By Guy K. Henry
I'll be updating this page as time goes on.
Section 1: Our Relationship With God
Chapter 1: Kicking and Screaming
Chapter 2: Cerebral Transplantation
Chapter 3: What’s your rank solider?
Section 2: Our Relationship With our Fellow Believers
I am not a pastor, but I imagine that if I were, my answering machine would be filled with calls like:
“We haven’t changed anything in one whole month!”
“Why don’t we change the order of the service?”
“How about making next Sunday ‘Nobody is allowed to sit in the same seat day’?”
Don’t we, as Christians, just love to try out new things? Don’t we love the challenge of bounding forward into unexplored territory? Excuse me? What’s that?
“We fear change,” you say?
By now you’ve either concluded that I live on a remote island, or that I haven’t been to church in a very long time. Did you think of the third possibility, that I am pulling your chain?
Those opening statements couldn’t be farther away from the experience of most pastors and churches. In fact it can be generalized that most churches and Christians actually cling to that which is time tested, familiar, traditional, and comfortable.
In one church I attended a friend of mine came up to me with a copy of the church bulletin and told me that the order and nature of the morning service was the same as it was twenty-five years ago. I am sure that there were subtle changes, but they were responding to the fact that very little had varied from a quarter century ago.
Now please understand me, I don’t advocate change just for the fun of it. Change is often a very expensive and painful thing. All change must be evaluated and implemented properly. Even so, people will be offended and feelings hurt.
I knew of a church in Pennsylvania that decided it was time to replace the carpet. A small committee decided that green would be the new color, instead of the blue carpet that had ruled for generations. Such strife and controversy was generated over this minor change that the church split in half. If I were a member of that church I’d have voted to keep the old carpet until it was a pile of threads. Even then I’d just rake it out and keep the old one. That is a case where the toll of the change wasn’t worth it.
Further, tradition isn’t always bad. There are some things that work so well, they don’t need improving. The Gospel of Salvation is the perfect example. I won’t be changing it, nor do I really want to stand next to someone who does.
Now that I’ve said all that, I should tell you that I didn’t open up this can of worms to stir up trouble. (Trouble really doesn’t need much help doing that!) I bring up these things to highlight a fundamental characteristic of our sinful nature. There is a powerful drive embedded into our sinful makeup to get cozy and comfortable with our traditions. There are things we do over and over again as Christians and as churches that become as comfortable as an old pair of jeans. Who cares why we do them? They are just so cozy and familiar to us. Further, in a den of comfortable Christians, presenting new ideas for ministry will make one feel like they’re taking a nap with the porcupine family.
It will help us if we realize how strong the desire to avoid and fear change is. I needed to bring this realization to the front in order to study Romans 12 because it is a chapter that demands change. Be warned, your spiritual nature is going to love this chapter, and your fleshly nature is going to hate it!
Imagine that if one day my health collapsed because of my lifestyle and I had major surgery. Perhaps I had a heart lung transplant, liver transplant, and stomach ulcer surgery to boot. What if I woke up and ordered a bacon mayonnaise burger, carton of cigarettes, something with alcohol in it, and a jalapeño pizza? Do you think the doctor would be happy when he came to visit me? I am pretty sure I’d be in big trouble!
The Lord has done even more drastic surgery to my spirit. He has removed my sin, and restored my relationship with Him. My sinful nature would have me sit up in bed and try and justify to God how while I appreciated His work, I was going to live my life just like I did before He worked on me.
Actually, I go a few steps beyond that. Perhaps you do too. God desires to fix all of the damage sin has done to me. I keep waking up during the operation and saying, “Hey God, leave that part alone! I like it the way it is!”
Romans 12 gives us a peek at what God desires to change in our lives. It is my hope that by studying it we can both recognize those changes and not resist them. Of course, this passage stands without my help. Please take a moment to read it, and consider its words primary. Please consider my attempts at explaining it secondary.
Romans 12
(1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
(2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
(3) For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
(4) For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
(5) So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
(6) Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
(7) Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
(8) Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
(9) Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
(10) Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
(11) Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
(12) Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
(13) Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
(14) Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
(15) Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
(16) Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
(17) Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
(18) If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
(19) Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
(20) Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
(21) Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Go ahead and read that as many times as it takes to get familiar. You should know that the power is in those words and not mine.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1
For years I had been guilty of reading this verse as if it were inside of a Hallmark greeting card. I glossed over it, probably even smiled as I read it and said, “That’s so nice.”
The truth is that this verse is probably rated at least PG-13 for violence and conviction. When God told Paul to write it, Paul probably looked up at the sky and said, “Really?!” This is one very powerful verse, and it just doesn’t work if we water it down!
In the day that this was written, it was a common sight to see animals being offered as sacrifices at the temple. Those sacrifices were meant to point to Jesus Christ’s greatest and final sacrifice on the cross. God honored the faith of those who trusted in the animal sacrifices to secure forgiveness of sin and fellowship with God. We don’t need to sacrifice animals any longer because we can trust Jesus’ death and His coming back to life as our sacrifice.
I think when I have read Romans 12:1, I mistakenly looked at it from the point of view of the person bringing the sacrifice. Upon closer examination though, we are meant to look at the verse from the perspective of the sacrifice itself.
I can say with confidence that the day an animal is brought to be sacrificed is the lowest day of its life. That lamb or goat has never been more helpless than it is the day it is tied down to the altar. That animal has no illusions. It does not believe that it is the boss. He wouldn’t describe himself as the head honcho that day. If the goat could talk he’d use words like ‘Powerless’ and ‘Vulnerable’ to describe his condition.
God calls us to be a ‘living sacrifice’. What does that mean? Just like the lamb, we are to experience total humility before God. The big difference is that when the sacrifice is done, we are allowed to live! We are to be laid out and given wholly to God. Only when we’ve completely surrendered are we allowed to get up from the altar.
It has often puzzled me why the railing in the front of the church is called the ‘altar’. I’ve never seen a lamb tied to it. The pastor has never wrung a dove’s neck on it. I have yet to visit a church where the ‘altar’ is covered in black soot from the daily fires. I believe that this wooden banister came to be known as an altar by people who read and understood Romans 12:1. The intended use of it is for people to come and lay themselves before God in total surrender and humility.
I’ve seen some pastors use the altar as a type of payday or feedback tool. They ask themselves, “How’d I do today?”
If 15 people come forward, they did well.
If no one comes forward, they take it to mean that they did a bad job, or that the congregation isn’t ‘right with God’.
No altar was ever intended for this purpose. It isn’t a mechanism to applaud the preacher. When you think of the altar, think of the sacrifice of your whole self and a humble attitude of acceptance for whatever it is God has for you.
Remember also that the altar as we have it today isn’t necessarily the wooden railing in front of the Church. In Hebrews 13:10 (“We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.”), we are told that Jesus is the altar. Further study reveals that Jesus is not only the altar, but also the priest and sacrifice. If you can offer yourself completely to God at the railing in the front of the church, then by all means go! It turns out that it isn’t the earthly location of our surrender that matters, it is that we humbly give it all to Jesus Christ to do with as He pleases.
I wonder if we should be following the Old Testament example of Abraham, Jacob, David and many others. (Gen 12:7, Gen 35:1, 1 Chron 21:21 to select a sample.) In each of those times, and so many more, God dealt with someone and right there on the spot they built an altar and offered a sacrifice. If we adopted that practice we’d have altars in our cars, living rooms, and workplaces. Of course, I don’t mean for us to pile up rocks on our dashboards, but I do know that God will accept our sacrifice on the freeway.
I know that many times we go to the altar to have a little chat with God about something He brought to mind during the sermon. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with that. However, that is not the sacrifice that is mentioned in Romans 12:1. That lamb was not brought to the altar for a haircut. It isn’t getting a little off of the sides and top. That firewood isn’t there for the purpose of getting a lovely tan. The goat certainly isn’t coming forward to let the rabbi know he did a nice job last Saturday. When we truly report to the altar of Jesus Christ, we can expect to be giving away ourselves as we become helpless before Him.
When we realize and assimilate this relationship between God and us, we’ve become that living sacrifice. As long as we think that we bring something to the table, we are a very mistaken little lamb.
A person could get confused here, so let me attempt to explain. When we first surrender to Christ and accept His salvation, that is our most important spiritual event. Right then and there our sins are forgiven, and our place in heaven is assured. If we truly surrendered our own efforts at self-salvation, then it is a one-time event. It does not need to be repeated. We cannot help that salvation, nor can we hurt it. That is different than what we have talked about here. There are many areas where we cling and return to the ‘old nature’. That is when we need to take ourselves to the altar and offer ourselves back to God. As God grows us, we will find ourselves back at the altar time after time!
It is this attitude of genuine humility that God requires of us before He will use us for His service. If we never learn to be humble, we will be stuck in this very frustrating and difficult place in life.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2
I’ve heard it said that the first surgical procedure was performed in Genesis 2 when God removed a rib from Adam and made Eve from it. This is probably true, but I Romans 12:2 gives us the most amazing surgery ever performed anywhere, anytime. It talks of a brain transplant. More accurately, we are given a new mind, which makes brain transplantation seem like child’s play. There is only one physician qualified for this type of surgery, and that is God Himself.
In order to grow in Christ we must first be offered up to God in total humility. The next step is that we must allow God to change our minds and our old ways of thinking. Realize this, that if we are left on our own, we will return back to our old sinful habit every time. We are unable to become more spiritually minded on our own. Thankfully, God is more than willing to work on this area if we will get out of His way.
There is a real live danger for the Christian. It is a trap that we must be ever alert about to keep from falling into it. That is the so human trait of assuming the appearance and character of our surroundings.
Years ago I worked in an environment with a pair of Irish ladies. After a few weeks I caught myself speaking with a semi-Irish accent, despite never having set foot on the little Irish island. In a harmless, but annoying way, I demonstrated this chameleon characteristic of blending in with my surroundings.
It isn’t always harmless. It is so easy to sound, act, think, and appear like those around us. We probably don’t set out to do this, but our sinful nature takes over.
I am guilty of being like a twenty year old lazy-boy chair. When the world comes and sits down on us, we mold ourselves into its shape. While such a chair might be wonderful for watching TV sports, it is a sad way to live our Christian lives. When Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to this world, I think that we are called to be more like a stiff oak bench than a comfy chair. When the world dives into us, we are to stand our ground. If anyone changes shape, it should be the world. Now I realize that this is so easy to say, and impossible to accomplish with our own resolution.
Consider the pile of broken New Year’s resolutions that most of us have accumulated. We aren’t even able to follow through on relatively easy things like losing weight, saving money, and quitting bad habits. When it comes to healing our own minds, we are woefully weak. Praise the Lord, He doesn’t expect us to change on our own!
The world and Satan are relentless in their attempts to knock down our resolve. Peer pressure is not just an adolescent thing. It is so easy to be off our guard and follow the people around us into things we know we shouldn’t be doing. Consider how difficult it is to confront a gossiper in the middle of a story and miss out on a juicy detail.
Remember that we started this discussion out by stating that our human nature hates to change? I can tell you from personal experience that this is a change we fight every step. Am I the only one who when dealt a crisis goes into whirly bird mode? I flap my wings around the house and attempt to figure out how I am going to solve the problem. Only after I’ve exhausted my avenues do I think to ask God to take control of the situation, and use me as He sees fit. Am I the only one who says I’ve given things to God, only to whip them back out of His hands whenever I think I can do the job better? Sure, in the past thirty years God has changed a great deal of my ways of thinking. However, I am ever reminded how much more work there is to be done!
The change is drastic. Before he starts work, my thoughts are occupied with things like advancement, profit, dignity, pride, appearance, pleasure, security, and reputation. God desires to delete all those thoughts and replace them with thoughts of accomplishing His will here on earth. God will meet those other concerns, without my worrying about them.
It is a very human thing to as the question, “Why are we here?” After we come to know Jesus Christ as our savior, the question changes to, “How does God desire to use my life?” There are many areas in which He may use us. The problem is, we are unusable and unsuitable for his service until these two changes take hold of our lives. The first is a humble spirit. The second is a new mind.
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Romans 12:3
In any military there are going to be Generals at the top and Privates at the bottom. There are two ways of looking at this situation.
One is that it is the best way to run an army. The chain of command ensures that the troops act as a healthy unit. It greatly improves the chances that the objective will be achieved. This is how God wants us to see our position. Without the chain of command and the ranking system, everyone would be darting around doing what was in their opinion the most important priority. When they weren’t doing that, they’d be fighting about who was in charge. Very little would be accomplished.
The other way to look at the ranks in the military is on a more personal level. A person can think of advancing through the ranks as a type of recognition and applause for a job well done. Every step in rank involves an increase in pay, power, respect and status. A General may conclude that they are a very important person, and in an earthly military they may very well be. This is not how God desires us to look at our ministry. Such an attitude takes the emphasis off of God, and directs it to us.
This is not how it works in God’s army or ‘workforce’. If a person has authority and power over people, it is simply because God’s will requires a person to be in charge. God looks at the person who cleans the church during the week and at the preacher and says, “I need you both to do your job, and you are both important to Me.” It doesn’t matter if people hang on our every word, or if we carry a toilet brush, if we are doing the job God has assigned to us He sees no difference in our ‘status’.
Romans 12:3 warns us to not think of ourselves more highly than is warranted. Again, this runs counter to what our old, unredeemed self wants. This nature desires recognition and power. Besides payday, recognition and authority are powerful motivating forces in the workplace. They don’t work in the church and God’s kingdom.
Let us not take that thought to the extreme. While we are rooting out any weeds of self-pride in our lives, we must make sure that we don’t also pluck out any seedlings of encouragement as well. We are called upon to encourage each other regularly. If others do not encourage us as we serve the Lord, we are likely to grow weary. The line we must not cross is to allow ourselves to be motivated by applause. If we find ourselves changing the way we do things in order to receive praise, we’ve crossed the line.
Is it possible that such an attitude could creep into our church? Does it infiltrate our Christian walk? Unfortunately it does. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to do things in a church and not offend anyone? Good things, bad things, big things, little things, you are going to offend someone if you hang around church for any length of time. There are two ways that a person can be offended. If you do something that degrades the Lord, people will rightfully be offended. If you do something that impinges on the comfort or standing of a person, they will be wrongfully offended.
If we took the command in Romans 12:3 to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought seriously, we’d be more accommodating to change. Recently I found out how inflexible our churches have become. I proposed that rather than shutting down the very prosperous children’s ministry we have at our church for the summer months, I felt called to start a ‘backyard bible club ministry’. I wrote out a plan and presented it to the pastor. Apparently he was offended, as he didn’t even answer my letter like he promised to do. I’ve wondered what could have offended him. Perhaps it was the fact that I came up with the idea, not him. Was his authority challenged? I certainly hadn’t intended that. Perhaps it was that he was afraid to present it to the church because ‘we’ve never done that before’. What would they think? I may never know how the offense started, but it seems to me that someone felt threatened. They felt their pedestal wobble. I believe that we serve God in many capacities. When time comes for a change, we won’t be left out. God will give us another area to minister. A humble Christian will be flexible. That goes for me too. I could be offended at the lack of response to my idea. I could take it personally. Fortunately, God has taken me to Romans 12 to show me that His will marches on. I will humbly serve Him wherever he sends me.
Christ established, and died for the church. That said, I believe that we’ve allowed our worldly, pre-redemption, prideful ways of thinking to permeate the church. Churches have become places for competition and rivalry. So many times we see personal agendas brought to church and placed over the needs of ministry. Church is not a place for us to show off. It is not an appropriate place to increase our stature.
It is my prayer that God will use me to minister to the local church itself. I don’t know if God will allow me to do that or not. What is within my domain is to make certain that at every turn I am submitted to God. Am I humbly stamped with “Property Of The Lord”? Have I surrendered all to God as a ‘living sacrifice’? First God must work on me, and then He will work through me. At all times I am under God’s charge. It is never my show. If that ever changes, then it is time to become a sheep again and make another trip to the altar!
Then Romans 12:3 commands us to ‘think soberly’ of our position in relation to God and in His church. A person who is sober has no substances in their system that would alter their judgment. Usually the word sober conjures up thoughts of alcohol, but there are plenty of other agents that can affect our sobriety. I am sure that Paul would want us to be liquor free when we are evaluating our standing with God, but I believe that he meant so much more. It seems to me that he was very aware of the ‘intoxicating’ effects of pride. Worse than a few beers, pride will blur ones judgment. It makes me think of the warning on most automobile side mirrors, “Objects in mirror may appear closer…” Pride makes for a warning like this, “Your relationship with God may appear closer than it really is”!
Sadly, self-pride creeps into the life of the unsuspecting Christian so easily. There is a very strong part of the makeup of our sinful nature that desires to stand up when it should sit down. It wants to speak when it should be silent. It cries to be recognized when it should blend in.
I was visiting a family when I noticed their ten year old had a theme behind what she was saying. For some reason she wanted me to know that she was ugly and stupid. She continued despite my protests to the contrary. Finally I pretended to be stern. (I have to pretend because I am a bit of a pushover.) I said in a serious voice, “Don’t talk about my friend like that!” I continued, “She is neither stupid or ugly.” I really hope that she believed me.
Some would say that I was feeding this young person’s pride. Haven’t we been saying that pride is a bad thing? Let me put it this way, there are things that we can be proud of, and things that we shouldn’t be proud of. When we turn and face the world, we can be proud of the work that God has done in our lives. He has made each one of us in His image and we can be proud of that. There is a beauty that God has instilled in us that transcends any culture’s definition of what is attractive. God has made us beautiful from our inner spirit all the way out to the last layer of skin. It is okay to be proud of that. If we have accepted Jesus’ gift of salvation, we can be proud of the forgiveness we have. We can also present and use our spiritual gifts to the world with a certain degree of pride in the one who gave them to us. It would be wrong of us to deny the great things God has done in our lives and walk around with an attitude like we are road dirt.
On the other hand, when we turn and face God self-pride has no place. We must continually acknowledge our total dependence on God. We are fools if we think that we personally bring anything helpful to the table. Anything good in us is only there as a result of God putting it there.
The longer we stay stuck in the rut of telling God how self-sufficient we are, the longer we will be destined to spend tied to the altar. Once we see that God is the source of all our power, ability, and goodness the ropes will come off and we will start to witness God doing wonderful things in and through our lives.
“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office (5) So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Romans 12:4 & 5
I have never had the desire to join the military, and as far as I know the military is not all that interested in me. I have watched a few movies, so I have at least a Hollywood education of how it works.
I recall at least one movie where the bus arrives at boot camp and the various longhaired recruits are milling around their scattered luggage. The drill sergeant arrives and immediately starts shouting at them. A person would be hard pressed to feel much higher than clam vomit on the bottom of the ocean after a verbal assault like that. Then the hair is shaved off, and the colorful civilian clothes are exchanged for dull uniforms. There are endless hours of marching and push-ups.
It seems to me that the very first message that the military desires to communicate to its new recruits is that they are just one part of a giant machine.
I suppose that it does make some sense to foster this attitude. If they didn’t then perhaps a battle like this might occur:
Fred says, “I think that I’ll go and stand guard on that hill.”
Bill says, “No, It makes sense to me to charge up the center.”
Mark says, “I don’t think I’ll do that. I am going to stand here and throw grenades at the enemy.”
Phil says, “I bet everyone will be real hungry after the battle, so I think I’ll cook up a nice dinner for them.”
It does not take a mastermind to predict the loser of that battle. It is imperative for soldiers to function as a single unit. They must follow orders and procedures if they ever hope to win a battle.
In a battle, the individual soldier is vitally important. They must use their training and abilities to aim their guns, lob the grenades, fly their plans, and operate their tanks if the battle is to be successful.
The military metaphor is used throughout scripture to describe how we serve God. It is, however, not the metaphor that Paul was led to use here is Romans 12:4. Paul took the comparison one step further. He asserts that our obedience and servitude to God needs to be at the near perfect level that our own body exhibits. Even the military wasn’t a strong enough example of compliance.
When was the last time your toes argued with you about leaving the house? How often has your liver blabbed sensitive secrets to the enemy? In general, the parts of our body obey the commands we give them.
As a matter of fact, when any body part does step out of line, we declare that we are ‘sick’ and seek the attention of a doctor to make it behave again. I’ve had blackouts as the result of a head injury these past years. The biggest cause of distress is the fact that I have lost control over what the old brain is going to do next. We are accustomed to perfect obedience of our body parts, and when they don’t it is very upsetting.
Consider that the greatness of any one body part is both in its incredible design and its ability to work in unison with the others.
Paul takes time to put special emphasis on the fact that not everyone has the same job within the church. At first this may seems so obvious that it isn’t even worth mentioning. Most people can see the logic behind everyone having unique job assignments within the church. I believe that Paul was led to write this seemingly redundant statement because God knew that our failure to understand the diversity of the church members will be the cause of many problems for the individual Christian and the church.
As we’ll see later in this chapter, we have a place, a position, an assignment, a mission and a job in Christ’s church. We are expected to report to these jobs just like we are to our earthly employment.
That said, we are to have the exact opposite attitude towards our Christian work that we have at our worldly job. On earth, we spend a lot of time looking around us. We watch our boss for signals that they approve of our work. We keep an eye on our co-workers to make sure we measure up, and especially that they don’t surpass us. Sometimes we sum it up and say, “It’s a dog eat dog world.” These ways serve us well in the secular world.
All too often this attitude slinks its way into our Christian service. What worked so well for us before, causes strife, contention and extinguishing of the Gospel’s promotion in our church. Our secular approach to work has no place in our spiritual work.
Why is this? It is because the motivations for each type of work are vastly different. Our 9-5 job springs out of our desire to provide materially for ourselves and those we care about. Sometimes the work itself becomes satisfying and interesting.
Those are wonderful reasons that keep us reporting to our jobs. There is nothing evil getting a paycheck or even in job satisfaction. There is certainly nothing wrong in providing for those who depend upon us. However, notice how we do these things for our benefit and those who are important to us. We are working to keep our little section of the world viable and comfortable.
It is a big mistake when those motivations seep into our reasons for serving God. Unfortunately, it seems that it is a mistake that we are bound to continually make. Our service to the Lord requires that we have both the humble spirit and renewed mind we’ve previously discussed.
I have come up with three reasons why we would want to work for God. Perhaps you can come up with more.
We serve God because we can!
Shall we face it? The day we submitted to the Lord and surrendered our attempts to take ourselves to heaven, we were some pretty sorry looking creatures!
How many years have we bumbled around thinking that we were good enough to get to heaven, or even that there is no heaven or hell at all? How is it that God doesn’t just say, “Great, your sins are erased, now I’ll snatch you up from the earth before you really make a mess of things.”? Instead He patiently works on our lives. Over time He sands off the rough corners of our life and carves us into new creations. Then, amazingly, He places the advancement and care of His kingdom into our hands. I still marvel at how He chooses to use me.
With that in mind, who am I to look up at the holy, powerful, and all knowing Lord and say defiantly, “No! I’m not gonna do it!” Instead, I will take a hold on the divine trust that God places in me and, by His power, go about His work. How could I not?!
I serve God because I’ve already been paid!
That’s right, even f I never received another good thing from the Lord, He wouldn’t owe me a penny more. I’ve been paid well, much more than I deserve. My sins have been cancelled from the moment I trusted Jesus to take them away. How much is that worth? Wow! My mansion in heaven is currently under construction. I can hardly wait until moving day! Even now, while I am here on this planet, I have His promises to provide, love, accompany, and protect me. I can truly say that I desire to serve the Lord out of a grateful heart. It isn’t my way of repaying God, I could never even start to do that. It is a response that wells up inside of me when I realize all the wonderful things He has done for me.
I serve God because His work is eternal!
One lesson I have had to learn multiple times is that my priorities are not God’s priorities. It must exasperate God every time He sees me scamper to take care of unimportant details while passing up on chances He sends me to share His magnificent Son with others.
It is helpful to consider that whatever we put together with our hands, will be fortunate if it lasts even ten years. If Jesus doesn’t return, who is going to remember us in just one hundred years? Our efforts are like a cloud. They seem so important and looming for a time, but before long they fizzle out and are forgotten. That is until we allow God to change our efforts for His efforts.
I once worked at a Christian summer camp where I met a young man named Pete. He was a likable ten year old from Philadelphia, but he needed to know that Jesus had died for Him so that his sins could be taken away and he could one day stand before the most holy Lord.
At that camp there was a traditional campfire every Friday night. This was the last chance to reach the campers, as they went home the first thing the next morning. The week that Pete was there I remember heading down the road towards where the campfire would be. I came across a group of support staff who invited me to go with them for ice cream. Now that sure was tempting! There are a lot of things I can find to like in an ice cream shop! Yet, for some reason I disobeyed my stomach that night and continued on to the campfire.
When I arrived, I sat next to Pete. I knew him quite well by then. There were songs, a brief message, and some testimonies. All the while Pete seemed disinterested. Then the leader of the group had everyone close their eyes. He asked that anyone who wanted to ask Jesus to be their savior would raise their hands. I peeked and saw that Pete’s hand was raised high in the air. I talked with Pete as the other campers went to brush their teeth. Apparently the Holy Spirit had been working on him all week. We prayed and that youngster was adopted that night into God’s family.
I saw Pete for a number of summers after that. We also communicated during the year from time to time. He grew and sometimes struggled. All the time though he knew that God had changed him that night.
One spring I got a call. Pete had been killed in an auto accident. I felt like my heart had folded in half. I know he is in heaven and I’ll see him again, yet I still miss him.
God often brings this sobering thought to my mind. I was so close to trading my chance to share the Gospel with Pete for a lousy ice cream cone. I was blessed to be a part of something that is eternal, but almost opted for an ice cream cone that would only last for minutes.
I can safely say that the only time I can be a part of something that has eternal effects is when God allows me to serve Him.
These reasons; Serving God because he allows me to, serving Him because he blesses me incredibly, and serving Him because His work is eternal are not exactly spotlight grabbing occasions. They are God-centric motivations. God gets the spotlight!
We’ve explored how we are all parts of one body. We have various jobs to perform. We also know why we perform God’s work. Now, let’s talk about the work itself!
“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; (7) Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; (8) Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” ” Romans 12:6-8
I have said it. Preachers have said it. The Bible’s been saying it for thousands of years. Pride is a problem. But, wait a minute! Before you go outside and beat yourself up, please read on.
It is true, that by ourselves we are pretty pathetic. But, after we come to Christ we are never by ourselves. Whenever we walk into a room, Jesus enters with you. Every time people look at you, they’re also seeing Jesus. And, if we can keep from getting in the way, every time we speak, people will hear Jesus. With Jesus working in our spirit, we are like the precious gems in a crown.
The message against pride is not that we are lower than dirt. It is that we must submit to God. We must sit down, and not stand up. Said differently, if we will yield to God and keep out of the way, God will do great things through us.
Think about it, we can’t be like dirt and be worthless if God was willing to allow His son to be murdered on Calvary for our restoration. God did not buy us off of the day old bread rack. He paid a very high price for our redemption. We are precious because of what Jesus is doing within us.
Now, aren’t you glad that you didn’t cause a scene in your front yard by beating yourself up?!
Listen to this, you priceless person. You are going to like this next part.
One of the greatest pleasures we can experience is that of giving a gift to someone we love. I’m not downing the getting of gifts, that’s not too shabby either. But there is mysterious joy in giving a gift to a person who is special to us.
It seems that God discovered this joy long ago. He is always giving us gifts. Salvation is the most wonderful gift. All His blessings and provisions are gifts.
Romans 12:6 describes a different type of gift. It is like a “Congratulations on your new job” gift. God gives to us the special equipment that we will need for our spiritual assignment. When God sends you somewhere, be confident that He will give you what you need to accomplish the job. He certainly won’t leave you shivering in the cold. You can be sure that when you discover one of these gifts that God has given you it won’t be like an ugly necktie. God is very practical when giving us this sort of gift. If He is giving it you, you can count on the fact that you’ll soon need it!
Soldiers need to be prepared for battle, so the army gives them an M-16. If the battle is going to occur in a place that is very cold, they’ll equip the soldier with a heavy coat and other means for keeping warm. If the soldier needs to join the battle at a place other than an airport, they’ll issue a parachute. If the soldier is going to be separated from their unit, they’ll get a radio.
It is the same way with God. Even though a job may seem daunting and impossible, God promises us the equipment and abilities that we’ll need. I am so thankful that God will never push us out the door of an airplane without a parachute!
The first part of Romans 12:6 says, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us…” We can infer three things from this short part of scripture.
Firstly we all have spiritual gifts or abilities given to us from God. Paul lists six of them; prophesy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, leading, and mercy.
Next, we all have different gifts. Even within the six he mentioned in Romans and the others mentioned elsewhere, there are variations within the gifts.
Take teaching for example. Some people are gifted to teach children. Some are not. Some seem to be made for teaching large anonymous groups, and others small familiar groups. God needs them all.
Lastly, we are told the basis for the distribution of our gifts. Is it based on merit? No. Prior experience? No. Hard work? No. Gifts are passed out “according to the grace that is given to us”. In this case the word ‘grace’ means that which God gives to us and which we could never earn. Since we don’t deserve anything, it is inappropriate to quibble over what we do get. Isn’t it impossible to be shortchanged when we are getting things so far beyond what we deserve?! Yet sometimes it seems like we act that way.
The big question is, “What are your gifts?” Chances are that you have a combination of gifts. While I cannot tell you exactly what your gifts are, I can guarantee that you’ve got some if you are a child of God.
There are a lot of questionnaires and tests that may help you to objectively explore this subject. Ultimately it will be the Holy Spirit who reveals them to you.
Imagine an outfit hanging on the rack of a store. You take it off of the rack and hold it by the hanger high in the air. You ask, “Will it fit?”
After a while you exclaim, “It looks promising! It might fit.”
You look closer. “It might be a little tight.”
If I were with you I’d probably get huffy and tell you to go and try it on! Unless you’ve got an identical twin, the one and only way you can tell if an outfit is going to fit is to try it on.
Is it possible that we stand in front of the ‘rack’ of spiritual gifts and hesitate because we aren’t sure if they’ll fit? I can just imagine God telling us to take it to the fitting room and try it on.
Of course, we must pray about it. We must be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. The time eventually comes for us to step out and try one on!
I have found that if the Lord presents an opportunity for you to minister, and after praying about it you are at peace with giving it a try, then you should. One way or another you’ll discover something about your spiritual gifts.
A number of years ago I was asked to serve on a church’s Board of Christian Education. After about six years of painful meetings I finally realized that my spiritual gifts were not in that area. I’ve since used that information to guide me into, and away from various ministry opportunities. I love to teach and tell stories to both children and adults, and that is where I believe my spiritual gifts are. If someone asks me to take over record keeping, I politely decline.
Since we never receive a printout of our spiritual gifts, we are going to have to have a flexible attitude towards discovering them. The great thing about that is that God will always work good from these efforts. Even though I don’t belong at a table evaluating curriculum, I learned an awful lot from my time on the Board of Christian Education.
In Romans 12, there are six gifts listed. There are also gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. Search these scriptures and ask God to show you where you fit in!
These first 8 verses of Romans 12 have detailed what our relationship with the creator of everything should be like. Firstly we should be humble and submitted to Him. When we are, God will then work through us in truly amazing ways. The key is to continually fight, with God’s strength, the natural tendency for our fleshly nature to take over and ‘help’ God.
Paul could have ended the chapter here. These first verses give us enough to work on for fifty lifetimes! Chapter twelve continues. The next area that gets lifted up on the altar is our relationship with other believers. This is where it gets really sticky! …