What's Your Gift for Grace?

What’s Your Gift for Grace?

If I’m not careful, I often fall into the habit of thinking of the spiritual gifts as supernatural experiences manifesting themselves only in “Bible times”.  I think of the miraculous gifts of healing performed by the apostles, the gifts of speaking in tongues so common in the Corinthian church, and the many awe-inspiring acts of the prophets of old.  These were the sign gifts that accompanied and authenticated the proclamation of God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit, however, has not ceased to dispense spiritual gifts – in fact He has made the use of spiritual gifts an integral part of the growth of the church.   In Ephesians 4:11-13, Paul states “and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”.  We see here that the Spirit gives gifts to certain men to equip the church and help it to become “the fullness of Christ”, representing Christ here on Earth.

But it’s not just certain men who are assigned spiritual gifts to build up the church.  Each individual member of the church has a spiritual gift, a way in which the Spirit Himself through each member blesses, sanctifies, and matures the body of Christ.  “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:4-8).  This is an exciting reality that as believers we often overlook.  And if you are not using your spiritual gift, allowing the Spirit to work through you on behalf of the body, then our church isn’t functioning as well as it should and Christ is not being fully magnified.

So what is your gift for our church, Grace Community Church?  What special ability has the Spirit assigned to you to build Grace up into the measure of the stature of Christ?  And how can you discover what your gift is?

A great place to start is to see how the Spirit is moving powerfully through some members of Grace.  We are so blessed to have many examples of the spiritual gifts on display!

They're all called "Grace Community Church".  But they are not OUR Grace Community Church.  Very interesting.

Visibly Gifted

It should be obvious to all that our pastors are very talented men.  They are well-educated – schooled extensively in the historical, grammatical interpretation of Scripture – they are very adept at speechwriting, and each has a lucid and winsome sermon delivery style.  These are all learned behaviors and our pastors excel at them.  But it is not these traits that make them effective preachers and teachers.  After all, many unsaved men are dynamic speakers and some of our most knowledgeable biblical scholars (who have contributed to the various Bible translations) are non-Christians.  These learned behaviors then are the vehicle by which the Spirit moves through our pastors, they are not the gifts themselves.  The reason we feel as if God is speaking directly to us when our pastors preach and teach is because He is speaking to us through them.  Please understand, I don’t say this to butter up our pastors.  There is really no point in doing that since this gift does not originate from them, but from the Holy Spirit.  I don’t dare compliment them except to say this:  They are all humble enough to allow the Spirit to speak through them.  This is their gift.  It is the reason their preaching is so powerful, convicting, and life-changing.

There is another man at Grace and he is so humble and unassuming that he would not want me to mention him by name, but you all know him.  He has an unquenchable thirst to share the gospel with everyone he comes across.  I have enjoyed the privilege of going on evangelistic outings with him where he has, when given the opportunity, preached the gospel publicly in the open air to passersby.  Now some of this is done with human effort:  he has diligently memorized Scriptures that he quotes throughout his gospel declarations.  But often as I listen to this man extolling the virtues of our loving heavenly Father to all who will listen, explaining the sacrificial deeds of our Lord and Savior, and pleading with sinners to obey the gospel there is a moment in time when I no longer hear the man but the very Spirit of our God imploring with terrifying clarity! (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Did you know there were so many Grace Community Churches out there?  Is this starting to freak you out, too?

But it’s not just the leaders of our church….the pastors, elders, and deacons…that the Spirit wants to work through.  He wants to work through all of us who are the redeemed, all members of Grace Community Church, with just as much power and effectiveness.  We often erroneously see the church as simply a human institution represented by our leadership.  This is not at all what the church is.  According to the Scriptures, the church is a heavenly organism built and sustained by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 5:25-32, 1 Peter 2:4-5).  And the leadership, though they are highly visible and well-known throughout the congregation, are simply members of the church.  They are important members but not the only members.  You may think this is a silly thing to point out (we all know we’re members, don’t we?).  But I think there is a tendency to think that the work of the church is done by the leadership and their wives, making the rest of us passive spectators.  The reality is none of us are spectators. We are all active, living, functioning parts of Grace Community Church and our gifts, the gifts the Holy Spirit has given to each of us, are needed to make the church appear as Christ to this dark world.

Discovering Your Gift

So how can you discover your gift for Grace?  Here are few helpful tips.

Commit to Prayer – Pray to the Lord that He will use you to build up Grace Community Church and that you will fulfill the works He has created for you to do as a member of this church (Ephesians 2:10).  This is a prayer the Lord very much desires to answer and it will surely be a welcomed change from our usual prayers for physical comforts.

Fill Up on the Word – It is very unlikely that you will discover how the Lord wants to supernaturally work through you if you consume a steady diet of TV, watching Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol and the like.  Instead, spend your free time diving deep into the Word of God, dwelling on its promises and precepts, nourishing your spirit with its truths.  Remember, it is though prayer that we communicate with God but it is through His holy Word that He communicates with us.  You will not “hear” Him if you don’t regularly dwell on His Word.

Get Involved! – You will never be used by the Spirit if you are satisfied existing on the fringes of church life.  Don’t simply “go” to church, BE the church.  What I mean is do not see church as simply a location where you go to sings songs and hear a message.  Come to the assembly looking for opportunities to be a blessing to others.  Interact with other members, get involved in activities, and look for ways to do the “one-anothers” of Scripture.  It will be through these interactions that you will begin to notice things that you love to do that seem to come naturally and that appear to bless and inspire others.  After a while, you will start to get feedback from others such as,

“You encouraged me so much the other day when you…..”

“I am so glad to know you!  You are so good at……”

“What you did the other day helped me so much!  You seem to be a natural at…..”

“This person needs you.  Could you please go to them because you are better than I am at……”

Aha!  There's the one I know and love.  Rock on, Grace Community Church!

Take note that the spiritual gifts will not be natural abilities such as the ability to make delicious pies and cakes.  You may have this ability and may really enjoying baking and sharing baked goods with others, but this is a learned behavior, one that non-Christians can also do well.  A spiritual gift will be something that the world cannot learn to do.  Your love of baking may instead be the vehicle by which the Spirit displays a supernatural ability to show mercy to others in need.  In this example, the ability to show mercy as the Lord does will be your spiritual gift, not baking, though baking may be one way in which it manifests itself.  Another characteristic of a spiritual gift is that it will make others praise God and not you when this gift is displayed, as it states in Matthew 5:16, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

A spiritual gift will not simply be an ability that makes you look impressive.  Rather it will focus on making others around you more like Christ.  It will also be something that gives you an almost inexplicable feeling of happiness and fulfillment.  Notice the joy and the passion that our pastor-teacher displays from the pulpit as he pours out his gift of preaching and teaching among us.  It is obviously more than just a job to him.  It is the very air he breathes.  That is how the Holy Spirit wants to work through each one of us.  When we allow Him to do this, what a beautiful picture of Christ will be on display in the body that is Grace Community Church!

What will Grace Community Church look like when we are all pouring out our spiritual gifts?  What will it feel like?  How will Jacksonville respond?  The thought is thrilling!