Sunday Service 11th August

11 It was he who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. 12 He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.”

What do you want for your birthday?

This question is the start of what has become a running joke in my family.

“A book.”

“But you’ve got a book. What do you want for your birthday?”

The giving of gifts. It can be a fraught decision. What do you give the person who has everything? Or the person who wants for nothing – not always the same thing.

What if you give some one something and it is not appreciated? Or what if you receive something which is inappropriate or not of much interest to you?

Giving and receiving gifts can be difficult. How about, are you a gifted person?

No doubt many of you would modestly deny that you were gifted, or mumble about being quite good at doing something, or you enjoy some activity.

Boasting about our talents is often frowned upon.

And here we find a different meaning for gifted. Being gifted means being talented at something.

And since we generally understand talented to mean being better at something than most other people, we are wise to be cautious about identifying ourselves in such a way.

But this is not what being gifted means in the Bible.

Our giftedness – and in the Bible we are all gifted – comes from Christ himself. It is not something we are born with. It is not something innate to us.

It is something which is given to us.

Verse 11 tells us “It was he who “gave gifts to people””.

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers...."

These examples do not exhaust God's gift list. There are many, many ways to be gifted by God.

And we are told why we have been given gifts – it is for us to use in Christian service for building the Body of Christ.

The gifts God has given us are for use for the benefit of others.

What are these gifts?

Remember they are not talents.

These gifts are the building blocks and tools we are given to navigate through life.

They include our background – what we have learned from our affluence or poverty, our education, work opportunities, personal relationships, race, culture, nationality, history, religion, economics, heritage and so on.

But these are not the only gifts we have been given. We have our own special gifts which make us different from anyone else – even from our own siblings.

For example, you may be serious or happy go lucky, confrontational or laid back, extravert or introvert, hard working or lazy and so on.

We are all different and have our own special gifts – even ones we may not want.

But God has given us these gifts to use in the building up the body of Christ in this world.

For us, this means using it in this place among this community of believers.

For this to bear fruit, we need to have the right people in the right place at the right time.

We need to have the opportunity.

We need the conditions to be right, otherwise our efforts will be in vain.

Who you are is a gift.

But so is where you are and what is going on around you and the relationships that you have with others.

One way to think about your special gifts is to think of how Jesus would describe you.

How would Jesus - who knows you better than anyone else in life - describe where you came from?

How would Jesus describe who you are now?

How would Jesus describe what you most desire to be?

Think of the words that Jesus would use in describing you. And in those words you will find your gifts.

So often we are tempted to do something out of a sense of duty, rather than an outworking of our personal gifts. There may be someone better equipped to carry out that function who is being denied the opportunity to serve the body of Christ.

Who we are is a gift. But so is where we are and what is going on around us and the relationships that we have with others.

There may be some people with more talent than you in being a friend or father or mother or daughter or son or sister or brother.

There may be those who can sing God's praise in a richer way.

But if you are the one with the gift of time, place and relationship, then it is up to you to use those gifts in the same way it is up to you to use the personal and spiritual gifts that have been given to you.

You ought to use them.

Our gifts, whether the ones of the spirit and personal quality and the ones of opportunity, are all to be used to make other people’s lives better.

We may not get everything right the first time, but with God’s grace and encouragement we may grow in the work of building up Christ’s body.

The gifts are to be used for others.

I read recently a wonderful story that comes from Jewish tradition about a man named Simon.

And Simon wanted always to be more like Moses - that was his constant worry.

And he kept going to the Rabbi and saying, "Rabbi I must lead my life so that I live more like Moses did."

The Rabbi told him once "Simon God will not ask you why you were not more like Moses? God will ask you why you were not more like Simon?"

We have to live our own lives.

I do not know why you have the gifts you have and I have the ones I have.

I only know that we have them for the same reason, to build up the Body of Christ, to benefit others, to serve the communities of which we are a part.

That is the central issue in the business of living.

So are you a gifted person? Yes, absolutely. Where you come from is a gift. Who you are is a gift, what you long to be are all gifts given you by God.

I would like to close with some sentences that may be familiar to some. Its background is the idea that the Church, that we are the body of Christ:

Christ has no hands - only our hands to do His work today. He has no feet - only our feet to lead people in His way. Christ has no lips - only our lips to tell people about Him. He has no help, only our help, to bring people to His side.

Use them to the Glory of God - to the building up of the Body of Christ. Amen

Let’s pray

It is mystery that is beyond us, Jesus, that our clumsy attempts at goodness, our frail and faltering labours,

could make any contribution

to Your saving work in our world.

Yet, You dignify and bless us

by inviting us into Your service,

and assuring us that what we do does matter.

And then, You add the gifts of joy, fulfilment, creativity and Your own support and care.

What a gracious God You are

and how grateful we are for Your love.

But sometimes we forget this grace, and we begin to look around us.