Happy Valentine’s Day! This is a day for celebrating love. As believers, we know that God is love. He has commanded us and equipped us to love Him with all that we are. And we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
That is how we Live Out God’s Purpose for our lives. Oftentimes, we think of God’s purpose for our lives on an individual level. What is God’s purpose for my life? That’s fine. God does have a special purpose for your life. A purpose that unfolds throughout a lifetime.
But that purpose is not for you as an isolated person. God’s purpose for every person is to become a believer in Jesus Christ. Then God’s purpose for every believer can only be fulfilled as part of a church family.
Today, our message is entitled “Spiritual Gifts in Action.” Spiritual gifts are one of the most important reasons that we need to be part of a church family.
1 Corinthians 12:12 (ESV) For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul writes that a local church can be compared to the human body. The head of the body, the church is Christ. The members of the body are the individual believers in the church family.
1 Corinthians 12:18 (ESV) But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
As believers follow the Lord’s leading, He arranges believers in the body, the church, according to various giftings He has given them.
1 Corinthians 12:27 (ESV) Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
This verse was written to the believers at the church in Corinth, but it applies to us today at Life Church. Each member of this church has a purpose, has a function within the church family. The Bible teaches in 1 Corinthians that each member has a spiritual gift. In the Greek, the word for spiritual gifts is charismata. The root word is charis, which means grace. So, spiritual gifts really means grace gifts that God gives to each believer.
No one person has all the gifts, so we need each other in the body of Christ. Some gifts are decidedly supernatural, like the gift of miracles or healing. Other gifts have to do with the talents given by God, such as leadership and teaching. If a person in the body of Christ doesn’t function in their gift, the church is weaker. The more each believer develops their gift, the stronger and more effective the church family becomes. If a person is not part of a church family, not only are they not fulfilling their purpose, they are being deprived of the gifts of others in the church. Today, we’re going to talk more about God’s purpose for each one of us in the church.