The Apostle Peter tells us: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). This robs their joy and grace that God wants them to experience through using the gift. Because they don’t realize they have been designed by God to serve and contribute to the growth of the church, they simply neglect to serve at all. Not only does this lead to exhaustion and a sense of futility, it can rob another Christian of the opportunity to use his or her gifts. Whenever a need in the church arises, whether it’s a good fit or not, they jump in to help. Unfortunately, because many (perhaps most) Christians don’t understand and use their unique gifts, they typically end up in one of two “ditches.” First, because they do not know how God has gifted them, they simply try to do anything (or everything!). Grace gifts from God not only equip us to do the good works, but they help bring focus and direction to our activities within the church body.
In fact, each member is not supposed to do tasks that they were not designed to do. See Romans 12:4–6 and 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7, 11.Įssentially, Paul is saying we don’t all need to do the same thing.
Isn’t it encouraging to know that God has equipped you with gifts and abilities to do specific works? Paul addressed this as he wrote to the church in Rome. That’s until we realize that God, the all-wise and all-powerful sovereign creator of the universe, created each of us specifically to do these works. The command in Ephesians 4, to do our allotted work, might seem daunting and stressful. It’s the purpose for which you were designed. But the gifts all have the same goal: “so that the body of Christ (the community of all believers) may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and become mature in our Christlikeness.” Contributing to the growth of the church and its members is not optional. These works vary from teaching to leading to administering care to focused prayer to other activities. He tells the Ephesians that Christ gave the church leaders and teachers to help equip Christians for works of service. The Apostle Paul addressed this to the church in Ephesus. God’s design is for our spiritual growth to happen within the church.
We’re part of a greater community called the church. What does that mean for you? First, realize that the Christian life is not a lone-ranger existence. Paul tells Christians in Ephesians 2:10 that “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Simply put, Christians are created and designed to do the good works that God prepared.
0 kommentar(er)
