Exodus 2: 1-10; Romans 12: 1-8
I read a story recently about a guy who could talk his way out of anything. It was his talent. Any trial, trouble, or situation, he could get himself out of it just with the sheer brilliance of his rhetorical skills. One night, however, he faced an insurmountable problem. He had been to dinner and had availed himself of a few glasses of a certain communion element that was NOT grape juice. Having weaved back and forth across the center line, he was pulled over. Unfortunately, he had taken some of his beverage to go in a water bottle. When the offer asked what was in the bottle, he told the officer it was water. Upon examining the liquid, the officer spat it out, and said, “Sir! This is wine!” The guy replied, “Praise the Lord, he’s done it again!” He went straight to jail.
Perhaps we should be careful how we use our talents at times. What I want you to remember most from this sermon is this: as long as you have breath in your body, you are gifted by God. Romans 12 tells us that through grace, God has given each of us gifts. Now Romans makes a little list here: prophecy, service, teaching, encouragement, generosity, leadership, and kindness. However, this is not necessarily an exhaustive list. It’s a list of things Paul relied on in his church development. However, we may have all kinds of different gifts, and many combinations of gifts. If we have breath in our body, we are gifted by God.
The point of a gift is to use it. And as people of God, we are to use our gifts for the glory of God and good of humanity. In doing so, we show our love of God and our love of neighbor. But Paul takes it a step further in Romans. To use our gifts for God is transformative in our lives and others. I think we see it too narrowly, sometimes. We think we have to use our abilities directly for the church, but Paul doesn’t say do it just in the confines of a church service.
Using our gifts for God’s glory means we take what we’ve been given and use it outside of here to transform the world. Perhaps in leadership, we help guide a non-profit. As teachers we may use our abilities to inspire and uplift children (or adults). As people with generosity, we may work to donate what we can to a place that serves the unhoused or food insecure. If we are gifted with service and encouragement, perhaps we lift up those who are struggling or those who feel unwelcome or marginalized by the church.
What God gives us is meant to our own small power to follow Jesus in transforming some part of the world or community in which we live. How do we know this? Paul pleads with us to give ourselves to God as an offering because the work God does in and through us is for God’s glory and is holy work. We are never closer to God than when we are willing and open enough to let God work through us to live, and serve, and love like Jesus did. And sometimes, that can happen whether we realize we are doing it or not.
A friend of mine who grew up in the faith has since left it behind due to some hurts and wounds that have never been healed. Yet in her legal work, she has been a fierce defender of abused women and children and fought against family violence for women who are both rich and poor, and who come from all walks of life. God is using her skills and abilities to help and transform others, even if she doesn’t realize or acknowledge it. But God is also patiently waiting for her to come back when faith once again feels more like a warm hug rather than a waiting dagger.
Paul talks about this waiting transformation in verse 2: “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” When we realize how much good we can do, and how many blessings we can create in this world, we will understand how important this transformation of our life is. Whatever pain, whatever struggle, whatever old, unhealed broken places exist within your life and your life with the church, God’s love for you, and God’s desire to work in and through you have never changed.
When we allow God to transform our hearts and minds into a place of faithfulness, trust, and hope, we can use our own gifts to transform the lives of others. If we have breath in our bodies, then we are gifted by God to love and serve God and others.
Sometimes, we don’t even realize the gifts we have, or we become too hard on ourselves to think we can be useful in God’s kingdom. I’m too old, too tired, to jaded, too fearful of the world we live in, too anything to truly make a difference. But if we are tempted to say those things, I present to you Moses. Moses should never have survived infancy given Pharaoh’s cruel edict to kill the children. But he did survive. Moses claimed he was unworthy to lead, too shy, ungifted at speech. When God called him to use his talents, he begged and shouted for God to go to anyone else. But God knew Moses’s capabilities, and God knew what incredible things could be done through Moses.
The same is true for us. Just as God kept moses safe from evil by putting him to work right in the midst of that same evil, so too, will God go with us when we trust and follow in putting our time, talents, and gifts to work. Having faith is a process of transformation. Moses did not do everything perfectly. Sometimes his anger got the best of him. Sometimes he said and did the wrong thing. But in and through all of this, God still worked with him and brought him back to the incredible path of leadership, transformation, and redemption God had planned. It was through this most unlikely of characters that God saved the entire Hebrew people from Pharaoh’s cruelty and led them to a home and promised land.
What gifts has God given us? Some of us have musical and artistic skills. Some of us have gifts of encouragement and service. Some of us have gifts of kindness and generosity. Some of us also have the gifts to lead with strength and responsibility and to speak prophetically with wisdom Most folks probably are most unwilling to admit those last two. But we cannot deny how much and how powerfully God can use our gifts. If a plant sits in the dark, it dies. If a plant sits in the sun it burns up. But if a plant gets sunlight, water, good soil and a wise gardener, it will thrive, and it will become a blessing both to the gardener, and to others who encounter it.
One of the hardest parts of faith is the places where we feel like we’ve failed. I sometimes get a little sad thinking of those who I tried to help and couldn’t. Some had mental health problems that were beyond what I knew how to help with. Some had too many wounds to find their way back to faith. Some were too unhappy with “church” to accept what following Jesus really means. Some walked away because faith was too hard. And for some, it’s like the old saying, “God can’t save you from the demons you’re still in love with.” It’s easy to feel like we have failed God and our loved ones when this has happened.
But the truth is that it is God who transforms hearts and minds. Our work is to introduce folks to who God is by following Jesus with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and by using out gifts and talents as God leads us. Just as God has worked in and through us to transform our lives, so too can God’s love and grace transform others. Paul’s writings, though sometimes a bit tough, come down to one key point and especially in Romans: there is nothing as powerful, transformative, and overwhelmingly accepting and hopeful as God’s never-ending love for us. And if we follow Jesus, we too, can use our gifts to change the world because remember this one thing: as long as there is breath in our bodies, we are gifted by God. So go out and use your God-given gifts to change the world.
Worship Service Video https://fb.watch/JdyPDde7HC/