Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gifts

Posted on December 3, 2006

 

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Romans 12:3-8

Have you noticed how many commercials there are that advertise for you to “give the gift that keeps on giving…?” If you’re a believer in Christ then you have a gift that can keep on giving. It’s your spiritual gifts. Every believer has at least one!

How can I unwrap my spiritual gift?

1. I need to watch my pride. (v. 3)

Paul says we are to think soberly (sanely) and never “more highly” (never overestimating) than we should. I believe that in our fallen human nature, we are always swinging between these two extremes. We make some of the most terrible mistakes of our lives when we fail to balance these two truths…

• • I am never more valuable than anyone else (obvious pride).
  • I am also never worthless when God is at work in me (obscure pride).
    

“Proper self-esteem is confidence without conceit.” –David Dykes

2. I need to find my place. (vs. 4-5)

Implications of the church as a “body…”

A. Each unique part must be healthy.

I once wasted $400 on a membership to a gym. Why a waste? First, it was twenty minutes away in another town (now that’s effective high-pressure sales). Second, you couldn’t just go use the treadmill, you had to use 20 different machines to work every single muscle.

B. The healthy parts must work in harmony.

The human body is amazingly complex. We have a nervous system, a cardiovascular system, a musculoskeletal system, a pulmonary system, a metabolic system, and many others. Each of them work together to make the body work. This is how a church should work as well.

C. The body that is healthy will naturally grow.

3. I need to improve my performance. (vs. 6-8)

A. By discovering my gifts.

Personally, I believe it is important to understand that these gifts are really “gift mixes” that describe our personality and help us to understand how God designed us to minister within the body of Christ and to witness to the world. Each one represents a different style of evangelism and a different way of participating in missions.

· Prophecy – Presenting God’s truth with a view to persuasion. (to fire up)

· Ministry – Seeing needs in others and acting to meet them. (to lift up)

· Teaching – Presenting God’s truth to transform the lives of others. (to build up)

· Exhortation – Encouraging, comforting, and counseling others. (to hold up)

· Giving – Sacrificing my resources for the benefit of the less fortunate.

· Ruling – Organizing people into an effective team.

· Mercy – Extending compassion and pity on those who least deserve it.

How to discover your “gift mix”…

· Trial and error, start serving and see what comes supernaturally!

· Listen to what others say about you.

B. By developing my gifts

Total and complete spiritual growth and the measure of our surrender (v. 1) can be evaluated based on my growth in three areas in balance…

· Knowledge (of God and His Word – the easiest aspect to build)

· Character (the life supported by knowledge – a little harder to build)

· Skill (increasingly effective service – an often-neglected area)

C. By deploying my gifts.

I can well remember some of my favorite subjects in school. I used to enjoy balancing chemical equations in chemistry class. I took a year of French, a semester of Spanish, and two semesters of Greek. I even memorized a lot of dates in history class. But much of it is lost. Why? Because I haven’t used it.

1 Timothy 4:14

Let me ask you two extremely important questions:

1. Have you received the greatest gift ever given? 2 Corinthians 9:15 says, “thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.” God has given His Son Jesus to the world to die in your place on the cross. Today He offers you the gift of forgiveness freely. Will you receive Jesus as your Savior today?

2. Are you using the gifts God has given to you to serve Him and to help the body of Christ grow? Are you being a faithful steward of that which God has loaned to you in this lifetime?