Teaching: God's Faith through Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 1:4-7

·         Enriched in every way

·         Do not lack any spiritual gift

The Corinthians church had all of the spiritual gifts that they needed to live the Christian life, to witness for Christ, and to stand against the paganism and immorality of Corinth. But instead of using what God had given to them, they were arguing over which gifts were more important

Do we understand this passage?

We must not miss this; God has equipped you with every spiritual gift that you need – know that believe it, and stand faithfully on it. We must not miss this and we must not allow others to miss this; God has given us all that we need.

Before we start talking about spiritual gifts though, we must understand that God has given us all that we need to live the life He has called us to live – that is perfection in Him

•         All that we need to know about Him is in His Word

•         All that we need to obey Him is in His Spirit

Romans 12:4-8

·         One in the body of Christ – we belong to one another

·         We are call to use our gifts generously, diligently, and cheerfully

1 Corinthians 12:4-11

·         Different kinds of gifts, service, and works given by God

·         Gifts are given for the common good, just as God determines

God gives us every spiritual gift we need – we do not lack any

•         God gives us spiritual gifts as He determines

•         God gives us spiritual gifts so that we can build up His church

To use these spiritual gifts effectively we must;

1.      Realize that all gifts and abilities come from God

2.      Understand that not everyone has the same gifts

3.      Know who we are and what we do best

4.      Dedicate our gifts to God’s service

5.      Give our gifts wholeheartedly – not holding anything back

Our role – then – is to be faithful and to seek ways to serve others with what Christ has given to us.

•         And to assist others in the church in doing the same with the spiritual gifts that God has given to them.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

·         God, who called you into fellowship with Christ is faithful

Hebrews 10:23-24

·         Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess

·         God, who promised, is faithful

·         Let us consider how we may spur one another on

·         Let us not give up meeting together

2 Timothy 2:11-13

·         God is faithful even when we are not

1 Peter 4:7-11

·         Use our spiritual gifts to serve others.

·         Use our spiritual gifts faithfully administering God’s grace

PRAYER:

·         Praising God for the spiritual gifts that He has given to us,

·         Praising God for His faithfulness,

·         Asking for discernment in the body regarding our spiritual gifts,

·         Asking guidance in the use of our spiritual gifts.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

·         God is faithful to sanctify you (set you apart for sacred use)

·         God is faithful to keep you blameless until the end

Perfection on your Knees

I enjoy cleaning! I am not entirely sure why this is. Perhaps it has to do with the fulfillment of knowing that the job is complete, once a room has been cleaned you can move on and know that it has been done! Perhaps it has to do with the gratification of looking at a clean room and knowing that it is, in fact clean. But, for whatever reason, I like to clean!

The other day my my wife, Kim, asked me if I would sweep the kitchen floor. So I swept the kitchen floor. I picked up the rugs, I pulled the trash can out, I pulled the refrigerator out, I pulled the kitchen table and chairs out, and I swept the kitchen floor. Then I grabbed a mop and I mopped the kitchen floor. It looked perfect! It was done! So, I moved on to the bathroom...

The next afternoon, however, I walked into the kitchen and noticed some crumbs under my feet. How could this have happened? This floor was perfectly clean yesterday! Soon I found myself on my knees picking up the most minuscule crumbs off the floor. I know this sound ridiculous, and believe me it is, but I wanted this floor to stay perfectly clean for at least twenty-four hours. So, I stayed on my knees until the crumbs were picked up and the floor was perfectly clean once again.

That is when the thought occurred to me. If we want to keep certain things perfect, we must get on our knees and take the time to labor, making things right until everything is perfect once again. This applies to a clean kitchen floor and to our life as believers in Jesus Christ.

At church these last few weeks we have been focusing on holiness and Christian perfection. And, in order for Christian perfection to be a reality for us we must get down on our knees, lifting our praise, our needs, our concerns, our trials, and our burdens to Jesus. And, this must happen daily.

If we want to keep our Christian lives perfect we must get on our knees and take the time to labor, communicate, and fellowship with our Lord, and we must make things right with Him until everything is perfect once again. Only Christ can bring a person to perfection. It is vitally important that we get on our knees with Him regularly.

"It is hard to stumble when you're on your knees."

Press On Toward Perfection

The NBA Finals just finished days ago. LeBron James and the overly talented Miami Heat promised their fans and the city of Miami a championship but they fell short of their promise when the Dallas Mavericks proved to be more than they could handle. A lot of players in professional and college sports make promises that they fail to deliver on, perfection seems to elude so many these days.

A few years ago I had the privilege of attending the final regular season Ball State University football game. Ball State went undefeated during the regular season, a great accomplishment among today’s college football teams. After the game I watched as thousands of individuals ran onto the field to congratulate the football team and the coaching staff and to celebrate a season in which their team was perfect. Although I have never been a Ball State fan, I found myself caught up in the excitement and felt pride for this team that I had just observed. This got me thinking about perfection.

The Bible has much to say about perfection;

• Deuteronomy 32:4; God’s works are perfect,
• Psalm 18:30; God’s ways are perfect,
• Job 36:4; God’s knowledge is perfect,
• Psalm 19:7; God’s law is perfect,
• Psalm 50:2; God’s beauty is perfect,
• Isaiah 25:1; God’s faithfulness is perfect,
• James 1:17; God’s gifts are perfect,

What an awesome, perfect God we have the opportunity to worship and serve. But what is encouraging is that in Matthew 5:48 Jesus calls us to be perfect as well. So how can we achieve perfection? Jesus gave two steps toward achieving perfection in Matthew 19:16-30, this is the story of the rich young ruler who asked about eternal life. Jesus lays out for him the laws that he must follow and the ruler claims that he is following all of them. Then Jesus says to him, in verse 21, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” It comes down to two distinct things. If you want to be perfect as God is perfect, if you want to achieve all that God has intended for you to be you must love God and love people. Jesus states it like this in Luke 10:27; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love God and love people!

Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14; “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” So I urge you to “press on toward the goal” that God has called you to.