Discovering the Handprint of God, Part 4: Graced
Pastor Bill Wolfe (8/17/03)
(Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4:7-8; 2 Timothy 1:6)
This week is the fourth in my series of five messages on “The Handprint of God”. We’ve looked at three of the fingerprints so far. Each stands for one of the ways that God touches or shapes our lives, and, to make it easier, each begins with the letter “G”. So we’ve had grasped, greeted, and grouped. Today we look at the fourth one -- graced.
I’m a great uncle now. My nephew,
And I believe that when we see how God’s hand has graced us, we also experience joy. There are a number of definitions for grace. The one that stands out for me is “a favor rendered by one who need not do so”. When we talk about God’s grace most of the time we refer to the Ephesians 2:8-9 passage that says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast.” That’s one use of that definition -- “a favor rendered by one who need not do so.”
But there’s another way that definition comes out in scripture. Two chapters later in Ephesians, Paul writes this: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” (Ephesians 4:7) That word grace comes from the Greek word “charis”. It’s the Greek word that we get the term “charismatic” from. It’s the word that is also translated “gift”. In other words, that verse could just as easily be translated “But to each one of us gifts have been given as Christ apportioned them.”
“A favor rendered by one who need not do so”
God’s graces you, He gifts you, with spiritual gifts.
There are certain situations and things in life where I have to stop and ask myself, “Why is that?” or “What would make someone do that?” For instance, I don’t understand body piercings. I mean, sticking a safety pin in my finger to get a splinter out is more than I want to do. So when I see someone who has pierced a certain part of their body, I ask myself “What would make someone do that?”
I don’t understand why you make a 9:30 doctor’s appointment, and you don’t get in to see him until 10:30. I don’t understand why people get all excited over Hummers. And finally, I often ask myself why someone would get on one of those “yell and tell” shows like Jerry Springer and display to millions of people what an idiot he is. So as you can see I wonder about a lot of things.
But one more thing I wondered about as I was preparing this message was “what would make God grace us with spiritual gifts?” And here’s what I came up with, which I believe scripture supports. God graced us so that we can figure out the answer to the question, “What am I here for?” Sometimes we can figure that out by seeing how the Holy Spirit leads us. Sometimes we can figure it out through the affirmation of our other brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes we can figure it out through intense times of prayer. And sometimes we can figure it out just by stepping out in faith and trying new things.
It’s amazing what you can find out about yourself when you step out on faith.
We’ve had a number of people discover what their spiritual gifts and passions are. We’ve also had these additional gifts come out that aren’t scriptural. Here they are: (chart displayed)
What do these tell us about our church? They tell us that perhaps we should be looking to expand the number of ministries we have that help people, especially people in need. For instance, being a host church for the Interfaith Hospitality Network is one way to follow the giftedness of our church. Perhaps we need to find out how some of the needy people of our community need help- and when I say “needy” I’m not just talking financially. For instance, what if a few people who have the gift of helps or mercy, and also know a little something about cars, offered free oil changes and vehicle checks to single parent moms one Saturday a month because a lot of single moms have that need. Or what if we put up a tree at Christmas time that had gift tags on it, and each gift tag had something that a Longfellow School student needed, like mittens or a coat or school supplies- and each person who took one of those tags would either contribute the money necessary to buy that gift, or purchase the gift and bring it.
What if we found out that a number of students at East Junior High could barely read, and we had a few people give one hour a week to helping some of those students improve their reading.
What if we took a bunch of hot dogs downtown one evening and handed them out to homeless people.
What if a few people traveled around the city on a hot Saturday afternoon looking for people working in the midst of the heat, and handed out bottles of cold water to them.
What if one Saturday a month we advertise that we will help elderly folks with odd jobs around their house, like yardwork or painting or little handyman jobs, and we have people from the community call the church to schedule our help.
You see, it’s okay to think creatively and to serve in creative ways out of your giftedness. The danger that we, the body of Christ, get into is that we become so consumed with maintaining the structure and what goes on inside the church that we don’t have time to go outside the church. A busy church calendar looks impressive in some ways, but it’s also a warning sign that we’ve forgotten about all those people who live around us who have no hope.
And you know something. Seeing that we have a lot of people with the gifts of mercy and helps is one thing. Having all of those people actually use those gifts in ministry is another. It’s like buying a car and then putting it up on blocks in your backyard. Yes, you have the car, but it doesn’t seem to be taking you any place. We have a lot of people who are ministering out of their giftedness. They are working hard, and they are longing for the movement of God to manifest itself. But…we still have a lot of cars on blocks in backyards that are getting us nowhere.
Let me share with you three “graced principles” to put some clarity into this fingerprint of graced. First of all, God graces you in a special way after you accept Jesus as your Savior and have the Holy Spirit come to dwell within you.
Look with me at 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.
One of the things that we tend to forget about spiritual gifts is they are special abilities or gifts that become a part of your new life in Christ. We tend to downplay that aspect of gifts because we have a hard time understanding them. It’s easier to say that a high school history teacher has the gift of teaching than it is to say that the same person has the gift of discernment or prophecy.
When we’re graced by the hand of God it’s a new anointing. It’s not the same old thing just spiritualized. It’s something that you can’t explain about yourself apart from your relationship with Jesus Christ.
The second principle is “God’s graces guide you into areas where you are gifted for service.” Look at Romans 12:3-8 with me.
1 Peter 4:10 tells us, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”
When God graced you, He has specific reasons for why He did it in a very unique way. It’s kind of like playing on a basketball team. Years ago I coached a 2&3 Grade boys team who were almost all hyper. I’d have them take turns being the point guard. The point guard dribbles the ball down the court, and with 2&3 Grade boys, the boy who dribbles down the court is usually the one who also shoots the ball. So guess how many of them wanted to be the point guard? But when you get to junior high and high school basketball it’s completely different. You’re creating this team that works flawlessly together. Players play positions called “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”, or “5”. And then on the bench you may have a couple kids who can play two or three positions, so you use them to sub for players who are tired. Then you may have a kid who is lacking in talent, but is all hustle and when he gets into the game he makes things happen because of his heart. As you coach that team you begin to see how they all fit together. Someone who can’t shoot a lick, is a great defender. And someone who can’t dribble, sets great picks. Each player contributes in certain ways for the benefit of the team.
When God graced you He was thinking of His team and how the gifts He gave you will make His team better. Whatever those gifts are determines where He wants to use you.
The third principle is this. God graced us for excellence. Excellence is a vital element for kingdom-impact.
A couple of years ago the Butterball Turkey Company set up a hotline around Thanksgiving so that people could call and ask the questions they needed answered for fixing turkeys properly. One lady called and asked if a turkey that had been in the freezer for over a year would still be okay. She was told that it would be, but the meat wouldn’t be as good as a fresh turkey, and I wouldn’t have much flavor to it. The Butterball person asked her if she was going to fix the turkey for Thanksgiving, and the lady’s response was, “No, I think I’ll buy a fresh one.” So the person from butterball asked her what she would do with the other one, and she replied, “Oh, I’ll just give it to the church.”
Now I tell that because it signals a mindset. The mindset is this: If I’m doing it for God, it doesn’t have to be my best.
Listen to me! When God graced you in a certain way He did it in order to impact the world for the
“If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 4:11)
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:6-7)
One of my favorite books is Body Life written by Ray Stedman back in 1972. In it he talks about spiritual gifts, and this idea of “charis” (grace), among other things. One of the things I noticed as I was reading it again for this message was his emphasis on the fact that these graces we’ve been given are to be exercised with new and remarkable power. I mean, just think about it. If God has graced your life with the gift of wisdom, isn’t it kind of a mockery to Him if that gift is used in kind of a ho-hum powerless whimpy kind of way? If God graced you with it, shouldn’t it have power in it? As Paul told Timothy, “…for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power…”
This fingerprint of “graced” is the hardest for the people of God to accept, because there’s still remnants of the idea “that’s what the pastor gets paid to do.” If you can show me a scripture to support that statement, I’ll listen. Otherwise, it’s a team thing.
And here’s the thing! Like watching my great niece “Grace”, the church that opens itself to how God has graced us, and ministers out of those graces, will be the church that impacts the world for Jesus Christ and…experiences joy.
