Sunday, October 27, 2019 - Romans 12:3-13 - Freedom Community Church - Pastor Rob Lloyd

Sunday, October 27, 2019 - Romans 12:3-13 - Freedom Community Church - Pastor Rob Lloyd, Battle Ground, Washington, US

Sunday Service Time: 10 AM
Sunday Service Location: 1919 SW 25th Ave, Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: (360) 975-9356
Email: info@freedomcommunity.church
Prayer Request: wepray@freedomcommunity.church
Mailing Address: 1400 NE 136th Ave. Ste 201, Vancouver, WA 98684

Sermon Notes:

Romans 12:3-13

Last week, as we studied verse 1 we noted that our reasonable response to all the mercy God has poured upon us, is to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to His service.
• And then is verse 2 we learned the desire of Jesus is for us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, which happens as we open up our bibles and let the word of God replace all of those old ways of thinking with the truth.

And now, as we come to verse 3-8, he is going to address the use of the spiritual giftings He has given to each of us, to bless God by blessing the body of believers.
• But this is not a separate line of thinking from these first two verses, for as we will see, in order to exercise the giftings of God in a way that honors God, we need to be actively in the process of presenting our bodies to Him and being engaged in the renewing of our mind.
• I didn’t say we have to have arrived at total transformation, because we know that’s not going to fully occur in our present state,
• but that we must be engaged and desirous of this work of the Holy Spirit in us.

And now we pick up at verse 3; For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you (the church), not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly (sound judgment), as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Now, you might say here, “I thought you just said this section was about spiritual gifts that different people have been given by God, so what does this have to do with that?” And the answer is “everything”. For one of the difficulties that arises when we talk about spiritual gifts, can be the feeling of inflated importance in the gift one has been given 1) such as their gift being superior (meaning everyone should be invested where they are invested) or 2) even that their gifting makes them superior to others
• Which is so ridiculous considering these are not acquired skills one wants and therefore does tremendous work to gain, but rather, just as it clearly says, are gifts given by God.
• And when it’s a gift, why should anyone walk around as though their gift makes them more valuable. But some do, and that’s the reason that some with certain giftings never have a calling placed on their lives by God.
• The gift is not given for the person who has it (although it is my experience that when you are walking in your gifting, to bring glory to the Lord, it’s the most fulfilling place to be). The gift is given by the Lord to be used in the service of the Lord, to bring glory to the Lord (Isa. 42:8, Acts 12:21-22).
o Which He most often utilizes in the service to the church family and in evangelizing the world. But the focus here is certainly on ministering to the church!
And this is how those first two verses connect to the ministry gifts, because if we have given our bodies as a living sacrifice and have been having our minds renewed in Jesus, then we will engage in the service set before us by the Lord, with the proper perspective and heart in the work we do.
• And we have likely all seen how so-called Christian work has gone off the rails, because the first two verses are not a reality in someone’s life, and therefore their “gift” builds pride and the problems associated with pride that come afterwards

4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:

Aren’t you grateful we all have different gifting we are given to serve the Lord with? Because diversity and numbers in giftings means more ministry in the body, for more in the body.
• And again, we see here that God sees us as members belonging to or knit into one another in the body
• Now that does not mean someone tells another what they must do, or takes power over them, nor does it mean we forfeit our individuality (although some groups wrongly teach that it does).
• What it does mean is that wherever God places you as a member of a church body, choosing to take only the position of the served, without also choosing to serve, is not in the will of God. Period!
And by the way, it also doesn’t mean we serve everywhere or all the time so we can avoid participating in the worship, teaching, celebration and congregating as a body. Which also misses the point.
Now he lists some of the ministry gifts here; if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Now, prophecy is not primarily speaking of foretelling future events, but more commonly it’s the gift of speaking to a matter that has been empowered by divine insight to speak directly to something you may or may not be aware of in the hearer or event.
• Now, I for one believe that often times this occurs without the speaker even knowing they have just exercised the gift. It happened to me this week when I was speaking to a pastor in Cal. about a mission’s matter. If someone else was in on our conversation, they might have thought, “this guy is off topic here”, but as the one who was receiving from his gift of prophecy, I can assure you he was not.
• I have also seen this gift exercised more intentionally and can testify to its genuineness there too.
• But I want to say, when you do think the Lord has spoken, and you are trying to exercise your gift, I think you should say “I really believe the Lord has given me something to share with you, and I would like to share it with you, but please go to the Lord yourself to affirm that He is speaking to you”

And as a believer, I have been sure the Lord has spoken something to me, and then been criticized by another because they interpreted that the Lord had not spoken it because it didn’t turn out the way they expected it must
• So I want to conclude in speaking about this gift with a few summary remarks; 1) you can dismiss those charlatans who use prophecy for gain or attention (and you absolutely should), 2) we must remember that prophecy will never contradict what God has already told us in the word, 3) we want to remember that prophecy is most often not predictive but a divinely inspired and timely word directed by the Holy Spirit, and 4) we need not be afraid to exercise the gift, but do speak cautiously, and point people back to the Lord to get their own confirmation.

Now we come to ministering which simply speaks of serving where service is needed. And sometimes, after meeting some practical need(s), someone might say “that really ministered to me”. And that would be a correct use of this term.
• This is such an amazing gift in my perspective, because anyone can minister to others, but some people are wired to do this as part of the way God gifted them. And such a person loves to meet the needs of others or see a task that needs to be done and just jump in with joy.
• And we know for others, they might have to kind of push themselves to meet the need before them, because maybe they are especially gifted by God in mercy and can’t pull themselves from caring for that broken hearted one, they spotted during worship.
• So, when one says they want to be a minister, hand them the broom, the Sunday school lesson plan, the keys to the church bus…because this is what we are talking about here.

Teaching is the gift most often associated with the pulpit ministry, but it needs to operate in multiple places and through multiple persons within a church family, doing many different forms of teaching
• The thing many forget is it also means you have to 1) have the discipline of studying, 2) along with the desire to seek God for what He wants to say and with the heart He wants to convey in saying it.

Now, exhortation is also spoken of by Paul to a budding young ministry leader in Titus 1:9, which says of ministry leaders “that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict”
• The reason I bring us there is for twofold; 1) that we can see the gift is to be operated by use of sound doctrine, meaning this requires exhortation to be biblically backed, and not some opinion, and 2) that there is a difference between encouraging someone through exhortation and convict those who contradict, which is a corrective action.
• Some have believed this is the gift of chewing people out. Folks, for clarity, that’s not a gift!

Next, the bible speaks specifically to giving to the Lord as an act of worship and faith, and this is for every follower of Jesus. I for one remember pastor Chuck Smith saying, “If you want to see where your heart is, look in your checkbook”. That’s kind of dating myself now that everyone pays online, but you get the idea 😊
• But, when it speaks of the gift of giving here, it’s talking about someone who just feels called to give and delights in doing it. And it’s not exclusive to money, but also in needed things. It’s the gif of generosity!
• Now as a word of caution, I have encountered some who say they have this, and therefore they have to work more to make more money, yet in their current state already give so little proportionately
• And at the same time have encounter others who don’t have a lot but are like an ever-flowing channel to which God pours into and they simply move those supplies or moneys to the destination God wants it to go. And whether rich or just getting by, this is the gift of giving spoken of here.

Regarding leading, there are some with ideas and/or skills, who then go out and try to get others to join them, yet are lacking the gift of leadership. And what you get are disgruntled people, including themselves.
• Now for sure, even individuals with God given leadership skills will occasionally encounter rebellious or overly grumpy people, but even then, they find a way to work through the situation without losing the others along the way.
• But generally, those with leadership gifting are those a group will tend to gravitate toward when coming together. And a good leader will always want everyone to give all the glory to Jesus alone

And as we come to mercy, I can’t help but think of an illustration which summed up these gifts so well . I’m changing it up, but it’s something like this; “A lady was walking up the steps of the stage to take communion she tripped. Someone with the gift of mercy came and sat beside her, trying to reduce the impact and shield her as she collected herself, hardly saying a word. Another with the gift of ministry came and examined the steps to see if they were slick or caused the fall. Someone with the gift of teaching came to her afterward and instructed her of a better way to approach the steps during her next attempt at communion. Someone with the gift of prophesy was sent to her to tell her the Lord was using this event to speak to leadership about their need to take communion to those who physically are not able to come forward. Then someone with the gift of exhortation spoke to the leadership who then went to the servers and created a system which met the needs of all the members of the church.
Folks, don’t be disgruntled when those in the body come to you and give the gift they have been given to give. Receive it with the heart with which it was intended, never forgetting who is actually giving it!
• Chances are you might feel like only one or two of those individuals actually helped you but appreciate them all. This is how the family of Jesus shows love for the body of Jesus- the church. We should encourage it and be grateful when we witness it occurring

Now, after finishing addressing individual gifts for the serving of the body, now we come to instruction that is for absolutely every follower of Jesus, yet is still speaking of the way Christians are to live and love each other
• And we will see that is practical and at the same time should be convicting for some
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

What does love without hypocrisy look like? It’s the serving of others, for others (especially as unto Jesus), and not for self. It’s the real desire and heart that gives preference to others over self. Love like that is the will of God for and from each of us.
• And I believe the “one another” we are called to give “preference” to, is speaking of the members inside of a church family, yet the principle surely extends to other followers of Christ also.
• This is backed up in verse 13 which calls us to distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. For although we can meet the needs of the saints everywhere, it’s hard to invite them over to lunch when they live in Pakistan, India, Africa…which is basic hospitality.
• So, we can see the call is to care for and desire each other. And in case anyone believes that means only our group within the church, we should understand that hospitality means “pursuing the love of strangers”, so its speaking of taking the time and making the effort to get to know one another.

Now to be clear, I know that no one can drop everything all the time for everyone, but we are all called to engage. And if we all do, then we, as a church family, will display and experience what is spoken of here

And to be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love means not only do we love each other, we show that in the way we communicate and interact with each other. This is speaking of being polite and considerate; something the world is really struggling with, but that the church should not.

And we close by looking at the intensity we are to serve one another with, described in verse 11, which reads “not lagging in diligence, fervent (literally “boiling”) in spirit, serving the Lord.”
• Now to operate like this in the church family (or anywhere else), requires several things, but three basics are 1) a real love for others, 2) commitment, and 3) an understanding that this is being done for Jesus!
• It doesn’t mean you meet others needs to the point where you can’t sustain your own life and needs,
o but that you dedicate yourself to not only having a heart for others, but the actions that show the reality of that heart.
• Some can really talk up their love for the church, but always seem to have made plans that never make time for the church, the needs of the members of the church, or to use their gifts inside the church family.
o While others who are wearing multiple hats in the church will always are trying to find a way to meet a need, because they know their service is unto the Lord.

Folks, God didn’t give us the church as a place to attend, but as a family to enter. A family where each one of us makes up a portion of the body, and where He himself is the head. So, to love the church is to love God.
• And as we’re living in an increasingly loveless or self-devoted world, this kind of love preaches the gospel of our Lord Jesus in a way that can penetrate the most hardened and longing hearts.
• But not if we bite and devour one another as Gal. 5:15 warns against, and can happen 1) when we don’t appreciate the gifts of others, or 2) try to operate in those giftings without offering ourselves as living sacrifices to Jesus and being engaged in the renewing of our minds, or 3) if we sit on our gifts while we watch others who are utilizing their giftings, perspire and tire from carrying the loads we have been gifted to carry.
• Folks, the church needs the church and the world needs the church in order to hear the good news of Jesus Christ our King, and to see what genuine love looks like.