As we think about sharing God’s gifts with others, let’s look at the structure of this great commandment. Jesus calls us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength which I think means we need to find ways to love others with our all heart, soul, mind and strength. Using this framework, the gifts we give to others need to come from our heart and our head (our minds) and our hands (our strength). Let’s start at the top and talk about what kind of gifts we need to share from our head. For me this simply means we need to share with others our understanding of who God is and all that God has done for us.
The Bible is full of commands for us to share our faith with others. In fact, when God first called Abraham he was to be a blessing to the nations. Abraham was to share his understanding of God and his relationship with God with all the nations of the world. When Jesus called his disciples to follow him he told them they were going to be fishers of men, which meant they are going to bring others to Jesus and share with them who Jesus was and what he could do for them. The great commission Jesus gave was to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matt. 28:19-20)
So we are to share with the world the teaching of Jesus and then in 2 Timothy 4:2 it says we are to preach the word and to be prepared in all seasons to teach, correct, rebuke and encourage with all patience and careful instruction. And in 2 Corinthians 2:14 it says, through us God will spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. So we have been called to share what we know about God with others.
If we have any understanding of God and his love and grace and power and how he works in our lives, then we need to be willing to share this knowledge. Too many times we think it is only the job of the teachers and preachers to share this kind of truth, but this is gift we all need to share. We are all called to make disciples and we are all called to be part of the aroma of Christ which is the knowledge of God. Now while some people might be called specifically to teach and preach and to do this as their vocation in life, we have all been given a mind and we have all been given some understanding about God that we need to share with others. One of the reasons we all need to be willing to share the gift of our faith is because many of the teachers and preachers of the world may never have the opportunity to speak to the people you know. Each of you interact in a circle of people that I as a preacher may never meet and you know people that the Sunday school teachers of this church will never meet, but these people know you and you may be the one God is calling to share with them the truth of his love and grace.
Someone once said that you may be the only Bible some people will ever read and while we often think about this in terms of how we live and what we do, it is also true for what we say. Your words about God may be the only time someone hears about the love of Jesus. We don’t live in a world where people hear about Jesus very often, many people won’t tune into religious TV or radio, and just take a look around today, many people in our own community don’t attend worship and fewer attend Sunday School and many people today don’t even own a bible and so you may be the only Bible that someone reads.
I have to be honest and tell you that I was caught off guard the other day with the reality that many people don’t have a bible. A woman stopped by the office to talk and I encouraged her to spend some time reading different parts of the Bible and while she grew up in the church and thought of herself as a follower of Jesus, she finally shared with me that she didn’t own a Bible. We made sure she left with one and let me say today that if you don’t own a Bible, if you don’t have one in your home and you are wanting one to read, please take the one in the pew in front of you, or stop by the welcome table and we will make sure you have one. We can’t be the only Bible people will read if we aren’t first reading the Bible. It’s important for us to really understand our faith because our words may be the only truth about God that someone hears and so we need to be willing and ready to share the gift of life and love and faith with others. As Paul said, we need to be prepared at all times to share what we know about God.
There are the gifts of our head that need to be shared and there are gifts from our heart. Love one another, Jesus said. He also said, Love others, love your neighbor, love your enemy, love your brothers and sisters, just love. We need to share the gift of our heart with others but to share this gift we first have to see people the way God does. We will never really love others until we first see in them the value and worth that God sees in them. So sharing the gift of our hearts begins by simply seeing people around us s children of God who have been created in the image of God and who are deeply and eternally loved by God.
It has become too easy for us today to devalue people. When we see people who don’t look like us or act like us it becomes easy to think negatively about them. When we see people who have made poor choices, or are making poor choices today it is easy to want to give up on them or assume they are beyond God’s reach and God’s love – but they are not. Every person is valued by God, every person is loved by God and if we are going to really love them the way God wants us to then we need to start seeing them the way God does.
Instead of thinking about this in broad terms, let me ask you this question, who is it that you struggle with today? Who do you think negatively about? Who are you unhappy with? To put it bluntly, who do you just not like right now? Maybe it’s a boss, maybe it’s a friend who has hurt you or a child or parent that has disappointed you or a spouse that you feel far from – can you picture them, can you name them? Now, what will it take for you to love them? Maybe God needs you to simply start praying for them. Maybe God needs you to start praying for you, maybe our prayers need to be for our eyes to be opened so that we see others the way God does. In Romans 12:3 it says, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Maybe if we look more humbly at ourselves we will see more value and worth in others.
Once we begin to see people the way God does, we will be more loving toward them. When we see the value and worth in people we will be more open to praying for them and listening to them, and listening is one way we can show people we love them.. Our world moves so fast today that maybe the greatest gift of love we can share will be to simply take the time to listen to someone. The author and church leader Dave Gibbons has said for us to effectively carry Jesus’ gospel to various places around the globe - listening is required. In order for us to know what people need from God, we need to first listen to them. When someone is unhappy, when someone is in need, will we not try to solve their problems on our own but take some time to listen? And then before we jump into action, will we pray? Listening and prayer are gifts from the heart.
So we need to share gifts from our head and heart, but we also need to share the gift of our hands and this means serving those around us. Jesus is clear that if we see someone in need we should reach out to help them. Jesus calls us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty and visit those who are sick and in prison. The personal gift of Jesus hands was seen when he was willing to wash the feet of his disciples. It is clear that we need to care for those around us and those in need around the world and the truth is that there is no limit to the ways we can do this. From giving money, to giving items needed for the food bank or the winter coat bank, or giving our time to help in one of the many missions and ministry in our community, or going on a mission trip in our own country or on the other side of the world, there is no limit to how we can help people with our hands. What encourages me is that so many of you do this. Faith Church is an active church where people are willing to use their hands to help those in need. We are willing to get involved in meeting people’s needs and while I think we do this well, my question is how do we go deeper and farther?
For example, we have an amazing ministry with the Christmas Dinner, and we are feeding those who are hungry but there are some people on Christmas day who are hungry for more than food, what they need is love and to know that someone cares about them and is willing to listen to them and walk with them in life. What many need is to know that God has not forgotten them and that Jesus forgives them and gives them the full measure of love and life. So how do we work to meet the deeper needs of those around us and how do we take our service farther? Are we willing to see the extreme hunger that exists in places around the world where there are no food banks or soup kitchens or Christmas dinners? Are we willing to help feed people in places where starvation and death are a daily reality? We can’t be content to just do what we are doing – God is calling us to go deeper with people and work to see and then meet their spiritual and emotional needs, and God is calling us to creatively and courageously serve the needs of people in more places around the world.
For us to see how and where God wants us to serve we need to go back to the gifts of our heart and head. We need to ask God to help us see people the way God sees them. We need to take the time to listen and pray and then we need to use our minds to think about how God wants us to meet the physical, spiritual or emotional needs we see. What becomes clear here is that the service we provide with our hands has to flow from a heart and mind that are connected to God. We need to be able to see the deep needs of people, we need to take the time to listen and pray and then our words and actions need to flow from the heart. The head, heart and hands are all connected and we need to use them all to share God’s gifts with others.
Again, if you want to take some practical next steps in sharing the gifts of your head, heart and hands, then look over the next steps you will find in the bulletin.
Head – Ask God to help you be willing to share his love in words not just deeds. Ask God to show you one person this week that you can share your faith with, or one person you can invite to worship. Before you share – pray for this person. If you don’t feel like you are prepared to share your faith – get prepared! Some good books to read include: Basic Christianity by John Stott, and The case for Christ and the Case for faith by Lee Strobel all found in the church library.
Heart - Ask God to show you the value and worth of all those around us. What one person that you struggle with do you need to start praying for? Pray for humility. Take the time to listen to those around you.
Hands – What needs to you see around you that you can meet? How can you give more to help feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, give water to the thirsty? What specific gift of your hands is God asking you to give this week?
