God’s Gifts of Grace

Last week we looked at Romans 12:1-2. The key to living the Christian life is to give oneself wholly to God. When we do that Paul says we will discern what the will of God is. We can’t divorce those two verses from the next ones.

Note the word “for” in verse 3. As a result of knowing the will of God…

What is the result? The result is knowing our spiritual gift and serving in the local church. This is how we know if a person has given themselves wholly to God. If they have, they will be serving the Lord by using their spiritual gift in the church.

1. God’s gift of saving grace is always coupled with a gift for serving (3).

A. Nothing reveals pride like an unwillingness to cooperate with God’s people.

Paul practiced what he preached.

“by the grace given to me I say to everyone”

Paul was given the task to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. Two things that may have kept him from that:

His education- Under the great Rabbi Gamilel, Genius with Hebrew Scriptures, understood philosophy, Spoke, read, and wrote both Hebrew & Greek.

His ethnicity- Jews no dealing with Gentiles.

Paul had a proper view of himself.

Chief of sinners

Least of the Apostles (1 Cor. 15:9)

“Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think”

Gal. 6:3

For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Phil. 2:3

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

Jonah thought of himself too highly and refused to go to the Ninevites.

When Paul was called to go to the outcasts, he didn’t think of himself too highly.

I’m afraid when some people look in the mirror they start singing “How Great Thou Art”.

A renewed mind (2) will have a proper view of self.

When it comes to ministry no one is overqualified.

Jesus washed feet.

Jesus kept the nursery (Mark 10).

Jesus fed the hungry.

Jesus did street evangelism.

Jesus taught.

Jesus cooked (John 21).

You’re never too good to wash feet.

You’re never overqualified to keep the nursery.

Pride will keep you from seeing this truth.

B. We must make an honest spiritual assessment of ourselves.

“think with sober judgment”

Sober= properly. Intoxicated people don’t see themselves properly.

Think they are better looking than they are- they get rejected.

Think they are stronger than they are - get beat up.

Think they are more talented than they are- get laughed at during Karaoke night.

Be honest with yourself. Are you serving the Lord as you should?

Be careful, we often see ourselves in the way we want to be seen. How do others see us?

Illust. Inverted Filter a while back. It shows your image the way people see it, not the way you see it. You are used to seeing a reverse image of your face in the mirror. People don’t see that. They see you as you are. People who saw themselves with the inverted filter didn’t like it.

A study in 1977 that showed when people saw themselves, they preferred the mirrored image. Their friends and partners chose the non-mirrored images because that is how they were used to seeing them.

Stop asking how you see yourself when it comes to serving the Lord. Ask yourself how others, primarily the Lord, sees you. That is a more sober judgment.

We give ourselves grace.

We have lots of excuses.

Some sobering questions:

Am I saved?

Do I know what my spiritual gift is?

Am I using my spiritual gift for the glory of God through the local church?

C. We must be good stewards of the gift God has given us.

“according to the measure of faith that God has assigned”.

God has uniquely gifted you. We will have the same gift as others but in a different measure.

We should be careful not to try and copy the religious gifts of others.

Illust.

When Billy Graham was popular preachers started putting a W in God. “Gawd!”

When Adrian Rogers was popular preachers started alliterating their sermons.

When Rick Warren was popular preachers started wearing a Hawaiian shirt to preach in.

If I try to be some great preacher I’m going to be discouraged. I could try to climb the ladder and be in a big church but that’s not who God made me.

Your responsibility is to do the best with the giftedness God has given you.

You’re most likely not going to be the best.

You can do the best with what God has given you.

Remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25?

One was given five talents- He invested them and gained a reward.

One was given two talents- He invested them and gained a reward.

One was given one talent. He buried it and was punished.

Each was given a talent according to their ability.

Each of us has been given a spiritual gift. Those gifts differ in measure according to each person. God expects you to do the best with what He has given you.

2. God’s gift for serving is primarily for the benefit of the local church (4-5).

A. Paul uses the illustration of the human body.

“as in one body”- There is only one of you

“many members” 78 organs, 206 bones, 600 muscles

The members do not all have the same function.

You don’t smell with your elbow.

You don’t see with your ears.

All the parts of the body function together for one purpose- to keep you alive.

Paul’s point is the human body is a beautiful picture of unity through diversity.

The human body is a beautiful thing unless it’s dismembered.

You see hands all day long and it doesn’t bother you. What if you got home, opened the mailbox and a hand was in there? It’d scare you to death.

Diversity is only beautiful when it is found in unity.

B. The human body is like the body of Christ (5).

We are many but we are one.

We are individuals but we are members of one another.

There are things you must do as an individual:

Come to Christ

Grow in the Lord

Recognize your spiritual gift

Serve God in His church

These are your individual responsibilities.

When you do these things, you contribute to the health of the body.

Some members of the body are paralyzed. They come to church but are not functioning.

“I just don’t wanna be tied down preacher.”

Friend, this is not a matter of convenience. This is the will of God.

Some members of the body are severed. If they’re saved, they are like a loose limb. Nothing attractive about that.

We need every saved person in the church to be serving in the capacity God has called them to serve. If you are saved you know this is true.

I don’t wanna be a one-legged church!

I don’t wanna be a one-eyed church!

I wanna be a healthy functioning body for the glory of God. It will take us all to do that!

3. God’s gifts of grace are diverse (6-8).

Notice:

Our gifts differ- “having gifts that differ”

Our gifts are the result of the grace of God “according to the grace given to us” Whatever gift you have is from God. It doesn’t matter what I want to do in the body of Christ. What matters is what God has given me to do.

You don’t ask for a spiritual gift. You have one if you are saved.

“let us use them”- No one can use your spiritual gift for you. You must do it.

A. Prophecy. “To speak forth”. In Scripture it sometimes refers to foretelling future events. Scripture is now complete. We cannot add to or take away. Prophecy in our age is the proclamation of God’s Word.

1 Cor. 14:3 explains it.

But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Build them up

Encourage

Comfort

This is why there is a distinction between preaching and teaching. All preachers should teach but all teachers cannot preach.

The preacher must:

Speak to the heart and the mind

He must move the hearts of the people

He must have unction

Some men are great in Sunday School, great in a classroom, but it doesn’t translate to a pulpit.

The church should be honest with people concerning this gift. You can’t learn to preach in a seminary. You can learn to preach better. If God hasn’t gifted you stay out of the pulpit.

B. Service. We get our word for deacon from this Greek word. It’s meeting needs. It has a broad meaning.

Working in the mission center.

Cleaning up at the church.

Turning on and off the lights.

Does the church need this? Absolutely. Our men who open up the buildings and lose them are a great example.

Ladies who work in our mission center on a weekly basis.

Ms. Brenda makes sure I have water when I preach.

Nursery, serving on committees, etc.

If you don’t know what your gift is, start here!

C. Teaching.

We need teachers. If you are going to be a teacher you must first be taught. If you are not willing to be taught you should not teach. The teacher is foremost a learner. If you don’t want to learn then the Lord has not gifted you to teach.

I believe there are many who have this gift and don’t know it.

I believe there are many who think they have this gift but don’t.

D. Exhortation. This is encouragement.

They encourage us to get up when we fall down.

They encourage us to cheer up when we mourn.

They write cards. They make phone calls. They steer a conversation away from themselves. They make you feel loved, appreciated, important.

We should all be doing this. Some are specially gifted in this area. The body needs people like this.

E. Giving “the one who contributes”. We are all called to give financially. Some people are blessed by God to do it extravagantly. They get a great blessing from doing so.

2 Cor. 9:7 “God loves a cheerful giver”. They love to give. People with this gift normally use it anonymously. That makes them even more precious to the body of Christ.

No name on a plaque

No stipulations on the money

No threatening to leave and take their pocketbook with them.

F. Leadership. What does someone with the gift of leadership look like?

They are a servant.

They are passionate. “with zeal” They don’t sit back and hold on to a title. They move the church forward.

If you hold a position of leadership you should be passionate about the work of God.

Sometimes people don’t like that about leaders.

They don’t want accountability.

They don’t want to improve.

If a person has the gift of leadership, they are not satisfied with the status quo.

G. Mercy. This can be a discouraging ministry. It’s helping the weak, the poor, the sick, the hurting.

Our mission center is a great place to do that.

Illust. The other day a guy knocked on my door. He was in rough shape. Skin and bones. He had on two different crocs. One was a size 6 and the other a size 8. That’s not even the worst of it. He showed me the bottoms of them. One was made in China and the other in Vietnam.

We are all to show mercy to men like him. But some are gifted in such a way that they can do it with cheerfulness. It’s easy for them. They love it. The church needs people like this.

This list is not exhaustive. There are other spiritual gifts. But I bet everyone here would fit into one of these categories.

Please listen to me- Spiritual gifts are to be exercised primarily through the church. God has designed it this way.

No one is doing the work the church is. Most mercy ministries not tied to a church will be soft on sin and usually don’t share the gospel with people at all. It’s not ministry if the gospel is not included.

Paul started this section with a warning against pride.

Pride will draw you away from the church.

Pride will cause you to work on your own rather than with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Are you saved? If not come to Christ.

Do you know what your spiritual gift is? If not offer yourself up as a living sacrifice so you will see what God has for you.

Are you exercising your spiritual gift for the good of the church and the glory of God?