Use Your Gifts to Serve Others

an Exhortation on 1 Peter 4:10-11 given on February 1, 2026

by Errol Klein

I have a question. What would you do if you found out the world was about to end? Maybe an asteroid was headed to earth, for example, destined to wipe out all life as we know it. What would you do?

Would you repent of your sins? Or would you try to commit as many new ones as possible? Would you go into your cell and pray? Or hide in your cell and weep? Would you spend quality time on the phone with your family or friends? Or would you try your hardest to convert those you most love who you know are unsaved? Would you want to jam out, giving praise to God with the worship team? Or maybe you’d prefer to eat 20 honeybuns?

How would you spend your last precious moments here on earth?

This morning we’ll be reading out of 1 Peter, chapter 4, verses 10 and 11:

“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 speak, 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.”

Verse 10 begins “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others…” some of you might be asking yourself, “But why? Why should I use my gift to serve others? It’s mine.” Well, earlier in the chapter, Peter had explained to the Church, “The end of all things is at hand, therefore … keep loving one another earnestly.” Peter then uses our verses to illustrate how a person can earnestly show their love for others.

So how are you preparing for the end? After all, it can come at any moment. If the end was at hand when Peter wrote these words, how much closer must we be two thousand years later!

But we Christians shouldn’t be preparing for the end like the world would, stocking up – last minute – hoarding canned goods, bottled water, and toilet paper. Instead, we should be preparing by investing daily in God’s kingdom, using our gifts to serve others. Stocking up on eternal treasure that will never spoil or fade. Or, as Peter puts it, “Live in the flesh no longer, for human passions, but for the will of God.”

Maybe you are thinking, “Okay. This sounds like a ploy to put me to work. You’re trying to scare me with end-of-the-world scenarios in order to get me to serve others. But what do I get out of this arrangement, other than some future unseen ‘treasure’?”

Well, I’m glad you asked. Have you in any way enjoyed the benefits of God’s grace? Most certainly you have. For the very gift you’ve received that you’re commanded to use, you’ve had to receive from somewhere, or rather, from someOne. This word “gift” in the original language is defined as a gift of grace, an undeserved benefit. And in the New Testament is used only as gifts and graces imparted from God, and specifically, of the gifts and abilities imparted to the early Christians by the Holy Spirit.

Thus, the gift you are desirous to hoard is really a benefit you don’t deserve. And although you do benefit from it, God expects you to use His gift for His purposes, for His glory, and not your own. This is what Peter means when he tells us to be faithful stewards of God’s grace. It is God’s gift. His gift is His grace. And His gift was given, not only to you, but to the Church. So, when you fail to serve your brothers and sisters using the gift you’ve been given, you are in all actuality stealing from them, and ultimate stealing from God.

Ask yourself: “Am I being a faithful steward of that which God has given me to exercise on His behalf?” I know many of you are, and we can praise God together for your faithful service. Hallelujah!

But perhaps you are wondering: What is my gift? What am I supposed to use to serve the Church?

Peter speaks of God’s grace as having various forms. There are many, many gifts that God has given His Church. Who here has been filled with the Holy Spirit? What a most blessed gift He is! In fact, God has given you all that you are and everything you have. So really, anything you use to serve others is a gift of God’s grace.

As one brother recently put it at prayer service, a Christian’s ministry could be almost anything: a ministry of encouragement, of singing, of prayer, even of hugs! Anything we do for a fellow believer that serves their interests or alleviates their suffering is a grace from God for that believer. Anything we do that gives another joy, pleasure or gratification, which in turn causes them to celebrate God’s goodness with praise, worship, and adoration, can be considered a gift from God.

But the greatest gift that God has given the Church is the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! All who are His have benefitted from Jesus’ perfect sacrifice. Plus, we can see God’s grace made manifest in countless ways as we read over the details of Jesus’ life. Jesus Himself said that He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

So how should we be living in these end times? Let us follow our Lord Jesus’ example. Let us serve in ways that glorify God not merely in word – though that is important – but also in deed. So, if you see someone suffering, or in need – or even if you are simply urged by the Holy Spirit to go and do something – do what Jesus would do: go, serve that person. Do it as unto the Lord. And consider it a gift of God’s grace to be able to be of service to one another. To God be the glory and the power for every and ever! Amen.