Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11 NIV)
Peter’s message in this passage is directed at all believers. This includes the ones who seem insignificant just as much as it does the most visible and seemly important. No one is excluded. However, many who read this passage on spiritual gifting do not believe that it applies to them. They have a skewed understanding, thinking that only those who have visible leadership positions are gifted.
But that is simply not true. God’s grace is poured out on all believers. Not just saving grace. But also grace that enables us to serve him within the body of Christ. It is by God’s grace that I am able to write. It is God’s grace that enables you to work in the nursery or teach children. And it is God’s grace that enables you to lead in worship or to clean up after a fellowship time. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, the Holy Spirit gifts each of us as he chooses, for the common good. No one is excluded.
Being a Faithful Steward
Peter calls on each of us to be faithful stewards of God’s grace. When we think of stewardship, all too often we limit it to giving our money to the church. But that is not at all what Peter has in mind here. A steward was a servant whose master had entrusted him with something to manage. An example of this is the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. In this parable, the master entrusted a certain amount of money to three servants to invest and manage. And, in the end, they were called to give an account of their management.
In this case, we have been entrusted with God’s grace in the form of gifting for service. He has given it to us to serve his church. And he expects each of us to be faithful in the administration of that grace, the gifts he has given us. So be a faithful steward of that grace. Don’t hide what you have been entrusted with, whatever it may be. But use it and grow it in service to God.
