02 - Motivational Gifts By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes

Motivational Gifts

Part 2

1/15/20

Last time we talked about the first two motivational gifts of prophecy and serving. This time we’re going to cover the remaining five motivational gifts.

The 7 motivational gifts Paul lists are in Romans 12:6-8:

Romans 12:6-8 “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; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” (7 gifts)

What is a MOTIVATIONAL GIFT?

A MOTIVATIONAL GIFT is a supernatural, God-given gift accompanied with a strong inner desire to use it.

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So let’s jump right into the 3rd motivational gift of:

TEACHING: The motivational gift of teaching is seen in someone who instructs, clarifies, and who is strongly motivated to preserve the truth.

A person with the motivational gift of teaching has a sensitivity to the accuracy of words, especially the Biblical definition and usage of terms. When a teacher heart comes to a passage of Scripture they won’t slip across words that you and I might be tempted to think are not all that important.

For instance, you may read the word “exhortation” many times without bothering to uncover what it really means. A person with the gift of teaching is not going to jump over it. They’ll get a concordance and, if they know the languages, the Greek and Hebrew, and check it out as best they can to find the real meaning of that word.

The person with this teaching motivation finds as much joy in researching as they do in delivering the final message. They are very motivated to check out the truthfulness and accuracy of other teachers.

In short, the motivational gift of teaching brings full focus onto discovering and teaching the truth, and nothing but the truth. The verse that best describes this person is Paul’s injunction to Timothy: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15 NASB).

Is the Holy Spirit nudging your heart with the words, “This is you?”

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The 4th motivational gift Paul lists is:

EXHORTATION: The person with this motivational gift is one who urges or encourages another to pursue a course of conduct. The Greek word is “paraklesis” which is the same word used for the Holy Spirit in the NT, “parakletos.” “Para” means to the side of and “klesis” means to call.

So, the meaning is a calling to one’s side that is, to aid; one called alongside another, to encourage or admonish them to choose a godly lifestyle or to obey the Lord in a certain thing. If the teacher aims for your head, the exhorter aims for your heart. All of the exhorters efforts are geared toward edifying and encouraging others.

Of all the Apostles, Paul is the one with the most apparent motivational gift of exhortation. When we look at the first 3 or 4 verses of every letter he wrote we find encouragement. He says,

“Oh, I love you, I miss you, I want to be with you, I’m praying for God’s grace and mercy for you,” and so forth. Like Paul, the exhorter is always helping people have hope—which is the expectation that things will get better. They encourage others, like Paul, to “be thankful in all things for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”—1 Thes. 5:18

The motivation of an exhorter is to see spiritual growth take place in every day living. In general they like to see things grow. They have a motivation to urge people to their full maturity in Christ. In fact, they’re willing to become personally involved to see it achieved.

What I love about this gift is that exhorters see opportunities, not obstacles—challenges, not trials—possibilities, not problems. They turn problems into benefits. They unquestioningly believe Romans 8:28 that “God works all things together for good...“

Is the Holy Spirit nudging your heart with the words, “This is you?”

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The 5th Motivational Gift is:

GIVING: Let “He who gives, do it with liberality.”

“The Greek word here for giving is “metadidomi”, and it means “to give over, share, or impart.” Paul says it’s to be done with simplicity, sincerity and liberality.

In fact, in Romans 12:13 Paul expands on how this gift is to be used. He says in the KJV, “Distributing to the necessity of the saints; given to hospitality. And in the NIV it says, “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

Now the person who most personifies the profile of a giver in the NT is Matthew. If you want to know about finances, money or good stewardship, you will find it in one of two places—Matthew or Proverbs. Matthew records more about money, stewardship, resources and finances than any other writer.

Now the definition of the spiritual, motivational gift of giving is: “The ability to earn money for the advancement of God’s work and to give it with wisdom and a cheerful heart.”

You’ll never have to ask a person with the gift of giving to tithe! This person doesn’t give just for the sake of giving, but they give for the definite purpose of furthering God’s work.

A person with the gift of Giving has a keen ability to discern wise investments in order to have more money available to give. A person with this gift prefers to give quietly without public notice. They will often say, “Please, I want no public acknowledgement or attention. This is between us.”

The person with this gift loves learning that their gift is a direct answer to prayer. They say praise the Lord! They get the same sense of spiritual fulfillment that you and I would get with some other answer to prayer. Givers know that the highest and best use of their gift is when they are being divinely led to give. They’re especially thrilled when someone says, “How did you know I needed this? It’s an answer to prayer!”

Now most churches won’t have an abundance of people with this gift. But God places a few in every church. Maybe you’re motivational spiritual gift is Giving. That’s who you are. That’s your desire, your drive, that’s what motivates the ministry you’re involved in.

Is the Holy Spirit saying, “That’s you, that’s your gift?”

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The 6th motivational gift is:

LEADING: The KJV calls it ruling: “he that ruleth, with diligence.” The NIV translates it leadership: “if it is leadership, let him govern diligently.” The Greek word here is “proistemi” (pro-is'-tay-mee), which comes from pro, meaning “before” and istemi, “to stand.” So the literal meaning is “to stand before or to preside.” It describes the person who rules over others or oversees, gives oversight to other people and tasks to be accomplished. It has to do with leadership, organizing and giving direction. It’s the person up front.

Now, we find that outside the Bible in the Greek world from which the word “proistemi” came it was used for piloting a ship, for steering it through the rocks safely to port. So, probably the best word today to describe the person with this gift would be an administrator.

The definition of this gift is—“A person with the ability to coordinate the activities of others for the achievement of a common goal.” This person is able to give vision and direction. They’re able to organize and direct toward a specific goal. They see that everything’s done decently and in order. Projects and tasks are done in a way that promotes the work of God and the personal growth of those involved.

What a valuable and needed gift this is in the church of Jesus Christ! It is a God-given capacity to organize and administrate with such efficiency and spirituality, that not only is the project brought to a satisfactory conclusion, but it’s done harmoniously and with evident blessing.

And the person in the Bible who personifies the profile of an administrator best is Nehemiah. He was the leader of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. He had been the cup-bearer of the king, but God put a burden on his heart to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. If you want to get a real picture of an Administrator read the OT book of Nehemiah.

A few characteristics of this gift would be, first, the ability to see the bigger picture, to get the long look. They can visualize a project from the beginning to the end. When a major project is given to an administrator, they’re able to picture the completed task and what it will take to accomplish it.

Like the prophetic motivation, the administrative gift has vision. They are visionary people with a broad perspective. And in upholding that vision for others to see, they can inspire great accomplishment. They visualize how people can work together to accomplish a common goal. As Proverbs 29:18 tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Vision is needed to keep people in focus and administrators are able to provide this.

Secondly, they are usually self-starters. They don’t have to be prodded. Once they get the glimpse and see the goal they know where they’re headed. Administrators love a challenge. They love to “dig in”and develop or organize anything they’re in charge of. When this gift kicks in, it’s “Katie, bar the door!” They are bulls in a China closet, pressing forward to get the job done.

Finally, administrators love to tell people what to do. And I mean that in a positive sense. Once an administrator sets their focus out there and begins to see all the resources, one of the things they do is to check the resource of people and begin to put these people to work. They easily see what jobs need to be done and they seem to know who can do them well.

As we describe the administrator, is the Holy Spirit saying, “That’s you?”

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Finally, the 7th motivational gift is:

MERCY: The meaning behind the word mercy is to be understanding, compassionate and loving—to have pity on, to be compassionate by word or deed and specifically by divine grace. The apostle John is probably the person who personifies the gift of mercy more than any other in Scripture. When you think about the gospel of John and the epistles, John used the word “love” more than any other disciple. John’s teachings and personal relationships illustrate that his primary focus was on love and unity.

Now, the person with the motivational gift of mercy has:

A keen ability to sense joy or distress. The person with the motivational gift of mercy is always reaching out to help someone else emotionally. They have the ability to sense or feel the atmosphere of joy or distress, where there’s misery, pain, suffering, grief or tribulation.They have a sharp, sensitive awareness of someone else’s needs.

A person with the gift of mercy always wants to remove hurt feelings. They say, “Yes, I know exactly what you mean.” Now, the person sharing may be dead wrong, but the person with mercy isn’t trying to defend or correct, but heal a broken heart or a broken spirit or a hurt spirit. A mercy motivation is more interested in healing than in teaching some spiritual lesson that another gift may be interested in. They’ll have more concern for mental distress than physical distress.

A person with this gift is very sensitive to hurtful words and actions. A mercy motivation will pop up and say, “You really shouldn’t say that! Do you think that was kind?”

Have you ever been in a conversation when you thought everybody was in agreement and you said something that was a little sharp and someone said, “Now, I don’t really think that was kind.” And you just kind of felt rebuked? Well, that was a mercy motivation just reacting normally because when you spoke against someone else they literally felt the hurt.

Finally, A mercy heart has a need for deep friendships. John had a very close relationship with Jesus and with Peter. In fact, John often refers to himself as the disciple “whom Jesus loved.” A person with the gift of mercy will demonstrate love and loyalty to a friend even by reacting harshly toward those who attack or reject or criticize their friend. You remember, when the Samaritans rejected Jesus, John was the one who wanted to call down fire from heaven on them.

As we’ve talked about this gift, has the Holy Spirit nudged your heart that this is you?

It’s time to close out our study of the 7 motivational gifts of the Spirit. I urge you to act on the one that best fit you and pray to the Lord that He will place you in His body where your gift can bless others!