I was talking to a Christian woman who told me of her frustration. Over the years this has been a common theme I’ve heard. She said, “I just can’t seem to live the Christian life the way I should. I am without victory or a sense of accomplishment because I struggle with the very simplest forms of obedience in my Christian walk. Can you help me? I’ve tried everything. I speak in tongues and have healings, I’ve prophesied and been slain in the spirit. Even though I’ve tried to get all I can out of God, I am not pleased with my life.” My answer almost immediately was, “that’s your problem. The key to spiritual victory is not getting all you can get but giving all you have. There’s a big difference.” People in so many cases are seeking all sorts of spiritual experiences to receive more out of God. But the issue is not what they need to receive but what they need to give.

That’s the essence of Ro 12:1-2, 3-5, 6-8. Paul just concluded 11 chapters of profound doctrine that defines what God has done for every believer, and he doesn’t say “here’s what you need to receive.” No! He says, “Now here’s what you need to give.” The key to powerful living is not that we receive more but that we give all we have.

In Joh 4:24, Jesus says the father seeks true worshipers. In (1Co 6:20), Paul says God redeemed us that we might give him glory. In fact, Paul identified Christians as those “who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Php 3:3). Peter said, “ye also, as living stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1Pe 2:5)

Christians are a kingdom of priests whose goal is to offer up spiritual sacrifices, even as priests of old offered up physical sacrifices before God. There are many kinds of spiritual sacrifices. Heb 13:15-16 says that our offering of praise and thanksgiving, as well as doing good works and sharing with others are sacrifices pleasing to him. But the supreme act of worship for a believer is to offer himself as a living sacrifice to God. Well, unfortunately that concept is quite distant from most of what is being purported as keys to spiritual living. Scripture doesn’t say that spiritual victory is a matter of affirming your self-worth or of seeking something more; it’s a matter of presenting yourself a living sacrifice. The truth of Ro 12:1-2 is the sum of eleven chapters of doctrine. It is not an arbitrary thought pulled out of the air. Sacrificial worship is the natural response of the Christian who realizes all that God has done for them. The supreme act of spiritual worship is giving back to God all that we are. That may not be easy, but it is necessary if we are ever to know the fullness of God’s blessing and be able to render to him the service due to him.

However, many Christians flirt with the world and with their fleshly desires. They become victims of the world’s philosophy and values, so they never make the total commitment discussed in those two verses of Romans. Consequently they forfeit the fullness of the blessing God would have for them. In the Old Testament, an Israelite would come to God bringing to the priest at the tabernacle or temple the animal he was going to sacrifice. The priest slew the animal and placed it on the altar as an offering to God. Sacrificing came to an end with the cross of Christ. God no longer requires animals be offered to him – but living men and women. Whereas the essential act of the Old Testament believer was presenting a sacrifice as an indication of the genuineness of his faith. The essential act of a new covenant or New Testament believer is presenting his or her heart, body, soul and spirit as a living sacrifice. That doesn’t mean; however, that the Old Testament believer was exempt from being a living sacrifice. The animal was a symbol of his life. God has always wanted us to present him with a lifetime of whole hearted service.

Let’s read a few versus to show this truth:

• 1Sa 15:22 - the answer to that rhetorical question is no. A dead animal was offered only as an outward symbol of the presentation of one’s heart and soul.
• Psa 51:17 - David said, ”the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, o God thou wilt no despise.”
• Psa 141:2 - David said, “let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice.”

 

In the New Testament, God calls only for the living sacrifice – a call to the dedication of oneself to his will. It is the only logical response to his redeeming work.

What does it mean to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice? That’s what we’ll see in (Ro 12:1-2) as it presents these four elements of a living sacrifice foundational to our spiritual experience. It’s the offering of a believers, body and soul, the soul being the mind will and emotions. So it’s the body, mind, will and emotions. So let’s start the lesson by examining these versus.

• It starts out by saying, “I beseech you…” The Greek word translated “beseech” (parakaleo) and it can mean “to come along side” or “to exhort with tenderness.” It’s on the one hand using the authority of an apostle and on the other the tenderness of a brother in Christ. I’ve use the term begging…I beg you brothers.
• He actually uses the word “brethren”. Paul’s use of the Greek word translated “brethren” implies a call to a regenerated soul, only those who know the lord can present themselves as a living sacrifice.

The starting point of offering yourself to God begins with first offering your soul to him. If your soul has not been born again, there’s no way you can properly respond to God. Nothing else can be offered if the soul hasn’t been offered. An unregenerate person cannot give God his body, mind, will and emotions in service. In fact, he cannot respond to God at all. Unbelievers are spiritually dead (Eph 2:1).

1Co 2:14 says the appeal of scripture and the spirit to make a supreme act of dedication to God is only to the believer. The churches of Macedonia were poor and experiencing great trials. Nevertheless they joyfully and generously gave to provide for the needs of others, even beyond what they could afford. Now how were they able to do such an act of sacrificial giving? This they did…First [giving] themselves to the lord. That was key! (2Co 8:1-3, 4-5)

In Ro 8:8, Paul says a person who is in the flesh is not saved. I’m talking about one who is perpetually in the flesh. We know a Christian can bow down to his flesh at times. An unbeliever may believe he is serving God, but unless he has offered his soul to God by being saved, he cannot acceptably offer his body and mind, will and emotions. Paul said a great truth in 1Co 13:3. So if I don’t possess the love of God, all my acts of self-sacrifice and charitable contributions to the poor are worthless. They don’t mean a thing to God. Only when our innermost self has experienced the saving mercy of God do we have the power of motivation to live a life of sacrifice to God. In Mt 13:20-21, Jesus taught that people’s hearts are like different kinds of soil. We have rocky soil where the roots of seedlings couldn’t penetrate deep enough to find water and nutrients, so the sun caused them to dry up and die. The Lord compared the rocky soil to one who hears the gospel and has a favorable response to it, yet falls short of actually believing. When such people encounter trials or persecution, they lack the roots of faith, roots of faith are necessary for assimilating spiritual nourishment. Such people may immediately respond in joy to the truth about Jesus Christ, but their lack of faith when circumstances call for a sacrifice means they never really had genuine saving faith. The soul never truly given to God cannot make any other sacrifice. Mt 19:16-18, 19-22 is concerning the rich young ruler…when Jesus told him to sell what he had and give it to the poor to acquire eternal life, “he went away sorrowful” (verse 22). He was not willing to make such a sacrifice in obeying the Lord. He never really had turned his soul over to the Lord, so he was not able to make such a sacrifice.

• Back to Ro 12:1, where the premise of this verse is “by the mercies of God.” Believers have experienced the mercies of God. That is the basis for Paul’s entreaty to dedicate our lives to God. The mercies of God refer in general to everything God has done for the believer. You can find these mercies in what Paul mentioned in chapters 1-11. Let me quickly show you what they are:

Love (Ro 5:5, 8:39) Grace (Ro 4:4, 5:2) The Holy Spirit (Ro 5:5, 8:2-4, 5-8, 9-11, 12-15, 16-19, 20-22, 23-25, 26) Peace (Ro 1:7, 2:10) Faith (Ro 10:17) Comfort (Ro 8:14-17, 18, 28, 35-38, 39) Power (Ro 1:16) Hope (Ro 5:2, 8:24) Patience (Ro 5:3, 11:22) Kindness (Ro 2:4)

Glory and Honor (Ro 2:10, Ro 9:21-23) Righteousness (Ro 3:21-22, Ro 5:17-18) Forgiveness (Ro 3:25, 4:7-8) Reconciliation and Justification (Ro 5:9-10) Security (Ro 8:26-28, 29-31, 32-34, 35-38, 39) Eternal Life (Ro 5:21, 6:22-23) Freedom (Ro 6:18, 7:5-6) Resurrection (Ro 8:11, 23) Sonship (Ro 8:14-17) Intercession (Ro 8:27)

 

So, what should be our response since we have received so much yet deserve so little? Our gratitude for those divine benefits ought to be the strongest motivation to live our lives for God. Paul could have threatened us with judgment, but he didn’t. Gratefully giving our lives to God in service is the logical response of those who have received the infinite mercies of such a gracious God. To hold back is an incredible act of ingratitude. The psalmist showed the proper response in Psa 116:12, showing he understood his debt and asked the question, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits towards me?”

There is nothing we can return that would be equal to what he has done for us. Fortunately he doesn’t expect us to return in kind. All he asks is that we give ourselves as a living sacrifice. The greatest desire of a Christian is to give all that he is and has to Jesus Christ. Let me go out on a small rabbit trail for a moment. It does tie in to what we have been teaching on. We’ve been accused in this church that we preach too much on doctrine (I even had a lady once tell me as I was showing the importance of doctrine – she semi-screamed, “stinking doctrine, stinking doctrine.” She felt that sermons should be less doctrinal and more practical.) Well I’m sorry, but Paul is the one who set the pattern of giving doctrine before exhorting people to fulfill their duties.

In Romans, Paul doesn’t give many exhortations until after he has given 11 chapters that focus primarily on doctrine. Paul’s emphasis on doctrine is evident in his exhortation for Timothy to be “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” (1Ti 4:6) He told Titus that an important principle of ministry is for an elder to be… “Holding fast the faithful word that…He may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and confute the opposers.” (Tit 1:9) You can only exhort someone on the basis of the truth. Looking at Ro 11:33-34 and 36; what’s the very next thing Paul said? “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, present your bodies a living sacrifice…” similarly, in the epistle to the Galatians Paul gives four chapters of doctrine before giving two chapters on duty; in Ephesians Paul gives 3 chapters on doctrine and 3 chapters on duty; and in Colossians Paul gives two chapters on doctrine and two chapters on duty. All behavior is predicated on doctrine. Ethics rise out of dogma. That’s what Jesus was communicating when he said, “if ye know these things, happy ye are if ye do them” (Joh 13:37). Before you can be happy in doing something, you have to understand what you’re doing.

Peter approaches this principle from the opposite perspective: he says, “forgetting what you know will stunt your Christian growth” (2Pe 1:9). James warns us about becoming forgetful hearers by not applying the doctrine we have heard Jas 1:22-25. So, duty is always based on doctrine. There has to be a foundation of truth before there can be any call to a certain kind of behavior. Although practical applications are important, an emphasis upon the practical at the expense of doctrine betrays a shallow perception of what motivates people to do things.

Let’s get back on the prime trail: presenting yourself as a living sacrifice begins with coming to the Lord Jesus in faith and receiving him as Savior and Lord. The salvation of your soul is the starting point of giving yourself to God.

• Let’s go on with Ro 12:1 where it says to “present your bodies”. This is a call to make a sacrifice. The exhortation to present our bodies conveys the idea of surrendering or offering a sacrifice. God wants us to yield our bodies to His will. He already has our soul – the inner man – that which has already been transformed by His saving grace. However, yielding one’s body to God isn’t always easy. We know why, don’t we! It’s because the body is the beachhead of sin in the life of the redeemed. When a Christian dies, his spirit goes to heaven, and his body goes to the grave. Once that separation is made, there’s no longer a struggle with sin – that which Ro 7:15-19, 20-24 and 25 so clearly describes. This is not the first time Paul stressed the importance of yielding the body.

We see it in Ro 6:12-13, 16, 19. Although sin no longer reigns in the redeemed soul, it still manifests itself occasionally in our unredeemed flesh. In 1Co 6:19, Paul said our redeemed souls are incased in our humanness, in which sin finds its expression. In Ro 7:25, Paul recognized that it was not his redeemed soul causing him to sin but his sinful flesh. He identified the battle between his flesh and his new nature. Paul said to the Thessalonians that “every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of sensuality, even as the gentiles who know not God.” (1Th 4:4-5) Paul said in Philippians when the Lord Jesus returns he “shall change our lowly body, that it may be fashioned like his glorious body.” (Php 3:21)

It is scary to see the way the body can dominate the soul. Although we are redeemed creatures with souls that have been transformed and indwelt by the spirit of God, it is remarkable how much the body can resist the work of the spirit. The body is the center of desire, disease, depression, and doubt. However, it must continually be brought into subjection and offered to God as a living sacrifice. Paul gives a more insight into the difficulty of yielding our bodies to God in 1Co 9:27. He kept his body under control. Because if he didn’t he knew he could be easily be a castaway…Disqualified.

Paul knew to represent the Lord Jesus effectively; he had to control his physical appetites. Gnostics and others in ancient Greek circles had a low view of the body. They depreciated the value of the body. They had a dualistic philosophy asserting that spirit is good but matter is evil. That kind of thinking goes on in Christian circles by those who say we shouldn’t bother with church discipline. They say a persons’ unredeemed body can’t be corrected anyway. But that’s not what scripture says. You can bring an unredeemed body under the subjection of the Holy Spirit. Whenever your body is used for divine purposes, it becomes an instrument of righteousness Ro 6:13 and whenever it is involved in something that displeases God, it is an instrument of unrighteousness. The bible doesn’t teach that dualistic view and conclude that the body is of no consequence. After all, our bodies will one day be redeemed. There is no place for any teaching that tolerates sin in the body of Christ. The dualistic view was rampant in Paul’s day – as it is in our day – such that people tended to be tolerant of sin.

Christians have no business reading books, listening to music, or watching TV shows and movies that are filled with adultery or other sins that may be acceptable to society. If you have become tolerant of those kind of things, we need to remind ourselves of Paul’s words in 1Co 6:12-13. The Lord can’t work through you unless he works through your body. And there can be no sanctification that does not include the body. In 1Th 5:23 Paul says, “the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming our lord Jesus Christ.” The same body through which our old nature expressed itself is to be the vehicle of our new nature.

• Back to Ro 12:1, let’s look at the character of the sacrifice “a living sacrifice.” A living sacrifice is a definite contrast to the Old Testament sacrificial system, where the body of a dead animal was offered. What God now wants are living sacrifices. The advantage of a living sacrifice is that it can be a perpetual offering, as compared to an animal sacrifice, which was slain and consumed. God desires something that does not die or become consumed. The account of Abraham and Isaac in Ge 22 is an illustration of a living sacrifice. Abraham was told to take his only son who was born of the promise. To take this boy, “…thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee unto the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering…” (Ge 22:2) This sacrifice was to test Abraham’s trust in God. Abraham obediently prepared to offer Isaac, whom God spared at the last moment. Although Isaac would have been a dead sacrifice, Abraham would have made a living one; he determined to serve God, even if that meant living the rest of his life without his beloved son. God isn’t asking us to die; he wants us to be willing to live the rest of our lives in complete obedience to him.

Abraham was willing and that made him a great man. He was willing to offer himself to God no matter what the cost. A living sacrifice - a humble, obedient surrender of self to God – is the basis of true worship. It is the foundation of all Christian service. That is what Paul meant when he said he was “always bearing about the dying in the body of the lord Jesus” (2Co 4:10). He told the Philippians,“for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Php 1:21). He also told the Philippians, “I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may win Christ” (Php 3:8).

• Ro 12:1 says a living sacrifice must be holy, “holy, acceptable to God.” An animal presented as a sacrifice in the Old Testament was required to be without blemish. It was to be the best of the flock or herd. The Greek word translated “holy” (hagios) means “set apart”. The New Testament gave it the connotation of purity and freedom from sin.

God wants your body – not to mention your mind, will and emotions – to be brought into subjection to his will and offered to him as a living sacrifice. Here’s the problem; many Christians have become so comfortable in our society that they are willing to serve the Lord if it doesn’t cost too much, time, energy or money and doesn’t conflict with our work or favorite hobbies. We may desire to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God but hesitate to give him everything. We often prefer to indulge in worldly pleasures or pursuits and the temporal sense of security and significance they offer. God does not want commitments that are half-hearted. Only those that are self-sacrificing and unblemished by wrong motives or insincerity will qualify. What are you offering God? When you say, “I want to give my life to the lord,” what is it you’re giving? Only pure and total devotion is acceptable to God. Anything else is not. The Lord indicted the Israelites for their half-hearted devotion (Mal 1:7-8); instead of bringing the best of flocks, many of the Israelites were bringing the worst to be offered to God.

They certainly wouldn’t have offered such inferior payment to the governor for taxes but were content offering it to God. The Israelites fear of God motivated them to offer a sacrifice, but it was an inferior sacrifice, which they would not have offered had they truly loved God. That’s religion. Do you do out of fear what you will not do out of the love of God? Only a holy sacrifice is acceptable to God. That word “acceptable” means “well pleasing” or satisfactory. Heb 13:16 says, “to do good and to share forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” God is satisfied when we do good to others and help those in need.

• Then Ro 12:1 talks about the consecration of the sacrifice; “which is your reasonable service”. The word “service” can also be translated “spiritual worship”. It is used in the Septuagint to refer to worshipping God according to the Levitical law. It is used in Heb. 9:6 to refer to the priestly service of presenting offerings and sacrifices. And here in Ro 12:1 it is used of the believer’s act of offering up his body as a spiritual priest in consecrated sacrifice to God.

The worship is described as reasonable, a translation of the Greek word (logikos) from which comes the English word (logic). The worship God accepts involves the reasoning process of the inner man. It’s not an automatic response void of a conscious choice. Whereas in the Old Testament dead sacrifices were offered as external acts, Paul is emphasizing a living sacrifice that is an act of internal worship. God wants spiritual worship – an intelligent, heartfelt, consecrated devotion – rather than just physical and mechanical religious activity. True worship does not consist of elaborate prayers, a certain liturgy or ritual, candles, robes, stained glass, special classical music, or feeling spiritual goose bumps in a church service; it is the spiritual act of devoting your body to holy living for the glory of God. God isn’t looking for you to offer some isolated act of worship or natural talent; he is looking for you to give yourself.

• Ro 12:2a-b: “be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” One of the keys to being able to offer your body is to be sure that your mind has been renewed. It is the mind that chooses whether we will express our new nature through holy living or allow our flesh to act unrighteously. That’s where it is dear friends.
• Then he talks about the negative aspect of conforming or conformation. Ro 12:2a, “be not conformed to this world” Paul says that Christians are not to be conformed to this world. The Greek is literally (“age”). That is a reference to any unbiblical philosophy of life. How do I define that? What does it mean so I can know if I am conforming to this world. There was a renowned Greek scholar of the 19th century, who defined it as, “that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, and aspirations, at any time that’s current in the world.”

We are not to be conformed, (conformed means to be from the same pattern, to fashion oneself according to the world). It’s being in tune with the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era. Satan, of course, is the prince and ruler of the world’s system. It is the instrument through which he promotes his goals and ambitions, and it is characterized by pride and ungodly morality. We see evidence of it in professional sports, in music, and in movies and other forms of media. The apostle john states that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (1Jo 5:19)

The spirit of God calls us to stop allowing ourselves to be conformed to worldly purposes and standards. Ro 12:2 assumes that is already happening and directs us to bring the conforming process to a halt. You know the Greek verb translated “conform” refers to the act of assuming an outward appearance that does not accurately reflect what is within. Paul is saying, “Don’t masquerade as if you belong to the world. That would be patterning yourself inconsistently with who you really are.” It is inconceivable that a Christian would want to wear a mask of the world, but many do. A commentary said, “stop assuming an outward expression which is patterned after the world, an expression which does not come from, or is representative of what you are in the inner being as a born again child of God.”

• Than Ro 12:2b goes on to say, “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” I know that most of you are familiar with the Greek verb here translated “transformed”. We’ve talked about it before – it actually gives us the English word metamorphosis. It conveys or indicates a total change. We’re to change our outward appearance to match what we are within. Its use in (Mt 17:2) of Jesus transfiguration, when his outward human appearance changed to reflect the divine glory within. We are to be transformed on the outside to match what our redeemed selves are like on the inside. This verb is what is called a “present passive imperative” and as such the verse could be paraphrased, “stop allowing yourself to be conformed to the world, and start allowing yourself to be continually transformed.”

2Co 3:18 tells us that transformation is ultimately the work of the spirit. He changes us from one level of glory to the next, conforming us to the image of Christ. He accomplishes that work in us by the renewing of the mind. The Greek word translated “renewing” here conveys the idea of renovation. This renovation for a Christian can only be accomplished by the word of God. A Christian renovates his/her mind by knowing the word of God and applying it to his life. (Psa 119:11) If you’re going to walk worthy of the life to which God has called you, you’ve got to know the word of God. In Col 1:28, Paul stated the principle of “teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” A perfect life comes out of perfect knowledge. Paul said, “put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge.” (Col 3:10)

In Col 3:16 Paul said, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” The renewed mind is a mind that is saturated and controlled by the word of God. It’s simple to be able to tell where your mind is. Do you spend as much time in the word of God as you do in the allurements of the world? Have you “set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2). When something unexpected happens in your life, is your involuntary response biblical? If it is, that’s a good sign that you have a renewed mind and are preoccupied with the word of God. Only a person with a renewed mind can resist conformity to the world and present his body to God.

• The last part of Ro 12:2 is presenting your will to God. “That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.” When we’ve presented our bodies, souls which include our emotion, wills and minds to God, we will acknowledge God’s will as being good, acceptable, and perfect. We will abandon our imperfect plans and seek God’s will as our top priority. We will want to do what God wants to accomplish in and through us. Where we live or what we possess won’t matter so much anymore. A renewed mind goes along with a submissive will housed in a body presented as a living sacrifice. It all comes in one package. You can’t present your body unless you have a renewed mind because you won’t have the will to do it.

Submission to God’s will is not something you do once in your life. It is done every waking moment by the conscious renewing of your mind. Some people hesitate to follow God’s will and pursue their own instead. But you never need to fear the will of God because it is good, acceptable and perfect.

Let me conclude with a few words to sum up Ro 12:1-2. The renewed mind, the submissive will, and the consecrated body go along with the redeemed soul. The process of becoming more like Jesus is not a complicated procedure. The fact that we are to respond to Romans first 11 chapters of doctrine of God’s redeeming work and boil it down to simple principles contained in two versus proves it. I saw a quote from Watchman Nee where he ended his book The Normal Christian Life with these Words. “I always like to think of the words of that ‘great woman’ of shunem. Speaking of the prophet, whom she had observed but whom she did not know very well, she said, ‘behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God which passeth by us continually (2Ki 4:9). It was not what Elisha said or did that conveyed that impression, but what he was. By his merely passing by she could detect something…what are people sensing about us? We may leave many kinds of impressions. We may leave the impression that we are clever, that we are gifted, that we are this or that or the other. But no, the impression left by Elisha was an impression of God.’ This matter of our impact upon others turns upon one thing, and that is the working of the cross in us with regard to the pleasure of the heart of God. It demands that I seek his pleasure, that I seek to satisfy him only, and I do not mind how much it costs me to do so…There must be something – a willingness to yield, a breaking and a pouring out of everything to him – which gives release to that fragrance of Christ and produces in other lives an awareness of need, drawing them out and on to know the Lord. This is what I feel to be the heart of everything. The gospel has as its one object the producing in us sinners of a condition that will satisfy the heart of our God. In order that he may have that, we come to him with all we have, all we are – yes, even the most cherished things in our spiritual experience – and we make known to him: lord, I am willing to let go all of this for you; not just for your work, not for your children, not for anything else as all, but altogether and only for yourself! Oh to be wasted! It is a blessed thing to be wasted for the Lord!”

THE MINISTRY OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS #1

Here is an introduction to this next section: The work of the lord Jesus Christ in the world is our work – remember he lives in us, he abides in us and we abide in him (Joh 15:4). He has no hands but our hands; he has no feet but our feet, no voice but our voice. His ministry is committed to us. The work of the kingdom depends on our usefulness and faithfulness. I’m talking about us who are redeemed – who have received the mercies of God as seen in the first 11 chapters of Romans.

We have been freed from the bondage of sin, and called children of the most high God, we are saints of the most high God – we are committed to the task of being the hands and feet, and voice of the lord Jesus Christ. And remember Ro 12:1-2 talking about our service will not be effective or blessed by God unless we have first offered ourselves as living sacrifices. That involves giving up all that we are for his service. Aliving sacrifice is not something mystical or monastic. It is simply a determination to become useful to God. If you claim to have given yourself wholly to God, yet aren’t ministering effectively in some capacity, you have not truly given yourself to God.

Service to God has meaning and it will result in blessings only when it is the outflow of total commitment. And only total commitment will produce effective service. The two go together. Commitment and service go together. There are so many Christians who believe they have made a complete commitment to the Lord who offer evidence of no meaningful, God-blessed ministry in their lives. Rather than being driven with a passion to serve, they are driven with the desire to indulge their own needs and desires. Christians do this all of the time, it’s almost like here I am God, what are you going to do for me.

So people can outwardly live as a Christian and have been active in the church, but the rest of the time they are living a lie. Superficial commitment is not acceptable to God. Let’s say that describes you, there can still be results from the ministry of a person who attempts to serve God without being committed to him. When you’re serving him just because you like to see yourself doing it, you feel good doing it, or know that others think well of you when you do it, good may still result. That is because the truth is so much more powerful than your limitations. But improper motives will cause you to forfeit any reward you might otherwise have received for your efforts.

If God can get his message out through a clogged vessel, think how much more effective it could be if the vessel were clean. There are a couple passages you can look up on your own that speak to this (Php 1:15-18; 2Ti 2:20-21). Check them out on your own time, now you may say when you read the one in Philippians, that’s speaking about a deceiver, how could that be me who is maybe just to wrapped up in myself…that’s it right there! Let’s move on.

Every one of us who have come to Jesus Christ is called to make a supreme dedication to him. Paul is addressing all Christians in Ro 12 (I believe the first four versus make this clear) so none is left out. Paul describes spiritual gifts in Ro 12:3-5, 6-8; but you will never know which one you have or how to use them to their potential until you live out Ro 12:1-2. I believe if you aren’t growing and not serving…It because you’re not applying what you hear.

I know that some of you spend time listening to radio preachers daily, so you have time to listen to what the Holy Spirit has prepared just for you. We need to commit ourselves totally to God and not hold back. Like the human brain, which we use at a level far below its potential, many Christians aren’t operating at full capacity because they’re not completely yielding to God. When believers commit themselves to fully serving God, they will be achieving greater spiritual potential and be able to see their gifts operating in their fullness.

Listen to me, to have an effective ministry you don’t need great intellectual capability or a dynamic personality; you need only make the commitment to be everything God wants you to be, whatever the cost. If you do, you will find your capabilities expanding to fulfill the ministries to which the spirit of God directs you. Many people have trouble identifying their gifts and areas of ministry because they’ve never fulfilled Ro 12:1-2. So they have only a limited amount of data with which to work with. Our usefulness to God depends on three things: proper attitude, proper relationships, and proper service. That’s the end of the introduction.

Let’s start by talking about The Proper Attitude.

• Ro 12:3: What is the proper attitude of one who is totally given over to God? It’s an attitude of humility. You see that little word “for” at the beginning of this verse, it functions as a transition from the dedication spoken of in Ro 12:1-2. Paul is emphasizing the issue of service. Ro 12:1-2 states the prerequisite for service, which is presenting our bodies a living sacrifice. The right attitude for service begins when one surrenders himself to God’s will. To make his point, Paul warns against the wrong attitude of pride. Now Paul wasn’t talking about saving grace, which is experienced by all believers. He is referring to the specific grace of his calling to be an apostle, for it was the grace of God that ordained him to that position. He received that call when the Lord Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus (Ac 9:1-4, 5-6 and Ac 26:9-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18-20).
• You notice that Paul didn’t begin his instructions by flaunting his authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ. In a verse on humility it would have been inappropriate for him to pull rank. He was humble even in the way he referred to his apostleship. He admitted he had the authority of Christ. But he knew it was given to him not because he was worthy but because the Lord was gracious. Read 1Ti 1:12-15.
• Let’s explain this thing we call humility. We’ll see it has to do with proper thinking. There are four forms of the Greek verb translated “to think” (phroneo) in that one statement. We could substitute the word ‘think’ with estimate and then we could paraphrase the verse as follows: “don’t overestimate yourself beyond a true estimate, but estimate yourself with a proper estimate.”
• In other words, know who you are and don’t try to be someone that you’re not “to think soberly” (gk so-phron-eo) it refers to being in one’s right mind. You see in the word of God, conceit is treated as a form of insanity. Boy, you ought to write that down someplace and look at it once in a while, especially when the Holy Spirit nudges you. If you overestimate yourself you’re deluded about who you really are and what your capabilities and gifts are. This is the sin of exaggerated self-esteem. The bible clearly states that the Lord hates a proud heart. Read both Gal 6:3 and 1Pe 5:5-6.
• Do you remember that humility is a channel that grace can flow in, without it grace can’t flow and the evil won’t go away. We are to think rightly about ourselves. However, that doesn’t mean we are to think ill of ourselves. Don’t say, “I’m just a worm.” That’s false humility. When someone compliments you, don’t brush off the compliment and claim that your accomplishment was nothing? That’s a manipulative way of begging for more praise. Rather, think rightly by recognizing your limits and keeping the proper measure of your gifts. Don’t overestimate or underestimate your gifts and abilities. Both are unacceptable.

 

The church at Corinth was having problems with right attitudes toward spiritual gifts. We learn from 1Co 12-14 that some of the Corinthians were selfishly longing to have the showy gifts. Some were trying to elevate themselves beyond what God had called them to do. They had the mind-set of diotrephes, who sought preeminence within his church 3Jo 1:9.

James addressed the problem when he told his readers not to be so eager to be teachers because of the great responsibility involved Jas 3:1. You need to settle for the gifts that God has given to you. Don’t overestimate them, and don’t underestimate them either. Let me give you five wrong attitudes toward spiritual gifts:

1. Using a prominent gift boastfully. When you use a prominent gift boastfully you think more highly of yourself than you ought to. That’s the pompous use of a gift. You want the whole world to know you’re good at what you do, so you continually draw attention to yourself and promote your own causes. You have the feeling that you’re superior to everyone else and have no need of them. That is the reasoning Paul characterizes in 1Co 12:1-5, 6-9, 10-12, 13-16 and 17-21.
2. Depreciating a gift’s value out of false humility. This is a second wrong attitude toward a spiritual gift. As I mentioned before, some know they have prominent gifts that are unique or especially effective, but they play the game of false humility to receive greater praise. I think we all have to deal with that in some degree or other, especially if you are a teacher of the word of God. This is when people will compliment you on a sermon or mention that the message you just preached was instrumental in their salvation, or their Christian growth. Rather than claim you were nothing and that you could have done better, it would be good to simply thank the person and then praise the Lord for using you to bless others.
3. Counterfeiting a prominent gift. Although you may not have a prominent gift, you may pretend that you do, trying to be what you’re not. Just as a foot cannot perform the function of the head. It would be wrong to seek another gift so that people could take more notice of you. You must recognize that God did not design the church so that everyone would be apostles, prophets, and teachers. Rather than coveting the showy gifts, as did the Corinthians, and producing a counterfeit, be content with the gifts you have been given.
4. Failing to use an inconspicuous gift out of jealousy. A gift that you have behind the scenes, a gift such as showing mercy. It would be wrong for you to ignore your gift because you are jealous of someone else’s gift. That would be just as disastrous as if a foot said, “because I ‘m not a hand I’m not going to have anything to do with the body” that is just plain stupid in the context of the body analogy that Paul gave. It’s wrong to think that way.
5. Failing to use your gifts at all. Oh, oh, am I talking to anybody here! (Read Ro 12:6-8). We are to put our gifts to good use. Whatever your gifts are, use them. Don’t play games with your ego. Don’t overestimate yourself and boast. Don’t underestimate yourself and pretend to be humble. Those kinds of attitudes devastate the body of Christ. We need a balanced view of our gifts.

 

True humility is not an overestimation, nor is it underestimation – it is an accurate estimation. It is being able to say, “yes, my dear Lord has gifted me. He’s given me a way to serve him for his glory. And he deserves all the credit.” Just as Paul was not afraid to admit he was an apostle of Jesus Christ by God’s grace, I am not afraid to say God has given me gifts of communicating the word of God by his grace. Some of you may think your gifts are unimportant, but they are an integral part to the proper functioning of the body of Christ. You know every time we come together, I look forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do. No matter how small or unimportant you may think your gift is, the Lord doesn’t think so. Although you could do without an attractive nose, you couldn’t do without a liver or heart, which are very unattractive by comparison. So we want to estimate things the way God does instead of misestimating our way.

• Now how does God enable one to manifest these gifts? Read Ro 12:3b. This for some of you might get a little sticky, because we have all been taught that this portion of the verse had to do with our salvation. Whatever gift you have, God has given it to you. I don’t function entirely the way I do in the lord’s work because I was trained by man but because I have been gifted by God. I want to do all I can to refine and sharpen those gifts, but how he has sovereignly gifted me ultimately determines how I serve him. That makes my life a stewardship. It is therefore important that I give myself totally to him since he has given me a gift to use for his glory in the advance of his kingdom.

If you’re ever to see the maximum potential of the gifts God has given to you, then start by giving your whole self to him. He will maximize them by his own sovereign design. Now with that said, let’s look at the phrase “according as God hath dealt to every man” this conveys some important things that we need to remember. All gifts are sovereignly given by God. Read 1Co 12:7-10, 11; this text tells me that the Holy Spirit is the divine source of all spiritual gifts. The Greek word translated “severally” (idios) basically means “uniquely or individually”. They’re something God has made for us, and therefore we should be seeking the lord for them “covet earnestly the best gifts.” We should desire to have spiritual gifts and give the glory to God after we received them. Remember, every gift is given by God for his own glory and for the advance of his kingdom; read 1Co 12:17-18. God has placed you in the body for his pleasure, and every gifted believer is necessary for the body to function properly.

• Now I want to deal with this phrase “the measure of faith.” The whole Ro 12:3 is qualified by this phrase “the measure of faith.” This is where you must be like Berean’s. Now we’ve been told ever since I’ve been in this walk, that the phrase “the measure of faith” is a Salvic term and has to do with the amount of faith that everyone that is saved is given at that time of salvation. Moreover, it’s not talking about salvation, but it’s talking about the gifts that were given to us. That’s why I had you readverse 3 then verse 6 which is in the same context and you’ll see from that reading it’s talking about the gifts.

 

In addition, if you look up that phrase in the Greek and see how it’s used in other places, you’ll soon find out that there is no article there and in fact it would be better translated “a measure”. In fact numerous translations do just that. Therefore, the implication is that the measure for everyone is different. It’s as though believers are cups that God has filled with different amounts and types of liquids. In my reading, someone said it’s as though believers are spiritual snowflakes – there aren’t any two of us exactly alike. Although many Christians may have the same gift(s), our expression of them is unique. That’s why this faith spoken of here cannot be saving faith, because saving faith is not measured out differently to everyone.

Saving faith, which is the act of putting one’s complete trust in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn’t in the context of Ro 12. Rather Paul is talking about the kind of faith it takes to operate our gifts. So if you have the gift of teaching, or prophesy, God will give you the faith required to use that gift – he’ll give you also the desire and passion spiritual insight, capacity and comprehension needed, it will be in that measure. When we have the right estimation of our spiritual gifts and the divine capabilities that go along with them, we will be humble because we realize that we had nothing to do in seeking the gifts God gave us.

Let me give you a thumb nail sketch of how you can know what your gift(s) are:

1. Present yourself to God as a living sacrifice (Ro 12:1-2, 3-5, 6-9, 10-12)
2. Know that as a child of God you are gifted (Ro 12:3)
3. Pray for wisdom (Jas 1:5)
4. Seek the lord and desire the gifts (1Co 12:31)
5. Examine your heart’s desires (Psa 37:4-5)
6. See what others commend you for (Ac 6:1-3, 4-6)
7. Think where God seems to bless your ministry (Ac 14:27)
8. Serve with your whole heart (1Ch 28:9)
9. Cultivate your gifts as they become obvious to you (1Pe 4:10-11).

 

Even when you’ve examined all of those verses, it still may be hard to precisely label your gift. A spiritual gift can be like we see in 1Co 12 where they are spoken of the 9 supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Then there is no question, however there might be some cases where you can be a composite of a variety of gifts, some of which may be more dominant than others. That is why you may find it difficult to have a clear definition of your gift.

Let’s look at the proper relationships of Ro 12:4-5. We have diversity in the body.

• Ro 12:4: Paul uses his famous metaphor of the physical body to illustrate the working of a church. He points out that the body has many parts – a head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, teeth, arms, legs, fingers, toes, and internal organs – but that they don’t have the same function. The analogy of the body beautifully illustrates the relationship of individual believers to the whole. We constitute one body, yet we work in different capacities that complement one another.
• Ro 12:5: This is talking about unity in the body…like a human body whose parts work together, believers form a spiritual body, sharing common life, gifts, ministry resources, joy, sorrow. Paul emphasizes our unity in this verse. Yet at the same time we are all diverse. It one part of your body is not functioning, you’ve got a problem. Everything in the body has to work together for the body as a whole to work properly. Likewise, everyone in the church has to work together or the rest of the church suffers. Because each believer has something unique to offer, if we don’t do what we were gifted to do, the body of Christ is crippled.

 

It’s another paradox of Christianity, unified diversity is characteristic of the human body, so is it characteristic of the church.

THE MINISTRY OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS #2

There’s a man is Saskatchewan, Canada, who has a hobby of collecting rare violins. The bad part is many of his violins will never be played. Isn’t it a shame that none of the great violinist will ever play these violins? That’s similar to the church or at least some churches. They become like that man’s collection of unused violins: they are a collection of gifted Christians, but none of them are making any music, so to speak. They’re merely on display, waiting to be played. Even though many of these Christians have gained much knowledge through the years from the word of God and have a treasure trove of wealth of the word. But they remain unused. They have become museum pieces. Why is that? What’s the reason that all of this edification comfort and encouragement never emerges into the light?

Let me see if I can give you a reason why I think it is happening. I’ve had people identify our church as John Fresia’s church. They’ll say in a conversation, your church. That isn’t so. Christian Faith Assembly (CFA) church is the Ecclesia of Jesus Christ. No one person can claim that a church is his, because an effective church requires a high degree of dependence and mutual loyalty among its members. A true body of Christ needs to focus on those things. But that isn’t easy in our society because it’s fixed on selfishly pampering itself. It’s little wonder that our society has such tremendous problems with mental illness, because selfish people generally are the kinds who are mentally ill. I’m not making that up; it can be shown by data. There’s a book written called, Psychological Seduction by William Kirk Kilpatrick, professor of educational psychology at Boston College and graduate of Harvard University. In it he says, “extreme forms of mental illness are always extreme cases of self absorption…The distinctive quality, the thing that literally sets paranoid people apart, is hyper self-consciousness.” So if you become excessively absorbed with yourself, it can lead to paranoia. This is nothing new for Christians; it has been well understood from the beginning about selfishness. That’s why the importance of sacrificial service.

Christian theologians, long before psychologists had anything to say, dealt with the devastating effects of selfishness. St. Augustine, a fourth century church father, wrote, “two cities have been formed by two loves; the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God, the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the lord” (the city of God). Then we have 16th century reformer John Calvin said, “for so blindly do we all rush in the direction of self-love that everyone thinks he has a good reason for exalting himself and despising all others in comparison.” He then offered a cure for that problem in the church: “there is no other remedy than to pluck up by the roots those most noxious pests, self-love and love of victory…the doctrine of scripture does. For it teaches us to remember, that the endowments which God has bestowed upon us are not our own, but his free gifts, and that those who plume themselves upon them betray their ingratitude” (institutes of Christian religion).

We see the same thing spoken in scripture. Facing the same problem in the community to which he wrote, the author of Hebrews said, “let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together…” (Heb 10:24-25) That particular verse right there is calling for a ministry of self-sacrifice. Ministry begins when you present your body to God as a living sacrifice, submitting your mind and will to God. Out of that flows the right use of spiritual gifts. If we are to us the gifts God has given us in interdependent and sacrificial ministry to one another, we must focus on three things.

The proper service (Ro 12:6-8). Paul’s approach in Ro 12 is an exhortation to use the gifts, not a rebuke for misusing them as was the case in the Corinthian church. He was telling the roman church to first present themselves to the lord and rightly evaluate what God had given them to do as members of the body and then use the gifts they had been given. As members of the body of Christ we depend on the interchange that occurs between us. That’s what a body is all about. It’s the interchange that takes place between the various members is how a body lives. Without that interchange, the body cannot survive. In the case of the body of Christ, that involves using our gifts, we depend on the interchange that occurs between us. In Ro 12:6-8, Paul mentions these gifts: Prophecy (preaching), serving, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling (leading), showing mercy. When we try to categorize spiritual gifts throughout the whole bible, they fall into 3 categories: Sign gifts, speaking gifts, and serving gifts.

We have the sign gifts which we see in 1Co 12. Now you’ll probably find that people have different way to label these gifts. Especially, those who believe the sign gifts were just a temporary phenomenon. When we combine the gifts seen in Corinthians, Romans, Peters and Ephesians books then we would categorizes them like such sign gifts, speaking gifts, and serving gifts. Most Christians get there definitions from (1Pe 4:10-11). This is where we get speaking and service from. The sign gifts we know were very prominent in the early church. Read the following scripture references (2Co 12:12; Heb 2:4; Mr 16:20).

I’ll be focusing on the speaking and service gifts here in Ro 12. The speaking gifts shown in Ro 12 includeprophecy, teaching and exhortation; the serving gifts include serving, giving, leading, and showing mercy. I believe the reason Paul didn’t include the sign gifts to the roman church, because the church at Rome didn’t have the same problem the Corinthian church had of counterfeiting and abusing them.

Some interesting Greek words that I want you to understand in 1Co 12; spiritual gifts are designated by the Greek word (pneumatikon), which means ‘spirituals’ or ‘spiritual matters’. In Ro 12, they are designated by (charismata) meaning ‘grace gifts”.Both refer to spiritual gifts given by God, but each emphasizes a different aspect. The sign gifts refer to them being energized by the Holy Spirit. The latter speaking and serving gifts refers to the graciousness of God. Another variation between the lists of spiritual gifts in Ro 12and 1Co 12 is which speaking and serving gifts they include. 1Co 12 adds the gifts of faith and discerning of spirits and tongues. Ro 12 adds the gifts of exhorting, giving, and showing mercy. Some believe that the gifts of teaching, ministry, and ruling are synonymous with the word of wisdom and word of knowledge, helps and government in 1Co 12. I guess there could be some overlap and because of that, we can conclude that the list is not rigid. There is some sense of flexibility and latitude.

There’s no reason that some of these gifts may be blended with other gifts to create a composite gift that is unique to us and hard to identify specifically. A teacher could operate in the word of wisdom/ word of knowledge and discerning of spirits while teaching. If you’re a Christian and are not ministering to others with your spiritual gift, then you need to reevaluate your priorities, especially if your excuse is that you’re too busy. God is not asking us to do something he hasn’t equipped us to do, so there should be no excuse for not using our gifts. Now we should never be motivated out of peer pressure or a fear of judgment. Such external means would not solve the internal problem – a lack of gratitude for the one who died for us. Ok, enough preaching. Let’s define these gifts:

• Ro 12:6: The first of the seven gifts Paul mentions here is prophecy. This gift is often misunderstood. It is basically a gift of proclamation or it could even be preaching. Its use here does not refer to the gift of dispensing divine revelation. Prophecy is an important gift, so much so that the apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians said more about it and the gift of tongues than any other gifts. The Greek verb (propheteuo) refers to speaking out or making a pronouncement on a spiritual issue. It isn’t extraordinary and doesn’t have to apply to foretelling the future or dispensing new revelation. It is simply referring to the public proclamation of scripture.

 

I believe the best definition of New Testament prophecy that Paul is referring to here in Romans and Corinthians is 1Co 14:3. Its purpose is to build up believers, challenge them to obedience, and comfort them in need. Similarly, (1Pe 4:11) “if any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God.” Prophecy is a speaking gift that uses the word of God for its content. It doesn’t have to be word for word, but speaking the word in principle. It isn’t necessarily foretelling the future by supernatural revelation. 1Co 14:24-25 indicates that both believers and unbelievers can be addressed by those with the gift of prophecy or it could be preaching. Throughout redemptive history God has had his spokesmen.

Sometimes they gave new revelation, like the prophet Ezekiel, saying, “the word of the Lord came unto me” (Eze 7:1). That happened often in the Old Testament. But were also times when what God’s spokesmen were proclaiming wasn’t new and direct revelation. They were preaching revelation that had already been received. Often you will find Old Testament prophets who instructed, exhorted, warned, rebuked, and encouraged. They called for obedience, repentance, reverence, righteousness, and they promised blessing. Their emphasis was on the practical application of God’s to the situation at hand. With the New Testament gift of prophecy you will find the same emphasis (Ac 13:1-3, 4-5, 15:32). Now Paul exhorts those with the gift of prophecy to preach “according to the proportion of faith” (Ro 12:6).

Some commentators suggest that the faith here is referring to the objective faith revealed in the body of truth. Jude referred to the body of Christian doctrine as “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3). I believe it’s subjective and refers to the measure of personal faith of the believer (Ro 12:3). Each believer has certain gifts and the faith to make use of them. So when you preach or prophesy make use of God’s word. In either case it’s going to take faith, and “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Then faith can be used to preach or prophesy God’s word. And make sure your preaching or prophesying is consistent with your proportion of faith. In 1Th 5:19-21, those exhortations are interrelated. If you despise prophesying, you’ll quench the spirit. If you accept prophesying then you must test it and make sure it’s accurate. That can be done by comparing it with scripture – or by determining if it exalts Jesus Christ (Rev 19:10). All prophecy and preaching must proclaim the word of God and exalt the son of God, the lord Jesus Christ.

So Paul says if you have the gift of prophecy you’re to use it to the full extent of the faith God has given you to proclaim the truth and exalt the lord Jesus Christ. The gift of prophesy may be manifested in a variety of ways and degrees, from someone coming forth with a full blown word that goes into a detailed exposition for the church, to a word that says that God loves his people. Paul in 1Co was exhorting all the folks to prophesy, he said to covet to prophesy. Desire it with your whole heart. And don’t despise the small beginnings. Even if it is a few words, bring it forth. Prophesy is according to the proportion of your faith.

• Serving - Ro 12:7a: The Greek word translated “ministry” is (diakonia) from which the English words Deacon and Deaconess are derived. Believers who fill those offices in the church obviously have the gift of ministry. It is equivalent to what is referred to as ‘helps’ in (1Co 12:28). The Greek (antilempsis) an-til-emp-sis it means to give relief, or support. The gift of ministry is a support gift of practical help or service. Even though the word diakonia is translated “ministry” in (verse 7) it can mean something that doesn’t seem so spiritual like those who wait on the needs of others as a waiter provides service to those who are eating a meal. The same word was use for Peter’s mother-in-law who after being healed by Jesus, arose and served those present. It can be use both ways, we see it in (Eph 4:12) it’s used in a spiritual application.

It’s a common word in the New Testament that is used more than seventy-five times for various dimensions of serving. It can be in the official capacity of a deacon or deaconess to the unofficial service of someone stepping into the gap to serve. In Ac 6, we see the apostles recognized their need to devote their time to preaching the word and praying, so they requested the support of others who could carry out the task of serving tables. Notice though the requirements of those who would be waiting on tables; (Ac 6:3) “wherefore brethren look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” We’re talking about spiritual people, folks that love the lord and whatever they do; they do as unto the lord. So if you have the gift of serving, our little church needs you to serve. This is a practical gift that needs to be used.

• Teaching - Ro 12:7b: The Greek word translated “teaching” is from the verb (didasko), which refers to systematic training. It’s like what a music teacher does with a student learning an instrument over a period of time. Finally, the student masters the music and instrument and is ready to perform. Preaching on the other hand, refers to an urgent proclamation that is not intended to be repeated to the same audience. John the Baptist’s message about the coming messiah is an example of preaching. Teaching involves the ongoing process of systematically taking people from one point to another.

It primarily refers to a teacher in a meeting like this that systematically teaches the various biblical principles. It also could be someone who disciples a person one-on-one. It is the ministry of leading someone to a greater understanding of God’s word. Ac 2:42 says, the early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine.” There was a didactic exercise going on to analyze and systematize the word of God when the church came together. That’s what we’re called to do in a general sense in (Mt 28:19-20) It’s clear that God gave the gift of teaching to the apostle Paul. He was able to proclaim the word as a preacher, but he also was an excellent teacher. This epistle that we’ve been in for awhile shows his teaching ability.

The book of Romans is systematically imparting the truth. In 2Ti 1:11, he uses both words to describe himself: “I am appointed a preacher…And a teacher.” It’s not uncommon for a person to be both a preacher and a teacher. I believe Timothy also was a teacher 2Ti 2:2. Paul says, “the things that thou hast from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” Jesus certainly had the ability to do that. Lu 24:27 tells us he walked on the road to Emmaus with two disciples “he expounded unto them, in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.” The Greek word translated “expounded” is from the verb (diermeneuo) it is the word from which comes the English word hermeneutics, it’s the science of interpreting the word of God.

I believe all elders are to have the gift of teaching. 1Ti 3:2 says the elders are to be “apt to teach.” That’s the ability to analyze the word of God and instruct people in it. The primary function of a pastor who is an elder is to interpret scripture so it is understandable and then systematically instruct his congregation with it. It’s not unusual for a pastor to be both a teacher and a preacher, but he must at least have the gift of teaching as a basic requirement for being an elder. God’s gifts are different and unique. A pastor or an elder must be evaluated on the basis of whether he faithfully and systematically teaches the word of God.

If you don’t have the gift of teaching, please don’t teach, because teachers of God’s word will be subject to greater condemnation because of their high level of responsibility and accountability (Jas 3:1). I’ve encourage some to give a word, they may not be teachers, but they can fall under the category of exhorter or preacher…teaching is another understanding. You might conclude that you’re not a teacher or a preacher but only a server. That’s fine. Serving is just as good as teaching or preaching. The issue isn’t what your gift is; it’s what you do with it. Remember your eternal reward is based on whether you maximized the gift God designed for you to use. (Mt 25:14-17, 18-20, 21-22, 23-25, 26-28 and 29-30).

• Exhorting - Ro 12:8a: We see that prophecy proclaims the truth. Serving puts the truth into action, and teaching systematizes the truth. Exhorting calls for a right response to the truth. The Greek word translated “exhort” means to “encourage”, to “strengthen”, to “advise”, or to “comfort”. There are many ways the gift of “exhorting” can manifest.

One could be encouraging people to stop sinning and start living righteously, comforting people in times of trouble or sorrow, or helping them to trust more in the lord and walk by faith. Paul alluded to this gift when he exhorted the Thessalonians to “warn them that are unruly, to encourage the fainthearted, and support the weak” (1Th 5:14). You can kind of sum up this gift by saying it’s the ministry of challenging God’s people to act consistently with his will. If you’re weak and defeated, you need someone to come and say, let me encourage you to take your eyes off of yourself and your problems and focus them on the lord; be strong in the lord and the power of his might. He is the victor, so there is no reason to be downhearted. Start to enjoy the victory that he has promised you in his Word. Start to praise him. Our God is a God of victory, and your sorrow will be turned into joy; you get the idea. The person with the girt of exhortation leads people to live according to God’s revelations.

If you believe you’ve got that gift don’t sit on it start to use it, when you come across a situation in which you feel you must minister, that’s probably the spirit of God prompting your heart.

• Giving - Ro 12:8b: The Greek word translated “give” in this verse in (metadidomi), which means ‘to impart one’s earthly possessions to another’. Although all Christians are called to give to the needs of others, some believers have the gift of giving with “liberality” the Greek word is (haplotes) ‘simplicity’. It indicates a kind of giving that is single-minded – without having an ulterior motive. It implies giving for the glory of the lord with no thought of regret or hope of repayment.

Someone who gives with liberality is not interested in others taking notice of his generosity, unlike the Pharisees who gave to be seen by men. I thank God for those who have the gift of giving. If you have that gift, then use it. If your heart is prompted to give generously when needs arise, and you can do it with an overwhelming sense of joy, then you can know you have that gift. Certainly we should be giving to the lord’s work and meeting needs, but some people are uniquely gifted by God to give sacrificially and abundantly.

• Ruling or leading - Ro 12:8c: The gift of leading or ruling is the same as the gift of governments mentioned in 1Co 12:28. It means ‘to lead’, ‘to manage’, ‘to be in charge’, or ‘to oversee’. It is the gift of leadership, which involves the multiple skills of organizing, administrating, and motivating people to accomplish a task. The parallel gift of governments is a translation of the Greek word (kubernetes), which refers t the skill of piloting a ship. And remember you can only have one pilot, piloting a ship. The gift of ruling or governing belongs primarily to the elders and deacons of a church, who are required to manage their own household well (1Ti 3:4, 12).

The basic difference between and elder and a deacon is the elder is able to teach. Deacons are not necessarily articulators of the faith, but they are to be equally qualified in many of the other areas, including leadership ability. The church needs administrators who can keep the church on course, operating with fairness, wisdom, efficiency, and humility. That kind of management ability is indispensable to the church. I know that there are some days that I don’t feel like there is enough hours to accomplish all that needs to be done. Even though we are a small church, there is a lot to do at times. A lot of times I’ve just asked a person to help me out with something, or someone will mention something to me that they think the church needs so I usually say well yes I agree, so go for it…they usually say you want me, yup.

I’m just saying to do it because it was your idea. Make it happen if you believe that’s what the spirit of God is showing you. So if you have something on your heart that you believe is from God and want to see it happen. Then that means that God is showing it to you, so you start it. I’ve got my plate full right now, especially when I start doing an extra teaching session so we can all learn more about God’s word. Ruling is recognizing a need and effectively coordinating what must be done to meet that need is how the gift of ruling or leadership operates. If you see a need and you know what action can be taken to meet it. Find some other folks who are like-minded, and see what God might do as you begin to move out in ministry. You can always bounce it off of me.

• Showing mercy - Ro 12:8d: Showing mercy is having pity and compassion on those in misery – the poor, the downtrodden, the imprisoned, and others who are faced with hardships. You find people with this gift participating in jail ministries, hospital visitation, nursing homes, and rescue missions for the homeless. They have a passion in their hearts for destitute people. Jesus is the supreme model for those with this gift as seen in Lu 4:18. You can see a lot of his ministry was to the poor and needy. Paul exhorts those with the gift of mercy to do it with an attitude of cheerfulness.

When you’re ministering to people who are miserable, you had better not be miserable yourself while you’re doing it. Go with an attitude of joy. Don’t say, “Oh, I’ve got to go down and help those losers again.” I’m going to grit my teeth and do it, because I know it’s the Christian thing to do. Ministry to people in need has to be done with an attitude of cheerfulness. In Pr 14:21, it says “he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.” Let me conclude with a few remarks: Paul doesn’t give us a detailed technical definition of every gift and include all of their parameters. His list covers the basic needs of the church.

Prophecy is a proclamation, serving is operation, teaching is systematization, exhortation is motivation, giving is implementation, leading is mobilization, and showing mercy is commiseration. We are a small church and proclaim and teach God’s word, other’s also teach and preach, as well as exhort, some bring forth prophecy, lead, serve, and help and care for fellow believers. That’s the way the church is supposed to work. In seeking the Lord and walking with him, we will find the gifts he has given for his glory. The ministry of our gifts begins by recognizing the mercies of God and then offering him our lives on a daily basis.

We’re to humbly evaluate what our gifts are and begin to use them by ministering to the body of Christ. If you haven’t been doing that, then you need to consider Paul’s exhortation to Timothy. In 2Ti 1:6, Paul wrote to Timothy “to stir up the gift of God, which is in thee.” Amen!