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GIFTED TO SERVE
Part 3: Developing Spiritually
By Rev. Will Nelken
________________________________________
Presented at Trinity Community Church, San Rafael, CA, on Sunday, October 10, 2021
We’re in the midst of exploring many of the gifts with which God equips His people—what
they are, how they come to us, what they’re used for, what you can do to develop them, and
how to use them most effectively.
If you have missed the first two talks in this series, because the amount of information is significant, and not easily summarized, I heartily encourage you to read, listen, or watch them on
our website.
The first segment of this series examined three lists of gifts given by God to His people.
I categorize them like this:
Motivational Gifts from God the Father – Romans 12:4-8
Leadership Gifts from God the Son – Ephesians 4:11-13
Demonstration Gifts from God the Holy Spirit – 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
These lists are probably not exhaustive, but they provide a clear sense of the types of gifts in
each category, and their common purposes.
With that information as a background, we turned to considering why God has given gifts at
all.
The one aim they all have in common is to build up the church (God’s redeemed people).
He’s
preparing a Forever Bride suited to His Eternal Son.
God’s gifts provides us with the motivations, the guidance, and the power to develop (mature)
spiritually, both individually and collectively, in love and unity.
I identified three areas in a lifetime of spiritual development.
They are: identity, trust, and passion.
Without a proper sense of one’s Christian identity, the uncertainties of life will throw you off
course or sideline you altogether.
Identity provides assurance and resilience in the life of a
Christian.
Identity is built by the Father’s motivational gifts.
Without a vital, active trust in the Lord, pride will take over, through self-will and self-protection, turning even good deeds into negative forces.
Trust supports humility and perseverance
for our Christian journey.
Trust is built by the Son’s leadership gifts.
We’ll see how this works
in just a few minutes.
Without godly passions, worldly passions will naturally rule, and we will live by our feelings instead of our faith.
Godly passion is the fuel of the Christian life that draws us toward God and
His will for our lives.
Godly passion is built as the Spirit’s supernatural gifts promote the love of
Christ in our hearts.
More about this later.
Christian Identity
Many factors contribute to our natural sense of identity, but only Christ can give us a truly
spiritual Christian identity.
The motivational gifts from the Father have everything to do with finding and fulfilling your
identity in Christ.
Your identity in Christ cannot (should not) replace your natural identity, which Christ has redeemed.
He formed you in love, and He loves you just as you have come to Him.
Instead, you will wear your Christian identity as a garment of your new righteousness, never to
be removed again.
Identification with Christ is how we connect our hearts with His.
Active Trust
As you learn to embrace your new identity in Christ, the Holy Spirit also develops your TRUST
in the Savior.
This is the second area of spiritual development.
It is safe to say that everyone has some kind of faith.
However, faith is only as good (valuable)
as its object.
If you trust in a chair with a broken leg, you may suffer a fall.
If you depend on a
car with a clogged fuel line, you won’t get far.
If you believe in a lie, what good will come of it?
So, what do we do with our natural faith?
In what do we naturally trust?
We trust what we
feel.
What we’ve been told.
What we’ve experienced.
What we have studied.
But the heart is deceitful…
God said, through Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick (unhealthy, weak); who can understand it?”
(Jeremiah 17:9)
So, if you depend on your feelings, inevitably, you will be led astray.
Our feelings are unreliable.
They are real, but not necessarily true, or leading us to truth.
And our knowledge is severely limited… even that which is the result of personal experience.
Paul wrote, “Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete.”
(1 Corinthians 13:9)
You know what you know, but we seldom know how much we don’t know.
And we seldom
know perspectives other than our own.
The Scriptures remind us, “Without faith, it is impossible to please [God].”
(Hebrews 11:6)
And Jesus Himself said, “All things are possible for the one who [trusts].”
(Mark 9:23)
And yet the Bible says, “Not everyone is a believer.”
The entire sentence is this: “Pray, too, that
we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer.”
(2 Thessalonians 3:2)
In other words, not everyone shares your confidence in Jesus Christ.
Some are indifferent to
Him, while others are actually opposed to Him and to the Gospel message.
They think everyone would be better off as an UNbeliever.
In another place, Paul wrote: “God has given to everyone the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).
But the context of that verse makes it clear that he was thinking of a particular kind of faith—
faith in Jesus.
And, when he said “everyone,” the original language makes clear that he meant
“everyone of you,” referring to the believers in Rome to whom he addressed the letter.
It is through the leadership gifts of the Son of God—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and
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