Title: Unwrapping Our Presents
Date: February 13, 2007
Text: Romans 12:3-8
Introduction
- Here are some gifts you should not buy your wife (from Readers Digest):
1. Don't buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian.
2. Don't buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999 times. "Do I look like a size 16?" she'll say. Too small a size doesn't cut it either: "I haven't worn a size 8 in 20 years!"
3. Avoid all things useful. The new silver polish advertised to save hundreds of hours is not going to win you any brownie points.
4. Don't buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She'll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that's she's overweight.
5. Don't buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can't afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn't want.
7. Finally, don't spend too much. "How do you think we're going to afford that?" she'll ask. But don't spend too little. She won't say anything, but she'll think, "Is that all I'm worth?"
- giving gifts is a dangerous business :-)
- but there is One who gives us gifts, whom we can trust implicitly
- these gifts will not blow up in our face, or hurt us or lead us down the garden path
1. Why does God give gifts?
- God is generous, not a taker
- John 10:10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly"
- his purpose is to give people an abundant life
- he wants us to share in that purpose so he gives us gifts
- Ephesians 4:7-13 "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift . . . for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ"
- purpose of gifts is not to feel good or have power or for selfish pursuits
- purpose is to build each other up
- so that each person may become all that God intended them to be
2. What kinds of gifts does God give?
- there are many examples of gifts God gives - read Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4
- but there are many more
- For example, God gifted Bezalel and Aholiab
- Exodus 35:30-34 "He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of . . . artistic workmanship. And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
- notice that this gifting was for a purpose, for building the tabernacle
- it was not for a feel-good purpose
- what gifts has God given us personally?
- are we skilled at selling? are we teachers? are we compassionate? are we encouragers?
- Romans 12 lists the following gifts: prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy - do any of these relate to you?
- each of these gifts is given for a reason, it has been particularly selected for you - it has your name on it!
- it will determine how you deal in situations
- for example, say I were to trip in the warehouse and fall flat on my face, and drop all the books I was carrying
- there are 7 of you standing around, exemplifying the 7 gifts in Romans 12
- the person with the gift of mercy will come around and say "Are you ok Gerry? Did you hurt yourself? It's not your fault you tripped, that sofa was sitting in the wrong place" - he is trying to help me not feel so stupid
- the leader person gets up and says "Okay Val, you go and get a box to put all those books in, Ward, you move that sofa out of the way" - he is just trying to get things done efficiently and smoothly
- the person with the gift of giving comes up and says "I see you tore your jeans, I think I have a pair your size, let me get them for you"
- someone with the gift of exhortation sees the same thing happen and says "Please be careful. Guys if you see a problem like this point it out in advance because we will do something about it."
- the teacher will get up and say "there are two reasons why this happened. First, the sofa was in the wrong place. Second, Gerry was not watching where he was going. If we watch this in future we will have a less painful experience in the warehouse"
- someone with the gift of service collects all the books, puts them in a box for me, and brings me the first aid kit
- the person with the gift of prophecy says "all these things happen for a reason, we can learn a lesson from this. Sin can trip us and when it does, all kinds of things mess up in our lives. But if we change our ways, God will make it all work out for good".
- each person approached the incident in a different manner, depending on the gifts they had been given
- different gifts work together in particular ways - personality determines how we use these abilities
- there is no one exactly like you
- Romans 12:3-5 "many members in one body" - we are all needed
3. We need to use the gifts
- first, discover what gifts God has given to you - do a test, ask others what they think of you, see how you react in situations
- a gift is no use up on the shelf - a present needs to be unwrapped and then used
- second, learn to develop those gifts - learn about them, find others with the same gifts and see how they deal with them - keep your eye open for oportunities to learn about the gift
- third, find ways in which to use that gift, which are appropriate to your situation
- in all of this, involve the Holy Spirit - he is the one who gives the gifts to us, and he knows God's purpose in giving them to you
- remember, there is a responsibility attached to receiving these gifts
- to whom much is given of him will much be required
- Luke 12:48 ". . . For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more"
- but God also promises blessing for those who use the gifts he gives to them, faithfully
Summary
- we have all received gifts, each of us is unique
- these gifts are for the benefit of the people around us
- we need to identify, develop and use these gifts
- this will benefit not only ourselves but more importantly, it will help us all to work together like Jesus intended
No comments:
Post a Comment