WEEK 4 | EMPOWERMENT
04 EMPOWERMENT
In this final session, we will look at our third and final value:
We each use our gifts as God empowers.
Remember that these values describe who we desire to be as we seek to pursue our mission. So as we seek to glorify God by finding life in Jesus together and inviting others to do the same, we recognize that this invites and challenges us to find and use the gifts that God has given to each of us for this very purpose.
READ
Ephesians 4:7–16
YOU ARE GIFTED
There are so many blessings that we receive through the gospel. Each of these blessings—things like forgiveness of our sins, the promise of eternal life, and our healed relationship with God—is enough to fill our hearts with wonder and praise. One gospel-blessing that we often neglect, however, is the reality that God's Spirit "indwells" or "fills" us and begins to move and work in and through us.
It's amazing to think that God speaks to us. It's far more than we deserve that God has acted in love on our behalf to reconcile our broken relationship with him. But our third value calls our attention to the remarkable truth that God himself works on us from the inside out!
Ephesians 4:7–16 explains that God has given his grace to us, and that at least in part that grace takes the form of "gifts" that he gives to each of us, his children. This looks like the Spirit of God working in us for supernatural empowerment. This is only made possible by Jesus' sacrificial death and his powerful resurrection to new life. On the basis of that good news, he plants his supernatural power within us and begins working to bless and strengthen the people around us through this "gifting."
In addition to the gifts that God gives to each of his children, Paul explains in verse 12 that God also gifted certain individuals—apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers—to the church. Why all these gifts? He explains that these gifts and these gifted people are gifted to the church so that we can do the work of ministry. In other words, all of God's gifts and all of the people God gifts to the church are given so that we would be empowered to follow Jesus and help others follow him as well.
The whole point is building people up to look more like Jesus, and Paul states in verse 16 that the goal of a mature church family will only be achieved when EVERY PART is active. This means that until each member of our Creekside family is actively utilizing the supernatural empowerment that God says he has placed in each of us by his Spirit, we will not be functioning as God designed us to! That's a big statement, and it highlights how important our third value is.
WE NEED YOU
The reality is, we have a job to do, and we need every person that God has equipped and called for that job to do what he has made them to do. Perhaps you've had opportunities in Creekside or a different church to use the gifts that God has given you. That's amazing! We want to pour fuel on that fire so that you can continue using those gifts to serve our church family and our community. Maybe you've never had the opportunity to use your God-given gifts. Maybe you've never been able to pinpoint what those gifts are, or maybe you've never considered that you might have a supernatural empowerment at all! If so, we want to help empower you to find and use those gifts so that you can help empower the rest of us and our entire community to experience life in Jesus!
Remember that this is God's design for his church. Sometimes we've looked at certain members of our church family and have dismissed their gifts as unimportant (1 Corinthians 12:21). On the other hand, sometimes we have downplayed the importance of our own gifts and taken ourselves "out of the game," so to speak (1 Corinthians 12:15–16). When we commit either of these errors, we miss God's design and essentially cripple the church.
So as a church family, we want to empower one another to use our gifts, recognizing that the true empowerment comes from God himself. This often looks like a process of discipleship whereby we help each other take stock of our unique abilities and interests and find ways to actively participate in what God is doing in our church family, in our community, and around the world.
And it's important to state it once again, all of this happens in active dependence on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
As we wrap up this final session, please remember that this FOLLOW study is intended to help us take stock of what it means to follow Jesus. Before you discuss this final session with your FOLLOW partner, ask yourself these three questions:
1. Will you follow Jesus? This question ties us back to our GOSPEL value: Are you willing to be shaped by the gospel in everything?
2. How will you follow Jesus? This question ties us back to our EMPOWERMENT value: Are you seeking to use your gifts as God empowers?
3. Who will you invite and invest in so they can follow Jesus? This question ties us back to our INVITATION value: Are you fostering a culture of love and invitation?
And after asking these questions, if you find yourself wondering what it actually looks like to follow Jesus, remember our mission statement:
We seek to glorify God by finding life in Jesus together and inviting others to do the same.
PROCESS & DISCUSS
1. Have you seen any great examples of people using their God-given gifts to bless people inside and outside of the church? What does that look like?
2. What gifts has God given you? (If you're not certain about this, read through 1 Corinthians 12:7–11 and Romans 12:4–8 and see if any of the gifts listed there resonate with you. If you're still not sure, wonder out loud about what you can do better than many other people.)
3. What are some next steps you could take to start using your gifts within the Creekside family? Is there anyone you could partner with to do this?
4. What are some next steps you could take to start using your gifts in your community? Is there anyone you can partner with to do this?