Jeff Schreve - Gifted For Service

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Now, the greatest giver obviously in the universe is God: «For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son». And the greatest gift that God has ever given is Jesus. But in addition to giving us Jesus, God has given us special gifts, special gifts for those who make up the body of Christ, who make up His church in the world, His elect, His born again ones. Now, we are beginning this brand-new series called, «Now Concerning Spiritual Gifts». It comes straight from 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 1, where the apostle Paul says that: «Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware».

I don’t want you to be in the dark on this thing called spiritual gifts. I don’t want you to be misinformed, uninformed. We would say even the word, although we don’t like to use this word, «ignorant». Ignorant means you don’t know. And the apostle Paul is saying, «I don’t want you guys to not know about spiritual gifts». So He gives us information in His Word so that we understand spiritual gifts, so that we can not only understand them but use them all for His glory. So I wanna share with you today three discoveries concerning the question, «What does God want us to know about spiritual gifts»?

Discovery number one: every true Christian has a spiritual gift. At least one, maybe more than one. You know, sometimes you get a gift, and the gift comes with other gifts associated with it. You open up a box and it’s got other packages in there. And so everybody has at least one spiritual gift, every Christian, and some have more than one. Now, when you’re saved, when you hear the gospel and respond to the gospel and turn from sin, repent and believe, those two things are critical in order to be saved, you can’t be saved without repentance and you can’t be saved without putting your faith and trust in Jesus. But when you are saved, you are given the Holy Spirit.

And that’s the thing that makes Christianity in the New Testament, that’s what makes Christianity so different because Jesus said, when He told His disciples, «It’s to your advantage that I go away, because if I don’t go away, the Holy Spirit won’t come. And when the Holy Spirit comes, He’s gonna be just like Me and He’s gonna be with you and He’s gonna be in you». But the Holy Spirit doesn’t come in empty-handed. And so when you’re saved, not only you’re given the Holy Spirit, but you’re given a spiritual gift. The Holy Spirit comes in bearing gifts and He gives you a spiritual gift. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 10 says this: «As each one has received a special gift,» a charisma is the Greek word there. It’s a grace gift, because «charis» is the word for grace. «As each one has received this special gift, this grace gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace (charis) of God».

Now, God has given each one, the moment that we’ve received Christ, He’s given us a special gift, a grace gift, and He wants us to use that grace gift for His glory and to build up the body of Christ. Now, a grace gift, that means it’s undeserved and it’s unearned, just like grace is undeserved and grace is unearned. Now, you may not know what your spiritual gift is. I didn’t know what mine was for the longest time, but that’s okay because the Lord will reveal that to you as you seek Him. Second discovery: spiritual gifts are special abilities from the Holy Spirit. God has gifted as He sees fit and He placed us in the body as He sees fit so that He can use us.

Now, in Corinth, Paul built the church there, founded the church there on his second missionary journey around 50 AD. And it was a church that he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 7, it didn’t lack any gift, but that church was a mess. It was full of divisions. It was full of a bunch of baby Christians and it was full of people who had come out of paganism and the worship of demons to come into a true relationship with Jesus Christ. But they had a tendency, like we all do, they started dragging some of their old ways into the new life. And one of the things they had trouble with was spiritual gifts, because their attitude was, «My gift is better than your gift,» and they loved the sign gifts. They loved the speaking in tongues.

There was lots of problems in Corinth about speaking in tongues. And they would say, you know, «Well, I am of Paul and I am of Apollos and I am of Peter and I’m of Christ». And Paul says, «What do you do, was Paul crucified for you? What is this, 'I am of this group or that group or the other group'»? He said, «We follow Jesus». He said, «You guys have, you have selfishness, you have jealousy in your midst, you’re acting like little babies». And they had difficulty at the Lord’s Supper. Remember they were getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper? And they had difficulty with the spiritual gifts. Most Christians know about 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter, and that’s used at weddings and things like that. And we kind of divorce it from the context.

The context of 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, has to do with spiritual gifts, has to do with the fighting that was going on in Corinth over spiritual gifts. And right smack dab in between chapter 12 and chapter 14 is chapter 13, love. You guys need to remember, love. That’s the key. God has given you these gifts, but if you don’t operate the gifts out of love, you have totally missed the boat.

So he says this: «Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus is accursed'; and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord, ' except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects,» or workings, «but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing,» or actually, gifts of healings, plural, «by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills».

So some things to consider when you start thinking about spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts, first of all, are not natural talents and abilities. You know, we can confuse those. We think, «Well, a spiritual gift is just a talent, you know, and I grow up and I’m really good with, you know, with athletics, that must be my spiritual gift». No, that’s your natural talent, that’s your natural ability. That’s not a spiritual gift. You don’t confuse it. «Well, I’m really good with numbers. My spiritual gift is probably administration». Well, it might be, might not be. It doesn’t have anything to do with natural abilities and talents.

Secondly, spiritual gifts are not spiritual ministries. Don’t get them confused with ministries because, as it says in verse 4, there are varieties of gifts, many, many gifts, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of ministries in the same Lord. What’s a ministry? A ministry is a vehicle by which you can use your spiritual gift. And spiritual gifts are not the fruit of the Spirit. Some people get that confused. They say, «Well, is that the same thing as the fruit of the Spirit»? No, it’s not.

The Corinthians didn’t lack any gift, but they really lacked being filled with the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. They didn’t have any of that, because they were, as Paul said, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, that there was jealousy and selfish ambition. He said, «Are you not mere… you’re acting just like baby Christians, carnal Christians, like you’re not even saved, because you’re so jealous of one another and you’re so divided over this and that and the other». And as I said, they were just filled with problems. Well, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit, with the fruit of the Spirit? «When you’re filled with the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit,» Galatians 5:22, «is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law».

Well, that is much better. Listen, it is better to be godly than to be gifted. Because if you’re not godly, your gift can’t operate correctly. So spiritual gifts, they’re are not natural abilities, they’re not spiritual ministries. They’re not the fruit of the Spirit. Spiritual gifts are tools to be used for the common good, to be used for the edification of the church. Now, remember this: spiritual gifts aren’t toys. They’re not toys to play with. They’re not weapons to fight with. They’re tools to build with. And God gives spiritual gifts to His children so that they would employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the many colored grace, the varicolored grace of God.

And God says this is the purpose for that. It’s not for your good, it’s for the common good. It’s not something, a weapon that you say, «Look at my gift. My gift’s better than your gift, because I have this gift». And see, the Corinthians, they really got into that and they liked the sign gifts, the things that were more flamboyant, let’s say. And the gifts of an apostle: signs, wonders, miracles, speaking in tongues. They really liked those. And somebody has said, you know, you take all the spiritual gifts, whether it’s 18 or 21, however it might be, depending on how you categorize things. But you can put all those varieties of gifts, you can put them in three categories and you have speaking gifts and you have serving gifts and you have sign gifts, and those would be healings, tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles.

Now, the reason those are called signifying gifts is because that’s what, when Jesus came, He came, performing miracles and the miracles were to authenticate the message. Nobody ever gets saved through a miracle. They get saved through the Word of God, through the message of the crucified Jesus and risen Jesus. You had lots of people that experienced miracles during the Lord’s ministry that didn’t trust Christ. The religious leaders, they experienced miracles, they saw His miracles. They were following Him everywhere He went, and remember, they were the ones that came up with the idea, «Well, He cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons». So they saw Him cast out demons and they knew that He didn’t do it by the power of the devil, but they hated Jesus and miracles weren’t going to turn their hearts to Jesus. So just miracles by themselves, they don’t work in terms of changing a person.

Now, it’s to point the way to Jesus. Well, the Pharisees… or the Corinthians, very interested in these sign gifts, especially speaking in tongues. And we’re gonna spend in this series a whole message about that. How are we to understand that? So every true Christian has a spiritual gift. Spiritual gifts are special abilities from the Holy Spirit. And thirdly, spiritual gifts need to be opened. So the question, you’ve been given a special gift, at least one, maybe more than one. What are you doing with your gift? You know, the Lord has given you this gift, and everyone gets one the moment that you are saved. And so how do you know what your gift is? Now, remember this, it’s better to not know what your gift is and use it than to know what your gift is and not use it.

See, some people are using their spiritual gift. They don’t really know what their spiritual gift is. Now, we read about some of these spiritual gifts. You know, one of the gifts is faith. It says, «To one or to another,» verse 9, «faith by the same Spirit». Faith. You know, George Mueller, who was a great man of faith, who probably had the gift of faith, adamantly said, «I don’t have the gift of faith».

Well, the gift of faith is the ability to believe God for things that it’s just extraordinary, the amount of faith that you have. It’s not talking about saving faith; every Christian has that. But George Mueller, he’s the kind of guy that when he had the orphanages and he would sit down with the orphans and they didn’t have any food for breakfast and he’d sit there at breakfast time and says, «God’s gonna provide,» and what happened? God would provide. A bakery truck would break down right in front of their orphanage. «Oh, I got all this bread. What do you… can you guys use it»? «Yeah, we can use it». And a milk truck. «Can you guys use this milk? It’s gonna go bad». «Yeah, we can use it».

He would have experiences like that all the time. Well, he had the gift of faith but he didn’t want you to think he had the gift of faith because he didn’t want you to say, «Well, George, you have the gift of faith, so I can’t do what you do». Yeah, we can trust God just like he did. So how do you know what your spiritual gift is? You know how I started to find out what my spiritual gift was? I got out there and started serving, and I started to say, «Okay, what’s the need here in the church? I can start doing something». And you know what I did? I first started teaching Sunday school for 7th grade boys. And I had five 7th grade boys in my class. And in about 8 weeks, I had grown the class from five 7th grade boys down to one and it was just one guy.

And I remember, one Sunday we were just there and it’s just like me and him. And I was like, «I have a lesson prepared, but I just feel weird teaching to one kid». I said, «You wanna go to breakfast»? And I took him to breakfast 'cause I figured I just, I want to talk to the guy. I have trouble doing a lesson for one person. But I realized that, you know, that’s probably not my niche. I might be gifted in teaching and preaching, but 7th graders might not be the niche for me. And then, from there, when Debbie and I got married, we began to teach married adults. And that was, man that fit me and that was a good fit, and God began to bless. But you had to get out there.

See, it’s hard to steer a ship that’s not moving. And so you gotta get out there and the Lord can show you. But here is a couple of things to help you. Your spiritual gift will be something you like doing. It’s not gonna be something you don’t like doing. It’s gonna be something you like doing and it’s gonna be something you’re good at. You’re just naturally… not naturally, supernaturally wired for this. So it’s gonna be something you like to do. Secondly, it’s going to be something other people like you to do.

Now, that is key, because there have been many guys over the years that thought they had the gift of preaching. I remember one guy, he sat down with his pastor. He goes, «I got the gift of preaching». His pastor heard him preach. He was like, «That guy doesn’t have the gift of preaching». And he would try and sit down with the guy. He’s like, «Yeah, let’s look at some of the other gifts». And he goes, «No, I’m just convinced that I have the gift of preaching». His pastor finally said to him one day, he goes, «You may have the gift of preaching. No one has the gift of listening. That’s not your gift. That’s not a knock against you. That’s the way God has wired you, and don’t try and cram a round peg into a square hole».

You have to be honest enough to say, «Okay, Lord, what have You created me to do? What do You want me to do»? Go back to that body illustration. If God has made you a hand, you don’t need to try and be a foot 'cause you’re not gonna be very good at that. The foot just wakes up and can be a foot. The hand has to try to be a foot. It’s not gonna ever work. And at the very best, as you work so very hard, you’re gonna be a crummy foot because you’re not, God didn’t make you to do that. He made you to be a hand. So once you figure out, «Hey, how has God wired me»?

Then you can start to serve that way and then you can be blessed and other people can be blessed and it’s not going to be such an effort, such a strain, because you’re not trying to be something you’re not. Your spiritual gift will be something you like doing, something others like you doing, and it’s something that needs to be put into service. As each one has received a special gift. You’ve got to receive the gift, open the gift, identify it, classify it. It’s a pipe wrench. This is where it goes. This is what it’s used for. Employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Are you using the gift that God has given you? And remember I said it’s better to not know your gift and to use it, than to know your gift and not use it. And you may be here and you say, «Well, I’m not really sure, but I know that I’m serving a lot». That’s good.

Now Jesus told, and I’ll close with this, Jesus told a parable in Matthew chapter 25 about the master who entrusted his possessions to his servants. To one man, he gave five talents. Now a talent in the parable, a talent is a weight, 60 to 80 pounds of silver or gold. It’s a massive amount. Can you imagine somebody gives you a sack, 70 pounds of silver? Well, the master sat down with the first guy. He gave him five talents. So 5 sacks, 70 pounds of silver. «Do business with this until I come». He sat down with another servant, gave him two sacks, two talents of silver, and says, «Do business with this until I come». He gave his third servant one talent. One talent. «Do business with this until I come».

Well, if you remember the parable, the guy with five talents, he went and traded with those five talents, made five more. Guy with two talents, he traded with his two, made two more. And when the master came, those guys were excited 'cause he came to settle accounts with his servants, his slaves. And he said, «Okay, what did you do with what I gave you»? And the guy with five now had ten, said, «Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I made five more».

And the master said, «Well done, my good and faithful slave. You were faithful in a few things. I’m gonna put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master». The guy with two talents, he said, «Master, you entrusted two talents to me. I’ve made two more,» and he got the same commendation, «Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful in a few things. I’m gonna put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master».

But the guy with one talent, if you remember the parable, he buried the talent in the ground. He didn’t use it at all. And when the master returned, it says this: «And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground; see, you have what is yours.' But the master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed.'»

That means he’s a thief. He’s insulting the master. «'Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten talents. For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'»

Pretty stern, eerie words. Now that parable is not teaching that you can lose your salvation, but it is teaching this. God takes no pleasure in a servant, in a slave, whom He’s entrusted possessions, and that slave has buried those treasures, that talent, that spiritual gift, in the ground, doing nothing with it. Hey, listen, gang, you’re gonna have to stand before God one day and I’m gonna have to stand before God one day. And I think at the judgment seat of Christ, we’re gonna hear these words: «What did you do with what I gave you? What did you do with what I entrusted to you? Did you use it for My glory or did you bury it in the ground? Did you seek My kingdom or your kingdom»? One day it’s all gonna come out. You and I have an opportunity to use what the Master has given us, to employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.