Talk- w/c 14/2/11

Ways in which God’s undeserved kindness is expressed based on (1 Pet 4:10)

(See lesson no. 23 in Ministry book)

Read 1Pet4:10:

There are two aspects to this scripture- we are the recipients of underserved kindnesses in the form
of various gifts; and we have to share these gifts with others.
We will consider some of these gifts and how we can share them below.

Although the scripture here is referring to ‘a’ gift, we are in fact the recipients of many gifts from
Jehovah. We can list a few of them below and then go on to discuss them in turn:

1. The hope of everlasting life through the ransom sacrifice of Christ Jesus (Rom 6:23)
2. Our innate physical and mental abilities
3. The Christian congregation
4. The shepherds in the Christian congregation

The scripture says that we are ‘stewards’ of the gifts that we have been given- most dictionaries
describe a steward in this sense as someone who manages another persons money or property.
Therefore we are not the owners of the gifts we have been given but are holding them on trust to be
used in Jehovah’s service, since he is the one who gave them us.

The first gift we mentioned above was the….. And this gift like every other is not to be kept to
ourselves, but like all the others we have to share it, and the way in which we do that is by telling
others about the availability of that gift for themselves. We have to tell others about Jehovah and
his undeserved kindness and gift of everlasting life.

The second gift, we can consider is our innate physical and mental abilities, we all various physical,
mental and spiritual abilities, and at 1 Cor 12:4-8, we are told that all these abilities like the parts of
the human body are to be used for the wellbeing of the congregation. Some have gifts of teaching,
public speaking and so on (not me obviously!) and these must be used to build up the congregation.

Another gift is the Christian congregation, by this provision Jehovah allows us to associate with
fellow believers who contribute to building up our faith and provide help of all sort when we need
it. We show appreciation for this gift by making use of it, and that is by simply making sure that we
attend all meetings regularly.

The final gift we can look is what is described at Eph 4:8, where it says in part… ‘he gave gifts in
men’ and these gifts in men were to act as shepherds and teachers as described at Ep 4:11-12, and
for building up the body of Christ. Elders in the Christian congregation are truly a gift from
Jehovah, according to 1Thess 5:12, 13 they are ‘working hard’, all the time to ensure the smooth
functioning of the congregation. According to Isaiah 32:1, 2, they are also ‘a heavy crag in an
exhausted land’ meaning that they are there to console and assist us with our problems.

Brothers, from the above, we can see some of the ways in which Jehovah has provided his
undeserved kindnesses for us, what we need to do now is to ask ourselves what our own unique
gifts are and how we are using them to help our fellow Christians and to bring glory to Jehovah’s
name.