What is Your Spiritual Gift
Last time we discussed how a single needs to interact with every group in the church. If you just stay in the singles class you will starve to death relationally. We used I Corinthians 12 to point out your spiritual need to interact with the entire body of Christ.
I Corinthians 12 certainly addresses a singles relational need to interact with as much of the body of Christ as possible, but I Corinthian 12 addresses another relational need every Christian single has. You have a God designed need to serve others with your spiritual gift.
When God made Adam, the perfect man, God put him in the Garden of Eden and made him the Gardener. When God made Eve, the perfect woman, God made her a helpmeet to Adam. Both were clearly made to work. Work and serving others is a God designed need for your life.
Even after Adam and Eve sinned God cursed the ground for man’s sake (Genesis 3:17). God made work to be a benefit to us.
In many ways we can have our need for work met with school and/or a job. But God would have us use our gifts, talents, and ability in some way fashion or form in the church. Think about it, God made us with an innate need to work shouldn’t we get that need met in some way fashion or form in the church?
In I Corinthians 12 the Bible compare’s the church to the body. The body has many parts. It has hands, feet, eyes, ears, liver, spleen, etc. If the feet on the body doesn’t do its job then how does the body move? If the eye’s don’t do their job how does the body see? If the pancreas doesn’t do its job how does the body get insulin?
In a very real way if your feet, eyes, ears, or pancreas doesn’t work it is bad for the entire body. But if your feet don’t work, it isn’t good for your feet either. If your eyes don’t work its not good for your eyes. If your pancreas doesn’t work its not good for your pancreas.
Most parts of your body gets better and stronger through use. So as you use your gifts, talents, and abilities you will get better and stronger.
A wonderful example of this is found in Matthew 20:25-28
Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
In other words serving others is how God decided to promote you in the church.
Paul was a single man, and he wrote over half the books in the New Testament. Without a doubt Paul was one of the leaders of the early church. He was a leader because he was a servant. If Paul can be a leader in the church as a single, so can you. But it starts at serving in the church.
God has great plans for your life, but until you serve others you are unqualified to fill the leadership positions God wants you in. Serving, especially serving others in church, is God’s plan to make you the person God wants you to be, and God designed you with the innate need to serve. So what gifts and talents are you using in your local church?
If you are reading this and thinking that you have no idea what your spiritual gifts and talents are, or where you should be serving in the church, that is honestly a conversation you should be having with your pastor.
Tell your pastor that you understand the God made us to work according to Genesis chapter 2 and 3 and that you understand that as a Christian God has given you a gift (I Corinthians 12:7). Let him know that you would like to know more about these gifts and you would also like to know where you can serve.
Chances are that a pastor can always find work for you, but until you are found faithful he will not give you much responsibility. He may give you a job as simple as picking up trash after church, or greeting people at the door, or assisting someone in a Sunday school class, or being a member of the choir. It doesn’t matter, as long as you start serving somewhere.
When you serve in the church it’s going to take time. The married Christian must balance church time with family time in order to have healthy relationships. But as a single, when you serve in the church it will give you more time to develop emotionally healthy relationships that you need.
If you are serving in the church and always feel isolated, then you are serving wrong. When you serve in the church, you should be developing emotional, intellectual, and spiritual relationships. Yes there will be times where you are the last person to leave because you are vacuuming the church, but understand this the church is in the people business. If you show yourself faithful you should be quickly getting in a place of service dealing with people and developing relationships with those people.
So for the single the more you serve in the church the more opportunity you have to develop emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually healthy relationships. No other group in the church can say this about service, because they have to balance family time with church time. For the singles our churches should be our family. Serving should just be another way of getting close to this family.
As a Christian you have an innate inbuilt need to serve in your local church. What work can you do to help in your local church?
I Corinthians 12 certainly addresses a singles relational need to interact with as much of the body of Christ as possible, but I Corinthian 12 addresses another relational need every Christian single has. You have a God designed need to serve others with your spiritual gift.
When God made Adam, the perfect man, God put him in the Garden of Eden and made him the Gardener. When God made Eve, the perfect woman, God made her a helpmeet to Adam. Both were clearly made to work. Work and serving others is a God designed need for your life.
Even after Adam and Eve sinned God cursed the ground for man’s sake (Genesis 3:17). God made work to be a benefit to us.
In many ways we can have our need for work met with school and/or a job. But God would have us use our gifts, talents, and ability in some way fashion or form in the church. Think about it, God made us with an innate need to work shouldn’t we get that need met in some way fashion or form in the church?
In I Corinthians 12 the Bible compare’s the church to the body. The body has many parts. It has hands, feet, eyes, ears, liver, spleen, etc. If the feet on the body doesn’t do its job then how does the body move? If the eye’s don’t do their job how does the body see? If the pancreas doesn’t do its job how does the body get insulin?
In a very real way if your feet, eyes, ears, or pancreas doesn’t work it is bad for the entire body. But if your feet don’t work, it isn’t good for your feet either. If your eyes don’t work its not good for your eyes. If your pancreas doesn’t work its not good for your pancreas.
Most parts of your body gets better and stronger through use. So as you use your gifts, talents, and abilities you will get better and stronger.
A wonderful example of this is found in Matthew 20:25-28
Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
In other words serving others is how God decided to promote you in the church.
Paul was a single man, and he wrote over half the books in the New Testament. Without a doubt Paul was one of the leaders of the early church. He was a leader because he was a servant. If Paul can be a leader in the church as a single, so can you. But it starts at serving in the church.
God has great plans for your life, but until you serve others you are unqualified to fill the leadership positions God wants you in. Serving, especially serving others in church, is God’s plan to make you the person God wants you to be, and God designed you with the innate need to serve. So what gifts and talents are you using in your local church?
If you are reading this and thinking that you have no idea what your spiritual gifts and talents are, or where you should be serving in the church, that is honestly a conversation you should be having with your pastor.
Tell your pastor that you understand the God made us to work according to Genesis chapter 2 and 3 and that you understand that as a Christian God has given you a gift (I Corinthians 12:7). Let him know that you would like to know more about these gifts and you would also like to know where you can serve.
Chances are that a pastor can always find work for you, but until you are found faithful he will not give you much responsibility. He may give you a job as simple as picking up trash after church, or greeting people at the door, or assisting someone in a Sunday school class, or being a member of the choir. It doesn’t matter, as long as you start serving somewhere.
When you serve in the church it’s going to take time. The married Christian must balance church time with family time in order to have healthy relationships. But as a single, when you serve in the church it will give you more time to develop emotionally healthy relationships that you need.
If you are serving in the church and always feel isolated, then you are serving wrong. When you serve in the church, you should be developing emotional, intellectual, and spiritual relationships. Yes there will be times where you are the last person to leave because you are vacuuming the church, but understand this the church is in the people business. If you show yourself faithful you should be quickly getting in a place of service dealing with people and developing relationships with those people.
So for the single the more you serve in the church the more opportunity you have to develop emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually healthy relationships. No other group in the church can say this about service, because they have to balance family time with church time. For the singles our churches should be our family. Serving should just be another way of getting close to this family.
As a Christian you have an innate inbuilt need to serve in your local church. What work can you do to help in your local church?