February 8, 2004

Service Theme – "Our God Gifts Us"

Ephesians 4:7-13

Who Cares? Let Somebody Else Do It!

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – Henri Nouwen, in Bread for the Journey, writes, "[Most people] act as if they were simply dropped down in creation and have to entertain [them] selves until [they] die. But we [Christians] were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Each of us has a mission in life. Jesus prays to his Father for his followers, saying, "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." We seldom fully realize that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks" (as cited on PreachingToday.com).
    2. Context – These tasks that God has created us for are what we’re talking about today. God has gifted each believer, and the apostle Paul has a lot to say about this in Ephesians 4:7-13. So let’s take a look at this passage.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. Ephesians 4:7-13 (from The Message) – (NEW SLIDE) But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. (NEW SLIDE) The text for this is, He climbed the high mountain, He captured the enemy and seized the booty, He handed it all out in gifts to the people. (NEW SLIDE) It’s true, is it not, that the One who climbed up also climbed back down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. (NEW SLIDE) He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher, to train Christians in skilled servant work, (NEW SLIDE) working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
  1. Gifts Aren’t Gifts if We Don’t Give Them Away
    1. In my nearly thirty years as a Christian, I’ve known many folks who thought that doing the work of the church was for everyone else but them. They’ve expressed something like, "Who cares? Let somebody else do it" – unless of course it involved their own pet project or program. And then their attitude was, "Why won’t anyone step forward and do this?" I’m ashamed to admit that at times that person has been me. I think it’s fair to say that all of us have been there at one time or another. I also think it’s fair to say that every church has people like that, even ours. They tend to hang around until God gets a little too close for comfort and they start feeling convicted about their lack of involvement, so they simply move on to another church and begin the same cycle over again.
    2. But there is something else I am convinced of: most people who aren’t actively involved in using their spiritual gifts for God’s glory in the work of the church don’t have a "devil may care" attitude. Most folks who aren’t involved don’t use their gifts because they don’t understand how they can add one more thing to their schedule. Or maybe they’re just plain afraid of failure, or of taking risks, or of being able to learn to do something new, or of leaving their comfort zones. There are many people in our church who are either uninvolved or minimally involved due to these reasons and perhaps many others. Let me address some of those concerns, and then move us on toward a more biblical understanding. Why? Because we can’t afford to have only nine percent of us believe and practice a biblical worldview any longer.
    3. We talked about time last week. I’m not trying to minimize the number of things that we have to do in order to survive, but at the same time we’ve got to realize that if we don’t start running our schedules in ways that are honoring to God, they will continue to run us and lead us away from God. If you missed last week’s message or if you need to review, it’s posted online. The web address should be in the bulletin, but if it’s not, ask and I’d be glad to give it to you. The point is that if we do not work to steward our time in ways that are honoring to God, and if we do not move forward in spite of our fears, we’ll continue to spin our wheels and have the dissatisfaction of knowing that there is more to this walk with Christ than we’re allowing ourselves to experience.
    4. Now I want to make sure everyone in this room understands that I am not in any way, shape or form trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone. I have no right to do that, especially since I’ve been where some of you are at. I’m simply trying to help us understand what reality is right now as opposed to what reality should look like. One way that the lack of some of our people to use their gifts in service in the church that almost derailed what God wants us to do became very clear at our last council meeting. God wants us to begin offering the Alpha course right after our fifty-day spiritual adventure is over, and I have ordered and received the materials for it since our meeting. I would appreciate your prayers as we prepare to offer this course, and I will be giving you more information about it in the coming weeks. But one of the points of discussion was that those who are active in doing the work of the church already have full plates and adding another program would further overload already overloaded workers and leaders. We agreed that whoever is involved in leading Alpha groups would be released from something else they’re involved in, but that means that new folks have to step forward. Or that new folks have to get involved and be trained in leading Alpha groups. We came to the conclusion that God would provide people to help with this tremendous outreach tool, and that means that some of us need to listen to God’s calling to step forward. And that applies to most if not all of the ministries of this church.
    5. Again, I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone. In fact, in many respects I feel that this issue of people who aren’t using their spiritual gifts is in part a leadership failure on my part, which I’m trying to rectify. But at least another part involves our failures as Christians to understand what Scripture is saying to us. Let me explain.
    6. Our passage in Ephesians 4 picks up right after Paul has given a beautiful teaching on unity and on moving forward in Christ. Let me give you a few highlights. (NEW SLIDE) Verse one – I want you to get out there and walk – better yet, run! – on the road God called you to travel. (NEW SLIDE) Verses two and three – And mark that you do this with humility and discipline – not in fits and starts, but steadily pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences. And then (NEW SLIDE) verse six – Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness. That’s the set-up for verses seven through thirteen. Move forward with Christ! Be one with each other! Those are the beginning of Paul’s marching orders.
    7. Verses seven through ten point out the unity within the diversity of the church. What exactly does that mean? What does Paul mean when he writes, But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. (NEW SLIDE) What Paul is saying is that we absolutely have got to be united in love and in purpose, but that within that unity we all have different roles to play. We all have a different part based on what spiritual gifts each one of us has been given. But how do we know what they are and how to use them?
    8. What follows is perhaps the best translation of Paul’s intent in this passage. I believe that Eugene Peterson spells out exactly what Paul was expressing when he wrote this. Close your eyes and just listen again to this beautiful word picture. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. Wow! That, in a nutshell, is how the church is supposed to work. Let’s unpack it a little bit.
    9. Paul lists four gifts here – apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher. The one person from our church who I can think of who has the gift of apostle is Gary Healy. (NEW SLIDE) He is called and gifted to start new churches, to strengthen and encourage the believers in them, and to train the next generation of pastors and church leaders for ministry. He does all of those things very well. He is an apostle sent from our church to Bolivia to minister for us there. Prophet – now there’s a tricky one. We talked about this gifting a few months ago, so let’s just remember that (NEW SLIDE) prophets are those who are gifted to forthtell God’s truth. They say it like it is. And we need that forthtelling of God’s truth in love if we’re going to become effective in reaching our world for Jesus Christ. Prophet is one of my gifts, and there are some others in our church who have this gift as well. (NEW SLIDE) Evangelists are specially gifted to share the Gospel with everyone powerfully and effectively. They often don’t see themselves as having any impact, but over time they bear much fruit for the Kingdom. A couple of people who I believe have that gift in our church are Ed Johnson and Paul Stokes. Their hearts show their gifting very powerfully. (NEW SLIDE) Pastor-teachers are gifted to instruct and nurture fellow believers toward spiritual maturity. Their heart and gifting lead them toward teaching, discipleship, accountability, and training in using spiritual gifts. We have some gifted teachers in our church. A few who come to mind are John Alvin, Connie Ward, and Kim Hawes, to name a few. Some others have the gift of pastor too, such as John, Emma Alvin, and Paul Stokes. Those are the gifts listed in this passage.
    10. (NEW SLIDE) What is the purpose of these gifts? Training and equipping for ministry in the church. Training who? All believers. Not some believers, all believers. That’s why we do things like Sunday School, kid’s club, youth group, simulcasts, and Saturday Seminars. To train all believers of all ages in how to become effective in living for Christ and in ministering in the church. Why aren’t some folks trained? Because they choose not to be. All of us need to recognize that the only reason God can’t use us for the ministries He is calling us to is that we refuse to answer His call and we refuse to be trained. Not out of belligerence, but out of fear and out of a deep-seated knowledge of the many times we’ve failed Christ and the church in the past. There’s a Petra song on their Jekyl and Hyde album I’d like to share some lyrics from with you. The name of the song is Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. Here’s how the lyrics go: Life is filled with many chances. Some you took and some you blew. Your path in life can turn ever so quickly on…everything you say, and change with everything you do. I know that was then; there’s nothing I can do about what might have been. Woulda, coulda, shoulda done this and that. Don’t want to live life with another regret. Woulda, coulda, shoulda made another choice. I can see more the older I get. Woulda, coulda, shoulda done something more, but it’s too late – there’s a knock at the door. Woulda, coulda, shoulda won’t change a thing. The here and now is waiting. We dig our pit, we make our bed. That’s where we fall and where we lay. But we still have a shot to make things better, ‘cause it ain’t over yet. And we can get it right today. We can make the right choice. You know it’s easy when you hear God’s voice. I want to live my life not only thinking of the past. The future tells me that my lot has not been cast. I want to say I will, I did instead of could or should. Gonna believe in the promise "it’s all good."
    11. Satan would love for us to grovel in the mud and muck of our past mistakes and never take the continual risk of using the gifts God has given each one of us as believers for His glory in the ministry of our church. (NEW SLIDE) If Satan can keep us focused on our failures of the past, he renders us ineffective for the possibilities of our future in Christ. I know that personally. I used to come down on myself so hard all the time that I was continually depressed, felt worthless, and even at times was suicidal. I had sinned so much and blown it so many times in my attempts at ministry that there was no possible way God could ever forgive me or use me. And I sinned by believing those lies because in effect I was calling God a liar by telling myself and Him that my sins and my failures were so bad that He could never forgive me or use me in the work of the church. I grieved Him terribly! And then I grieved Him and sinned against Him even more by beating myself up even harder. And I have to confess to you that there are still times I struggle with those feelings. My wife once told me, "You need to learn to be nice to yourself." She’s right. And I’m saying to all of you – (NEW SLIDE) "You need to learn to be nice to yourself." The past is in the past. Accept the forgiveness that you’ve asked Jesus for, and then let God use you for His glory. After all, if God can use me, He can use anybody!
    12. Illustration – In response to those who make excuses why they can’t serve the Lord, Rick Warren, in The Purpose Driven Life (pg. 233), writes: Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid. That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you too if you stop making excuses (as cited on PreachingToday.com).
    13. (NEW SLIDE) Satan would like nothing more than for us to keep using our past as an excuse to forget about living for our present and future in Jesus Christ. Think about the alternative - …working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. That’s the beautiful picture of what Jesus created us to be. Will we choose that wonderful future? We’re going to experience trials and troubles either way, so why not do what we’re created for in the process? Will we choose to use the gifts God has given us for His glory in the ministry of the church?
  1. Conclusion
    1. Please bow your heads and close your eyes. C. S. Lewis wrote, He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye. Creation seems to be delegation through and through. I suppose this is because He is a giver (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Our God is indeed a giver and has gifted us abundantly with every gift our church needs to be powerful and effective in impacting our world for Jesus Christ, for making fully committed and transformed disciples for Him. How are you doing at using your spiritual gifts in the ministry of our church? Do you even know what they are? Let’s all spend a few minutes quietly listening to the Holy Spirit speak to us about how we’re using our spiritual gifts.
    2. What has the Holy Spirit been speaking to your heart? Do you sense His call on you to begin to use your spiritual gifts for His glory in the ministry of our church? Or maybe you’ve been using some of your gifts but you sense Him calling you to use them more? If you’re sensing that call, and you want to commit yourself to obeying His call on you, please raise your hand right now.
    3. We’re going to pray together now, but I’d like to ask you to do a couple of things. First, if you’re answering His call, come up to the front of the sanctuary right after the service. We’ll help you figure out where to try using your gifts. And I’d like John, Emma, Warren, Connie, and Randy to come up front to help me help you get plugged into ministry here in the church. So if you’re answering His call to use your spiritual gifts for His glory in the ministry of the church, come forward right after the service. Second, circle the "G" on your communication card and put it into the offering and I will pray for God’s guidance and direction for you this week. Let’s pray together.
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