A Home for Your Gifts

Ephesians 4:11-16

For the past couple years a number of us at RIC have played in a softball league at the American school. We play for a team named, All Sorts, which in past years was made up from people here and there. But then a member of RIC became coach and now all but three players on the team attend RIC. There are six teams in the league and our team has won the championship the last three seasons: Fall 2011, Spring 2012, and Fall 2012. Last week we were tied for first place and after our celebration and dedication at RIC, we played the team we were tied with and won. We won decisively. We beat them 23-1, an amazing game. We are a very good team, when everyone is there. The week before, when we were missing some key players, we lost to one of the weaker teams, 13-8.

I pitch for the team and what is required for the pitcher it to be able to lob a ball with an arc that hits an area about the size of three dinner plates about 12 meters away. I have never been an exceptional athlete but this is something I can do and so it makes me a valuable member of the team. But this kind of pitching does not win games by itself. Most times, the batters hit the ball and so in order to be successful, the players standing behind me need to be able to catch the ball when it is hit. There is a first line of defense called the infield and a second line of defense called the outfield and when the ball is hit they have to keep an eye on the ball, react quickly, and catch it. We have very good infielders and outfielders.

Then it is our turn to hit the ball and we have very strong hitters. When we are all there, we score about 20 or so runs a game.

The rules of the league require each team to have two players who are either female or under the age of 14. We have one female player and several younger players.

We all have to be present in order to win. If the younger players and the female player do not show up, we forfeit the game. If we are missing good infielders and outfielders and if we are missing good hitters, we have a greater change of losing the game. Each person is needed and each person plays an important role.

The apostle Paul did not use softball as an analogy for how the body of Christ works because it had not yet been invented, but it is a great analogy for the church as we talk about spiritual gifts and our service in the church.

When I went off to college, my father went to the store with me and bought me some supplies. Rubber bands, paper clips, a stapler, scissors, tape dispenser, pens and pencils, a pencil sharpener, a slide-rule (if you don’t know what that is, look it up) – all the things I would need to do the work facing me in university. I still use some of those supplies.

When my daughters went to college I did the same for them although some of the items had changed. They went with a computer, something that was not an option when I went to college. They took a graphing calculator which was again not an option when I went. Other than that, the items were pretty much the same although a computer and graphing calculator are a lot more expensive than a slide-rule.

Why did my father buy those things for me and why did I buy those things for my daughters? Because one does not send off someone you love without giving them the tools they will need to do the job facing them.

A good farmer does not send his workers to work in the fields without the tools they will need to do their work. A good general does not ask his troops to fight without the weapons they will need.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he left behind his church and the task of the church has been and continues to be to do the work of Jesus in the world. One way of understanding the church is that we are the arms, feet and voice of Jesus. Our task is to love people in the world as Jesus loved people in the world.

This is an enormous task and like a good general or farmer or parent, Jesus does not send us off on this task without giving us the tools we need.

When Paul writes about spiritual gifts in his letters to Rome, Corinth and Ephesus, he writes about the tools God has given us so we can do the work of Jesus in the world.

What is a spiritual gift?

When God created you, he created you with certain strengths and abilities. Through some of these, the Holy Spirit works in a special, spiritually powerful way.

Paul, in three sections of his letters: Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4, lists a number of these gifts: administration, apostleship, contributing to the needs of others, distinguishing between spirits, encouragement, evangelism, faith, healing, helping others, interpretation of tongues, knowledge, leadership, miraculous powers, pastoring, prophecy, serving, showing mercy, speaking in different kinds of tongues, teaching, wisdom.

We do not have time to go into what each of these gifts are although that would be a great study for you in some of your small groups. We could do that here at Villa 91 but the truth is that this kind of study is best done in a small group with people who know you well and can help you identify which spiritual gifts you might have. In the first years I was a follower of Jesus my small group studied spiritual gifts and I still have a list of the gifts they suggested I might have. Let me know if you are interested and I can provide you with some resources for your study.

It seems clear that the Bible does not contain a complete list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul used these gifts to illustrate points he was making in these three letters. He did not set out to make a comprehensive list of spiritual gifts. Let’s take a look at what Scripture teaches about spiritual gifts.

The first teaching about spiritual gifts is that each Christian is given at least one gift.
I Corinthians 12:4-7
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

This teaching is affirmed in Ephesians 4:7-8
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.  8 This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.”

You, as a Christian, have at least one of the gifts in the list I just read or perhaps a gift that is not on that list. You most likely have more than one gift. When you use your gifts, the Holy Spirit will work through you to build and strengthen his kingdom. God’s power and love are displayed when you use those gifts. You may look around and say, “I don’t have the talent others in the church have,” and sit back and let others do the work. But if you are a follower of Jesus, you have spiritual gifts meant to be used in the church.

The second teaching about spiritual gifts is that the purpose of the gifts is service.
I Peter 4:10
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

Spiritual gifts are not given to empower us. They are not given to enhance our reputation. They are not given to build us up, to inflate our egos. They are not given to make us look good or important in the eyes of others. Spiritual gifts are given so we can serve the church.

The third teaching on spiritual gifts is that they are spiritually worthless unless they are used in love.
I Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

This thirteenth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is one of the more well-known passages of Scripture. It is a wonderful poem of love but pay attention to where it is found. It is more than a text to be read at weddings. It comes in the middle of Paul’s argument about the abuse of the gift of tongues in the church in Corinth. The reason Paul inserts this poem in his argument is to reinforce the point that spiritual gifts are given to serve the church, not the individual, and when we use our spiritual gifts, we must use them in the spirit of Christ. We must use them with the love God has given to us.

The power of spiritual gifts is negated when we use them without love. We may be able to teach without love, but we will do so only with the skill and charisma we have been able to manufacture on our own. We may be able to help others but without love our help will not bring an experience of God’s love to those being helped.

Without love the spiritual gifts we have been given will not be done in service and will be stripped of the power of the Holy Spirit.

The fourth teaching about spiritual gifts is that the church functions best when each person exercises his or her gift.
I Corinthians 12:14-26
14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.  15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?  18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?  20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,  25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

A woman who worked for me in my company in the US lost her little finger in an accident. That doesn’t sound like much but she had terrible difficulty with many tasks. Typing was a problem as were other tasks that are not as obvious. Try this. Grip two fingers of one hand with your other hand. Squeeze as tight as you can but do not use your little finger. Now grip those fingers using your little finger as well. So you see how important your little finger is?

Another friend lost the front part of his toes on one foot in an accident and he had problems with balance because of that. The front half of your toes do not seem that necessary, but they are. When we lose one part of our body, the whole body suffers.

Our softball team suffers when someone does not come because we depend on each person using their gifts, playing their position well. This is obvious to us in sports teams and in business and Paul makes this point for the church, that when one member of the body does not use his or her spiritual gift, the whole body suffers.

The fifth teaching about spiritual gifts that I will mention this morning is that spiritual gifts are given by God to build us up into Christ who is the head of the body.
Ephesians 4:15-16
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.  16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Spiritual gifts are given to unify us. They are given to enable us to grow and be built up in love to be one body of which Christ is the head. We have many gifts but they are all directed by the Holy Spirit to make us a body unified in our devotion and service to Jesus. That is when the church pulsates with life.

Can you imagine a body in which each part made up its own mind about what to do and when to do it? Such a body could do little more than lie on the ground and jerk around.

We used to run through a protected forest near our home in New Jersey in the US. A nature center in that preserve found a turtle with two heads. The turtle was not able to survive and died but was preserved in formaldehyde. The turtle’s problem was that each head saw some food to eat and tried to get there but was prevented in doing so by the direction of the other head.

The church is often similarly immobile. But when each part of the body focuses on Christ, the head, and obeys the directions of the head, Christ, the body is capable of making great progress.

Now let me apply this teaching to our church.

In a business, you hire people to produce and sell a product. In my company we had people in research & development who created a product. Manufacturing produced the product. Our quality control made sure the product was made properly. Sales took the product to our customers. The office staff kept track of all we did. Shipping packed up the product and sent it to the customers. Each person in the team was important. If one person did not do their job correctly, the whole company suffered. If the shipper sent out the product but did not specify that it needed to be sent overnight, despite the fact they everyone else had done their job well,  all the work that went into that product was wasted and I had to get on the phone and apologize to the customer. If someone continually made mistakes, that person was fired and we hired someone new with the necessary skills.

But the church is very different because although a church can pay a pastor or music minister, they alone cannot do the work of the church. A church depends on volunteers. A church whose paid staff does all the work of the church does not do very much. It may be able to put on a show on Sunday, but the life of the church will be superficial and anemic.

A church relies on the volunteer work of those who attend the church and unlike a business, the church does not seek out members with the particular skill sets needed in the church. A church welcomes anyone who comes.

If a business operated this way, it would quickly go bankrupt. It would have too many salesmen and not enough production workers or too many finance managers and not enough researchers. But what makes a church so amazing is that God supplies each church with just the right spiritual gifts it needs to operate.

Here at RIC we have every spiritual gift God thinks we need and next September when people have left and new people arrive, we will still have every spiritual gift God thinks we need. God continually gives the people who attend RIC the gifts we need and when people sit on their gifts and do not use them, RIC suffers.

It is important that you understand that I view the church as much larger than RIC. This sermon on spiritual gifts is not meant to manipulate you to use your gifts within RIC. But this sermon is meant to challenge you to make sure you are using your spiritual gifts, inside the community of RIC or outside in the larger community of the church.

The reason this sermon is being preached is because now that we are meeting at Villa 91, our responsibilities have increased. The bar has been raised. It is even more important now that we each use our spiritual gifts if we are to live up to the potential of this villa we have been given.

We have a wonderful building for our church home, but it will be just a shell if we do not use our gifts. In order to have life pulsating from the activities in the church, each of us will need to use our spiritual gifts.

At Assemblee Chretienne we needed ushers to hand out bulletins at the entrance and to take up the offering. Now we have a front door and back door. We have an upstairs and downstairs. This requires more ushers who have more responsibility. Our sound and audio system requires more effort. Someone needs to operate the video camera. We have speaking mikes and singing mikes that need to be managed.

Assemblee Chretienne oversaw the maintenance of their building, but now we have to maintain Villa 91 with all the cleaning and repairs that arise.

We had a cabinet into which we put all our nursery supplies but now we have a room for our nursery with closet space that allows us to do a better job caring for the children who come. More space requires more organization and maintenance.

We have a kitchen that has so much potential but can quickly become chaotic if we do not have someone maintaining it and setting rules for its use. We need to stock our kitchen with the dishes, silverware and appliances that will be needed.

How will we decorate the walls? What will we put over the light bulbs? How can we personalize this villa to reflect the makeup of the congregation? How can we make this a beautiful house of worship?

Now that we have a library within our walls, how can that be used to encourage us in our walk with Jesus?

We have space now so people will be requesting that they meet in our villa. What are our requirements for people using the villa?

We have the freedom now to set our own schedule but what will that schedule be? Will we have Sunday School here at Villa 91 or continue to use RAS or some combination of both?

We have a prayer room but how will it be used? How can we encourage those who come to pray?

We have more opportunity for ministry but who will use their gift of teaching? Who will use their gift of helps? Who will use their gift of prayer? Who will use their gift of mercy? Who will use their gift of wisdom? Who will use their gift of administration? Who will use their gifts to make Villa 91 a building that pulsates with life?

RIC needs you to use the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has given you and when you use your gifts, the wider church benefits, RIC benefits, and you will benefit.

You will benefit because when you use the gifts God has given you, there is a present joy and a future joy.

There is a present joy that comes with using spiritual gifts. One of my gifts is that of pastor. This is different from being a pastor. That is a role I play in the church. But the gift of pastor is the gift of a heart that takes in those God brings to a community. The gift of pastor is loving the people God brings.

This gift has been part of my life before I was a pastor in my 20s, in the years when I was in business, and continues now that I am pastor of RIC. I have strong, distinct memories of meeting with customers in various states in the US and we had wonderful conversations as they opened up to me about problems they were facing and I was able to pray with them. I remember thinking on a plane ride back home that my ministry to that customer was much more satisfying than bringing in a new customer to our company.

The years between 15 and 25 can be very difficult for some people and I have strong memories of helping certain of our employees clean up the mess of those years and make a new start.

Annie pointed out to me that in my business years, I never stopped being a pastor and I loved having the opportunities to love and care for people.

You can use your gifts now, where you are, and when you do, a deep satisfaction that you are working with Jesus in his kingdom will bring joy into your life.

There is a present joy when you use the gifts God has given you and there is also a future joy. Jesus told a parable about a landowner who gave his servants gifts. Some received more than others but they were all given gifts and then when the landowner returned to receive an account of how the gifts were used, the ones who took risks and used their gifts received welcome praise. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But the one who buried his gift suffered the judgment of the landlord.

The gifts we are given by the Holy Spirit are not optional equipment in our lives. They are given to us because in God’s plan he expects us to use them in his service. The use of our gifts now brings us future joy when we receive our Lord’s approval.

Jesus is our model for this. He came to do the work of his father and did not shirk his duty. The writer of Hebrews wrote: (Hebrews 12:2–3)
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For the joy set before him, Jesus triumphantly accomplished his work on the cross. Use the gifts God has given you in service to the church for the joy you will receive.

I can’t hit home runs (hitting the ball over the fence). I am a terrible fielder and if the ball comes to me, I may well fumble it. But I can pitch and when I do, I help our team win. There are many things necessary and helpful in the church I am not skilled at. I depend on others in the church to use their gifts and make this a wonderful church home. But there are a few things I can do and when I do them, RIC benefits.

I thank the many in this congregation who use their gifts and make RIC the wonderful church that it is. And can you imagine what it would be like if every person in RIC used their gifts for the church? Wow! What a joy it would be to be part of that church!

For the joy of knowing you are working with God for his kingdom, for the future joy of hearing Jesus tell you, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” for the service to Jesus and his church and particularly his church at RIC, I urge you to consider what spiritual gifts God has given you and then take the risk of using them to build God’s kingdom.