That We Might Serve One Another | Kimberly Cummings

So ladies, as we look at loving one another, what we want to do is we want to I'm going to look over several passages and I'm going to try to get just give you the the theology. I can't go over all the spiritual gifts. That's a whole lesson in itself, right? But just to give you this idea of how God builds up the body very specifically. He just doesn't say go and serve. He says here I give you this beautiful gift. Now open it and use it within the body of Christ to build up the body of Christ. Christ ultimately does the work, right? But he saves us by his grace and then he lavishly gifts us so that we can serve as he would call us to serve. And to me that is just like I said last night should knock our socks off that he even wants to use us. Right? So we find ourselves looking at these interwoven themes that are crafted together by uh the inspired author of scripture, the Holy Spirit, and how we practice the one another commands. And this specific one is uh serving. And it's interesting because in Galatians, you see a contrast that is being made. And it's in Galatians 5. And I'm just going to read verses 13- 15, but I'll give you a little bit of an overview. But in Galatians 5, we are reminded of the royal or sovereign law. And it's interesting because uh there is a they've been saved by Christ, but there's an emphasis going on in the book of Galatians uh of a Jewish audience, right? and they're being brought back trying to be Judaized and brought back into that yoke of slavery. But when he talks about the the royal law here, he talks about loving others as you love yourself. Well, we saw in the Gospels what we love as Christ has loved us. So, I think that that's an interesting dynamic that he's doing there because he's speaking to an audience that understands specifically that Old Testament saying, but then he carries it out further to show us how we can love by serving. So, there were some in Galatia, the region of Galatia, that were under a yoke of slavery of their own selfrighteousness. uh they were thinking that they had to maintain the act of circumision. [snorts] Okay. And that they were saying it was grace, salvation by grace plus something else. No. No. Circumcision was not salvific. And in Galatians 5:6, we're reminded that genuine fa uh genuine saving faith is motivated by love. But let's go to verses 13 and through 15. It says, "For you were called to freedom, brethren. Only do not turn your freedom in an opp into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fi fulfilled in one word in the statement. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Wow, what a picture, right? And I talked about that piece of ham last night. If you missed it, [laughter] you can come and see me and I'll tell you. But a church split over a piece of ham. The elder thought he deserved a bigger piece of ham and it led to biting and devouring and splitting. And so ladies, we need to remember that we are no longer bound to a former way of life. The uh the church of Galatia, they were no longer bound to the law. They were wearing this yoke of bondage um that is fitting for the idea of slavery because um an animal would be bound by a yoke to its master. Okay? And so under the Old Testament uh covenant, the Jews labored under this law in attempt to be justified, to be made right before God. But under the new covenant, the covenant of grace, God's grace confirmed the blood of Jesus gives us freedom from slavery to the law. It releases us from sin and death. And we see that in Galatians 4, if we had time to go through all of these verses, Jewish false teachers had infiltrated the Galatian churches and they were demanding that Gentiles be circumcised. according to Galatians 2. Um, and the same thing had happened in Antioch and Assyria as well. Judaizers taught according to Acts 15:1, "Unless you are circumcised uh as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved." And so there's confusion. And sometimes confusion happens in the church, don't we? Sometimes churches like to make up their own set of rules. And then we have the churches on the other side. Oh, we don't have any rules. we just love everybody and we welcome everybody and oh that was for them then we're we're we're the new church and oh we don't we don't go by all those rules in the Bible we call that lentiousness right and so we see that some churches will be lentious on one side and then others legalistic those are both of the flesh right because they're both doing works in the flesh, deeds of the flesh. And so we want to come to the center and we want to be right where God wants us to be and that's in the grace of God under salvation by Christ faith alone through Christ alone. And so Paul had his work cut out for him and he was fighting against the false teachers because the truth of the gospel of grace was at stake. Ladies, thank the Lord for your leaders that fight and contend for the gospel. Thank the Lord for them. Support them. Pray, pray, pray, pray as we learned last session for these men. Pray for our own hearts that we will stand firm and guard our hearts and contend for the gospel as well. But Paul was contending under the new covenant that both the Jews and the Gentiles were accepted into God's family by faith alone through Christ alone. So Paul says in Galatians 3:24 that the law was our guardian or tutor until Christ came and it protected us until we could make be made right with God through faith. And so we have the law as a tutor and Christ exemplified the perfect life as he lived out the law showing us how to live. Christ came. He set us free from that yoke of bondage and he met the demands of the law for us. Praise the Lord. We can't do it. We cannot do it. We no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, we live under the freedom of God's grace. Now people have taken that word freedom and I don't have time to go there but they have maligned the word of freedom to mean that I can do what I want and Christ will forgive me. It's under the blood. Well, yes, but when you are under the blood, your desires will change. And when your desires change, you will no longer be free or feel free. There will be no freedom under living in sin. Praise the Lord for first John 1:9 that we confess our sins and he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness to forgive us of all our sin. But ladies, when we go hard after sin, we are not seeking Christ likeness. We are fulfilling the desires of the flesh. You cannot walk by the spirit and be boastful. You cannot challenge and envy your sisters in Christ and be walking in the spirit at the same time. You can't do both. You're a Pharisee. If you do, if I if I am challenging, if I am biting, if I am devouring, I am not walking in the spirit. Those are anothetical truths. They don't go together. So rather than caving to the old man, we are called to emulate Jesus Christ who has made us new creatures. We are completely new. And it is his love according to 2 Corinthians 5:14 that compels us. He told his disciples, "A new commandment I give to you." And remember I reminded you last night that that new commandment was uh new not because it had never been mentioned before and it was the first time that they were hearing it. It was because the substance of the commandment was new because it was wrought in the work of Jesus Christ. And so as we consider that then that helps us to remember that we are no longer under this yoke of self righteousness. And so it is again his love that compels us to obey. So we say that this is a love that serves well. When we emulate Christ, it does not mean that we it means that we are not seeking our own good. Paul told the Romans in Romans 5, "Now we are no longer uh we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves." And then in verse two of Romans 5, it says, "Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, his edification. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, I'm sorry, that's Romans 15. I said five. For it is written, even Christ did not please himself. The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. Christ has bore that burden. Ladies, he urged his readers to follow his lead as he followed Christ. Can you imagine that? Can you say to your sisters, "Follow me as I follow Christ." That's a that's a hefty statement statement. [clears throat] Can you say that? Are you living your life in holiness in such a way that you can say follow me as I follow Christ? So we want to consider also on your outline first Peter 4. We are no longer bound ladies under the law. We have been freed to serve. We are freed from our sin and we are freed to serve. But first Peter 4, go to verse 10. Excuse me. And we're going to spend a little bit of time here. So I'm going to start at verse 7. The end of all things is near. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable toward one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God. Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies. So in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So, we see here in in First Peter, which I strongly uh encourage you to get Susan's book on the study of First Peter. I got to hear her teach from that a while back and I uh really enjoyed it quite a while back actually. [laughter] Um I think it was before the book even came out. So, Peter is urging Christians to use their gifts because we all go, "Okay, I'm supposed to serve others. What do I do? How do I know what to do? And that's one of the most beautiful things is because not only does God providentially bring you to a body of believers based on a church that has sound doctrine, um good teaching, and um that you align with doctrinally. He He's working to bring you into a church where the gift that he has given you will be able to be used within that body. One of the first things we do during membership class after we've gotten their testimonies and talked about uh the the body of Christ and what our church looks like, we just sit down and have a conversation. What's your giftedness? Where has God gifted you? Some people don't know. I'm not sure. Susan has a test for that online and it's not one of those weird personality test. It's [laughter] [gasps] it's just some good basic questions to help you think um about where you really thrive when you are in the body of Christ as he has called you to serve. He didn't plop you in a church without a gift. Every believer has been given a gift and we'll look at that in a second. But it says, "As each one has received a special gift," in verse 10, "Employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Peter urges Christians to use their God-given gifts to serve others as faithful stewards. "We are owners of nothing, stewards of everything," my elder says at church. And I love it when he says that because guess what? He has lived it and I see that example in him and it makes me want to be like that. But it says through love we serve because love seeks to build one another up. 1 Corinthians 8 1-13. And compassionately care for others. 1 Corinthians 12 25 and 26. 1 Corinthians 134-8. And as I mentioned, we are through love to serve one another because what happens sometimes we get busy in the doing and we forget the motive. Okay. And the motive is what there you can answer back to me. What does it say? Through what? Love. Through love. that motive of the love for God first, right? We have that vertical love for the Lord and then that love is spread out as we serve others and love our brethren through serving them. Now, I don't know about you, but when I was a baby Christian, I didn't know what my giftedness was. I just was so eager to serve. I just wanted to serve everybody and do everything and I did and I about died. [laughter] I was I thought I thought, "Oh, I'll just do do all these things." No. No. And no one sat me down. They were just happy the work was getting done, right? That's not good either. I needed a godly older woman to come alongside me and sit me down and say, "Hey, have you thought about where you're gifted and maybe that's where where God has brought you to this place to serve?" That would have that would have been a great favor. That would have been a friend. And we all need those friends. And I tell my women at church, I'm like, "Look, we are not omnipresent." And that is a lie that we are telling ourselves that we think we can do it all. We can't. God has designed our bodies for rest. He has designed the body to build one another up. And that means other people have to be involved. And that means that we don't use the 20% to do the 80% of the work. And if that's going on, pray that your pastor will be going through passages that will help them to discover how to better serve one another. We don't want to be that 2080 model. So, do you know what your gifts are? I did not. I had no clue. I'm so thankful for Lorie Stone who said, "Kim, I I think you have the gift of teaching. You left your notes at home and you studied to teach this lesson and everything that went wrong that day could have gone wrong, but you were able to still open God's word and teach this lesson and you might want to pray about that. I was like, I don't know about that, but okay, I'll pray about it. So, what is your spiritual gift? Essentially, gifts are broken down into two categories. Okay, there are the speaking gifts and then there are the serving gifts. Okay, and so you may just you can tell when there's someone I knew one of my children had the gift of helps. It was so evident with his care and just coming alongside. It was like he would appear out of nowhere to help. he would just show up and he was ready to do the grunt work of of whatever needed to be done and to serve in that way. And so, um, it was very very clear to us that it looked like the Lord was giving him just that gift of service and of helps. My mother-in-law, the gift of faith, she has the gift of faith. You see it in her. God will provide. I'm not worried. Everything is fine. I see it in her. She's like, "Well, we'll just pray about that because God is able to do it." And she has dementia and her feathers don't get ruffled. She just goes to the Lord in prayer trusting him and she has the sweetest faith. I really believe she has that extra measure of faith. But by definition, uh, spiritual gifts are the necessity of ministry to every believer in the body of Christ. And as believers, we are supposed to be using our spiritual gifts. I I love that you say that we might serve one another. Can I just challenge you ladies? If you are in Christ, you must serve one another. There's no maybe, there's no might. Yes, there are seasons when things change, but we must serve one another. We have been freed from our sin to serve. uh when as believers we are using our gifts, we are working together to strengthen the body and this unifies the body. Do you want to see a unified church? See a church that knows what their giftedness is in the body of believers and they're using them and you will see unity and not biting and devouring. And when we are unified, we are being a light in the dark world and we are bringing glory to God. Sadly, many Christians are just they just don't know like me. And so I just tried all these different things to try to figure out my gifts. And maybe that's where you are. But you need to stop and you just need to think about it. You need to pray about it. You need to ask the Lord to help you to understand as you go through passages to understand what those spiritual gifts are in in 1 Corinthians 12. Also, you even see here a little mentioning, but also in Romans that explain in Ephesians as well the areas of giftedness that there are and look at those and evaluate if you are using the gifts that God has given you. But one author says this, "A spiritual gift is a Godgiven ability to serve God and other Christians in such a way that God is magnified." A Godgiven ability. Okay? He gave it to you. He gave you the gift of whatever you have been given. And it can be displayed. We have a very creative God. And it can be displayed in a manifold of ways. so many different ways. I believe that I really have the gift of exhortation and that's used in counseling. But in counseling, there's other thing other gifts that I could be using as well, right? I'm going to teach in my counseling. So sometimes there's overlap. And so we don't want to be dogmatic. John MacArthur says this, "A spiritual gift is an ability given by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to perform the specific function within the body that God has assigned to each of us. What is your function? What is your function?" And the last uh the last definition that I have is from Jerry Bridges. He says, "A spiritual gift is a graciously, freely given mode of ministry energized by the Holy Spirit." Energized by the Holy Spirit. I love that. I was not energized as a baby Christian by the Holy Spirit because I was doing so many things that were never intended for me to do. I [snorts] learned about some great ministries, but they weren't the ministries that God had for me. So to sum up all these likeminded definitions, why don't we put it this way? A spiritual gift is much more than a mere ability or talent. Although spiritual gifts frequently incorporate some God-given ability, however, spiritual gifts are imparted to every believer of God, the Holy uh by God, the Holy Spirit to employ or use in serving others in the body of Christ and bringing glory to God. So, let's talk about this definition a little bit more. Who is qualified to receive a a spiritual gift? believers, right? We know it says each one has received in verse 10. Well, if we were to go back and read the entire letter of first Peter, we learn that the letter is addressed to the chosen and the born again in chapter 1. So, we know that that's for believers, right? That this is speaking to believers. It's also addressing uh believers as living stones, a chosen race and a royal priesthood in chapter 2. In chapter 5, the flock of God. So each one is addressing the believers that are reading the letter but by extension to us. And so this is for us as well. And so as we move along in verse 10, we find that everyone or every believer has received this special gift. What Peter is teaching us here is that every Christian has at least a gift and every gift in the body of Christ matters. It's important. Okay? If someone comes to you as a believer and says they do not have any giftedness, take them to the word of God and say, "Oh no, if you're a believer in Christ, it says here in the book of First Peter, you have received a gift. What is it? Let's discover. Let's find out. So 1 Corinthians 12 verse 7 says, "But to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good." And Paul goes on to describe the various gifts like wisdom, knowledge. But all of that is to say, sometimes Christians that I that I talk to think they don't have a gift. And maybe some of you feel like that right now. I just don't know. And I'm not talking about those who have a a negative uh spirit or attitude. I just don't know. I can't do anything. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about people who are truly believers who just need to know what their giftedness is. Well, I think it's more important first of all that we know if believers are qualified to receive a spiritual gift. Who is the source of that gift? All true believers of Jesus Christ have been gifted by God to serve the body of Christ. God gave us the gift. Now, how many of you have ever left a Christmas gift under the tree and not opened it? I don't see a single hand. Well, ladies, how much greater if God gives us a gift and we do not utilize it. We would never do that at Christmas time. But here's a gift from God. We want to utilize that gift. We want to open it up and see all the treasures that he has given us in that gift and use it for his glory. So, who is the source? spiritual gifts sovereignly come from God before the foundation of the world. He knew he knew what your giftedness was and how he wanted you to use it. And he providentially put you in places where you can do that. So also we need to remember that if we are boasting about our gifts, we're forgetting who gave us the gift. So let's be careful not to boast about I have this gift, I have that gift. I think it's great that we talk about it openly. I think it's really really helpful because when we're doing it with a motive of I want God I want you to see this is what God has for me and then we it's just becomes a part of our body life and I love it. I'll thank somebody. Oh, thank you so much for doing that. And they'll say from the Lord. It's a gift from the Lord. Just using my gift. Like no big deal. Ain't no thing. Just gonna do it, right? Because they know it's from the Lord. And they don't want the glory for it. They don't want the merit. They want to make sure that God is glorified. Now, we also said, you see on your outline that we are to have a love that serves for the purpose of unity. I am so grateful to belong to a unified church. So grateful to the Lord. I am grateful to the Lord that your church is unified. Sometimes he brings that unity through division and it hurts. There's a sting in it, right? But you know what? Take heart. Take heart. God is refining. God is refining. Don't be a part of the division. Don't be a part of the problem. but seek for unity. And if I could just encourage you to listen to Andrea Colstead, it's Colstead, right? Colstead's uh message on uh the family living in the flesh, but she calls it what are we to do about church hurt, but she explains church hurt from a biblical perspective. I encourage you strongly to listen to that message because if someone comes to you and visits your church and they're on the heels of church hurt, right? You'll be able to have a good definition and not a worldly definition. And you will also be able to walk them through that so that they don't bring it in [laughter] because sometimes they could have been the cause, right? And so you want to be very careful about that. And that's why we have godly leaders. That's that's not my circus and that's not my monkeys. That's the leaders of the church to really handle that. Now as a leader as women's ministry, if I see something going on, I am going to bring it to the elders because unity matters. Unity matters for the glory of God. When we are biting and devouring one another, we look just like the world. In the church, on Twitter, on X, on Instagram, wherever it is. If you name the name of Christ and you are biting and devouring, you are not seeking unity and you are hurting the body of Christ. When you behave like that, others suffer as well. So sadly, one mistake that we tend to make is turning the focus of our spiritual gifts onto ourselves instead of others. And when we're seeking unity within the bo the body, we will not make it about us. Uh we see that in the church of Corenth. They were caught up in who had the greatest gift. Oh, I want that gift. I don't have that gift. I wish I had that gift. They just sound like a bunch of whiners. They want something that God never intended them to have. So thinking the best I believe in a large part of believers get excited when they discover what their gift is and how they can use it, but sometimes they make it about themselves. So let's guard our hearts and make it about Christ and not ourselves. we can rest in. We can rejoice over the gifts that God has given each one of us because according to God's word, he gives gifts as he wills. And if it's the father's will, then we want to line up with it. We want to line up with it because spiritual gifts come from the Holy Spirit according to 1 Corinthians 12 7-10. uh why would we boast or why would we be envious or why would we have a bo a party spirit regarding something that we have really nothing to do with. It's from the Lord collectively the spirit indwells his church. Ephesians 2:22 says that the church is the habitation of the spirit. And among many things that he does is he moves in his church is he distributes gifts to the individual believer through which the spirit of God can minister to his church. God's even doing the work, right? Just using you. You're just a vessel that he uses for giftedness. So it's not for the purpose of self. Then if it's not for the purpose of self, then what is the purpose? Why do we why do we do it? So back in verse 10 of 1 Peter 4, we find that gifts are often given so that we can employ them. And that word there employ, what does that mean? As you study this phrase employ serving others a little deeper, um the word there is the same word that we get deacon from. Um, it means to render service or help with a humble attitude. It means to minister to or even to serve as a slave. We are slaves of Christ. The word employ is a verb that is in the present active voice. So what Peter is meaning here is that we as believers are continually employing. We are continually serving. We are continually helping and ministering our spiritual gifts with a humble attitude toward one another. Understanding what Peter is communicating through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is really significant because then we begin to understand that spiritual gifts are not given for um the pats on the back, our self-esteem. um I hate that word um or to be noticed uh for our abilities, but rather God bestows them upon us to minister to help others. And we'll look a little bit further in a minute at who gets the glory. So when believers obey God by employing their gifts and serving or ministering to one another, the end result is a mutual benefit to the church and one another. It also guards against disunityity. It guards against disunityity. Conversely, when believers do not use their spiritual gifts in the right way with the right attitude, uh or depreciates them in some way, um it can have a very negative effect on the body of Christ. It will bring disunityity. It will bring discontentment. It will bring envy. It will bring pride. The flesh will rear its ugly head. So again, uh that was really what was going on in Corenth, right? They were not content with the gifts that God had given them. They wanted different gifts. That was pride on their part somehow that they thought they knew better than God to what gifts they should have. Ladies, we don't elevate ourselves above God. We humble ourselves under him. But if you look back at verse 10 of first Peter, we discover that when we use our gifts wisely, they are used to strengthen others and we are functioning as good stewards of those gifts. When those gifts are strengthening others, we are stewarding our gifts well. We are to be good stewards, owners of nothing, stewards of everything. Uh the word steward there is an analogy to point out that one does not use resources that he's been given in this case spiritual gifts um without purpose. It weakens the church because God has uniquely entrusted each believer with at least one gift. When it is not used, the church is not healthy. In other words, ministering um our gift guards our unity. But as soon as someone does not employ or use their spiritual gifts and chooses to isolate or question, the danger of disunityity is not too far behind. Be aware. Another picture that Peter is seeking to conjure up for us in the mind is using this word steward is the fact that spiritual gifts are not our property to use as we please. Spiritual gifts are not our property to use as we please. Rather, it is a trust that has been committed to us by God for the use of others and for his glory as he directs. I may have the spiritual gift of teaching, exhortation or administration, but it's not something I do in my own strength rather in the strength of the spirit of God. He is working through me. I beg the Lord, I plead the Lord that he is the one working through me and that it is not Kim but it is him. Every time I open my mouth, before I counsel, I have spent a long time in prayer because I want to make sure that the counsel I give is wise and matches up with scripture. Because sometimes they come to you with things and you're like, [gasps] and if you're not careful, you'll forget all the things, you know, [laughter] because you're so mortified and you're so caught up in the sin that you forget about the hope. And so you've got to really guard your heart and be prepared for whatever may come your way. Martha said the other day and she's been counseling way longer than I have. She says, "Don't say you've seen it all." And I was like, "Oh, I've said that." And I was like, she says, "As soon as you say it, you'll realize you'll have a new counseling case and you haven't seen it all." And I was like, "Yep, that happened, too." So Martha's right. You haven't seen it all. Uh God has. He knows the end from the beginning. He sees all without time. But we don't but he will enable us to use our gift of encouragement or exhortation or teaching to come alongside that person because the word of God is faithful. So Ephesians 4 11 uh through13 Paul mentions giftedness. He says he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the service, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Ladies, it's not about us. It's not about us. In that verse 11 there, God g get the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, teaching pastors to the church. These gifted men are given to you for the sake of the gospel, for the building up, equipping us to be mature in whatever work he has for us in the ministry. Ladies, take heart. This equipping, this work of service, this building each other up, this unity of the faith, this knowledge of God, and this maturity in Christ comes from the Lord, but we must participate in it with him. We are to actively pursue unity through the using of our gifts. Paul had a concern that some of the believers in Corenth um that they would not be ignorant of spiritual gifts. And and ladies, we need to make sure that we're not ignorant of spiritual gifts either. There's some wacky stuff out there. Someone was just telling me a few days ago that their coworker is convinced that they have the the spiritual gift of healing. And they have it. They've never healed anybody yet. H because there are gifts that have ceased. There are those supernatural gifts that have come to an end. And why did they come to an end? Because we now have the more sure word. Okay? And so we need to make sure when people come to us and they say that they have these gifts and we're like [snorts] that gift I think has ceased. Let's go to scripture and see. Okay. Um prophets, they're no longer hearing the voice of God. When we talk about someone who has the gift of prophecy today, today that is just teaching the word of God. That's just teaching the word of God. They do not have a special revelation from the Lord. The revelation is final and it comes from scripture. Period. And so, we need to think of these things because here here's the deal. If you're going to a church that is that is saying these things, you're going to get sucked into a trap and you're going to be led to believe other truths that are that or other things that aren't true and it's just going to get worse and worse and worse. I have never met anybody that came out of the charismatic movement that had the desire to go back into it because there is an element of that charismatic movement that is so work centric that they are so relieved that they are out of that bondage that they just feel so free when they understand rightly spiritual gifts. Uh the phrase for spiritual there uh means that it's characterized or controlled by the spirit. And um you can learn a lot from this one word because it tells you that spiritual gifts are controlled. H I've seen some clips [laughter] and they're not controlled. And so ladies, if you are in a church where there is not an element of order or control in the body of believers, run out the door. Get out. Uh but not only that, uh it's also important because the word uh that he uses for gift is the word charisma in the Greek, which means that our gifts are a gift by God and they're a gift of grace. We think of the word charisma, charismatic, and we think of teaching that does not align up with scripture. But the word charisma comes from scripture. We just need to understand it rightly. It's a gift of grace, a gift of grace. So we are to be controlled by the Holy Spirit and we have been given by the grace of God to be used to serve the body of Christ. That's why Paul wanted to be sure that the believers in Corenth and by extension us as well, right? Understand the best that we can spiritual gifts. Okay? And it is clear in in scripture. It is clear. So hopefully we will learn spiritual gifts rightly so that we can live out the great commission in our churches, discipling others with the gifts that we have been given for the glory of God. And when we do that, God is glorified. So let's consider lastly a love that serves for the glory of God. In 1 Peter 4:1 that I read in the beginning, it says, "Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God. Whoever serves is to do so as serving by the strength which God supplies, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever." So ladies, what is the chief end of man? glorify God and enjoy him forever. To glorify God and enjoy him forever. Thomas Watson says, "The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all of our actions." And I would add that it must run through our motives. Is the motive of my heart that God is glorified? Or am I like the church of Corenth that wanted to exalt myself by seeking a gift that God never intended for me? So let me ask you this, ladies. Can you say with confidence 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do," we could add, employing our spiritual gifts, couldn't we? Whatever you do, we do all to the glory of God. Can you just stop and think for a second that there may be something going on? Maybe a a a a a ministry that has been given to you, but you're doing it with the wrong motive. Can you go to the throne of grace and ask for forgiveness and ask the Lord to forgive you and to change your heart motives? Because when we change our heart motives, then we're changed from the inside out. And I love what it says that at the end of verse 11 there, we also glorify God by praising him. And it says, "To whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever, amen." I love just when people say, "Oh, thank you for doing that. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. It's of him. It's from him. It's to him. It's for him." Right? He is the end. He is the end. So praise is a godexalting work. When we praise God through the ministering of our gifts, we spread his fame. And become his trophies of grace to others. Let's conclude with a few considerations. Maybe you're here and you are like, I don't know if I'm using my gifts right or if I'm using them at all. You may not be sure what your giftedness is. And you may be really excited and be, oh boy, I want to learn what my gift is or gifts are and how you be can begin to serve. I mentioned Susan's list. Ladies, can I say just kind of begin? You go, I don't know where to begin. Well, I did. that I began. But I began in everything at once. Just begin with a little bit here. Something that you really genuinely have a passion for. And have an older woman come alongside you and say, "What do you see as my giftedness?" Ask them. And they'll say, "Well, I'm not sure yet. Let's look. Let's look and see. Let's talk about it." And just have that heart-to-heart conversation. How precious is that to have someone influence you in a manner to help you rightly use your gift? Uh you may be convicted. Maybe you are being a harm to the body of Christ because you are not using that gift that God has given you. You're hiding it somewhere. Maybe you need to coni uh to repent. Can I encourage you to repent? If you are convicted, ladies, can I just offer hope? This is good news. That's the spirit of God working in you. Now you can use the gift that he has given you. Confess to him. A humble confession always exalts God. Tomorrow is a new day. And start fresh in his mercy. Maybe you're afraid. [snorts] Um sometimes I'm afraid for churches [laughter] because I see that they are just going about it willy-nilly. But you don't have to be fearful. Maybe you're afraid. Uh maybe it's uh rooted in a fail a failure. This idea of I'm afraid to fail. Uh maybe it's a fear of man of or maybe it's just a fear of getting too close to people. Uh there's all kinds of fears that we have. Ladies, your gift is a a gift from God. He gave it to you and made you a specific way for it to be used. There is no reason to fear. Perfect love cast out fear. There is no reason to be fearful of what God has given you. So, are you stewarding them well or are you mismanaging the gifts that God has given them? If you are mismanaging them, again, repent, go to Christ, ask for forgiveness, and he will forgive you and he will set you astraight. And this brings me to that very last point, ladies. It is all for the glory of God. Everything that we do is for the glory of God. This conference is for the glory of God. It is not for our sisters that set it up. They benefit from it. It's not for the speakers. It is for the glory of God. Are you living for the glory of God? I I knew a guy one time. He' just say, "I just want God to be glorified. I just want God to be glorified. I just want God to be glorified." I was like, "I want definitions. What does that mean? Tell me what that means because I'm not seeing it right now." And he would say, "Well, I just want God to be glorified." I said, "No, let's talk about what that means." Ladies, when we desire to glorify God, we are putting all the attention on him. We are taking every bit of our energy that he gave us. If I don't have energy, it's because either I am choosing not to steward my body well or he is slowing me down. And so if he's slowing me down, then I want to glorify God in the slowness that he has given me. I love those slow times because I just have more time to think about the glories and the majesty of Christ and it slows me down to think and to just digest what's going on because sometimes we just go through it, right? And we don't even realize what we're going through. Ladies, we are to glorify God and we are to enjoy him forever. We do this by living by the spirit in the freedom of our salvation to serve one another with a motive of love rather than bite and devour one another. We will steward our service so that God is glorified. He will be pointed to. Others will recognize who God is. We will be unified with our brothers and sisters. We will not be envious of others. We will have a higher view of God because we know that in his sovereignty before the foundation of the world, he had a gift chosen for us to be used in whatever way he chooses. I love that. To use our gifts is to be focused on God and not ourselves. the giver of our gifts, right? We want to be uh attentive to the giver of the gift. All Christians are but God's stewards. John MacArthur says, "Everything we have is on loan for the Lord. It is entrusted to us for a while to use in serving him." See, when we serve others, we're serving the Lord. We're serving the Lord. And as we are desiring to serve the Lord, that will be manifested in serving others. Let's pray. Father, we truly are owners of nothing and stewards of everything. Father, help us to be faithful stewards of the gifts that you have given us. Help us to steward them in a manner that points to the work of Jesus Christ in our lives and points to you and you alone. Father, I pray that we will not be glory grabbers, that we're not looking for attention, that we're not looking to build a platform, that we're not looking to be exalted in any way, Father. We are just slaves. We are slaves. We will die and be forgotten. Praise the Lord. But we're never forgotten by you. And so, Father, may we do all things for you to for your name's sake, not for our name's sake, but to you because of your loving kindness, because of your truth. in Jesus name. Amen.