living a life that counts ~ our gifts

Read 1 Peter 4:7-11
This is one of my favorite times of the year and it has nothing to do with the longer warmer days of spring or even the spiritual focus of Lent and Easter, I love March Madness – NCAA basketball. Something happened to me when I went to Duke Divinity School, while I enjoyed college basketball before I moved to Durham, I fell in love with it my first year at Duke. I think they put something in the water there so that you will love basketball because everyone is a fan. Now part of the reason for that is geography, Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest are all within 45 minutes of each other, so you have 4 major powerhouses in the ACC competing on a regular basis, and just about every year one of more of those teams is in the hunt for a national championship – so it’s an exciting place to be in March. More than the NCAA Tournament, what I loved was the ACC Tournament, because it was 3 days of non-stop basketball and every team in the area was playing. The weekend of the ACC Tournament, every store, business, office, school and home was tuned into the Tournament. You would walk through the mall and hear the game because every store had it on. It was infections and I got the disease. I love Duke Basketball.

The most amazing thing to see when you watch a basketball game is when a player is in the zone. You know what I’m talking about. It’s when an athlete is just on fire and everything they do works. I was at Duke when Duke played Kentucky in 1992 and if you know anything about basketball, you know that game is considered by everyone to be the best college basketball game of all time and in that game Christian Laettener was in the zone. He went 10 for 10 in field goals, 1 for 1 from three point range and a perfect 10 for 10 from the free throw line. Literally every shot he took went in the basket. Because Laettner was in that zone, when Duke was down by one point in overtime with 2.1 seconds left on the clock, there really was no question who Duke wanted to take last shot. Grant Hill made the perfect 75 foot inbound pass to Christian Laettner who dribbled the ball, turned around and shot. Because Laettner had been in the zone all game, there really wasn’t any question, nothing but net and Duke won the game 104-103 and this is THE shot. (show classic picture of Chrstian Laettner's shot!)

When an athlete is in the zone, their body, mind and spirit are all working together. They are efficient, precise and everything they do works. We’ve seen Tiger Woods play in the zone during the Masters and yes, Penn State seems to play in the zone every year that MSU comes to Happy Valley. But athletes aren’t the only ones who enter into that special zone, musicians, artists, scientists, teachers and even parents can find that place where everything just seems to come together perfectly. I hope you have experienced some of those moments in life because I truly believe that God wants us to live that kind of life every day. When we are using our God given gifts and abilities to their full potential and loving every minute of it, we are in the zone that God wants us to live in. When Jesus said that he came so that we might have life and life abundantly, I think the abundant life Jesus is talking is living in that zone where every day we are using God’s gift to make a difference.

Living a life that counts doesn’t just manage our days and our money well, it manages and uses our God given gifts and abilities to their full potential and that is what Peter is calling for in his letter to the church. If we go back to the beginning of 1 Peter we see that Peter is writing to Christians who are living throughout the entire region. Peter is writing to churches in Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithinyia which are all very pagan areas, which means there was not a lot of support for the Christians who were living there. It would become very easy for the followers of Jesus in these cities to just give up, so Peter calls the people to do more than just not give up, he calls them to make a difference, an eternal difference, by using the gifts, graces and abilities that God has given them.

Look at 4:10. Serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Now this verse tells us 2 important things. First it tells us that each and every one of us has been given a gift by God and it tells us that we have been given these gifts to serve others. God doesn’t give us gifts and abilities so we can make a lot of money and retire on easy street, God gives us gifts to serve one another and to advance God’s work in the world. So each and every one of us has been given gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities by God that we are to use to serve God and those around us and when we do this faithfully, we will find ourselves living in the zone and when we are in that zone, we are living a life that counts.

So how do we get into that zone? For an athlete to get in the zone they first have to identify their athletic gifts and abilities, and the same is true for us. We have to identify and focus on our God given gifts and ability. The bible lists several spiritual gifts that God has given to his people. In 1 Cor. 12 it says that some of these gifts include: wisdom, knowledge, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues. In Ephesians 4:11 it lists the gifts of: evangelism, pastoring, teaching and leadership and in Romans 12 the list includes: exhortation (encouragement), giving and compassion. There are a variety of gifts that God has given to his people through the Holy Spirit and we need to discover which of these gifts God has given to us so we can use them to their full potential. Now you may be thinking that you don’t have any of these gifts, but you do. The Bible clearly says these gifts are given to the church and each and every person in the church has one of these gifts. 1 Cor. 12:4-7. Everyone has at least one of the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible and God is calling us to discover those gifts so we can use them because to advance his work in this world.

If we don’t know what gift God has given us or if we are unsure of which talents and abilities God wants us to use for his purpose and his kingdom, then we need to get focused and figure out what they are. Look at what Peter says in 4:7. To be focused means we first need to be clear minded. We need to answer these questions honestly and thoughtfully: What am I good at? In what areas have I found success? What am I passionate about? What moves me with joy or even with righteous anger? What experiences have I had that might give me a sense of how God wants to use me? We need to think clearly about these questions and answer them honestly. I always appreciate the people who come to me and say, Look, I taught children’s Sunday school once and it was awful – that is really not for me. That’s good to know.

A number of years ago a group from my church in Altoona went to a training seminar and I wanted someone to share what we learned in church that Sunday. I asked Jan if she would and she said, no really, I’m not very good at public speaking – you should find someone else. Now I didn’t know Jan very well and so I pushed her until she did it and when was done all said to her, Wow, you really aren’t very good at that are you? I will never ask you to do it again. She laughed and I know Jan was very grateful that I never again asked her to speak in public. Jan’s gift was not speaking in front of people but today she does plays the drums in the praise and worship band at her church. We need to be clear-minded when we think about how God has created us and what natural gifts and abilities God has given us. We are all different, but God is calling all of us to be involved in something and so it’s up to us to begin to figure those things out so God can use us for his purpose and glory.

Not only do we need to be clear minded, but we also need to be self controlled. Being self controlled means being focused on the one or two things that God wants us to do the most. We can’t do everything well. Here me on this, we simply do not have the time and energy to do everything well, so we need to focus on the few things God is calling us to do. If we try to do everything and be involved in all that’s going on, what’s going to happen is that we aren’t going to do anything well and eventually we will burn ourselves out completely and do nothing. Self control means finding those one or two things that we can channel all our time and energy on so we can make a maximum impact for God. If you aren’t sure what gifts and abilities God is calling you to use right now, get focused and begin to get focused through a time of prayer. Again look at 1 Peter 4:7

Not only do we need to discover the gifts God has given to us, we need to develop those gifts so we are using them to the best of our abilities. Christian Laettner didn’t just walk out onto the court in 1992 and start hitting shots that went into the bucket – every athlete spends countless hours practicing and working hard to develop the gifts and abilities God has given them and we need to do the same. Living a life that counts means we take the time to deepen and develop the gifts God has given us so that we can do our absolute best at all times. I appreciate that the choir / praise team meets during the week to practice and develop their gifts and abilities to enhance and lead us in worship. I’m thankful that Pete has gone to PS for training on food safety so we don’t all get sick when we have a turkey dinner, and we are all blessed that our leaders are willing to invest themselves in training each year. It’s foolish for us to think that we can serve God anywhere in the church without some training and hard work.

Look at 4:11. Whatever we do we need to give it our best because we are doing it for God. My hope and prayer is that every person who serves in the church, whether it’s passing out bulletins, singing in the choir or teaching Sunday School will not only take it seriously and give it all they have but also understand that we are doing it not for us or for others, but for God. Even something that seems so simple like passing out bulletins we need to take seriously and do it for the Lord. We need to think about what we are doing when we are passing out bulletins, because we aren’t just passing out a bulletin, we are welcoming people into the presence of God. We are the extension of God’s love and grace that welcomes strangers and family into the presence of God. We are inviting people to enter into God’s presence so their lives can be touched and transformed. It’s an awesome thing to welcome people and we need to take it seriously and give it our absolute best. Every job is important and so every job requires us to think about what we are doing and develop the gifts and abilities God has given us to do that job so we can truly do it for the Lord.

Living a life that counts doesn’t just mean serving God with excellence, it also means serving God with passion and urgency. Did you hear how Peter began this section? The end of all things is near. The early church lived with a sense of urgency because they honestly believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. Peter really thought the end of all things was near so he spoke and encouraged people with passion. He told them to use their gifts to serve God and one another and to make a difference in the world because the days were short. There was an urgency to Peter’s teaching and there was an urgency and passion to the teaching of Jesus. Jesus said many times that the kingdom of God is near and the passion of his message was picked up by the people. When we serve God it needs to be with a sense of passion and urgency because as we learned from Psalm 90, our time is short and we might not have another day to use that gift and make a difference. We can’t say, I’ll use my gifts later or when the kids are grown or when I retire because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. So don’t say, I’ll go on that mission trip next year – I’ll join the choir for the next cantata – I’ll help out in next year’s walk/run of faith – I’ll help out in the next VBS – do it today. We need to make the most of the opportunities God has given us today and use our gifts to their fullest.

If you aren’t feeling like you are living in the zone when it comes to living for God, loving God and serving God, then take the time to discover your spiritual gifts, develop those gifts until you feel confident in what you are doing and then use them to serve God and others with all you have.