Spiritual Gifts
Part 1
Everyone has a job to do.
Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 6:1-8
1 In the year King UZZIAH died, I saw the Lord sitting on HIS throne in heaven. HIS robe filled the temple.
2 Above God stood the special angels. Each angel had six wings: two wings to cover-their-face; two wings to cover-their-feet; and two wings for flying.
3 One angel said to the other angels, "Holy, Holy is the Lord of heaven! The whole earth is full with HIS glory."
4 The angel's voice made the whole temple shake and smoke filled that place.
5 And I said, "I will die because I am a sinner and I live with sinful people, and I saw the King, the Lord of heaven."
6 Then one of the special angels flew to me with a COAL brought from the altar.
7 The angel touched my mouth with the COAL and said, "See, this COAL touched your mouth; your sins are taken-away; you are holy."
8 Then, I heard the Lord ask, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
Epistle Lesson: 1st Corinthians 12:1 and verses 12-27
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand about spiritual gifts...
12 Jesus' Church is the same-as a body. We have many parts all in our one body.
13 Same with us, some of us Jews, some not Jews, some of us slaves, some of us free people, all of us baptized into Jesus' Church by the Holy Spirit.
14 The body doesn't have only one part, but the body has many parts.
15 Imagine your foot saying, "Because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body," the foot truly still belongs to the body.
16 Imagine the ear saying, "Because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body," the ear truly still belongs to the body.
17 If the whole body were a big eye, how can the body hear? If the whole body were a big ear, how can the body smell?
18 But God put all the many parts into the body same-as God wanted that to happen.
19 If all the parts were the same, then we don't have a body!
20 But now we have many parts all in our one body.
21 The eye can't tell the hand, "I don't need you," and the hand can't tell the feet, "I don't need you."
26 If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer too. If one part of the body gets praise, all the other parts are happy too.
27 Now all of you are parts of Jesus' body, the Church, and each of you is a different part!
Gospel Lesson: John 3:25-36
25 Some of John the Baptizer's [his] disciples and a Jewish man began to argue about religious washings.
26 They came to John and said to him, "Teacher, you know that man Jesus, he was with you there across of the Jordan River. You talked about him. He is baptizing people. and everyone is going to him."
27 John answered, "A person can receive only the things that God gives from heaven.
28 You yourselves are saw me say, 'I am not the Christ. God sent my ahead of Christ.'
29 The bride belongs to the groom. The friend who helps the groom, he waits and listens for the groom. When he hears the groom's voice, he is happy. I am like that friend. I have joy because the Groom finish came.
30 Jesus must become more important. I must become less important.
31 "Jesus, the One who comes from above, He is above everything. But the one who is from the earth, he belongs to the earth and speaks like someone from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above everything.
32 Jesus gives tells what He has sees and hears. But no one accepts what He says.
33 Anyone who has accepted His words says, 'Yes. God is true.'
34 Jesus, the One that God sends, He speaks God's words. God gives the Holy Spirit without limit.
35 "The Father loves the Son. The Father puts everything into His Son's hands.
36 Anyone who believes in the Son, that person has eternal life. Anyone who rejects the Son, that person will not have life. God's anger remains on him."
Hymn of the day: "Hark the voice of Jesus calling"
Note: We launched this series on Labor Day weekend, 2010. So we introduced this lesson by discussing the significance of Labor Day, and then transitioned into the topic...
Christ Jesus came to earth for doing a job --
suffer and die on the cross for us,
that paid our debt,
forgave our sins,
connected us with God,
and opened heaven for us.
He was buried,
arose again,
ascended into heaven,
and then His work is finished! Right?
Yes and No.
His work for saving us -- yes, He finished that.
But His work on earth?
that is not-yet finished.
He is still working here. How? Through us.
Now He gives us a job, that we must do.
Now... question:
Does Jesus say,
"Here is your work.
I will sit on vacation and wait.
When you are finished, I will pay you."
????
NO!
Our human bosses don't do that.
When they hire you for a new job,
they work with you,
helping you learn the process,
and learn new skills.
Jesus does that for us.
And more than that,
Jesus never steps-back, leaving us to work alone.
He continues working with us,
and working in us,
because that work we do,
that is not OUR work.
No, that is HIS work.
For that work, Jesus gives us something special
that the Bible names: "SPIRITUAL GIFTS."
What does that mean? ...."Spiritual Gift."
Here is a DEFINITION -- the meaning for that.
suffer and die on the cross for us,
that paid our debt,
forgave our sins,
connected us with God,
and opened heaven for us.
He was buried,
arose again,
ascended into heaven,
and then His work is finished! Right?
Yes and No.
His work for saving us -- yes, He finished that.
But His work on earth?
that is not-yet finished.
He is still working here. How? Through us.
Now He gives us a job, that we must do.
Now... question:
Does Jesus say,
"Here is your work.
I will sit on vacation and wait.
When you are finished, I will pay you."
????
NO!
Our human bosses don't do that.
When they hire you for a new job,
they work with you,
helping you learn the process,
and learn new skills.
Jesus does that for us.
And more than that,
Jesus never steps-back, leaving us to work alone.
He continues working with us,
and working in us,
because that work we do,
that is not OUR work.
No, that is HIS work.
For that work, Jesus gives us something special
that the Bible names: "SPIRITUAL GIFTS."
What does that mean? ...."Spiritual Gift."
Here is a DEFINITION -- the meaning for that.
|
Sign Spiritual gifts are skills for doing jobs that God gives, for us doing His work, with His power and skill, that He leads us, for serving in Christ's Body, the Church while Christ does His work on earth through us. |
English Spiritual gifts are abilities for doing tasks which God assigns for us to do, with His power and skill, by His direction, for serving in the Body of Christ, while Christ does His work on earth through us. |
[Sign it again slowly and clearly.]
Later we will dig more deeply into every line of the sentence.
But today we will focus on one point
that we see in all of our Bible readings.
Later we will dig more deeply into every line of the sentence.
But today we will focus on one point
that we see in all of our Bible readings.
EVERY CHRISTIAN HAS A SPIRITUAL GIFT.
God gives everyone in His Body
skills for doing His work.
The Christian religion is not a religion for SPECTATORS.
[Discuss how to sign that word.]
God gives everyone in His Body
skills for doing His work.
The Christian religion is not a religion for SPECTATORS.
[Discuss how to sign that word.]
|
|
|
Is that what we do here?
Are we here in a stadium, sitting on bleachers,
watching the team down on the field play the game,
while we cheer?
"I can't go down there and play."
No!
WE are the team!
WE play the game!
while cheer for each other.
Everyone who belongs to Christ
has a job.
No one is "unemployed."
Maybe the world won't pay you for that work,
that doesn't matter.
God gives you a job to do for Him,
and He gives you the skill for doing that job.
No one retires from His work.
Ask a Christian person who recently retired,
"How do you like your retirement?"
He will answer,
"What retirement?! I am more busy now than before.
I don't know how I found time to go to work every day."
The lessons today teach us that
one job is not better than other job.
One job is not more important,
and another job is not less important.
The Bible uses the human body like a picture
for teaching us about spiritual gifts.
Every part in our body has a special purpose.
Every part has a special job.
That is also true in the Body of Christ.
He is our head.
We are members in His Body.
And every one in His body has an important job that He gives.
Are we here in a stadium, sitting on bleachers,
watching the team down on the field play the game,
while we cheer?
"I can't go down there and play."
No!
WE are the team!
WE play the game!
while cheer for each other.
Everyone who belongs to Christ
has a job.
No one is "unemployed."
Maybe the world won't pay you for that work,
that doesn't matter.
God gives you a job to do for Him,
and He gives you the skill for doing that job.
No one retires from His work.
Ask a Christian person who recently retired,
"How do you like your retirement?"
He will answer,
"What retirement?! I am more busy now than before.
I don't know how I found time to go to work every day."
The lessons today teach us that
one job is not better than other job.
One job is not more important,
and another job is not less important.
The Bible uses the human body like a picture
for teaching us about spiritual gifts.
Every part in our body has a special purpose.
Every part has a special job.
That is also true in the Body of Christ.
He is our head.
We are members in His Body.
And every one in His body has an important job that He gives.
Dr. Rodney Rynearson [sign RRR] tells a story about a woman in his church, many years ago, when he was a young pastor.
That woman came faithfully to church every Sunday.
She sat and smiled -- a nice person.
And then church was finished, she left and went home.
She never did anything for the church.
She didn't get involved in the kitchen.
She didn't help lead worship.
What did she do? Nothing!
Eventually that woman died.
The next Sunday, people were setting up things for worship.
They had a problem.
No wine for the Lord's Supper ...all-gone.
Who is responsible for that?
The wine never ran-out before. They always had enough.
Who takes-care-of that?
Oh.... Now she is in heaven with Jesus.
We never knew.
That was her job,
the work she could do for her Lord.
Do you see?
God gives everyone a job
-- small or big, it-doesn't-matter.
And God gives us the skills we need for doing that job.
That woman came faithfully to church every Sunday.
She sat and smiled -- a nice person.
And then church was finished, she left and went home.
She never did anything for the church.
She didn't get involved in the kitchen.
She didn't help lead worship.
What did she do? Nothing!
Eventually that woman died.
The next Sunday, people were setting up things for worship.
They had a problem.
No wine for the Lord's Supper ...all-gone.
Who is responsible for that?
The wine never ran-out before. They always had enough.
Who takes-care-of that?
Oh.... Now she is in heaven with Jesus.
We never knew.
That was her job,
the work she could do for her Lord.
Do you see?
God gives everyone a job
-- small or big, it-doesn't-matter.
And God gives us the skills we need for doing that job.
We pray:
Lord Jesus, thank You for doing Your work for saving us.
Now You continue Your work in us.
We understand that Your work on earth continues.
That work You give to us.
Lord, WE can't! You must help us.
You must teach us.
You must give us skills.
You must lead us.
Please!
Amen.
Lord Jesus, thank You for doing Your work for saving us.
Now You continue Your work in us.
We understand that Your work on earth continues.
That work You give to us.
Lord, WE can't! You must help us.
You must teach us.
You must give us skills.
You must lead us.
Please!
Amen.