Thank you for joining today as we seek God’s wisdom together. Let us begin with prayer.
“Lord Jesus, I ask that you take the words in this blog and breathe life into them. Apart from your anointing they are just words on a page. I ask that you quicken our hearts to hear, see, and act upon what you are trying to teach us by the Power of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Romans 12: 3-8 (NLT).
“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give you each this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluations of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. 6In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So, if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.”
A long passage indeed. However, after much consideration I feel as though the Spirit is leading me to teach on it all at once. So, without further ado: Let's explore the scriptures together and find out What the Word is Saying!
Romans 12 :3-8 can be broken down into three parts. First in verses 3 and 4 Paul is first admonishing us to keep our pride in check and to recognize our place and mission within the Body of Christ. Secondly, verses 5-8 outline some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit God has poured out upon us. We each have a role to fill, and we are encouraged to fulfill it. Lastly, the end of verse 8 Paul tells us if we have kindness (some versions of the bible say mercy) we are to give and show it to each other. I will attempt to look at each section separately and then bring it back together at the end.
In Romans 12: 3-4 Paul is warning us to not think so highly of ourselves. Pride is an issue for most of us. It is a difficult line to cross between taking satisfaction for what we do and accomplish and staying humble in the process. However, that is exactly what we are supposed to do. Really it is a matter of perspective that we need to have. The power to do things come from the Lord. Apart from Him we can do nothing. The gifts we receive function through the Power of the Holy Spirit working in us. We do not have the power we are merely channeling what God is doing. Therefore, it is imperative that we keep that perspective. Unless we do, we will become proud of what God is accomplishing through us and the slope to taking credit for the work is not far behind it. What are those gifts? We will look at that next.
Romans 5-8 list the some of the gifts that are bestowed upon us such as: prophesy, service, teaching, encouragement, giving, leadership, and kindness. Each of these gifts are given to individuals for the purpose of the body of Christ as a whole. Those with the gift of prophesy exercise their gift to provide warnings, exhortations, and encouragement to individuals or to the church as a whole for the purpose of strengthening the members until Christ returns. Service or ministry as it is called in the NIV is the gift of hospitality in a nutshell. These people have a gift for working behind the scenes and doing the work that must be done in preparation for the community gatherings or in service to those who need help. Teaching is the gift of dissecting God’s word and making it relevant and applicable for the lives of those they teach. Giving is providing the funds and needs such as meeting places for the body to gather in. Leadership is the gift given to those who will direct and lead a portion of the body of Christ. An important aspect to this is the ability to shepherd the flock. Although it may include prophesy and teaching it is more about keeping the flock together and meeting their daily spiritual needs. All these gifts are given by God to the body to work together in unity to do the mission that Jesus left for us to do.
We cannot fulfill the mission to reach the world with the gospel without each member of the body performing its function. Money given by givers pays for mission trips, church buildings, and salaries of church staff. Exhorters are essential to reach out to those members in the body that are struggling. Be it the need for comfort and encouragement or instruction or warnings about behaviors that need to be changed and surrendered to the Lord. Each of the gifts are essential to the work Jesus wants to do in us and through us. Last of all is the gift of kindness or mercy as it is rendered in the NASB.
I left kindness and mercy for last as Paul did because I believe it is the one gift all of us should strive to have. Being merciful is a trait Jesus showed to everyone who came to Him. He exalted the sick, the weary, the poor, and the downtrodden. What others saw as weakness Jesus showed was being a direct reflection of the Spirit of God. We can’t do any of the above gifts without mercy. We will not give with a joyful heart, we will not prophesy in humility, we will not teach with love so that the hearers can feel the mercy God has for them, Lastly, we cannot lead the body without seeing it through the Lords eyes. Our Savior was merciful, we need to reflect that to each other. I think too often we stunt the work of God with the way we act towards each other. Be it interdenominational or on a personal level. We are quick to find fault with each other and that is wrong. Jesus said first remove the log out of your own eye before you attempt to remove the twig from another. That means that we should be aware that we were saved by the grace of God. We may not have committed the same wrongs but to a holy God we are just as deserving of death. However, by the grace and mercy of God we have been saved from our sins and therefore we should show that same mercy to each other.
If you have not yet committed your life to Jesus, I encourage you to do so now. Pray this prayer: “Jesus I confess that you are lord of all, I believe you died on a cross and those rose from the dead three days later. I confess to you that I am a sinner and ask you to forgive me and change my heart and life. In Jesus Name, Amen.” If you prayed that prayer, I want you to take a step of faith and contact us so that we might point you in the right direction on your journey with Him. For those of us that are feeling convicted about our pride, our lack of mercy, and failure to be a proper reflection for Jesus to others I have good news. You need only pray and ask for forgiveness and for Him to take out that heart of stone and replace it with one of flesh to His glory.
It has been a pleasure for me to dig into the word of God with you today. Believe me when I say I can do nothing apart from Jesus, but I am grateful He has seen fit to use me in spite of myself. See you tomorrow when we will attempt to again see What the Word is Saying to us.
"Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved."
Where noted NASB: “Scripture quotations taken from the NASB (New American Standard Bible) Copyright 1971, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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