Use It to Serve One Another

Use It to Serve One Another.  “Use it or lose it,” we sometimes say when speaking about vacation days that will not roll over into the next year, or when older folks give unsolicited advice to younger folks about the fleeting nature of youth, or when physical therapists urge joint replacement patients to get out of bed after surgery and start walking again. But our idiom does not directly transfer into the realm of spiritual gifts. We can’t rightly conclude that if we don’t use a spiritual gift, then we will lose that spiritual gift. What is more accurate and more supportable in the four key spiritual gift passages (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:1-14:40; Eph. 4:7-16; 1 Pet. 4:10-11) is this: use it or you might forfeit a blessing. The spiritual gift remains even through its non-use, but God’s plan could be accomplished through another means, blessing a different individual than the one who has but does not use his or her spiritual gift.

The intended goal and overall purpose of the spiritual gifts are tremendously important in understanding their role in the church. In 1 Peter 4:10-11, though it is the briefest passage about spiritual gifts, both the goal and the purpose of spiritual gifts are clear, which forms the mode of their application. The intended goal is service, answering the question: Why have we been given spiritual gifts? “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” (vs. 10). The overall purpose is glory, answering the question: To what end have we been given spiritual gifts? “In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (vs. 11b).

The goal and the purpose functionally paint-in the lane in which spiritual gifts proceed. What remains in this short passage is the mode of application, answering the question: How should we use spiritual gifts? “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies” (vs. 11a). Meant for service to others and aimed at glory to God, we should use spiritual gifts entirely: full throttle with full understanding. All spiritual gifts come from God (not self) as grace-gifts (not awards). All spiritual gifts are assigned by God (not committee). All spiritual gifts return to God in glory having been amplified by the gracious participation of the church. All spiritual gifts are either speaking or supporting gifts. All spiritual gifts are blessed opportunities for us and divine empowerments to us to join God in his work. “We are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor. 3:9).