Word & Deed: Each has received a gift

radiantvisalia.com
Word & Deed, We are Gifted: Each has received a gift
with Travis Aicklen

This sermon explores the nature of spiritual gifts and encourages believers to use them for the building up of the body of Christ. The message emphasizes that spiritual gifts are given by the grace of God and are meant to be used in a spirit of love and service.

The sermon begins by highlighting the importance of living in light of Christ's return and using our gifts for His glory. It also emphasizes the importance of love as the guiding principle for using spiritual gifts effectively.

Key points from the sermon:

• Spiritual gifts are given to every believer for the purpose of serving one another and building up the body of Christ.
• We should view spiritual gifts as gifts, not merit badges. They are given by God's grace, not earned through our efforts.
• Spiritual gifts are sovereignly given. We cannot choose which gifts we receive, but we are responsible to use them faithfully.
• We should use our gifts to serve others, not ourselves. The ultimate goal is to glorify God, not to seek recognition or build ourselves up.
• We should serve in our gifts with the strength that God supplies. We are not left to our own devices, but God empowers us to use our gifts effectively.
• All gifts are valuable and should be used to glorify God. There is no hierarchy of gifts, and all are essential for the building up of the body.

The sermon concludes with a call to examine our motives for using our gifts and to recommit ourselves to serving others with a spirit of love and humility. It also invites listeners to receive prayer and to respond to God's grace through communion.

Transcript

Hey, welcome. 

Morning. Are we all right? Hey, if you're new here to this church, our desire has been from the beginning to not just be a church, but to be a constellation of churches. 

So we've wanted to reproduce and plant other churches, and we've been living into that for over a decade now. And I just wanted to report, the reason I want to share this is because I want you to know what you do, what you give, how you participate here. It doesn't just affect here. 

It has a reach beyond here. And so for the last two days, I've been gathered with a group of pastors that have come here to the Central Valley, and we've been hanging out together. Nick Fox is bottom right. He's in Carlsbad. 

Jared and Mark, you may recognize, they're in Tulare. And the furthest guy from us is a guy named Mike Sandusky. He's in St. Joe, Missouri. Next to him is Tim Harms. He leads in San Francisco. Steve Whitmer is the old Balder guy. 

He's in Canada, in British Columbia. Noel, who looks really excited, is excited because he's an Exeter. Danny Cantelmi has a beard. You may not recognize him. 

Brian Mowry's in there. He leads in St. Louis and brings leadership to our family. So anyway, we're hosting this. We've invited these guys in. 

Many of them are leading without teams. So a place where they can process the year and the challenges they faced and the hopes that they have and receive prayer, we hosted that and cooked for them. And it was a beautiful time. Mike Sandusky is an Exeter speaking this morning. He's a chief's fan, and so I was sick of him. 

I didn't want him to touch the pulpit in my church. Brian Mowry's speaking in Tulare this morning. Steve Whitmer is actually down in Carlsbad, serving Nick. And then after this service, Joseph Rosales and I will drive up to San Francisco to help envision a team that's got a launch Sunday coming up on February 23rd. So I just want to celebrate that together because it is something we're doing together, whether you know it or not. 

That's what you're a part of by being a part of this, and we love it. So if you've got a Bible, would you open it to 1 Peter chapter four? We're going to study what the Apostle Peter has to say about gifts this morning. So if you've got a Bible, open it to 1 Peter four. If you don't have a Bible, we'll put it on the screen. Starting in verse seven of chapter four in the ESV version. 

It says, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him, belong glory and dominion forever and ever. 

And everyone said, Amen. We're taking the month to study spiritual gifts. And before we jump into what Peter has to say about spiritual gifts, I want to bring a definition from Sam Storms just to help you understand what a spiritual gift is. A spiritual gift is when the Holy Spirit manifests His presence and imparts His power into and through individual believers to enable them to exceed the limitations of their finite humanity, so that they may faithfully and effectively fulfill certain ministry tasks for the sake of building up the body of Christ. Last week we talked about ground rules for the gifts and hopefully later foundation that scripture is our authority on the subject. We're not basing this off of experience, we're basing this off the authority of scripture. Also we said Jesus is our model for ministry, he's who we want to be like, not another church or another worship team. 

We want to be like him. And power is promised to every believer. And I was so blessed by the response, seemed like everyone was recognizing their need for power and then also recognizing our reluctance in asking for power. That power, hungry people are the worst kind of people, but power is not extra, it's absolutely essential to live out the Christian life. And Jesus promised power, He knew that we needed power and He asked us to ask for power. Like we can't do this by trying harder. How many have tried harder? 

For sure. We need power and I so loved everybody coming forward and just recognizing that together. The other thing that happened to me during the week is that I thought, wow, that matrix, that grid, that lens, that scripture is our authority, Jesus is our model, and power is promised, that could be applied to just about everything, not just spiritual gifts. So I found myself in situations during the week where I was like, no, scripture is my authority. 

Like Kinley just said, like I found myself a little bit outside going, I think I'll do what I want and had to step back under. No, scripture is my authority. And Jesus is the one I'm following hard after. And when scripture is my authority and Jesus is the one I'm going after, the power of the Holy Spirit is promised to the person who walks in those ways. So I just want to say the lenses that we put on last week to look at spiritual gifts, I think we should probably look at our entire lives through that lens. 

Like that thing could be applied to just about anything that we're facing together. So let's move through what Peter says about the spiritual gifts. I know many of us are very eager to find out what spiritual gifts we possess and we will get there, I promise. 

But I want to take a look at this passage to continue to set up what these are, what they're designed to do. Peter writes, the end of all things is at hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. That sentence is a couple thousand years old. The end is at hand. And I know commonly, especially in days like we're living now, I get asked the question, are we in the last days? And the Bible answers that question with a yes. We are living in the last days. The next train stop is Christ's return. So the invitation is to be sober, to not get distracted, to remain focused because the Bible is super clear that a lot of people are going to get caught off guard. And they won't be prepared for that. 

They won't be prepared to answer for the ways that they've spent their lives and invested their time. So the call here is that we are living in the last, are we living in the last hours of the last days? I don't know, but we've been in the last days according to Scripture for a couple thousand years. 

And so we know this. We don't know when he's returning, but we know we're supposed to wait ready. We know we're supposed to be diligent and not get distracted, and we're supposed to live every day in light of that day, that day that he returns. 

And this is a really important thing to fathom when it comes to our gifts. Where are those going? Where are those gifts being directed? 

You are gifted, gifted with time, gifted with abilities, gifted with relationships, and what direction are you going with those? He writes, above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. This is the Apostle Peter, but the Apostle Paul says something very similar to this. Paul writes two massive chapters on the gifts of the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14 are whole chapters devoted to the gifts of the Spirit. What comes in between those two chapters? 

1 Corinthians 13, and what is 1 Corinthians 13 all about? The most excellent way. The most excellent way. Peter says, above all, keep loving one another earnestly. Paul would say, if you have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if you have all faith as to remove mountains, but have not love, you're nothing. What we get here is again the emphasis that the spiritual gifts, these powerful things God's given us, have to say connected to spiritual fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, these character traits that are produced in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Those character traits have to stay connected to these gifts, or else they're nothing. So once again, Peter reinforces what Paul has already said, that when you're doing these things, you have to be motivated by love. Above all, you've got to keep loving one another through these gifts. Last week, we talked about the problem that happens in the church, and many people react away from these gifts because these gifts, the power of these gifts is not connected to love and a sound mind. And we've not received a spirit of fear. We've received a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. And because love is divorced from power and a sound mind often, we end up backing away from power. 

But it's all three of these things that are needed, and all three of these things that make a huge difference. He goes on to say, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. And before we talk about you operating inside your gifts, we have to talk about you operating in ways outside your gifts. And he says, everybody's going to practice hospitality. Some will have the gift of hospitality, but everyone's going to practice hospitality, and you're going to do so without grumbling. And I think that's one of the ways to figure out what God's gifted you in, is you tend to do what others do grumbling. You tend to do it without grumbling. Everybody else is like, I can't believe I have to have these people over to my house. 

And you're like, I can't believe I get to have these people over to my house. You have a capacity, a grace. It's not what you do. It's even the way you do it that is evidence of God's grace on your life. But I just want to say, every one of us is called to pray. Every one of us, and some of us, will have the gift of prayer. Every one of us is called to give. Some of us are going to have the gift of generosity, and you're going to make it look good. It's going to come easy to you. 

Right? What others are like, oh gosh, I got a gift. You're like, oh, I get to give. 

I'm, you're looking for ways to give, because God's gifted you in that way. We're going to have to teach. Some of us will be gifted in teaching, but everyone's going to have to teach. You're going to have to serve. Some of us will be gifted in serving, but you should do those things without complaining. And when I think of greatness, I don't just think about what people do to be great. 

It's the way they do it that's great as well. Like Michael Jordan just didn't put up huge numbers. He made it look good. 

We still wear his shoes because of the way he made it look. When I think about, you know, great hitters, I don't just think about their batting average. I think about Ken Griffey Jr. swing. 

And even when he missed the ball, it was like, gosh, that looks good. And there are people here that make stuff look good. I was talking to Deborah Avanallis about the gift of mercy and how we wish that we had the gift of mercy. 

Some of you guys make mercy look so good. It's like easy. It comes naturally for you. The rest of us are gifted in resentment and bitterness. So when we go to engage in mercy, it's like, you know, like everything in me is trying, you know? And some of you are like, here's mercy. 

And we're like, wow, that's beautiful. Some of you serve in that way. Some of us are like, we're working so hard to sign up to serve. 

And some of you just make it look good. But I just don't, I want you to know that you're going to have to serve outside of your area of gifting, not just inside of it. And so when someone comes to you and says, how can I be saved? We don't say to them, go find an evangelist. 

That's not my thing. We tell them about Jesus. It's our thing. And when you're asked to give, you're asked to serve, we're like, yeah, we're going to do that. We're going to do that without grumbling. When your kids come to you and say, I'm hungry, we don't go, we'll go find someone with the gift of helps, you know, because that's not my thing. 

You know, that's not it, right? We serve outside of our areas of gifting, and we should do so without grumbling. And then there are certain people in here that just make it look good. Verse 10, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another. Each one has received a spiritual gift. So there's not a believer in here who has not received a spiritual gift. 

That's what the scriptures clearly teach. Each of us has received at least one spiritual gift. Now, that doesn't mean that all of us are operating in our spiritual gifts, but we have been gifted for the sake of building up the body. And the other thing that I want to say is that we have received a gift. I think that's what Peter's saying here. That's a bit, I don't, that's pretty clear. 

Yeah? We have received a gift, and it's really important when it comes to the gifts that you relate to them as gifts and not merit badges. Not something that you earn through your performance, because all kinds of things happen, probably the biggest of those being pride. But there's other problems that come when we don't see these as gifts that we receive. I want to read a quote to you guys. Our tendency is to think that someone earned what they have. 

We have a hard time receiving. What makes more sense to us is a ladder. We don't get that cross. We don't get that symbol. We like to take steps and know that we climbed higher and higher into what God called us to. 

We don't understand the God who comes down. But I want to read this quote to you and just to help you spot the difference between spiritual gifts being treated as spiritual gifts that we receive and merit badges that we earn. This comes from a guy named John MacArthur who believes that the spiritual gifts have ceased, that they're no longer for the church today, or at least some of the spiritual gifts have ceased. 

And I don't want to misrepresent him, so I'm going to read his quote right now to you. See if you can spot the underlying assumption here. Hmm. The gift of technology. 

Here we go. He says, if signs and wonders still did exist, do you think they'd be given to people with bad theology? Do you think God would give Benny Hinn the power to do miracles, to authenticate really bad theology? If those gifts existed, they would belong to the purest, most faithful, sound teachers of the Word of God to authenticate their teaching. 

What's the assumption? These aren't gifts. These are things that you earn through the purest, most faithful sound teaching. And when you've proven yourself faithful, well then you would get the power to authenticate your message. What I think is so wild about this quote is that this man has the gift of teaching, and he uses it to teach others that these gifts are no longer. And God doesn't revoke the gift. He keeps teaching and influencing, and God doesn't pull the gift or yank the gift. And this is really important for us to get our heads around because we're often so disappointed when leaders fall. 

And they fall because they're so gifted. And their ministries and their sermons and their books made such a significant difference in our life. How could someone be living a double life and also operating in what feels like a double portion of power? Well, the answer is that these are gifts, that he sovereignly gives, not merit badges that we earn through our effort. And it's really important that we have them framed up that way. 

Sound good? So another thing you should know, because this is also just really disappointing, is that these are sovereignly given. You can put one on your Christmas list. You can even ask for it. You can be eager or earnest for it. It doesn't mean that you're going to get it. So we're not walking through a buffet line or we're not in a fantasy draft, you know, going, oh, I think I'd like to have that. And I would rather not have that. 

That's not how this works. These are sovereignly given. But then Peter goes on to say, use it to serve one another. So these are sovereignly given by God, but we do have a responsibility. And that responsibility is what? Use it. Like you have a role to play. 

Your eyes don't roll back in your head and you get taken over by God who is this impersonal force. That's not how this works. You got to use it. And there is this sense in the New Testament that if you don't use it, you lose it. So you've got to activate this gift. You've got to work towards using it. But use it not to build up yourself or to find your own self-esteem. Use this to serve others. Now, the beauty of this is that when we serve others and when we operate in our gifts, it's not just good to us. 

It's usually good for me too. And I am built up by serving others. But the point of the gifts is not to find yourself or build yourself up, but to serve others and to build up the body of Christ. Now, the million-dollar question when you're operating in your gifts and then searching your motives as to why you're operating in your gifts is how would you know? How would you know if you're using your gift or operating in your gift to build yourself up? Or if you're operating in a loving way to build others up? How would you know? And I think the simple answer to that is to watch what happens in your heart when what you've given is overlooked. When you don't get what you think you deserved to get, when what you do and your efforts aren't meant with applause, in fact, people may even complain about what you're doing. 

Isn't that incredibly purifying? And I have to ask myself the question, and you have to ask yourself the question, why am I doing this in the first place? Why am I operating in these gifts? Was it for the applause of others? Was it for recognition? 

Was it so that I would look good, that I would be built up? Or was it genuinely to serve my kids? Was it genuinely to serve my friends? Was it genuinely to serve my students? 

Was it genuinely an attempt to serve the people around me? And that's where we all get to come before God and say, I repent. Like, I repent for using my gifts to serve myself, and I commit afresh to use my gifts to serve other people. Peter goes on to say this. We should serve as good stewards of God's very grace. 

So this is a stewardship issue, and we went over stewardship in November, but stewardship is interesting because stewardship is different than ownership. And so you don't possess these gifts. These have been graciously given to us, like our time here, like the kids that we have. We're called to steward God's gracious gift to us. 

And so we're not an owner of it. It's something that we're tasked to look after and to use. It's been entrusted to you for the sake of others and for the sake of the church. The gift is on loan, and it's not yours to possess. And it's God's varied grace. I love that word varied because it points out that two people are not going to receive the same gift, and it's not actually going to operate in the same way with the same accuracy or even the same measure or the same level of faith. 

And what's Peter pushing us towards? Comparison is a waste of your time. So don't decide that you're not a leader because you don't lead like them. And don't be caught saying, well, I'm not, I don't have the gift of service because I don't serve like them. Know that God's grace takes many different forms and may look very different ways in different contexts and in different people's lives. 

And stop, stop the comparison. Verse 11, whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, who speaks on God's behalf, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. Now there's a number of gift lists in the New Testament. The whole Trinity is involved in giving gifts. Romans 12 lists the gifts of the Father, and you can read those. 

They're often called motivational gifts. Ephesians 4 lists the gifts of the Son, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, the five folds that the body reaches maturity. And then the gifts of the Spirit are listed in 1 Corinthians 12, and we'll unpack those in the next couple weeks. But I kind of love what Peter does here by basically dividing the gifts into speaking and serving gifts. Now this doesn't hold up because of course those of you who serve speak, and those of us who speak, hopefully they do that from a servant's heart. 

So this isn't like a complete, clean category, but I think it's actually helpful. I think it's helpful for a couple reason is that we think some of the speaking gifts are actually gifts because those gifts are more visible, more seen or recognized. And Peter's saying there's a whole another set of serving gifts that aren't as visible, would maybe be harder to recognize, but are absolutely essential in the building up of the body. We tend to separate those two, or to think that the speaking gifts are greater or more miraculous than the serving gifts. 

But that's not true. Peter doesn't see it that way, and definitely Jesus doesn't see it that way. The speaking gifts are apostleship, prophecy, teaching, evangelism, exhortation, discerning spirits, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, word of wisdom, word of knowledge. Serving gifts that have more to do, probably with heart and hand, is leadership, helps or administration, mercy, giving, faith, healing, miracles, pastoring or shepherding. These things are not primarily something that happens through your mouth, but I believe a way that God moves through our hearts and hands. So obviously, he doesn't elevate one over the other, and I would just encourage you, as we dip into this, know that it's just as miraculous to have the gift of mercy than it is to have the gift of miracles. It is a spirit-empowered process to extend mercy to others. 

Don't be caught thinking one's better than the other. So, both of those things, the speaking that happens, the serving that happens, that's actually supposed to be done with the strength that God supplies. So not only are we given the gift, we're supposed to serve in that gift according to strength and energy that God supplies to us. 

So it's not like here you have this and now it's yours, you're on your own, good luck with what you do with it. It's that God actually supplies the power to operate in what he's gifted us. Worship team, would you guys come? In order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Ultimately, all the gifts, the various forms of God's grace in the body, those with serving gifts, those with speaking gifts, they are all headed in the same direction, going to the same place. They're ultimately glorifying Jesus Christ, that he would be exalted and he would be glorified and we've said it now for 20 years here, but signs and wonders are signs and wonders. Those signs are meant to point to him, direct people's attention to him. Signs and wonders are meant to make people wonder about this God who had stepped down into their situation. We don't want signs and wonders pointing to people, personalities, programs. 

It's just not helpful. We want those signs, not pointing to a weekend retreat, but pointing to Jesus, saying he's the one who heals and delivers and he can do it here and he can do it there. He uses people, he uses programs, so we're not down on those things, but just know ultimately signs and wonders are supposed to say, when they say Bakersfield, 60 miles, that's the one I hate the most. 

It's at the bottom of the grapevine and it's like you have 60 more miles to go to get to Bakersfield. But the sign is supposed to say Jesus this way and we're meant to wonder about him, not wonder about the speaker or wonder about that church or ministry, but we're supposed to wonder about him. That's what they're designed to do, ultimately to glorify him. And I'll leave you with this really heavy thought because if people are supposed to see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven, people are supposed to see our works and glorify our Father in heaven, the thought follows that if you're not using your gifts and you're uninvolved in building up the body, you're robbing God of the glory that he might otherwise have received had you been faithful in the gifts that he's given you. 

That's kind of sad. I'm glad you guys played some music behind that. And to him belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Would you stand with me? Jesus, as we exalt you and glorify you and lift you up, as we see you high and lifted up, would you continue to distribute gifts to your people? Would you call forth gifts in people's lives? 

Would you get us out of the stands and onto the field and engage with the people that we know and love? To you belong glory, dominion forever and ever, Lord. We're going to exalt Jesus and as we pour out our worship on him, he's going to stir the gifts of God in us. And so come to the table and recognize his body broken for you, his blood shed for you. Know this, despite what John MacArthur says, he's interested in blessing this mess. 

And if you think you have to have it all sorted to come to this table, it's actually an insult to this table. Jesus knows what we need and he's not reluctant to give us mercy. He delights to show us mercy. So his body is broken for us. His blood is poured out to cover our sins. And there's going to be a prayer team up here. 

We'd be willing to stand with you and pray for healing in any area of life or to even pray again for God's power to rest on you going forward. Let's exalt his name as we come to the table.

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