A Servant’s Heart

The Path to Christ-Like Service

A Devotional Study of
1 Peter 4: 7 – 11

By Kara H. Duckworth

Week 9: Serving With Varied Gifts

 Week 9: Serving With Varied Gifts
{Day 1} A Sacrificial Gift

Read: 1 Peter 4: 10; Luke 7: 11 – 17; John 3:16

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” (NLT)

“God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son …” (GNT)

Mrs. Ryan would receive three black-rimmed telegrams on the same day, reporting the loss of three of her four
sons involved in the D-Day invasion. U.S. General George Marshall dispatched orders for the remaining son to be
located and brought home. Steven Spielberg’s 1998 film, Saving Private Ryan, graphically depicted the story, based
on the real-life Nilson family, of the special unit deployed on a mission to keep a mother from having to sacrifice all
her sons in the service of their country.

During the U.S. Civil War, President Lincoln sent a letter of condolence to Mrs. Lydia Parker Bixby, a widow from
Boston, whose five sons died in battle and whose sixth was a prisoner of war.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of

your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory
of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be
yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.
{The Bixby Letter in The Boston Evening Traveller, 25 November 1864.}

So costly a sacrifice. For the Freedom of others.

As recorded in Luke 7, Jesus was travelling to a town called Nain, near Nazareth, when He encountered a funeral
procession. The bereaved mother was a widow and the deceased, her only son. For the sake of this poor woman,
Jesus compassionately restored the son to life and gave him back to her. And then, there was also the time
recorded by John in chapter 11, when Jesus disrupted the funeral service of Lazarus and restored him to his two
sisters.

Jesus told His followers that if they had seen Him, they had seen the Father. {John 14:9} Jesus showed the depth of
love and compassion He had for the grieving. By looking at His reaction to death, we can then imagine God’s
heartbreak and bereavement in sacrificing His Son. In sending His Son to earth, knowing how it would end.
Sometimes we forget what the gift of our freedom cost God the Father.

What does it feel like to be a military Mom or Dad sending your sons (and daughters) off to sacrifice their lives?

God knows.

And if God had never done another thing for us, that amazing gift would have been enough; but there is more.
We’ll look at that in Day 2.

Ponder: Spend some time in worship of our God who would be willing to sacrifice His Son so He could
buy us back.

Pray: Thank God for making the sacrifice of His only Son on the altar of our Freedom.
 Week 9: Serving With Varied Gifts
{Day 2} An Overwhelming Gesture

Read: 1 Peter 4: 10

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” (NLT)

Carol was twelve years old when she lost her mother in a car wreck, less than a year after having lost her father to
a heart attack. Now orphaned, Carol was taken in by her older sister and her brother-in-law, who already had three
young children of their own.

When Carol neared high school graduation, a generous benefactor stepped forward and offered to pay her way
through college if she would pursue a profession in which she served others. Carol decided to major in nursing at a
state university, never learning who her mysterious benefactor was. While studying at the university, Carol met
her future husband, a young man in Pre-Med that wanted to be an internist. The generous donor had altered the
trajectory of Carol’s life. So grateful for his intervention, Carol knew the only way she could repay his kindness was
to serve others, as he’d obviously wanted her to do.

Now approaching her college graduation, Carol sent out announcements heralding her accomplishment – she
would be conferred a BSN in less than one month. She was dumbfounded when her brother-in-law called and said
that her benefactor had decided to give her a graduation gift.

“He’s already done too much! How can I possibly accept anything else?”

“He wants to make sure you can get to your new job once you graduate.”

Two days later, Carol’s brother-in-law brought her the keys to a new car.
God gave us the matchless gift of His Son. We never did anything to deserve it, nor could we. With this gift, He put
our lives on a new trajectory. But, unbelievably, He had more to give us.

Proving the importance God places on our human relationships, He gave each of us a spiritual gift to be used in
serving fellow believers. When used in cooperation with other believers, our gifts work together to create a
healthy, powerful, and effective community.

Every one of you got a gift. All you got to do

is unwrap it and use it.
{Lynnette Hardaway, a.k.a. “Diamond” of the YouTube duo “Diamond and Silk,” speaking at
Liberty University Convocation, 2 March 2018.}

Ponder: Do you know what your spiritual gift is? How have you used it in kingdom
work? How might you use it?

Pray: Ask God to reveal your spiritual gift to you. Ask for His help in
developing and using it in the community of believers. Ask Him for
opportunities to help others discover their spiritual gifts.
 Week 9: Serving With Varied Gifts
{Day 3} Gifted

Read: 1 Peter 4: 10; Matthew 28: 18 – 20; Acts 2: 47

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” (NLT)

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …” (ESV)

Often, we say to someone that’s very good at something, “You have a gift!” We may say that regarding someone
who paints beautifully, who sings or plays an instrument skillfully, who decorates tastefully, or who organizes
precisely. In the worldly definition, “gifted” means “talented.”

A spiritual gift is more than an innate talent, although talents are also given by God at birth. Given at the moment
of indwelling by the Holy Spirit, or re-birth, spiritual gifts serve to build up the body of believers and enable the
church to attain its mission.

Jesus charged His followers with the task that became the Church’s purpose statement: Go, replicate yourselves
many times over, baptize people, and teach people, until you’ve reached every corner of the world. This was a
seemingly impossible task for such a small band of believers. After Jesus’ ascension, God sent the gift to those
believers who waited and prayed expectantly – the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This gift made their impossible
task possible. Manifesting in many forms, the Holy Spirit gave power to individuals to serve others as apostles,
leaders, teachers, administrators, evangelists, givers, and so much more, according to what was needed to build
the Church and glorify God. God Himself added to their number {Acts 2:47} those with giftings designed to
complete the body of believers.

From that day to this, each time a new body of believers is born, God adds to their number in the same way. Every
local church is a microcosm of the Church universal and is intended to be a complete entity with all it needs for
accomplishing its mission of discipling, baptizing, and teaching in His Name.

Ponder: Have you seen God add believers to your local body to fill in gaps in
areas of service the body needs?

Pray: Thank God for how He builds each body of believers. Ask Him to bring and
equip believers to fill out your local body. Ask Him to provide believers to
fill positions of leadership and service within the Flourish ministry.

Week 9: Serving With Varied Gifts

 {Day 4} Unity
Read: 1 Peter 4: 10; 1 Corinthians 12: 12 – 26

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” (NLT)

“… so that there should be no division in the body …” (NIV)

We who have grown up in American churches may have a hard time understanding the diversity of the early church. It was an
amalgamation of those steeped in Jewish law and tradition, of Greeks and Romans with pagan backgrounds, and of free men
and slaves from various countries and cultures.

The book of Acts and the letters of Paul give us a glimpse of how ideas and personalities often clashed. God had to give a
special revelation to Peter, so he would know it was okay to mix with Gentiles. The Jews griped over requiring Gentiles to be
circumcised. In the Corinthian church, there was an argument about whether food sacrificed to idols was okay for Christians to
eat.

Paul, in writing to the church at Corinth, shared the most extensive passage regarding spiritual gifts. In his analogy detailing the
parts of a human body, Paul imparted another reason God gave them – so there will be unity.

We’ve witnessed the alarming frequency and increasing violence of divisions in our country. For example, former Arkansas
Governor and Presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee was recently tapped to be a member of the Country Music Association
(CMA) Foundation, who make music education accessible to all children. He accepted the role, only to resign less than a day
later when his appointment caused an uproar among the CMA community because of his religious and political views. In his
resignation letter, Huckabee lamented:

Until recently, the arts was the one place America could
set aside political, geographical, racial, religious, and
economic barriers and come together. If the arts
community becomes part of the polarization instead
of bridging communities and people over the power
of civil norms as reflected in the arts, then we as a
civilization may not be long for this earth.
{Shirley Halperin and Chris Willman, “Mike Huckabee says ‘Hate Wins,’ Publishes Resignation
Letter to CMA Foundation,” Variety.com; 1 March 2018; retrieved 7 March 2018.}

As a Baptist minister, Mr. Huckabee understands that politics, the arts, sports, patriotism, education, and even religion can
never bring lasting unity. Only in Christ can people sustain common ground. As people of truly disparate backgrounds,
temperaments, preferences, and talents come together as the body of Christ, they unify by serving one another with their
unique, but complementary gifts. Within the unified body of Christ, believers care for all equally. They suffer in empathy with
one who suffers. They join in joyous celebration with one who is honored.

If you’ve attended a Christian music concert or a Christian speaker event, you’ve gotten a taste of just how diverse the body of
Christ really is. Though we come from many ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds, though we come from different socio-
economic circumstances, though we run our churches differently, when we bow our heads or lift our hands in worship, when
we serve one another, we are one.

Ponder: Where have you seen an example of the unity of the body of Christ?

Pray: Ask God, as Jesus once asked, that we be one {John 17:11}, so that He may be
glorified and so that the world will know we belong to Him.

Week 9: Serving With Varied Gifts

 {Day 5} Stewards

Read: 1 Peter 4: 10; Matthew 25: 14 – 30

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its
various forms.” (NIV)

“For {the kingdom of heaven} will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them
his property.” (ESV)

The kingdom of Gondor, with its beautiful, shining, white capitol city, Minas Tirith, was awaiting the return of her
king. In the king’s absence, the Stewards had been acting in his behalf. It seems, at first, that the Stewards had
ruled justly – the country had prospered, remained at peace, kept its buildings and walls in repair, and produced
many strong warriors. But many generations had passed, and it seemed as if their succession of kings had failed.
The Stewards began to grab more power and to forget that they held the kingdom in trust for the true king. Under
the Stewardship of Denethor II, Gondor ignored the growing threat of evil that loomed in the adjacent kingdom of
Mordor and failed to prepare for battle when it became apparent. Having grown content in his role as ruler,
Denethor refused to believe the true king of Gondor had finally been located and would be returning to his throne.
When he finally relented and consented for his army to engage the invading forces of Mordor, he stayed behind
and gorged on delicacies as his poorly-equipped and sorely outnumbered army rode out to their certain deaths
with his son Faramir at their head.

This scene from J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novel, The Return of the King, paints a vivid picture of Jesus’ Parable of
the Talents.

In Jesus’ parable, He says that in God’s kingdom, the king (Jesus) will go away for a while. In his absence, he leaves
stewards in charge of his kingdom. He assigns tasks to them and gives them means to accomplish those tasks,
according to the ability he sees in each one. The king wants to know that his kingdom is in good hands and that he
will see a large return on his investments in the stewards. To a steward that shows great potential, he gives a large
sum of money (which we can equate here with spiritual gifts); to another, he gives a middling amount; to the third,
he gives a small amount. The first two stewards set to work right away, using their gifts to grow their master’s
kingdom. They work as if they expect their king’s return at any moment and they use every bit of the gifts the king
had invested in them. The third steward, though he had received a gift like the others, foolishly hides it. He doesn’t
invest in anyone or anything that will help or expand the kingdom.

At the return of the king, which Stewards will be commended?

Those that invest in the expansion and protection of the kingdom using their gifts will be rewarded with more
responsibilities and will thrill to the sound of their king’s voice saying, “Well done!”

Ponder: What kind of return has God gotten on His investment in you as a steward
of His kingdom?

Pray: Ask God to help you be a good steward of the gifts He has given you.