According to the Grace given to us: Gifts in the Spirit

Be Passionate!

Opening Prayer

“Good , Everyone. Would you join me in prayer again this morning?”

Pray a prayer of thanks to God for the body of Christ. Thank Him for every gift that comes from Him (James 1:17).

Pray that I would be humble in my own estimation as we go to the Word. That I would serve You well, and speak what You wants me to communicate clearly.

We pray that we would receive God’s truth and, as Living Sacrifices, to be united in our call as the church as we seek to understand the spiritual gifts given to us as individuals.

We pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in the local churches as well as abroad. Pray against persecution of gathered believers this morning.

Introduction of Self

Good Morning Everyone! I see that Jacob didn’t show up this morning, and Adam looks tired so it looks like it’s up to me to preach.”

No that’s not true. Jacob asked me to preach a couple of months ago.

“Normally, I am standing with a guitar in my hands so standing behind a pulpit is somewhat foreign to me. It’s a true joy to be the Worship Director at Reliance. I get to work with such servant hearted people. I love to sing praises to God with you all but I’m grateful to be able to preach the Word of God with you this morning.”

Sermon Introduction

Loving the Church and Worship

So yeah. I love worship. I love the songs we sing, but it’s more than that for me. When I say I love worship, I mean that I want to encourage what Paul laid out for us two weeks ago when he admonished us to be living sacrifices. Romans 12:1-2. Finding ways to be a living sacrifice for God out of joy as worship. It’s also about the ‘changing of our thinking’ Paul admonishes us to do as worship.

Set the Context

What I’d like to do is take a brief backpedaling to remember where we’ve been in Romans 12 to point to why I’ll be preaching on spiritual gifts this morning.

Let’s take a look at Romans 12:1-3.

Romans 12:1–3 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 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.

What I mean when I say “I love worship” is that I love to encourage and teach people to ‘see and do’ acts of worship that help build up the body of Christ to ascribe proper worship to God at the expense of ourselves. I want to see the church love Jesus more, so that even in everyday, small mundane, probably repetitive activities Christ is at the Center. I want Christ to be the center of brushing your teeth, caring for an infant, reconciling your bank statements, taking your medications, having coffee with a friend, going to church, and turning off your spouse’s twilight zone sounding alarm clock. When Christ is the center of these activities, they are acts of true worship.

My Spiritual Gift

“I love to encourage people in the ways and circumstances that they worship the Lord. I love to encourage people. I love to teach people. I’ve seen that over years of serving the body in different areas, God has given me gifts of encouraging and teaching.”

It’s a gift of God’s grace that I’ve been able to identify those gifts. But just because I see those gifts in my life, doesn’t mean I always use them rightly. Maybe you can relate to this. We can neglect the proper use of our gifts.

Myself

I’m not always faithful to encourage or teach consistently. I think part of my spiritual gifting has been to teach others about the gospel and to encourage, or exhort, them to actively go and share that Christ is worthy of our worship. But I fall short. I sometimes like to nurse those spiritual gifts for myself. I want to use them as devices to secretly criticize others and the way they seek, or don’t seek the Lord. To criticize their works. To puff myself up and make myself proud. I’ll think to myself, ‘I wouldn’t do it that way’ whenever I disagree with whatever I think I have expert knowledge in because of my gifts, and be quick to criticize others in their walk with the Lord. It’s a way of boasting in the gift isn’t it? This is not operating out of love toward others. I want to be seen as “right” because of my gifts and sometimes the best way to defend my false righteousness, is to never seek others who might correct or change my thinking. This is not using my spiritual gifts. This is not operating out of love.

Others

But we all get in that rut don’t we? It’s easy to keep one another at a hands distance as Jacob described last week, because we’re less prone to get hurt if we don’t have to expose ourselves to criticism, critique, or failure in the membership of the body. We don’t have to engage in ‘another chance to get hurt by someone else.’ It’s easy to keep our spiritual gifts to ourselves because we can develop them without the ‘red tape’ of real community and relationships; without a real exposure within and with the Church being involved in our lives. But that’s not the way our gifts were intended to be given or stewarded by God is it? Gifts cannot be ‘developed’ on our own. They are gifts of God given by His grace to build His church. We should use spiritual gifts as acts of worship.

Membership and Parts

Paul continues his thinking in Romans 12:4-5

Romans 12:4–5 ESV

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Stand to the RIGHT

We’re not talking about video club card membership here people. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, google it. It was a thing.

The word translated “member” here is probably best understood as an actual body part. It’s used in the New Testament to mean a member of something, but given Paul’s example of a ‘body’ we might best render this ‘part’ or ‘body part.’ No person is merely a body part! It takes multiple parts to even qualify as ‘being a person!’ If we are the body of Christ, we can’t live apart from one another.

Stand to the LEFT

On the other hand, if we force ourselves to be together without a proper motivation we might also cause some problems. That’s more of a Frankenstein’s monster approach to being a body part. Everything is kind of disjointed, and ends up being weird and possibly terrifying. We are called to be members out of our love for one another. To assist and provide for one another. Even at our expense.

Not all of us have the same function. Yet, we are all parts of the same whole. We need each other! I’m simply too weak on my own, by God’s design, to be able to fulfill the idea of ‘being a complete body unto myself.’ It’s just not possible.

Transition Statement

“So how should we think about Spiritual gifts?”

“This morning I want to spend time on three things:

1. How we are given spiritual gifts

2. What are they for

3. What the gifts in this passage of Romans are, and how we should use them

Talking about gifts

“So let’s turn our attention to Romans 12:6-8 Read along with me in your bibles.”

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.

Now Paul seems to shift gears by listing gifts for some reason. What is he doing here? He is appealing to us by identifying how we are to behave, and act as members of the body by exercising these spiritual gifts. “Paul here is listing the various gifts to show that all of the gifts described come from the same Spirit and the Holy Spirit “apportions to each one individually as he wills.

But that’s not all. It doesn’t make sense right here for Paul to simply ‘list’ various gifts. What he is really doing here is supplying an imperative that these gifts must be used. The spiritual gifts individually given to us aren’t merely for us to enjoy, but for the whole body, the church.

So, how are gifts given?

God gives us different gifts according to his grace. It’s right there in verse 6 isn’t it? Gifts aren’t a reward, and aren’t even necessarily developed over time, but are given by God’s grace in His timing. They aren’t earned, and therefore are not a sign of how “spiritual” we are in order to puff ourselves up. Since they are given out of grace, they should be used out of grace.

Where does Paul commend us to even know what our spiritual gift is?

We might think that we need to be ready to identify our spiritual gifts. We’ll take surveys or fill out questionnaires to help us see more clearly what our spiritual gift, or gifts, are. We are told that our gifts are supposed to be confirmed by others in the body. But really there isn’t a place in scripture that tells us how to confirm our gifting.

Paul assumes that we each have a spiritual gift, and that it is specific to us doesn’t he? He says “we have different gifts.” But he doesn’t specify how we are to know what those gifts are. In some sense, we already know where we are gifted. If our desires are for the Lord, and we are working in the body we can expect to operate in the Spirit.Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 12:4 ; 11

1 Corinthians 12:4 ESV

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

1 Corinthians 12:11 ESV

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Nowhere is it really specified in the New Testament how we are to find our gifting.

But that’s ok! Just because we may not know our spiritual gift, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t participate in the body!

Each of us on an individual level are equipped with something that another individual doesn’t have and in different measurements. By living the Christian life, and being cared for by others in the body, we should serve faithfully and fully even if we can’t pinpoint the specifics of our spiritual gift.

It’s there, but maybe it’s not revealed to you to prevent a spirit of pride or boasting.

It’s there, but maybe if you knew what your gift was it would be an idol for you.

Or, it’s there, and God has given you confidence in your gifting.

Each of these reasons would be from of God’s grace because he asks us to use our gifts out of a spirit of love. Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-6 with me.

1 Corinthians 13:1–6 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Paul wants us to see love as the root of our gifts. It supersedes the actions of the gifts. Without love as the foundation, our gifts are meaningless. Paul clearly cares about how we use our spiritual gifts so let’s look at the gifts he lays out for us in Romans, and what we should do with them.

Prophecy

Romans 12:6 ESV

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;

(Wow. I wish Paul didn’t lead off with this one.)

This one is really tough for us to understand.

There’s so much debate among academics, denominations, and pastors today about whether this gift is still active and in what way it functions that I won’t spend much time to comment on the specifics of the debate. I think that there are some things we should pay attention to though.

The first is that Paul prizes this gift. 1 Corinthians 14:1-3 says:

1 Corinthians 14:1–3 ESV

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

Prophecy is the spontaneous gift of sharing a word from God. This can be specific for a situation or individual and it can contain elements of for-telling the future. It’s often displayed in acts of preaching or exhortation or teaching, but has more of a spontaneity to it. It is also something that is intelligently communicated by the prophet, even if they don’t know the full meaning of the revelation. Paul has been admonishing us that we should care about how we think. This was Paul’s concern too, and another reason why in 1 Corinthians 14 he places so much weight on the gift of Prophecy being greater than speaking in tongues.

But there’s a catch isn’t there? Here’s what God says to Moses in Deuteronomy 18:20-22

Deuteronomy 18:20–22 ESV

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

In the Old Testament, a prophet needed to be 100% correct in their prophecy, or they were to be stoned or killed. Now, I know we live under the new covenant and that we’re not being told to kill the false teachers among us, but there is a weight to what God is commanding here in the Old Testament. He really cares about what people say when they claim to speak under His authority doesn’t He? Any prophecy must be completely accurate with scripture, and not have any inerrancy in it. Otherwise it must be dismissed.

That’s why Paul tells us to use prophecy ‘in proportion to one’s faith’

Those of us who have less faith in the Lord, may not speak with the same boldness or confidence as those with more faith in the Lord.

Faith too is a gift of God, and so we shouldn’t compare ourselves with others in our confidence, but instead we should ask God to increase our faith to be more bold and confident in His truth.

A quick aside:

Sometimes people will talk about being a prophet. Often it comes across like this: “My pastor said I have the gift of prophecy because I don’t hold back the truth to people or sugarcoat it.” While that may be true, sometimes it may mean that you’re just a “not nice-guy.”

We sometimes use that language for Paul don’t we? He doesn’t hold back his criticisms and wasn’t a people pleaser. While that’s absolutely true, if you read his letters you see that he had lots of friends didn’t he!? It’s hard to have friends if you’re just cruel and only spout off truth without any grace or relationships.

The body of Christ needs people to speak truth and grace to us. We need the truth of God in our midst!

Service

In Romans 12:7 Paul writes

Romans 12:7 ESV

if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;

Mundane Gifts

It feels like at this point, the gifts Paul talks about aren’t as special as Prophecy, or speaking in tongues or the words of knowledge or wisdom that we often associate together when we think of ‘spiritual gifts.’ I love how my categories get broken in this because these next few gifts feel awfully weak compared to those other gifts.

We like to give more weight to gifts that appear more special or unique, like prophecy or speaking in tongues, but Paul lists all of these gifts together doesn’t he? By doing this, he is saying that these gifts bear the same weight! They are all needed.

The gift of service is just as important as the others because the body needs all of its members. It needs all of its parts to be a complete body.

Service

The gift of service here is not defined completely. Like the rest of the next gifts Paul describes, it’s more squishy to pin down the specifics of, but that’s also part of the point.

We are all commanded to serve one another, but there are sometimes specific gifts of service given as ‘spiritual gifts’ that stand out. Most of the time we probably don’t even see them as ‘spiritual’, but they are! Caring by serving is a spiritual act

There are so many ways to serve. Here’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

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.

Pastor Adam has made a running joke that he has the spiritual gift of stacking chairs. I can’t think of a single week I’ve been here where chairs haven’t been stacked or unstacked or re-stacked. Whether it’s for the Perspectives course on Wednesday nights, or an event, or a wedding, Adam just throws himself into stacking those chairs.

And you should see him. He’s an artist! If 7 is the number of perfection, Adam will make stacks of chairs 8 high if you know what I mean. It’s a thing of beauty. And each row is so straight when he’s done it’s like he’s GPS coordinated where each chair goes. Incredible.

So obviously, the gift of stacking chairs isn’t specified in the bible right? But, what if there is some truth to that? I think God gave Adam more than just the gift of stacking chairs. He’s a wonderful teacher and communicator, but he is definitely not less than a servant in how he approaches this church. His heart of service extends to the small things like stacking chairs all the way to preaching and counseling and teaching.

But yeah, he’s really good at stacking chairs.

Our gifts of service may seem small, but they reach out to all of the corners of the body. We should embrace them and serve fully in what is before us and for those of us who don’t know how to serve, we should try throwing ourselves into things to see if we are gifted in specific acts of service.

Paul tells us to use our gifts of service, by doing acts of service. so servers, throw yourselves in. Teach us how to serve and to be served!

We need you servers! Serve with whole hearts because so many of us are weak and don’t see all of the needs, both physical and spiritual, around us!

Teaching

The gift of teaching is passing on the truth of the gospel and all of the surrounding implications and appendages of it.

Those who have the gift of teaching should use their gifts to educate, or produce knowledge, of God’s word to help the body grow. Practically speaking this looks like developing material, ideas, and concepts to teach and share with the body. Whether it’s over a meal, or in a classroom, or at a small group.

The main commission Paul gives of this is that it should be used in a capacity of teaching! Sometimes this seems obvious, but the gift of teaching kept to oneself is not helpful or even, by definition, teaching. In fact, it has no use whatsoever if it is not being used.

We need you teachers! Help us grow in knowledge of Christ so that we can exercise our minds and better edify one another, having the mind of Christ!

Exhorting

Exhortation is different than teaching isn’t it? Otherwise why would Paul not include teaching under the idea of exhortation? Here’s Romans 12:8

Romans 12:8 ESV

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.

What is Exhortation

Exhortation is the same thing as encouraging.

Specifically, it’s encouraging others to move forward in their christian living. To move forward in our christian living as being a living sacrifice.

I think there is a huge deficit of encouragers in churches today. People are eager to grow, but we get stuck because we are either caught by the world, or our idols, or our work, or the tyranny of the urgent. Encouragers push us past those things to help us live out the gospel of Christ. It’s almost as if those with the gift of encouragement need encouraged to exercise their gifts. There are a lot of people who find it is hard to keep moving forward in their convictions because they don’t have people behind them to build them up and ‘exhort’ or encourage them to press on!

We need you encouragers! Please build us up with your words and heart to help us exercise our faith in Christ!

Giving

The gift of giving, which Paul lists, isn’t specific about giving to individuals alone, or to the church as a whole. It leaves room for how the gift is to be applied.

But we can have the spiritual gift of giving but do it begrudgingly can’t we? It’s hard to give up so much, even when we have been given so much.

We like to hold onto our resources and nurse them, but forget the heart that Paul commissions givers to use:

A heart of generosity. Giving generously, and not just for our gain or our loss (like when you want to get rid of something), is the true indicator that one has the gift of giving. We should be grateful for those who give.

Being grateful for those who give teaches us to be dependent on one another for our needs, and teaches us to not give by means of selfish gain.

We need you givers! Please continue sharing your means with us so that we can continue to share the gospel, and build up the body of Christ! Give generously so we learn that everything is given by God’s grace.

Leading

Leading most likely applies to elders and overseers. Clearly, there are leaders in the body who serve in various ministries. Since we’re talking about the body of Christ, we are talking about those who have the gift of leading the body.

Those who have the spiritual gift of elder or overseer must desire the office even before the other qualifications are prescribed. For those of you testing if you are called to be an elder or overseer, ask yourself if you truly desire it, and then see if your life conforms to the other conditions set out by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. These are crucial to understanding if one has the gift of leading.

For those leading, lead with diligence and endurance. Sometimes leading is like being eaten alive. By a duck. It’s a numbing, lasting, continual kind of hurt. It takes patience and love for people to lead well, and sometimes we need to be steadfast to finish the task rather than sprinting ahead.

There’s a lot of criticism towards leaders! It’s sometimes hard to lead and direct because of the fear of blowback or criticism.

It’s also hard to lead because you want to be faithful to God and loving others and the lines for “how to do the right thing” aren’t always clear!

We need to be thankful for our elders, pastors, and overseers. They set examples for how to repent, how to ask for forgiveness, how to pray, and how to love others. And leaders need faithful believers to lead. Be gracious and kind to those who you help shepherd as the Lord will require an accounting of your leading like the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13:17

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

We need you leaders! Continue to lead us well, and be gentle with us, especially when we bite back.

Showing Mercy

The last gift Paul mentions is the gift of showing mercy

This is the only time in the New Testament that Paul references that humans show mercy in the whole New Testament.

He emphasizes so much of God’s mercy though doesn’t he? As he is writing this, he knows that any mercy we show to one another comes from God and that we are all called to be merciful just as He is merciful.

The specific gift includes any act of mercy. This can include caring for the elderly or afflicted, providing for the poor, or visiting the sick. Helping care for the wounded as well. Or the brokenhearted.

Those with this gift should do it with cheerfulness. To be glad to show mercy instead of bitter that they are around such brokenness.

This is an easy temptation for those who counsel others. To become bitter because of the circumstances they are in rather than become cheerful that they can share that mercy.

We need those who show Mercy to remind us of how merciful God is to us.

We need to be bound up when our hearts are broken and we need to be fed when our hands can’t move to our mouths. Those who show mercy can teach us to be merciful and how to be merciful so that in their time of need, we can support them in the same way they care for us.

ALMOST THERE STAY BOLD

We need you Mercy givers! Teach us compassion and willing hearts to go to the lowly to bring restoration as you gently help us heal by God’s grace.

God’s Grace

All of us are given some kind of spiritual gift. We really haven’t even touched on the gifts Paul lists in 1 Corinthians 12-14 or Ephesians 4.These are just what Paul has listed for us in Romans 12. The admonition is this: To practice your gift in love to serve the body of Christ as parts of the body. Try things to learn your gifting, and throw yourself into your gifts.

“Like what Gregg? I have no idea what goes on around here? Give me something to work with!”

A great way to take a next step and be involved in the body is to take the connection card in your bulletin and fill it out. Maybe describe that you’d like to be involved at the bottom and drop it in one of the giving boxes this morning. We’ll be in touch! You won’t regret seeking to use your gifts that are given by God for the church.

This builds all of us up as the body of Christ. We need everyone. Especially when we are so fractured as a people. We should desire these spiritual gifts, but we shouldn’t covet what another has. We should honor one another’s gifts, but they should never be idolized. We should be wise in how we use our gifts, but we shouldn’t be stingy or stagnant in our participation with them in the body. Let’s get busy serving one another in love with our gifts. Let’s throw ourselves into the family of God, and love His people in a way that brings Him honor, praise, and worship.

Let’s pray:

Closing Prayer

“Father help us to see the gifts of your Spirit. Give us confidence to use the gifts you have given to us to help the church grow in their care for one another and their love for You. For those of us who are insecure in their gifting or who don’t know how they work as a member of the body, give them your confidence that they belong. For those of us who are no using our gifts, give us boldness to push through the stigma of our culture and to truly exercise our gifts for Your kingdom. May these things not be for our glory or idolatry, but may we boast in the love of Christ as the foundation and the means of our gifting. Amen.”

Let’s stand together and sing.