SCRIPTURE READING | 1 Peter 4:8-11 NIV
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Leader: This is the Word of God for the people of God!
People: Thanks be to God!
I WILL. GIFTS. | Pastor Thanael Certa-Werner
Today we’re continuing our sermon series on the five promises United Methodists make when they join a church – to support it with their prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. In the first week we talked about the importance prayer has on our lives – how it is a learning process in which we learn more about God by spending time with Him and drawing close to His heart.
Last week we talked about presence by looking at the temple and how it was designed to keep people from getting too close to God. We looked at the book of Hebrews in which we discover that Jesus’ death and resurrection has brought us into the Holy of Holies and calls us together to support each other in times of trouble, of growth, and celebration.
This week we’re looking at supporting the church by our gifts. But before we start, let’s practice our memory verse.
For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3:9 (NIV)
I want you to think back to Christmas. In our house, we put up our Christmas tree and decorate it with ornaments that has been carefully packed away in the boxes every year. Our tree, however, is not a finely decorated tree with expensive ornaments which tie together and have a theme. Rather, our tree is filled with ornaments made by me and my siblings during our childhood. I can imagine that the parents in the room have similar trees filled with little glove reindeer and popsicle stars.
When we’re little, we know how to do so few things. Our parents carefully help and guide us as they teach us all the things we need to know to live good lives. Before kindergarten, my parents broke out the alphabet blocks and taught me how to spell my name. From that moment on, on every Christmas card, ornament, piece of paper, or wall in the house, you would find my name proudly written in barely legible handwriting.
Even though they’re not the prettiest, nor intricate, nor expensive, kids are so proud and happy to give their parents their home-made gifts and ornaments every Christmas because it shows how they have taken what their parents have taught them and used it to make their parents happy. To show that they love the people who have helped to bring them into the world and have given them what they need to live a good life.
And we keep this habit for the rest of our lives. God help anyone who goes into the nursing profession, because they immediately become the medical profession for the entire family and all their friends. Any teenager knows that they are technical support for grandma and grandpa. The reality is, that we like to use what we’re good at, what other people have helped us to get, to help others in return. It’s our human nature to give back for what we’ve received.
God is constantly working to equip us – He has given each of us unique gifts for living life. Just as some kids are more talented at stuffing brown gloves to make reindeer and others have a better handle on gluing ends of popsicles together to make a star, each of us have special abilities which God has given us to impact our world.
The Bible gives a list of examples of some of the gifts which God gives us. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 says, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines.”
God gives us all types of gifts for our lives, whether they be speaking in front of others, having wisdom or knowledge, or unwavering faith. But also, being musically inclined, knowing just what to put into a recipe to make it taste perfect, or being able to understand how machinery works in your head. And still further, our very circumstance is a gift from God. The resources at our disposal, whether they be time or money or connection – all of them are gifts from God.
There is no question that God has generously filled our lives with a multitude of gifts, but how we use these gifts is up to us. As we talked about earlier, it’s in our human nature to give back to those who have loved us and helped get us to where we are, but this innate nature is limited by our humanness. Peter, in his first letter and our reading for today calls for us to, “use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
We are to steward – or take care of – the gifts which we have received to serve others as God’s grace demands. What Peter is pointing out is that these gifts which we have been given by God are really God’s grace given to us to steward. In other words, we have been given an opportunity to partner with God in His work as God!
Just as a child who has been given some cookies to frost for Christmas, we have been given a little bit of grace to handle and use. We can choose to use it as it been designed to be used and carefully spread it out on the cookies our Parent has given us, or we can eat the frosting all up ourselves, maybe splitting it with our siblings if we’re feeling generous.
God isn’t forcing us to make the decision how He wants us to, but He has given us some hints as to the consequences of our actions. If we choose to eat the frosting, it’s going to taste good. In fact, it’s going to taste really good and we’ll want more and more of it. And the select people we decide to share with will really love it. But after a while, what happens when you eat pure frosting by the spoonful? You get a stomachache and get sick. But if we choose to cover the cookies and give them out to others, it’s something we shouldn’t expect to do on our own either.
Peter says, “If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” The point of frosting the cookies is to do so as God would. So that requires us to allow for God to instruct us and guide us in holding the spatula.
When we try to use our gifts for others by ourselves, our words become muddled and warped, our actions tired and burn us out. When it’s just us, the frosting is messy, uneven, and disproportionate. As we take time to be with God in our prayers, we learn to think as He does. As we spend time in Christian community, we allow for God to perfect and encourage us through others.
Partnering with God through our gifts means accepting our gifts for what they are, Grace on loan to us from God to be used for others and as God would so that we are able to lean on God’s strength and understanding through it all.
That’s our challenge this week, to start using our gifts more like how God is calling us to. This can mean financially supporting the church more than you have in the past. But it might also mean using your abilities to sing in worship, or your organizational abilities to get a mission day together, or your wisdom which God has given you in Bible study to help deepen the faith of others. In other words, the challenge for this week is to take a look at your gifts, to take inventory of what you’ve got. Then to ask yourselves, where am I eating all of the frosting? Where is God calling me to use my gifts for others? And then to ask God to lead you in using those gifts for His glory so that in all things, Jesus’ Name might be praised.