God's Gift for All from Oct 7th

God’s Gift For All
2 Timothy 1:1-14
“I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you.” (2 Tim 1:6)
Introduction
Although it is not Christmas yet…
1. God has given each believer in Christ a gift
A) You have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit:
ACTS 2:38 “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ ”
EPH 4:7 “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.”
Eph. 4:7 can be thought of as the key verse in the whole Bible about gifts, since it sets out what is the most basic gift: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through God’s grace.
If every Christian experienced the fullness of that gift in their lives, the church would be far more effective in the world.
The church is not a glorified social club; it is God’s messenger to bring salvation to the world.
It needs the gift of grace from God to create faith in us to do that work.
People receive God’s gift of grace, through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” is another way of saying the same thing…the gift you are offered is Jesus Christ; and the faith we all need to receive Him into our lives and to continue to trust in Him, is a gift from God.
EPH 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…”

B) You cannot earn or buy the gifts of the Holy Spirit: Acts again 8:20 “But Peter said to Simon, ‘Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!’ ”

C) You are not the only one who has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit.
ACTS 10:45 “…the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.”
1COR 7:7 “For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.”

D) You have spiritual gifts, or to say it another way, the gifts you have been given are spiritual. Paul told the Christians in Rome: ROM 1:11 “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established…”

E) You are put right with God as a free gift.
ROM 5:15-16 “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…the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.” (“the gift of righteousness.” Rom 5:17)
Thank God that through faith in Christ, you are thought of as righteous before God.

F) As a result of genuine faith you have the gift of eternal life. ROM 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Secondly…
2. God owns the right to use your gifts
Since God Himself is the Lord of salvation, He has decided to give you His gifts. As Lord, He alone has the right to call on them at any time and to use them in any way He chooses.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
We ought to be grateful that this is so. Paul says in 2 Cor 9:15 “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”
How we treat gifts
We exchange gifts from time to time and we expect that when we hand over a gift that the receiver has the right to do what they want with it from then on.
If we receive a gift, we expect to be allowed to use what we are given how we decide to use it. We do not like ‘Indian givers’ so we would react to some one taking the gift back again after having given it to us.
We do not like second giving: the practise of passing on gifts you have been given to a third person…
How God treats gifts
How does God treat gifts?
God’s gifts are spiritual and of a very different nature to the kind of gifts we normally exchange with each other at birthdays or Christmas.
Maybe that’s why the Bible calls them ‘charisms’ rather than material offerings which are gifts of sacrifice.
Spiritual gifts or charisms, from which the charismatic movement got its’ name in the 1960’s to the 1980’s came, are what enhance people spiritually.
These spiritual gifts are especially designed to be used to build up the ability of the Church to be the effective Body of Christ.
They are under God’s control, not ours.
Spiritual gifts are not like the offering gifts we give God which Jesus talked about in His teaching about forgiveness in Matt 5:24 “…leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Spiritual gifts are spiritual abilities, under God’s control which we share with other believers or, as with evangelism and social services, to share with the lost world in which we live.

3. God expects us to stir up the gifts He has given us
Expanding on his first instructions to Timothy in chapter 1, Paul goes on to say in chapter 4:
II Tim 4:12 “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
4:13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
4:14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
4:15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.
4:16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”
Timothy was a young man and a fairly recent convert to Christ, a recent believer. He did not have the experience or wisdom of the Apostle Paul, yet he was to lead churches and speak the truth to them in grace and do the work of an evangelist.
Paul makes very clear to Timothy how he is to lead the churches as he charges the young man with instructions in the two letters to Timothy we have in the NT.
Modern Timothys
Historically, the church has taken from these Scriptures that a minister’s job is to pay attention to constant study and application of the teachings for which he is responsible.
That is why he is to attend theological college and to study the great truths of the faith; why he is to learn from others. Education beyond the Bible is also important in the Scottish Presbyterian tradition from which the early Presbyterian Church in NZ came.
That is also why ministers or teaching elders are to lead and to teach the elders and people/members and to protect the church from error by making sure that what is taught in the church is from the Bible.
As people have learned to listen to so many voices in the world and to think for themselves and to be responsible for themselves, it has become harder for the truth of the Scriptures to gain a foothold in the minds and hearts of those who are determined to think and live in their own way and wisdom regardless of the consequences.
The teaching that “I am the boss of me” has taken on very well in the latter part of the 20th Century right up until today.
But it does not lead anyone to God. It causes them to miss the gifts of God and leads them away from salvation.
It is time for us to stir up the gifts God has given us and use them to spread the good news of the gospel.
That is why Timothy was instructed:
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (II Time 1:6) and “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (II Tim 4:16)
Gifts to Share
Another illustration of what gifts are for is found in 1PT 4:10 “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
A good steward looks after the things he has been put in charge of.
In the case of being a steward of grace the first thing is to share it…
In a restaurant the patrons order some wine of their choice. The wine steward brings the wine and pours it out. He is only a servant but the patrons do not get their glass filled until the steward brings the kind of wine they ordered and pours it into their glasses. He has to know the wines, be trained, experienced in serving people, efficient, and a careful wine pourer or the wine will be spilled and lost…His service is all important.
Timothy was being trained to be a steward of God’s gifts in order that the gifts of God reach the people of God.

We learn how important the gift of faith is when we listen to the words of Jesus from today’s Luke reading, or when we studied the book of Hebrews recently. We discovered that faith sees where the human mind cannot: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1) and that “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Heb 11:3
We learned that without faith it is impossible to please God.
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb 11:6)

The Gift of Salvation and the Problem of Unbelief
Illustration
Now we have had in the last few days, stories of men and women trapped in a mine well below the surface and facing death unless saved quickly.
It began on Thursday, our time that the news came of 3200 people trapped underground in the Honesty Gold, gold mine near Johannesburg in S.A.
How desperate they felt, we thought.
How horrific is their plight, we thought, and I hope prayed…for them to be released.
We can thank God that the men and women who were trapped for more than 24 hours in abominable heat of 40C; without adequate food and water, were released in batches and that all were saved during Wednesday and Thursday their time.

I want to liken their plight with that of our spiritual condition.
If only we could each see how desperate is our situation before God if we do not accept His most wonderful gift of salvation. It is ours by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for our deliverance from sin, death and destruction…

If we looked at life that way we would fly to the Cross of Jesus and surrender our puny will and exchange it for the perfect, all-knowing, compassionate will of God our Father.

If we looked at life as though our family and friends were lost in the depths of a hot, dark mine, if we considered them spiritually lost, and desperately in need, we would fear for our friends and family and pray for them until they were released from their prison.
This work of seeking to save the lost is hard work, but we must not think that because it is hard that we are going beyond the call of duty, for Jesus Himself said not to expect thanks for it:
“Does he (the master) thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.
So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ” (Lk 17:9-10)
And yet, says Jesus, there is more rejoicing in heaven among the angels when one sinner repents… (Lk15:10)

We would be happy to hear people testify to God as the Psalm writer:
PS 18:35 “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”

The implication of Jesus’ words are that we too should see that event as a cause for rejoicing and our reward for work well done. Amen.