Sermons

Paul lists seven gifts; only prophecy really needs explanation. In the New Testament, the supreme office and authority is an apostle. Prophets still proclaim God's truth, Paul says their statements must be "weighed" and "tested" (1 Cor 14:29-32). People sometimes say, "The Lord told me" when it's just their idea. ("The inspiration of the apostles was abiding" but "the inspiration of the prophets was occasional and transitory.)  If a prophet says something contrary to Scripture, we must disregard what he says. Prophets should declare all that the Lord gives them to say yet no more than what the Lord gives them to

I think my gift is teaching. My first big speech was at high school graduation. I had a serious problem. My nihilistic friends told me "Don't tell us to study hard and do our best. We know you too well to listen." A group of girls petitioned me "We don't care what you say, as long as you make us cry." I had nothing to say and genuinely wanted to say nothing. So I talked nonsense for 5 minutes then tacked on a sappy poem. I kept people's attention, I didn't stumble, and I made the girls cry. I could speak, but it wasn't a gift in the full sense, because I didn't bring truth to anyone

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Consider the next gifts: "If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage" (12:7-8). The point: If you have a gift, use that gift. Do your duty. If you're a servant, serve. If a teacher, teach. Don't let people lure you into something that looks better, pays better, sounds easier, has more prestige. Resist all that. If God made you to do something, do it! Period.

If you're over age 34 and reasonably alert, you probably have a good idea about your gifts. If you're over age 20, you should work on it. Most of you know exactly what God made you to do. And you should do it. John Lennon wrote hundreds of songs from 1960-1975. From 1975-1980, he simply stopped. We owe it to God and to the world to do what we're made to do. Each of us should use our gifts to strengthen and unify the family of God.

You can still wish you were better at some things. I wish I were better at encouraging people, making people feel loved, remembering names. We can work on our weaknesses. But we must remember, accept, and use our gifts.

We are allowed to feel some angst about our abilities. I wish I had either more leadership ability or less. Many of you feel the way about generosity, evangelism, hospitality, or service. We wonder, "Lord, why did you give me this much, so people expect me to give what I can almost, but not quite, give?"

We're free to take any serious thought to the Lord. One Psalm says "I was envious of the arrogant" (Psa. 73:3). We might feels strange singing that in public worship, but it does belong in private worship, prayer. Jeremiah 12:1 asks, "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" In Job 21:7, "Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?" Clearly, we're allowed to say, "Lord, why did you make me this way, with these gifts, not others." Say it, but know you may hear a divine rebuke, "Enough existential angst. Get back to work."

Point: If you have a gift, use it. You may not be as talented as you would like, but serve God and humanity with what you have. Someone will say this call to duty is legalism. No, that is a false definition of legalism, which has three forms:

First, the most deadly, believes that we can do something to obtain salvation or earn God's favor. Think of the man who came to Jesus and asked, "What good thing must I do to have eternal life?" (Matt.19:16). But we receive God's favor by faith, not works. 5

6 Since "leadership" stands between "contributing" and "showing mercy" Paul may mean that those who are leaders of mercy should be diligent. Moo 768-9. It can mean support, protect in sense of serving as patron. Thus, use a high social position to defend the fledgling church, Cranfield.

Number two presents man-made commandments, as if the law of God. Think Pharisees. We all agree it is wrong to subtract God's law. Adding our ideas is sinful, too.

Obedience does not save, nor is it the essence of Christian life. The core is having a relationship with God, not doing deeds for God. Relationship, not deeds. That said, acts of obedience count for the Lord. So we should use our gifts, whether we're in the mood or not.

Yet our motives or moods do count. We see that in the next three gifts in Romans 12:8, "If it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." This is the right spirit: Give generously, lead diligently, show mercy cheerfully.

Let's explore that; the giver is generous. The term here is haplos which essentially means simple (2 Cor 8:2, 9:13). Haplotes means generosity or liberality. In Jas 1:5 haplos, means generously. The term simple comes to mean generous this way. If someone gives simply it means there is no complexity, specifically, no expectation that the recipient now owes a favor in return. The generous giver loves to give.

The motivated leader is diligent or [possible trans.] eager.

6 The leader (lit.) presides over a realm: the family, the church, the city. The head is eager to lead well. He (or she) doesn't get weary of leadership, even though it can be draining, exhausting, to have final authority. The leader doesn't do it for recognition, trophies or power, but for the people.

Mercy is cheerful. Everyone knows the person who shows mercy miserably or offers help grumpily. They tell you what a burden it is. They offer help and castigate you for needing help. They say, "Yes, I will help you pack for your trip, but why didn't you start earlier?" But the woman with the gift of mercy is like God. They give "without finding fault" (cf. Jas 1:5 NIV), "without reproach" (ESV). But God delights to give and we should too.

So then, we should serve, teach, contribute, lead, and show mercy two ways. We should do our duty, exercise our gift even if we don't feel like it, to honor the Lord, who gave the gift, and our neighbor, who needs the gift. We should ordinarily be generous, enthusiastic, and joyful when we exercise our gifts.   

My second talk came three years later. I'd given up my nihilism and converted to Christianity. Someone asked me to give a talk to the fifty students in our college fellowship. I jotted notes on a piece of paper, stuck them in my Bible, stood by a lake at dusk and started to speak. I spoke for 20 minutes; something came over me. Afterward, a friend gave me a hug and a look of puzzled pride. She hesitated, "I didn't know… you could do that." I stared back, "I didn't either."

These are the essentials of gifting: We must have a sense "I can do this thing." Outsiders must agree "You can do that! Please do it again!" If God is in it, there is more than success, it blesses people. The man or woman with the gift also wants to hone it, drill deep, get better. It's work, but we love it.  

A danger

Imagine that you are at a ministry planning meeting. Everyone is pitching in, everyone cares. A generous man declares, "I'll serve any way you ask, just don't ask me to speak." We understand the fear of public speaking, so it sounds OK. But what if someone said, "I'll talk about anything, just don't ask me to serve"? We would say, "That's not right." No one has a right to say "Anything but that."

Everyone should be ready to serve. A crusty old grump should recognize when someone is sad and say an encouraging word. A tongue-tied traveler can share her faith on an airplane even if she is no evangelist. Almost anyone can watch a child. Because we love each other, we should be willing to help for an hour wherever there is a need. The gospel is our motive. In view of God’s mercies, mercies described in the gospel, we offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Candidly talk about spiritual gifts can easily become spiritual self-actualization if I can find my spot, my calling, and live in the middle of my gift-set. This has an element of truth, in a sort of "it would be true except for sin and the fall" sort of way. In the way every economic system communism, socialism or capitalism, would work perfectly all the time if no one ever sinned.

The ideal

God gives gifts, which we offer to each other and to the Lord, as we joyfully present our lives to him. That's the ideal. Let me illustrate through a story. William Bowerman played college football. He started running later in life and became track coach at the Univ. of Oregon for twenty-five years. He was never a great runner, but what a coach! Though he hardly recruited, his teams won four national championships. He revolutionized long distance training, he wrote a best-selling book about it. He did everything he could for his runners. He created lighter running gear, and designed shoes for them. The shoes were so good, he co-founded Nike, with Phil Knight.

Above all, Bowerman knew his runners and tailored their training to their needs and skills. He saw potential in Kenny Moore, a two-miler who saw little success. With a personal best time of 9:15, Moore never won a race until Bowerman analyzed his training. Bowerman chided Moore, "You train too hard, you train till you're injured or sick." One day Bowerman closed his hands around Moore's throat, lifted him off the ground and demanded a change. Either Moore trained less or he was off the team. Moore submitted; three weeks later he entered a two mile run against Dale Story, the NCAA cross-country champion. Story's time was thirty seconds better than Moore's, but Bowerman ordered Moore not to chase Story and to begin no faster than 4:30 per mile. Moore writes:

"I ran 4:30 for the first mile; Story ran 4:19 and led by 70 yards. Bowerman called, "He won't be able to hold it." I began to gain, and the crowd… 10,000 strong, saw me coming, got up and [shouted]. With half a mile to go I had no real will left, only that thunder that would not let me slow. Into the last turn, Story still had ten yards. Then he looked back, his shoulders tightened, and I learned… how much competitive savagery lay deep in my heart." 

"I [beat] him by a second, in 8:48, ripping twenty-seven seconds from my [previous] best. The finish was bedlam...teammates pressing the air out of me, shouting that the Olympics were possible now. Bowerman was there with wild blue eyes and a fiendish grin. I knew what he would say: "I told you so!" But he didn't. He bent to whisper. "Kenny, even I never thought you could run that fast. Even I. 

That's how gifts work. Moore was a gifted runner; he did go to the Olympics. But he could never fulfill his potential without a gifted coach. So it is in the church, too. Together we bring out the best.

Our church has a group, mostly women, who are working with refugees from Nepal and other Asian countries, to help them make a life in America. It's service – driving, explaining, helping find jobs, explaining life in America. It's a great ministry, ripe to grow more. We need more servants and helpers, more people who can teach and encourage. And as it grows, it needs some leaders, organizers. Without administration, the work can't continue to grow. Without servants, there is nothing to lead. When we help each other, we can do more than we thought possible. There will be someone up front after the service if you want to talk.

What about you? What gift of service has the Lord given you? If you know and you're engaged, keep it up! Keep going. If not, it's time to pray: Lord show me how I belong to your family, how I can serve generously, diligently, cheerfully – all to offer myself to you Lord, as I consider all your mercies.