God’s Transforming Grace

Transcript

GR 1463
03/13/11
God's Transforming Grace
Romans 12:3-5
Gil Rugh

We're going to Romans 12 in your Bibles. Paul has spent eleven chapters as we have it in this letter to the church at Rome, setting forth the wonder of the gospel of Jesus Christ, beginning and showing how we who were sinners under condemnation, the enemies of God, destined to be judged by the God who judges impartially had righteousness provided for them through the provision of the Son of God, Jesus Christ to come to this earth to suffer and die on the cross, be raised from the dead so that all who believe in Him could experience God's forgiveness. When that happens life is transformed, changed forever. Paul showed that in chapter 6-8 with the doctrine of sanctification. Those who believe in Christ are identified with Him in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection to a new life to live differently, now to use their bodies, all the parts of their body in the service of the living God, to do those things that are consistent with the righteousness of God. So these bodies become, if you will, instruments of righteousness enslaved to the living God, a God who is sovereign over all, a God who is working His purposes in bringing about the salvation to people that He has chosen for Himself.

We come to chapter 12. Paul now wants to draw attention to specific areas of life that manifest the work of God in making us new in Christ. He started chapter 12 by that exhortation, I exhort you therefore, brethren, in light of this wonderful work of salvation that God has accomplished on your behalf. I exhort you, brethren. That word exhort, or beseech, or urge is a combination between a command and a plea. Here is what you are to do, you are to present your bodies a living sacrifice, a sacrifice which is living, holy and pleasing to God. These bodies and all the parts of them, everything I am now is to be presented to Him. All I do, not just in a worship service like this, but as we noted in all of our activities day by day wherever we are, whatever we do are part of our worship of our God. We are doing it for Him, we are doing it to be pleasing to Him, transformed life. That which would seem mundane, a grind becomes a glorious opportunity for worshiping my God and functioning in a way that is pleasing to Him.

The other side of this is we are not to be conformed to this world, not to be living like the world, not to be shaped by the thinking of the world, have our goals, our purposes, our desires and our activities molded by the thinking of the world. But we are to be transformed by the making new of our minds, that supernatural work of God that is ongoing. We have been made new in Christ, now that ongoing work of the Spirit in our lives as we take in the word of God, as we submit to it, the Spirit of God is constantly bringing us into greater conformity to the character of the God who loved us and saved us.

Turn over to Galatians 5. Paul is talking about this same change and transformation. The chapter opened up, verse 1, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. For the freedom now to serve God, live for Him in a a relationship with Him as we were created to do. But sin broke that relationship, severed us from the blessings that God created us to enjoy. Now by the grace of God we have experienced His salvation. So verse 13, you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. The danger to think I've been cleansed, I've been made new, I'm free, now I can do as I please. No, you can do as He pleases. So use your freedom through love to serve one another, verse 13. And that's where we are going in Romans 12 in a moment, that privilege of being involved in serving one another. Verse 16, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. Down to verse 19, now the deeds of the flesh are evident. Here are some of the manifestations of the work of the flesh and the domination of the flesh in a life. They are evident. Things like immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, carousing. And that's not a complete list, it's things like these of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. They are the characteristics of an unredeemed, unsaved person. But, verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Verse 24, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

We have been set free, we have been made new. Now the indwelling Spirit is producing the character of our God in us. We noted in our previous study that Peter wrote, we have become partakers of the divine nature. We haven't become divine, we haven's become gods, but the character of our God now is implanted within us and is being developed and manifest in our thinking and in our actions. The Spirit works in our lives. We noted in I John 3 that it's the seed of God that is in us that has made us new, that makes it impossible for us to live like we lived before.

Come back to Romans 12. When he says be transformed by the making new of your mind, that's involved in that transformation, that metamorphosis that is brought about by the supernatural power of God. And this enables us to discern the will of God, that which is good, pleasing and perfect in His sight. We want to know the will of God, what is the will of God. Well we should know that as the people of God. The will of God is revealed in the word of God, the clarity on that comes to us as we grow to greater maturity by the making new of our minds.

Now that process of transformation, he wants to become more specific. You'll note verse 3 begins with the little preposition for. He's going to talk about now specific areas where that transformation of life is evident, how we function in a new way. And the very first thing that he needs to talk about is the new position, the new relationship that is ours. We have become members of the body of Jesus Christ, the spiritual body of Christ, the church. God by the work of the Spirit, I Corinthians 12:13, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, the body of Christ, the church. We talked about this in Romans 6. When you believed in Jesus Christ you were identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection to new life. That is the Spirit baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It makes you part of the spiritual body of Christ. That is the new relationship that you have, that now is God's plan and provision for your functioning, for your growth. That's what Paul wants to talk about as he picks up with verse 3. Verses 3-8 will talk about what we call spiritual gifts, how the body of Christ is to function. We need to understand this because you need to know that no one apart from salvation in Christ is part of the body of Christ. And so this is a totally new relationship for us, it's a relationship that will supersede all other relationships, including your physical family. We'll see as we look into this.

So Paul wants to become specific now in how we live as people made new in Christ. So he picks up in verse 3. For 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. He starts out by saying, I want to say to you in light of these things I want to speak through the grace that has been given to me. Now as we studied the first part of this letter we understand that salvation is by grace. It is God's grace that brought salvation to our sinful hearts. It was His grace that drew us to Christ and made us new through faith in His finished work. But that's not the grace that is specifically the focus here. That saving grace, that's the initial grace that we experience as God brought us to salvation in Jesus Christ.

But there is another facet of that grace. It's the same grace, the grace that saved you is the grace that gifts you. That grace that caused us to be born again, that grace that placed us into the family of God, the body of Christ is the grace that has given you a special spiritual ability to function in a contributing way in that body. That's why the analogy is a body, the physical body is one body but it has many parts. So the spiritual body of Christ is one entity, one body, but it has a diversity of parts. So when Paul says through the grace given to me, he's talking about the specific grace that gifted him to serve as an apostle.

Come back to Romans 1. He started the letter on this note. Verse 1, Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus, a called apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. Verse 4, speaking about Jesus Christ our Lord, verse 5, the One through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake. Paul was specifically gifted by God in grace to be an apostle, more specifically gifted by God's grace to be an apostle who would carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to Gentiles. So the grace of God in gifting the Apostle Paul for service and ministry is very specific. It's not just to be an apostle generally speaking, but to be an apostle with the specific focus in ministry to the Gentiles.

He concludes the letter on that note as well. Come over to Romans 15. You know one of the things that you have to be impressed about with the Apostle Paul is he never loses sight of how amazing God's grace is. Not only that God would save him, but when Paul talks about his apostleship, the gift that God gave him to enable him to serve God in a special way, he keeps referring to it as God's grace. This is God's grace to me. Not just, I am an apostle. He is, he'll say that, but the amazing thing that he never loses sight of is how great God's grace was in gifting him to be an apostle.

In Romans 15:15, but I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again because of the grace that was given me from God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God. Remember Romans 12:2 where we talked about the fact that all we do, verses 1-2, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice. I mean, God's grace was given to me so that I could serve Him in bringing the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. I'm just like a priest standing between God and lost men, bringing the message of God to lost Gentiles. God's representative. So that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It's all about what God has done in grace and what a privilege given to me in grace to tell Gentiles, lost and without hope in the world, that there is a Savior. It's the grace that was given to me from God.

Turn over to I Corinthians 3:10, according, now note this, to the grace of God which was given to me. Paul just doesn't tire of talking about this. According to the grace of God given to me. Like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, another is building on it. Let each man be careful how he builds on it. I went out preaching the gospel, others have followed up now in ministering to those who were saved. It was the grace of God which was given to me.

Turn over to the end of I Corinthians. You know the Corinthian church caused Paul quite a bit of grief, but the problems and the difficulties never caused Paul to lose sight of and overwhelming appreciation of God's grace in gifting him to serve. In I Corinthian 15:9, for I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. Paul has not lost the wonder of this. Of all people I was unworthy and undeserving of being an apostle. I mean, I persecuted the church, I tried to destroy it. But by the grace of God I am what I am. And that grace toward me did not prove vain, but I labored more than all of them. Yet not I, it was the grace of God in me. I mean, I poured my life without reserve into doing what God has gifted me to do, but that's no testimony to me because it was God's grace working in me that did it.

You see that sense of Paul and the grace of God. Think about that, is that the way you think about yourself in the service of the Lord and the functioning in the body. I just never cease to be amazed at God's grace, that He is using me, that He has gifted me to serve Him. How amazing is that grace. The problems in the church at Corinth, Paul has to address those, he has to deal with those, he has to say some harsh things. But none of this detracts at all from his wonder and amazement of the greatness of God's grace in gifting him.

Come to Galatians 2. Paul is talking about and reviewing what happened at the Jerusalem conference held in Acts 15, what went on there, the problems and difficulties that they had to deal with. Verse 7, but on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the circumcised, the Jews. For he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles. Paul again not mentioning the effectiveness of his work, but it was God working effectively through him and through Peter. Then you'll note verse 9, and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John gave us the right hand of fellowship. The grace of God. They had to recognize the grace of God. Not that my training in the best of rabbinical schools, not my greater wisdom had prepared me for a more effective ministry to Gentiles. The grace of God was given to me. Just that emphasis.

One more letter, Ephesians. And you see what happens, you just go from one letter to the next letter, to the next letter. But the emphasis is the same. Paul not only talks about his salvation as a demonstration and display of God's grace, but the gift he has. In Ephesians 2, talk about our salvation, very familiar verses to us. We were saved, rescued from our lost, sinful condition. We were, verse 3, by nature children of wrath, those who were indulging the desires of the flesh and living in the lust of the flesh, even when we were dead in our transgressions, verse 5, the God who is rich in mercy, verse 4, poured out His great love on us. And the end of verse 5, by grace you have been saved. Verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. People get it reversed, they think if they try their best, if they do good, God will be pleased and accept them. Paul says that is impossible. You have to be saved by grace. Then when you are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, you do the good works that He created you as a new creature in Christ to do. It's all by grace.

Then you come to Ephesians 3 and he's still talking about grace. Verse 2, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me. That's what it is, it's a stewardship of grace. That's a responsibility and accountability. I am a steward. And above all it is required of stewards that one be found faithful. Paul told the Corinthians God's grace in gifting me to serve as an apostle, that's a stewardship of grace. Your gift is a stewardship of God's grace for which you will be held accountable before the Lord. A stewardship of God's grace was give to me. Then he talks about the revelation given to him as an apostle.

We come down to verse 7, of which I was made a minister of the gospel, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me. To me, the very least of all saints this grace was given. You know Paul never lost sight, it was a gift that was given. Grace was given to me to serve, to me the least of all the saints this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light the administration of the mystery. It's God's grace that has given it. That awe and amazement. All he did and all he went through, suffering rejection, imprisonment and ultimately death, he is the apostle amazed at God's grace, the grace that not only saved him, but the grace that would gift him to enable him to serve.

You come back to Romans 12:6 he's going to talk about the fact that each one of us has been given God's grace to serve as well. But verse 3, for through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you. He doesn't say because of my own personal authority how wonderfully effective I have been in ministry, I say it because I have been the recipient of God's grace. And I must serve. And his gift was to speak the truth that God gave him, and he must do that. So I say to everyone among you. What he has to say is addressed to all the believers in the church at Rome. No exceptions. Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. Very simple statements that start right out. Salvation is by grace. We are gifted by God's grace. You begin to lose sight of that, then we'll begin to have divisions and conflict, arrogance, pride. I want to say by the grace given to me, the authority that comes with that grace, to everyone one of you, you are not to think more highly of yourselves than you ought to think.

The word think is key here, the word to think, phrona. It appears four times in this verse. Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think. There are three of them right there. As to have sound judgment. That word translated sound judgment is a compound word. It's the same word, phrona, to think with another word added to it to make it a compound word. To think soberly, soundly, sanely. Think, think, think. It takes us back to verse 2, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, having a new mind, thinking in a new way now. Don't think more highly of yourself than you should think. Think sanely, soberly, properly. The problem is arrogance. We talk about low self-esteem. We can hardly watch a program, there are all kinds of psychological kinds of programs and want to talk about how people feel. And even on the news they'll interview, as a result of what happened to me when I was younger I had low self-esteem. I've been trying to deal with low self-esteem. I was reading in one of the commentaries on Romans this week, a man who generally has some good things. But he had to comment on this verse, some people really do have too low an opinion of themselves and need to find a proper self-esteem. Now I noted he didn't have a scripture verse to support that because it doesn't come from scripture. It comes from outside scripture.

Turn over to Ephesians 5, we were in Ephesians a few moments ago, talking cout the grace of God. Verse 28, he's comparing here an analogy with Christ as the head of the church and as the head of the church He loved the church and sacrificed Himself for it. He's going to compare that to the husband and wife relationship, the husband is to love his wife and sacrifice himself for her. And the church is to live in obedience to Christ and the wife is to live in obedience to her husband, that kind of an analogy here. So he says in verse 28, so husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself, note verse 29, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. We see that we love ourselves, no one ever didn't love himself. Oh, I have low self-esteem, I am nothing. You know somehow today if you say you have low self-esteem, everybody is supposed to gather around because they are supposed to empathize with you and tell you that you are wonderful, you are better than most. I'm amazed at how many good abilities you have. It's all right if you stretch the truth, in fact, tell me some flat out lies. Low self-esteem? Forget it, no one ever had low self-esteem. The problem isn't that we love ourselves too little, we love ourselves too much. No one ever hated himself.

It amazes me how commentators will come back to Romans 12, Paul says I say to you by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself. He doesn't say, I say to some among you not to think more highly of himself and others of you not to have such low self-esteem. I have one thing to say to everyone, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. That's the thing we have to be careful of because that's characteristic of what I was before. Don't think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think.

Think so as to have sound judgment, think soberly, think so as to think sanely, soundly, properly. Well, I just don't think I have anything to contribute to the church, this is a large church and what could I do. Everybody does things better than I do. Stop it, that's sin. That's just another form of pride. What do you want us to do? Tell you how wonderful you are? Think sanely, soundly. I am a child of God. By His grace, I didn't deserve it, as a child of God He says He has gifted me by His grace. I want to find out what I can do in this body that will contribute to it. Not because I'm better than someone else, we talk about there are diversity in the gifts and even within the same gift there is diversity. That's all right. Doesn't change the fact that God's grace to me amazes me. God's grace to you amazes me. That's the way we are to think.

Think so as to have sound judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Come back to Matthew 11. We started out and we looked at the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 and noted that is the character of Christ being produced in us. It's true when we do not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think that we think soberly, soundly. Note what Christ says about Himself in Matthew 11:28, a gracious invitation here. Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. I am gentle and humble in heart.

Come over to Philippians 2:1, therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in Spirit, intent on one purpose. Because of the gracious work of Christ in our lives there ought to be a unity and a harmony and a oneness that characterizes us. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. See the consistency? It's not that anybody in the church at Philippi was in danger of having low self-esteem, it was just the opposite problem. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look after your own personal interests, but also the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself. He is humble of heart, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, and so on.

We are to manifest the character of our Savior. He humbled Himself. We are to regard others as more important than ourselves. Doesn't mean I am not gifted, but my appreciation of God's work and ongoing work of grace in your life elevates your importance in my view. Doesn't mean I am going to be any less committed to use the grace that has been entrusted to me in gifting me. __________say, I won't do anything, they are more gifted than I am. It means I can appreciate the fact as I look at God's grace working in your life and how He uses you, how amazing is God's grace. Thank you for so-and-so, Lord. I sometimes thumb through the church directory and just remind myself of how blessed we are as a body to see the different ones God has brought to be part of this local body and think how God is using them in a variety of ways. I think how impoverished we would be in ministry and service to our Lord if it weren't for God's grace in gifting them and placing them in this body so we can serve Him together. ____ ___________________ and dwell on, if people were like me, if they were as committed as I am, if they had a gift like mine, then this body would be better. No, we are to regard one another, others as more important than ourselves.

Come back to Romans 12. We recognize God has allotted to each a measure of faith. So Paul started out talking about the grace that was given to him in gifting him. Now he turns around to say each believer has been gifted by God. He calls it a measure of faith here. Down in verse 6 he'll refer to the fact that grace has been given to us, each one individually, to gift each of us differently. There is an emphasis here you don't pick up in our translation because of the order of the words. You are aware in Greek if you wanted to give emphasis to something you could just put it in a different place in the sentence. You don't have to have the same order of words. So the word to each here appears first in this statement. To each as God has allotted a measure of faith, stressing each one individually has been dispensed a measure of faith from God.

Turn over to I Corinthians 12. Some of you have been studying the spiritual gifts in one of your studies out of Ephesians, and Ephesians 4 is one of the major sections on spiritual gifts. Romans 12, I Peter 2 and the major fullest section is I Corinthians 12-14. There Paul takes the time to expand this discussion of the gifts. Verse 4, now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, you'll note this emphasis on diversity, but unity. Varieties of gifts, the same Spirit; varieties of ministries, the same Lord; varieties of effects, the same God. So we have different gifts, different areas of serving, different areas of work, effects, working. But it's the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God working in all of us. So it's just like this physical body. It has a multitude of parts, some more prominent, some less prominent, but all having a role to play, and all serving under one control center, if you will. And that control center breaks down and we have a problem that has to be dealt with because you can't have this arm not doing what the command, control center of the body tells it to do. Otherwise the body begins to work against itself, conflict. That's why that's the simple analogy used of the spiritual body of Christ, the local church.

So he says in verse 7, but to each one, do you have that underlined? To each one, same thing he said in Romans 12 where we are. To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Come down to verse 11, but one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. Down in verse 18, but now God has placed the members, each one of them in the body, just as He desires. You'll note the personal direction here. Just as you cannot be saved corporately, each person has to be saved individually on his own, so God gifts you in the same way—specifically, individually—so that you might serve and contribute to the body as He intends when He places you into the body. So you don't get a spiritual gift because you pray for it, you seek it or you ask for it. Verse 11, the same Spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually just as He wills, not as I will. So each person got a gift not because that is what they wanted or someone else thought that they should get, it's because that's what God determined to give to them. Down in verse 18, God has placed the members, each one of them in the body just as He desires. Not as I desire. So you don't get a spiritual gift by praying for it, you get it by I Corinthians 12:13, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, all made to partake of one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And our gifts are a manifestation of the Spirit's presence in our lives.

It's just like our physical body. When a baby is born our just don't have a bunch of parts all dump out and they decide among themselves what they want to be. No, it comes out, they have been appointed. The little finger is a little finger, the little toe is a little toe. Now how they function is a process of developing. But they don't change places. The little toe doesn't become the little finger. The ear doesn't become the nose as Paul will develop these things. Each is unique. Now they have been placed in the body and in the New Testament the focal point as it is in the church at Rome, as it is in the church at Corinth, as it was in the church at Ephesus, the focal point is the local church. We like to get carried off into the universal church. The universal church, the church is comprised of all believers in Jesus Christ from Acts 2 down to the rapture. But as we've noted the word church, and I still think perhaps the best book on the church is Earl Radmacher's The Nature of the Church, which is available again and you ought to have it and read it. In his appendix he lists for you all the uses of the word ekklesia, church in the New Testament. I believe he has the Septuagint as well, but you'd be interested in the New Testament. Out of 112 or 113 uses of the word church, over 90 of them refer to the local church. That's where the focal point is. The manifestation of the universal church is the local church. That's where the gifts function, that's where the gifts functioned at Corinth, that's where they are functioning in the church at Rome.

God has placed us in the body, gifted us. Doesn't mean He will never move us to another local church to use our gift there, but there it ought to be His direction, moving us there, to place us in that body to use us there. But our gifts function in the context of being part of the body. And God has determined that. That takes the pressure off me. Maybe I ought to do that, that's a more prominent gift, that seems more important, that seems more whatever. It may be a process of searching, we'll talk later in our study on spiritual gifts on how you discern your gift, know what your gift is. But you understand God has determined it, I just have to recognize it. And then, how can I use it most effectively? That's it, that's what I want to do. This is God's grace entrusted to me.

Come back to Romans 12. We think with sane, sound thinking. And this is in the context particularly of our spiritual gifts. As God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Our spiritual gift here is called a measure of faith. We are saved by grace through faith, but God also allots to us an apportionment of faith for serving. It's just like you entered into salvation by grace, you entered into God's grace when you believed in Christ. And now you live a life of grace, but grace has specifically been poured out to you in an area of giving you a gift. And in that area of God's grace gifting you He gives you an apportionment of faith. I take it that is the ability to trust God in the exercising of this gift, which makes it effective because it is the work of God through you which has come up in some of the verses we have read.

But I take it the measure of faith is that gift given you which means you have that special provision of God to trust Him in a special way for serving Him in that area, that enables His power to work more in you in that area than it will work in someone else in that area. That doesn't mean that there isn't overlap and we all do a variety of things as we'll see when we talk about individual gifts. I may say, I don't have the gift of giving, therefore I don't have to give. Well we all give but there is a special way people who have the gift of giving give in their ability to trust God. We are all to show mercy, but those with the gift of showing mercy are able to trust the Lord and be used of Him in a greater way in that area. We are all to know the word and be ready to give an answer of the faith that is in us and tell others the truth of the gospel and explain the scripture to them to the best of our ability. But a person with the gift of teaching has the ability to rely upon God in that area and His grace has given them the ability and He uses them in a special way in that area. So it's a measure of faith.

And in that there will be variety in the gifts. Everyone who gets the gifts on teaching you, everyone with the gift of teaching isn't gifted in the same way to the same degree. It's the measure of faith. That encourages me and warns me. I can't take pride because I say, I seem to be used more in my teaching than someone else. I must be a better servant, I must work harder. Well, wait a minute. I also can look and see there are people who are doing more in teaching and are using greater ways than I am. Should I be jealous of them? I have to do the best that I can with the grace and faith God has given me to serve Him. And He has determined for His servants what their realm of service will be. So it's by grace through faith in service as well, it's a measure of faith. That frees us up and it dissolves those lines of jealousy, resentment because we are appreciating others as more important than ourselves. And we are seeing ourselves in proper perspective. The gift I have is God's grace that I have. How can I compare myself with someone else? It's God's grace and that I can trust Him to use me in this is because He measured out the faith for it to me. What do I have to be arrogant about? What do I have to be proud about? I had better be about pouring myself into it. Like Paul said, I work harder than them all. I mean, that's all I can do. The hardest work I could to utilize to the maximum the grace of God and the faith that He has given me to serve Him.

Then the analogy of the body. I'll just summarize this because we'll be breaking it down. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function. Physical body, that's the analogy. One body but a multitude of parts. That's clear, it's easy, simple. We are familiar with many, many of the parts of the body. But it's only one body. So we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. You'll note that. Look at the number here, all the people here. There are many of us but we are one body, the church of Jesus Christ in this place, that body that is brought together here. It is the manifestation of the body of Christ to the world, the local church. We who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. This is crucial. The picture here of the church. People get upset with the local church, it doesn't get the job done and they want to run off and start their own. Wait a minute, by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, the body of Christ. And the manifestation of that one body is every single individual body, local church. The gifts are given in that context, that's why these letters like to the Corinthians and the Romans talk about our using of the gifts in the context of that church, that ministry. Some gifts carry us beyond that as Paul's apostleship did, and the others, but basically where do we function.

So we are individually members of one another. That means there is no such thing as a true believer who is off on his own because the initial work of the Spirit of God has been to place you into the body. Well I can read the Bible and I have the Holy Spirit and I can do that on my own. No you can't. You can read the Bible, you can study on your own, but you can't sever yourself from the body, you cannot remove yourself from the body because He has made us part of one another. If we understand this and have our doctrine of the church right, it would help some errors. We replace the church with our physical family. You know the church replaces your physical family ultimately. Something supersedes my physical family and that is my spiritual family. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 12:46ff. Jesus is speaking to the crowds. Some come and say to Him, your mother and brothers want to see you. Jesus said to them, verse 48, who is My mother? Who are My brothers? Stretching out His hand toward His disciples He said, behold My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother, My sister, My mother. There is something that supersedes those physical relationships. Doesn't mean I don't have responsibility to my physical family, but there is something that supersedes my relationship with my physical family.

So I don't replace the church with my physical family. Some people draw the analogy with Job, that Job was like the priest of his family and he offered sacrifices. That was Job, the church wasn't in existence then. Jesus had twelve disciples, He gather them around Him, He poured His life into them. That's what I want to do. You're not Christ. What is the body of Christ today over which He is the head? It's the church. All these distortions are a corruption of what God has planned. We want to be careful to do things biblically. His plan is the body of Christ, the church, and He places the members in the church. You ask some people who used to come to Indian Hills, where are you going? Well, we really haven't been going anywhere. Well, that's sin, you get back. Do you realize our body is suffering with the absence of a part that should be here functioning? That's the same with people who go to liberal churches. What are you doing there? They are not believers. Well, my kids like the program and thought it .......... Would God make you part of a body that .............. I mean, how can that be? It's not part of the body of Christ. You have to be there, it's an obligation. I mean, my hand gets up this morning and says, I'm not getting up. What do you mean, you're not getting up? You're getting up. I mean, what kind of silliness would this be? Yet in the church people say, I'm not going. What do you mean, you're not going? We are members of one another, you can't quit. That doesn't mean the Lord doesn't move people other places and put them in another local church where they will function to accomplish His purposes in that body. We just can't quit.

What happens when part of your body quits functioning? You call the doctor. Some of you may know I had a problem with numbness in my arm, it's like a piece of wood, it's not working. Doesn't matter, I have another one. No, it matters. With that other one I got on the phone with the doctor. He says, you better come to the emergency room. It's that bad? You can't just tell me over the phone? He says, if I were you, I would get there quickly. Why? Because it's part of the body. Don't be cavalier about it, I go if I want, I don't go if I want. We oughtn't to stand for it.

We are stewards of God's grace, we have been made part of one another, that's our greatest blessing. It ought to be a function with the proper attitude. We'll have to leave it there and pick up where Paul picks us up.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace, saving grace that took us from our wretched, sinful, hopeless condition, cleansed us, made us new. We become the residence of your Spirit. You in grace gifted us, gave us a measure of faith for service, made us part of one another so that we not only have fellowship with you but our fellowship is with one another as well. We join together as one body with all parts functioning in unity and harmony to carry out the work that you have entrusted to us. Thank you, Lord, for each part of this body. Thank you for the privilege of growing together. Thank you for the work of your Spirit in doing in and through us only what can be done in your power. We give you praise in Christ's name, amen.