At conversion - God incorporates us into the Body.
He puts us in a community relationship w\all believers, and we share a common life in Christ.
We are not meant to be passive participants - eg. "silent partners"
God intends all Christians to be active participants
and has assigned each one of us a function in the Body.
NO EXCEPTIONS!!!
Warren Myers, in his book Pray: How to Be Effective in Prayer, tells of two remarkable people: William Carey, missionary to India, and Carey’s bedridden, almost totally paralyzed sister.
William Carey accomplished a Bible translation work unequaled in missionary history and, as we saw in the last chapter, he has been called "the father of modern missions." We don’t even know his sister’s name. She is mentioned only as Carey’s sister. But while Carey labored in India translating and printing parts or all of the Bible into forty languages, his sister lay on her back in London and prayed hour after hour, month after month, for all the details, problems, and struggles of her brother’s work.
In telling this story of Carey and his sister, Myers asks the question, "To whose account will God credit the victories won through this remarkable man?"’ We all know that Carey’s sister shared in his ministry. In fact, she was a very vital part. Without her ministry of intercession on her brother’s behalf, the work would not have gone forward.
William Carey - Bible translation in India.
His sister - Prayer for the work from London.
One highly visible, the other known by very few--both vitally important.
God also equips each to fulfill their function.
called "gifts" in NT - "A spiritual gift is an ability given by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to perform the specific function within the Body that God has assigned to each of us."
gifts vs. natural abilities - gifts related specifically to functions within the Body.
Relationship between gift and function in Romans 12:4,6
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
diff. funcs. - diff.gifts. to fulfill them *see opening Scripture*
Gifts are to be used to serve others and for the common good of the entire Body.
1Cor 12:7 - Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
We have been called by God to be a team of dedicated partners actively involved in carrying out Christ’s Great Commission.
- this is where the fellowship of our spiritual gifts come into play
We are accustomed to thinking of fellowship as Christian social activity or the sharing of spiritual truths. But the fellowship of our spiritual gifts is the using of them for the benefit of the rest of the
Body and the furtherance of God’s Kingdom.
Seven Principles of Spritual Gifts
1) Purpose is to serve others and glorify God. 1Peter 4:10-11
According to Peter: 2 objectives in the use of spir. gifts serving others & glorifying or praising God.
He also refers to us as stewards of our gifts.
Steward is someone who manages anothers
property, finances, etc.
Our gifts are a trust committed to us by God to use for others and His glory as He leads.
There is no place for seeking recognition, fame or self-fulfillment--even though some gifts by their nature bring recog.\fame
There’s no excuse for us to covet recognition or use gifts to gain it. Two people may be equally gifted but God assigns one to a more highly exposed ministry than the other.
Some gifts are more public by nature. eg. teaching vs. service
The key is to remember the purpose of all gifts: serve others & glorify God.
2) Every Christian has a gift and every gift is important.
A. God has given a spiritual gift to every member of the Body.
Many have the attitude that they have no gifts. To say, "I don’t think I have a gift" is to say, "I don’t think I have a function in the Body of Christ." NT teaches different God has a job for every believer!!!
B. Each gift is important we often see more noticeable gifts as important\low profile ones as not so important. Paul addresses this in 1Cor. 12:15-18
If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
He shoots down the common tendency to compare gifts w\each other
Danger lies in secretly disregarding or belittling those w\less noticeable gifts.1Cor. 12:21 - The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!"
In March of 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hincklev, Jr., and was hospitalized for several weeks. Although Reagan was the nation’s chief executive. His hospitalization had little impact on the nation’s activity. Government continued on.
On the other hand, suppose the garbage collectors in this country went on strike. as they did in Philadelphia. That c1tv was not only in a literal mess, the pile of decaying trash quickly became a health hazard. A three week nationwide strike would paralyze the country.
Who is more important-the President or a garbage collector?
In the body of Christ, seemingly insignificant ones are urgently needed.
Remember, each gift is necessary in the Body and important to God
3) Gifts are sovereignly bestowed by God
1Cor. 12:11,18 God sovereignly arranged physical body as well as the spiritual Body of Christ.
We possess our gifts because God wanted it that way. He ordained a plan for our lives before we were born and gifted us to carry it out.
Never belittle your gift or you will be doing the same to His plan for your life. Likewise, don’t look down on the gifts of others or you will be scorning the plan of God for that person.
God also determines the measure or extent of our gifts.
- Jesus’ parable of the talents
- biblical talent = money
- servants had same calling--to invest
money
- different degrees of responsibility &
ability
We are responsible to use our gifts to there full measure.
Luke 12:48 - From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
4) Every gift is given by God’s grace
None of us deserves the gifts we have. They are given by God’s undeserved favor on us through Christ.
Eph.3:7-8 - I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ
All believers receive their gifts on the same basis.
- highly gifted--not think its because of his
hard work or faithfulness in previous service
for God.
- person who feels he has wasted a good part of
his life and does not deserve any gifts should
not despair.
All gifts are given by God’s grace.
5) All gifts must be developed and exercised
Even though given by God’s grace--we are responsible to develop and exercise them.
Paul told Timothy: "fan into flame the gift of God" and "Do not neglect your gift"
He already had the gift of teaching, yet Paul urged him to diligently present himself to God as a workman who could correctly handle the Word of Truth.
He was accountable to a sovereign God for his development and use of it.
6) The effective use of every gift is dependent on faith in Christ
No gift is exercised apart from faith in Christ
Jerry Bridges, in The Crisis of Caring:
The necessity of conscious dependence on Christ for His enabling power is a fundamental fact for every aspect of the Christian life, whether in spiritual growth in our own lives or in service within the Body. "Apart from me " Jesus said, "you can do nothing" (John 15:5). "… To maintain the proper perspective of diligent personal responsibility and a sincere attitude of total dependence on Christ for His power requires constant vigilance in two directions. On the one hand, we can be guilty of slothfulness in the development or use of our gifts under the pretext that we are "trusting in the Lord." On the other hand, we can either presume on God’s blessing as we attempt to use our gifts in the strength of our own abilities or assert the fact that we have "done that so many times."
Truly, without Christ, we can do nothing.
7) Only love will give true value to our gifts
1Cor 13, Paul tells us even if we possess the greatest gifts, the most extraordinary faith, and display an enormous amount of zeal and courage, yet have not love, we are nothing and we accomplish nothing.
Its not that love is exalted over these gifts and Christian but love gives them value and worth.
Illust-- draw a line of zeroes--value=0: then add a 1 to the front--changes value completely
Love must permeate and govern every aspect of our lives. Love is not to be exercised only in the use of our gifts and in the performance of our various Christian duties. Love is to be exercised in the home, or at the office, or in the classroom, where our gifts are not a particular consideration.
Love is to be exercised all the time in the most mundane duties of life, not just when we are engaged in Christian work. On the other hand, the absence of love in the ordinary duties and relationships of life can undermine and destroy the effective use of our gifts.
Love must reign supreme in our hearts, or our gifts will be nothing more than a clanging gong or resounding cymbal as Paul put it.
Conclusion:
And so it is with all of us. We must seek to diligently exercise the gifts that God has graciously given to us. We must do so with faith in Christ in order to make them fruitful. But in both the use of our spiritual gifts and the exercise of our Christian ministries, we must seek to grow in love toward one another. Otherwise, when the final chapter of our lives has been penned, we will have to write a final line: "I have gained nothing."
In Witness of a Third Way: A Fresh Look at Evangelism, Robert Neff’s chapter Includes this story about visiting a church service:
It was one of those mornings when the tenor didn’t get out of bed on the right side.... As I listened to his faltering voice, I looked around, People were pulling out hymnals to locate the hymn being sung by the soloist. By the second verse, the congregation had Joined the soloist in the hymn. By the third verse, the tenor was beginning to find the range. By the fourth verse, it was beautiful. And on the fifth verse the congregation was absolutely silent, and the tenor sang the most beautiful solo of his life.
That Is life in the body of Christ, enabling one another to sing the tune Christ has given us.
