Read: Ephesians 4:7-16

You may have received gifts on your birthday. Maybe a new book or a new toy. It’s nice to receive gifts, isn’t it? But sometimes you don’t really need many of the gifts you receive. The Lord also gives you gifts, yet you do need all of these gifts! You need these gifts to serve the Lord and to serve others.

Verse 11 speaks about some of the different gifts God gives to people. Some he gives the gifts to be apostles, some teachers, some pastors. Now you might be too young to be a teacher or minister now, but you have still been given gifts by the Lord, that you must use to serve him. You may be good at organising things. You may be good at listening to your friends. You may have the gift of cheering others up when they are sad. You may be a good leader and be able to lead some of your friends. You may have a sensitive heart that helps you see when others are hurting, and so you are able to ask them how they are doing.

Notice that verse 16 says, “By which each part does its share.” Every single person in the church is needed.. If you think about your body, you have a nose, an ear, an eye, a foot, a heart, and lungs. These body parts are all very different, but each one is needed. If you didn’t have your lungs, you couldn’t breathe. If you didn’t have your heart you couldn’t have blood pumping around your body. Every single body part is needed to be a complete body. In the same way, everybody in the church is different, but every single person is needed. Nobody can say that they aren’t needed. God has put us all together, with our different gifts, to make one body, one church. Christ has given us gifts to share with others. So use the gifts that God has given you to serve him.

Reflection with your child:

What gifts do you have? If you aren’t sure, ask your parents or friends to help you work out what they are.

Source: Sermon by Dr. R. Bredenhof