Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Welcome to week #3 of our Developing a Servant’s Heart journey. We’re on a mission of discovery. We’re searching out and discovering the life that God wants us to live.

If you’ve ever seen the show American Idol, then you know that it is a forum that separates the really good from the really bad singers. And sometimes the really bad are really, REALLY bad. Isn't it amazing how people can audition for American Idol, thinking they can sing…but in reality they couldn’t sing their way out of a wet paper bag with holes on both ends? You watch that show and think, “Where did these people come from? And who ever told them that they could sing? Who, in their right mind, would tell these people that singing is their gift?”

Today we’re going to talk about discovering the gifts that God has given us…our spiritual gifts.

Bob Russell tells the story of a young man who was in a Bible college preaching class. All the students were required to prepare and deliver several sermons in this class. Everyone dreaded the days when this particular student preached. It was just brutal to watch him stumble and fumble through his sermons. Finally the professor knew that he had to do something. He lovingly talked with the young man, suggesting that maybe he should pursue another ministry avenue. Something other than preaching.

The student was defiant. He told the professor, “I have the gift of preaching.” Every time the professor would say something, the young man responded the same way. “I have the gift of preaching.” Finally, the exasperated professor couldn’t take it anymore. The young man said, again, “I have the gift of preaching.” The professor responded, “Son, that may be, but when you’re preaching, no one has the gift of listening.”

In our servant’s heart journey, we saw last week that we are called to develop a servant's heart. We looked at the different heart attitudes in our lives. Ultimately we landed on this heart attitude that we are to cultivate in our lives: what's mine is God's and I'll share it. The week before that we talked about how we are a masterpiece of the Lord. God has created us. He broke the mold on us by creating us uniquely. Today, we are going to talk about how He wired us in a certain way. He has given us spiritual gifts and he longs for us to use those gifts to serve him by impacting the lives of other people.

In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul talks about spiritual gifts. Beginning in verse one he says, “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” (1 Corinthians 12:1, NIV)

Right off the bat, he says, “I don't want you to be ignorant about this.” We’ve got to understand that Paul is writing to the church in the city of Corinth. This is not a super mature church. This is not a church that has arrived. This is a very immature church. It's a church that is struggling with a whole lot of things. Nevertheless, he says, “I don't want you to be ignorant.”

He goes on to say starting in verse 4: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7, NIV)

That’s somewhat complicated wording to wade through, but there are a couple of key things to notice in this passage.

First of all, Paul uses the word different three separate times. He said there are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of service, and different kinds of working but the same God and same Spirit is working in all of that.

The good news here is that we have all been given individual gifts. Different gifts. You don’t have to have my gifts. I’m not called to live out your gifts. We are called to discover our individual gifts. Our gifts are as different and unique as we are.

Then Paul says, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” Why does God give us spiritual gifts? What is the purpose of all the gifts that he gives us? Paul tells us that we are to use our gifts “for the common good.”

In other words, we have been given spiritual gifts to impact the lives of others. Spiritual gifts are always given so that we can serve and minister to other people. God never gives you a spiritual gift to serve you. Every gift he has given any of us was designed to be externally focused. The whole point of our gifts is to use them to serve others.

John Belushi and Dan Akroyd starred in an old movie called the Blue's Brothers. They were ex-convict, wannabe singers/musicians that were trying to raise money for an orphanage. Anytime they were asked what they were trying to do, they'd say, “We're on a mission from God.”

When we become followers of Jesus Christ, we embark on a mission from God. The way we live out that mission is searching out our gifts and using them to serve God by serving other people.

So let’s talk about some different gifts that are mentioned in the Bible. There are four specific lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. They’re found in 1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:7-12; 1 Peter 4:10-11. For the sake of time, we’re not going to read them all, but I’d encourage you to read them in total later today.

What we are going to do is take the gifts from these lists and break them down into four different categories. There are over twenty spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible. I think there's actually a lot more than that. This is one of those areas where there just isn’t enough room to list all of the different gifts that God gives to us. I don't think that the Bible gives us an exhaustive list, but it does give us some gift categories to consider.

The first set of gifts we'll look at is Relational Gifts. Some of you are very good with people. You love to be around people. You love to talk and interact with other people. You care deeply about what happens in other people's lives. You have relational gifts.

In Romans 12, one of the gifts that is listed is the gift of encouragement (verse 8). That’s a relational gift. Some of you have the incredible ability to lift someone’s spirit. They seek you out because your have such a positive, uplifting influence on them.

The relational gift list could go on and on and on. Some of you have the gift of hospitality. You love to help people feel at home. You love to invite them to your home or another place and make them feel comfortable. Many of our greeters you see at the door have a gift of hospitality. They just want people to feel at home.

Others of you may have a gift of evangelism or sharing your faith. People feel at ease around you and faith conversations just happen because it’s your gift.

Romans 12 also mentions the gift of mercy (verse 8). It’s another relational gift. I love the story of Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision. Many of you know World Vision feeds hungry people all over the world. It has literally saved the lives of millions of people through its efforts as a relief agency. Bob Pierce was the founder and primary visionary.

Bob went to Indonesia later in life when he was struggling with leukemia. He was walking along and saw a woman lying on a bamboo mat next to the river. She had come there because she was dying of cancer. She had left the hospital. She wanted to spend her final days by the river where it was calm and cool. Bob walked over to her. He didn't even know her name but he had this relational gift of mercy. He knelt down and grabbed her hand and said a prayer for her. She didn't understand the language he was using. After Bob’s prayer, the interpreter there told the woman a few words that Bob had said. Her comment back to him was, “If only I could sleep.” She was in so much pain she couldn't sleep. Bob Pierce reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of medication. They were sleeping pills that had been given to him because his Leukemia was so bad he couldn't sleep. He handed them to the interpreter and said, “Give these to this girl and make sure she gets a good night sleep until the pills run out.” He did that knowing that he himself would not sleep for another seven to ten days. It would take him that long before he could get that prescription filled again. That's a person with a gift of mercy. His heart was just moved towards this other person. Many of you have the gift of mercy. You feel another person’s pain deeply. You are moved with compassion to do whatever you can for someone who is hurting.

A second category of gifts mentioned in the Bible are serving gifts. Romans 12 (verse 7) and 1 Peter 4 (verse 11) both specifically mention serving as a spiritual gift.

We should be very grateful for the people here who have serving gifts in their lives. There are those who are willing to do the behind the scenes work because they don't really care if they’re in the spotlight. They are willing to set aside their agendas and their egos to get the job done. They are very sacrificial people.

Chances are that you don’t know all of the people with service gifts in our church family. You don’t know them because they usually avoid the limelight. They’re content to serve when no one else is watching. As our devotional book says, they’re in God’s secret service.

In Matthew 6, Jesus said, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4, NIV)

Someone with the gift of service has a heart that beats in tune to these words. We have several of these people in our church family. I could stand up here and tell you who they are, but they wouldn’t want me to do that. It would rob them of the blessing of serving in secret.

Another category of gifts we have in the church is upfront gifts. That’s not the most spiritual sounding term, but you get the point. Some of us have upfront gifts.

Romans 12 talks about people with the gifts of teaching and leadership (verse 7-8). Ephesians 4 says that some are called to be evangelists, or preachers (verse 11). God has given some of his people gifts upfront gifts.

Upfront gifted people find it very easy to be in a leadership position. They are at ease in front of people. They can lead a ministry or a team. Maybe they have a gift with communication where God's Spirit allows them to take His Word and teachings and translate that into people's lives in a fresh, understandable way.

God has gifted many people with upfront gifts. But the problem is that, sometimes in the church, we tend to want only those upfront gifts. We tend to raise those upfront gifts to a higher level than those other gifts. Understand that God never does that. In the gift list in Romans 12, the gift of serving is mentioned before the upfront gifts of teaching and leadership. Isn’t that interesting? In God's economy, all the gifts are equal. There’s no A-list and B-list of gifts. They are all equal in the sight of God.

Think about this. In our country, the president is a very important person because of his position. But it takes a lot of people to make our country run. If our president were out of commission for three weeks, our country would continue to run. Things would go on. There would be leadership in place because we have a strong foundation.

But do you realize that if the unions that pick up the garbage in our country went on strike for three weeks, we'd have a national catastrophe? It takes everybody.

That is even more true in God’s church. It takes everybody. Not just the people with upfront gifts. God wired it up that way. We are all called to serve and use our gift.

A final area of giftedness we see in the Bible is support gifts. These are gifts where people have God-given strengths in the foundational areas of our spiritual lives.

1 Corinthians 12 mentions the gift of faith (verse 9). Some people have this gift where, no matter what the crisis is or what's going on, they are willing to take the next hill. They say, “God is good. He's faithful and he’s still in this.”

Others have a gift of intercession or prayer. They just continually pray. They love to pray. That's how they are wired up. Have you ever read spiritual biographies of people who would get on their knees and pray for two or three hours at a time? I am in awe of these people who have this spiritual gift. That's what God wired them up to do.

Our 40-day adventure was developed by Central Christian Church in Las Vegas. They have a lady on staff named Yolie. Yolie walks around the halls of their church building in the morning before the rest of the staff comes to work. She walks down the halls and lays her hands on the doors of each staff office and prays for every person that works in that office.

During their services, she’ll be backstage praying for everyone in the service. Isn’t that cool? Some of you have the gift of prayer. We need you to use your gift more and more.

1 Corinthians (12:8) also mentions the gifts of knowledge and wisdom. Some people have a God given ability to share the truth in love in any given situation.

God has given all these wonderful gifts to the church. And let’s remember that there are a whole lot more gifts than are listed in the New Testament. God gives these gifts to us for the purpose of the common good. It’s all about using our gifts to serve others.

Now let’s get down to the very personal level. We’ve taken a whirlwind tour through what the Bible tells us about spiritual gifts. But now let’s talk about, “How does it apply to me? What am I supposed to do now? What does God want me to do with my gifts?”

The first step is obvious. He wants you to discover your gifts. He wants you to go on a journey to discover your gifts.

1 Corinthians 14:1 encourages us to, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts...” (1 Corinthians 14:1, NIV) Eagerly desire God’s gifts. Desire to discover them.

So how do you do that? How do you discover your gifts?

You examine and experiment. Examine your past. Look back over your history and ask questions like, “When was I the most filled with joy when I was serving God? What did I do that brought the most passion into my heart and life? As I look back at my life what have I had the most success in? What have other people affirmed in me? That's very, very important.

One of the big reasons that I pursued preaching is because people affirmed it in me. I really didn’t think I was good at it, but people saw something in me. They affirmed it in me. A lot of times your gifts will be confirmed by other people.

Examine then experiment. If you’re not sure where you’re gifted, just get out there and try something. Choose something and start doing it. You may discover a gift that you didn’t even know you had.

Something else you can do to help you discover your spiritual gifts is to fill out a spiritual gifts inventory or survey. It only takes a few minutes and it might open your eyes to how God has wired you up. We’ve got a gift assessment that you can take home with you today. Take it home and set aside some time to fill it out. Understand that these things aren’t perfect, but they’re still a good tool to us in the gift discovery process.

The next step in the gift process is to develop our gifts.

1 Timothy 4:14 says, “Do not neglect your gift…” (1 Timothy 4:14, NIV)

Some of us are here with amazing gifts and talents that God has given us but maybe because of time, fear, guilt, laziness, or the wrong priorities, we’re not using our gift. God is calling us to use our gifts.

2 Timothy 1:6 says, “…fan into flame the gift of God...” (2 Timothy 1:6, NIV) Fan it into flame—deepen it, increase it, cultivate it. Don’t be discouraged and don’t quit.

One of things we need to understand is just because we are gifted in a certain area doesn't mean when you operate in that area of giftedness everything will be easy. I have a gift with communication, but if you think it's easy to get up week in and week out and give us new, fresh, and valuable insights from God’s Word, then you're crazy! It's hard. It takes hours of work and prayer. That's what Paul is saying. Fan your gift into flame. Put in the time, and prayer, and work to develop your gifts.

The third step is to simply use your gifts.

1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10, NIV)

It’s not enough to simply discover your gifts. That’s a total waste of time if you’re not willing to develop and use the gifts that God has given you.

Can you imagine how God feels when he sees so many of his people sitting and not serving? How does he feel when he sees the gifts that he has given us just wasting away because we’re not willing to develop and use them?

On the other hand, can you imagine how God feels when he sees his children living out their potential, using the gifts that he has given them to serve others? God has hedged his bet on us. He has entrusted us to carry out his work in our church and in our world. He has not only entrusted us to do it, but he has also gifted us to do it.

Before we wrap up this morning, there is one caution that we need to talk about in this area of searching out and using our spiritual gifts.

Our gifts are not excuses. I’ve seen countless people refuse to do something in the church because, “It’s not my gift.” There are times when that is true. But a lot of the time, it’s simply an excuse coming from someone who hasn’t developed a servant’s heart.

God has given us all primary gifts. Our role of service in the church should be, first and foremost, built around the primary gifts that God has given us. If you are gifted in an area but you are not serving in that area, there are some changes that need to be made. We are all accountable for serving God with the gifts he has given us.

But, there are also secondary gifts. Areas where, it may not be your primary realm of giftedness, but it is an area where you can fulfill a need in the body of Christ. Sometimes it’s our willingness to serve in these secondary areas that really demonstrate more of our servant heart because it’s out of our comfort zone. It’s us saying, “God, I know I’m not the best in the world at this, but I see the need and I want to help to the best of my ability.”

This usually doesn’t happen in the upfront areas. It’s more behind the scenes serving opportunities. It looks like this. “God, I know I’m not extremely gifted in construction, but I can paint a room in the church building.” “I know I’m not the best cook, but I have a dish that I can prepare for a church dinner.” “I know I’m not the best teacher, but I can love on a group of kids, which is what they’ll remember most, anyway.” “I know I’m not the best encourager, but I can still send a note to that person who is struggling.” “I know I’m not the best at landscaping stuff, but I can volunteer to join the church’s lawn mowing team this spring.”

Ultimately, it comes down to the name of our 40-day journey. At the end of the day, it’s about developing a servant’s heart. Leaning into your areas of giftedness as your primary roles of service and ministry. Serving in secondary roles because your heart beats with service and you want to help the body of Christ any way you can.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Developing a Servant's Heart, ministry, service, spiritual gifts