifts God has given you and use these gifts to his glory.
How many times have you heard a fellow Christian say, “I’m not a very gifted person”? Perhaps you yourself have said this. I know that I have on occasions. Some of you may know more about your gifts than others do, especially if you filled out the spiritual gifts inventory survey that the Parish Assistance Team gave out. But whatever the case may be, if you are aware of your gifts or not, God has blessed each of you with spiritual gifts.
The first and greatest of all these gifts is the precious gift of faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. Without the gift of faith in Christ, we are lost in our sins and trespasses, under God’s wrath and condemned to spend an eternity in a very real place called Hell. This is the condition that everyone born finds themselves. By nature, we are without faith in Christ. St. Paul explained this fact to the Corinthian Christians when he wrote, “You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols” (1 Corinthians 12:2).
As pagans or unbelievers without the gift of faith, the Corinthians worshiped idols. The worst of this idol worship was performed at the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Worshipping this false god involved prostitution and sexual immorality. Paul wanted these new Christians to see just how they had been led astray by these false gods and how they had done shameful and harmful things in their service to them.
Now they were believers in Christ. They were given the gift of faith and there was only one place where this gift came from. It came from the Holy Spirit working through the gospel in Word and Sacrament. Paul says, “no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
Only the Holy Spirit working through the gospel can make a soul dead in sins and trespasses alive again. The Gospel message says that God in his grace can come to us and make right all the wrongs we commit. The gospel tells us that Christ came to pay for all the wrongs that we are constantly guilty of: the gossiping and slandering we do to our neighbor, and how we are constantly criticizing and tearing down others instead of building them up with love. We, too, commit sins just like the Corinthians, where we fall into the sexual sins of adultery, of living together without the benefit of marriage, and fornication. In spite of knowing every sin that we commit in desire, thought, word and deed, God sent his Son to pay for the sins of the world. God’s beautiful gospel message creates the gift of faith in our hearts.
The gift of faith would be all we need, but in his grace, God did not stop there. God has given us other gifts and they like the gift of faith come also from the Holy Spirit. These gifts are to be used for his benefit and ours. Paul writes, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).
God has created us all very different from each other. As we, all differ in size, shape, and appearance so also we have different gifts and talents. Look around you this morning. What do you see? You see carpenters, teachers, mechanics, farmers, and various other occupations. All of us have been given the ability to work in some form of job so that we can provide for our families and contribute to the growth of God’s kingdom.
But in order to recognize your spiritual gifts, you may have to examine yourself a little deeper. Paul writes, “To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Do you have the gift of wisdom and knowledge? Are you able to understand certain Biblical truths and make them your own? Can you make wise choices and sound judgments based on the facts? If so, you may have the gift of wisdom or knowledge.
Has the Holy Spirit given you an unshakable joyful trust and certain confidence that Jesus Christ is your Savior, and that he came to save this lost sinful world? Then my friends you have been given the gift of faith. I would have to say that all of us that are here today have been blessed with that very special gift.
Are you able to recall Bible passages with an almost instinctive awareness of which passage applies to specific situations? Does Bible study come easy for you, so that God’s plan of salvation presents itself in a clear picture? Are you able to explain that plan in clear and simple terms to unbelievers? Then perhaps you have the gift of prophecy. This does not mean you have the ability to tell the future. It means that you have the ability to proclaim God’s truth as it has been revealed to you.
Paul has not given us the only list of spiritual gifts. He has merely listed a few to let us examine ourselves so that we may realize what God has given us. Not one is better than the other and every one is as important as the other. We are here to serve God and each other so again I encourage you to rejoice that you are God’s gifted people. Recognize the gifts God has given you, use these gifts to his glory.
I believe that it can be said of each and every one of us that we all have a purpose in this life. That purpose is to serve God and one another. Out of love for God and what he has done for us we are to obey him and follow his commands. Jesus tells us to, “Love each other” (John 15:17) and St. Peter in his first epistle writes, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:7-10).
God has commanded that we use his gifts to build up his kingdom and to serve each other. Service to a fellow Christian is to be at the top of our list of priorities. Unfortunately one of the problems many of us seem to have here at Bethany is the lack of a servant’s attitude. Instead of an attitude of service, they have the attitude that they should be served. As long as the church exists to fill their needs for baptism, weddings, and funerals everything is fine, but for the church to ask for anything in return, this simply is not done. The Parish Assistance Team pointed out to us the fact that service to God and to other Christians was at the very bottom of our list of priorities.
Brothers and sisters, this should not be. When some one gives you a gift, are you not thankful to that person and have the desire to return the favor? Then how much more should you want to serve God for all that he has done for you! Is it too much to ask of someone that he or she visit a shut in or someone who is in the hospital? Is it too much to ask of someone to volunteer their time to shovel snow or clean the church where we worship and praise our God? After all, look at how Jesus served us by giving up his life on the cross to pay for our sins.
It is the gospel message that should not only prompt us to use our gifts to God’s glory but also to energize us to serve God in any way we can. All the gifts he has given us are to be used to serve him and his church.
If your spiritual gift is the message of wisdom and knowledge, then use it to serve God and his church. Use that gift to be an administrator who can manage the affairs of the church. On the other hand, if that knowledge and wisdom is in the area of finances and making money, then use this gift to benefit the church with your financial knowledge and generous offerings.
If your spiritual gift is one of faith then use this gift in doing evangelism work, in talking to people about Jesus and what he has done for us.
If your spiritual gift is that of prophecy then use it to conduct Bible class or Sunday school. Teach others about God’s plan of salvation. You may want to consider how it would be best to serve your Lord. Perhaps consider entering the ministry and becoming a pastor or teacher.
Maybe you have the wonderful gift of encouragement or counseling. If so use this gift to comfort others who are distressed. Encourage your fellow Christians in times of trouble with the assurance that God keeps his promises, answers prayer, and does what is best for his children. Use your gift to tell someone when they have sinned so that they will be brought to repentance, and comfort them with the gospel promise that those sins are forgiven.
Whatever your spiritual gift may be, use it to God’s glory. God gives these gifts as he determines and there is no set pattern or rhyme or reason why God does what he does. We only know what he has revealed to us in Scripture and he tells us that the purpose remains his eternal glory. The purpose is to rescue many from eternal death and to bring them to the knowledge of the truth.
We are special people. A people that God has chosen through faith in his Son and he expects us to use whatever he has given us to serve him and each other. May the Holy Spirit fill each our hearts with a burning desire to serve God as he has served us. Amen
