Good Morning! 2010.06.10 - 1Peter 4:10 - Ministering God's Gifts

Good Morning!

 

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to

 

another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  (1Peter 4:10)

 

Before I was saved, I loved to hear good Bible preaching and made the rounds of summer revival meetings of the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Church of Christ, Nazarene, and Church of God. One exception was when I was eight and wandered into the back of a  Pentecostal tent and discovered that they were about to handle snakes. I didn't stay long.  I was already certified in snakes in Medlock Hollow and I didn't see the point. To this day I have not grown tired of hearing good Bible preaching.

 

I say "good preaching" because all preaching is not good Bible preaching.  Some preaching is boring and painful to endure and some preaching, even lofty preaching, is empty of Bible doctrine or Bible content. I think the reason for the latter is because there are many preachers who were never called by God to do what they are "trying" to do. They have no calling from God to preach and no gift for preaching.

 

No one could exhibit earnestness of soul like E.M. Smith; the old farmer who put on a suit on Sunday's and preached at Falling Springs Baptist Church in Overton County, Tennessee when I was six. He brought down his big black shoe on the wood floor and shook the house to make a point. He cried in his throat as well as in his eyes and showered the people on the first row. No one doubted that God had called him to preach and had given him the gift of preaching.

 

Until I was almost grown I had never heard a message on God giving spiritual gifts to people. I had heard a lot of preaching by then but no one had preached or taught on spiritual gifts in my presence. I certainly did not know that every born-again Christian is given a gift.

 

When I discovered this truth, it opened up a whole new world for me to think about. See: (1Corinthians 12:28-31;)  (Ephesians 4:7-13;). If you compare these two lists of gifts you will see that the lists are not identical. There is no conflict but rather they complement each other.  Some writers wonder if there may be some gifts that are not listed in either of these lists. The reason for believing this is that if you read either list, there are gifts beyond what is in either of the lists.

 

As every man hath received the gift. This means a particular spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit, not something learned. There are many gifts and they are not limited to preaching or teaching. In Christ's body, the Church, there are many members and many gifts. If you are a child of God, you have some gift that God intends for you to use for the benefit of other people. You may have more than one gift.

 

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.  (1Peter 4:11)

 

The gifts of the Spirit are not the same as the fruit of the Spirit.

 

Minister the same one to another. The gifts are not for us to enjoy or entertain ourselves. We are not to use a gift from God so we can say "Look at me! Look at me!" I knew a pastor (dead now) who was secretly jealous of another church in his denomination. When it came time for him to build a new church building, he made sure that his new building was one foot bigger than the other church and that his office was one foot bigger than the office of his fellow pastor. Many times it goes against the grain when God does not give us all the same gifts. He does not make us all alike.

For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?  (1Corinthians 4:7)

 

Can you be glad when someone in your work place gets a raise or a new position and you do not? Can you be glad when someone in your church gets a new car and you do not?

 

I knew a pastor in North Carolina whose deacon appeared to love him better than anything. But one night the deacon went over to the pastor's house, called him and his wife out into the yard and shot them down. The next morning when the police came, there was frost on the ground and the couple's three-year-old was shivering beside her mommy trying to wake her up. The deacon was jealous of all the attention the pastor got from the people and he didn't get that much attention.

 

 

Good stewards. The church does not belong to us. Our bodies do not belong to us. Our money and house do not belong to us. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.  (1Corinthians 6:19-20)

 

Manifold grace of God. It simply means "many." Our God is a God of infinite variety. It should not surprise us that God makes so many different kinds of people with so many different kinds of gifts.

 

 

This article can also be viewed at www.bibleliving.blogspot.com

 

To be removed from this mailing list, please click here. In the subject line type "remove."  ●To subscribe to this and other Encourager mailings, click here. In the subject line, type "subscribe." Please give your name and email address. ●Please set your spam system (contact list) to accept  encourager@biblewalking.com and  dan@dancarr.org.   ●Thank you for accepting our mail and passing it on.