Stewardship 4: Spiritual Gifts

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1 Sermon Notes Stewardship 4: Spiritual Gifts Brad Julihn December 12, 2010 I. Introduction: A proper understanding of Stewardship always begins with a correct understanding ownership. All that we have belongs to God and is to be used for His purposes. If we think of time, resources, or talents as belonging to us; our tendency is to use them for our own purposes. Only when we view the things we possess as God s resources entrusted to us, can we move beyond an approach to stewardship that merely emphasizes efficient management principles. Definition: Today we want to talk about stewardship of spiritual gifts. Spiritual Gifts Are: the special enabling for service given to believers by the Holy Spirit at conversion in order win people to Jesus and build up the Body of Christ. A. Four General Observations: When we talk about spiritual gifts a number of observations immediately strike me. 1. First, there is a lot of ignorance about spiritual gifts. Given the emphasis in Scripture on Spiritual gifts for effective service, it is surprising how little we talk about our spiritual gifts, how few people have a clear sense of what their spiritual gifts are, and how few people have an idea how to discover their gifts. 2. Secondly, there is frequently an uneasiness around what are often called sign gifts such as tongues, healings, and prophecy. 3. Third, there is much confusion between spiritual gifts and natural abilities or talents. Spiritual gifts are different than natural talents or abilities. One can be musically talented, but not spiritually gifted in lead others to worship God through music. 4. There are pitfalls to emphasizing spiritual gifts in the church: Discouragement: people get discouraged because they see no obvious indication of what their gifts might be. Rationalization: I have this gift so I don t have to fulfill other biblical responsibilities. I don t have the gift of evangelism so I don t have to witness to others about my faith. Gift Projection: Everyone should respond to certain situations the same way I do. Everyone should care like I care. (Mercy) Everyone should speak in tongues. 1

2 B. Illustration: In talking about spiritual gifts, Chuck Swindoll tells a fable about a group of animals that decided to improve their welfare by starting a school. The curriculum included swimming, running, climbing, and flying. The Duck, an excellent swimmer, was deficient in other areas so he majored in climbing and running much to the detriment of his swimming. The Rabbit, a superior runner, was forced to spend so much of his time in swimming, climbing and flying classes, that he lost a great deal of his famed speed. The Squirrel, who had been rated an A climber, dropped to a C+ because his instructors spent hours trying to teach him to fly and swim. And the Eagle, was disciplined for soaring to the top of the tree when he had been told to learn how to climb it, even though flying came quite easily for him. (C. Peter Wagner, Your Spiritual Gifts, pp ) The point is obvious. Each animal has certain attributes which enable it to excel at certain tasks but not at others. Do we have ducks waddling over courses meant for rabbits? Are the rabbits trying to paddle through water they re not equipped to handle? Do the eagles among us feel like turkeys because they are trying to climb where they naturally could soar? And are the squirrels among us feeling guilty that they can t fly as well as the eagles? This church is moving forward, but could we do so more effectively if we applied God s enabling gifts for our lives? Many are using their gifts; often without being aware that that is what they are doing. They are soaring eagles who don t know they are eagles. They just know they can fly. That s okay as long as someone doesn t come along and convince them that what we really need are more ducks in the pond! Others are able to step into ministries for which they are not particularly gifted and sometimes that maybe necessary, but you can also dig the foundation for a house with a shovel or with a backhoe! A shovel works but the results come a lot slower and harder. Where are Spiritual Gifts talked about in the Bible? Eph. 4, Rom. 12, 1 Corinthians 12 Let s read Ephesians 4: 7-16 II. Four Phobias of Spiritual Gifts: Some of us are held back from using the gifts God has given us out of ignorance. But sometimes we are held back by subtle and unspoken fears. Fear of what you ask? A. Phobia #1: Phobia Giganticus Nothingness In case you are wondering, Yes, I did come up with that term all by myself! It means the fear of being a big nothing! I think many of us quietly fear that we either 2

3 don t have a spiritual gift or that we can t figure out what it is. But if we take God s Word seriously it says in Ephesians 4:7 - To each one grace has been given. In 1 Corinthians 12:7 it says; Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. It then begins to list various spiritual gifts. That means every person who has put their faith in Christ has been given at least one gift by the Holy Spirit and therefore each person is important in God s program for the church. None of us are without an assignment and an enabling from God. I want to challenge you today to believe God have given you a gift. B. Phobia #2: Phobia Giganticus Responsibleness This is the fear of big responsibility. If I acknowledge that I have a spiritual gift, then I have to acknowledge my responsibility to use it for God s glory. As long as I m unaware of my spiritual gifts, I avoid the responsibility, burdens and sacrifice of ministry. We can excuse ourselves and say Oh I m sure someone else can do it better than I can. Do you know the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25? (By the way, a talent was a measure of gold, not a special ability but the principle of stewardship applies to both.) Three men are called by their Master and given resources to manage for their Master. They are Stewards. The first is given 5 talents of gold. He invests it and earns 5 more. The second is given 2. He invests it and earns 2 more. The third man is given one talent and he buries it in the ground and gives back to his Master when he returns. The first 2 men are rewarded for what they did with what they were given, not for how much they made! The third man was punished for what he did with what he was given. The issue when you stand before God will not be how well you did compared to someone else. The issue will be what did you do with what you were given? God has given you spiritual gifts to invest for His Kingdom. If you bury your gifts in the ground because you are afraid that you can t do it as well as someone else you are just making excuses. You might not have gotten 10 talents to invest, or even 5. But you did get at least 1. The king will only ask us to account for what He has given us, not for what He hasn t given. I believe that there are probably degrees of Giftedness. Billy Graham has the gift of evangelism. He speaks and hundreds come to Christ. Others have the gift of evangelism and lead a couple of people a year to the Lord. I also believe that Spiritual Gifts get developed with use. Example: My preaching. Regardless of the number of gifts or the degree of your giftedness; God simply wants us to use what He gave us to allow Him to touch others through us. 3

4 C. Phobia # 3: Phobia Giganticus Headicus This is the fear of developing or appearing to have a swelled head! Many people feel that if they were to say; I have the gift of teaching, or healing, or faith, (or virtually any gift except helps which sounds humble) then people will think I m conceited and proud. The next part of Eph. 4:7 says Grace has been given. That means it is not something that is inherently your. It is not something you have earned by your goodness, intelligence or hard work. It is a gift from God, entrusted to you to use for His glory. That means there is no place for boasting, because it doesn t come from you it comes from God. If there is something to boast about it is that God has the power to use even someone as shallow prideful and self-centered you and me! And if He has given you a spiritual gift it isn t boasting to speak of it. It is giving credit where credit is due! D. Phobia #4: Charismataphobia This is my word for the fear of becoming charismatic. Many extremes have been associated with certain branches of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. Thirty years ago there was a deep divide between Charismatic and non-charismatic evangelical churches. A lot of it had to do the insistence of some Charismatic churches that the fullness of the Holy Spirit was always accompanied by the spiritual gift of speaking in other tongues. That is not the teaching of Scripture. But I also disagree with the teaching by John MacArthur and other non-charismatics that sign gifts such as tongues ceased with the recognition of the New Testament around 300 AD. Look at the last part of Ephesians 4:7; As Christ apportioned it. Spiritual gifts are not the invention of extremist or holy rollers. They are given by God as gifts to the church. They are God s idea and they are apportioned or given by Him. We don t choose which gifts we want. God apportions them to us. You might be interested to know that the Bible s word in Greek for gifts is Charismata. So don t be afraid of spiritual gifts. They are God s idea. We need to be wise in their use. They certainly can be misused and abused. But God intends them to be a blessing in our lives and through us to others. III. Some General Principles Concerning Gifts: A. Ignorance Isn t Bliss: Paul begins his 3 chapter discussion on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians with these words. Now concerning spiritual gifts, I would not have you ignorant. I Cor. 12:1 We need to examine and understand what spiritual gifts are and how they are discovered and developed. Many of us have only a vague idea of what our gifts might be. Some of us may have taken a gift-survey but I don t have much faith in such tests. They are often merely a survey of our ignorance and lack of experience. 4

5 B. The Church Should Hunger For These Gifts: I Cor. 14:1 God says through Paul Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts. This verse is spoken to the church not individual believers. In other words, I believe that as a church we should desire and encourage spiritual gifts to be manifested in our fellowship. Paul even told the Corinthians to pray for the gift of interpretation of tongues because they were over emphasizing the gift of tongues and lacked the gift of interpretation. I think that means that an eager desire for spiritual gifts includes prayer for God to pour out all the gifts He wants to on this church. I wonder if there aren t some quiet brothers and sisters in this body who have gifts of healings. Gifts of teaching? Gifts of giving? C. Gifts May Be Blocked by The Evil One. I would have to classify this statement as speculative theology. I do not see any clear teaching in Scripture about this. However, my experience pastorally is that sometimes when the bondage of the Evil One is broken in someone s life, spiritual gifts which had never been evident begin to be revealed. D. Spiritual Gifts Need to be Stirred Frequently! Paul told Timothy, Don t neglect the gift that was given you. I Timothy 4:14 Later Paul wrote Timothy and said; Stir up the gift of God that is in you. 2 Timothy 1:6 And again later Paul said to Timothy, Do the work of an evangelist. 2 Timothy. 4:5 If Timothy s primary spiritual gift was evangelism; then Paul reminded him at least 3 times in writing to do something with it. God is saying the same thing to us. Stir up the gift that is in you. Do not neglect the gift. Because to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. IV. Conclusion: A number of major question remain: What exactly are the gifts? How do I go about discovering my gifts? How do I develop my gifts? Are there counterfeit gifts? But I would like to conclude with something else Paul emphasized in his discussion of Spiritual Gifts. Let me ask a question: Will discovering, developing and exercising spiritual gifts make us more effective as a church? The answer may surprise us. The answer is MAYBE! You see the church at Corinth was exercising all the spiritual gifts according to Paul but they did so out of pride, self- 5

6 righteousness, and the power of the own fleshly nature. In fact, 1 Corinthian 13 known as the Love Chapter, wasn t written so pastors could have a good sermon text for weddings. It is the chapter at the center of Paul discussion of spiritual gifts. It is all about the danger of exercising gifts with out God s love motivating it all. Spiritual gifts without love, which is the fruit of the Spirit s control of your life, is a total waste from God s point of view. However, God s answer to the Corinthians wasn t to get rid of spiritual gifts. It was to make sure the fruit of the Spirit always accompanied the exercise of Spiritual Gifts. Spiritual gifts are tools for greater effectiveness in ministry as a church. They are not a guarantee of genuine spirituality. But you can dig the foundation of a house with a shovel or a backhoe. Perhaps we ought to learn how to use the tools God has given us, rather than leaving them buried in the ground until He returns. 6