Lesson 35: God's Sovereignty Purifies Our Service

1 Corinthians 12:1-11 - "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills."

When God saves us, He saves us for more than sitting around because we have our fire insurance. He has something wonderful for us! He gives each born again Christian different kinds of gifts to serve Him with. One Christian gets one gift, another Christian gets another, and so on, and they are all meant for the strengthening of the Church.

The Bible also says that as Christians, we not only have the privilege to serve God with these gifts, but we can earn crowns to lay at His feet one day in heaven, out of love for Him. They are as follows:

Incorruptible Crown (the victor's crown)
Crown of Life (the martyr's crown)
Crown of Glory (the shepherd's or elder's crown)
Crown of Righteousness (the longing for Jesus crown)
Crown of Rejoicing (the soul winner's crown)


What a privilege it is to earn a crown, or several different crowns, to lay at Jesus’ feet! This does not mean one Christian is better than another or that when we get to heaven we will walk around bragging. Revelation 4 says we cast these crowns at His feet out of love and thankfulness for what He did for us! While we say serving God is a wonderful privilege, when it comes to serving in the church we think it optional! Often we choose not do it! Or worse yet, we do it with the wrong motive. We want recognition or thanks and quit when it is not there!

But difficulties come our way and we learn so we can either keep on complaining and quit when no one appreciates us, or we can have our motive cleansed by their bad behavior and keep moving forward. I do not condone other people's bad behavior but God's purpose in all this is freedom. He wants us motivated for Him alone because it does not matter what others do! Then we are free from criticism.

Ask yourself, "Is what I am doing a job or a ministry?"

A job is doing what no one else will - a ministry is doing it to serve the Lord.
A job doing enough to get by - a ministry is done to the best of your ability.
A job you quit because of criticism - a ministry you keep serving.
A job you quit if no one praised you - a ministry you do because it needs to be done.
A job is about success – a ministry is about faithfulness to God.

* What are you doing today for which you will hear Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant"?