Turn in your Bibles tonight to Romans chapter 12.
So I didn't want to necessarily feel led to go off into
a completely different direction, but rather I wanted to
try to support our pastor in his Sunday morning service as we
go through the gifts.
We're almost halfway through now throughout the spiritual gift.
And I don't want to per se, repreach the same gifts that he's
gone or even go forward into some other new gift.
But I want to address the question of why.
Have you ever wondered that?
Why is the pastor preaching on this?
Why?
You know, if you're.
If you're real spiritual, maybe you.
You pick that up and say, well, this is exactly what God is.
And we see that all throughout our lives.
You ever come to a sermon, you feel like pastor is preaching just
to me, God is leading him.
Right?
That is at the crux of this sermon here, and the title of it
is what's so Special about the Gift?
What's so Special about the Gift?
What's so special about the spiritual gifts that we would devote
so much time with?
Now, I would agree with Pastor Josh.
I had one pastor preach.
It wasn't actually preaching.
It was a class.
It was like a Sunday school class that Brother Goforth actually
went through.
But I've never really had, to my recollection, a pastor preach
individually on every single gift, one at a time.
And as we go through this, we're making a big emphasis on the
spiritual gifts.
And it has to breed the question in your minds and in all
of our minds, why?
What's so special?
What is pastor trying to get through to us?
Nay, what is God trying to get through to us in Scripture?
What's so special about the gift?
And whenever we come here to Romans, chapter 12, we'll start here
in verse number three, he says, for I say through the grace
given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly.
According as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not
the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and
every one members one, one of another.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given
to us, we then exercise those gifts accordingly.
So why are we going through the spiritual gifts here at Middletown?
Why the emphasis on the subject?
You know, to.
To ask a few questions?
That's what we're trying to do tonight, is we're trying to ask that
question.
What is so important about this.
What is the purpose of learning about spiritual gifts?
And then also, what is not the purpose of learning about the spiritual
gifts?
We study spiritual gifts not merely to learn something about ourselves,
but to learn how God intends for us to function within the body
of Christ, but as.
As the body of Christ.
Let's pray and we'll start.
Our Heavenly Father.
Lord, we thank you that you have given gifts to the body of Christ,
to every single Christian.
You have given something that is so useful or to help the body
grow, to help it be healthy, Lord.
To minister to one another in this world of great need, in this
life of great need, Lord.
In this church of great need, Lord.
Every single church is in need of the body to be healthy, Lord.
And you've equipped us to do that.
And I thank you for that great grace, Lord.
I thank you for your wisdom in that and giving to us such gifts,
Lord.
Thank you.
Pray now that you would help us to understand these gifts a little
bit better in the context of our study tonight.
And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to walk away with an
understanding of the importance of this subject and how
it is to be used and how we are to glorify, pray and ask these
things.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
So, number one, we get the establishing call.
What is the call?
Every member a minister.
Okay, so the why?
Whenever we approach spiritual gifts, we have to approach them in
somewhat of a systematic way as we begin to think about it.
And number one, there is a call for every single member to first
and foremost understand the big concept of we are ministers,
every single one of us, down to the littlest member, all the way
to the biggest.
That's you, Dan.
We are all members.
All right?
So we are all ministers in that membership.
So we are all called to do that.
Okay?
Every believer is called to minister, not necessarily to be a
pastor, but to serve and edify the body.
There In Romans, chapter 12, it moves there from verse number
four from many members to different functions to different
gifts.
The church was never designed to be that 20% doing 100% of all
the work.
Never was it ever designed for that.
That is not the intention and the purpose that gives us that call
to action.
That, okay, so I am supposed to be doing something.
Every single member is supposed to be serving, ministering
in some way.
The question is not simply, am I called to ministry as we so sometimes
like to put it.
I have that calling to ministry.
That's not the question for Christians.
The question is, how has God equipped me personally to minister
if I am supposed to minister.
Me and my wife were talking about this a few weeks ago.
She ran across a person and told me we were serving in a church
and her husband was pastor.
And it's amazing how different conversation changes.
All of a sudden, whenever you tell them you're a pastor or whenever
you tell them you're a Christian, even, you know, the things
that people will try to do to either sometimes prove their goodness
or prove, I don't know, prove something.
Well, this.
This lady began speaking and she started talking about, yeah,
you know, we.
We go to church.
That's always the first thing we go to church.
But she said, every single time we go to church, you know, we'll
start attending a place, and then before too long, someone asks
us to do something and we don't.
We don't want to do that.
We want to.
We want to just go to church.
So we'll pick somewhere else and we'll go to that church and we'll
attend there for a little while.
Maybe we'll get a year in it.
And then all of a sudden, they start asking us to do stuff.
And the.
The mindset is somewhat laughable with respect to it, but
at the same time, it's sad because that is sometimes the condition,
the mindset, and it's an unhealthy mindset.
Essentially.
They don't want to do anything but come and listen and then go home
with a good feeling that they went to church that day.
They approach church with that question of what does this place
have for me?
And that's the wrong question.
Yeah.
That is not why we come to church.
That is not why we gather to be assembled.
Christianity is not a spectator activity.
Every Christian, every believer has been called to minister.
We are called the Body of Christ for a reason.
No one is excluded outside of the body.
And we've all been called to a task.
And that's what the Great Commission is there for in Matthew
chapter 28, where Jesus commissions us to go into the world.
In Matthew chapter 28, he says, Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, Holy
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever.
I've commanded you.
That is a call, contrary to belief, not to win convert, not to
win decision, but to win disciple.
So we all have the Great Commission to go and disciple people.
We have the Great Commission to minister to people, every single
one of us.
The gospel is presented.
People do get saved, but it is to get them discipled in the local
body.
Of Christ.
We are called to make disciples.
And everyone in here should have someone who they are disciplined
discipling who they are ministering to, who they are ministering
their spiritual gifts to.
Everyone in here should have someone who they are doing that discipleship
with.
And by the way, everyone in here should have someone who is discipling
them open discipleship all around.
Someone should be discipling me, I should be discipling someone
else.
That is the model of the New Testament church, and that's the
model of our church that we want to to push and promote.
The biblical model is a church that is full of discipleship.
Everything that we should do revolves around discipleship.
2 Timothy chapter 2.
Paul said, these things thou warn from me.
Among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall
be able to teach others also.
Go therefore and teach all nations.
Jesus said in Titus chapter two, the age women likewise, that
they be in behavior as becometh holiness teachers of good
things, that they may teach the young women to be sober ladies.
There is a call there for you to teach those who are younger.
There's a call to discipleship for men, for women in Philippians
chapter four.
Those things which you have both learned and received and heard
and seen in me do I have discipled you.
Paul says, you've heard these things of me.
You've seen me my work, you've seen what I do.
Now do the same thing.
It should be this chain of I disciple you.
Once you get discipled to a certain point, now you pick on someone
else and you say, I'm going to disciple this individual.
And that individual grows up in the relationship with the Lord
through their discipleship and says, you know what, I need to be
discipling as well.
So they disciple a person.
It is a chain of discipleship.
We're familiar with proverbs, iron, sharpeneth iron.
We are to sharpen one another that discipleship.
This is called the edification of the body of Christ by Christians
who make up that body, making it healthy, making it growing at
all times.
And so everyone in this room is called to make disciples, to minister
to one another.
So this is a call for everyone.
There are.
I love the way one of my former pastors would say, no one
in this room is called to come in and sit down and warm.
High density polyurethane foam.
That's what you're sitting on right now.
This is high density polyurethane foam.
It's comfortable, isn't it?
Maybe some of you are like, I couldn't use it more Comfortable
chair.
But that is what we are called to do.
We are not called to just sit there, but called to Minister rather.
Ephesians 4 walks us through some of this.
He says, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you have been
called with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing
one another in love.
If that doesn't take the ministering mindset of working with
one another, I don't know what else does.
He says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.
There's one body, one spirit.
There it again.
That is that language.
We are a body says he has given to us grace according to the
measure of the gift of Christ.
He gave gifts unto men.
Skip down.
He says he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists,
some pastors, teacher, why are all the gifts given?
It is for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ.
We are to speak the truth in love may grow up in him in all things.
Then verse 16.
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by
that which every joint supply, according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself and love.
You know, I believe that this bone, this thigh bone in my leg is
pretty good.
Okay, I walk on it all the time, but if my knee goes out, it's
not gonna do me a whole lot of good.
Every joint supply the needed strength to continue onward.
The muscles themselves are being the the tool to move the body.
The electricity that the brain computes to get the muscles to move.
Everything about the body works in unison.
It is a body of believers.
The whole body is an action to work with one another to build it
up, not to sit around and do nothing.
And that brings us to the equipment, the equipment that you
are equipped.
This is your contribution.
Every member has a contribution.
We are as the body of Christ supposed to be, a functional, healthy
body.
How can this body at Middletown Baptist Church be a healthy
body growing if every member is not contribute in some way in
its ministering and edifying the body?
So we are establishing what God has done for every single believer.
God supernaturally equips us with with gifts to fulfill this call.
Every member has a contribution.
As we read here In Romans, chapter 12, a ministry gift, if you
will, that the body needs.
God has equipped us differently, but God has equipped
us so that the body has everything that it needs.
Our differences are intentional, not accidental.
You have a ministry.
Every single one of us.
And God has equipped you specifically for that ministry.
And that is a very important concept that we have to understand
about the spiritual gifts as to not per se, get ourselves into
a place maybe where God has not exactly equipped it.
Now, we'll talk a little bit more about that later.
But your differences are intentional, not accidental.
There's no wondering why sister so and so is the way that
she is.
God has made her that way, or why your, your.
Your brother in Christ thinks differently than you.
And sometimes we butt heads with some of that differences.
But there is a reason for those.
Those differences.
You have a ministry.
You're equipped for that ministry by God himself.
And as Paul would say, I am what I am by the grace of God.
It is by grace, by the grace of God that we do what we are, and
we are the way that we are.
Paul does not compare the church to an audience.
It's not a business, it's not even an organization.
He compares it to a body.
A healthy body has different parts performing the different functions.
Likewise, as we say, the hand works wonderfully, but disconnected,
it's no good.
Or the eye says, well, you know, I could see so well, so I don't
need the feet.
Likewise, the purpose of gifts isn't necessarily merely to make
individual Christians effective.
The spiritual gifts are God's design for making the whole body
perform and function well.
You need every part of that body in order for the body to perform
the way it is.
These gifts are often closely connected with how God has created
us to operate as individuals, especially here in Romans chapter
12.
There's some comparisons that we can look at, but however, we also
have to understand that they should not be confused with mere
personality or natural temperament.
Because there are similarities.
It's easy for us to say, well, that's their personality.
That's not the case with these gifts.
It is closely linked and connected with how God has made us.
But it is not a gift of your personality that God has given to
the church.
Sorry to let some of you down.
It is God's grace working in your life that produces such a wonderful
creation.
At the redemption of a person.
God providentially creates each person with a certain personality.
We know that your temperament, your abilities, your experiences,
strength and tendencies.
An unbeliever may even display characteristics that look very similar
to, to how we may describe some of these gifts in Romans chapter
12.
A person by that may be very naturally compassionate.
A person may be very analytical, very generous.
I've met very generous people who are not saved, who whenever we
would look at them.
We would say, man, that person is a giver, or that person has a
heart of compassion, or they are very organized, or they are very
quick to recognize right and wrong.
But a spiritual gift, make no mistake, is more than a natural personality
trait.
And that's possibly some of the confusion that I want to make
sure that we have a clear understanding of this.
Equipping is not just your personality that God is equipping
you with.
It is a grace of God.
It is a work of sanctification in your life that God begins to work
at you at the moment of salvation, when the Holy Spirit comes
inside of you and empowers you to work in the body of Christ.
Paul says in Romans chapter 12:12, verse 6, that we have gifts
differing according to the grace that is given to us.
We have gifts that are differing no matter what we may think
the important gifts are.
You remember the first Corinthian Church.
They got caught up on what are the important gifts, what are the
gifts that you really want to have?
And we can do the same thing.
But all of us are given a gift that is serving a purpose.
Whatever spiritual usefulness we have in the body of Christ comes
by the grace of God.
So God does not use, does not ignore personality, temperament and
abilities.
I was talking to someone about this the other day.
You know, God has brought you through your life in such a way as
to redeem that and use it for his glory.
You know, there are many singers that go on like American
Idol, and a lot of them will say, you know, the first time I ever
started singing was in church.
And you know, we'll bemoan that and we'll say, oh, well, that
that person, they could have used, you know, their gift for God.
Instead they're using it for themselves.
Or maybe we will see someone come through their life running businesses
or running and operation, organizing different things and living
their life for themselves.
And then they get saved.
And now they wonder what God wants them to do.
And God has already equipped them with what he wants them to do.
He has molded their life.
You have to understand that we are in some in.
In this way, we are born a certain way.
Psalm 139 says that.
It says, for thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered
me my mother's womb.
I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
God, you knew me, you know me, you know my down setting.
You know what I am, and you are responsible for that were used
for God's purpose.
In Galatians, chapter one, Paul said that whenever it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his
grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him.
Among the heathen, Paul was living a life that before the moment
of conversion, Paul had said, well, this is exactly how my life
is going to go.
And God said, no, I've actually done that.
I have brought you to a certain point.
I have made you the way that I want you to be made, and now you're
going to use that for me.
Apollos was a man who was a teacher.
He was a diligent study or researcher of scripture.
The Bible says that after he got saved, he led the Jews that he
was influencing and preaching to in a mighty way.
He used what God had given him.
That gift of teaching and research and study.
The brain that Apollos had was used for the gift of God, for the
use of God.
So he uses it in sanctification.
It includes God redeeming the past pain, the trials, experiences.
He reshapes your unique life story and a tool to comfort and save
others.
You remember the story of Joseph and Genesis.
You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
I can't tell you how many times that's been the case that that
sin would act as if it is reigning and in control in a person's
life.
That the devil seems to have won every single battle in this person's
life.
And then God turns that into his glory and takes that person and
makes them into an object of his glory and says, look what I can
do with this marred vessel.
In the hands of the potter, it is remade.
And so we see purpose in what God does.
That is why as we look at these gifts and we say, well, this
person really shows this type of characteristic.
That's why these gifts appear so closely connected with our personalities.
And that's the reason why we need to be careful not to turn them
into a glorified personality test.
We've printed out new spiritual gifts.
Test for you to take at your leisure.
That's not a glorified personality test.
It is to identify the way God has used spiritually wired, okay?
Those we read in those different spiritual and then also
fleshly ways that our natural tendencies are expressed.
A perceiver may have that strong desire for truth, but in the
flesh, that can become harshness and criticism.
We see that in the life of people in the.
In the world.
They.
We see them, they're harsh, they're blunt, they're highly criticized.
And Christians, you can be that same way.
You can fall back into that fleshly motive, that fleshly attitude.
These fleshly expressions are not the gift of God.
They are the areas in which believers still need to be sanctified
in.
And Romans chapter six six tells us that our old man is crucified.
That is what those fleshly things are, the stuff that needs
to be crucified.
So God uses how he has created us in his redeeming and sanctifying
work.
He created the person, he redeems the person, he gives grace
to the person, he sanctifies the person, and he uses that person
to edify the body of Christ.
And as we study these seven gifts and as we go through them,
most of us will probably recognize that one of these areas
especially characterizes the way that we most naturally bend towards
that we most naturally tend to minister.
We typically might call that our priority gift, our primary gift.
It is an area in which God is particularly equipped and inclined
us to contribute to the body.
That's what is determining whenever we fill out those spiritual
gifts tests.
And on a side note, the spiritual gifts test are not a complete
foolproof way for us to understand our spiritual gift.
That is just a very small introduction for you to get the conversation
started with one another.
That test is meant for us to get just a little bit of a taste
of the interest to understand the direction that we may be going.
But the point then is not simply just to discover, this is
the kind of person I am.
The point is to discover how has God taken the person he created,
redeemed that person by his grace, and then equipped that person
to serve in the body.
Which brings us to our third point.
Your gift is an emphasis, not an exemption.
It is the guardrail, okay?
The guardrail tells us that you're a gift identifies an area
of special contribution, but not an area of exclusive responsibility.
Someone might discover that mercy is not their primary gift and
might be tempted to say, well, I don't have to be merciful at all.
That's not the case.
Or, I'm not a giver.
I don't have to give anything to God.
I get to keep all the money for myself.
But every Christian is called to give.
Every Christian is called to serve.
You may say, I don't have the gift of service.
It doesn't neglect your responsibility to serve.
The Christian may say, I'm not an exhorter.
We're still supposed to encourage.
Teaching isn't my gift.
That doesn't mean that we are not to teach one another.
A spiritual gift gives emphasis to our ministry.
It does not place limits around our obedience.
The gift identifies that area of special contribution, not an area
of that exclusive responsibility.
Okay, so in giving, In Romans, chapter 12, here it says, he that
giveth, let him do it with simplicity.
But also in Second Corinthians, chapter nine, it says,
every man, according as he has purposed in his heart, so let him
give.
Every person is to give faith.
Oh, this is a real good one.
You know, there's a gift of faith in First Corinthians, chapter
12, those that have the gift of faith by the same spirit of giving
that gift.
Well, I don't have the gift of faith, so I'm not supposed to show
any faith.
You got to show faith to get saved.
Second Corinthians says, for we walk by faith, not by sight.
This is an area of exclusive responsibility that we are to do.
We are supposed to show faith teaching.
He that teacheth on his teaching.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 12 that we do it according
to the proportion of our faith.
Well, I don't have a whole lot of faith in teaching, so that's not
my gift.
But in Colossians, chapter three, Paul admonishes us that we
are to be teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
and hymn.
That's that discipleship of one another.
That is that discipleship of.
Of going to another person and teaching them what you know about
your walk and your relationship with God and then singing
and spiritual songs and hymns.
The Bible says showing mercy.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness, does that exclude everyone
else and just say, hey, you don't have that gift of mercy, so
you don't have to show mercy first.
Luke, chapter 6, verse 36.
Be there merciful as your Father is merciful, with what mercy
that you show, you will be given the same mercy in return.
And mercy rejoices against judgment.
The Bible says being merciful is a command for all Christians.
The spiritual gifts means that we are able to identify and emphasize
what God has called us to do naturally and make up a healthy church.
Now, in this emphasis, that brings us to an important step.
You and I can become energized by us acting on how God has made
us to be.
And that is that energy.
That enjoyment can be useful clues to gifting.
However, there is a warning even with that they shouldn't become
necessarily the test of the calling.
Biblically.
God calls us to do things that are exhausting, uncomfortable, difficult
outside of our preferred way of operating.
But the key is what consistently burdens our heart comes
naturally in your service.
What bears Fruit what is affirmed by the body.
That is what helps reveal what God has particularly equipped us
to do.
And that brings us to the impact the body works together in
action.
It's important that we figure out that path that God is calling
us to.
Because some people in here may be doing something that they're
not necessarily equipped and to do in a full time basis.
Some of you are a hand and you're wearing yourself out because
you're trying to use your gift like it's a foot.
This happens whenever someone who is not a giver is trying to act
like they are a giver.
And God hasn't necessarily called them to do that, but they
feel bad and so they're giving begrudgingly, not in a cheerful way.
This happens whenever someone is a server and someone looks at
them and they say, you know what that person really likes to
serve.
They, they need to be in charge of some stuff.
They need to be in charge of some projects.
We need to put them in lead.
And the server doesn't want anything to do most of the time with
administration.
They just want to serve.
We, we had a principal like that down at Providence.
He wanted to be a teacher and he got put in the position of principal.
He eventually gave that up because he loved teaching.
He didn't want to be a principal, he didn't want to be in
charge.
It was wearing him out.
He was facing burnout because he was using his using something
that he was not necessarily called to do.
Now again, that does neglect your call to use every single area
that God has called us to.
But we come to the impact the body works together in action.
Every member makes a difference from whom the whole body
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint
supplieth according to the working, the effectual working in
the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself and love.
Knowing your gift is without using it is missing the entire point.
We wonder why certain parts of the body act the way that they act.
But just because one part of the body acts in such a way doesn't
necessarily mean that that part is useless.
Now let me say what I mean by that.
Sometimes we wonder, well, why are they doing that?
Do they really think that they're helpful?
That's a fleshly thought that goes through my Is that only me?
Is that the only thought they just did wrong?
You know, the perceiver, he looks at a person who is being merciful
and crying with an individual.
And the perceiver in their blunt thinking Is thinking this?
What's wrong with them?
Why are they crying?
It's a right and wrong situation.
Why don't he just get it right and move on?
Why are we crying about it?
And a mercy may look at a perceiver who says that and says,
why are they so hard on truth?
Don't they need to know that this person needs their emotional
needs meth?
They need someone to cry with them.
Why do we even need to perceive her?
They're harsh.
How dare they?
And it.
What it can do is sometimes is breed a bit of pride in our hearts.
And before Paul even begins thinking about the gifts, you'll
notice there in verse number three, he says that we are to work
with humility to every man that is among you not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think.
It's not accidental.
Pride breeds whenever we think our role is the most important.
So the impact, the perceiver needs the mercy, the administrator
needs the mercy.
The teacher needs the server, the server needs the administrator,
the perceiver needs the exhorter.
And on and on it goes.
So what we get out of this is, number one, the value of every member,
the necessity of different gifts, the interdependence of the
body, of Christ, of the church, and why we as believers should
not compare ourselves with others.
And so this brings us to our illustration, which we're going to
close with tonight.
The illustration of the young boy who spilled his lunch and how
the body of Christ goes into action.
All right, so this is what you got.
And we're all sitting around the table in a fellowship, and we're
eating our food.
And here comes a little boy and he's got a lovely piece of cake.
And I mean, you know how like kids do.
They like stack it like really high.
And you're just thinking to yourself, all that sugar that kid
is going to eat.
And then he's good.
Not, I don't want to be that kid's parents at all.
He's never going to sleep again after that piece of cake.
All right, so that boy, he runs to his chair with glee to eat
his delicious piece of cake.
And on that running, he trips and falls.
It's at this moment the body of Christ goes into action.
Okay?
Now, on that Sunday afternoon fellowship, he falls.
And immediately that person steps up to the plate.
And this person has the gift of prophecy, or the perceiver, as
our test describes it.
They are that black and white person.
They arrive first on the scene, corresponding in this framework
in Romans chapter 12, immediately focusing on the truth
of the situation.
Because remember, this is what they are called to do.
Buddy.
This happened because you were running when you shouldn't have been.
Don't you know what's right or wrong?
He.
He or she immediately is instructing that boy that he has
done wrong.
Truth is told, the next person who arrived is maybe, perhaps those
who have the gift of ministry of service.
What are they doing?
Well, they brought the broom in the dustpan.
It's practical, right?
They're helping to clean the mess up.
The server serves in the most practical ways necessary.
Perhaps behind the scenes where you do not even see it, another
person, the gift of teaching, takes this opportunity to instruct
this child on how they should hold their plate and walk rather
than running through the fellowship hall so they are able
to get to their seat without making such a mess.
Truth was already told.
This kid needs to be taught on what's right and what's wrong.
What is the proper way of doing this?
As Acts chapter 1618 says, they took him and expounded to him
the way of God more perfectly with a policy.
He needed to be taught and he accepted that teaching.
This little boy needs to be taught.
How can I teach them the right way so this does not happen again?
What is teaching, though, without encouragement?
And this is where your combo gifts really come in good effect.
Whenever someone has the gift of teaching and exhortation, they
can really teach with encouragement.
But perhaps we only have a teacher here.
And so the exhorter begins walking up to this little boy.
The boy's cry.
He clearly needs to be cheered up and encouraged that his life will
continue on.
I remember my PE coach after I got in trouble for something, I was
crying my eyes out.
It's not the end of the world, buddy.
That's what needs to be said to many Christians.
Every single one of us needs someone to come alongside of us and
say, it's not the end of the world, buddy.
It's not the end of the world.
Encouraging us to continue on.
And he clearly needs to be cheered up so that he'll stop crying.
He can get a new plate with the same delicious treats to enjoy.
And oh, look, look who's walking up next with a plate.
Who do you think it is, huh?
The giver.
The giver walks up.
They have seen a need.
They're sensitive to the needs.
They had a piece of.
They hadn't even touched it.
They haven't finished their peens, rice and beans and tomatoes
on their own plate.
And they're like, you know what?
I can give this Just in case there's no more left, I have a piece
of cake for this boy and I'm going to go get.
And so they give out of what they have.
Now standing off to the side of all this happening is one person
who is making all of this happen so fast and organized.
You know who that is?
That's the administrator.
They are in command.
This is the person who said, first we need people to go to get
some rooms, brooms, dust pans.
We got to clean this up.
Can someone get him another plate of food?
To my exhorter, can you please go encourage and lift him up?
He's crying.
That's the administrator.
He that rules with diligence.
He's the one organized in the body of Christ in action, not serving
directly, but getting others to act in an orderly fashion.
And then lastly, we come to the one individual, perhaps that
has been there the entire time, not doing anything, seemingly
from the eyes of the server, but the person's crying with that
little boy.
Who do you think that is?
That's the mercy.
Because the mercy believes in crying with the individual and not
trying to fix them.
At this very moment, they understand the heart has been hurt
and that needs to be touched first.
Now, what if we were a body of all mercies?
Would truth be stated?
Where would the teaching be?
If we were all teachers, I'm sure we would all have really big
heads.
But where would the encouragement come from?
And if we were all encouragers, exhorters can get in
trouble because they're so concerned with exhorting.
They start using the Bible out of context just so they could encourage
one another.
We'd be a.
A church that was illiterate in some ways.
But we'd be encouraged, right?
We'd be a happy church, perhaps, but we would be spiritually
way off.
Our theology wouldn't match up without the perceiver coming in and
saying, no, no, no, this is what's right, this is what's wrong.
There is no in between.
And if we were all perceivers, we probably might all be mad at each
other.
We'd be way too blunt, way too critical, way too harmless at times.
The body needs one another.
No one is to be left out.
And if one part of the body is lacking, we as a church here at Middletown
Baptist cannot be a healthy body.
That's where you come in, and that's where you come in to fill
in the gap.
That's why it's so important that we know what our spiritual gifts
are and to be exercising the spiritual gifts in the body of Christ
not for our own benefit, but to edify, to supply the need that
is so prevalent in our church.
Because we have needs here.
We have those that need to be encouraged.
Exhorters see that need to encourage.
We have those who have their hearts broken and we need mercies
to see the broken heart and stay.
We have those that are in error and they need the perceivers
to come alongside and to see the sin in that person's life and
say, look, this is what it is.
This is the truth.
How can I pray with you so that you are helped in the Lord?
We need teachers to teach and every single one of us cannot be
left without the other.
There's not one of these gifts that is not needed in this situation,
of this little boy or in any situation for that matter, in the
body of Christ.
We need to know how we are equipped.
We need to know what God has called us to do.
We need to be ministering, to edify one another so that the body
of Christ can be healthy or growing.
Every member is called, every member is equipped.
Every member is needed, and every member should be servant.
Pray.
Father, thank you so much for in your wisdom, giving to us the
gifts that you have equipped us with.
Lord, you have given us these gifts not to serve ourselves, not
to gain influence.
But Lord, you have given these gifts so that we would be able to
make a healthy body, so that we would be a growing body of Christ,
so that we would be able to effectively equip and disciple one
another.
So, Lord, I pray for your grace in our church here that you
would, number one, reveal to us our gift and how you want us to
serve.
What is the will of the Lord for our lives individually?
And how do you want us to use the resource that you have given
to us to steward God?
How do you want us individually to work in this body
together?
But then, Lord, as a body, I pray that you would give us the grace
to grow in those gifts in our service, Lord, that you would help
us to become discipled more and more by one another so that we
are exhibiting the spiritual side, our sanctified side of these
gifts, and not working in the flesh.
Lord, I pray for these things, that you would help us today, Lord,
pray and say Jesus name.
Amen.