Is it possible that we are not doing that, that we don’t make any contribution to the work of the gospel, to the work of the church of Jesus Christ? God has saved us; he has given us various capacities. Are we exercising them for the gospel and for him, or are we frittering them away?
Every Christian receives a measure of gifts. Peter is not talking about supposed Charismatic gifts: gift of tongues, gift of revelation. Those were given to apostles to authenticate them. He is talking about all the other gifts. Every Christian has a gift. You may have received it naturally, but when you were saved it would have had a spiritual dimension added to it by grace. They are distributed by the Spirit of God among the body of Christ. You may have four or five significant gifts. Is that going to make you proud? No, because every Christian has them, and they are given for the benefit of the whole church. You are supposed to be exercising them. Obviously we think first of the preaching and teaching capacities, but there are many other gifts too. There’s the gift of shepherding among the flock, and helping, and giving that word in season, and counselling. Everybody should engage in this, but some people have an unusual gift for it. Then there's the gift of discernment. Some people see much sooner than others, and much more sharply, things that need to be done, things that are important. There is the gift of witness, of course. Everybody should witness, but some people have a special gift. Let's pray for them, support them. There is the gift of imagination. Sometimes people come up to a church officer and say, ‘Look we’re doing this the wrong way. If this, and this, and this happened, it would have this effect.’ They have seen it, whereas most of us haven't seen it. Some people have the gift of feeling. They feel very strongly about things. So if there is a new Sunday School branch opening, or a new meeting for witness or a venture for visitors on the street, how uplifting it is to have someone who helps us to feel as we ought to feel. Some people have the gift of faith in a special way, and they can privately, and perhaps in the church Prayer Meeting, pray for great things with such earnestness and faith. Some people have tremendous energy, a gift for labour; they can seemingly take on any number of tasks. Some people have strength for trial. In the old days the Lord would send them out as pioneer missionaries, and they could endure unimaginable privation. Some people have a gift for success. It doesn't go to their heads. They are the people for whom it’s safe to gain promotion, and to be the big earners and supporters and stewards, because they can stay humble even in elevation. Some people have a gift for song, for music, so let them exercise it. ‘But we don't have a choir.’ No, but that's the point. Wherever you are, exercise it, and it lifts the rest of up, and helps, and leads.
We find ourselves in this life in the position of stewards, put in charge of another man’s goods and tasked with looking after these in the interests of their true owner. This is a very helpful way to see all that we have, even the things that we are inclined to consider our own. This attitude enables us to walk humbly whether or not the Lord increases our material wealth, recognising that we cannot take credit for anything that we have but giving thanks to God. It makes us happy to give away what belongs more to the Lord than to us, for this is what he wants us to do with what are his goods, and if we freely give, we are confident that we will receive of the Lord all that we need in return.