It Makes God Happy Too
Getting a Christmas card or a birthday card in the mail can be fun and exciting. It can also be fun and exciting for the person who sends it. It feels good to do things that let others know they are worth our time and effort.
What if a mailman quit delivering them?
During the children’s message, a story was shared about someone who had been given the task of picking up mail from a central location and delivering it to multiple smaller locations. When some of the mail was not making it to where it was supposed to go, it was discovered that the person, for whatever reason, was throwing it out the car window while driving.
That is against the law. It’s a crime to tamper with the mail.
Jesus gave His disciples the responsibly of delivering His message. It would have been wrong for them not to deliver it.
We have been given that same responsibility.
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus gave us the Great Commission:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
One of the ways we share God’s message is through our gifts.
We’ve been talking about the different spiritual gifts over the past several weeks. This week, we will discuss the last four:
- Administration – The ability to clearly understand the immediate and long-range goals of a particular unit of the body of Christ and to develop and carry out effective plans to accomplish those goals.
- Leadership – The ability to set goals in accordance with God’s purpose for the future and communicate those goals to others in a way that encourages them to work together willingly and harmoniously to accomplish them for the glory of God.
- Shepherd – The ability to take on a long-term personal responsibility for the welfare of a group of believers.
- Apostle – The ability to provide helpful spiritual leadership to a number of churches in a way that is naturally recognized and appreciated by those churches.
In Ephesians 4:11-13, Paul tells us that Christ gave these and other gifts to the church:
“Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Knowing and using our gifts is what God wants us to do.
This is why we aren’t supposed to bury our gifts.
Using our gifts can bring us joy and happiness. That doesn’t mean everything we do will always be fun. It means that even when we face struggles, we can work through them with God in our corner.
God gave us gifts for a reason. When we use them to serve others and introduce people to Him, we are doing what He created us to do.
When we use the gifts God has given us, we find joy in serving Him, and it makes Him happy too.
