Gifted for Serving

Get into Shape • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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Paul does not use Charismata here for gifts, but rather charis for grace. Saving grace is given to all who believe (Ephesians 2:5, 8), but serving grace is given differently according to the measure of Christ's gift. From this language the charismatic movement has been named. But no group can claim this as its own - the whole church is a charismatic community. It is the body of Christ, and every single member is gifted to exercise or function in a particular way. If the sixteenth century discovered the priesthood of all believers, maybe now, at last, by the twenty-first century we will discover the ministry of the whole people of God.

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Almost ten years ago their was a story about a couple of Northwest Airline pilots who were had their licenses revoked for ignoring their responsibility to fly the airplane for which they were responsible.

300 Illustrations for Preachers Ignoring Their Responsibility to Fly the Plane

The FAA revoked the licenses of two Northwest Airlines pilots after their airplane flew for 91 minutes out of contact with the ground and overshot their destination city by 150 miles. The revocation took place because of recklessness caused by “inattention.”

Airline pilots must direct their aircraft safely from Point A to Point B. However, these pilots had their personal laptops on in the cockpit and were researching job conditions and scheduling rules brought about by Northwest’s recent purchase by Delta Airlines. They wanted to know how their job situations were changing. While that is understandable, that was not their assigned task. They took their eye off their primary responsibility and gave their attention to something of lesser importance.

Keeping the most important thing a priority is important for everyone, not just airline pilots.

📷 var storyURL = "http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-10-29-delta-ceo-pilots_N.htm"; var storyTitle = "Delta CEO: 'Clear violation' involved in wayward flight"; var articleSummary = "The chief executive of Delta Air Lines Inc said Thursday that the pilots of a Northwest Airlines flight who overflew their destination would be dealt with by the carrier, as the use of laptops in the cockpit was a clear violation of company rules.";

Last week we started a sermon series on Spiritual Gifts that we are calling, “Get Into Shape.” As we began this journey we said that, in a year of alignment for our church, ministry and vision, we need to first of all make sure that we are aligning ourselves. Last week we talked about having Souls of Silver and a refining process through which God eliminates the impurities in our lives until God can see God’s own reflection when God looks into our souls.

Today, we continue this theme as we discuss how all of us are gifted for serving. To help us get our minds around this I want to refer to one of the great classics of the Church, The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis.

Earlier this week, U.S. regulators revoked the licenses of the two Northwest pilots, who said they lost their bearings during an Oct. 21 flight while discussing company policy and using their laptops.The pilots of Northwest Flight 188 from San Diego to Minneapolis lost contact with air controllers for more than an hour and overshot the Minneapolis-St Paul Airport by 150 miles (240 km), aviation officials said."The best way that I can describe the incident to you is we don't operate our airplanes that way," Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson said in a recorded message to employees Thursday. "We operate professionally, we follow our standard operating procedures ..."Anderson added that it was a "clear violation of our rules to have laptops open in a cockpit," and said the incident was an "anomaly."

The pilots told the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that they "lost track of time" during a conversation on new crew schedules. They were also using their personal laptop computers as part of that discussion, officials said.Delta earlier this week said it has suspended the pilots, identified as Timothy Cheney and Richard Cole, pending the outcome of the NTSB investigation and an internal company probe."This is really a basic in flying an airplane, that you pay attention and that you act professionally," Anderson added in his message. "That crew did not and we'll deal with it accordingly."Delta became the world's largest airline when it acquired Northwest a year ago.

“I feel there are especially necessary for me in this life two things without which its miseries would be unbearable. Confined here in this prison of the body I confess I need these two, food and light. Therefore, You have given me in my weakness Your sacred Flesh to refresh my soul and body, and You have set Your word as the guiding light for my feet. Without them I could not live aright, for the word of God is the light of my soul and Your Sacrament is the Bread of Life.

These also may be called the two tables, one here, one there, in the treasure house of holy Church. One is the table of the holy altar, having the holy Bread that is the precious Body of Christ. The other is the table of divine law, containing holy doctrine that teaches all the true faith and firmly leads them within the veil, the Holy of holies.”

The Imitation of Christ The Body of Christ and Sacred Scripture are Most Necessary to a Faithful Soul

I feel there are especially necessary for me in this life two things without which its miseries would be unbearable. Confined here in this prison of the body I confess I need these two, food and light. Therefore, You have given me in my weakness Your sacred Flesh to refresh my soul and body, and You have set Your word as the guiding light for my feet. Without them I could not live aright, for the word of God is the light of my soul and Your Sacrament is the Bread of Life.

Last week we remembered our baptism, one of two sacraments in the United Methodist Church. In the moment of baptism we celebrate the words of , “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” It is in the Logos, the Word of God, that we receive the light of salvation and the light of eternity.

Today, we participate in the second of the two sacraments, Holy Communion. In this moment we recall the atoning work of Jesus upon the cross of Calvary. We receive the bread and the wine which are for us the body and blood of Christ. So , in a very literal since, Kempis reminds us that in Christ we have recieved light and food, without which we simply cannot truly live.

Paul takes this image just a little farther in that he speaks of the church as the Body of Christ, not in the sense that we somehow replace the physical Body of Jesus. What Paul is saying is that we become the hands and feet to the Body of Christ. As we read the words of Jesus in , “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” That is why Jesus said in a little further down in that same chapter, “And I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor iknows him.l But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (16&17) On Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and the church was born. From that day until this very day, God has gifted the Church with the Gifts of the Spirit to do the work of the Kingdom. So, today, we’re going to look at what it means to Get Into Shape by looking at how were are gifted for Serving.

is only one of several verses that list the various gifts of the Holy Spirit with which the church is equipped to do ministry. For our purposes here today, we will reserve more details discussion of the actual gifts for another time. What I’d like for us to do today is to look at how Paul prepared the Christians in Ephesus for understanding the Gifts.

He starts by saying that “each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” The word for grace here is the Greek word Charis. The context in which Paul is speaking is in reference to the Saving Grace which Christ has offered to all who believe. By the very definition of Grace we understand that it is something that we do not deserve nor is it something that we determine for ourselves. It is provided by Christ himself.

Paul goes on to say that Christ has made captivity a captive. What he means here is that, through gift of grace he has set us free for ministry. Apart from it we would only have ourselves to rely upon. However, with the grace of God we no longer depend upon ourselves but God. In Paul says, “For by Grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves but it is the gift from God so that no one can boast.”

In verse nine Paul, in quoting other sources says “‘He ascended, ‘ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?” This is captured well in the version of the Apostles’ Creed which we will share together this morning when it states that Jesus “descended into hell.”

What that means for us today is simply this. There is nowhere on this planet where we can get so far away from God that we extend ourselves beyond the scope of God’s reach. Oh, we can decide, quite on our own to turn our back on God and not heed God’s Word. But the work of Jesus is for all humanity, even the most lost among us.

It is because of the Grace of Jesus and his atoning work of the cross that you and I, no matter how far away we may think we are, can turn much like the prodigal son and find the Father waiting at the gate to receive us. Because of that each one of us have been gift at least one Spiritual Gift for ministry. However, less we become confused, the gifts are not given to us for our own glory. The gifts have but one purpose. They are given for the building up of the Body of Christ so that we can “measure up” as a disciple of Christ.

Sermon Outline

I.The grace we have received is determined by Christ and not by ourselves.

II.Through the gifts Jesus has set us free for ministry

III. There is no place we can go that is beyond the reach of Jesus’ deliverance

IV. The gifts that Christ gave are what enables us to be the Body of Christ

V. The purpose of the gifts is for building up the Body of Christ so that we can “measure up” as disciples of Jesus.

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