Understanding and Using your Shape
Purpose Driven Life #31
Montreal/Cornwall
March 27, 2004
You have been uniquely designed by God and He has particular ideas of how you are most fully ’you’ and, thereby, how you most fully glorify Him, which you were created to do. All of this is so that you are able to serve Him and those He gives you to serve.
We’ve looked at the subject of spiritual gifts and heart. Let’s take a few minutes to discuss what the spiritual gifts profile is showing you- how to score it and to begin to interpret it.
Beyond your spiritual gifts and your heart, there are three further qualities God has put into your life, which form your shape and indicate how and where you are to serve.
1. Abilities. Your abilities are the natural talents you were born with. These are as different as people are, of course. Some have an incredible ability with words and come out of the womb talking, it seems. Some are naturally athletic. Some have natural musical abilities. Some are incredibly able with mechanics, designing, or building. These abilities are part of who you are and are as important as your spiritual gifts and your heart. God gives these to you, too, so don’t let anyone downplay these.
Exod.31.3-5- when the tabernacle was to be built, God called on those with special abilities and talents to be involved and lead the way in the preparation of it. As that was the case, so it is for you.
Rom.12.6- tells us that God gives us the ability to do certain things well. Some things you do well, I can envy and wish I could, but then, it likely goes the other way, too. These abilities were given you at birth. We all have abilities, and some have studied this and found that the average person has 500-700 different skills and abilities! Wow! Your brain can store facts, and your brain can handle 15,000 decisions a second, you can smell up to 10,000 odors, and you can detect an item that is 1/25,000th of an inch thick! Imagine that! Did you know that? You need to focus on your abilities, then the church needs to help you, as you understand your shape, figure out where and how to use your shape to serve- most of the serving won’t be here, in the church, though.
1 Cor.12.6- tells us that there are different abilities, but they’re all for service. We can look at one another and recognize abilities each other has. It’s all for God’s service. The Bible speaks of so many different abilities that people had, and we find some praised for their ability to do sewing work, leading, masonry, making music (have you ever thought about how noisy temple and tabernacle music was?), being a soldier, teaching, writing literature and poetry, and so on. Some are particularly good at building a business and reaping a profit- Deut.8.18- we all have a certain amount of this ability in this way, in our country, but some have a special ability. What is this for? It is to serve God and His work. This ability, and our blessing in Canada, comes from God. Too, let us realize that our ability is to serve God and others, to spread the gospel and to feed the flock. From our wealth, how are we giving? The OT, which in NT terms, set the bottom line for things, and the NT has taken everything to a higher level, used tithing as that minimum. Do we still tithe, as NT Christians? Or do we consume on ourselves? From our wealth, I believe it’s safe to say that God wants us to return at least a tithe- 10%- to Him for building the Kingdom. Maybe this isn’t where we’re all at right now, but this would be the bottom line goal to reach for, as an expression of the ability to ’make wealth’ that God has given each of us. The goal is to be a Kingdom Builder. Your abilities, like this, and all others, were not given to you just to make a living, but to make a difference.
1 Pet.4.10- use your abilities to benefit others.
2. Use your personality. Now, we always kid and tease about personalities and talk about how some people not only have a character but also are characters. This is normally done in fun and between friends. No two people have the same personality; no two people ever have had the same personality. This is of God. Your DNA molecules are put together in a particular way and the likelihood of finding someone else with the same DNA as yours is only 1 to the 240,000,000 power. In reality, this means never! God loves variety. Some of us have an extroverted personality; others of us are quite introverted- both made by God and both helpful in advancing the Kingdom.
1 Cor.12.6- we’re different and this is of God. Notice the different personalities between Peter and Paul. How about Elijah and David? When you look at the twelve disciples, you see different personalities and can understand why they didn’t always see eye-to-eye.
Two of you might have the same gift. Say you have the gift of teaching or the gift of evangelism, but one of you is extroverted and one of you is introverted. Just think of the fact that you’ll reach different people in different ways. Some people are quite ’put off’ by an extroverted personality, for instance. I know this as I come across this way and do realize that reality. But others are enlivened by it. So, in ministry, we need different types of people. There is no one right personality for pastors, for instance, or for teachers.
Your personality will affect where and how you use your spiritual gifts, heart, and abilities in doing the work of the Kingdom. It’s important to figure this out so you can make sure you’re not a square peg in a round hole. There are square holes for you and round holes for others who are round, so-to-speak. In working with wood, woodworkers will tell us that it’s always easier to work ’with the grain’ rather than against it- it takes more work to go against the grain. Such is true with your personality. Don’t try to be something or someone you’re not. Improve, as God leads you to improve. Work on yourself, as God leads you to do. But don’t try to be someone you’re not. Each of us reflects God’s light in different ways. We should work off any rough edges, of course- we don’t want to be offensive people. Some have said to me that ’I’m just this way’, and if it’s a way that’s very off-putting, then someone should modify that so as not to be an obstacle to the work of the Kingdom. Christians can never simply be content with being as we are- we are always works in progress. But, that aside, our basic personality is of God and to be used for the work of the kingdom.
3. Use your experiences. When I was in elementary and high school, I had experiences that didn’t make sense to me and which had me as the ’odd one out’. I was much involved in the Junior Choir at church, and was a class representative to Student Council in Grade 10, Student Council Treasurer in Grade 11, and School Centennial Chairman (for Manitoba’s centennial celebrations in 1970) in Grade 12. Not many had such opportunities, and, in retrospect, all of them helped to shape me for what I got to do beginning in 1975 in entering ministry. I was a farm kid from isolated southwestern Manitoba. When you live there, you don’t know how isolated it is, but when you ’get out’ you do realize it. These opportunities- these experiences paved the way for me to be able to do, or think toward doing, what I had to begin doing in 1975.
You have had many different experiences- some of them quite painful in life. You’ve had experiences in family, education, jobs, spiritual areas, and pain that God wants to use for the work of the Kingdom. In fact, that last group- of painful experiences- is often the richest for ministry opportunity. Who can better minister to people in difficult marriages than someone who has experiences a difficult or failed marriage, for instance? Who can better minister to someone with pain than someone who is a faithful Christian, who has dealt with pain? God never wastes anything- He never wastes an experience.
2 Cor.1.4- he intends experiences to be used to help others- always.
Think about the doubt Paul expresses in 2 Cor.1.8-10- doesn’t it help you, in times of doubt, to understand that a ’spiritual giant’ like Paul had doubt, too? He was even depressed, as we all are sometimes. Sharing experiences helps others. They are not to be kept to ourselves. Experiences are not for you to hoard and keep yourself, but are to be shared, not to lift yourself up or anything, but to serve someone else. Experiences are not for your glory but for God’s glory!
Conclusion
You are composed of five factors that, together, form you and make you into the servant of God you are to be. They form your God-made shape- they are spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences- SHAPE. This shape is to serve God and others, and you’ll do this best and in the way that glorifies God most when you understand this shape. Don’t try to be what you’re not. Rather seek to be the best that God has designed you to be. Using your shape is the secret of both fruitfulness and fulfillment in ministry. Bring these five ingredients of your shape together and you will serve increasingly successfully!
