NASHVILLE (BP) – This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, Lifeway publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups.
This week’s Bible study is adapted from the MasterWork curriculum.
Bible Passages: Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; Philippians 2:3-4
Discussion Questions:
- Describe a time you received a gift and thought, “What am I supposed to do with this?”
- How can we use our spiritual gifts in a way that serves the church and glorifies God?
- What are we to do, and not do, with the spiritual gifts of grace God gives us?
Food for thought:
Using our spiritual gifts has to be undertaken with the right spirit. One of the temptations in the church is to use our gifts in a way that glorifies ourselves. But this is the opposite approach to service in the body of Christ.
Remember? Jesus preached that the kingdom of heaven would be different, that the last would be first, that His followers should be identified by their service and sacrifice. In Philippians 2:3-4, the Bible gives us a warning about ministry: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interest, but rather to the interests of others.
Before every act of service, we should ask the Lord to reveal any selfish motives. We should then repent of selfishness, proceeding with confidence and humility.
Today, there are many ways to elevate ourselves, either on social media or other places, that can easily turn ministry into a kind of self-seeking endeavor. What’s more, as we exercise our gifts, we should be reminded that our gifts don’t make us superior to others. Our gifts were given for the good of Christ’s body.
This is what Paul said about our gifts: For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one (Romans 12:3).
The minute we think our gifts make us morally superior, we forget about the purpose of the gifts in the first place. Our gifts are not given for us to show off or to bring attention or glory to ourselves, but to bring glory to God.
We should also remember that love is more important than our gifts. Paul warned the church at Corinth, in the midst of his teaching on controversial topics, that love for brothers and sisters in the Lord is way more important than finding or using our gifts. He wrote: If I speak with human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal …. And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
“If I don’t have love, I gain nothing.” Let that sink in. There is a way to use our spiritual gifts that elevates ourselves and hurts others. Avoid such behavior. Let’s pray that we are a people who obey Christ’s call and move forward with love.
Masterwork
MasterWork is an ongoing Bible study curriculum based on works from a variety of renowned authors and offers pertinent, practical messages that adults will find uplifting and enriching. The list of authors and their books to be studied in upcoming months can be found at Lifeway.com/masterwork.
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