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Read 1 Corinthians 12:3 – 13 (NIV)
 
Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day when we, as the church, recognize and celebrate the gift of God’s Holy Spirit that manifested among God’s people… an event which we read about in Acts 2.  It was the day that the Scriptures tell us the believers were all gathered together in one room… when they heard the sound of a rushing wind… and saw what appeared to be tongues of fire. 
 
And although the people who were gathered in that room came from different nations and spoke different languages… all of them heard and understood the message being delivered to them… which meant that none of them had any difficulty in understanding Peter as he quoted the prophet Joel: 

In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.  And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.  The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:17 – 21).

They were all together and they received the gift of God’s Holy Spirit.
 
Now as we reflect on our text for the morning from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church… we are reminded that we are one in the Spirit… and that the Spirit has endowed us with different gifts… and so for our time together on this Pentecost Sunday, I want to preach from this thought… USE YOUR GIFTS. 
 
The gifts and talents that each of us have been blessed with come from God and are to be used for His glory.  These gifts and talents have been given to us so that we can complement and complete one another when we come together as the body of Christ to be a blessing to one another and to all of God’s people.
 
They have not been given to us so that we can compare, contrast or compete with one another… that is absolutely not what God intended for us to do. 
 
Now the text speaks of different spiritual gifts that have been given to us by the Holy Spirit.  And these gifts are not just for a select few… they are for everyone.  Listen to verses 4 – 11 as they are found in the Message Paraphrase:

Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:
 
wise counsel
clear understanding
simple trust
healing the sick
miraculous acts
proclamation
distinguishing between spirits
tongues
interpretation of tongues.
 
All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

Quite some time ago, I came across a quote, “Life is God's gift to us. How we live it is our gift to God.”  We have been given life for a reason… so make sure that you USE YOUR GIFTS.
 
Unfortunately, there are some folks who take life for granted… they don’t see life as the blessing that it is because they have been faced with one challenge after another… which can make it difficult to find value in this thing called life.
 
But I am reminded of something a very dear colleague of mine said at a conference I was attending.  You have probably heard me share this before… but he listed 10 compelling reasons for us to give God praise every day:

1. He woke you up this morning.
2. He woke you up this morning.
3. He woke you up this morning.
4. He woke you up this morning…

And while Rev. Dr. Valentino Lassiter passed away back in 2015… his message to the conference attendees many years ago is just as pertinent today as it was back when I first heard him say it.
 
The fact of the matter is that every day that we wake up on this side of heaven we have a reason to give God praise.  And we can add to that… the fact that the scriptures tell us that every day that we wake up on that side of heaven will be even more reason to give God praise.
 
So, we should never take any day for granted… every day is a day of thanksgiving and a reason for us to give God praise.
 
And so, as we look at our text, let us keep in mind that each day that has been gifted to us is a day to praise God and to USE YOUR GIFTS to glorify God. 
 
Now someone might be thinking, that sounds good… but I don’t really have any gifts to use… I am just a basic, ordinary person with no special talent to speak of.
 
Well, let me reassure you, God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  Don’t believe me?  Let me give you a couple examples…
 
Remember Moses?  He was a stutterer… and yet God gifted him with the ability to speak to the masses and lead the children of Israel to the Promised Land.  God used him to deliver the Ten Commandments which still provide us with guidance and direction for everyday living. 
 
And God also used him to write the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – which are often referred to in Christian churches as the Pentateuch… and which are more commonly referred to in the Jewish religious tradition as the Torah.  
 
Not bad for a guy who was scared to even say the first word to the children of Israel… so, be like Moses... USE YOUR GIFTS.
 
Not convinced?  Need another example?
 
How about Rahab?  She was a woman of ill-repute… but God gifted her with a spirit of wisdom and discernment which she used to protect the spies that Joshua sent to check out the land.
 
And because she protected Joshua’s spies from the king of Jericho, not only her life, but the lives of all her family were spared as well.
 
And what’s so special about that?  Well, Rahab went on to give birth to a son named Boaz… who married a woman named Ruth… who gave birth to a son named Obed.  And Obed had a son named Jesse… who in turn fathered several sons… eight to be exact.  You are probably most familiar with his youngest son… his name was David. 
 
You know David.  He was a man who lied, cheated, committed adultery and had a man killed to cover up his own deceit. You know, David… a man who did a whole lot of crazy, foolish things like the rest of us ordinary people do… but a man who God used to do some extraordinary things.
 
You know, David… the man who went on to become the king of Israel… David, the man who will forever be known as a man after God’s own heart… David, the writer of many of the Psalms that we continue to read for encouragement and instruction to this day.
 
Okay, so maybe you are thinking to yourself… that’s all well and good… but all those folks lived back in biblical times. 
 
So, can I tell you about an ordinary man who failed in business… had a nervous breakdown… and ran for office and lost no less than eight different times? 
 
That ordinary man who went on to become the sixteenth president of the United States… his name was Abraham Lincoln.
 
Still too far back in history for you?
 
How about a man who was fired as the CEO of his own company for being a bad manager?  That same man went on to achieve major success in several other business ventures and ultimately came back to be the CEO of the company he originally co-founded and had been fired from. 
 
Perhaps you have heard of him… or perhaps you have one of his products in your pocket or purse.  Anyone have an iPhone, an iPad or an iPod?  Then, just maybe you will recognize the name, Steve Jobs.
 
The long and short of it is that God has given each one of us different gifts that we ought to be using for God’s glory. 
 
Now, some people have had greater success at identifying what those gifts are and how to use them to a greater degree than others… while there are some folks that are still trying to figure out what their particular gifts might be. 
 
But rest assured, whatever the case may be for you… you are gifted and God desires for you to USE YOUR GIFTS to be a blessing to the kingdom.
 
But if we are being honest… there are times when we may feel insecure in our gifts… we may think that we are not as gifted as someone else… or believe that our gifts are not of any real importance to anyone else. 
 
But I remember something that my grandfather told me when I was younger… he said it didn’t matter what I grew up to be… just as long as I did my best at whatever I did.  He said that even if I was going to flip burgers, I should be the best burger flipper I could be.
 
And that ought to be our encouragement today… to do our very best to use whatever gifts we have been given.
 
Now, it wasn’t until I was much older that I discovered that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. must have been listening in to my grandfather’s words of encouragement as well.  After all, in his 1967 speech entitled “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” Dr. King said:

…if it falls one’s lot to be a street sweeper, he should at that moment seek to sweep streets like Michelangelo carved marble, like Rafael painted pictures. He should seek to sweep streets like Beethoven composed music or like Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should seek to sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper, and he swept his job well.”

Then he went on to say:

And I think this is what Douglas Malloch meant when he said, “If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley—but be the best little shrub on the side of the rill; be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway just be a trail, if you can’t be the sun be a star, for it isn’t by size that you win or you fail—be the best of whatever you are.” ("The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," Sermon Delivered at the Unitarian Church of Germantown | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute)

Life is God's gift to us. How we live it is our gift to God… so do your best and USE YOUR GIFTS.
 
We have been gifted for a purpose… which is to serve God and to serve the people of God… and let me just say this, there is plenty of work for each of us to do.  There are plenty of opportunities for us to use our gifts and talents for the benefit of God’s kingdom… so let me say it again… USE YOUR GIFTS.
 
And it’s important to note that none of us is more important than anyone else in the eyes of the Lord… regardless of title or position.  In fact, if we were to read further down in 1 Corinthians 12 (22 – 27), we would find these verses:

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”   On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Simply put… we all have a part to play… and we all need to USE OUR GIFTS.
 
Because from the boiler room to the board room and every room in between… there is no shortage of work for us to do.  And make no mistake… from the custodian to the CEO… everyone has a job to do and a role to play… and it takes all of us working together for us to truly be successful… so USE YOUR GIFTS.
 
And that brings to mind something I read years ago in Chicken Soup for the Soul.  I couldn’t put my hands on the hardcopy of the book… so I had to do a search on the Internet to find the story which is credited to a woman named Joanne Jones. 
 
Now I cannot say for sure if it is actually a true story, but then again, they can’t put anything on the Internet that isn’t true… right?
 
Anyway, the story which is entitled, “The Cleaning Lady,” goes like this:

During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. "Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say 'Hello'."
 
I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. (The Cleaning Lady)

Now some of you have probably heard me share that story before… because it was a lesson that I personally took to heart… which is why back in June of 1998, I made it a point to learn the name of the part-time custodian who cleaned the church on Sundays.  But I did not simply learn his name… eventually, I took his name.
 
That’s right.  One of the greatest blessings in my life came as a result of learning a very important lesson… in one’s career, in one’s church, in one’s life, we will meet many people… and ALL of them are significant.
 
You are significant.  You are important.  And you matter to God.
 
Life is God's gift to us. How we live it is our gift to God… so make it a point to USE YOUR GIFTS.
 
And for anyone here today who has a desire to use your gifts for the glory of God, I want to invite you to stand now and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: Take My Life (v. 1, 5, 6) #609