God’s Grace in Spiritual Gifts

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10)

When we use our spiritual gifts, we are stewarding grace — not yesterday’s grace, but today’s, arriving in every moment of need. And this future grace is “varied grace.” It comes in many colors and shapes and sizes. This is one of the reasons spiritual gifts in the body are so diverse. The prism of God’s gifts in your life will refract shades of divine glory that would never come through my prism.

There are as many future graces as there are needs in the body of Christ — and more. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to receive and dispense the future grace of God to those needs.

But someone may ask, “Why do you take Peter to refer to future grace? Doesn’t a steward manage a household store that is already on hand?”

The main reason I take Peter to refer to future grace is because the next verse illustrates how this works, and the reference there is to ongoing supplies of future grace. He says, “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). The word is “supplies,” not “supplied.” As you serve, serve in the power of the ongoing supply of God’s grace to do what you need to do.

When you fulfill your spiritual gift to serve someone tomorrow, you will be serving “by the strength that God supplies” — and that supply will be tomorrow, not today. “As your days, so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).

God goes on, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, supplying the “strength” in which we minister. He does this because the ongoing, inexhaustible supplier of power gets the glory. “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

John Piper 

 

The Best Valentine’s Gift is Forgiveness

“‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.”

EPHESIANS 4:26
 
PONDER THIS

Have you ever had a splinter in your finger? Maybe it’s down deep enough and you see it as a little dark spot and say, “Well, I could get that out, but I don’t know.” You could get a needle and pick it out or say, “Well, maybe it’ll work its way out,” and just leave it there. It seems to be all right. And then one morning you wake up and you’ve got this incredible pain and this thing is throbbing, it is festered, and it is infected because you didn’t get it out. The Bible says, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Don’t ever go to sleep, husband and wife, back-to-back, angry and pouting. Sometimes it’s hard to make up. If we aren’t careful, our anger can be like that splinter. It may start small, but if we let it go, it can grow into a significant problem.

Why is it difficult to forgive quickly?
How have you seen a difference in your life when you were more willing to offer forgiveness to those closest to you?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to consider who you need to forgive. What steps will you take toward forgiveness?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

God’s Indescribable Gift

If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10–11)

How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in God? We do it through Jesus Christ. Which means, at least, that we make the portrait of Jesus in the Bible — that is, the work and the words of Jesus portrayed in the New Testament — we make that portrait the essential content of our exultation over God. Exulting in God without the content of Christ does not honor Christ. And where Christ is not honored, God is not honored.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, Paul describes conversion in two ways. In verse 4, he says it is seeing “the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And in verse 6, he says it is seeing “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In either case you see the point. We have Christ, the image of God, and we have God in the face of Christ.

To exult in God, we exult in what we see and know of God in the portrait of Jesus Christ. And this comes to its fullest experience when the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as Romans 5:5 says. And that sweet, Spirit-given experience of the love of God is mediated to us as we ponder the historical reality of verse 6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

So here’s the Christmas point. Not only did God purchase our reconciliation through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:10), and not only did God enable us to receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ, but even now we exult in God himself, by the Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:11).

Jesus purchased our reconciliation. Jesus enabled us to receive reconciliation and open the gift. And Jesus himself shines forth as himself the indescribable gift — God in the flesh — and stirs up all our exultation in God.

Look to Jesus this Christmas. Receive the reconciliation that he purchased. Don’t put the gift on the shelf unopened. And when you open it, remember God himself is the gift of reconciliation with God.

Exult in him. Experience him as your pleasure. Know him as your treasure.

John Piper 

 

The Grave of God’s Forgetfulness

“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.’”

ROMANS 4:5-8

 

PONDER THIS

You cannot work your way to Heaven. There’s nothing you can do, big or small, that’ll save you. You must put your faith in the Son of God, and when you do, God says, “I count you righteous.” That word impute means to put it on your account. God imputes righteousness. He simply puts that righteousness on your account.

But it gets better. “Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven.’” But He does more than that: “And whose sins are covered.” Hallelujah! They’re buried in the grave of God’s forgetfulness, never to be brought up again.

You don’t understand sin if you think you can live well enough to get to Heaven. I wouldn’t trust the best fifteen minutes I’ve ever lived to get me to Heaven. But “Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.” You see, you can’t have sin imputed to you if you’re in Jesus. We have the riches from Jesus when we are in Him, both now and for eternity. So, it is time to stop striving to be better and surrender to Christ; He will transform you.

What are the sins God has forgiven that you have had a hard time forgiving yourself for?

What does it look like to live based on the reality of the righteousness Jesus has given to you?

PRACTICE THIS

Discuss with a friend where you struggle to forgive yourself. Ask your friend to pray for you to receive Christ’s gift.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Greatest Gift

 “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.”

ROMANS 5:15

 

PONDER THIS

When Jesus died on the cross, He gave Himself for us. But then, when He sent the Holy Spirit, He gave Himself to us. And now we have that fellowship with God that was severed when Adam sinned. We’re reconciled. It is not God that is reconciled. God doesn’t need to be reconciled. We’re the ones who are reconciled with God. Adam walked with God in the garden, but I have the Holy Spirit within me. In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we have much more than what Adam had. We have God’s presence in us, and we have restoration in Him.

The grace of God means God has regenerated us. He’s not simply saved us from wrath. He has come into our hearts and given us life. Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” The gift of regeneration is that we are not only created by God but saved by Him and empowered through His Spirit to live life with Him.

How have you experienced God’s gift of Himself to you? How does that change your relationship with Him?

How have you seen the Holy Spirit at work in your life? How does it encourage you to remember God’s presence is accessible wherever you are?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise God for the gift of His presence through the Holy Spirit. Share with someone else how you have experienced the Holy Spirit.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

A Gift from the King

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

EPHESIANS 2:8-9

 

PONDER THIS

Years ago, I heard a story of a woman who lived in a foreign country. This woman was poor, and she had a sick daughter who had said to her mother, “If I just had some fresh fruit to eat, I would feel better.” That mother had that in her mind as she went down the cobblestone streets, and as she was passing a very impressive mansion. She looked inside and saw a garden trellis with a gorgeous vine of grapes. Turning around, she saw the gardener. He admonished her, saying, “You must get out of here in a hurry. You have no business in this place!” She explained, “I just wanted to know if perhaps I could buy a bunch of grapes for my daughter who is sick.” But the gardener turned her away.

On her way out, however, the king, who had been watching, called out to her and asked about the situation. He then stepped in, instructing the gardener to hand him the shears. He said to the mother, “Hold out your apron.” She was overwhelmed, knowing the grapes were more than she could afford. But the king said, “You cannot buy these grapes. The only way that you can have them is to receive them as a gift from your king.”

The king’s actions in that story are very much like the grace of God. Grace is not bought by works of righteousness we have done, but according to His mercy. Grace is a gift of God—not of works lest any man should boast. The King's grace and the King's goodness are not for sale.

What are some ways we try to earn God’s grace? What happens when we do that?

What is special about God’s free gift of grace? Who do you need to tell about this gift?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with someone what you have appreciated about God’s gift of grace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Grace in Spiritual Gifts

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10)

When we use our spiritual gifts, we are stewarding grace — not yesterday’s grace, but today’s, arriving in every moment of need. And this future grace is “varied grace.” It comes in many colors and shapes and sizes. This is one of the reasons spiritual gifts in the body are so diverse. The prism of God’s gifts in your life will refract shades of divine glory that would never come through my prism.

There are as many future graces as there are needs in the body of Christ — and more. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to receive and dispense the future grace of God to those needs.

But someone may ask, “Why do you take Peter to refer to future grace? Doesn’t a steward manage a household store that is already on hand?”

The main reason I take Peter to refer to future grace is because the next verse illustrates how this works, and the reference there is to ongoing supplies of future grace. He says, “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). The word is “supplies,” not “supplied.” As you serve, serve in the power of the ongoing supply of God’s grace to do what you need to do.

When you fulfill your spiritual gift to serve someone tomorrow, you will be serving “by the strength that God supplies” — and the supply will be tomorrow, not today. “As your days, so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).

God goes on, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, supplying the “strength” in which we minister. He does this because the ongoing, inexhaustible supplier of power gets the glory. “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

John Piper 

God’s Indescribable Gift

If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10–11)

How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in God? We do it through Jesus Christ. Which means, at least, that we make the portrait of Jesus in the Bible — that is, the work and the words of Jesus portrayed in the New Testament — we make that portrait the essential content of our exultation over God. Exulting in God without the content of Christ does not honor Christ. And where Christ is not honored, God is not honored.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, Paul describes conversion in two ways. In verse 4, he says it is seeing “the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And in verse 6, he says it is seeing “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In either case you see the point. We have Christ, the image of God, and we have God in the face of Christ.

To exult in God, we exult in what we see and know of God in the portrait of Jesus Christ. And this comes to its fullest experience when the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as Romans 5:5 says. And that sweet, Spirit-given experience of the love of God is mediated to us as we ponder the historical reality of verse 6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

So here’s the Christmas point. Not only did God purchase our reconciliation through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:10), and not only did God enable us to receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ, but even now we exult in God himself, by the Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:11).

Jesus purchased our reconciliation. Jesus enabled us to receive reconciliation and open the gift. And Jesus himself shines forth as himself the indescribable gift — God in the flesh — and stirs up all our exultation in God.

Look to Jesus this Christmas. Receive the reconciliation that he purchased. Don’t put the gift on the shelf unopened. And when you open it, remember God himself is the gift of reconciliation with God.

Exult in him. Experience him as your pleasure. Know him as your treasure.

John Piper 

Grace Is Pardon — and Power!

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift and power of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.

This is plain, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul describes grace as the enabling power of his work. It is not simply the pardon of his sins; it is the power to press on in obedience. “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

Therefore, the effort we make to obey God is not an effort done in our own strength, but “by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified” (1 Peter 4:11). It is the obedience of faith. Faith in God’s ever-arriving gracious power to enable us to do what we should.

Paul confirms this in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 by calling each of our acts of goodness a “work of faith,” and by saying that the glory this brings to Jesus is “according to the grace of our God” because it happens “by his power.” Listen for all those phrases:

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The obedience that gives God pleasure is produced by the power of God’s grace through faith. The same dynamic is at work at every stage of the Christian life. The power of God’s grace that saves through faith (Ephesians 2:8) is the same power of God’s grace that sanctifies through faith.

John Piper 

Don’t Serve God

“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a “help wanted” sign. Neither is the call to Christian service.

God is not looking for people to work for him. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). He’s the great worker. He’s the one with broad, burden-bearing shoulders. He’s the strong one. And he is looking for ways to show it. This is what differentiates God from the so-called gods of the world: he works for us. Isaiah 64:4, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you [in other words this is his uniqueness], who acts for those who wait for him.”

What does God want from us? Not what we might expect. He rebukes Israel for bringing him so many sacrifices: “I will not accept a bull from your house. . . . For every beast of the forest is mine. . . . ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine’” (Psalm 50:9–10, 12).

But isn’t there something we can give to God that won’t belittle him to the status of beneficiary?

Yes. Our anxieties. Our needs. Our cries for power to do his will.

It’s a command: “[Cast] all your anxieties on him” (1 Peter 5:7). God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and his all-sufficiency.

Christianity is fundamentally convalescence. Patients do not serve their physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions and therapy. The Sermon on the Mount is our Doctor’s therapeutic regimen, not our Employer’s job description.

Our very lives hang on not working for God. “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4–5).

Workmen get no gifts. They get their due. Their wage. If we would have the gift of justification, we dare not work for it. God is the workman in this affair. And what he gets is the glory of being the benefactor of grace, not the beneficiary of service.

John Piper 

A Dangerous Motive

“Who has given a gift to [God] that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. (Romans 11:35–36)

When it comes to obedience, gratitude is a dangerous motive. It tends to get expressed in debtor’s terms. For example, “Look how much God has done for you. Shouldn’t you, out of gratitude, do much for him?” Or, “You owe God everything that you are and have. What have you done for him in return?”

I have at least three problems with this kind of motivation.

First, it is impossible to pay God back for all the grace he has given us. We can’t even begin to pay him back, because Romans 11:35–36 says, “‘Who has given a gift to [God] that he might be repaid?’ [Answer: Nobody!] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.” We can’t pay him back because he already owns all we have to give him — including all our efforts.

Secondly, even if we succeeded in paying him back for all his grace to us, we would only succeed in turning grace into a business transaction. If we can pay him back, it was not grace. If someone tries to show you a special favor of love by having you over for dinner, and you end the evening by saying that you will pay them back by having them over next week, you nullify their grace and turn it into a trade. God does not like to have his grace nullified. He likes to have it glorified (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

Thirdly, focusing on gratitude as a motive for obedience tends to overlook the crucial importance of having faith in God’s future grace. Gratitude looks back to grace received in the past and feels thankful. Faith looks forward to grace promised in the future — whether five minutes from now or five centuries from now — and feels hopeful. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1).

This faith in future grace is the motive for obedience that preserves the gracious quality of human obedience. Obedience does not consist in paying God back and thus turning grace into a trade. Obedience comes from trusting in God for more grace — future grace — and thus magnifying the infinite resources of God’s love and power. Faith looks to the promise, I will be “with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9), and ventures, in obedience, to take the land.

John Piper 

Do You View Children as a Gift from God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”

Psalm 127:3

 

PONDER THIS

Children are not a penalty or a burden. Children are meant to be a blessing. Some people today have believed, “If you have children, they will cramp your style. And if you do have them, don’t have very many. And don’t let that keep you from fulfillment. Don’t let them keep you from your career and from being ‘somebody.’” Others have very selfish ideas about children. They say, “Well, you know, children are so expensive. If I have children, or if I have more than one or two, I might not be able to drive the kind of car I want to drive. It costs to educate them. I might not be able to live in the kind of house I want to live in. I’d be tied down. We wouldn’t be able to go to Hawaii on our vacation. Maybe it would be better not to have those children. They might be a burden. After all, children make a rich man poor.”

But this is backward. Children make a poor man rich. A rich man can’t take his money to Heaven. I’m taking all my children to Heaven with me. Children are the heritage of the Lord. They’re a gift of God. My heart goes out to people who want children and cannot have them. But for those who are able, you want to be blessed? Oh, children are a heartache. They’re a pain. They’re problems. Sure, they are—but they’re worth it. Children are the heritage of the Lord.

Where might you have had wrong views about children?

How can you encourage your children by telling them the ways in which they’ve blessed you? If you don’t have children of your own, who are some children you might encourage in this way?

PRACTICE THIS

This week, take time to encourage a child by telling him or her how he or she has blessed you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Grace in Spiritual Gifts

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10)

When we use our spiritual gifts, we are stewarding grace — not yesterday’s grace, but today’s, arriving in every moment of need. And this future grace is “varied grace.” It comes in many colors and shapes and sizes. This is one of the reasons spiritual gifts in the body are so diverse. The prism of God’s gifts in your life will refract shades of divine glory that would never come through my prism.

There are as many future graces as there are needs in the body of Christ — and more. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to receive and dispense the future grace of God to those needs.

But someone may ask, “Why do you take Peter to refer to future grace? Doesn’t a steward manage a household store that is already on hand?”

The main reason I take Peter to refer to future grace is because the next verse illustrates how this works, and the reference there is to ongoing supplies of future grace. He says, “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). The word is “supplies,” not “supplied.” As you serve, serve in the power of the ongoing supply of God’s grace to do what you need to do.

When you fulfill your spiritual gift to serve someone tomorrow, you will be serving “by the strength that God supplies” — and the supply will be tomorrow, not today. “As your days, so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).

God goes on, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, supplying the “strength” in which we minister. He does this because the ongoing, inexhaustible supplier of power gets the glory. “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

John Piper 

Something to Boast About

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

The New Testament correlates faith and grace to make sure that we do not boast in what grace alone achieves.

One of the most familiar examples is Ephesians 2:8. By grace, through faith. There’s the correlation that guards the freedom of grace. By grace, through faith.

Faith is the act of our soul that turns away from our own insufficiency to the free and all-sufficient resources of God. Faith focuses on the freedom of God to dispense grace to the unworthy. It banks on the bounty of God.

Therefore faith, by its very nature, nullifies boasting and fits with grace. Wherever faith looks, it sees grace behind every praiseworthy act. So it cannot boast, except in the Lord. The author of grace.

So Paul, after saying that salvation is by grace through faith, says, “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Faith cannot boast in human goodness or competence or wisdom, because faith focuses on the free, all-supplying grace of God. Whatever goodness faith sees, it sees as the fruit of grace.

When it looks at our “wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” it says, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31).

John Piper 

Why God Gifts His Children Differently

PRAY OVER THIS

“For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11

 

PONDER THIS

God brings us together as a body. Some are eyes, some are ears, and some are feet. We all have different gifts, and yet those gifts are to be put to work in the body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Do you want to know what your spiritual gift is? You will discover your spiritual gift in the context of the Body of Christ. I had no idea that God would call me into ministry. Once upon a time, a person in my church invited me to be the youth week pastor. This was an opportunity for youth to fill the roles of the church and learn where they were gifted and how the church operated. I was scared when I received this invitation, but I got up and preached, and after, I received words of encouragement and affirmation on my gift of preaching. We find our spiritual gifts by operating in the Body of Christ. You are a gifted child. God doesn’t want you just to sit in the church pew. You have a spiritual gift with which to serve Him.

Have you ever been invited to serve in an area in your church that you had never considered for yourself? How did that experience help you grow?

What have you learned about yourself and your gifts as you have been part of your church community?

PRACTICE THIS

Speak to a spiritual leader in your church and ask that person where your church may need you to serve. Ask him or her for help in identifying your spiritual gifts.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Using God’s Gifts?

PRAY OVER THIS

“For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

1 Corinthians 14:31-33

 

PONDER THIS

I want my life to count for Jesus. I’m tired of sitting around, drawing breath, drawing a salary, and fighting to live while I live to fight. Do you want your life to count? Are you content to only sit around and endure until you die? One of these days soon we’re going to give an account.

God has called you to serve Him, and God has equipped you to serve Him. God has given to you at least one spiritual gift and possibly more.

As you use these gifts, remember, real revival doesn’t put you out of control; real revival brings you under the control of the Holy Spirit. God is the One who gives direction according to His Word. Your life is to be used for His purpose.

You are to take His gifts, discover them, develop them, and deploy them for Jesus.

What would it look like to make your life count for Jesus by using His gifts in your life?

How is the fruit of the Spirit evident in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down the spiritual gifts you see reflected in yourself. Write another list of the ones you would like to learn more about.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Indescribable Gift

If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10–11)

How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in God? We do it through Jesus Christ. Which means, at least, that we make the portrait of Jesus in the Bible — that is, the work and the words of Jesus portrayed in the New Testament — we make that portrait the essential content of our exultation over God. Exulting in God without the content of Christ does not honor Christ. And where Christ is not honored, God is not honored.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, Paul describes conversion in two ways. In verse 4, he says it is seeing “the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And in verse 6, he says it is seeing “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In either case you see the point. We have Christ, the image of God, and we have God in the face of Christ.

To exult in God, we exult in what we see and know of God in the portrait of Jesus Christ. And this comes to its fullest experience when the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as Romans 5:5 says. And that sweet, Spirit-given experience of the love of God is mediated to us as we ponder the historical reality of verse 6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

So here’s the Christmas point. Not only did God purchase our reconciliation through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:10), and not only did God enable us to receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ, but even now we exult in God himself, by the Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:11).

Jesus purchased our reconciliation. Jesus enabled us to receive reconciliation and open the gift. And Jesus himself shines forth as himself the indescribable gift — God in the flesh — and stirs up all our exultation in God.

Look to Jesus this Christmas. Receive the reconciliation that he purchased. Don’t put the gift on the shelf unopened. And when you open it, remember God himself is the gift of reconciliation with God.

Exult in him. Experience him as your pleasure. Know him as your treasure.

John Piper

Why Do We Have Spiritual Gifts?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.”

1 Corinthians 12:7

 

PONDER THIS

If you have a spiritual gift, it is not a means to an end. It is not for your personal use. It is not to make you feel good. It is not to prove something. These gifts are meant to put you to work for the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given you a gift to profit others.

One of my favorite stories is about a woman who’d taken a first-aid course, and later gave a testimonial to her class. She shared that in front of her house there was a horrible wreck—an old man driving a car had lost control, hit an oak tree, and was thrown out on the pavement. It was terrible. But she said, “I remembered my first aid. I remembered if I were to put my head between my knees I wouldn’t faint.” And she said, “I did; it was wonderful.” That’s the way some people think about gifts. They think a spiritual gift is supposed to be a particular blessing to them, but the Bible says here that the gift is a service to others. It is to profit the whole body. It is not for your enjoyment; it is for your employment.

What changes when we remember that our spiritual gifts are to benefit the body and are not just for our own use?

How have you used your spiritual gifts? Have they been used to benefit others in the body of Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

Take action and serve someone around you today using the gifts God has given you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Grace in Spiritual Gifts

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10)

When we use our spiritual gifts, we are stewarding grace — not yesterday’s grace, but today’s, arriving in every moment of need. And this future grace is “varied grace.” It comes in many colors and shapes and sizes. This is one of the reasons spiritual gifts in the body are so diverse. The prism of God’s gifts in your life will refract shades of divine glory that would never come through my prism.

There are as many future graces as there are needs in the body of Christ — and more. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to receive and dispense the future grace of God to those needs.

But someone may ask, “Why do you take Peter to refer to future grace? Doesn’t a steward manage a household store that is already on hand?”

The main reason I take Peter to refer to future grace is because the next verse illustrates how this works, and the reference there is to ongoing supplies of future grace. He says, “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). The word is “supplies,” not “supplied.” As you serve, serve in the power of the ongoing supply of God’s grace to do what you need to do.

When you fulfill your spiritual gift to serve someone tomorrow, you will be serving “by the strength that God supplies” — and the supply will be tomorrow, not today. “As your days, so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).

God goes on, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, supplying the “strength” in which we minister. He does this because the ongoing, inexhaustible supplier of power gets the glory. “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

John Piper 

Don’t Serve God

“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a “help wanted” sign. Neither is the call to Christian service.

God is not looking for people to work for him. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). He’s the great worker. He’s the one with broad, burden-bearing shoulders. He’s the strong one. And he is looking for ways to show it. This is what differentiates God from the so-called gods of the world: he works for us. Isaiah 64:4, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you [in other words this is his uniqueness], who acts for those who wait for him.”

What does God want from us? Not what we might expect. He rebukes Israel for bringing him so many sacrifices: “I will not accept a bull from your house. . . . For every beast of the forest is mine. . . . ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine’” (Psalm 50:9–10, 12).

But isn’t there something we can give to God that won’t belittle him to the status of beneficiary?

Yes. Our anxieties. Our needs. Our cries for power to do his will.

It’s a command: “[Cast] all your anxieties on him” (1 Peter 5:7). God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and his all-sufficiency.

Christianity is fundamentally convalescence. Patients do not serve their physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions and therapy. The Sermon on the Mount is our Doctor’s therapeutic regimen, not our Employer’s job description.

Our very lives hang on not working for God. “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4–5).

Workmen get no gifts. They get their due. Their wage. If we would have the gift of justification, we dare not work for it. God is the workman in this affair. And what he gets is the glory of being the benefactor of grace, not the beneficiary of service.

John Piper