Motivational Gifts - Part 1

Motivational Gifts – Part 1

By Pastor Gary Wayne

Text: Romans 12:4-8, 1 Peter 4:10
1Ti 4:14 “Do not neglect the gift that is in you…”

I want to talk about gifts God has given us for today.

In the NT, there are three lists of gifts that fall into three different categories.
Last year, I did a 7-part series on the Manifestation gifts the Holy Spirit gives to believers listed in 1 Cor.12:8-10
In Eph.4:11 we have a list of gifts Jesus gave the church.
Then in Romans 12, there is a list of gifts I want to spend time on, called Motivational gifts.

This gift from God is the motivation behind my actions in life.
Our motivational gift was woven into us when God formed us.
It is the underlying driving force that causes you to do the things you do the way you do them. Some have referred to them as personality gifts.
Everything I do is colored by my primary motivational gift. It explains SO MUCH about my personality when I understand my giftings.

Everyone here as heard the sermons about how each one of us has been called to full time ministry.
But a huge problem is too often ministry is associated with what happens at church. And many don’t understand that your every day life is often your ministry.

Ministry simply mean “service as unto the Lord.”
But that also can be cloaked in “churchey” understanding. “Christianese.”

I love how practical the illustrations Paul uses explain spiritual things.
Ver.4.

We all look different, and we all have different functions, yet God causes us to fit together in one body. Every part of the body has a function, every part is IMPORTANT. So the body as a whole “functions”, as each part operates in their personal “function.”

So where do I fit? What is my part, my function?
Being part of the body means being attached and functioning in your purpose.

Of the 7motivational gifts, one is the most dominate in you. It’s kind of like someone throwing you a tennis ball and your knee jerk reaction is to catch it with your dominate hand. Left or right.

You are dominate with one of these 7, but you can also relate and be strong with one of the other gifts, and maybe 3 of them. Your motivations towards life.

Seven Motivational Gifts:
Perceiver – are the eyes of the body. Service – the hands of the body.
Teacher – the mind of the body. Giving – the arms of the body.
Exhortation – the mouth. Leading – the head of the body.
Mercy – the heart of the body of Christ.

Let me explain them using a story I got from Charles Stanley.
Seven friends, each of whom jus happen to have different motivational gifts are at a friends home for dinner. After dinner the hostess is bringing the cake to the table when she trips, and cake goes everywhere.

Here is how each of the seven respond based on their different gifting.

Perceiver = This is what happens when you are not careful. You should have paid better attention. They give their opinion, speak their mind. Their motivation is to help correct the problem.

Teacher = The reason she fell is the tray was off balanced. One must always maintain balance.

Servant = doesn’t say anything, they just hop up and find cleaning supplies to help fix the mess. They don’t care that they don’t get cake now.

Exhortation = next time, we could just serve ourselves. But you know what, looking at us, we don’t really need dessert. It’s ok, we don’t need cake.

Giver = doesn’t say anything, just grabs their keys and runs to the store to buy a new cake. They want to help fix the problem.

Leader = starts organizing the people to help fix the problem. They start communicating to the others what they should do to solve the problem.

Mercy = They get on the floor in the middle of the cake mess and hug the lady, making sure she was ok. “Are you all right? It’s not your fault.” They don’t care about the cake; they care about the person.

Each motivational gift causes a different knee-jerk reaction to help fix the problem. As they work together as a group – as the body - the problem is quickly and efficiently solved.

Ro 12:6 “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them…”
Our gathering here will function better when we all work together.
Your gift is not just for you, it is more for others.