Series Nine: Exercising Spiritual Gifts for the Edification of the Body

The purpose of this study is to develop a solid understanding of the fundamentals of service in the local church, the motives for serving, and how the Spirit of God works with each one of us, empowering us for service.

God calls us to employ our gift. No one is left out. There are broad categories of gifting, and more specific gifts are identified, but clearly the Spirit of God is at work in a believer’s life, so we are to use our gifts for the betterment of the church. Like other commands in God’s Word, we must use our gifts and not be idle. Using our gifts in the church is the most loving thing we can do.

Employ Your Gift in Serving One Another

In 1 Peter 4:10–11 the apostle Peter tells us that each person is given a “special gift” (chárisma), and we are commanded to employ it in serving one another in the body.

1. “Each one has received a special gift … [to] employ” (v. 10).
   1. Their hindrances
      1. They may be “shelved” because you have sin in your life.
         1. Pride
            • The worthiness of Christ produces humility.
            • A humble response to the worthiness of Christ is accepting service as an undeserved privilege.
            • We are unworthy slaves and doing only what we ought to do (Luke 17:10).
            • I serve because Christ loves me. I am undeserving of His love.
         2. Simple neglect
         3. Pettiness—small views of church life
         4. Unresolved sin among members in the body of Christ: we must be willing to forgive. We are called to pardon lavishly.
         5. Neglect of prayer dependence
         6. Absence of thankfulness and gratitude
         7. Acting like buckets of grace, instead of funnels to shower others with grace.
         8. Lack of love
         9. Not serving with joy
      2. They may be “shelved” because you don’t know what the Scripture teaches about them.
         1. You may not have been useful because you thought you didn’t have a grace gift.
         2. Some may have ignored what God has clearly said in this text in self-pity as though God couldn’t use you in a tangible way.
      3. They may be “shelved” because the church practices a superficial application of what 1 Peter 4:7–11 teaches:
         1. Beginning with sound judgment and sober spirt, we are led to alert prayer (v. 7), then love (v. 8), which overflows in service (vv. 9–10).
         2. But if you try to work that backwards, you can see how it devastates the body of Christ:
            • Love becomes dull.
            • Prayer becomes weak.
            • Discernment becomes absent.
            • Then there is no thought of Christ’s coming to reign.
      4. They may be “shelved” because the church leadership is unwilling to model biblical service.
         1. Some leaders are after money and they are bitter that they are not being paid enough.
         2. Some leaders spend their resources on worldly living, instead of using it in the ministry; they are consumers, not givers.
         3. Some leaders want power and control over people, thus crushing a culture of using our giftedness.
         4. Some leaders are fainthearted or timid in their faith.
         5. Some leaders are risk adverse and try to micromanage everything in the body.
            • But the body belongs to the Lord.
            • He does with it what He wants.
         6. Unresolved conflict in leadership and lay ministers
         7. Church splits or factions
   • “In some seasons vitality dips and God then causes a desperation in the people for growth.”
   2. Their use
      1. There is great comradery knowing that each one has been gifted.
      2. The proper working of each individual part contributes to the building up of the body in love and the usefulness for gospel ministry (Eph 4:16).
      3. There is unity and mutual hope in the Spirit (Eph 4:3–6).
2. We should serve one another “as good stewards” (v. 10).
   1. Our stewardship means we will give an account to the Lord for how we used the gifts He gave us.
   2. If we were poor stewards in the past, get after it, and serve and use your gift!
   3. Sometimes trials in your life prevent more usefulness, but God wants to grow you through those trials to make you more useful.
   4. You are hindered by things you cannot figure out, but God wants to give you wisdom and insight to walk through them and be more useful to the body.
      1. That’s because it is a stewardship/accountability.
      2. God doesn’t give us an accountability without growing us so we can accomplish it.
3. We serve as good stewards of “the manifold grace of God” (v. 10).
   1. Imbedded in this terminology is symmetry and creativity.
   2. There is a multi-colored nature. There is variety.
   3. God has uniquely put together the body so that we build up the body as we employ our gifts.
   4. It should inspire us to be in the body what He wants us to be.
4. We serve “by the strength that God supplies” (v. 11).
   1. People bless the body and one another as the Spirit energizes their service.
   2. It energizes people to observe this.
   3. There is a model of Christ on display, the body is served, and people are blessed.
5. We serve “so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever” (v. 11).
   1. There is divine mastery over all the church’s service.
   2. God’s sovereignty and majesty are on display in the deployment of people’s gifts.