Play your Part (2)
Notes
Transcript
Greater things than this do because I go to The father.
Introduction: For the month of March we have been getting our heads wrapped around Upward Basketball. A big thing we are teaching these kids is about what it means to be apart of a team. How being a part of a team means playing your part. I always thing it’s funny that kid that shows up and thinks he’s steph, Clay or Draymond. They take every shot (and by shot I mean airball), but they aren’t a good teammate. So many times, we see kids come looking out just for themselves and we have to teach them how to be a good teammate. I actually think that’s the hardest part. Dribbling, shooting, and even defense is easy to teach. To teach someone to put the needs of the team ahead of their own is hard. Not everyone is a point guard. Not everyone is a center. And not everyone starts the game. Someone has to come off the bench and play their part. (In fact, championships are usually won by the depth of the bench.)
The church is no different. Many of us come to church for the first time thinking about what’s in it for us. We are by nature consumers. The hardest part of the church is transforming people from consumers to servants. Transitioning them from asking, “what’s in it for me to what can I do to serve.” It’s hard. It’s always been hard.
And that’s why authentic relationships are so important. We can only play our part if we trust the other people on the team. But those relationships get even stronger as we learn to work together.
This isn’t our passage today, but so important as we engage our passage
24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Now to our text for today:
Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. Paul spent more time and words writing to the Corinthians than any other church. There is even evidence that there were 1-2 other letters that no longer exist. (Don’t worry they weren’t scripture and wouldn’t be authoritative if we found them). But man did this church have problems.
They needed a lot of correction. And Paul loved them enough to give it to them. He was strong, but loving.
But they were selfish and lazy and tolerated sin in the church. Their actions and lack thereof was severely hampering the church.
And a big thing was the idea of serving the church.
Introduce:
Authentic Principle: On God’s Team, play your part!
Authentic Principle: On God’s Team, play your part!
Read:
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Authentic Principle: On God’s Team, play your part.
Authentic Principle: On God’s Team, play your part.
Transition: One of the most astounding things that Jesus ever said was in John 14:12.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Knowing the stories of Jesus recorded in the Gospels can make this hard to accept, but the reason is that when Jesus went to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit gives gifts to Christians that fulfill this passage…when we use our gifts in cooperation and fellowship with one another.
1. Learn your Spiritual Gifting. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
1. Learn your Spiritual Gifting. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
Explanation: Paul talks to the Corinthians about the need to play their part. But in order to do that they have to figure out what part they are meant to play.
The truth is sometimes the part we want to play or the part that we think we play is different from the part you are called to play.
First we probably need to accept that there are gifts for the church today. We can perhaps get into a discussion about whether certain gifts are for today or not, but one thing we can’t argue about is the fact that God has given each person a gift. And to fail to use that gift to build up the church is disobedience.
The second thing we have to accept is that everyone has a gift. This might come as a surprise to some people because, you might think, I’m not gifted. I’m not good at anything. God can’t use me. But the truth is we are all gifted.
The third thing is that all gifts are equal in value for the church. Sometimes we elevate certain gifts above others. But Paul says that what unites us is the fact that what makes these gifts special or Spiritual is the fact that there is One Spirit, One Lord, and One God who does the empowering. If you notice the Trinitarian reference there, that’s good. Because when it comes down to it, we are not really serving one another. We are not really serving the church. We are not really serving the community. We are serving God.
And in serving God, we serve one another, the church, and the community. God is first and everything else falls into place.
If there are clearly Spiritual gifts. If we are promised that we have at least 1 and if all gifts are equal in value as we serve the same God, then we ought to do whatever we can to figure out what those gifts are..
Illustration: Now the first thing you are probably going to ask is, how do I find out my Spiritual Gifts?
Well let me tell you how not to find out…you can’t take a test.
When I first became a Christian, after the excitement of having my sins forgiven, the knowledge that I am loved by a God who sent His son to die for me, and the joy of being welcomed into the family of God, the question comes up…what now?
What are we supposed to do? So I asked.
Share your faith. Ok sounds good. At that time I’m eager to share what I’ve experienced with other.
But then they hand you this test. “Take this test and you’ll know how God has gifted you.”
I apologize if I’m about to beat up these tests. But I’m sorry, they are seldom right.
How I finally figured out what my spiritual gifting was was others seeing in me what I couldn’t see in myself.
It took time. It took effort. It took trial and error.
The best way to figure out how God has gifted you is to start serving somewhere.
Application: The truth is, at the beginning, we probably spend too much time focusing on “What’s my spiritual gift?” When at the beginning we should have the attitude of willingness to do anything. Anything that is needed. Over time as you serve in a variety of ministries, your gifts will come to light. I honestly don’t think there is a shortcut. Try your hand as a greeter and see if you have the gift os hospitality. Speak up at Bible Study and Life Group to see if you have the gift of wisdom and knowledge.
Answer every volunteer opportunity you can to see if that’s the way God has gifted you.
Here’s what’s crazy. The thing that scares you the most might just be the thing that God has gifted you to do.
Evangelism is like this. They say that around 10% of Christians are evangelists. And even the 10% are scared of it before they open their mouth and realize that God has given them the joy to share His goodness.
Some of you are gifted in preaching and teaching, but you’ve lived your whole life afraid of public speaking.
Just do something. You might say, “Well I’m waiting on God to show me what to do.”
No…the Holy Spirit is waiting for you to step out into faith.
Secondly:
2. Recognize God’s spiritual gifting in others. (1 Corinthians 12:7-10.
2. Recognize God’s spiritual gifting in others. (1 Corinthians 12:7-10.
Explanation: Now throughout history, the Christian learned their spiritual gift by using them. And then as they used their gift, the church affirmed their gifting.
Now it is a joy to affirm someone in their gift. When it just clicks and you see that yes, this person is a gifted administrator. Or this person has the gift of wisdom. Knowledge. Faith. Gifts of Healing, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation of tongues…and this list isn’t exhaustive.
Roman 12:4-8 adds even more:
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 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.
Now can I talk a little about what’s called the miraculous gifts.
Healing
Prophecy
Tongues
Interpretation of Tongues
Are these for today? I’m not ready to say the definitely aren’t. But one thing I know. The way they were used in the Bible is vastly different from what we see today in the so-called charismatic movement. And they aren’t exactly normative throughout church and Jewish history. At least not in the intensity we see in specific times: Moses; Elijah/Elisah; Daniel; Jesus/the Apostles; the Book or Revelation.
But I do see them today.
I see doctors and nurses with a seemingly supernatural ability to heal through medicine (especially on the mission field). While we see miraculous healings because of prayer, this doesn’t seem to be the norm after the apostolic age. Even in Acts when people like Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-27) are sick they didn’t call for a person with the gift of healing to immediately heal him. Paul had an ailment that he dealt with his entire life that wasn’t healed. But healing can be a process of care and love and compassion.
Prophecy is the proclamation of God’s word. We see that in the Old Testament Prophets as well as the New Testament prophets. But as the Bible was finished by God, that was established by God as His Word to be proclaimed. Is it possible that God still gives people visions of the future? I’m not saying he doesn’t, but remember what the Old Testament about how we should test prophets. And if their prophecy turns out to be false, they were stoned. (We won’t do that today), but false prophecy I believe is the very definition of using taking the Lord’s name in vane. You attach God’s name to something you want to say to manipulate someone into doing what you want...”God told me to tell you...” No he didn’t. That’s not how prophecy works.
How about this. “As I was reading my Bible this week, I read this very/story, and I immediately thought that I needed to pray for you. Is there anything that I can be praying for you about.”
However, the primary use of prophecy is the proclamation and preaching of God’s word from the pulpit on Sunday morning. This is the place where God speaks to His people. Sometimes in spite of how good the preacher is. God can change lives more through a poorly delivered sermon centered on the Word of God, than the greatest TED talk.
Tongues is perhaps even more controversial. But should it be? It’s also one of the only gifts that is described in detail of use. The only place in the Bible we see the use of tongues is in Acts 2 where they are known languages. The idea that it is a heavenly language or ecstatic utterances seems to have no origin in the Bible. However, the supernatural ability to speak in a language that you haven’t studied for the purpose of sharing the Gospel with people in their native language would be a huge benefit to the church and God’s kingdom.
And actually the gift of speaking in tongues was primarily seen when the Gospel was coming to a new people group. Even as Acts goes on, the description of speaking in tongues seems to fade. That could be because Luke was taking it for granted that you already know that speaking in tongues accompanies salvation or it just wasn’t what we think it is.
I’ve heard stories from credible people of this happening on the mission field where someone is able to share the Gospel with a dying person in their native language having never studied it.
And finally, the ability to interpret those languages for others. Having spent a few days in a foreign country with a pretty significant language barrier, the ability to interpret back and forth is hugely beneficial.
We must remember that God is a God of order not chaos. And so much of what we see in the charismatic/pentacostal movement is chaos.
Application: Now, as I’ve said, what a joy it is to confirm with someone that they are gifted in such a way to build up the church. And this of course allows that person to fulfill their role in the church. And you have played that part.
But equally important is when we need to tell people that they don’t have a certain gifting.
Probably the one that comes quickest to mind is when someone has to be told they aren’t gifted to be a pastor or a preacher.
After a few years of testing and attempting to mentor them to be better preachers, they just aren’t getting better. They aren’t growing. And it’s devastating to tell someone, this just isn’t your gifting.
Now you can’t know that on day one or even a year, but given enough opportunities, and training and they still put people to sleep and still can’t seem to connect people to God’s word. You have to break the news to them.
Another one that been harder for me is greeters. I believe that the greeter is the most important position in the church on Sunday morning. And those people have to have to gift of hospitality.
I read in a book recently that the average visitor will decided within the first 7 minutes whether they are going to come back next week. And by that time, they have probably only interacted with the greeters.
If you are grumpy and disinterested, that puts people off. If you look like you don’t want to be here, they will probably choose not to be here next week.
I’ve been in churches, where we joked about the grumpy usher that looks angry and tells people to take their hats off in God’s house or spit out their gum or get rid of that coffee. Oh that’s just....insert name.
Well {insert name} is getting in the way of what God wants to do through your church.
We don’t have that problem here at North Hiils. We have a few really great greeters. We just need more. And in our need for more we need to make sure that we aren’t just putting anyone.
More often than not, the wrong person in a position is worse than no one.
3. Play the part that God has called you to do. (1 Corinthians 12:11)
3. Play the part that God has called you to do. (1 Corinthians 12:11)
Explanation: Now, if your gift has been confirmed, you need to use it. To do anything else is to rob yourself of the joy that God has for you. It is a joy to serve God.
Now sometimes we can get so caught up in Sunday that we can wrongly believe that our gifts are meant for Sunday only. Nope, most of your gifting will be used during the week.
Administration leads to planning for the future and keeping track of stuff like tithes and offerings.
Teaching happens in Bible study and well as Life groups.
Hospitality/mercy/service can be calling people in the church and seeing how you can help meet their needs.
Faith can be exercised in a way that encourages others as they go through tough times as well.
Now gifts used during the week should point people back to the church. Knowing that the church is the people. We are in the business of adding people to the church because the church is God’s family.
Sometimes God’s gifting has the ability to help you in your secular job as well. Administration is hugely profitable because there are so few gifted administrators. Service is great because if you are a hard worker, people will notice you. You can get promoted.
And that’s all fine and good, but if you are neglected your churchly duties, you need to fix that. Serve the church first.
Illustration: Now if God is a god of order, that means he has given us everything we need to be the church. Right here and now, everyone has a gift meant to build up the body of Christ. But…if people aren’t playing their part, we are severely handicapped.
How many of you have gone into a restaurant lately and had to wait longer than you would have liked? Maybe longer than you would have 2 years ago.
And they say, sorry we’re really short staffed. Now before we start saying....well they’re shorted staffed because....
Let’s live in that for a moment. They can’t effectively run their business because they don’t have the right people in the right places.
Now think about the church. What happens when we don’t have the right people in the right places? Greeters, Teachers, nursery workers, missionaries, people compassionate enough to make phone calls.
We’re not going to be effective or efficient.
Application: But let me paint you a picture. In most churches, even North Hills, around 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Now, during the Month of January we had 91 people serving in any capacity. Factoring in upward and other non-members we welcome to serve with us, that’s about half of our congregation serving in some capacity. But even with that what about the other 50%?
Now there are great things that are happening at North Hills and some of you have already answered the call to serve. And at times like these, it’s cause for celebration!
Pastor Daniel is going to come tell us about some work that happened at North Hills and the power of volunteers.
[Pastor Daniel Speaks]
What would happen if 80% of the people were serving?
Well, first thing, it takes the pressure off of the overworked. But also we could do things we never dreamed of.
There would be some growing pains, but that would be a great problem to have.
But here’s my promise to you. I’m not going to do a sign up sheet for serving.
I’ll give you a challenge. Just show up.
6:00 pm on Wednesday.
8-5 pm on Saturday.
8 am on Sunday.
Yes, I’m serious. This is an open invitation. Just show up with an open mind and a willing heart. We will put you to work. I can promise you you won’t be standing around.
Wayne Parinas always asks the question, “What’s on the other side of your yes.”
Are you willing to find out?
Response: Are you playing your part on God’s team?
Response: Are you playing your part on God’s team?
Summation:
Authentic Principle: On God’s Team, play your part!
1. Learn your Spiritual Gifting. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
2. Recognize the part God has called others to (1 Corinthians 12:7-10.
3. Play the part that God has called you to do. (1 Corinthians 12:11)
Closing Illustration:
I was watching this video recently about how the Navy Seals pick their team members.
And it really comes down to is ability and attitude. They don’t always pick the person with the most ability. Because that person may not have the best attitude. They pick the person with good ability and good attitude.
As we think about gifting and abilities in the church, let us also consider our attitude. Ability and gifting has a way of breading arrogance. To play your part, no matter what it is, requires you to be humility.
God doesn’t care how good a teacher you are if you lack humility. If you allow your gifting to puff you up, then you are no good to the church.
I think the best way to stay humble is to remember what are gifting cost.
It cost Jesus dying on the cross. To redeem us from the bondage of sin and death.
We know that in our pre-christian state we gifted in one thing…sinning.
Even the greatest things we can do, apart from Christ, are filthy rags.
But when we see our sin for what it is, and we come to Jesus who died to make us pure. To redeem us. To send the Holy Spirit to help us along the difficult life. And then we see that God has given us gifting to help others....how selfish would we be to keep that to ourselves!
In humility, we acknowledge that God saved us for a purpose and that purpose is to tell others and build up the church so that we can be more effective in achieving the mission!
But it starts with asking the question, first, am I a Christian. It goes without saying, if you aren’t a Christian, you don’t have a spiritual gift.
So if you really don’t have any gifting to build up the church, start with turning to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, look to the cross as the punishment that brought us peace.
Admit you are a sinner.
Believe in your heart that Jesus is savior and lord.
And confess with your mouth that you are now a part of God’s team.
And play your part so we can change the world!
Let’s pray.
Discussion Questions:
Week 29 of 2021-2022 Sermon Series: Team Church
Authentic Principle: On God’s Team, play your part!
1. Learn your SPIRITUAL GIFTING. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
2. Recognize God’s spiritual gifting in OTHERS (1 Corinthians 12:7-10.
3. Play the PART that God GIFTED you to do. (1 Corinthians 12:11)
Response: Are you PLAYING your part on God’s TEAM?
Opening Discussion: How often do you think about your role in the church? Do you think of church as place you come to be served or a place where you can serve?
Sermon:
Why do you think the Corinthian Church had such difficulty understanding Spiritual Gifts? Can you relate?
Why is it necessary for their to be a variety of gifts in the church?
Why is important to keep God at the center of our understanding of Gifting?
How does the unity that exists in the Trinity helps us to see what God expects in the church?
How are the gifts, described by Paul, beneficial to the church?
Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. What does the rest of the chapter add to our understanding of Spiritual Gifting in the church?
Why might a failure on the part of the church members to use their spiritual gifting contribute to the other problems they are facing?
Application:
Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? How do you know?
Is there something you wish you could do in the church that you are currently unable to do? What is keeping you?
Are you willing to be open to the possibility that your role in the church may not be what you thought or thought you wanted?
Are you willing to step out in faith and see if God has given you other gifts that you aren’t aware of?
How can you better serve the church by using your gifts? When will you start?