S231-072008 Ro 12b
Alêtheia Christian Fellowship ~ 072008 ~ Romans 12b
Romans 12:1-5 ~ 1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And 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.
3For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Christians, because of, and through the MERCIES of GOD, Hand over your entire being to God’s use and purposes.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Examples…
Thank God instead of thanking yourself.
Don’t put your interests ahead of others, but rather put their interests ahead of yours.
Do not think too highly of yourself because we, who are many, are one and our faith is not our own
Romans 12:6-8 ~ 6Since 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; 7if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
He is speaking to every Christian here today; to everyone, do not over-think you, rather correctly-think.
God has given each person an individualized portion of faith and each person is different.
Yet, it is to be worked out in the body as we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually, members of one another.
§ With that in mind Paul list 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
These Gifts have been broken down and analyzed in different ways, but Paul’s main point is that each Christian is different and yet we are required to be part of the Body of Christ and so also belong to each other.
If we will quit worrying about our own program and simply serve others where God has called us we will benefit God’s Kingdom
That is called surrender and sacrifice!
Gifts is cari>smata, from which charismatic is derived; it is literally a grace-gift. That means it is an unearned, unmerited and generous gift bestowed by God’s choice not ours!
Grace gift are unmerited and unearned!
1) Each person is supernaturally gifted
2) Your gift does not reflect your worth!
3) Your gift is not for YOU!
4) Your gift is not supposed to be a mystery!
I have received the Gift of the Holy Spirit of pastor.
It was God’s choice, not mine and His grace not my worth.
It makes me no better than any other Christian it just makes me more responsible than most.
Who do I work for? Do you want to judge His slave?
You can feel free to criticize God’s choice if you think that’s wise.
I bring that up to say that each of you has been specially and supernaturally gifted by God to serve this particular body!
Desire to serve elsewhere – because it’s easier.
If you’re serving yourself instead I think you better stop over-thinking you and start correctly-thinking.
If someone is ministering to this body as God has asked – like Derek, like Nell, like Andy – you better think twice about judging them and repudiating God’s choice.
People grumbled against Moses and every time God took it personally.
The main point is to, without thinking too much about yourself, correctly deduce what you can do to benefit the body you’re in – not go off and find some outside ministry!
Prophecy (profhtei>a), according to the proportion of his faith
God’s exact words, therefore proportional to having those exact words!
Service (diakoni>a), in his serving
A servant serves - we call it ministry; it is a working for others at personal cost – no cost, no service.
He who teaches (dida>skw), in his teaching
Speak to the mind, educate. (Locative –do!)
He who exhorts (parakale>w), in his exhortation
Speak to the heart, preaching is to beg people to put into practice that which they have learned. (Locative –do!)
He who gives (metadi>dwmi), with liberality
Literally to “hand over – after,” and means to give what one has ownership of. This is to be done with sincere generosity, not for one’s own sake nor begrudgingly nor arrogantly.
Liberality is ajplo>thv and means purity of motive and therefore primarily means with open integrity, but as a Christian that implies generously as well.
He who leads (proi`>sthmi), with diligence
Lead is to stand before or in front of and therefore to break trail, i.e. lead the way.
Do this without worrying that the people behind you are grumbling – set your course and do not waver.
He who shows mercy (ejlea>w), with cheerfulness
Mercy is the action of helping someone because you have pity for them.
We think of pity as a superior looking down on an inferior, but Biblical pity derives from God’s viewpoint – we see people as He sees them.
We can never be superior when we pity people as God does and at the same time recognize God pities us in exactly the same way.
We are all pitiful and so all need mercy, but at another level we all come in and out of a pitiful state – we need the body to help us at times and we need to help the body at other times.
The word cheerfully is iJlaro>thv and means genuine gladness – it is truly a pleasure to help – not for one’s own self-exultation, but because we really care.
Romans 12:9-13 ~ 9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Let love (ajga>ph) be without hypocrisy.
Choose to love genuinely because of God’s Spirit in you not manufacturing a false love.
Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
Cling is to be joined and good is God’s good not human good!
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love
Brotherly-love one another with tender affection – this is natural familial devotion – we are family!
Give preference to one another in honor
Very important – place others in our body ahead of your own interests… yes, but in what area?
In honor, i.e. value – yield to the other person as though they were a dignitary or your boss. Elevate others by respecting them, but notice there are implied parameters.
We do no benefit to the body if we are simply doormats to be used and abused – to be someone’s whipping boy is anti-love for them.
Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Notice the last; it is in understanding our service as that which is for the Lord as His slaves that we are fervent and diligent.
If you are not fervent and or diligent you either don’t know to whom you belong or you don’t have much respect for Him as Lord.
If Nell is serving us out of her resources she can become unhappy if we don’t appreciate her efforts.
If Nell is serving us out of His resources for His benefit it doesn’t matter how we respond to her efforts.
Good role/gift = haughty
Bad role/gift = disappointment
Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer
Tough life –
Rejoice because of faith that establishes Biblical hope
Stay under the gun – that’s where God has you – qli~yiv & uJpome>nw.
Be devoted to prayer – let nothing interfere and pray for the desire to pray.
Contributing to the needs of the saints – is literally being a partner or in fellowship in their needs.
Practicing hospitality – An invasion of privacy! They get to know you, you get to know them and only supernatural power will save the day.
1- Realize you have a job to do right here, right now.
What are you going to do about that?
Focus on self or get busy about the Lord’s business as He directs and enables?
What can I do? You need to figure that out… What needs to be done that you can do – that’s the question
2- Choose to genuinely love the people of this church unconditionally.
Agapê means avoiding evil and joining in with God’s good.
What would Jesus do?
3- Be tenderly affectionate to the people of this church in familial love.
Esteem everyone more than yourself and your desires.