TEXT: I Peter 4:10-11

SUBJECT: Gifts and Their Encouragement

These two verses are easy to expound. And hard to apply. The subjects, of course, are spiritual gifts and their use. The best way to think about the passage--it seems to me--is also the simplest: "Line upon line".

In the first place, we should note: Believers are gifted, v.10: "As each one has received a gift". About these gifts, we can say this much for sure: Every believer has them. Peter makes no attempt to prove this; he assumes we know it. But do we? Many do not. You know why, don't you? Because they have limited spiritual gifts to preaching. Your pastor is a gifted man. But what about the rest of you? Are you as gifted as he? You are.

What is your gift? Many believers agonize over the question. They spend time and money on books and seminars to discover this deep, dark secret. Some never find the answer. I have it; I can identify your gift Infallibly. Your gift is: Whatever you can do for Christ. V.11 provides a summary: "If anyone speaks, let him speak as an oracle of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies..." Your gift is either speaking or serving or both.

The "serving gifts" are as valuable as pastoring a church, teaching at a seminary, or going to the mission field. We must never despise them in others. Or in ourselves!

Every believer is gifted. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you're gifted. Don't waste time puzzling over your gifts. Simply find something you can do for Christ. And do it. In the doing, you'll find your gift.

In the second place, we should know: All spiritual gifts spring from the same source, vv.10,11: "The grace of God...The ability God supplies". The gifts are "manifold" or varied; but the source of each is God's grace. It is He who has given them. Who are we to refuse them? To ignore them? To think ill of them? Or to hinder their use by others?

Your ability to drive an old Christian to his doctor's appointment is no less God-given than George Whitefield's ability to evangelize a crowd of fifty thousand!

To quote Paul: "There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all".

To despise your spiritual gift is to despise the God who gave it. To wish you had another, is to dispute His wisdom. To suppress others spiritual gifts is--as Gamaliel put it--"To fight against God"

Thirdly, spiritual gifts must be used for the benefit of others, v.10b: "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another". The gift is given to you but not for you. It is given to you for others. We are indebted to share our gifts with each others. If we don't, we're spiritual deadbeats. When should they be used? Need and opportunity will answer that. If God has made you sympathetic, it won't be long before you find someone who needs a shoulder to cry on. If the Lord has given you money, it won't be hard to find people who need it.

With whom are we to share our gifts? Peter tells us: "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another". Our gifts must be used for the sake of our fellow believers. But which believers? Some have tried to limit the obligation to believers in one's church. Peter paints with a broader brush. He's not writing to a church, but to a people "scattered" throughout Asia Minor. As needs become known to you and as opportunity presents itself, you ought to share your gifts with God's people as such. Not because they belong to your church or because they accept the same articles of faith, but because they belong to Christ, and therefore, to you.

Peter goes no further. But Paul does. He says, in Galatians 6:10, "As much as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith." Let us use our gifts, therefore, for our brethren in Christ first, but also for those who haven't come to Christ. Who knows? Maybe the use of our gifts will bring them into the family.

Spiritual gifts, therefore, must be used for the welfare of others.

Fourthly, We are accountable to God for the use of our Spiritual gifts, v.10: "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God".

The key word is "stewards". The gifts are given to us; but they don't belong to us. They belong to God. He lends them to us for a time that we might bring Him glory. But how do we glorify God? By "burying our gifts in the ground"? Or by putting them to full use?

The question needs no answer.

This accountability to God is a powerful incentive to make the most of what He's given us. The parable of the talents implies our use of what He's given will one day be evaluated. Romans 14:12 does more than imply this: "Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God".

And so: Every believer is gifted, his gifts come from the grace of God, he ought to use them for the welfare of others, and he is answerable to God for how he has used them.

If these points are true, a deduction would seem to follow: If it is every believer's duty to use his gifts to the full, it is also the church's duty to help him make the most of his gifts. If my reasoning is bad, Hebrews 10:24 is still true: "Let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works".

How do we do this?

One thing we mustn't do: Nitpick! When we're quick to criticize but slow to appreciate, we dampen enthusiasm for the use of gifts. People begin to feel self-conscious; they grow worried; they lose spontaneity; they become discouraged. People who truly want to serve Christ will leave the church.

Let me illustrate:

By nitpicking the little mistakes people make in their zeal for Christ, we cause them to make the biggest mistake of all: Doing nothing! We must allow people to blunder for Christ. If we don't, they'll do nothing for Him at all.

On the positive side, what should the older men have done for their younger brother? They should have stepped back to take in the big picture; they should have appreciated the younger man's motives; they should have praised his eagerness; they should have borne patiently with his errors; in time, they should have gently corrected him; they should have prayed for him; they should have volunteered to help him. Had they done it, they might have spurred the brother's spiritual growth. And he might have won his neighbors to Christ.

Aquila and Priscilla set the example. They heard the incomplete Gospel of Apollos. But instead of lambasting him as a heretic or telling him to get out of the ministry, or to let them take over, they saw something in him worth developing: his eloquence, his fervor, his knowledge of Scripture were worth redeeming for the cause of Christ. And so, they gently pulled him aside and "Taught him the way of the Lord more perfectly".

Their encouraging words worked wonders. Apollos became one of the First Century's greatest preachers and men. Owing largely to a couple of tentmakers who didn't nitpick, but stirred him to love and good works.

If, therefore, you have squashed the gifts of God in your church, I urge you to confess your sins to God, to apologize to those you've hindered, and to the church who's welfare you have hurt by suppressing His gifts in others.

And, if now, you see you've hidden your own gifts under a bushel, all I can say is: Lift the bushel! "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven".

May God activate every gift He has given and sanctify them all to His glory. For Christ's sake. Amen.