This week we look at spiritual gifts, and using our spiritual gifts to serve each other in the church, and those not yet in the church. This was one of those messages that changed direction, This was not what I was planning on speaking about. But it's a needed message. As always, I'd love to hear what you think! Comments appreciated. This message is based on Romans 12:1-8.
Catherine, a registered nurse, was unhappy with her job, so she submitted her resignation. She was sure she'd have no trouble finding a new job because of the nursing shortage, it seemed everybody was looking for nurses. She e-mailed cover letters to dozens of potential employers and attached her resume to each one. Two weeks later, she hadn’t received a single call back for an interview. Finally, she received an e-mail message from an employer which probably explained why she hadn't heard from anyone else. It read, "Your resume was not attached as stated. I do, however, want to thank you for the wonderful vegetable lasagna recipe.” Oops. Sounds like something I would do. Her blunder aside, Catherine’s desire to leave one job and find a new one, is apparently a typical mindset for a majority of people in America. According to a poll conducted by Manpower a couple years ago of some 1,400 workers, 84 percent intended to look for a new job that year. Manpower is a temp agency and career development company. That number seems surprising for a couple of reasons. First, a few years ago, when this survey was done, the job market was really difficult. Things were tough all over, with new jobs not usually paying anywhere near the old jobs that may just be lost forever. The unemployment rate several years ago was well over 9 percent. You might think in those conditions, that someone might be somewhat grateful to have a job, and wouldn't be thinking about finding a new one. Especially quitting first, then trying to find one. But, then, just being grateful to have a job certainly doesn't mean that job is enjoyable or fulfilling or challenging. Even today, the labor market is tight. But remember, many of those who are employed are doing tasks that used to be covered by more than one employee. Imagine working in an office with two other people, and one is let go. The workload is the same, but you’re expected to get all the work done. You’re expected to do your job and what the other person did. That scenario is played out all across the country and it causes a great deal of stress and discontentment. The second reason so many are expecting to look for a new job is closely related to the first. The poll suggests that a lot of people are working at jobs that either do not match their skills or that they just don’t enjoy. There are a lot of people who went to college, but couldn’t find work in their area of study. People with college degrees who are stocking shelves in retail stores, I met a man last month who is a part time youth pastor, graduated from Houghton with a four-year ministry degree, who is working at the Verizon store. He wants to get into full time youth ministry, but couldn’t find work. Yes, I talked to him about what we had, but his hours are too crazy, he needs full time ministry work so he can leave Verizon. I tried. Anyway, a lot of people aren’t satisfied with their work. They have jobs, but they aren’t in the area they want to work in. They aren’t doing what they want to do. And so they’re not happy doing it. Let’s compare that to the "jobs" we are called to do in the church. In writing to the Romans, Paul speaks about people having different "jobs" - he calls them "gifts" - and he says that we all belong to the same body, one that's meant to work together in a healthy way. We saw that in our reading, Paul listed several of these jobs: prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing, leading, and showing mercy. Each person is gifted in at least one of these, probably several of these, and they should be involved in using these gifts in the church. The Message, Eugene Peterson's biblical paraphrase, helps us hear Paul's point clearly: "So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't." I love that, “let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be.” That can translate, do what you were made to do. The question is: What were made to be? What are we supposed to do? And the short answer to that question is that you were made to serve God. 2 Timothy 2:9 says, “…the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.” He had a purpose in mind when He created you. He had a reason, He had something in mind that He wants you to be involved in. Everyone who has been called to salvation, has been called to service. Your salvation includes a call to serve. Rick Warren writes in Purpose Driven Life, “Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service. A ‘non-serving Christian’ is a contradiction in terms.” He backs that up with 2 Timothy 1:9, which we just looked at, that says he made you for a purpose. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Why are you a chosen people? Why did God call you? So you can declare his praises! How do we do that? We tell others what He’s done for us, and we serve Him by serving others. We help people. We show our love for God by helping people. Inside and outside the church, we go out of our way to serve. Let’s get back to looking at our reading so we can hear this command of Paul’s in the context of what he means by the word, "gifts". We usually describe spiritual gifts as things that we do well and that we enjoy doing. The idea is that our gifts are not just what we are capable of doing or just those things that we enjoy, but a combination of the two. You might say that a gifting is where Enjoyment and Ability come together. Both are present. You might know someone that loves to play music – it’s just kind of hard to listen to them. They might enjoy playing, but they just don’t have a lot of musical ability. That’s not a gift. You might know somebody else that can do something very well, they just don’t like doing it. They’ve got the ability, but they don’t enjoy it. That’s not a gift either. So, maybe we can understand why people might want to quit jobs for which they are not spiritually gifted. And, in the church, that should be ok. Sometimes people might get nominated for a board, or maybe to serve on a committee, or asked to help out in a particular ministry, who don’t really have any abilities or gifting in that area. And often these people accept, not because they really want to serve in that way, but because they love the church, and too many times there isn’t anybody else that wants to, so they serve in areas they aren’t gifted in. And as a result, they aren’t happy, they do it grudgingly because nobody else wants to. And the best isn’t done, and we aren’t the best church we can be, and we giving God our best, because the people God has gifted to do those things aren’t doing them. Some time ago, was it this past spring? We did the Spiritual Gifts Sunday, where we did a short message on spiritual gifts, and then I had you do a spiritual gifts profile. I was pretty discouraged that I only got about 15 of those back. I thought it would be a fun little exercise that will help us find the areas in the church where we should be serving, and once we know, we could help you find ways to use your gifts and your desires. As much as we want you to serve, and we need you serve, and you need to serve if you’re going to fulfill God’s calling in your life, we want you to have fun doing it. It shouldn’t be drudgery, there is a place for you to serve where you can feel fulfilled and supported, and you can actually enjoy doing it. Paul tells us why does God gives gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:7: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." He gives us gifts, abilities that we enjoy using, to serve others. So let’s talk a little more about these gifts. What are Spiritual gifts? Well, they include some things that don't always show up on a resume. In addition to obvious gifts like musical skills, teaching talent, leadership, financial ability, building and repair skills, things like prayer, faith, hopefulness, hospitality, kindness and mercy are also spiritual gifts. So are discernment, wisdom, and encouragement. One way the Spirit of God shows itself in a church, is through people using their gifts to support the work of the church. Each of you is here this morning, each of you is a part of this church, because God called you here. Because God has gifted you in an area that would benefit the work of God in this church. And if everyone used their gifts to do God’s work, the work of God would be obvious, there would be no denying God’s presence here. Not only that, but I believe that when we step out using our gifts, we are filled by the spirit with everything we need to do the work. When we think of using our gifts to serve others, we usually think of the church setting, and it certainly is important that you use whatever gift you have to serve in the church. There are things that need to be done here that you are gifted to do, but those things either go undone or are done by someone just because somebody has to do it, and nobody else volunteered. Obviously, the church won’t flourish if that’s the case. And I’ll say it: Our church not flourishing because too many are staying home with their gifts, leaving the work either undone, or done by someone else who might not be gifted in that way. Many of you are gifted to do things that this church desperately needs done, and we won’t flourish until you step up and get more involved. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be a servant." But God wants us to use our gifts to serve others, too. Back in 1981, a man by the name of George Ewing was a food engineer with General Mills. His job was ”engineer” foods that would produce more, and help to make American farmers the most productive on the planet. But it bothered him that outside of America, there were millions of people, primarily in undeveloped countries, who were starving. It occurred to Ewing that he and his fellow engineers might come together, and form a think tank in the food industry, and together, they ought to be able to do something about world hunger. Eventually, Ewing and nine other General Mills scientists, engineers and executives, all of whom were church people, organized a nonprofit organization called Compatible Technology to research and develop foods and equipment to be used in food production in hunger-stricken undeveloped countries. They aimed for products that would actually be compatible with the limited resources those countries possessed and the limited know-how of the people there. I don’t know what these things are or what they do, but here are just a few of the things they developed to make families in undeveloped countries far more productive, so they can produce far more food, so they can confront hunger in their villages. George Ewing found a spiritual gift, and used to make a huge difference in world hunger. We have many people here in this church family, while they don’t get the credit they deserve, they’re making a huge difference because they are willing to serve. To those this morning, I say thank you. If you’re not among them, please pray about where you can join them. If you don’t know what your gifts are, let me know, I’ll get one of those profiles and we’ll identify some of your gifts. And pray that God reveal those areas that He wants you involved in, and then, as they are revealed, come join them, let’s serve together.
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