You Are Gifted to Serve!

“I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” – Romans 12:1 

If you’re a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, I have good news for you! You have at least one spiritual gift.

But just what is a spiritual gift? Here’s a good definition that is grounded in the truth of Scripture: A spiritual gift is a God-given skill or ability which enables every Christian to perform an important spiritual function in the Christ’s church with joy and effectiveness. And according to Romans 12, using these gifts is a vital act of worship.

Just as a human body has many different parts that work together, Christ’s Church has many different Christians who use their spiritual gifts together to keep the Church healthy and productive. While it’s hard to say exactly how many spiritual gifts are alive and well in the church today, in Romans 7:6-8, Paul mentions seven spiritual gifts: prophecy (v. 6), serving and teaching (v. 7), exhortation, giving, leadership and mercy (v8). Other gifts are mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, especially in 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4.

I can say with confidence that if you are a Christian, you have at least one of these spiritual gifts. And if you want to grow and serve Christ with joy and effectiveness, the Apostle Paul says this calls for three essentials:

Essential #1: Honest self-evaluation (v. 3). Warren Wiersbe writes, “Each Christian must know what his spiritual gifts are and what ministry (or ministries) he is to have in the local church…. We were saved ‘by grace, through faith’, and we must live and serve ‘by grace through faith.’ …. When the individual believers in a church know their gifts, accept them by faith, and use them for God’s glory, then God can bless in a wonderful way.”

Essential #2: Humble cooperation (vs. 4-8). Have you ever been to a church where the staff and leaders looked busier than a one-armed juggler? There are a couple of possible reasons for that. Either the leaders aren’t allowing enough saints to serve … OR, too many Christians just aren’t serving. Individually, none of us is that great. But when we come together into a single unit, humble cooperation makes for some beautiful and powerful ministry.

Essential #3: Loving devotion (vs. 9-16). Regardless of which spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has given you to use, Jesus Christ calls you to be motivated by love. Why do you serve Christ? Because you love Christ. And why do you use your spiritual gifts to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ? Because you love them.

Love should be the driving force behind all that we do as Christians. And when it is, “All men will know that we are Christ’s disciples” (1 Timothy 6:11-16). The world will be drawn to Christ as they observe how we love one another.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley.