Serving Successfully Among the Saints, Part 2a

We're talking about spiritual gifts because in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse number 10, Peter says. That, as each one has received a spe gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. It's important for us to understand that we need to min to one another spiritually, and God has gifted each and every one of us to do so. Paul would write that he would not want us to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. But isn it interesting that a lot of people truly are ignorant when it comes to spiritual gifts?

They don't know what they are, they don't know where they are, and they don't even know if they have one. And so the Bible, when it speaks to us understanding what Spiritual gifts are, it explains them in great detail so we can get a better understanding of how the body of Christ is to minister to one another. Peter says, as you prepare for the end times and the coming of our Lord, you need to make sure that you are a good steward of the gift that God has given to you. Now I believe that everyone in this room who's born again has a spiritual gift.

I also want to let you know that you probably have more than one. There is one probably that's prominent, but you probably have more than just one particular gift. And as the body functions together It's imperative that we function in line with those gifts in order that we can paint a composite picture of our Lord to a lost world. Because our Lord was the complete embodiment of every gift. And therefore, his church Has these gifts. And when we operate and function according to our giftedness, then we're able to portray the composite picture of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

By way of introduction, I want you to turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Tucked away in Paul's last letter. Is a reference to a man, the only reference to this man in the Bible. And this man used his giftedness to minister to the great Apostle Paul. You'd think that Paul was a man who didn't need anybody to minister to him. I mean, he was always a fire-breathing dragon. He was always on the go. He never seemed to be tired. He was always up and going and just never ceasing in his commitment to Jesus Christ.

And yet there was a man, a very particular man, that was used in a significant way to minister to the Apostle Paul. We find him in chapter 1, verse number 15. It says, You are aware, Timothy, of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me. Now, he didn't say some. He says all. Now, that's very interesting because over in Acts chapter 19, verse number 10, it says that during Paul's two and a half years of ministry, there were many people. That gave their lives to Christ. The great awakening was followed by a great departing.

Why is that? Why is it this great man of God would go around preaching and planting churches, and people would be on fire for the gospel and get all excited about following the Lord Jesus? And Paul was able to see all these people come to Christ, and all of a sudden, Everybody turns away. Persecution broke out. People spoke against the Apostle Paul. He was in prison. And nobody really truly wanted to be associated with the man, except for one man, one lone ranger. It says in verse number 16, The Lord grant mercy to the house of O.

What a name, Otoceph for he often Refreshed me. This was an ongoing thing for Onos. It wasn 't a one-time thing, it was something that he did often, Paul says. And says, and was not ashamed of my chain. Those who turned away from Paul were the ones who were ashamed of what he was going through. They were unable to stand with him. You know, it's always good to have somebody you can count on to stand with you in battle, isn't it? Somebody you know you can count on, that when everything around you is crumbling and everybody's against you and the word of God is at stake, that there's somebody there that will stand strong and not falter.

Unfortunately, There aren't too many people like that, is there? Paul says, all in Asia. Turned away. But there was one who often refreshed me. On is his name. Now, his name is very significant. It means bringer of profit. Isn't that a good name? Bringer of profit. He lived up to his name. For Paul says he often refreshed me, he often cooled me off. Evidently, he did this in Ephesus. But now, now he comes to Rome. He comes to search for the great apostle Paul. A man of tremendous faith needed to be supported.

That's how the body of Christ works, you know. And so, as strong as Paul was, as powerful as he was, as great a leader as he was, there was one man that ministered to him in a very significant way. The bringer of prophet, On. Verse 17, but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. Meaning that you just couldn't go up to the street and say, Hey, does anybody know where Paul is in prison? Could you let me know where he is?

Because everybody was ashamed, they were afraid. If they told where Paul was, then maybe they would be arrested. If they even hinted that they knew who the Apostle Paul was, then they would be arrested. So no one would say a thing. But Onos would never cease to stop searching for Paul in Rome because he was in that Mammart prison hidden away for no one wanted to know or let the word out of the bag where he was. But he found him. And Paul says, This man was unashamed. This man wasn't scared. He wasn't afraid.

He would risk his life for me. He says, The Lord grant to him to find mercy. From the Lord on that day, and you know very well what service He rendered to me at Ephesus. Paul says, I pray that the Lord would grant mercy to the household of Odos. Because you see, they had to take a risk. To let father, to let husband leave to go look for this man, the Apostle Paul, to risk his life. To fulfill his name, to bring profit to one man who needed to be cooled off, who needed to find encouragement. But the remarkable thing about On is that when he found him and he refreshed him, he knew that Paul could never return the favor.

Because Paul was going to die. That is the essence of how spiritual gifts work. They minister in such a way that they expect never to be repaid. They minister in such a way that they will risk everything to make it happen. That was O. He becomes a model of spiritual giftedness. He becomes a model, as Peter would say, if anyone has the gift of service, Let him do it with the strength that the Lord supplies, right? Isn that what Peter said? 1 Peter 4:11? Sure. If you're going to exercise your gifted, it needs to be empowered by the Spirit of God.

If it is, you're willing to risk even your own life as Otos did. And not only are you willing to risk your life, you never want to be repaid. Because that's not what's important. Because you're not doing it for the Apostle Paul. Onice had no idea that Paul was even going to write about him. He didn't do it because, you know, maybe Paul will put me in one of his 13 epistles, and I'll get my name in lights. And all throughout the history of the church, they'll read about On, the bringer of prophet, how he refreshed Paul in prison.

No, that wasn his motive. What was his motive? He loved the Lord. He loved the Lord. He would serve the Lord. In serving the Lord, he would serve the servants of the Lord. Let me ask you a question.

Who has brought refreshment to your life over the years? Has anybody cooled you off? Has anybody through their life in their ministry to you brought profit to your family to you individually Has anyone come and soothed your p? I 'm sure that many of you could give testimony to that. That there is one individual, or some individuals, that have done that for you and your family. But I'm sure there are some who would say, no. No one soothed my pain. No one has refreshed me. No one has come to cool me off.

I've never been ministered to like that. Then I have another question. To whom are you bringing profit? To whom are you cooling off? To whom do you refresh? Because that's what the ministry is all about, right? Serving your Your fellow men. You see, the support gifts are designed to bring profit to the body of Christ. That's what they're made to do. They're the kind of gifts that impact people deeply. They're not flashy. But they're powerful. And they're used in a very might way. For without them, the body of Christ could not function properly.

The support gifts are the basis for ministry in the church. Without them, the ministry would not run smoothly. Wouldn't happen. You come to church and you buy a tape. Tapes just don't produce themselves. There has to be somebody who runs the sound. And there has to be somebody who records the sound in the tape room. Then there has to be somebody who would take that recording and duplicate it over and over again to make it available to you. Somebody's got to do that. You come to church and you forget a pen or a pencil, and lo and behold, there's one right in front of you in the pew.

Who puts those pins there? They're stolen every week. That's okay. They got our name on them. You can take them. That's okay. But somebody's got to put them in these little slots, right? Who does that? You come on Sunday morning, you get a bulletin. Got announcements in there, you got flyers in there. You got an outline in there. Who do you think folds them and stuffs them and puts them all together so that you can have a vol you come to church on Sunday morning? Somebody has got to do it. It doesn't just fold itself.

Somebody's got to do all that stuff, right? You see, those are just little things, but without them, everything around it begins to crumble. And so the basis for ministry, the heart and soul of ministry, is designed around the support gifts. For without the support gifts functioning, the speaking gifts would have no one to speak to. See? Because no one would be there to teach, to exhort, to give a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge to or to prophesy to. So they're all very important. My purpose this evening is to help you understand their importance.

So, these gifts, we will not cover all eight of them this evening. So, for those of you wondering, wow, is he going to do all eight of these tonight? No. We're going to begin with the first one.

The gift of serving. Diak. Diak. Any act of service could be waiting on tables, it could be providing meals. It could be perform different kind of duties. It's a word used 103 times in the New Testament. It's used quite often. Peter would use it in 1 Peter 4, verses 10 to 11, when it says, If any of you has the gift of serving, if you have a speaking gift, this is how you do it. If you have a serving gift, this is how you do it, with the strength that God Himself gives you. Supplies. It is the ability to perform any task or responsibility with joy.

Which benefits others and meets practical and material needs that exist. That's what the gift of service is all about. Let me illustrate it for you.

Turn with me to the book of Acts, the sixth chapter. There are many places we could go to. We'll just go to a couple of them this evening, but I want you to understand how it functions so you can determine whether or not this is a gift that you have. More of you have this gift than you realize. Acts chapter 6, verse number 1. Now at this time. While the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.

And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve. Tables, but select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The statement found approval with the whole congregation. Now, there's a lot of things here in these few short verses that you need to understand.

This complaint arose because there were certain women that were not being served, there were certain needs not being met. Now the church was expanding. The church was growing. It was growing by leaps and bounds. And the apostle said, You know, we can't do this any longer, which is very important for us to understand about spiritual gifts. And the apostles realized that God had gifted them, that God was going to use them in a very specific way, that if they did not function as God had designed them to function, it would hinder their ministry.

That is, if they did what others could do and were gifted to do, not only would they hinder their ministry, the apostles themselves. But they would hinder the ministry of those in the church. Here's the point: whenever you feel like you've got to do everything, and you've got to feel like you've got to make everything happen. You are hindering somebody else from using their gith in the ministry. It's imperative that you understand what your gith is and you function in that capacity. We like to function in all kinds of capacity in the church.

We like to do this on Tuesday and do that on Wednesday and do this on Sunday and then do this over here on Friday and try to be all over the place. You can't do that and be effect. See, the apostle said, Look, we have to give ourselves to the ministry of prayer and the word. We have to do that. And if we don't give ourselves to that, then the spiritual nourishment of the people will be hindered. Now, the physical nourishment of the people was very important. So important that when the apostles got the people together, they said, this is what we're going to do.

You need to choose certain kind of men. You've got to choose good men. You've got to choose godly men, and you have to choose gifted men. You just can't choose any man to do this task. You just can't choose any man to handle the conflict. They've got to be good men, they've got to be godly men, they've got to be gifted men. And these men were gifted. These men were men of faith, full of wisdom in the Holy Spirit, which shows you, listen, that the act of service is fully. Or is best served with a godly man, not an ungodly man, or a godly woman, not an ungodly woman.

It emphasizes the character of the one doing the serving. And these men would rise to the task. And I want you to notice what happens.

Verse 7. It says in verse 6, and these they brought before the apostles, and after praying, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God kept on spreading, and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were become. Obedient to the faith. There is a very important principle here. Listen, when the priority on leadership is in proper perspective, then the qual of the fellowship is in proper perspective. Thus the unity of the membership is in proper perspective.

So that the intensity of discipleship is in proper perspective. Why did the word of the Lord spread continually? Because the men who were gifted to pray and to preach were focused on doing that. They weren't distracted to do other things in the church. The ones who could do the other things in the church, the serving of the tables and the serving of the widows, the meeting of the material needs of these people, once they did that, then. The body of Christ was able to function to its highest level, and the word of God would continue to spread rapidly, and many people will under Christ, even some of the chief priests.

How is it the church functions best in the community? It functions best in the community when it functions best in the body. If the church is not functioning properly. In here, in the body, in the womb. It hinders its effect in the community. That's the principle of Acts chapter 6. And that's something those who, with the gift of service, need to understand: that when they live a godly life, when they live a holy life, and when they invest their life in meeting the needs of those who have. Physical and material needs that need to be met, and you free the men up who are able to preach, to focus in on the word and to pray, prayer, and to preach.

Then the body can function properly. And as the body functions properly, God adds numbers to that assembly. Just think. You not exercising your giftedness hinders our outreach to the community. Think about it that way. And that's how the church is supposed to function. And so these people. We're given to service. Remember Luke chapter 10? You know the verse. Luke 10:3. Now, as they were traveling along, he entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who, moreover, was listening to the Lord's word, seated at his feet.

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations. And she came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me. But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only a few things are necessary. Really, only one. For Mary has chosen the good part, which should not be taken away from her. Now Martha was distracted. My sister has left me here to serve all alone. Here was a woman who was gifted in service.

Here was a woman who understood her responsibility to her Lord. And yet, she got distracted. Why? Because she felt the brunt of all the responsibility. And my sister needs to help me. But she forgot about the main principle in your service. And that is the Lord of the work. We can be so enamored with the work of the Lord that we forget about the Lord of the work. And that's what happened to Martha. See? And those of you who have to get to service, if you find yourself getting irritated that nobody's helping you, that you're all alone, where is everybody else?

How come I'm the only one here to do this ministry? Where's everybody else? How come we can't get any other volunteers to come in here and help me each and every Saturday morning? Why isn me alone? Just think of Martha. Just think of Martha. You see, it's about the Lord and your devotion to the Lord. And Mary was devoted to her God. See? She was devoted to her God, to listen to her God and to follow her God. It wasn't that Martha's act of serving was sin or wrong. That's not the point. Why? John 12.

John 12, verse number 1. Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made him a supper there, and Martha was serving. Why was Martha serving? Because she had the gift of service. And she wanted to serve her Lord. And she wanted to serve her family. And she wanted to serve her friends. But at this time, there were no distractions. She was focused. She was focused on serving her Lord, see, which enabled her to serve others.