Romans 12:3-8

Serving God with your Spiritual Gifts

Welcome!

Would you open your Bibles to...Romans 12:1-8

Rom. 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Rom. 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Rom. 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Rom. 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,

Rom. 12:5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Rom. 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

Rom. 12:7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;

Rom. 12:8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Pray

Intro

√ We've established with our study of verses 1 & 2 that in light of all that God has done for us…

…the only reasonable response is to present our very lives to Him as a living sacrifice.

Great theological concept! But, now it's time to get practical!

That is, we might ask the question…

"How is that the Christian is to actually live out the idea of being a 'living sacrifice'?"

…to which Paul now lays out great practical instructions for us to do just that!

Ap. Note that I didn't say "practical advise"!

Please understand that as we study the remainder of the chapter that this is God's word to us as to how we are to…

Use our gifts in His service

Behave as Christians

Treat one another

Think about one another

Relate to governing authorities (church or state)

While we can each chose to ignore, or reject, the instruction of God's word - understand that you're saying "no" to God's will for your life.

More than that, to do so will be to miss out on the intimate fellowship Jesus desires that we share with Him.

That's because we'll discover the closest fellowship to Christ is found in the place of obedience.

Ex. When a child willfully disobeys his parents - it puts a wall between them that keeps them from experiencing the joy of mom and dad's snuggle.

No place for pride (vs. 3)

Rom. 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

√ It's a message for everyone!

"to everyone who is among you"- vs. 3

Kind of all-inclusive isn't it!

The point, that Paul's instructions here apply to every Christian. We don't get to opt out with some excuse or another.

No, these instructions apply to everyone of us! Notice the first thing he tells us not to do…

"not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith"

The very first thing that Paul tells us regarding the practical working out of what it means to be a "living sacrifice" is that we must get rid of pride.

√ Pride?

Essentially pride could be defined as "thinking of oneself" before, and above all others.

Note Paul's instruction, a person is…

"not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think"

That is the definition of an arrogant person is:

A person who has an exalted opinion of themselves.

A person who tends to think like Job's friends that "wisdom will die with me"!

A person who believes their opinion or preference is always right and always the best!

Note however that Paul doesn't say…

"Don't think about yourself"

…rather he says…

" but"

That is to say - contrasted to the person with an exalted opinion of themselves we ought to:

" think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith"

Isn't that interesting!?

True humility (the opposite of pride) is not defined as never thinking of yourself…

…rather, true humility is having a Godly - sober minded - estimation of yourself and the gifts that God has given you.

Ex. False humility

Walk up to Kurt Werner and tell him what a great football player he is. If he says…

"Oh, gosh - stop it - I'm not really very good"

…that's baloney! That's false humility because you and he both know that the facts are that he's a great quarterback.

Ex. True humility

Same situation and this time he says…

"Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement as I've worked hard to develop the gift that God has given me."

That's for real. He acknowledges the gifting in his life - and at the same time is gracious enough not to be a braggart.

√ Let's apply that thought to the Christian experience.

The Body of Christ (vs. 4-5)

Rom. 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,

Rom. 12:5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

√ The Body of Christ

Paul uses the human body to illustrate the relationship that Christians have with one another.

A human being is a single entity made up of many parts working together in harmony for the common good of the body.

Each part is essential to a properly functioning body.

Each part is different, yet, each part is necessary.

Ex. Paul's illustration in I Cor. 12

1Cor. 12:14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.

1Cor. 12:15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?

1Cor. 12:16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?

1Cor. 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?

Isn't that a great mind-picture! J

√ The greatest danger to the body

When a single cell begins to replicate itself without regard to the rest of the body…

…we call that cancer.

The spiritual application = pride is to the Body of Christ what cancer is to the human body.

When a person, of people, within a church begin go see their God-given gift as more important than the other gifts - then you've got a body that is ineffective for Christ.

Ex. The discipels - always arguing about who was the greatest.

The reason is that our human nature is sin-tainted - it's focus is on self preservation…

…not self sacrifice!

What God wants Christians to know is that to be an effective witness for Him begins with an honest look at ourselves and the recognition that we will be ineffective in the work of the Lord without each other!

√ One of Satan's top priorities is to make the Body of Christ dysfunctional by breaking the unity of the believers.

It's the old proverb…

"If you can't beat em - join em!"

When the Body of Christ is working together there is nothing that Satan can do externally to stop them.

So, he moves in.

He breeds discord by inflaming the pride that is laying dormant in our hearts so that we begin to think of…

Ourselves

Our church

Our way of worship

…more highly than we have the right to think!

Ap. The truth is that we need one another!

Every gift is important - every member is important.

Ex. Kurt Werner is nothing without an offensive line!

√ So, how do we work together as a Body?

Serving the Body of Christ (vs. 6-8)

Rom. 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

Rom. 12:7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;

Rom. 12:8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

√ Use your gift!

We work together as the Body of Christ when we use our God-given gifts to serve one another.

This is not a complete list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit - for additional study check out…

I Cor. 12:4-11

I Cor. 12:28

Eph. 4:11-12

…we did an exhaustive study (can you image!?) on the gifts of the Holy Spirit the Summer of 2000 - get the tapes.

√ Types of the Spiritual Gifts

The Bible speaks about 20 or so different gifts which break down roughly into 3 classifications of gifts:

Ministering gifts:

Apostle

Evangelist

Pastor

Teacher

Exhorter

Discernment of spirits

Word of wisdom

Word of knowledge

Serving gifts:

Giving

Ruling

Mercy

Faith

Sign gifts:

Prophecy

Healing

Miracles

Tongues

Interpreting tongues

Our goal this morning is not to define those gifts - check out those tapes!

Rather, the main point of Paul's message here is…

"Use them!"

Ex. The husband who tried to help his wife do laundry - what setting should I use? What's it say on the shirt?

"Just do it!"

√ Body ministry

Each person has a gift or gifts that they are called by God to use for the building of His Church and an effective witness to the world.

Our privilege is to discern what gifts(s) God has given us and then in faith begin to use them.

That's Biblical Christianity! But it often doesn't match up with people's expectations.

Ex. We're paying you - pastor - to do that!

Actually, the pastor-teachers job is to equip the saints to use their gifts!

Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

Eph. 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

Ex. The distribution of food to the widows in the Jerusalem church - Acts 6:1-7.

Ap. That's why so much of our ministry is dedicated to teaching God's word - to equip you to use your gifts to serve one another and thus build up the Body of Christ.

Christianity is a participation sport! If you're not participating then you're really not living the life that Jesus called you to.

Frankly, that's one of the problems with the Church today is that we've created a "consumer Christian" - who looks for a church that meets their needs rather than looking for the church where God would have them use their gifts.

Ex. The person who moves from church to church looking for the complete spiritual buffet where all their needs are catered to will never grow up in Christ.

Close

√ Be sober minded in your estimation of yourself.

√ Be gracious in your thinking toward other Christians…esteeming others more highly than yourself.

√ Use your gift wisely to serve one another.

√ If you don't know what your gift is - pray and ask God to show you. In the meantime, everyone can encourage one another, pray for one another, help one another, etc.