Using Our Gifts (BFM #11 )
Text: Exodus 4:2; 1st Corinthians 12:1-11
By: Ken McKinley
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St. Bernard of Clairvaux (the man the dog was named after) once said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” As we continue on in our study of the BFM we’ve been looking at article 6 – the church. Lets read that quickly (read). Now if you remember I told you there were four essential ministries that a church should be doing. The 1st one was the preaching of God’s Word, the 2nd was the administration of the ordinances given to the Church, the 3rd was the exercising of the gifts of its members, and the 4th is proper Church discipline. Now some might say, “Where are those four ministries listed in article 6?”
Well I’ll show you:
“A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the “gospel;” observing the two “ordinances” of Christ, “governed by His laws,” “exercising the gifts,” rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and “seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.” Each congregation operates under the “Lordship of Christ” through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is “responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord.” Its scriptural “officers” are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are “gifted for service” in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
Now I think that every Christian knows that they are supposed to be fulfilling the Great Commission. I think that every Christian knows that they should be sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ when the opportunity presents itself. We should all be witnesses for the Lord, whether you’re a pastor or a layperson. Witnessing is the duty of every Christian. So I’m not going to spend a lot of time on preaching how we should be sharing the Gospel. We know this already. But like St. Bernard said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.” We are witnesses in more ways than just sharing the Good News of Christ with our words. There is a saying that goes, “The greatest single cause of Atheism in the world today is Christians, who profess God with their lips, but in reality their lives are far from Him.”
When we read the Book of Acts, we see a church that was exercising their gifts. And if we want to be faithful to the Word of God, and if we want to be a faithful witness for the Lord, then we too need to be exercising our gifts. Do you want to know what the difference between those first Christians in Jerusalem and Christians today in the US is? Persecution. If the United States Government made a law next week and said that Christianity was illegal and Christians were going to be rounded up and executed, Church attendance in the United States would drop drastically the next Sunday. But you know what we would have then? We would have dedicated, Spirit filled, committed people. Now when I say Spirit filled I’m not talking about people who roll around on the floor and bark like dogs, and rattle off some strange words that no-one can understand. I want to make that clear. I’m talking about people who are controlled by the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
So we don’t have persecution today in the United States, and I’ll tell you the reason we don’t… it’s not because we have religious freedom in the US, it’s because we have people in Churches who are not living for the Lord like they should. 2nd Timothy 3:12 says, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus WILL SUFFER persecution.” Scripture doesn’t say you’ll only suffer persecution if you live in Africa, or China, or the Middle East. No it says if you desire to live godly in Christ Jesus you will suffer. In the context there its talking about living out your faith.
But we’ll have to talk more on that some other day, because I want you all to see this. Every Christian has been gifted for service. In some way or another, we have all been gifted for service. Scripture says that the Church is the body of Christ, and it uses the human body as an analogy as to how we are supposed to work. The human body has limbs that perform functions, we have organs that perform necessary functions, we have hands for working, legs for traveling, muscles and joints that allow those things to take place, bones that hold us all together, a nervous system that warns us of danger, skin that protects the vital organs. And if we have an organ in our body that doesn’t function, or a limb on our body that doesn’t work, then the whole body suffers. And so every believer has a vital ministry.
If you’re still in 1st Corinthians 12, go ahead and look at verse 1 again (read). Paul did not want us to be ignorant concerning these gifts. Ignorance is not stupidity; it means that you just don’t know all the facts. Of course there are some people who are willfully ignorant… and let me just tell you, if I have a pet peeve that’s got to be it. Willful ignorance. So Paul doesn’t want these Corinthians Christians to be ignorant, and he says why, “You know you were Gentiles who used to worship idols, and were led by these false notions and things like that…” Today we’d see that as an insult wouldn’t we? Today we would cry “racism” at a statement like that. But that’s what Paul is saying here, “You are Gentiles and you used to worship idols, so you need to be taught.” And what do they need to be taught? That no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. A few years ago there was a study done by Dr. Felicitas Goodman, a psychological anthropologist and linguist. Dr. Goodman took recordings from so called Christians speaking in tongues and compared them to pagans in Africa and Indonesia, and found that there was basically no difference (Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-Cultural Study in Glossolalia by Felecitas D. Goodman, University of Chicago Press, 1972). Satan is a counterfeiter, and I think as we get closer and closer to the return of the Lord, we will see more and more counterfeit miracles and counterfeit revivals.
But what about the 2nd part of Paul’s statement; that no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit? Remember what Peter said in Matthew 16:16? “thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And remember what Jesus said to him? “Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” A person cannot receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior apart from the Holy Spirit. That’s what Paul is saying.
Verse 7, “The manifestations of the Spirit are given to each one for the profit of all…”
How many Christians have a gift from God? All of them. Some Christians are known as being very wise, others are very knowledgeable, others have an ability to teach, others have a knack for building things, others might be able to offer comfort to those who are hurting. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights (James 1:17).
So let’s look at this:
Our gifts are important, because without Christians exercising their gifts the body isn’t functioning as it should. But the gifts of the Spirit are from the Spirit, and they are to be used for the building up of our brothers and sisters and for glorifying God. And let me just say this; having a gift from God, having an ability to sing, or preach, or do something greatly – doesn’t make a person spiritual. There are plenty of great singers who use their God given gifts and talents to glorify themselves. There are plenty of great orators out there who want nothing to do with sharing the Gospel or glorifying God. There are people who are very likeable, and friendly, they are charming and helpful, but they are not using those gifts for the Kingdom of God.
Paul says that these things are given to help the Church, for the profit of all. The all there is referring to the all within the Body of Christ. And so our gifts and talents and abilities are to be used to lift up the church, and when we use them in the right way, the Church profits from it. The Church is blessed by it, the Church is able to function more like it should when its members are exercising their God given gifts.
Now let me just say this quickly; we should desire gifts so that we might better serve the Lord; but – that doesn’t mean that if you’re an arm you should try to be a leg.
Romans 12:4-8 says, “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them; if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence, he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” In other-words, do the work that God has gifted you to do.
Now look at verse 11 in our text from 1st Cor. 12 (read). We need to understand that it is the Holy Spirit who gives these gifts to us, as He wills. We should desire to be better, we should desire to be more effective for the cause of Christ, and gifted so that we can be, but ultimately it’s the Holy Spirit that gives these gifts. And again verse 7 says it’s for the profit of all.
That’s important, because so often we think success if dependant upon us. Remember what Paul said? He said, “I planted Apollos watered, but God brought about the increase.” Remember our Old Testament Text? Moses tried to offer all sorts of excuses why he couldn’t do the work of the Lord, but it wasn’t Moses who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, it was God working through Moses. The point is, don’t worry about the ends, worry about the means to those ends. In-other-words, we are to be faithfully using the gifts that God has gifted us with.
If each member of the church is exercising their gifts as they should, then we are being faithful to the Lord. We are to exercise the gifts and leave the results up to God.
Let’s pray.
