Grow With Pastor Joe

Imagine with me that someone that you care deeply for has just received a wrapped present from you. You know what it is. It is handmade. It is specifically for them and no one else. You know it is something that will benefit and bless them. You are certain that they will enjoy it with gratitude and glee. Time, effort, energy, thought, and love went into making this gift of love for them. You just want them to have it and enjoy. As you anxiously hand it over to them they take it and simply set it aside. There are no other presents. Nothing else to unwrap. They then say to you, “Thank you so much for this gift. The wrapping is beautiful. You know, in fact, I love the wrapping so much I think I’m not going to open this up. I have no idea what exactly you gave to me but thank you so much for it. What a lovely gift for me to admire the exquisite wrapping. I dare not dig into it. This is for me and no one else to behold, so I will put it in my bedroom closet where only I can admire it and enjoy its beauty.” “What a waste,” you think to yourself. You sheepishly say goodbye and off you go in distress knowing what that gift is and that it’ll never be used for its full potential. Not to mention the fact that you intended them to enjoy the fulness of it, which is why you so carefully and lovingly made this gift.

            The Lord Himself carefully thought about you in His providential plan, and He saved you for the purpose of serving the Church of Christ for its good and His glory. He specifically fashioned a spiritual gift not for you to look at, admire, hide, and keep from others. No, the box was meant to be opened. Your spiritual gift was given by God for you to be a steward of the gift as you serve Him and His people with it. I believe that many Christians lack understanding of spiritual giftedness and how God has intended to use us in His divine plan. Unfortunately, this has led to many Christians running to extremes within the church, but a very common one today is that of spiritual retirement. We get older and get a case of the “Well, I used to but it’s someone else’s turn now.” Or, the case of the “Oh, but poor old me, what can I do? I’m weak and have nothing to offer others.” We are saved to serve, not sit, sour, or squander the gifts of His grace. God’s grace specifically fashioned a gift for you to use for the good of the Church and glory of Christ. The gifts of grace that God has given us do not have an expiration date, nor do they have a retirement party. The Christian life is more than being saved, it is understanding that we were saved for the purpose of the extension of the gospel of grace and exaltation of the glory of God.

            The Christian life has been seen already in Rom. 12:1-2. Now, as Paul gets into the practical working out of our life in Christ based upon the work of the gospel, we see that God has blessed each of us with spiritual gifts to use for the furtherance of the gospel, health and growth of the Church, and glory of Jesus. Two things sum up Christian living. One, consecration to Christ. Two, consideration of the Church. Consecration leads to transformation which brings about the operation of believer’s spiritual gifts by grace, through faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit as we continuously present ourselves as vessels for the Lord’s work. God often has to work through clogged vessels, but imagine what He would do if we were clean and clear of gunk? Looking at the larger passage of Rom. 12, we see that surrender without service is not surrender. Consecration without contributing to the life of the church is not consecration. We must dedicate ourselves to Christ and His Church by yielding to the inspired scriptures and indwelling Spirit so that our gifts can be developed and deployed for the good of others and glory of Christ. There is no faithful or fruitful service without faithful submission to the Word of God and work of the Spirit in our life. Today we will focus on Rom. 12:3-5 to be able to see the foundation of spiritual gifts before we get into the function of spiritual gifts in Rom. 12:6-8. There are two things that we will see in this passage regarding the foundation of spiritual gifts. We will see our responsibility and our relationships to Christ and His Church based on the gifts given to each of us by His grace. Remember, our relationship with Christ and His Church demands responsibility.  Rom. 12:3-5 says to us, “ 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.”

            First, let’s look at our responsibility in Rom. 12:3. Clearly, the Christian life of service is one of action. Atrophy of Christians and churches is rampant due to a lack of obedience to hold up to the responsibility to exercise our spiritual gifts. If you don’t use the muscles, then you lose the muscles. Our responsibility is not merely to be active, but to understand that behind every action is an attitude. It has been said, “Attitude is everything. Pick a good one.” The responsibility of the Christian is to be more than active, but to have the right attitude when it comes to spiritual gifts and service. Who is responsible for serving in the church? Rom. 12:3 says, “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.” Everyone is responsible to serve Christ and His Church. There are no exclusions to the responsibility to serve, but there are also no exclusions to the resources of His grace to serve. God didn’t overlook you and not give you a gift with which to serve the Body of Christ. All are responsible for having the right attitude and actions as we seek to serve the Lord. We do have to address a common danger. We often view giftedness as a test of our maturity or sanctification. Maturity and sanctification are seen more in our attitude than our aptitude. Now, if we are going to mature into sanctification and service to the Church for the glory of Christ, then we are going to have to have a grip on two things.

One, we need to understand the danger of having a hurtful attitude. Your attitude influences and impacts others around you. Don’t believe me? Start talking negatively and watch what happens to others around you. Start being positive and see it spread. For a great example, go see the grumbling Jews in the wilderness as they left the slavery and sufferings of Egypt for the Promised Land. There are three specific hurtful attitudes that this verse deals with that show up in individuals having a superiority, inferiority, or imposter complex. All three of these hurt us, the church, and hinder the furtherance of the gospel in our community. Notice, we are commanded to “not think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” The word used is “huperphroneo” (from huperphron = over-proud in turn from huper = above, over + phroneo = think). When you do discern your spiritual gifts, it may be tempting to think of yourself highly. Meaning, you may begin to think that you are much more important than you are or perhaps that you think you are irreplaceable. The superiority complex thinks proudly of their walk and gifts while actually exaggerating their walk and gifts. This is a skewed perspective, like looking in a fun-house mirror that makes you look and feel 10 feet tall. You and I must not have an overestimation of our importance or giftedness. Our life is not about our gift, but it is about His grace and glory. Then, there is another hurtful attitude that shows itself in an inferiority complex. This is the one who is constantly putting themselves down in self-deprecation. Ultimately, this leads to a false humility because an individual like this outwardly puts themselves down to get the inward gratification of the assurance from those around them. False humility is being a Pharisee while wearing a pauper’s cloak. You may say, “If I don’t put myself down, then I’ll struggle with pride.” This may be so, but your pride is your problem, not the problem of those around you. Don’t fall into this trap. Learn to say “thank you” when complimented and then take your pride to the cross. The last hurtful attitude is seen in an imposter complex. This is where someone envies someone else because they believe their giftings, talents, blessings, or perhaps the influence of others is greater. So, the imposter starts pretending to be either more important or perhaps unimportant. God doesn’t want you to envy other more “important or noticeable gifts.” No, God wants you to embrace your gift and exercise it for the good of others. God simply wants you to be who you are for the His glory. You don’t glorify Him fully if you are trying to be someone or something that you’re not.

            Two, our responsibility is to avoid the hurtful attitude and to apply a humble attitude in all that we are and do. God’s gift of grace from salvation to sanctification, and service should drive us to humble gratitude to be included in His work and plan of redemption. A humble attitude doesn’t think too highly of oneself, but instead things “soberly.” A sober mind is a saved mind that is under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is literally a mind that is in its “right mind.” To be able to think rightly and have the right perspective is critical not just to our sanctification but also our service to God. Humility itself is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. The Puritan, John Flavel wrote, “They that know God will be humble, and they that know themselves, cannot be proud.” It is the sobering attitude that has a proper estimation of one’s gifts in relation to Christ and the Church. You and I only learn to forget ourselves as we learn to remember Christ. The key to sober thinking and a humble attitude is fixing our eyes on Jesus alone. When your mind and heart are consumed by His grace and glory, then there is little to no room for proud thinking, especially regarding our responsibility to serve with the gifts that He has given us. As Saint Augustine said, “If you plan to build a tall house of virtues, you must first lay deep foundations of humility.” Or, as Matthew Henry describes a truly humble attitude he wrote, “We must not say, I am nothing, therefore I will sit still, and do nothing; but, I am nothing in myself, and therefore I will lay out myself to the utmost, in the strength of the grace of Christ.” So, before we go further, the foundation of spiritual gifts begins with an attitude check (and perhaps an adjustment). Our responsibility begins and ends not just with proper actions, but a proper attitude so that we would serve with gratitude and grace with the gifts of His grace in our life for the good of the Church and glory of Christ.

            Second, let’s look at our relationships. As we have said, our relationship to Christ demands responsibility to Christ and His Church. Rom. 12:4-5 show that our responsibility to have the proper attitude and actions has our relationship to Jesus and His Church in focus. Meaning, your gifts aren’t for you or about you. They are for the good of the Church and about the grace and glory of Christ. The verses say, “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.” When we think about our relationship to Christ and His Church, we must first understand that this relationship has no rivalry. There is no rival to Christ and we should not seek to be rivals of other local churches or fellow brethren (or sistren). All that God has given to you is not for you to stand out or rival others. You don’t need to envy others or be the envy of others. We must understand that the use of our gifts is for others and not ourselves. There are three descriptions of our relationship with the Church and they show us the foundation of our spiritual gifts are in fact relationship driven and dependent. First, our relationship is one of unity. If you are saved, then you are united to Christ AND His Church. It is a package deal. Truly, there is only one Church which is the universal Body and Bride of Christ that is made up of all believers of all time. This union should show up in a continual faithful communion with Jesus and the Church (See Eph. 2:19-22; 4:1-6, 16). You and I will excuse ourselves from serving the Church if we don’t think that we are united to the Church. When we individualize ourselves to the point that we hoard our gifts or choose not to serve others, then we have missed the purpose of our salvation and union to Christ. Second, our relationship is one of diversity. There is ONE Body, but MANY members. There are a lot of working parts to make one human body. Each one has its place and purpose. Each one has a unique purpose that is for the good and function of the body. If this is true of our fleshly bodies, then how much more for us spiritually in exercising our spiritual gifts for the good of the Body of Christ. Each saved soul is unique and usable having been given gifts of grace. We are of the same body, but we have “not the same office.” Your gift was not an accident. F. F. Bruce wrote, “Diversity, not conformity, is the mark of God’s handiwork.” The Lord, as a master painter has created the color of the church out of many diverse colors to make one unified color, to paint the masterpiece of His grace and glory, which is seen clearly on the canvas of the local church. Third, our relationship is one of mutuality. We are interrelated and interdependent. There is none who are expendable to the life of the church. Truly, all lives, families, and gifts matter to the Lord. We belong together and benefit one another. You need others and they need you. Your gift is for others and others’ gifts are for you. The local church needs your humble service and exercise of your gifts of grace. The local church doesn’t need you to be or do more or less than who you are in Jesus. Embrace your gifts to exercise your gifts. Not only that but enjoy and encourage the gifts of others. If you and I do this, imagine what God would do in our churches?            

Our responsibility is to have a humble attitude so that we can serve with our gifts of grace through our relationship with Christ and His Church. As we embrace and exercise our gifts while enjoying and encouraging others, then we must simply sit back and watch God work. God works through a humble, active, and healthy church. As we bring this section to a close, we have seen that the foundation of spiritual gifts is in God’s grace and our response of faith to have a humble attitude in relation to Jesus and one another. I wonder, do you have a complex? What is hindering you from exercising your gift? Or, what is hindering you from enjoying and encouraging others? Do you see your need of others, and do you also see that others need you? God not only has room for everyone, but He has the resources for all of us to be used of Him. So, what does this really look like in our daily, weekly life in the local church? We must be engaged, encouraged, and equipped to employ our gifts for the good of the church and the glory of Christ.