St Theodore's

Wattle Park

Sermon of the Week
Look up the passage

10/8/03

Discovering Spiritual Gifts 2 - Shaped for Ministry Ps 139:1-18
Luke 4: 1-13

Adapted from "Discovering My Ministry, Baptist Union of NSW, from work by Rick Warren, Saddleback Valley Community Church and "Heartbeat" by Drew Mellor, Deep Creek Anglican Church, Melbourne

How has God Shaped Me?

One of Job's complaints to God is "Your hands formed and shaped me…" (Job 10:8a) and now you're trying to destroy me. Job's complaint arose from his understanding that we're all God's handiwork. That God has made us the way we are and that there was little that he could do about it. And as true as that was for Job, so it is for us. God has been moulding and shaping us since we were born. In fact, God started uniquely shaping us even before we were born! Here's what we just read from Ps 139: "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed." (Psa 139:14-16 NRSV).

So if God has shaped me and formed since I was being formed in my mother's womb, we need to realise that
1. I'm shaped for a purpose. God has work in mind for me to do. We saw that last week, from Eph 2.
2. I'm unique. Now some of you may think that's a good thing, that there's only one of me, but it means that you're unique as well. God has taken each one of us and shaped us all differently for his purposes.
3. I am wonderfully complex. God doesn't muck around when he makes people. He makes us with a great variety of gifts and abilities.

   And what's more if God has made us the way we are then this is how he wants us to minister. So Romans 9 tells us not to complain: "What right do you have, a human being, to cross-examine God? The pot has no right to say to the potter: Why did you make me this shape? A potter can do what he likes with the clay!" Rom. 9:20-21

   Ministry is determined by several factors

   But in fact what we'll find as we go through today's study is that there are several factors that determine how we'll minister. "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to every one for their service. The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each one for the good of all." 1 Cor.12:4-7.

   What we're going to be looking at today is how my and your shape will determine our ministry. We'll actual use that word shape as an acronym to help us remember what this is all about.

   Spiritual Gifts. Talking about the gifts of being suited for singleness or marriage, Paul says: "…Each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind. (1 Cor 7:7 NRSV) So the first question to ask is what gifts has the Holy Spirit given me? What am I gifted to do?

   Heart. Jesus said it's what's in the heart of a person that determines what comes out of their mouth. We're reminded in 2 Cor 4:6 that "it's the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Paul thanks God that he put in the heart of Titus the same eagerness for the Corinthians that he himself had. (2 Cor 8:16)

   In Phil 2 Paul says "For it is God who works in you, inspiring both the will and the deed for his own chosen purpose!" (Phil 2:13). So if God has given you a heart to do certain things what is it that you love to do?

   Abilities. In 1 Cor 12:6 Paul speaks of "different abilities to perform service…" In Exodus 31, when the tabernacle needs to be built, God points out a craftsman named Bezalel to Moses and says, "I… have given him skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts…" (Exodus 31:3)

   So there are certain skills and abilities that we have that God has given us to use in his service. So think about what natural abilities you have?

   Personality. I guess we all know how different personality types respond to different situations. There are a whole host of tests these days to help us work out what our particular personality type is, the sorts of things we respond to, the sorts of things that cause us difficulty. (Myers-Briggs, Enniagrams, Disc, etc.) Some of us are extroverts, some are introverts, some people love tidiness and order, others are happy with things being a bit more messy. (No rude remarks about my office thank you!) And this will affect my ability to minister in particular areas. So I need to ask "Where does my personality best suit me to serve?" "Where will my personality make it difficult for me to serve?"

   Experiences. God's able to take our experiences and use them to shape us into the sort of person he can use. So what are the various experiences that I've had that God can use?



What spiritual experiences have I had? The writer to the Hebrews talks about the limitation that spiritual immaturity puts on his readers in Heb 5: "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; 13for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness." So what spiritual experiences have you had that will help you to serve God better? Do you need to develop in this area?



What painful experiences have I had? Proverbs 20:30 says: "Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways." (GNB) Paul reminds the Corinthians that "God helps us in our troubles, so we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God." 2 Cor. 1:4 (GNB). No-one likes to suffer, but the fact that I've suffered in some ways, makes me much more able to comfort others who are suffering. So how can you use your painful experiences to help you serve others who are in similar circumstances?



What educational experiences have I had? I don't mean the suffering type. I mean what teaching have you received that others might benefit from. What skills have you learnt that enable you to minister? What training have you received that you could pass on to others? How has your mind been shaped by the things you've learnt. One of the omissions in that study on Romans 12 that one of the small groups picked up was that the exhortation in Rom 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of your mind was ignored. I think it's noticeable that when people are regular readers of God's word or of good Christian literature, they become more mature, more able to serve. So what educational experience have I had?



What ministry experiences have I had? Here at St Theo's we've benefited greatly from people who've come here, having ministered in other places and who have then offered to minister in a similar way here. It's really important that those who have experienced other contexts and styles of ministry be willing and able to pass on what they've learnt in those other places.

   So those are the 5 factors that help make up your shape. Your Spiritual gifts, where your heart is, your natural or developed abilities, your personality, and your various life experiences. And the expectation is that your ministry will be most effective and fulfilling when you're using your gifts and abilities in areas that best express your personality and experience!

   Well, let's spend a few more minutes thinking about one particular test case, that of Paul.

   How Paul's Ministry Was "Shaped"

   Paul's spiritual gifts

   Paul "was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher," he tells Timothy (2 Tim.1:11). His gifts included his commission to share the gospel with the Gentiles and his ability to comprehend and then to teach complex truths to new believers.

   Paul's heart. He tells us what his motivation is in a number of places. Romans 15:20,21: "I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else's foundation, {21} but as it is written, 'Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.'" 1 Cor 9:21-22: "I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. {23} I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings." Gal. 2:8: "For God who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles." Acts 20:24: "But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God's grace." His great motivating drive was to see new people come to know Christ through the preaching of the gospel.

   Paul's ability. "Paul went to see [Priscilla and Aquila], ³and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together … they were tentmakers. ⁴Every Sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks." (Acts 18:2-4 NRSV) So he had 2 abilities. One was his ability to work with his hands, and the other was his ability to argue from the Scriptures to convince people of the truth of the gospel.

   Paul's personality. "You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. ¹⁴I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous… (Gal 1:13-14 NRSV) Paul's personality was such that he excelled above all the others in the class in his zeal for God. I guess that was part of the reason he was so successful as an evangelist.

   Paul's Experiences

   His spiritual experiences

   We're not told what effect the stoning of Stephen had on him, but the fact that it's mentioned implies that it was a significant event for him. (Acts 8:1)

   Certainly his conversion on the Damascus Road was the defining moment in his spiritual journey. (Acts 9:1-20)

   He tells us in Gal 1:18 how he spent 3 years in Arabia coming to grips with this new found faith.

   He speaks in 2 Cor 12 of his visions. He thanks God in 1 Cor 14 that he speaks in tongues more than any of the Corinthians.

   His painful experiences

   But he also had his fair share of painful experiences. "…I have been in prison more frequently… near death often… been whipped five times with 39 lashes by the Jews and three times by the Romans … once stoned… I've been in three shipwrecks … and once spent 24 hours in the open sea … In my travels I've been in danger from floods… robbers … enemies… wild animals and false friends … I've served long hours without sleep or food or shelter or even clothing…" 2 Cor. 11:23-27. He also had some physical limitation that he describes as a thorn in the flesh. "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these great revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me." 2 Cor.12:7

   Paul's educational experiences

   He tells the crowd in Jerusalem when he's arrested on his last visit to that city: "I received my training at the feet of Gamaliel, and I was schooled in the strictest observance of our fathers' Law." Acts 22:3 His training as a Pharisee is used in numerous places, including in the early days when Barnabas goes to Tarsus to bring him back to Antioch to teach the new Gentile converts the foundations of the Christian faith, presumably especially the Hebrew Scriptures.

   Paul's ministry experiences The book of Acts spends the vast majority of its time describing Paul's ministry experiences, so if you want to know how his ministry experience helped to shape him, read the book of Acts.

   So what is your Shape? What are your particular gifts, motivation, abilities, personality and experience? How do they fit together to create the unique person that's you? That's what I'd like you to go away and think about this week. You might like to take those questions on ps3&4 and fill out some answers so you're ready next week to think about the range of gifts that God gives and which of these fit you.

Contact us

Check our Mission Statement

Our Mission Strategy

Our 5-Year Plan

Preaching Program

Home

Last Week's Sermon

Next Sermon in series

Index of Sermons

	Sermon of the Week	Look up the passage
	10/8/03
	Discovering Spiritual Gifts 2 - Shaped for Ministry	Ps 139:1-18 Luke 4: 1-13
	Adapted from "Discovering My Ministry, Baptist Union of NSW, from work by Rick Warren, Saddleback Valley Community Church and "Heartbeat" by Drew Mellor, Deep Creek Anglican Church, Melbourne

	How has God Shaped Me?
	One of Job's complaints to God is "Your hands formed and shaped me…" (Job 10:8a) and now you're trying to destroy me. Job's complaint arose from his understanding that we're all God's handiwork. That God has made us the way we are and that there was little that he could do about it. And as true as that was for Job, so it is for us. God has been moulding and shaping us since we were born. In fact, God started uniquely shaping us even before we were born! Here's what we just read from Ps 139: "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed." (Psa 139:14-16 NRSV).
	So if God has shaped me and formed since I was being formed in my mother's womb, we need to realise that 1. I'm shaped for a purpose. God has work in mind for me to do. We saw that last week, from Eph 2. 2. I'm unique. Now some of you may think that's a good thing, that there's only one of me, but it means that you're unique as well. God has taken each one of us and shaped us all differently for his purposes. 3. I am wonderfully complex. God doesn't muck around when he makes people. He makes us with a great variety of gifts and abilities.
	And what's more if God has made us the way we are then this is how he wants us to minister. So Romans 9 tells us not to complain: "What right do you have, a human being, to cross-examine God? The pot has no right to say to the potter: Why did you make me this shape? A potter can do what he likes with the clay!" Rom. 9:20-21
	Ministry is determined by several factors
	But in fact what we'll find as we go through today's study is that there are several factors that determine how we'll minister. "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to every one for their service. The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each one for the good of all." 1 Cor.12:4-7.
	What we're going to be looking at today is how my and your shape will determine our ministry. We'll actual use that word shape as an acronym to help us remember what this is all about.
	Spiritual Gifts. Talking about the gifts of being suited for singleness or marriage, Paul says: "…Each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind. (1 Cor 7:7 NRSV) So the first question to ask is what gifts has the Holy Spirit given me? What am I gifted to do?
	Heart. Jesus said it's what's in the heart of a person that determines what comes out of their mouth. We're reminded in 2 Cor 4:6 that "it's the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Paul thanks God that he put in the heart of Titus the same eagerness for the Corinthians that he himself had. (2 Cor 8:16)
	In Phil 2 Paul says "For it is God who works in you, inspiring both the will and the deed for his own chosen purpose!" (Phil 2:13). So if God has given you a heart to do certain things what is it that you love to do?
	Abilities. In 1 Cor 12:6 Paul speaks of "different abilities to perform service…" In Exodus 31, when the tabernacle needs to be built, God points out a craftsman named Bezalel to Moses and says, "I… have given him skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts…" (Exodus 31:3)
	So there are certain skills and abilities that we have that God has given us to use in his service. So think about what natural abilities you have?
	Personality. I guess we all know how different personality types respond to different situations. There are a whole host of tests these days to help us work out what our particular personality type is, the sorts of things we respond to, the sorts of things that cause us difficulty. (Myers-Briggs, Enniagrams, Disc, etc.) Some of us are extroverts, some are introverts, some people love tidiness and order, others are happy with things being a bit more messy. (No rude remarks about my office thank you!) And this will affect my ability to minister in particular areas. So I need to ask "Where does my personality best suit me to serve?" "Where will my personality make it difficult for me to serve?"
	Experiences. God's able to take our experiences and use them to shape us into the sort of person he can use. So what are the various experiences that I've had that God can use?
	What spiritual experiences have I had? The writer to the Hebrews talks about the limitation that spiritual immaturity puts on his readers in Heb 5: "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; 13for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness." So what spiritual experiences have you had that will help you to serve God better? Do you need to develop in this area?
	What painful experiences have I had? Proverbs 20:30 says: "Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways." (GNB) Paul reminds the Corinthians that "God helps us in our troubles, so we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God." 2 Cor. 1:4 (GNB). No-one likes to suffer, but the fact that I've suffered in some ways, makes me much more able to comfort others who are suffering. So how can you use your painful experiences to help you serve others who are in similar circumstances?
	What educational experiences have I had? I don't mean the suffering type. I mean what teaching have you received that others might benefit from. What skills have you learnt that enable you to minister? What training have you received that you could pass on to others? How has your mind been shaped by the things you've learnt. One of the omissions in that study on Romans 12 that one of the small groups picked up was that the exhortation in Rom 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of your mind was ignored. I think it's noticeable that when people are regular readers of God's word or of good Christian literature, they become more mature, more able to serve. So what educational experience have I had?
	What ministry experiences have I had? Here at St Theo's we've benefited greatly from people who've come here, having ministered in other places and who have then offered to minister in a similar way here. It's really important that those who have experienced other contexts and styles of ministry be willing and able to pass on what they've learnt in those other places.
	So those are the 5 factors that help make up your shape. Your Spiritual gifts, where your heart is, your natural or developed abilities, your personality, and your various life experiences. And the expectation is that your ministry will be most effective and fulfilling when you're using your gifts and abilities in areas that best express your personality and experience!
	Well, let's spend a few more minutes thinking about one particular test case, that of Paul.
	How Paul's Ministry Was "Shaped"
	Paul's spiritual gifts
	Paul "was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher," he tells Timothy (2 Tim.1:11). His gifts included his commission to share the gospel with the Gentiles and his ability to comprehend and then to teach complex truths to new believers.
	Paul's heart. He tells us what his motivation is in a number of places. Romans 15:20,21: "I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else's foundation, {21} but as it is written, 'Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.'" 1 Cor 9:21-22: "I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. {23} I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings." Gal. 2:8: "For God who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles." Acts 20:24: "But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God's grace." His great motivating drive was to see new people come to know Christ through the preaching of the gospel.
	Paul's ability. "Paul went to see [Priscilla and Aquila], ³and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together … they were tentmakers. ⁴Every Sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks." (Acts 18:2-4 NRSV) So he had 2 abilities. One was his ability to work with his hands, and the other was his ability to argue from the Scriptures to convince people of the truth of the gospel.
	Paul's personality. "You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. ¹⁴I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous… (Gal 1:13-14 NRSV) Paul's personality was such that he excelled above all the others in the class in his zeal for God. I guess that was part of the reason he was so successful as an evangelist.
	Paul's Experiences
	His spiritual experiences
	We're not told what effect the stoning of Stephen had on him, but the fact that it's mentioned implies that it was a significant event for him. (Acts 8:1)
	Certainly his conversion on the Damascus Road was the defining moment in his spiritual journey. (Acts 9:1-20)
	He tells us in Gal 1:18 how he spent 3 years in Arabia coming to grips with this new found faith.
	He speaks in 2 Cor 12 of his visions. He thanks God in 1 Cor 14 that he speaks in tongues more than any of the Corinthians.
	His painful experiences
	But he also had his fair share of painful experiences. "…I have been in prison more frequently… near death often… been whipped five times with 39 lashes by the Jews and three times by the Romans … once stoned… I've been in three shipwrecks … and once spent 24 hours in the open sea … In my travels I've been in danger from floods… robbers … enemies… wild animals and false friends … I've served long hours without sleep or food or shelter or even clothing…" 2 Cor. 11:23-27. He also had some physical limitation that he describes as a thorn in the flesh. "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these great revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me." 2 Cor.12:7
	Paul's educational experiences
	He tells the crowd in Jerusalem when he's arrested on his last visit to that city: "I received my training at the feet of Gamaliel, and I was schooled in the strictest observance of our fathers' Law." Acts 22:3 His training as a Pharisee is used in numerous places, including in the early days when Barnabas goes to Tarsus to bring him back to Antioch to teach the new Gentile converts the foundations of the Christian faith, presumably especially the Hebrew Scriptures.
	Paul's ministry experiences The book of Acts spends the vast majority of its time describing Paul's ministry experiences, so if you want to know how his ministry experience helped to shape him, read the book of Acts.
	So what is your Shape? What are your particular gifts, motivation, abilities, personality and experience? How do they fit together to create the unique person that's you? That's what I'd like you to go away and think about this week. You might like to take those questions on ps3&4 and fill out some answers so you're ready next week to think about the range of gifts that God gives and which of these fit you.