Main Idea: Using our spiritual gift is an essential function of our discipleship.

Romans 12:6-8 (NLT)

God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. [7] If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. [8] If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

This morning we come to our third message in our series on Essential Discipleship. Today we want to talk about how that using our spiritual gifts is an essential function of our discipleship. Webster defines "function" as the reason a person or thing is specially designed or used or the reason something exists. When we apply that to our discipleship, we are saying that one reason we exist as a believer is to use the gifts that God has given us. If we don’t, then we are not functioning as God intended. Something that isn’t functioning as intended is dysfunctional. Therefore, if we know we’re gifted by God and not using our gift, then we are a dysfunctional disciple and contribute to creating a dysfunctional church! You will not become a complete and competent follower of Jesus Christ without the essential function of your spiritual gift!

There are three gifts God gives me when I trust Christ. The first is the gift of eternal life. When I open my life to Jesus Christ, instantly I'm given eternal life. "The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23) I never have to worry about my future; I know I'm going to heaven. It's solid and secure. The next gift we are given is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The moment I give my life to Jesus Christ, God gives His Spirit to me to live inside me. Jesus said, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth…he lives with you now and later will be in you." (John 14:16-17) God is with you from every point on after you give your life to Christ. The Holy Spirit is in your life.

There's a third gift God gives you the moment you give your life to Christ and that is a special ability to use for His purpose. Romans 12:6 says, "God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well." Another translation says, "according to the grace given to us". When you are saved, when you become a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ, God gives you a brand new purpose for living, a new life purpose. Because of his grace to you and to me God gives us some spiritual abilities to serve Him. Paul says that each of us has been given a gift by God to serve his purpose for us. This lets us know that every Christian gets at least one gift. It's different from a natural ability. Everybody has natural abilities. Only believers have spiritual gifts.

God gives his gifts sovereignly. That means He chooses which ones you're going to get -- you don't choose. They're given by grace -- you don't earn the gift. It's just God's free gift to you. He never asks you to do something that He doesn't give you the ability to do. So when He gives you a new life purpose, He also, at the point of salvation, gives you a special gift or gifts to fulfill that purpose.

The Bible has a lot to say about spiritual gifts. In these verses there are seven gifts mentioned. The gifts are: prophesy, which is speaking God’s word; serving, which is ministry to the poor or ill; teaching, which is instruction of what has been preached; encouragement, which is the ability to lift someone up who is going through a hard time; giving, which is sharing out of your personal resources; leading, which is overseeing the direction of the church and mercy, which is the personal ministry to those in real need. In I Corinthians there are 18 mentioned in Chapter 12 alone. We couldn't even define them all in the time allotted. They are not exhaustive but exemplary. The list is much larger than the number that's actually mentioned. Any time you're serving God and you're doing it well and you're doing it with enjoyment, you're demonstrating giftedness.

Why is it important to know my spiritual gift? One thing that is obvious from Romans 12:6-8 is that Paul wants us to understand that the gift that God has given to us is to be used for the Body of Christ. Romans 12:6-8 is really a continuation of verses 4-5. The idea is that if you have a gift and don’t use it then the Body of Christ suffers. Yet there are some other reasons that we have gifts given to us. These reasons will show us that it's absolutely vital, if you're a disciple, to discover, develop and use or deploy your spiritual gift.

My gifts explain God’s purpose for my life. Romans 12:6 tells us that we have the "ability to do certain things well." That tells us that God wants us to succeed in our service to him. That’s implied from the ways Paul says each person is to use their gift. The key to my being a success is the use of my gifts! Your spiritual gifts determine how God wants you to serve Him. Once you understand what your spiritual gift is it answers a lot of questions. Every Christian is called to serve the cause of Christ, but your spiritual gift shows how you particularly are to serve Him. Whatever you're gifted in determines how you're to use your life for God.

The New International Version says in 12:6 that, we have "different gifts". The idea is that each person is to use their gift in the area of their own influence not someone else’s. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts. Every gift in your life is unique. You're not to copy other people's spiritual gifts. In fact the intention of these verses is for persons to see the opportunities of their gifts but also to see the limits of their particular gifts. God doesn't want you to copy anybody else. He knows the gift that is best for you. That's why He chooses it. Gifts explain why Christians who believe the same things still see things differently. We're all different. God's given us many, many different gifts. My gift shows God's plan for my life individually.

My gifts explain my own sense of worth. Because God has gifted you and me we are needed and important. Just think that he has taken the time to plan and determine that you will have one specific gift and I will have another. Therefore all the gifts are needed. You are just as important in the body of Christ as I am. Every gift is needed. My gift is the power God gives me to bless others. God gives you a spiritual gift to bless other Christians. If you don't use it, other Christians get cheated. If I don't use my gift, you get cheated. If you don't use your gift, I get cheated and so does everybody else. God designed you to make a unique contribution. You're not gifted by accident. Without you the picture isn't complete. It's like a jigsaw puzzle with one part missing. It shows that you're worthy, that you're valuable, you're needed in the body of Christ. If you're a Christian, you're needed. My gift shows my worth.

My gifts are the source of my true fulfillment in life. Notice, in these verses, that Paul tells each person who has a particular gift to use that gift. Every human being has the desire to be used. Every human being has the desire to accomplish something, to feel significant, to feel like your life makes an impact. When you use the spiritual gift that God has given you you're not only productive, because God's gifted you to do something, but you also enjoy it. It's fun! You enjoy doing it. The word for gift and the word for joy come from the same word in Greek. You find real joy by being what God meant you to be, by taking the gifts, the abilities He's given you, unwrapping them and start using them. You feel a sense of accomplishment. The personal satisfaction that comes from being used by God is enormous. There's nothing to compare to it. The thrill of being used by God is the greatest feeling and thrill you can experience in life. Some of you can't comprehend that. I would say if you've never experienced what it means to feel used by God, using your gifts, you have not learned to really live yet. You're missing out on so much.

What does God want me to do with my gift? If that's why it's so important, what does God want me to do with my gifts? He wants you to do three things:

He wants me to discover my gift. 1 Cor. 14:1 says, "Eagerly desire spiritual gifts." I Cor. 12:1 says, "I don't want you to be ignorant of gifts." One of the marks that you can know that you're really a Christian is that you have a desire to know your spiritual gift and to use it serving God. In fact, if you have no desire at all to know your spiritual gift, develop it and use it, you ought to doubt whether you're a true follower. The mark of a genuine follower of Christ is they have a desire to know the gifts that God's given them and to use them.

How do I discover my spiritual gifts? There are two ways: by examining and by experimenting. By examining my Christian life and by experimenting with different kinds of service. First, I discover my spiritual gifts by looking back on my Christian life and saying, "In the ways I've served God so far, what have I enjoyed doing? What has God blessed? Where have people been impacted? Where have I seen results?" If you've never been involved in any ministries since you've become a Christian there's no way you're going to know your gift. That's one of the reasons you don't know what it is, because you've never gotten involved in anything. Often you get involved in something and other people will see a spiritual gift in you before you do. They can see it in you.

If you don't have anything to look back on so far you're going to have to depend on the second way and that is by experimenting with different kinds of ministries and service. We have all kinds of different ministries. What interests you? You try different ministries and one of them will feel like your niche, what God's gifted you to do, what you're good at. It will be enjoyable. You'll like doing it. When you do that you've found your gift. The only way you discover your gift is get out there and start doing something.

He wants me to develop my gift. The second thing you need to do is develop your gift once you've discovered it. In each of the gifts Paul mentions he addresses the need to do something that is appropriate with the gift that you have been given. Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 4:14 "Don't neglect the spiritual gift that is in you." In 2 Timothy 1:6 he says, "Fan into flame the gift God gave you." Many of you already know what you're gifted to do but you're not using it for God's glory. You're neglecting your spiritual gift. Why? I don't know. Maybe you think, "I'm too busy" or "I've got the wrong priorities" or "Maybe I'm just lazy". Maybe it's the fear of failure or embarrassment. Satan will do everything he can to keep you from discovering and developing your spiritual gift. He'll try to get you involved in all kinds of other good things to keep you from the best so you don't know that thrill of being used by God.

He wants me to use my gift. The third thing God wants you to do is use it. Notice the verbs that Paul uses in these verses: speak out, serve, do a good job of teaching, do it, share it, lead, take the responsibility, do it gladly. Each is said with the intention that whatever gift a person has they are to use it! 1 Peter 4:10 "Each one should use whatever spiritual gift he has received to serve others, faithfully managing God's grace in its various forms." God wants you to use it and the church is the place to discover and develop and use your gift. Ephesians 4:12 "Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It's so God's people will be equipped to do better work for Him, building up the church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity."

When I look at this I think God's plan is brilliant. It is brilliant! God's plan is this: "Everyone will get a spiritual gift if you're a Christian so that everybody can contribute, so that everybody's important, so that nobody feels insignificant, so that we all function together like a symphony. I'll give every Christian a spiritual gift so that every person can be a partner with Me in the most important task in the world, building My kingdom." Everybody's important. No one is more important than the others. It's all God's plan. It takes everybody.

In the first Spider-Man movie before the super-hero Spider-Man, Peter Parker, went public with his newfound superpowers, he had a heart-to-heart conversation with his Uncle Ben. Sitting in the car, Uncle Ben admonishes, "These are the years when a man becomes the man he's going to be for the rest of his life. Just be careful who you change into. You're feeling this great power, and with great power comes great responsibility." (Spider-Man, Columbia Pictures, 2002)

Jesus warns his disciples in Matthew 25 in a very important story called the Parable of the Talents. Jesus told an entire story to say this, "One day you're going to stand before God and the ultimate question is going to be, `What did you do with what I gave you?'" That's the whole purpose of that story, "What did you do with what I gave you?" You have great power but you also have great responsibility! What are you doing with it? One day there's going to be a final exam. I want, as your pastor, for you to be able to give the right answer. Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? If you are, then let me ask you this: What excuse are you giving for not using your spiritual gift? When you stand before Jesus Christ one day with pierced hands who died on the cross for you and He says, "What reason do you give for not discovering and developing and using your gift?" What are you going to give?

Earlier this month a diamond was found by a 25-year-old miner in Guinea, West Africa. The diamond was 4 inches by 1.2 inches in size or about the size of a computer mouse. The diamond is said to be 182 carats and is worth $10 to $15 million dollars. The diamond was immediately turned over to the government officials. The average worker in Guinea makes about $1 dollar a day. The worker may be able to receive a percentage of the value of the diamond but that is uncertain. Can you imagine being unbelievably wealthy for a short moment of time only to have it all taken from you? You held in your hand the wealth of a thousand lifetimes and it’s gone! The miner will never be held accountable for what he had but was taken away.

God is not going to hold you accountable for gifts He didn't give you. But He is going to hold you accountable for gifts He did give you. He has given you the wealth of a thousand lifetimes in the spiritual gift he has given you. No one is going to take it from you. But if you don’t use it then its value is lost for the purpose of God’s kingdom. The Bible says, "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." God has made an investment in you and it is a sin to waste it. There are a lot of people out there who fear death. Don't fear death! If you're a believer you're going to heaven. Instead of fearing death, you ought to fear a wasted life. Using your spiritual gift is an essential function of your discipleship. What are you going to do about it?

Sunday, August 1, 2004

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.com