Gifted on Purpose (Lesson 1)
Notes
Transcript
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7, 11 KJV
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
Paul opens by saying — I don’t want you to be ignorant about this!
That tells us that the enemy would love nothing more than to keep the Church in the dark about the gifts God has placed within her.
Notice that the gifts come from one Spirit, but they are diverse — many expressions of the same God working through His people.
And verse 7 is the key that unlocks everything — the gifts are given to every man to PROFIT withal. Not for show. Not for status. For profit — for the benefit of the whole Body!
This series is about understanding what God has placed in you, why He placed it there, and how He intends to use it for His glory.
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Right here we see the heartbeat of this entire series.
God doesn’t just give us a will to do — He equips us to do it!
The word “perfect” here means to fully furnish, to make completely ready.
God is not in the business of calling people to a task and leaving them empty-handed. He equips what He ordains!
I. The Gifts Are God’s Provision for God’s Mission
Before we can understand our gifts, we have to understand WHY God gives them.
God has a mission for His Church — and that mission is bigger than any one of us can carry alone.
So He distributes gifts throughout the Body so that together, we can do what none of us could do alone.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
He GAVE — these gifts are not earned, they are given!
And they are given with a clear purpose: to perfect the saints, to do the work of the ministry, to edify — to BUILD UP — the Body.
God is building something. And He has chosen to build it through gifted, Spirit-filled people just like you.
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
God doesn’t give a gift and then take it back.
He doesn’t change His mind about the calling He has placed on your life.
What He placed in you before you were born — He still intends to use!
II. The Gifts Validate the Calling — God Never Sends Anyone Empty
Look throughout Scripture and you will find the same pattern every time — when God calls, He equips.
He never asks you to go where He hasn’t already prepared provision for you.
And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
Moses had every excuse in the book — and God answered every one of them with the same promise: I will be with you.
Moses’ lack was not an obstacle to God. It was an opportunity for God to show Himself strong!
The same God who put the call on Moses’ life was the same God who equipped him to fulfill it.
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. 9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
God knew Jeremiah before he was even formed in the womb.
He was ordained BEFORE he was born — and friend, so were you!
Jeremiah said he couldn’t speak. God said — I’ll put my words in your mouth.
God doesn’t ask you to bring the ability — He asks you to bring the availability!
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Our sufficiency — our ability, our adequacy — is of GOD.
He made us able. That’s not our doing, that’s His grace!
You are not operating on your own strength. You are operating on the strength of the One who called you.
III. The Gifts Are Intentional — You Were Placed on Purpose
Nothing about how God gifted you is an accident.
He didn’t randomly distribute gifts and hope for the best — He sovereignly and strategically placed each gift in each member of the Body.
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
God SET you in the Body — as it pleased HIM.
You are not in the Body of Christ by accident. You were PLACED there by the hand of God.
Your gift, your personality, your background — all of it is part of His design for where He has put you.
For thou hast possessed my reins:
Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Marvellous are thy works;
And that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee,
When I was made in secret,
And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
And in thy book all my members were written,
Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Before you drew your first breath, God already had a plan for your life written in His book!
He fashioned you with intention. You are not an afterthought — you are a masterpiece in progress.
Fearfully and wonderfully made — that includes the gifts He wove into the fabric of who you are!
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We are His WORKMANSHIP — the Greek word is poiema, from which we get the word poem.
You are God’s poem — His masterpiece, crafted with purpose and precision.
And those good works He prepared for you? They were ordained BEFORE you got here. Your lane was already marked out!
IV. Don’t Neglect What God Has Placed In You
Here is where it gets personal.
God has gifted every one of us — but a gift unused is a gift that profits no one.
Paul had to remind Timothy of this very thing.
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Neglect not — don’t be careless with what God has entrusted to you!
The gift was given through prophecy and confirmed by the laying on of hands. It was recognized, it was real — and Timothy still needed to be reminded not to neglect it.
How many gifts are sitting dormant in the Body today because God’s people don’t know what they have?
2 Timothy 1:6 KJV
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
Stir it up! Like a fire that needs tending, your gift requires attention.
A fire left alone will eventually go out. But a fire that is stirred, fed, and given air — it grows!
God is calling you to stir up what He put in you. Don’t let fear, discouragement, or the business of life smother what He lit inside you.
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Every servant received something — to every man according to his ability.
The master didn’t come back asking for a report on what someone else had done. He came asking about what THEY had done with what THEY were given.
The goal is to hear those words — Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Not well done thou GREAT servant. Not well done thou MULTI-TALENTED servant. Well done thou FAITHFUL servant.
God is not looking for perfect — He is looking for faithful!
Closing
Today we are just opening the door on this series.
Over the coming weeks we are going to look at the specific gifts God has given to His Church, how to discover what He has placed in you, and how to step into being used by God in ways you may have never imagined.
But it all starts here — with the understanding that God gifted you on PURPOSE.
You were not an accident. Your gifts are not random. And the God who placed them in you is the same God who will bring them to full flame if you will surrender and make yourself available.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
He started it. He will finish it.
Your only job is to be faithful with what He has given you.
Will you say yes to Him today?
