Series Name: Eternal Investments, God’s perspective
Stewardship of Talents
Romans 12
3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts:
If prophecy, use it according to the standard of faith;
7 if service, in service; if teaching, in teaching;8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity;?leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.
Matthew Henry once said:
How blessed the Christian church, if all the members did their duty! Instead of coveting the highest stations, or the most splendid gifts, let us leave the appointment of his instruments to God, and those in whom he works by his providence.
Last week we looked at how important it is to give our time to Christ. Some of you experienced what God can do this past week when you do that.
Our youth experienced it Weds. night in a special way when we saw how God could take our time and surprise us with His use of it.
I saw it There is a story of a young man who came home to tell his Dad that he was excited because he had made the baseball team. He walked into his dad’s office and shared his great news to his dad’s response, that’s great, are you starting? You see the father knew he would make the team, but was he good enough to start was the question. To the boy, he just wanted to be recognized for being good enough to make the team. Tuesday night when some of us gave an hour to 60 children at Boulder Ridge and 13 of them miraculously came to know Him before the night was over.
Today we want to look at ourselves and our gifts or talents.
Sermon Central Illustration
1. You are important to God!!!
Don’t think of yourself more highly than you should
Don’t think of yourself lower than you should
Think as God thinks!!
God has graced us with new life in Jesus Christ, and that means that our value in God’s Kingdom is set from the very beginning.
The world has convinced us that worth comes from position or power.
In the corporate world, it is the upper management that is important.
In government, it is the higher political offices that have all of the power and make all the decisions.
The church has done the same thing.
Churches put deacons, elders, pastors all at the top and lay people down at the bottom somewhere
Too many people think that the pastor is the most important position in the church. ??
Here’s the most important proof of what I am saying. Whenever there is a particularly effective lay person, someone will ask him or her if he or she ever considered “going into the ministry.”
The implication is that lay people do not do real ministry, and are not as valuable to the church as paid staff.
Even in the church, our value lies in the position we hold.
“Hey, that’s great that you are teaching Sunday School, but are you chairing the committee?” “
Hey, that’s great that you pray moving prayers and are an exciting and life-changing teacher of God’s Word, but have you ever thought about going into “the ministry?”
Are you starting or just on the team?
UGH!!! This is not TRUTH. Scripture teaches that we are all part of the body and that every part is important!!?
Our value does not depend on our position or upon our power but upon the person of Jesus Christ.
You have to get this or the rest of the sermon won’t click
God loves you, God thinks you are special
We need to see ourselves as God sees us and to measure our value the way God measures our value.
Our value has nothing to do with the role we play in the church. Our value is set for us by Jesus. Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think about yourself.
God wants us to be recognize how much he loves us and wants us to be content with our gifting and wants us to use our giftedness to bless His church.
You are important JUST LIKE YOU ARE!!!
1. You are important to God
2. You are part of the Body of Christ
5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another
This is so important
You are not just you…you are a piece of the bigger pie.
You are an important piece of the body of Christ
Every single piece is critically important
Example of a car or some object missing a little piece
Without you and your gift, the body is not complete and does not function properly.
This body cannot be complete and cannot function properly without you and your talents
What are you with holding from this body that could make this body more complete?
“I am just here to get fed” Hogwash
If we are part of the body, we belong to each other and we are not our own.
We should not withhold our talents from the body because our talents belong to the body.
You can feed yourself, what do you have to offer to the body that will help it reach this community?
1. You are important to God
2. You are part of the Body of Christ
3. You are gifted for ministry
6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts:
If prophecy, use it according to the standard of faith;
7 if service, in service; if teaching, in teaching;8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity;?leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.
Each one of us has a special gift or gifts that god has given us to help complete this body
Alone, our gifting may not be able to reach the world but combined with the gifting we have in this body, we have all we need to do what God has called us to do
God gifted you just like you are
God gave you your talents and he just wants you to use them, no matter how insignificant they seem to you!!!!!!!!!
Mountain View, do you realize, we have everything we need to reach this world right here in the gifts God has given us but so many of us aren’t giving those gifts to him.
We are in gift envy or gift jealousy instead of gift contentment!!!
You say what are you talking about David, how am I gifted?
Laurie Fehler: Gift of service, making coffee
Solomon and Family: Gift of service, cleaning this church, mopping floors, cleaning toilets
Nancy Parker: Gift of encouragement, lifting us all up every week
Gloria Nelson: Gift of prayer and encouragement, praying for us each week and encouraging others to do the same
David Nelson: Gift of teaching children and making them love it!!
Ken Jackson: Gift of service and gentleness
Sam Ramsey, Stacey Slone, Diana Jackson, Larry Fortney, the gift of singing and speaking to our hearts through song
Bill Fugitt, Craig Ringener, Terry Minne, : The gift of leadership
Jan Keiser: The gift of signing and compassion
Amber: The gift of encouragement and caring
Nancy Minne: The gift of administration
Nancy Ramsey: The gift of mercy and giving
I could go on all day long.
Do you know what your gift is?
What do you love? What are you passionate about? What lights your fire? What turns you on?
You will love working in your gift.
Since God has gifted you, why are you keeping it to yourself. Imagine how awesome it will be when it is combined with the gifts of this body.
If we are going to reach this community, it is time to get up out of these chairs and offer ourselves to Him fully.
It is time to stop being selfish, childish,
It is time to stop talking to each other about each other
It is time to stop wanting everything our way and want it His way
It is time to stand up, be unified and win this town to Christ and we can do it as one single unified body using our gifts and talents to honor Him,
God has given us all that we need to accomplish that which He lays in front of us.
What is your place in this body?
