18. Gifts of Service

Sunday Morning Sermon
“The Gifts of Service”
Pastor Mike Dienger
1 Peter 4:10-11

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I’d like to warmly welcome you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It has been given to me the opportunity and privilege to preach the Word of God to you this morning. And so, as we prepare to receive the ministry of the Word, I want to give you an exhortation from Charles Spurgeon. Charles Spurgeon once said this:
“True gospel preaching does not decry holy living; nay, it sets up the highest possible standard and declares the way to reach it. Beware of picking and choosing in reference to the commands of Christ. Some professors object to much of the teaching of Him whom they call Master and Lord. The forgiving of injuries as we hope to be forgiven, the non-resistance principle of turning the other cheek when one is smitten, - these are very objectionable to ordinary religionist. Such precepts are denounced as impracticable and it is asserted that they cannot be carried out.”
Brothers and sisters, let us beware of this picking and choosing in regards to the commands of Christ. As we hear today the high standard which He calls us to, let us not forget the way, the only way that we are to reach it. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 4, and we will read verses 10 and 11. If you will, please stand for the reading of the Holy Scriptures. And our brother will read for us.
1 Peter chapter 4, verses 10 and 11: As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Amen. This is the Word of the True and Living God. Let us take heed to it today. You may be seated. And let us pray now and ask for God’s blessing upon the ministry of the Word.
Gracious Father in heaven, here I stand before You, I come to You in the name of Your Son, my Great High Priest. Blessing and honor and might be to You who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb who was slain. Lord, You’ve called me to preach Your word today, to speak in Your name, to declare the excellencies of Him who calls sinners out of darkness into marvelous light. Who is sufficient for these things Lord? I am a helpless sinner and I am preaching to helpless sinners. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us O Lord. Help me now to proclaim the truth accurately. Help me to do it in faith, trusting You for the strength which You supply by Your Spirit. And help these people Lord as they sit under the preaching. Open their minds to behold wonderful things in Your Law. And help us to hold to and obey Your Word as we hear it. We look to You now Lord with empty, expectant hands; please fill them with Your grace. We plead with You now in Christ name. Amen.
If you know me well, then you know I’m the type of man that likes to work with his hands. And recently I got a new tool. I got a new tool. It is a vintage axe. Beautiful. Beautiful axe. A real wood slasher. A stump chopper. A knot clipper. I could keep going. You could just tell by the look of this thing, by the feel of it, it was made to work. Its very purpose is to work, to be used.
Now, imagine that someone that I love very much and that loves me gave me this axe. It was their axe. And they gave it to me to use for them. What would you say if I decided, I’m not going to use it? I’m not going to use this. That all – chopping down trees, clearing land, splitting firewood – that sounds laborious. That sounds like hard work. That sounds exhausting. You know what I’m going to do? It’s such a beautiful axe – I’m going to hang it up in my office, just as a display. And whoever comes over, I’ll show it to them. And I’ll tell them great lumberjacking stories of old. What would you say about that? You would say, “What a waste. What a waste!” And not only a waste, but what a display, a grand display of ingratitude to that person who gave me that axe.
It’s not much different when a Christian refuses to use the gifts that God has given them in the church of Jesus Christ. So, Peter here in 1 Peter 4 has some instructions for us this morning concerning the use of spiritual gifts. He’s writing to the persecuted church. They are in the midst of trial and tribulation, just like Christ’s people have always been in every age. God knows, when trouble and calamity surround His people, they can lose sight of the things of real importance in this life. Their priorities can get out of order. They can get spiritual amnesia and forget. As the children of God endure affliction, living as sojourners and pilgrims in a foreign land, God knows what they need. They need each other. They need to be reminded that they need each other.
And so, Peter instructs his brethren, both then and now: As each has received a gift, use it – use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves…by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
The title of the sermon is “Gifts of Service.” And this morning we’re going to give our attention to the use of spiritual gifts in the church. And we’re going to do so under three simple, clear, straightforward exhortations. Three points: 1) Serve one another, 2) Serve by the Spirit, and 3) Serve for God’s glory. Serve one another, serve by the Spirit, serve for God’s glory.
1) Serve One Another
Point 1: Serve One Another. You have a gift. You are a servant. You are a steward, so serve one another. The first thing I would like to draw your attention to in the text is this, right at the beginning, verse 10: As each has received a gift, – In other words, you have a gift. You have a gift. Every single Christian has a gift. Each and every member of the body of Christ has been given a gift to minister to God’s people. You may have more than one gift. It’s likely that you have more than one gift. But we know from the text, at least you have one.
What does Peter mean by “gift”? In a sense, many things could be considered the gift of God. A godly wife is a gift of God. Children are a gift from God. A faithful pastor, people who love and care for you in the church, good health and bad health could be considered a gift of God. Prosperity and poverty could be considered a gift from God. That faith by which we are saved is the gift of God. Eternal life is a gift from God. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But Peter is speaking of a particular kind of gift. They are gifts of generous grace. They come from the Greek word χάρισμα (chárisma). That’s where we get the word “charisma.” Or you’ve even heard a charismatic church. “Chárisma.” This is a term, “chárisma,” which is very closely associated with the Greek term for grace, “cháris.” So, chárisma is a gift of God’s generous grace. Verse 10 says: As each has received a (chárisma), use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied (cháris): – These gifts are commonly referred to as gifts of the Spirit, or spiritual gifts.
1 Corinthians 12:6 through 7 says, – there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. So, these gifts of God’s varied grace, these spiritual gifts are a manifestation of the Spirit that He gives. You could say they’re activities. These gifts are supernatural abilities given to God’s people in order to perform particular activities for the benefit and blessing of the church and the glory of God.
In saying that they are supernatural, I do not mean that they are necessarily extraordinary, but that they are abilities which do not come from human nature. They are not the product of natural man. In that sense they’re supernatural. The word for “spiritual gift” or “spiritual blessing” is πνευματικός – pneumatikós. It means “according to the Spirit.” A spiritual gift is a gift according to the Spirit, or a gift that is produced by the working of the Holy Spirit. The same word is used in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, –
These spiritual gifts can be distinguished into categories like: extraordinary gifts and ordinary gifts. In the New Testament there are approximately 20 different gifts referred to. And the reason why I say “approximately” is because there is a question to whether there is some overlap between some of the gifts that are described, or if one gift is being used as a synonym for another gift. So approximately 20 different gifts that are explicitly described in the New Testament. And there are 4 primary passages in the New Testament which contain lists of these spiritual gifts. Our text here in 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 10 and 11, Romans chapter 12, verses 6 through 8, and then the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 12 and the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 14. Now, we’re not going to go through all of those passages. I will refer to those passages, I will quote some of those passages, but we’re not going to read through all of them. Write them down and read them and consider in your own time.
But one thing is very interesting to note, and that is the list of gifts found in these passages – one author has noted – that no single gift is referred to in all of those passages, and that no list contains all of the gifts that are stated in the New Testament. And so, from this we may deduce that none of the lists of gifts in the New Testament are exhaustive. From that observation we can deduce, none of those lists has all of the gifts. Instead, they’re merely representative lists.
Also, there is indeed a great variety of gifts that are described in the New Testament. It is a possibility also that there are a lot more gifts that the Spirit works, a lot more activities that the Spirit produces in the life of the church that are not explicitly written down. But one thing we do know is that this grace is multicolored. It is varied grace. It is a manifold grace of God that is displayed in the spiritual gifts. That’s what Peter says, God’s varied grace – or you may see in your Bibles, stewards of the manifold grace of God. – The idea of the term is that of a multicolored, a multifaceted grace of God that is displayed in the use of these varied gifts.
So, it may be unclear exactly how many gifts there are. There is some mystery about the gifts. But one thing I think can be clear from considering all of the various lists, is that the spiritual gifts really fall into three different categories: 1) Sign gifts, 2) Serving Gifts, and 3) Speaking Gifts. Sign gifts, serving gifts, and speaking gifts. And this morning – just to let everybody know – this morning my primary objective is not to go into detail with all of the different gifts. It’s not really to deal with the controversial subject of cessationism and continuationism. That is: Do the sign gifts continue or so they not?
If you were to do that, if you were to break down every single gift and if you were to break down that argument of cessationism and continuationism, that would take a series. That would take multiple series of sermons to really thoroughly deal with that. So, that’ not really my objective. But I do believe I should say something in passing. So, suffice it to say, concerning the sign gifts, we believe – that is the church and the 1689 – believe that the sign gifts have ceased; that God is no longer doing these things in the church today.
And what we mean is this: We believe that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit like the speaking of and the interpretation of tongues which were actual foreign languages given to preach and understand the Gospel, the gifts of healings which were actual abilities to heal real, organic maladies like a withered hand and like one who was born crippled called to stand a rise, leap, and shout for joy on command has ceased. The gift of prophecy which was to receive infallible, special revelation directly from God and the ability to predict what is going to come to pass without error has passed. And the gift of miracles, that is the ability to do things like raise the rotten, stinking dead from the grave have passed. That’s what we mean. And these sign gifts in the Bible were always associated with miracle workers. It wasn’t just anybody that just walked around or willy-nilly performed these types of miracles. No. It was always associated with miracle workers like prophets and apostles or those who were appointed by them and who were closely associated with them.
And the purpose of these unique and extraordinary gifts was to be a sign or a proof that the message which was spoken by the miracle worker was indeed from heaven, the very Word of God. Therefore, once the message of the Gospel was communicated, the mystery that was hidden throughout all ages but now revealed to the prophets and apostles, and once the church was established on the firm foundation of sound Gospel doctrine – that teaching that we have here preserved in our Bibles, the Holy Scriptures – the purpose for the sign gifts was fulfilled and God ceased to give them to the church, ceased to give miracle workers, ceased to give sign gifts. He did before, during a foundational period in the life of the church – a foundational period in church history. That time has gone with the death of the last apostle.
That age is known as the apostolic age. And these gifts and miracles were common place in that day. But no longer.
As the author of Hebrews says: The message of salvation was – declared…first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. The message of the Gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed, and then those who heard Him – the apostles, those who were closely associated – they communicated what He had taught and said. And at that time, God was bearing witness to the validity of that message by signs, and wonders, and miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Past tense. They did. The Gospel foundation of the church has been laid. The sign gifts ceased long ago. And now the church is being built on this foundation, on the Word of God; so that, if a person ‘will not believe Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if one is raised from the dead.’
Now, some of you might not like that. Some of you might not like that. Some of you may think that I am wrong. And I believe you are wrong. That’s fair. But please, please do not let any confusion or any disagreement on this debatable point stop you from hearing the rest of this sermon. I know how hard it is when you disagree with something to just let it go, move on. If you want to talk about it, we can talk about it, but don’t let it stop you from profiting from this sermon. That’s not my primary objective to deal with it. So, I said my peace. I was fair with it. And now we’re going to move on, right? A thorough treatment of that will have to be left for another time.
What I want to talk about today are those types of gifts of an ordinary kind – of a more ordinary kind. The ordinary gifts are those gifts which fall into the general categories of serving gifts and speaking gifts. All of these gifts which are meant to be employed in service and ministering to the body of Christ. We are to use our gift to serve one another. You know, and it seems that Peter, I think, classifies these types of gifts here in our texts. He says, whoever speaks, (very general) as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, (very, very general) as one who serves by the strength that God supplies— Whoever speaks. Whoever serves. Speaking gifts and serving gifts.
The Apostle Paul may also have had this general classification of gifts when he said in Colossians chapter 3, verses 14 to 17: And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Here it is.) And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. You see? – whatever you do, in word – speaking gifts; – whatever you do, in…deed, – serving gifts.
A. The Speaking Gifts
We’ll begin with the speaking gifts. The speaking gifts include, but are not limited to the gift of preaching and teaching, which would entail the ability to understand and communicate the Word of God accurately; both for the edification of the body as well as communicating the Gospel to the lost. So, in that sense preaching and teaching is not just an official gift, a gift that only officers in the church have, only pastors have. But other people, other members of the body of Christ are gifted by the Spirit to understand the Gospel and to be able to communicate the Gospel in a very clear and understandable way. So, it’s not limited to preaching and teaching in an official sense.
So, you have the gifts of preaching and teaching, and you also you have the gift of words of wisdom, or in other words, to be gifted with insight into experiential Christian living so as to be skilled in giving wise counsel.
You have the gift of encouragement. The ability, the amazing ability to see when a brother or a sister is downcast, or weary, or fainthearted; and to bring a word of encouragement in due season to strengthen and encourage their weary heart.
Or the gift of exhortation which would be very similar to the gift of encouragement, but would entail just a little bit more necessary force or seriousness to warn, or to correct, or even reprove with all seriousness and gentleness. In both encouragement and exhortation there is a gracious coming alongside one of our brothers or sisters to serve their soul’s good, through the instruction of God’s Word. It’s a speaking gift. Let him that speaks, speak the oracles of God.
You know, the way Peter puts this should remind us that when we speak in our teaching, in our preaching, in giving wise counsel, in coming alongside to encourage one another, to exhort one another and say, “Wait! Wait a second! Think about what you’re doing!” – that we don’t speak from our own resources, that we don’t communicate our own feelings or our own opinions; unless our feeling and opinions are instructed by the Word of God, shaped by the Word of God. Let him who speaks, speak as the oracles of God. Let us speak the truth in love to one another.
B. The Serving Gifts
And next, the serving gifts. As I was just thinking about these gifts, tears just rolled down my cheeks to think of the servants in this church – to think of the servants in this church. You know, it’s a shame that churches tend to train the spotlight onto the stars and off of the servants. There’s nothing more glorious than to be a servant in God’s church; and there are no stars! There are no stars! There are only servants in the body of Christ. If we had a plaque that says: “The ministers” – you know, most churches would have the name of the pastors there, but – if we had a plaque, it should say, “Everyone.” Everyone. The whole lot of them.
The serving gifts include but are not limited to acts of mercy. Romans 12:8. This is the one who sees the suffering and the sick, the one who notices the miserable condition of another, and their heart is touched. They are moved to pity the person. And they cannot just sit idle! They cannot pass by on the other side of the street! No. They’re compelled to care. They’re compelled to relieve the suffering in any way that they can. In any way that they can, they seek to relieve the misery of another. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
The gift of administration. 1 Corinthians 12:28. These are people who excel in skills of organization. If they were not put into the body of Christ, this place would be a zoo. Nothing would get done. The word speaks of the helmsman, the one who steers the ship. They’re endowed with a supernatural ability to lead and govern the matters of the church and its business. Thank God for them!
You have the gift of helps. They are people who have eyes to see needs when other people are blind to the need or could care less about the need, or say to themselves, “Somebody else will meet that need.” They have eyes to see and they are moved and empowered by the Spirit to volunteer their energy and effort with joy to help things get done in the life of the church. They are the ninjas, often unnoticed, serving in stealth, behind the scenes. If you look closely around here on a Sunday, on a Tuesday, on a Wednesday, throughout the week, you’ll see them. They’re invisible to most.
While we are having a deep theological conversation or catching up with one another, they are working. They are working. They are vacuuming the floors. They’re taking out the trash. They’re caring for the bathrooms. They’re setting up the tables for meetings. They’re taking down the tables for meetings. When all is finished, they are the ones who are keeping everything in order. If someone is moving from one side of town to the other side of town, they are the ones that you think about. They are the ones that you call. Bless God for them. Esteem them highly in God’s church. Do not despise them.
The gift of contribution or giving. God has given in the church the means and the heart for generous giving. They are lavish with their giving. They are open-handed. Not only does their soul belong to God, but their bank account belongs to God. And they are convinced that it is far better to store treasure in heaven than here on this earth. If a financial need arises in the church, they will not wait for someone else to meet it. If you want a piece of that action you better be quick, because they will take care of that! And you will be robbed – you will be robbed. They have to be forced not to give. They have to be forced. They have to be told, “Let somebody else handle that. Let somebody else take care of that.” And that doesn’t mean they have a lot of money. It doesn’t mean that they have a lot money. No. That just means that they are convinced of what the right use of their money is.
And also, the gift of hospitality, which literally means “the love of strangers.” The love of strangers. These saints are most welcoming. They care for the outsider. It maybe seems to a strange degree, right? if you come into this church and you are welcomed by them, you may say to yourself, “What in the world is going on here? Like there’s something going on in the back like a torture chamber or something in the back? Like they’re not going to let me leave? What’s going on?” No. It’s sincere. It’s sincere. We don’t want anything from you. We care about you. We want to know you. We’re interested in where you come from and what you believe. We want to bless you. It’s not feigned love. It’s a sincere, Spirit-wrought interest and care for strangers. These people make the church a warm place. They make the church a warm place.
That’s what a Spirit-filled church looks like. You think about it. It’s beautiful! It is so beautiful. Doesn’t it warm your heart? Aren’t you so thankful to God for this church? Bless the Lord! He’s so good to us. He is so good to us.
And in one thing I need to make a point. All those things, God commands us to do. Every Christian is commanded to be hospitable, to give, to speak to – exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” – to teach, to teach your children, to teach the lost, to preach the Gospel, to help, to carry one another’s burdens. So, don’t think to yourself, “Oh, that must not be my gift so I’ll let somebody else handle that.” No! To have these gifts, that just means that the Spirit of God has empowered and given an exceptional ability to do these things and they lead the way. They are our examples in that, to follow in suit. Serve one another. Each one, every believer is gifted by the Spirit to serve the body. We are servants. We are ministers of the grace of God to others. And as each one has received a gift, use it. Use it.
Now, something that’s very helpful, very important in thinking about the spiritual gifts is that you are a steward of that gift. Whatever gift you have, you are a steward of that gift. You are a steward of the grace of God. The grace of God that comes to others through that gift. Your gift is meant to be a means of grace to the body of Christ. It’s not primarily for your enjoyment. It’s not for your reputation. It’s not to do with as you please, or to do with when you please. It’s God’s gift. It’s not yours. He has entrusted it to you to serve others. You’re obliged. That should bring upon you the weight of obligation – the weight of obligation.
So, fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you – Do not neglect the gift that is in you! That’s what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy, his son in the faith. Do not neglect it! Fan it into flame!
Now, you may say to yourself, “Yes. I hear what you are saying. I hear what you’re saying, but I’m just a kid. I’m just a kid. That stuff that you’re talking about is for the adults.” But I say, “Are you a believer?” You know, you could be a kid and be a believer. You turn from your sin and you trust in Christ. He says He will give you the riches of His salvation freely, if you come to Him and trust in Him. Are you a believer?
You may say, “I’m old. I’m sick. I cannot do the things that I use do to do.” But I say to you, “Are you a follower of Christ? Are you a follower of Christ?”
You may say, “Man, I just started coming to this church. Take it easy!” But I would say, “Are you born of the Spirit? Are you born of the Spirit?”
Or you may say, “I have too many things going on. I have work and school. I have family. I have other things that demand my time, my attention. I can’t serve like that.” I would say, “Have you not been bought with a price?”
Or maybe you’ve been here for quite some time. You know, I think about this. I think about this. It’s on my heart. You may have been here for a long time. You have been here through changes in leadership. You may have served as a deacon, or a small group leader, or in some capacity in the church and those days are long past. They’re gone. But I say to you, my brother, my sister, “Do you not have the Spirit of God dwelling in your heart? Are you not a part of the body? If so, then you are irreplaceable. There is no substitute for you. You are important. You’re just as important as the pastors and the deacons! You are valuable to the body of Christ! The body of Christ here needs you! It doesn’t matter what you are. It doesn’t matter what part of the body you are. Without you, without the faithful exercise of the gifts that God has given you, the body of Christ suffers!
You may be a kid. You may be older and sickly. You may be new here. You may be really busy. You may question your usefulness in the church. But hear me now. If you are a real believer, God has gifted you by His grace to do what nobody else can do here. Do you believe that? It’s the truth. It is the truth.
Ephesians 4:15– Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, – When each part is working properly it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
The Apostle Paul says, And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, (would that make it any less a part of the body?) If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as He chose. Let us not make excuses my brethren. Let us not make excuses. There is no excuse for unfaithfulness. If you do not already serve using your gifts, start now. Start now in a very intentional way serving others. Challenge yourself! Drive yourself! Ask yourself, “Who can I bless? Who can I benefit? Who can I serve? How can I instruct someone? How can I help? And if you open your eyes there is need, there is opportunity everywhere!
I heard a really, really good quote a couple of weeks ago. And it is this: “Many an opportunity is lost because it is dressed up in overalls and looks like work.” That’s a good one, right? Don’t ask me who said it. Thomas Edison said that. Let us live the lives that we have been given to serve God by serving others. When we do we will be in good company. We will be in good company. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world – not to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. And those who are faithful with little shall be entrusted with much, much more. And they will hear the voice of their Savior, “Well done, good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your Master.”
We are all stewards of God’s varied grace. Each gift is a little deposit of grace, that one day, we will give an account to God for. What has He given you? What has He given you? Find it out. Labor and work in it. If you don’t know, start serving. Start serving in some capacity. Start speaking in some capacity. The people of God will help you, to encourage you, and to remind you, and to say, “I think you’re really gifted in this. You have really been a blessing to the body of Christ in this.” What has He given to you? How have you used it?
Well, I’m going to have to smoosh all my other points into a very short period of time. And the…I sound like Pastor Rick. I sound like Pastor Rick, “We’ll have to pick back up next time.” (laughing)
2) Serve by the Spirit
How is it possible for weak and needy sinners like us to use our gifts as good servants and faithful stewards? Only by the power of the Spirit. It’s only by the power of the Spirit. Let he who serves, serve by the strength that God supplies. With all our weakness, with all our infirmities, with all our sin and waywardness, our hearts cry aloud – at least they ought to cry aloud, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Praise be to God! He makes us sufficient. His grace is sufficient! For in our weakness His strength is perfected!
Listen. Our God is not like that wicked Pharaoh of old who bid the children of God, “Make bricks without straw.” No. Our God is not like that. He has not put us to the task without providing us with the appropriate resources to accomplish the work. He gives strength. He has given us His Spirit to empower and enable us to be good stewards of God’s grace. Do you understand and feel your desperate need for grace? I do.
My weakness was manifested even – really daily – but in an exceptional way just this last week. Four weeks ago, Pastor Marc asked me if I would preach this sermon for him. And I thought to myself, “Four weeks. Yeah, that’s enough time to prepare a sermon.” You know what four weeks did for me? Absolutely nothing. It wasn’t until I got into this passage of Scripture and became more convinced. Because I did not say, “Would you like for me to preach for you? – Okay. I’ve been gifted to preach. I’m a steward of God’s grace. He’s given me His Holy Spirit to do that.” No. I did not think like that, to my shame. And what that resulted in was a trembling, miserable, pitiful excuse for a man. God made me to feel my weakness. I would crawl into a hole and die if I could in that condition.
Listen. I don’t say this so that I can glory in my shame. But I say this because it is glorifying to God. I hear people all the time saying, “What? You struggle like that? What? You get nervous when you go to speak? You better believe it. If you see anything different than that it is not me. Glory be to God! He gives strength! He empowers us to do what we cannot do on our own! And He does so by His Spirit. He does so in order that in all things He would be glorified in Christ Jesus.
3) Serve for God’s Glory
Now, what does that mean? What does God do in taking miserable, weak, wretched sinners and turning them into good stewards? What does He do? Does He say, “Aw! Look at these beautiful stewards. Aren’t they praiseworthy.” No. He is manifesting His mercy. He is manifesting His power. He is manifesting His glory so that other people will see, and behold, and say, “How great is their God! Behold! God is in this place!” That is why He does it. He does it for His own glory.
I have a quote. It was very, very good. What does it mean to glorify God? “To glorify God is to enhance His reputation in the minds of rational creatures, and to live our lives and order our days so that all who encounter us will have a higher regard for God than they might have had they never encountered us.”
And that is what it is. We should park and say, “When I serve, is that what I’m thinking? When I serve, is that why I serve? Is that my motive? Is that my purpose in serving and exercising my gifts in the church, that people would say, “That person’s God is mighty. He’s awesome! He’s worthy of praise and honor and glory?!”
Now, as I finish and bring this to a close, I want to address you who are not a Christian. Those of you who do not know Christ, who do not serve Him, and who do not bring Him honor and praise. All of the things that I have spoken of this morning about spiritual gifts and using them in the church, about the strength that God supplies and about living for the glory of God; they are all out of your reach. You cannot serve God with that wicked heart. You cannot bring Him glory and honor through your life when you are a lost and miserable sinner separated from Him. No. You cannot do such things in your lost condition. You cannot because you will not do such things in your condition! You do not have the desire to do such things. You do not have the heart for such things. They are beyond your reach!
But the Lord Jesus Christ, my sweet Redeemer is not beyond your reach. He is not beyond your reach. If you have not been born again, He stands here and He says, “You cannot see the kingdom of heaven. You cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” He says to you, “You stand at a fork in the road. Will you continue on the path of sin and destruction or will you turn aside to Me?”
Will you turn aside to Christ who has eternal life in His hands and He’s prepared to share it with all who would turn from their sins and put their trust in Him! Put your trust in His sacrificial death to save you from sin and reconcile you to God. I do entreat you. Turn now my lost friend. Turn now. Turn now to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him. Believe upon Him and you shall be saved!