Humility
Notes
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Introduction: The yearning to compare.
Comparison can be helpful in somethings, but is usually destructive in everything else. We compare ourselves to others: better, worse, more important, less important.
Comparison can lead you to think you are indispensable or useless; the source of ministry or the focal point of ministry.
Comparison will always lead to the lack of humility or a distortion of humility and that destroys the unity of the Church.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Being transformed = changing our minds to think of the world like Christ thinks.
This process causes our awareness of God’s will to grow.
That awareness is now applied to several areas of the Believer’s life.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Key phrases to notice: “by the grace given me” and “according to the measure of faith that God has assigned”
“measure of faith” may mean amount of faith given by God, but that lacks support textually. It is better to understand it as God’s grace given equally to all who believe.
Paul’s authority as an apostle comes from God’s grace and our correct thinking of ourselves should be directed by God’s grace given to us.
ὑπερφρονέω = haughty, high thoughts vs.σωφρονέω = think rightly, be sane In light of God’s gift of grace/faith we can neither see ourselves as better or worse.
{So, what is the sane way to think of ourselves?}
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
3 big ideas: The first, we are one body of Christ.
No lone Christians, like individual coals in a fire, we continue to glow as we stay connected to the whole. So, our identity as the body of Christ is greater than our individual identity.
1 Cor. 12:12-13
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
The second, we all function in different ways.
Like parts of the body. 1 Cor. 12:14-19
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?
The third, we are tied together.
Eph. 4:11-16
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
{But there is a fourth way in which we believers should understand ourselves and the Church.}
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
“let us use them” supplied.
Romans 12:6
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;
Romans 12:6
6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
Romans 12:6
6 In 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.
We must see the imperative that is implied. Use your gift!
Romans 12:6-8
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
4 important things about spiritual gifts: Holy Spirit gives them 1 Cor. 12:4-11
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Not everyone has the same gift.
They are given to be used in the church and for the church.
1 Peter 4:10
10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
There are not set gifts but varieties of gifts to meet the need of the Church.
It isn’t important that you know your gift before you use it, only that you are willing to be used.
Conclusion:
Review
4 ways to think about ourselves:
No lone Christians
we all function in different ways
we are tied together.
You have at least one give so, use your gift!