Performing Through Your Spiritual Gifts
- Rev. Jerry Lepasana
- Jun 6, 2010
- Series: Back to Basics
Back to Basics: (Part XVII)
PERFORMING THROUGH YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS
1 Peter 4:10 (NIV):
10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.
Romans 12:4-8 (NIV):
4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,
5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV):
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
Since the beginning of man, God has already conveyed His desire for man to work and partner with Him. Genesis 1:26 reveals this intention:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Thus, after Adam and Eve were created they were given the privilege to oversee and develop everything on earth. Evidently, they were never created to be idle; they were given the opportunity to perform according to their skills in cooperation with God, and for the honor of God.
However, this partnership was broken when man chose to sin against God. Instead of being conscious of working with and for God, Man became obsessed and consumed by advancing himself. Literally, all his energies, talents, and resources were used no longer used to honor God, but to pursue personal gains and glory.
The truth of the matter is: the victory of Jesus Christ on the cross was not only to bring man to a close communion with God; it is also design to restore him to a productive partnership with God. So, everyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior is perceived by God as a potential co-worker of God in the expansion of His kingdom on earth. Paul has plainly taught this concept in the New Testament:
1 Corinthians 3:9 (NIV):
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
Can you imagine how special this is to be referred to as God’s fellow workers? What if one day you will receive a direct phone call from President Obama and he is personally asking you to serve as one of the special people who will serve in the White House? Wouldn’t you feel privileged and special? That’s exactly how you and I should feel today as children of God. We are given the highest honor of working with and for God. And we should do our best to know how we can do it and not take it for granted.
This is why I would like to speak about spiritual gifts this morning. The apostles in the New Testament have consistently taught the believers that this is the appointed way for us to partner with God in His work. Allow me explain to you four fundamental areas of spiritual gifts:
I. THE DISTRIBUTION:
In one of our text, 1 Peter 4:10, Peter has explicitly stated that each one of us has received a spiritual gift. Before we go any further, we should probably define what a spiritual gift is. Here is a more complete definition of it:
• God-given capacities or abilities given us in order to serve God and other Christians in a way that Christ is glorified and the believers are edified.
First of all, looking at this definition, we need to be reminded that God in His great wisdom has decided what ability to give us so that we can serve Him. These spiritual gifts are different from our natural talents in a sense that you don’t have to be a Christian to possess talents. With spiritual gifts, after a person receives Jesus Christ, God may take the talent/s and elevate it to a spiritual gift, and anoint it with the presence and blessing of the Holy Spirit. When Christians use their gifts, people are not only thrilled; they are also blessed and edified.
All of these gifts are special, and have the same value before the eyes of God. There is no such thing as gifts being greater compared to others. That is why Christians ought to stop comparing their gifts with others or from competing with each other.
This was one of the problems that Paul had to address within the Corinthian church. Some believers felt they were more superior compared to the others because of their gifts:
1 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV):
7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
Pride shouldn’t be our response. All gifts are equally important. Instead we should be grateful for the privilege of serving. Because all of us has at least a gift (Others may have more), and a specific role/s to play in the body of Jesus Christ. It is necessary that we know exactly what our gift is because our gift will determine how we would function in the church. The fact is, not knowing our gift will not lessen our accountability. Remember the parable of the talent (Matthew 25:14-30). You see three servants receiving different amounts of talents, the last one who received only one talent decided to hide his talent instead of using it. After the master returned, He was punished for being irresponsible.
God forbid that we remain ignorant about our own gifts. Let me assure you that you have a gift you need to use to honor the Lord. Make sure you discover what God has given you. The church like a body is composed of many members that have different functions. When we function according to our gifts, we will be most effective in helping the body of Christ become healthier and more beautiful before the sinful world. Without a doubt, Christians experience greater fulfillment in life when they serve the Lord effectively.
II. THE DIVERSITY:
Examining the 3 major New Testament passages (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4) that teach about spiritual gifts, we can identify some of these gifts and use it to evaluate ourselves so we will know what we need to begin using. Dr. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church had provided a listing of the gifts based on these key Bible references and divided them into five major categories.
Gifts that communicate God’s Word:
1. Preaching – The ability to publicly communicate God’s Word in an inspiredway.
2. Evangelism- The ability to communicate the Good News to unbelievers in a positive, non-threatening way.
3. Missions – The ability to adapt to different culture in order to reach unbelievers and help believers from that culture.
4. Apostle – The ability to start new churches and oversee their development.
Gifts that educate God’s people:
1. Teaching – The ability to educate God’s people by clearly explaining and applying the Bible in a way that causes them to learn.
2. Encouragement (Exhortation) – The ability to motivate God’s people to apply an act on Biblical principles, especially when they are discouraged in their faith.
3. Wisdom – The ability to understand God’s perspective on the life’s situations and share those insights in a simple way.
4. Discernment – The ability to distinguish right from wrong, truth from error and to give an immediate evaluation based on God’s word.
5. Knowledge – The ability to discover, analyze, and organize information that is vital to believers or the church family.
Gifts that demonstrate God’s love:
1. Service – The ability to recognize unmet needs in the church family and to take initiative to provide assistance.
2. Mercy – The ability to detect hurt and empathize with those who are suffering in the church family.
3. Hospitality – The ability to make others, especially strangers, feel welcome, accepted in the church family.
4. Pastoring – The ability to care for the spiritual needs of a group of believers and equip them for the ministry.
5. Giving – The ability to contribute material resources and/or money so that the church may grow and be strengthened.
Gifts that celebrate God’s presence:
1. Music (150) – The ability to celebrate God’s presence through music, either vocal or instrumental, and lead the church family in worship.
2. Arts and Crafts (Ex. 31:3-11) – The ability to build, maintain, or beautify the place of worship for God’s glory.
3. Intercession – The ability to pray for the needs of others in the church family on a regular basis.
4. Miracles – The ability to pray in faith specifically for people who need physical, emotional, or spiritual healing and see God’s answer.
5. Praying with the Spirit (Tongues/Interpretation) – The ability to pray in language understood only by God or one who is given of interpretation at that time.
At this point, there is probably a need to explain why we do not practice the gift of tongues during our worship service. The apostle Paul had taken the time to address this issue while writing to the Corinthian church because of the abuses regarding this gift. He had literally written an entire chapter (1 Corinthians 14) to provide guidance for the New Testament church. Here are some:
A) It is for personal edification, not for the whole church:
1 Corinthians 14:4 (NIV):
4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.
B) It confuses unbelievers in the service:
1 Corinthians 14:23 (NIV):
23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
C) Ideally, it is not meant to be used in the worship service:
1 Corinthian 14:19-20 (NIV)
19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.
Gifts that support all four purposes:
1. Leadership – The ability to clarify and communicate the purpose and direction of a ministry in a way that attracts others to get involved.
2. Administration (Organization) – The ability to recognize the gifts of others and recruit them to a ministry.
3. Faith – The ability to trust God for what cannot be seen and to act on God’s promise, regardless of what the circumstances indicate.
With all the gifts listed here, which do think do you possess?
III. THE DEDICATION:
Going back to the words of 1 Peter 4:10, the emphasis is for us to use our spiritual gift faithfully. But before we can even talk of faithfulness, we need to first make sure we begin using our gift/s to honor the Lord who gave them to us. The most recent survey of Barna Research Group reveals that out of the 88% of the born-again Christians who have heard of spiritual gifts, only 39% can identify their gift, and only about 10 to 20% are actively using their gifts. Isn’t this alarming? No wonder many Christian churches remain weak and unable to make a difference in their communities.
Again, the real issue is not the lack of gifts but the failure to use them faithfully. To be faithful with your gifts means two things:
• To be consistent – you don’t just use them for a season, but your use them regularly.
• To be dependable – To use them always most especially when there’s the need for it.
The best part with our gifts is that when we begin to use them faithfully, then we develop them all the more. The more we use them, the better they become. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. This is the reason why Paul had encouraged Timothy to fan the flame in relation to his gift. In other words, he needed to keep the fire or the zeal in using his gifts.
2 Timothy 1:6 (NIV):
6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Once we recognize our gift/s, we need to dedicate it. We know we have dedicated it when we are using them faithfully.
IV. THE DIRECTION: (Ephesians 4:12)
Lastly, in Ephesians 4:12, the apostle Paul has clearly established the two-fold purposes of spiritual gifts in the church. They are:
A. Equipping of the saints – “to prepare God's people for works of service.”
To prepare literally means in Greek to equip. It is the same word used for a Roman General equipping his soldiers for battle: supplying them with sword, spear, and shield; training them in their use; drilling them to fight as a unit. Everyone in the body of Christ must be involved in the different ministries of the church. When there are only few who are participating, chances are only few people will be ministered effectively. And then, the worst scenario is for those few people who are serving will end up being hurt because they are overburdened with the pressures of the ministry. We can definitely see more people getting prepared to minister if we start using ours today.
B. Edifying of the church - “so that the body of Christ may be built up”
The greatest blessing in the exercise of spiritual gifts is to see the church becoming stronger and healthier. Why do we want to see this happen? Let’s not forget that the church exists today so we can continually bring hope in the world. There are so many people who are hurting in the world who need Jesus Christ. We can never accomplish this purpose if we remain weak. So I challenge you, use your gifts, help BCI to be a stronger church in order for us to reach more people for the kingdom.