Gifted to Give

Romans 12:6–8 ESV

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

The Jordan river has great significance for the children of Israel: They crossed the river on dry ground (Joshua 3:1–14) where the Lord made the river stopped flowing and piled up in a heap, Elisha healed Naaman of his leprosy when the latter dipped seven times in the river, and John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ in the same river.

Do you know the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are joined by the same (Jordan) river?

Interestingly, the Sea of Galilee is where hundreds of millions of birds migrate across Israel: Thousands of common cranes and pelicans flock to the area, as well as more than 25 species of raptors like the imperial eagles and spotted eagles. The sea of Galilee is where Jesus’ disciples made their living as fishermen and where most of Jesus’ ministry occurred.

But just 63 miles to the south, the Dead Sea has no place for animals or plants. Surrounded by a sulfer-filled wasteland, the dead sea is…well, dead.

The Sea of Galilee is fresh water and full of life, the Dead Sea is full of salt and no living thing lives in it. The is one big  difference between these two seas. The Sea of Galilee has water coming into it and out of it. Whereas the Dead Sea has water coming in to it but no water flows out of it, the only water that leaves it is by evaporation.  We need to be in partnership with God through scripture, but also with other believers. We need to be like the Sea of Galilee. We need to give to others and receive from God.

Main Idea: We are Given Gifts of Grace to give to His Church.

Jerry Falwell and Elmer Towns describes Spiritual Gifts as such:

...a spiritual gift is spiritual in character (pneumatikon), sovereignly given by God the Holy Spirit (charismata), to others (diakonia), in the power of God (energeema), with an evident manifestation of the Holy Spirit through the Christian as he serves God (phanerosis).

So what do we learn about Spiritual gifts and their use in the church?

The Gifts are Given to Help Believers in your life

That’s one of the first things we see about these gifts is that they are given for the church.

Notice what Paul says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.”

Paul’s understanding of the gifts is that they are given to be used.

Like the Sea of Galilee, spiritual health occurs when we do what Christ commands us and gives away our giftedness.

There are not more toxic in the church than those who refuse to give the gifting they are given. Like the Dead Sea, they poison everything around them.

Paul’s encouragement to see ourselves rightly in

Romans 12:3 ESV

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

is given feet in vv. 6-8.

They are Given to ALL Believers and We are All to serve in the Way the Spirit Gifted Us

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 ESV

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

The first thing we see in this passage is that the spirit gives these gifts to the whole church. All of God’s people are gifted gifts of grace.

Paul notes seven different gifts given to the church at Rome.

They are prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, and acts of mercy. These are given to All believers. Now not all believers are pastors, exercising that gift, but we are all given a gift.

I love the sport of Football. I loved playing it. But one of the hardest things for me to learn, and also one of the hardest things many is to realize that different people have different body types, sizes, shapes, etc.

What I wanted more than anything was to be a running back, or a quarterback, because I wanted to score a touchdown.

But there is a problem: I’m slow, and I can’t throw.

I remember being upset as a child because I couldn’t run the ball.

But it was when I realized that God made me the way I was and learned the joy of pushing another person around as a lineman that I embrace how I was gifted and loved football.

In the church we have gifts and Paul is encouraging us to use them. But it’s important that we serve as God calls us to serve. And this is a spiritual imperative.

Paul is making a point here: Serve out of your giftedness.

We tend to under spiritualize our giftedness. We buy into the fact that our gifting is simply a natural ability.

But this would be wrong. We must realize that if God makes us a teacher, that’s a gift, but if God gives us acts of service, or of mercy, or of generosity they are no less Spiritual than preaching or teaching.

The disciples under spiritualized the gifts, making those things that seemed to be “out front” to be more important.

Mark 9:33–35 ESV

And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

Then Jesus does something interesting

Mark 9:36–37 ESV

And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Notice what Jesus is doing. To Illustrate being first he does not stand up and preach, but instead pulls a child to him. Jesus is saying “Receiving a Child is just as important in God’s kingdom as preaching a sermon.”

We need everyone in the church to accomplish the work of the body.

Going over the budget is a spiritual thing. Counting the tithes and taking care of the finances is a spiritual thing.

Keeping the nursery and loving babies is a spiritual gift and spiritual thing.

Showing mercy to the downtrodden and those with handicaps is a spiritual thing.

Giving food to the hungry, cleaning the church, being a deacon, these are all spiritual things.

In fact it takes many more people to cook food and crunch numbers, and collect food and clothes for the homeless, and go on mission trips to build churches, and go to the prison, and go to the nursing homes, and visit the shut-ins and all of these other acts of service than it does people to preach a sermon and it’s God-honoring and beautiful

We need that, and those people should be celebrated and praised for acting out of their giftedness.

Throughout the scripture we see gifts given to the church for the building up and edification of the body, and we must never take for granted any of these gifts.

So what are some of the gifts we see in scripture?

Prophecy

setting before people the Word and wisdom of God persuasively.

Encouragement

drawing alongside to comfort, encourage, rebuke, and lead someone into insight toward action.

Teaching

laying down in a systematic order the complete truth of a doctrine and applying it incisively to life.

The message of wisdom

Combining known principles of God's Word and communicating them to fresh situations.

Knowledge

Arranging the facts of Scripture, categorizing these into principles, and communicating them to repeated or familiar situations.

Service Gifts like

Contributing

Giving most liberally and beyond all human expectation.

Mercy

Being sensitive or empathetic to people who are in affliction or misery and lifting internal burdens with cheerfulness.

Helps

Seeing tasks and doing them for or with someone in order to lift external burdens.

Distinguishing spirits

Detecting a genuine or spurious motive by distinguishing the spirit-source behind any person's speech or act.

Evangelism

Communicating the gospel with power and persuasiveness as well as equipping the saints for evangelism.

Leadership Gifts like

Leadership

Standing before people and inspiring followers by leading them aggressively but with care.

Administration

Standing behind people to collect data, set policy, and develop plans which will guide a course of action with wisdom.

Faith

Seeing through any problem to the Ultimate Resource.

These are all gifts we see in Scripture given to the church to build up the church.

These gifts are given for the church to build it up and to build up the body. We need people doing these things.

The problem comes when we expect paid staff to do what we’re gifted to do. This creates two problems:

We Are Expecting People to Operated Outside of their Giftedness

When we expect a prophet to be merciful we’re asking for trouble. My gift is prophecy. I call it like I see it. I’ve learned to be tactful, but I have a very low tolerance for certain things. But there are some who have a limitless supply of mercy.

If we listen to the instruction of Scripture we must remember that our talents are not of our own making, but free gifts of God.

John Calvin

We are Robbing the Church of Spiritual Leadership and Giftedness

When we keep our gifts we are robbing the church of that giftedness.

God gives us our gifts to give to the church. This is essential to the life of the church.

We need to serve in our giftedness.

When we don’t we rob God’s body of leadership and giftedness. There’s an old saying that says the cream rises to the top, but cream rises, and butter is made when it is churned. Stagnant milk simply spoils and a life not spent serving does too.

So how do I know my giftedness?

By serving.

As followers of Jesus grow in their faith and learn to recognize the Holy Spirit in their lives, they grow in awareness of the gifts they already have. This allows them to use their gifts more effectively as they walk in greater obedience to and intimacy with Jesus.

If you are a follower of Jesus, pursuing a deeper relationship with God will help you become more aware of your gifts and how you can use them. Spending time reading the Bible and praying is essential because it enables you to know who God is and what He’s calling you to be part of as you join His work in the world. This is the context in which you use the gifts the Holy Spirit gives you.

Peter was a fisherman, but it was through serving alongside Christ that he discovered he had the gift of preaching.

Matthew, though a tax collector, discovered his gift was prophecy as he wrote the words of Christ for the church.

Philip, a deacon and a servant, found he had the gift of evangelism.

Priscilla and Aquila were known for the gift of generosity.

And on and on.

These saints discovered their giftedness by serving, and you can discover yours by serving too. There’s nothing wrong with discovering you are not a teacher by teaching. It’s not a failure when you find you’re not an exhorter. What’s tragic is when we never find our gifts because we’re too afraid to serve.

God’s people in you is the very power that created the universe. In you is the very gifting that transformed the ancient world from a pagan wasteland into a Christian nation.

But if you keep your candle under a bushel, then you will never be who God has called you to be.

So here’s how we can serve as Christ served:

Ask God to reveal your gifting to you as you serve. The spiritual gifts are just that, spiritual. You need the Holy Spirit to lead you to your gifts.

Serve. It may be that while you help in Vacation Bible school you discover your passion for sharing your faith, or when you work in the kitchen your discover your zeal for leading.

Seek Affirmation. God has given you spiritual leaders in the church, pastor, deacons, teachers who can affirm what they see God doing in your life. Ask them where they see God working in you. There is nothing so tragic as a saint who doesn’t serve as God has given them gifts. When I am so committed to what I want to do that I miss what God wants for me that is sin.

Serve in your giftedness. Gifts are gifts, but like all gifts we can always learn to use them better and more efficiently. The best way to get better at using your spiritual gift is to serve in your giftedness. Just because one is gifted doesn’t mean they can’t get better. I learned Greek in College and while I have always had the gift of prophecy, of forthtelling from scripture, my training and years of experience make me a better preacher.