TPC Connections

Sermon Notes

Get In The Game!
Part 2
“Gifted for Good Works”

Eph 2:10 “God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.”
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As we saw last time, this verse tells us that believers:
are created, born again, made new——for the purpose of doing good works, which He has prepared for them long ago.

Then Peter informs us of something else:

1 Peter 4:10 “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Not only does the Bible teach that we were:

“…created in Christ Jesus to do the good works he had planned for us,”
—but each of us has received a gift.

These gifts are NOT natural talents or skills but SUPERNATURAL endowments given by God’s grace.

In this passage, Peter lays out three things we need to get today:

• Every believer has received a gift
• We’re called to bless others with our gift
• We are stewards of our gift
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So let’s unpack this:

I. Every believer has received a gift

GIFT is from the word χάρισμα (charisma), meaning ‘a spiritual endowment.’

In another place, Paul the Apostle informs the Corinthian Church that:

“There are different gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:4).

So the gifts of the Spirit are diverse and they complement, or work alongside one another.

The purpose of the gifts are for the recipients to:

serve others,
strengthen the church,
and glorify God.

They include both supernatural manifestations (like healing and miracles).

And practical service-oriented gifts (like serving and encouragement).

And Paul further tells us how they are distributed:

1 Cor 12:11 “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”

So the spiritual gift every believer receives is given by the decision of the Holy Spirit!
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Now, the spiritual gifts fall into two categories:

Motivation gifts (Romans 12:6-8).

Manifestation gifts (1 Cor 12:7-11).

• MOTIVATIONAL GIFTS come with a God-given desire to use them—so you are motivated in a supernatural kind of way.

Paul describes it like this in Phil 2:13,

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

See that?—God not only gifts you, but gives you a heaven-sent desire to use your gift!

The motivational gifts the Bible lists are:

Prophecy, Service, Teaching, Encouragement, Giving, Leading, and Mercy.
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And then there are MANIFESTATION GIFTS.

1 Cor. 12:7 “But the MANIFESTATION of the SPIRIT is GIVEN to each one for the profit of ALL:

• Manifestation gifts are supernatural abilities given by the Holy Spirit.

The manifestation gifts are:

Word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.–1 Cor. 12:8-11

Now when we talk about someone being “really gifted” we tend to think of people with highly visible gifts like:

Preaching, teaching, evangelizing, singing…the people in the spotlight.

But some spiritual gifts are not like that at all!

Some are more ‘behind the scene’ gifts.

For instance, in the list of motivational gifts one of them is called the gift of SERVING.

What is this gift?

• People with the gift of serving are motivated to meet practical needs and support others.

They often work behind the scenes to ensure that a simple, practical task is completed.

People with this spiritual gift find a deep fulfillment in demonstrating love through action!

Paul mentions this gift again in:

Ro 12:6-7 “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So…if your gift is serving others, serve them well…”

More people receive this gift than any other and don’t generally stop to consider that this is their God-given spiritual gift!

You can easily spot this gift in action:

They are the ones washing dishes after everyone else has gone home.

They are the ones putting up the chairs while others are crawling over them to get to the exits.

They are the ones who ask if they can help:
carry,
or clean,
or deliver
while everyone else is in their car heading home.

They enjoy the party best if they’re in the kitchen or at the barbecue pit handing out the food!

Most people want to be served—but those with this spiritual gift want to be the one serving.”

—So spiritual gifts are not always “in the spotlight” kind of gifts!
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Then secondly:

II. We’re called to use our gift

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another…”

Someone wrote, “Your greatest fulfillment in life will come when you discover your unique gifts and abilities and use them to edify others and glorify the LORD.”
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In Jesus’s parable of the talents found in Matt 25, you have the Master of the house (Jesus) who goes on a long journey and leaves three servants (representing Christians) in charge of his estate.

To the first servant He gives five talents,
to the second servant two talents, and
to the third servant one talent.
The man with FIVE talents invests them and gains five more.,

The man with TWO talents also invests them and gains two more.

When the Master finally returns he says to these first two servants,

“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.”–Matt 25:21

But the third man with only ONE talent is found to have never invested his talent.

Instead of investing it he buried it out of fear and mistrust of the Master.

When the Master saw that his talent had not been put to use he called him a ‘wicked and lazy servant.’

The message of the parable is that God expects us to use the gift he has given us——And that we will give an account one day for what we did with it!
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So–every Christian is given a gift,
is commanded to use that gift,
and then lastly:

III. We are stewards of our gift

“As good stewards of the manifold grace of God…”

No one owns their gift, it is a trust from God to be used to His glory in Jesus’s name.

We are STEWARDS of them, and will give an account to God for how we used them for His glory!

Romans 14:12 “Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.”

In light of that, Paul warned Timothy, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you…”–1 Tim. 4:14

Don’t make light of your gift, don’t treat it carelessly.

And then he added—don’t let it go dormant out of fear or timidity, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear…”–2 Tim 1:6-7

Instead, “Stir up the gift that is in you…”

“Stir into flame the gift that is in you!”
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Let’s stand together and read these points out loud:

• We all have a gift
• We’re commanded to use our gift
• We will give an account for how we used our gift

I want to challenge you to sincerely pray about whether the Holy Spirit is tapping you to get off the bench and into the game!