Using Your Gifts to Serve Others
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
1 Peter 4:10
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
1 Peter 3:8-9
“Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love one another as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.
“Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and He will bless you for it.”
Please open your Bibles to Romans 12:1-8
Last Sunday we took a look at our newest memory verse and saw that it instructs us to use whatever gift we have received to serve others as part of our responsibility to share God’s grace with others.
And, the gift that we looked at was the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When we receive the gift of salvation we come into possession of a life changing account that can be shared with those who need to be saved.
This is our testimony of salvation. This is our testimony of what Jesus did for us that no one else can do for us. All lost souls need to hear that what Jesus did for us He can do for them as well.
With that in mind let’s read: Romans 12:1-8
(Prayer for help)
These are generally what we think of as spiritual gifts
- Prophesying
o proclaiming God’s Word
- Serving
o Looking to see what needs to be done and doing it
- Teaching
o teaching God’s Word
? Sunday School
? Bible study
o teaching things needed in life
? a skill such as mechanics or carpentry
? how to balance a check book
? how to get along in marriage
? how to raise children in the way they should go
- Encouragement
o Encouraging the discouraged
o Comforting the disappointed or grieving
o Exhorting those who are complacent or who have stopped trying
- Generosity
o giving to others who are financially struggling through no fault of their own
o giving to hospitals and research
o giving to parachurch organizations like Choices
o giving to Bible translation organizations, etc.
- Leadership
o Lead with diligence; honesty, integrity, consistency
- Mercy
o Do so cheerfully
o We all do something we regret from time to time and when we do we sure do appreciate those who
show mercy! Amen? Amen!
There are also other Scriptures that teach us about spiritual gifts.
And, there are “spiritual gift assessment” tests you can take.
These are fine but there is also a danger that we might use those to limit ourselves to only what the assessment tells us! Watch out!
Imagine that you sent your child to a summer camp. At this camp were people with all sorts of spiritual gifts. The speaker had the gift of prophecy. The counselors had the gifts of leadership and encouragement. The kitchen workers and the custodians had the gifts of serving and the camp medical staff had the gifts of helping and mercy.
Now, imagine that your child fell, broke his leg and was unable to walk.
The speaker walked past your son and said “my gift is prophecy not mercy” and kept on walking.
The counselors walking by encouraged your son to get help but would not help because “the gifts of mercy and helping others are not my gifts”.
And on and on until the nurse came by the next day. She helped because mercy and helping were her gifts.
Sometimes, when we take a spiritual gift assessment we use the results as blinders. We might not come right out and say “that’s not my gift” but that may be what our actions say.
Spiritual gifts assessments are not gospel.
So, when 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” what does that mean?
“What is that in your hand?”
In Exodus 4 Moses is having an argument with Yahweh, the LORD.
Yahweh, the LORD, wants Moses to go to Egypt to say to Pharaoh, “Let My people go!” Yahweh, the LORD, says to Moses, “What is that in your hand?”
(briefly tell the rest of the story of the staff/snake)
Moses’ gift was not magic tricks or snake handling but the Lord used what was in his hand to demonstrate what was needed for that time.
What about you? What is your spiritual gift or gifts?
What is the greatest spiritual gift? It is one that is not even directly mentioned in the Bible. The greatest spiritual gift is obedient availability!
Suppose you believe your spiritual gift is mercy and certainly not anything that would require you to speak to a crowd.
But, what if you are in a big city and someone from a TV station is doing a “Man On The Street” segment and they ask you about the most important thing in your life.
1 Peter 3:15 says,
“In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
So, you say a prayer. You have faithfully prepared and you tell them about Jesus. What are you doing? You are prophesying – proclaiming the Word of the Lord. Is prophecy one of your spiritual gifts? No, not according to your spiritual gifts assessment. Prophecy may not be your spiritual gift for your vocation but it IS one of your spiritual gifts for that particular occasion. Why? Because you were obediently available to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
What if you believe your spiritual gift is evangelism but you run into this situation …
You are standing in line at a grocery store and you are behind a young mom with three young children in tow. She only has $40 in cash and due to a miscalculation she has brought $43 dollars of groceries to the checkout. Everything she has on the conveyer belt are basic grocery staples. No soda, no big juicy steaks, no chips and dip, no ice cream, just flour, sugar, bread, cereal, etc.
You know you have an extra $10 bill in your wallet. You can see that the lady and her children are not dressed in expensive clothing and they are not purchasing extravagant food. What do you do? When you took your “spiritual gifts” assessment your spiritual gift was not generosity in helping others financially but the Lord has put you in that place at that time with extra money in your wallet.
Will you be obediently available or will you say, “generosity is not my gift”? Will the lady go home with all of her groceries and an extra gift of the remaining $7 from your $10 bill and a blessing or will she leave some things behind embarrassed and ashamed?
Let’s look at our memory Scripture again …
1 Peter 4:10
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms”
You don’t need a spiritual gift assessment to be able to respond to whatever the Lord puts right there in front of you.
When you see a need perhaps the Lord will say, “What is that in your hand? Are you willing to let go of it for Me and for My purposes?”
Romans 12:1-2
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
So, you see, the Lord doesn’t just want what’s in your hand, He wants your entire life and your entire being in obedient availability for His purposes and for His Kingdom.
These spiritual gifts don’t just operate inside the church and they don’t just operate outside the church.
A spiritually healthy body of Christ is made up of spiritually healthy believers who look for opportunities to whatever gift God puts in our hands to serve others.
Spiritually healthy believers who use whatever gift they are given to serve others are effective in the Kingdom of God.
Spiritually healthy churches are a witness to the world
John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
How do we love one another? We use whatever gift we have received to serve each other, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. That’s how!
Final thoughts
Leading into communion
Prayer
