Biblical Building Block #26 Minister One to Another (I Peter 4:10) PART 1

Today’s devotion is an excerpt from a Bible Study Series taught at Fellowship Baptist Church, titled “Biblical Building Blocks for Strengthening Relationships.”

Biblical Building Block #26 Minister One to Another (I Peter 4:10) PART 1
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I Peter 4:10, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

I. Our Supply (I Peter 4:10a)
I Peter 4:10a, “As every man hath received the gift…”
Every believer receives the gift to serve the Lord Jesus when they receive His salvation. When you are born again the Spirit of God takes up residence inside you and it is by the Spirit that God gifts us for His service. The word gift is from the Greek word charisma and it speaks of "a very special ability given to the believer of God." A spiritual gift is a talent or ability empowered by the Holy Spirit and able to be used in the ministry of the church. God wants His people to love one another and serve one another and He has made that possible by giving each believer at least one spiritual gift. Peter says that each one of them had received a gift. Peter is speaking of the abilities that God has given us to serve Him. Concerning the ability of spiritual gifts, every believer possesses at least one spiritual gift of God. Peter doesn't suggest “if” we have received a gift, he declares that every man has received the gift. Therefore, all Christians possess a gift of the Lord.

Our gifts are varied, and they may even be multiple, but each of us possess at least one gift. Since God has given every saved person a gift, He expects us to use that gift for His glory. John Phillips wrote, “Every believer has access to the inexhaustible grace of God to enable him to develop and deploy his gift. We have no grounds to be proud of our spiritual gifts because God sovereignly bestows them, but we are responsible for what we do with our gifts.” No believer can say that they cannot serve the Lord or be of any use to the Lord. Every believer has received from the Lord His supply for His service. We are given the ability to serve Him. None of us are without some ability to serve the Lord. He has gifted us in unique ways to serve Him! Every man has received the gift from the Lord. We are not asked or expected to serve the Lord in and of our own ability. God has supplied every believer with the means to accomplish His will. God has given every believer a gift to be used for Him. We do not earn spiritual gifts, we do not deserve spiritual gifts, and we cannot purchase spiritual gifts.

Every believer has received a spiritual gift and if we are not using our gifts in service for Jesus (we) the body of Christ does not function as it ought. When we refuse to serve or give up on serving, the body of Christ suffers and the work of God is hindered. Some think that they are only one and that being absent in service will not make a difference. One does matter! God gave each one a gift to be used for Him. Don’t ever think that somebody else will do what you could be and should be doing. God has gifted each one and we have received the gift. We have the mandate to serve Jesus and we have the means to serve Jesus. He has supplied us for His service.

No believer is without a gift and some believers have more than one gift. The Church was not designed to spit and sputter its way through the world firing hit and miss on a few cylinders (Romans 12:4-8, I Corinthians 12:4-11). God's people were given gifts that the Church might operate at peak efficiency. That is the way God designed the Church to function.

II. Our Service (I Peter 4:10b)
I Peter 4:10b, “…even so minister the same one to another…”
Everything we have, both physically and spiritually, is a gift from God. We are to use these gifts to minister to one another. This word "minister" means "to be a servant or attendant; to care for others; that is, to wait upon." Just as a hostess seats you at the restaurant and then serves you, so should we tend to one another. This is very plain and yet very profound. We are expected to use the gifts that God gives us. He has not gifted us with ability so that we might consider serving Him. He has gifted us in order to serve Him. With the gifts of God come the obligation to use those gifts.

We are to put our ability into practice:

1. We are to minister or use our gifts in the service of others.
2. We are not to hold or hide our gift.
3. We are not to abuse or misuse our gift.
4. We are not to neglect or disrespect our gift.
5. We are not to show-off or shun our gift.

The Lord not only saved us. But He gifted us with the expectation of serving Him. We are given individual gifts for individual service. We need to be busy serving the Lord in the capacity He has enabled us. Matthew 25:14-15, “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.” Spiritual "gifts" help God's people to not only serve and love one another, but also to continue the work of spreading the Gospel. When we humbly recognize our role in the body of Christ, our gifts can be used effectively. Only then can we also appreciate one another's gifts. One group is not greater than the other. God gives us various spiritual gifts so we can build up His church.

Thank you for reading PART 1 of Biblical Building Block #26 of this series. Please visit this website tomorrow for PART 2 of Biblical Building Block #26 of this series.

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