How the Gifts of the Spirit Function in the Church: Romans 12:7-8

we are learning to be biblically minded about spiritual gifts that's at least that's the goal that's the direction we're trying to achieve I want to learn how to think biblically about spiritual gifts the question I have for you though as we step into this topic in Romans 12 starting in verse 6 is are you today like in your life this week this month just recently are you using your specific giftings to help the believers in your life that's that's the question I want you to ponder and just like think kind of take a moment don't feel like you have to have a gut reaction take a moment to ponder this and go let me just kind of examine cuz you might think no and then think about it more be like no no yeah I'm here I see it you might think yes and then think more about and go no not really so so let yourself sort of soak it in are you using your gifts to help the believers in your life because you should be and I don't say this by way of heaping guilt upon you I say it rather by creating hopefully an expectation of what's normal as a Christian biblically is that I just naturally use my gifts to serve the body so we're gonna study the gifts we'll talk about teaching exhortation service mercy giving we'll talk about several different gifts specifically what are they kind of unpack the ideas a little bit help you identify if you have either occasionally or regularly have some of these gifts but let me give you an analogy first that I think will help set the stage for us now some of you guys are into sports so forgive me if I do the sports analogy wrong but if you were the coach of a team let's say that you are coaching a team you would probably try I imagine to maximize the usefulness of the individuals of your team by putting them in positions that did two things one you'd want to you want the position to match their skill and ability if they're fast they'll be in a certain position if they're tall and have a long reach they'll be in a certain position if they're big and strong and sturdy they might have a different position so you'll put them in positions depending on their skills but also you'll put them in a position based upon the needs of the team maybe if you have a lot of strong and sturdy guys you might grab one of them and put them in a different place because that's just what the team needs even though it may not be their particular skill but amongst the sturdy ones they're better at this then that you know so you move your people around based upon their abilities and based upon the needs of the situation now the Holy Spirit does this in the church this is what the Holy Spirit does he does this in the church but he goes one step further so not only is the intention I think of the Holy Spirit to put us in accordance with our skills and abilities in the body serving but also according to the needs of the body so there's some some wiggle room there but there's a step further that the Holy Spirit takes the Holy Spirit's the one who gives us the abilities in the first place and that's kind of imagine if you were the coach of the team and you could give them the abilities that you wanted them to have for the different positions you were gonna have them play that's what the Holy Spirit does for us distributing to each one individually as he wills I think that's kind of exciting so this means that there's like a real intentional agenda for my giftings and for your giftings in your local body and your local fellowship of Christians that's a different way of thinking about church isn't it but that I think is the biblical way of thinking about church and thinking about gifts so that's where we are in Romans 12 and we when we we've explained all this doctrinal stuff now are moving into what it is to be the church and to think of how to think about being part of the church and the first thing he says is hey don't be arrogant don't be proud and then he moves on to now use your gifts according to your giftings that's the emphasis now so let's talk about that from that perspective so we've talked about prophecy we've talked a lot about that last week so let's start in Romans 12 verse 7 with ministry so it so we spoke of prophecy now it's or ministry let us use it in our ministering if it's ministry if you're gifting is in ministry use it in your ministering what is what does that mean we usually use the term ministry to refer to people who are like sometimes employed by the church like they're actually getting their paycheck through the church and then they're in ministry other times we use it we don't even think about paycheck or anything we just think about someone who's part of the local body sort of sponsored activities you know someone who's there serving in our life guard food ministry while they're in ministry even if they're volunteering in it they're serving in ministry but the word it doesn't necessarily mean ministry like like leadership role or positions in the church it can apply to that but the word just means serving so if serving insert in your serving it seems somewhat repetitive right this is not this is not a deacon the word similar in the Greek to the word for deacon but this is different this is not talking about people called into the leadership role of being a deacon this is just saying if you have a gift in serving which means any serving of the body so let's say that you show up and you say I'm gonna help out in toddler Junction and I'm gonna take care of babies and change diapers then you're surfing that's a service to the church you know you come in and you clean things you you you you bake food for a an event that we're doing you know that that's all surfing you go over to your friend's house and they're they're sick and so you're helping them clean up their yard that's serving it can happen in the church it can happen outside the church but it really is I think we should just think of it as it in a very big umbrella term for meeting needs just meeting needs it has to do more with tasks with actual tasks getting stuff done physically I think that's what serving tends to have to do with and it has application to church service but it's bigger than that and what what is the command for those who if you're doing it in ministry you're using your gifting if you're gifting is in ministry then use it in your ministry why is it's just repeated in fact we'll get this three times in a row where he mentions a gift if you have this gift then do this gift why is it repeated I think the point is not to say if you have a gift and serving serve this way but rather just get to it that's the idea that's why it would be do you have a gift and serving okay well what should I do go serve that's the point just get out there and serve start helping sometimes people are going like oh I really want to help in the church I really want to help the body I don't want to help serve my fellow Christian and I'm like great what's stopping you well I don't know I'm waiting to be asked why just start helping just just start picking things up just start cleaning things up just start serving in any capacity anything you can see that needs to be done just go do it that's the emphasis I think that Paul has here and I think it's God's emphasis for us do you see something go do it in fact that's the assumption the assumption is that you've already got the gift of serving in some capacity do you know if you have this and I think all of us have it to some degree and then some of us have it to a greater degree so the assumption is it's already there now what do you do go do it you're like that you're like the parable of the talents I've got this responsibility already on me now I need to get out there and start doing something with it so see you need meet a need that's the simple way to do it you see you need you meet a need and you will find that organically as you do this you will find yourself serving more and more and more and you show yourself to be you have a good reputation or to be reliable and to be dependable and you just serve and you don't have anything that's below you like you'll clean toilets for the Lord and that's not because you're so incredibly humble it's just because that's a glorious thing to do for the Lord I mean this is doesn't take humility to do it once you realize it's something you get to do to serve Jesus so if you have this thing and serving just go and do it now I have a couple tips for people who do this um I say this resist the temptation to under spiritual eyes serving we tend to under spiritual eyes certain things in the church we sometimes over spiritual eyes certain things in the church but this is under spiritual eyes let's say you're doing janitorial work for the church you're like Here I am I'm just cleaning things I'm just making things look nice fixing stuff that's broken and you're doing that you're making meals you're doing security for the church you're greeting people you're just helping people that you see needs and you're helping them whether it's as part of the local weekly meeting or some other extended thing you're doing we sometimes tend to under spiritual eyes these things and act like they're not a big deal and I think the disciples did this too so let me read the interaction between Jesus and the disciples where I think it draws out this point it's in mark chapter 9 it'll be in verses 33 through 37 so this this is the problem with the Apostles see if you connect with it it says then he came to Capernaum and when he was in the house he asked them what was it you disputed among yourselves on the road what was this argument you were having and it says but they kept silent for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest notice it's not that they didn't are you who is the greatest they argued who would be the greatest meaning that they were setting their eyes on a future expectation probably of Jesus stepping into his royal kingship on the earth thinking which one of us will be the greatest in the kingdom so this is on their mind and they're sort of discussing it and someone's probably like oh well I think it's obviously gonna be so-and-so you know I mean look at look at Judas he's taking care of the money you know he's very responsible guy you know he's very trusted and all this who knows how that discussion went so in verse 35 says and he sat down and called the twelve and said to them if anyone desires to be first he shall be last of all and servant servant of all then he took a little child and set him in the midst of them and when he had taken him in his arms he said to them whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me and by doing this I think Jesus is trying to elevate or to get us to correctly spiritual eyes the simple tasks of serving you serve this child in my name this what you served me and you served him who sent me so that we realized when we're serving the body of Christ we were serving Christ we're serving the Father as well so resist the temptation to under spiritual eyes those things I shared this once before but I'll never forget being at a meeting of leaders and the number two guy at a church showed up and he did the administrative type work and he kind of talked down his job of how he served in the church and I was it made me sad to hear and talked it down and he was like well you know it's not all about spiritual things guys sometimes you're just crunching numbers you know and you're just taking care of tasks and there's a lot that has to be done you're reading contracts and you're trying to figure out what has to be done with the building here and there and my thought what made me sad was him him thinking that that meant it wasn't spiritual because it wasn't teaching because in our calvary chapel movement we tend to we tend to focus on teaching it says it's almost as though that's the only gift in existence sometimes well it's not and we want to be biblically minded so we want to absorb all of these truths in fact it takes a lot more people serving than it does teaching for the church to run in a healthy fashion and I mean not just the building I'm talking about with the body for us as as fellow to be healthy together it takes a lot of people serving so resist the temptation to focus on yourself or your greatness or perhaps maybe what Jesus was really saying was reevaluate what you think greatness is if you understood what greatness really was you'd be running to serve you'd be volunteering for the job that people are like trying to not make eye contact when it comes huh so but then there's some more that we'll talk about this this will bring us balance in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 6 we have the same group of guys right with the Apostles and there's an issue that comes up right there's these people in the church that are not getting fed properly these these greekish type the the Helenus the Hellenistic Christians so they're kind of Greek Jew kind of mixture going on there and there was a little bit of prejudice maybe going against them so they weren't getting their proper food and so they said we need someone to be in charge of this new food ministry to these widows in particular and the Apostles what did they say they said oh not us we need to be giving our time to the Word of God in prayer so how does this jive with service being great well let me read the passage and then I'll try to answer that question are they contradicting themselves like what's going on here it says in Acts chapter 6 now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying there was a complaint against the Hebrews by the Helenus because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution then the twelve summoned the multitudes of the disciples and said it is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables therefore brethren seek out from among you seven men of good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business notice the requirements for even just being over the food ministry good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom I like that that's gonna name but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the Ministry of the word to sharing the word now why is it that if it's so great to serve these widows why don't they jump at the chance because this isn't about which job is better it's about which calling is theirs and that's one of the focuses of Hebrews 12 as well if you're called to minister well how do I know look you need to figure this out I can't in fact it's not healthy for me to run around and try to tell everybody where they're gifted and whether or not this is something you've got to figure out but you know how do you figure out what you're good at in life you try stuff like you're on the baseball team you're going I don't know which which position on the baseball team I'm going to feel the best oh I'm worried about it I'm so stressed about it I'm like well how about you try try outfield try shortstop try catcher try pitcher try bench warmer try all the positions and see you can see which one best fits here sorry not bench warmer none of us should be bench warmers so it's not about greater and lesser ministries it's about gifting it's about as you've been gifted use that gift but if you're standing there doing nothing and you're being picky about what ministry to serve in yet you're doing nothing then you're wasting time you should just get in there and do something just serve God somehow and not be like well that's not the particular ministry that I believe that I'm called to and I'm like well you're not called to sit on your couch and binge Netflix all the time like probably should do something for the Lord so this is like our philosophy of church think about this we have like a philosophy of church that we're learning in Romans here that we ought to operate in our gifts that's the thought I should operate on my gifts now this actually changes how I view the church and it changes how I interact with my future plans and what I would like to see in our fellowship even our Sunday evening service or the different things we're doing I think that we do live in kind of a consumer church environment have you noticed this where it's mostly about the Sunday morning service and it's mostly about coming and getting an experience on Sundays that you enjoy that you would want to invite people to no nothing's wrong with that I'm not dogging that I'm just saying that that is like not even half of all that they're supposed to be if we're all gifted then the guy teaching is only a fraction of the ministry that's to take place in the church because all those people he's teaching are also gifted and called to minister to one another as well so that changes the way I see Church I think that this means that when we have ministries that are focused almost entirely on the teacher and ministries like parachurch ministries I mean churches where there's a whole fellowship of people and it's always about one teacher it's all centered on one teacher that that might not be healthy for the church so let's keep this in mind as we keep as we keep going on but speaking of teaching that's the next gift so let's dig in he who teaches in teaching again it's repeated right so teaching what is what is teaching people are actually confused about this believe it or not what is teaching teaching is simply this ready for this you want to write this down explaining truth that's what that's what teaching is teaching is getting other people to understand truth on whatever given subject you're talking about so as a Christian gift of the Holy Spirit we're primarily talking about understanding Christian teachings doctrines the truths of Christ with typically in Christianity a focus on the Bible itself there tends to be in teaching a focus on the text that's consistent right even in the pastoral epistles Paul writes to Timothy he goes give attention to the reading of Scripture and the teaching and command that teach no other doctrine than what you've already received which where is that recorded right in the text of the New Testament so the focus of the teaching should be upon expounding and explaining the Scriptures giving us biblical views of things this is incredibly important and I'm gonna offer a criticism but I want to be gracious in it I'm not here attacking anybody who does what I'm about to describe but our goal is to be biblically minded so we want to sort of take a step back and look and say what does scripture say compared to maybe some of our experiences the teachings that we often have in churches today is the Sunday morning service the Sunday morning sermon is what most people like you guys are the rare exception you're coming here it's Sunday night you're still a church what's wrong with you guys come on you know you should be sleeping on the couch already but now your turkey coma or whatever but the Sunday morning sermon often lacks teaching I don't think this is the case in our fellowship but I think that it often lacks teaching there's no teaching element it's pretty much primarily just a just a feel-good message when you first attend the church it feels great you're like man I love that thanks man oh and I could bring people and they'll come and their first time they come but it seems pretty regular that those people who get saved in that ministry that like six months goes by a year goes by four or five years goes by and they're like yeah can you like actually teach me something can you go a little deeper in the word and sometimes those very pastors get frustrated because they're like I worked so hard and you loved it now you don't like it and then they get mad at the people and instead that people are actually trying to say look there's something we're actually missing we're missing the teaching well I think that that's unfortunately the case and many believers they only ever hear a Sunday sermon they never attend any home study groups to get in the word together they don't they don't get in a word much on their own so they only hear is Sunday sermon that lacks teaching which means they're lacking vital ministry in their lives and it affects their life in big ways do you know that it's required that elders are able to teach it's one of the in fact there are several character requirements for elders but there's one skill requirement able to teach isn't interesting able to teach like this is the one thing this elders got to be able to do they've got to be able to communicate the truths of Christianity to why cuz it's so important it's so needed and we do need to gather and do this so that that's the implication I don't think you should limit teaching to the pulpit I think that you may have a gift in teaching whether it's just for a moment or in a particular area or if it's a regular thing that you do any of you in this room may very well have you probably all will have at some point your life where you're like okay the Holy Spirit's calling me to explain this truth to this person that's gonna happen to you it may happen more regularly and maybe like a gift that kind of care you carry with you or not I don't know according to God's will but don't limit it to the pulpit if you understand doctrine and you can explain it effectively on a regular basis then you have a gift in teaching whether you're a boy or a girl whether you're a boy or a girl if you understand doctrine and you can explain it effectively not arrogantly that's very different effectively means they go all I understand not oh you've intimidated me into nodding my head like that's not explaining effectively that's just being rude then you should be teaching but it doesn't have to be in a pulpit in fact the majority of what we do is at church doesn't happen in the pulpit if you really think about it so let me give you a couple thoughts teaching can be momentary or it can be continual I think we experience both I would say avoid pride just like verses 3 and 4 says in Romans 12 that he's like don't think I'm weren't yourself more highly than you want your yacht but but be aware of your gift things and serve in them but beware of pride because pride will mess you up and in that I'd say teachers with pride is a very bad scenario it's a very bad scenario obviously there's probably some element of pride that everybody struggles with but when pride enters your teaching and changes the mode of how you do things it'll ruin your ministry and what's what's bad is people will copy you like you're teaching them not just the truth but how to be as you teach and that's a little scary and intimidating no wonder why I'm gonna be judged more strictly as a teacher but I also want to say this this is something I did not grasp when I was younger but I remember hearing one time a guy who he was he was about to be ordained as a pastor and he just found out that the church was gonna ordain him as a pastor and he was all excited about it you know which I understand that's a really special thing you know and and he says he were just kind of a conversation he says I gotta figure out what I think about all the doctrines I got to figure out what I think about all the doctrines because it's important that I know how to take a stand on all of the different doctrinal issues and then he went on and said you know sometimes you might have to get up and teach and you might not have it all figured out but you have to teach like you have it all figured out and I was very young and I just remember and I was I don't want to say anything out loud I think I was a little too intimidated to do that I just remember looking at go that doesn't sound right like I always think the opposite if you don't know that you should get up there and just not talk about it or talk about it as someone who doesn't know and say I don't know guys and just be honest I would say this here's the thing that is so hard to get even though I've said it over and over again to people I've tried to raise up as teachers do not teach what you don't know please just don't even deal with things you don't understand just ignore the issue if you can't approach it to someone who understands and if you study it well and still don't understand it then just preach it as I've studied this well here's some thoughts I really don't know and just expose your ignorance for the world to see because if you don't expose this someone else will eventually it's gonna happen it's inevitable or they'll just be googling while you're teaching and they'll all know but they won't tell you because that's the real world we live in nowadays right yes don't teach what you don't know or I'll put this way only teach what you actually know rather than knowing what you teach which is a very foolish way of teaching but I've seen it plenty I know what I teach whatever I say I stand upon that like I will die on this hill and there are there is no end to the number of hills I will die on the longer I teach the more firm you know confident proclamations I make on questionable issues I haven't really thought that much about and that is a very bad way to teach that and that's prized pride that's pride ultimately because I'm trying to protect my authoritarian reputation instead of trying to communicate Christian truths very carefully so there is actually a great passage in the scripture that incorporates a couple of the points I just made about girls and boys being able to teach in a capacity and a biblical capacity as well as only teaching what you know so turn to acts 18 this is I love that the scripture gives us clear teachings but also examples of those teachings in real life so that we can go oh that's what you meant so here we are Acts chapter 18 and this is what I believe is a is proof of my point and I will die on that hill Acts 18 verse 24 it says now a certain Jew named Apollo's was born born at Alexandria an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures came to Ephesus this man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit he spoke and taught accurately accurately the things of the Lord though he only knew the baptism of John he did not know the whole story of Jesus so what did he know he only knew up to John up to John's baptism John was like pointing the way to Jesus he's like behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world but he doesn't know the full teaching of everything yet so what does he do he just takes what he does know he shares that no more then let's let's read on so verse 26 so he began to speak boldly in the synagogue when Aquila and Priscilla this is a couple heard him they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately so he gets the rest of the details the rest of the doctrines that the Apostles have been teaching now he gets the rest of it and when he desired to cross to akia the brothers the Brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him and when he arrived he greatly helped those who had believed through grace for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ now notice a few things and also stick to two people in this story Priscilla and Apollo's the coulomb Priscilla and Mary couple Priscilla is the wife and what did she do she along with her husband both of them they took Apollo's aside even though he's a teacher and they said there's some stuff you need to learn and they explained to him doctrine more theology more understanding about the doctrine of who Christ was it wasn't just encouragement she was actually sharing doctrinal truth with her husband there but she was definitely part of this they both did it and it's looked at as a good thing in the passage okay that that's what I get from the passage I'm just letting the passage be the passage right now Apollo's he stuck to what he knew and that's why he taught the way of God accurately now imagine if he goes I know that Jesus I know do you know there's this baptism of John maybe he knew that John had said Jesus was the Lamb of God maybe all this kind of thing he knew but what if he decided to just guess at the other details it would have disqualified him wouldn't it he would look like a fool but because he humbly stayed - only what he firmly knew with his limited knowledge he was able to teach accurately the things of God and that I think is what every young teacher especially should know old teachers usually figure this out on their own like oh there's plenty I don't know willing to deal with that but young teachers are so eager to prove themselves and to not look bad in front of others that they often pretend they know everything when the reality is they just heard it in a Bible study one time and they don't remember who said it so stick to what you know studied the passage carefully teach it humbly don't go beyond what you know and that way you can teach accurately and you can really build up the body and then here we have Priscilla who had something to teach to apollo's which i think is very interesting it may not have been a pulpit ministry but there was a teaching capacity that was going on there so I think these examples are in Scripture for a reason I do I do think that the office of Elder is not is not appropriate for a woman because of the teaching of Scripture here not because of some sexism of course I'll be accused of this but I get accused a lot worse than that so let's just deal with that as it comes so I'm not I'm not here trying to subvert anything rather I want to have a full balanced view of all these things so the are there women who may be gifted in teaching very very yes very well there are the question is how is that role and capacity to play out in the church that's seems to be the balance that we're getting here so he who teaches in teaching are you gifted in this ability to have the ability to explain not just you know it all you help them know it that's what teaching is teaching is not about my knowledge about your knowledge when you grow if you're like this then then the the statement to you is okay then get to teaching start teaching oh I wouldn't want to put myself in that position you didn't the Holy Spirit gifted you now start sharing these truths with others do it humbly do it appropriately do a thoughtfully stick to only what you know but please by all means if you have this this opportunity or a particular skill in this go for it because it's the whole body doing the job that's the whole team working together that's when we see the fruit so if this is your gift my question is are you using it and I'll just say this two things to close with on teaching I actually love to talk about teaching for about the 7 hours straight but let me just say this it's not about pet subjects it's not about teaching is not an opportunity to fix everybody on what annoys you it is the opportunity to communicate God's truths from his word that's the idea to just them know more about God also I think that there are multiple teachers in the body of Christ and we should have multiple teachers in our lives here Hosanna we have how many people that come to this church it's at like at least 12 maybe maybe maybe more than that I don't know the exact numbers I don't care to actually but we have enough people that I know that there are lots of people that are gifted to teach in some capacity or another and what's on my heart is to see more people teaching in this church whether it's in a home study fellowship whether it's alternating teachers and different ministries or if it's just having people who just kind of after church they're just going hey did you understand that hate and they're just trying to help people you know whoever is open to it to receive and learn more I think that's a great thing we want to get the body using our gifts so we can be a healthier stronger body that's the idea that's the idea so um so at least for me as a pastor I'll say this I'm not like this mypod Bank my poor control by d'Asti that's not my that's not my goal and rather I really want more people raised up in teaching and serving and that's why I've put on classes and teaching and then of course the guys I'm like I'm invited like dude you need to come to this class and they don't show up so so I hate them forever so have to work through that okay number number three i think--for tonight he who exhorts in exhortation verse 8 he who exhorts in exhortation what is the gift of exhortation well exhorting is is something we don't use that word very often so the idea is you're inviting people to action or your your inspires into action or you're encouraging them that's the idea these two concepts in exhortation teaching is informational exhortation is inspirational specifically I'm inspiring you to do something so I'm like the guy that says like hey get up let's no let's go right now get up let's do it that's an exhortation when I in a teaching moment I stopped and I cap Oz and I say hey place your hope in Christ that's an exhortation whereas a teaching would be an explanation well you know what hope is you know like I'm I'm sort of you know you're dissecting things in teaching but an exhortation your you're trying to get people to respond to it you know the the exhortation is is the sign that that says like you know hot hamburgers for sale you're like that's I'm trying to be drawn to respond to these things so James is a great book of exhortation it really is Romans is a great book of of teaching and it has several elements of exhortation and you'll see these things mixed together I think healthy teaching should have exhortation as well but you'll find that the gift set of the person talking will change the content of the message they'll have more exhortation less teaching because that's their gifting they'll have more teaching less rotation because that's their gifting as not because they're better and worse there are different kinds of teachers there different kinds of communicators gifted by the Spirit in different ways so I tend to think of this it kind of clumsy but I didn't think of it as preaching and teaching exhortation is more preaching teaching is more educational and so I tend to think of it like that you know I could think of our senior pastor is more of a teacher you know say pastor Jeff Johnson he's more of an exhorter preacher now they both do the other thing but they both sort of lean one direction well I'm more of a teacher obviously and and I another thing is I shamelessly lean on that why cuz I'm an I'm the Holy Spirit gave me this gift I'm gonna try to use it to the best of my ability and that's what you should do as well if you're gifted in exhorting and you go man I'm bad at explaining things but I'm good at exhorting well then you should focus on that why are you trying to be the teacher when you're the exhorter that's what you should focus on but my church needs teaching too yes that's why there's other people there so you trade the pulpit out and you let other people minister to so that you can have the full rounded ministry happening in that in that place so why is it repeated again he who exhorts in exhortation because God's saying get to it X order God is exhorting you it's exhorting you get to it exhortation is really important in the body there are many people whose lives change not just because of teaching but because somebody was like man don't you think it's time you served Jesus and then you're right yeah and then they go out and they're serve you know someone says man why don't you have an hour of prayer tonight when's the last time you had an hour of prayer and they're not teaching nothing right they're just like you need to pray you need to pray for your kids and for your spouse and for the things that are on your mind you need to be lifting up others and don't even talk about you for once for an hour right just pray about it yeah I'm gonna do that an exhortation super important in my life I love it I like to listen to guys that are do teaching and people that do exhortation and have them all in my life multiple people pouring into my life so I can get that rounded thing going on I love that so let me read a couple scriptures related to this Hebrews 3:13 it says but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin x or tation does something to preserve us you know so you might feel like you're nagging people but when you're doing it out of love and you're doing it according to the gifting God's given you exhortation is a welcomed and important thing so maybe that's you maybe you're the year's order don't minimize your gift because you're an environment where you I've had this where someone comes in they share in my place and I'm gifted more towards teaching and they're towards exhorting and I've told them like dude don't try to teach like me teach according to what's on your heart to what you're gifting is to what your calling is they need that especially after hearing me so it can balance them out you know so I this is beautiful this is good stuff hebrews 10:25 he says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some that's the go to church verse but exhorting one another exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching Hebrews 10:25 describes a New Testament first century church gathering as a bunch of Christians coming together in doing what to one another exhorting so people come and really how you feeling I'm down oh man let me pray for you let me encourage you let me this is where we come we we don't we don't it's not the guilt trip its exhortation now exhortation can be harsh and it can be soft and it can be whatever's needed at the time and according hopefully to the leading of the Holy Spirit so a couple thoughts of exhortation it's not just for pulpits in my broken record here none of these are just for the pulpit and I would say this if you're trying to exhort people here's just just my personal opinion exhort people don't control people there's a huge difference there's a huge difference and you know you're controlling people if you try to exhort them and you get mad at them afterwards because you're just controlling you're not exhorting you're not trying to help them you're just trying to get them under your thumb so to speak and not that's there's a difference there there's a difference so maximize your gift if you're not a teacher don't be a teacher if you're in exhort do that if you're the teacher not the IG's order well don't try to be the IG's order if you're the Evangelist and not the educator then be the Evangelist not the educator be what comes more natural to you use your gift the body needs it the Holy Spirit gave it to you for a purpose and these to make me really think that these are multiple different speaking gifts exhortation and teachings so maybe I shouldn't have just one speaker in my life and I've had a lot of fruit from having multiple teachers in my life at all times because it thank God for the radio or the internet being able to always have lots of sources of input and that's a healthy thing that's like that's a quality thing we like that so teaching ministry and exhortation those are the three we've covered and they all have something in common that the rest of these don't have because he's about to shift gears these three he's like if you're a teacher then get to teaching are you know Jordan get to exhorting you got ministry or service to do get to you're serving it's a get to it mentality but as he moves forward it'll be specific advice right when he says he who gives he doesn't say get to giving he says with liberality or he tells you how to do it so it shifts it changes why these three just these three service teaching and exploitation they're just told get to it I think because perhaps maybe the message in the scripture kind of hidden here is that these three often lie dormant in the church no I really want to serve I see needs but I really want to step out put myself out there yeah you know I really you know I understand the truth here that person doesn't but do I really want to engage on that conversation that person you know I see them I can tell they're kind of like they're drifting away and they need some incursion they need some exhortation but that's kind of uncomfortable for me you know because like I have a personal space that's exactly one mile across and it's preferred to be way over there and I'll think about it I think maybe these these giftings lie dormant and here's the here's the real kicker maybe teaching exhortation or service is lying dormant in you right now if it is get to it and if you're not sure exactly how to do it I honestly think just going for it is totally fine just experiment with it try serving and see how it goes because the body needs you we really do we really need you and out of love for for us and and care for Christ should just go for it so let's move on he who gives with liberality he who gives with liberality this is not about tithing I I might be in a minority around here I do not think Christians or have to tithe I have yet to see that in the scriptures though I do tithe and have for many years and I think it's fine I don't think they have to but they are supposed to give this is very clear in this in the scriptures why were to give to those who minister to us spiritually that's clear we are to give to those who are poor and needy that's clear and we're and we have the opportunity to sponsor and help missions and ministries and store treasures in heaven these are different types of giving that we do that's good and healthy but he who gives with liberality if this was about tithing it would say he who gives was 10% think about it but it says he who gives with liberality so giving is exactly that you're just giving of your resources this is a financial giving either the stuff I have or the finances I have I'm giving that somehow to the Lord and how should I give that's what's being said generously how should I give generously not not how much should I give but how much can I give that's the question as a Christian not how much should I give how much can I give that's a difficult question for some of us to ask because I'm like you know how long it took to save up that you know how hard things are or what might happen next week that kind of thing but here's where I want to encourage you scripture says clearly we're not to give by compulsion that is no ministry or minister should ever pressure you to give that is the unbiblical in its very nature the minute someone is demanding that you give that's time to change the channel like you'd be better off watching a sitcom than that guy not that you'd be better off for watching a sitcom in general but better than that manipulative misuse of the scripture yeah so we don't want to be forced into giving there's no such thing as compulsion here compulsion speaks of the asker like let's say that I'm like after today I'm gonna ask you guys to give generously and then the plate gets passed and you're where people are around you and you're thinking like Oh everybody knows and like this is wrong this is just weird this is just not the environment God wants forgiving so not by compulsion and the second thing is I just lost my notes where are we wait what book are we yet okay hold on there it is grudgingly not grudgingly saved so smooth all right not grudgingly don't give grudgingly now that's not by compulsion speaks of the asker the person's not trying to pressure you into giving in fact I had a guy do this once over here at the coffee shop he came in and he said I'm a traveling minister and I go around ministering and the Bible says that you're supposed to support those who serve you and bless you spiritually with physical things so can you give me some money and I just laughed at him and told him no cuz I don't know you I don't know it okay great you have a Christian scam going on please go away like I don't know you I don't you'd have a not ministered to me spiritually why would I keep it and if you did minister and then came with your handout I would question everything you've done and so not by compulsion the minute someone's pressuring you you need to rethink it but that's about the Oscar not grudgingly is about the giver when you do give don't do it grudgingly you know where you pull it's the heart I've let go of my money but my money hasn't let go of me and that's that's the issue that's going on there so not grudgingly um let me let me read to you what it says in 2nd Corinthians 8 in fact I'll give you time to turn there well I while I'm use on other giving related topics 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 here's a question I have if a person is wealthy does this imply that they're supposed to have the gift of giving if a person has material wealth does that imply that they have this gift of giving and I'm going to say okay this is my thought and I could be wrong I think perhaps it does I think perhaps their wealth implies that they have the gift of giving and I only think it for this reason if someone is full is capable and skilled at teaching does that imply they have the gift of teaching I'll be like yeah of course obviously it does well what if they have this physical wealth above and beyond what they need does this not imply the ability to give which seems to imply perhaps a calling to give you have an ability so you consider that a part of your calling so I think we look at our abilities as part of our calling and I think that this may be the case this doesn't mean you force them not grudgingly so this isn't the case for banging on the doors of the rich I mean like God I want you to give me your money to me okay you need to repent this is not actually what we're talking about at all nor are we talking about government or force any of that sort of thing we're talking about Christian ethics Christian principles if you have wealth should you be considering that as part of your calling to give and support others I think the answer is yes biblically and I think if several scriptures that support that but I'll give you one example 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verses 13 through 15 look at the balance that Paul describes for the church he's talking about giving and he says for I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened but by an equality that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack that their abundance may also supply your lack that there may be equality as it is written he who gathered much had nothing left over and he who gathered little had no lack o me let me explain that if it didn't and quite for you the idea is this he goes right now I'm gonna take your supply over to Jerusalem to help the needful Saints there's persecution there's poverty going on there you guys however you have plenty right now so because you have plenty and they lack let me take some of your plenty to them to bless them but only freely only because you want to help then perhaps there'll come another time when you have when you lack and they have plenty and then what will we do we'll help we'll have them help you so that the body looks around and says well I have more than what I need who has less than what what they need let me help them now this may not mean giving to ministries this may very well mean just helping people who need help you know you look around and you're going man they can't pay their rent I'm just gonna pay their rent for them I got way more than enough this is just the body helping the body this is not funneling everything through the 501c3 of the church that's irrelevant right that's nothing to do with it this is just helping people who have need when you have more than they do that's cool that's it's beautiful isn't it so he who gives with liberality give generously according to what he who gives doesn't mean everybody's giving everything no we'd all be poor or just passing around the same wad of cash like it just wouldn't make any sense right so there is a sense in which do I have this calling to give well when you do give give generously give with that with that joyous heart it's true that the Widow's mite is a great spiritual value I think in an inward and an upward impact because it the widow's might though it didn't help people very much it helps her heart to not be attached to money and it gave glory to Jesus Christ it was a great act of sacrifice and worship to God because proportionally that was a lot of money to her but it's also true that the the person who's well-off can have a greater physical impact in the community or in the people he's helping or she's helping and so that is also true let's not let's not act like it doesn't even matter if you have a million dollars and you donate it to help supply the needs of widows in your in your community or something like that like of course that matters and this is genius you know why because the people who are well-off can often give more and they're in there called to give I think liberally and here's the thing now money has no hold on you whether you're giving a small portion what you what little you have or you're giving a relatively small photo should enough of what great stuff you have it means money doesn't have hold of you and that's the great risk for us as believers is that money in materialism gets a hold of my heart there's a lot more that can be said on that but I think those are some interesting points that seem biblical to me so let's keep reading he who leads with the diligence and the leader is called to do so with diligence diligence is like an intent full pressing on it actually has to do with the words zeal and diligence kind of smash together so there's like a zeal or excitement in their leadership and there's a diligence which is like that plotting non-stop like The Tortoise and the hare who was diligent well the tortoise was the tortoise was the diligent one he just wouldn't stop but that's what and the leadership should try to have the zeal of the of the hare and the diligence of the tortoise that's the idea for leaders leading is not the same as teaching you you can be a leader without being a teacher you could be a teacher without being a leader you could be both four different capacities and if you're asking yourself am i a leader well let me ask you this look around at your life and is anybody following you if people are following your lead then what does that make you a leader so you're called to do what to do that with zeal with diligence so God wants leaders who are committed and passionate and they do so constantly and as a leader you cannot give in and buckle and become a Lala wimpy face when you don't get your way and you can't make it about you and you can't do these things because you have to be all about the impact you're having on those who are following your steps that's the idea I wonder this though like if you rewrote this today with modern like if I've been to pastors conferences and stuff like this youth conferences especially and you know what they would have I think they would a lot of them would rewrite this text so instead of saying he who leads with diligence it would say he who leads with vision that's what they would emphasize vision guys you have to have vision what's your vision give me your five point sermon vision sermon that's gonna fire everybody right the vision make it plain that he who reads me wrong with it totally take another context that this this is not what it says it doesn't say vision and here's the reason why I think it doesn't say vision is because I already know my vision it's clear in the Scriptures preach the gospel make disciples use your gifts to build up the body and invite the world to know Christ pretty simple stuff I I worked hard on writing a vision statement for our youth ministry years ago and I sat there and I thought I was supposed to have this fresh vision something unique something different something that I haven't quite seen before it's gonna have a slight spin on it and I prayed about it and prayed about it and prayed about it until I finally came up with my two word vision make disciples and I thought this might be boring but this is the vision and how could it be anything else we get excited about vision what we should be excited about his diligence let he believes do so with diligence leaders need to have diligence diligence is better than vision way better way better you know the firecracker explodes makes a big big light big sound and then goes away and then there's the stars still shining day after day after day after day and that and that's that's a solid leaders when you can look at you can go ten years twenty years thirty years later they're still serving Jesus they're still leading there's still a person that you could hopefully follow their way of life and that's why I need to leave with diligence there's a verse that changed my life in Proverbs that really actually honestly did change my life I think about it all the time proverbs 12 27 it says the lazy man that was me the lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting I think of times i microwave food and forgot it came the next day and found my dinner in the microwave it's like oh man that's why I'm so hungry the lazy man is not roast what he took in hunting but diligence is man's precious possession the first time I read that as a little kid as like I was probably 12 or 13 proverbs is the first book I read and I remember diligence his man's precious possession I was like what's diligence what is that but I've never stopped thinking about it you know and this idea of these sort of plotting faithfulness that were called - especially as leaders but every believer is really called to it a seal and a diligence all right the next one is he who shows mercy with cheerfulness this is the last one for us tonight he who shows mercy with cheerfulness what is the gift of mercy what is this person who's who's called by the Holy Spirit to show mercy well obviously all of us are called to show mercy but this is talking about something more particularly the person no know you particularly have this gift of mercy and I've actually read on some websites where they get really detailed they're like you have the gift of mercy if you if you like have a blue aura and you and you get butterflies in your stomach when Bugs Bunny's on a baby being silly but the idea is that they get sort of like really detailed into all these gifts and what they are and I feel like maybe they're too detailed but basically mercy is is when people don't deserve something and you give it to them anyway that's the idea of mercy is you're helping people who are in deep need these people who are in deep need I think service ministry we talked about earlier is about tasks that need to be done and you're called to serve and get the tasks done mercy I think is more focused on individuals and helping people through what they're going through that'd be my simple explanation of mercy so it seems to be helping less fortunate or suffering I think is an example of this in Matthew 20 let me read to this story Jesus is walking and he comes across these blind men and they ask for mercy so it says now as he went out of Jericho a great multitude followed him and behold two blind men sitting by the road when they heard that Jesus was passing by cried out saying have mercy on us O Lord son of David then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet but they cried out all the more saying have mercy on us O Lord son of David so Jesus stood still and called him and said what do you want me to do for you and they said to him Lord that our eyes may be opened so Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and they followed him so here they are calling for mercy their the less fortunate and I mean you think being blind is bad now where we have Braille and we have help and we have a society that's more aware of the needs of somebody who's Imperator's blind I can't imagine what it was like then and they say how mercy and he heals them so maybe having mercy is just that it's like here's someone who's in dire straits difficult times in life and I'm drawn to them maybe emotionally maybe just in my awareness maybe I'm emotionally burdened for them maybe I'm just aware of them I'm like I just noticed first thing I noticed was that guy man he really needs help and maybe that's where I'm called to give mercy to that person I think some people focus on the emotional side too much I don't want to ignore it but I don't want you to think if you don't have like deep like powerful like Shakespearean emotions for this person then you're not called to give mercy rather that may not be the case but we're told not how mercy feels we're told how to do it and that's with cheerfulness cheerfulness that's interesting huh you ever showed mercy without cheerfulness when you're serving people that are less fortunate you can sometimes get irritated with them you know why you're less fortunate because you're a fool because you're because you're wimpy because you're a Lala that's why come on man up and it can become a bitter or hard-hearted attitude towards them and you forget that what you're showing them is mercy it's not what they deserve it's mercy I'm just trying to aid you help you get you through this time now we don't want to become enablers and that's not the calling so don't you know don't cross that road hopefully but to show mercy with cheerfulness to have a gracious attitude towards those we are helping rather than kind of an irritated attitude or a self-righteous attitude or something like that so it's not exactly focused on the feeling of of what mercy feels like but rather the attitude with which I demonstrate this mercy or this help this aid to others who are less fortunate and they can be very needy and you might be like well I feel slightly irritated by helping other people so that must not be my ministry I just would say be careful of disqualifying yourself from things that you see that need to be done and you know they need to be done and you could do it just be thoughtful before you just you wipe that off your your list of things to do you know just be careful with that it's not he who shows mercy will always feel like it no no if you always felt like you wouldn't have to tell you to do with cheerfulness you know command it just be go for it you'll do fine so here's a question does this passage imply that one or another of these gifts is given to a person long term so should I should I now after studying this go I have the gift of mercy or I have the gift of teaching or I have the gift of exhortation I don't think that that's even what this passage is about I think whether you taught one person one time or if you exhorted one person every day or you showed mercy once or you seemed to do it as a regular ministry either way you apply the instruction to that moment because all of us are gonna do some capacity of this at some point but you will find yourself probably leaning towards certain things now they actually have spiritual gift tests online if you guys ever taken one of those I'm just curious I took home I was just like curious for like spiritual gifts test I have mixed feelings about those I don't think they tell you what your spiritual gifts are and how would a test do that anyway but what they do is they tell you what you're already doing and so it's like a way of evaluating yourself like what am I already doing in life because maybe I'm not seeing something that's already there and in that sense it could actually be fruitful if you take it with a grain of salt so just for what it's worth there are these spiritual gifts tests online and you could be thoughtful about it might might just get more insight into what you're already doing and it might reveal something to you about yourself that you didn't notice there's some wrong thinking I want to avoid before we close it and that's don't pick one of these gifts and blow it up to be the only thing that you do let's say that that okay I've had gifted teaching I'm called to teach I know I'm called to do this does that mean I don't really still worry about all that other stuff like I don't need to give with liberality or help out my neighbors in need because my gift is teaching that would seem to be unwise I think we should try to be careful about that these things flow and mix as the Spirit wills and the Holy Spirit can give you something for a moment a season a lifetime according to as well so what we're doing right now in Romans 12 in closing is getting a philosophy of church and when I say philosophy of church I mean philosophy of the body of Christ the local Christians that we are fellowshipping together and what I'm getting from this is that we all ought to be perhaps even more active than we are so maybe you could take this forward and when you see people who seem to have gifts like man that guys really you know when he encourages me I mean I'm encouraged and maybe tell him you know that guy that girl is she shows me you're like you know what you are such an aid to people when they're hurting did you know that like help people identify their own sort of leanings and giftings and stuff so that they might be able to step into those things more because a lot of us are just too intimidated to step forward and just try stuff and we want someone to tell us and maybe that's maybe that's needed maybe that's helpful for us but but we don't want to be pew Christians it's like there's no Benchwarmers in Christianity there shouldn't be any if you're on the bench it's because something's wrong like fix it and get off the bench that's the idea all right well let's pray well father we thank you that now we know everything there is to know about church and how to do everything in every possible way with all wisdom all our we just pray this we pray that you'd help us to just see the things are showing us help us to apply your word simply and practically into our lives to have a sense of freshness about what it means to have a calling and giftings have a sense of an awareness that we are actually called to be a participating part of the body of Christ and I'm not just a consumer and that this goes yes this happens in our regular weekly gatherings and fellowships but it happens at work and it happens in our family environment and it happens with our neighbors and it just it's supposed to just be a flowing thing all the time and so that's what we pray for help us we pray to be more aware of our spiritual calling and our giftings and our enablement to see needs so we can try to meet needs and to look at others and realize that no matter how much we might think they're there numskulls or or whatever their shoes are weird or something like that may we instead look at them and realize that the Holy Spirit has gifted them to minister as well and that we might be more open to receive from one another we pray in Jesus name Amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] god [Music]

Channel: Mike Winger

Views: 31,469

Rating: 4.9214501 out of 5

Keywords: Gift of teaching, gift of mercy, gift of giving, gift of serving, gift of ministry, gift of leading, biblical teaching on the gifts of the spirit, gifts of the spirit, how the gifts of the spirit operate, what gifts do I have, spiritual gifts, what are my spiritual gifts, gift of exhortation, Romans 12, Romans 12:4, Romans 12:5, Romans 12:6, Romans 12:7, Romans 12:8, BibleThinker, Bible Thinker, Mike Winger

Id: BoPQ_gH14Sw

Length: 59min 54sec (3594 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 11 2017