Sacrificial Living Pt 7

Romans chapter 12. We find ourselves in the midst
of just a rich, incredible section of Scripture, a section that
I’ve entitled sacrificial living in the church. We began to build
that case several weeks ago, but it’s not just sacrificial
living that Paul is talking about, and it isn’t just asceticism.
This sacrificial living isn’t just setting aside pleasures
that we have, but rather it is offering up our entire life as
a living and holy sacrifice, which by its nature is acceptable
to God. We find that in verse one. That’s
exactly where Paul started. Verse one of Chapter 12 when
he said, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God
to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable
to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Well, Any one of us would pause and
say, am I really worth sacrificing when you talk about sacrifices
needing to be pure and perfect and holy? Well, that’s what verse
two is about. Verse two takes up essentially
Paul’s argument, building upon it and and telling us how we
are to be. Prepared for that sacrifice.
He gives us the command. To Be prepared, do not be conformed
to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove with the will of God is that which is good
and acceptable and perfect. So as our minds are transformed,
as our thinking is corrected, our life follows suit and thereby
we are a well fitted sacrifice to God. But Paul had something specific
in mind it was interesting even this past week I took a call
from a friend who highlighted essentially the problem behind
this passage. It seems that it’s a regular
feature in churches that when people either don’t get their
way or when they don’t or are not able to manifest a certain
gift when They become jealous of others gifts they lash out
when, in their estimation, one particular person doesn’t manifest
enough of God’s gifts, they lash out. It becomes so commonplace
that. When we come to this passage,
we find this really is one of the key passages for help on
that problem. Paul addresses begins to address
that problem in verse three. This is the very reason why I
say this is sacrificial living in the church. If you would,
let’s read verses three through eight, we’ll tackle verses four
and five this morning. Where Paul builds upon the case
already laid for sacrificial living when he says for the through
the grace given to me, I say to every man 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. For just as we have many members
in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members
of one another. And Since we have gifts that
differ according to the grace given to us, let us each exercise
them accordingly. If prophecy according to the
proportion of his faith, the service in his serving or he
who teaches in his teaching or he who exhorts in his exhortation,
he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence,
he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. And Paul. With those words. urges us towards sacrificial
living in the church. We began this study of verses
four and five last Lord’s Day and I suggested to you then that
there are four distinct statements in verses four and five and in
those four distinct statements there are four characteristics
of local church members. There are if you are in Christ,
if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus and you are part of
a local church, and sadly there are some believers or professing
believers who are not part of local churches. If you are part
of a local church, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there
are four characteristics that jump right off the page here
in this passage. We started last Lord’s Day with
number one. Individuals who are part of a
local body of believers form a spiritual conglomeration that
Paul ultimately refers to as a body. Just as we have many
members in one body. As I pointed out to you last
week just as verse three is built upon verses one and two. It ultimately
provides the practical outworking of sacrificial living. Here we
have the first of several supporting statements for what Paul states
in verse three. That statement of not thinking
more highly of ourselves, but to think so as to have sound
judgment. How do we go about that? Well,
this is what versus four and five begin to explain. We. Noted that here was this
little fledgling church, the church in Rome, and it would
be quite amazing if you didn’t have any access to written literature,
scripture. It would be quite amazing to
suddenly find yourselves among others who believed in the Lord
Jesus as you do and who were discovering that they had gifts.
and a desire to come together in worship and and some began
to exercise gifts quite naturally and others might assume that
they too were supposed to exercise the gift. Maybe they wanted to
take a turn in the pulpit or maybe they wanted to exercise
authority over others. Well you can imagine the difficulty
just in a fledgling church beginning to sort through that a young
relatively untaught group of believers, perhaps they had seen
the synagogue model and they knew that some were leaders and
others were not. Perhaps they began to try to
resort or establish some kind of human process on how those
leaders were to be recognized, but nobody had come to them.
Nobody had come to them and explained the gifts of God and how they’re
supposed to function in a local body. Nobody had explained to
them how you were supposed to recognize leaders. Nobody had
explained who was to preach. Nobody had come and done that,
and that’s why Paul’s writing. Paul acknowledges that there’s
this tiny local church in Rome growing up, beginning to flourish,
and therein lies the problem. That as this church begins to
grow and flourish, problems will surely begin to mount. And Paul
has every intent of heading it off and giving them enough instruction
so that they can know that everything in the church is to be done decently
and in order. And the first point that Paul
makes is that we have many members, there is a multiplicity of gift
packages represented in any church, but together those. Multi gifted. Members form one body. Paul, we found, is frequent in
his use of that particular imagery. Just in the book of Colossians
alone, I skipped over these last Lord’s days, so this is my second
opportunity. Colossians 118. He, that is Christ,
is the head of the body, the church, speaking much more globally. Colossians 124 I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake and in my flesh. I do share on behalf
of his body, which is the church in filling up what is lacking
in Christ’s afflictions. An amazing verse, especially
for the ministry. Colossians 219 Speaking of the
holding fast to the head from whom the entire body. Being Supplied
and held together by the joints and ligaments grows with the
growth that is from God. And then finally, Colossians
315, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which
indeed you were called in one body. It is the body of Christ
and be thankful. We saw that not only in the book
of Colossians and not only just in some general reference is
this idea, this imagery of the body being made up Of many members,
we saw that it was dealt with in full in 1st Corinthians 12.
I’m not going to have you turn there this morning just by way
of review. Here are a few statements that Paul makes in 1st Corinthians
12. 1st Corinthians 12, 12, even
as the body is one and yet has many members and all the members
of the body, though they are many, are one body. So is Christ. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 14. The body is not one member, but
many. An idea that we’ll take up more
in a moment. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 18. But now God has placed the members,
each one of them, in the body just as He desired. Another idea
that we will chase down this morning. And then finally, in
1 Corinthians 12, verse 27, He says you are Christ’s body and
individually members of it. So Paul makes this opening point. That the individual members are
brought together by God himself and together they form a spiritual
conglomeration called a body that much is true that if you
are in Christ, if you have named the name of Christ and you are
part of a local church, whether you have formally joined or not,
mind you, you are part of the local church and you are part
of the body of Christ. I said there were four characteristics
of local church members. Secondly, individuals who are
part of a body of local believers not only form a spiritual conglomeration,
but secondly, they enjoy a dignified usefulness. And by dignified,
I mean God has given you a purpose. God has given you a way to serve
in the church, and he’s done it for the sake of his glory.
Absolutely. But on an individual basis, done
it that you may enjoy a dignity, a usefulness in the church. And every person is distinct.
Every person comes to the church with something to give, some
way to serve. Glance down at the passage. Just
as we have many members in one body, and all the members do
not have the same function. I think I alluded to it last
week. If I didn’t, here goes. Which means, if you’re not there,
your gift isn’t being used out there. People are going to be
providentially last Lord’s Day. Specifically, we have some. They
could not be here. And any time that happens, the
church isn’t able to fully function as excellently as it could. But
sometimes God knows that. I mean, God always knows that.
But sometimes that’s the way it is. What we want to do is
minimize that we want to take every opportunity to maximize
the exercise of our gift and giftedness because not every
member has the same function. There are some tasks that if
we’re not there, someone else can pick up the slack. But if
we’re not there on a regular basis, the church is stilted. The church falls short. The church
is not what it should be. Because there is a unique member
of the body in absence. Here again, this idea. This had
to have been news to the congregation in Rome. A totally fresh idea,
right? This idea that they all had a
different function. Now this begins to free them
up. You know, you can imagine the average individual as As
it fell to them, it’s your turn to preach next Sunday. Oh, can
you imagine that week scrambling and scratching your head and
digging? And I’ve worked with brothers like that. It just doesn’t
come naturally. Suddenly to realize we don’t
all have the same function. You know, I don’t have to take
my turn trying to serve as an elder. I don’t have to take my
turn as a deacon. I don’t have to take my turn
In the pulpit, I don’t have to take my turn knocking on doors
doing evangelism. Everybody had a different function.
And they weren’t all to preach. They weren’t all to take their
turn serving as elders, the revolving door approach. They wouldn’t
all be excellent evangelists. They wouldn’t all serve in the
same capacity or with the same intensity. There are some people
We have one brother in our midst. He’s like the Energizer bunny,
right? Just constantly going. He sees things that nobody else
sees. The sad thing is that there are
people. There are people that think that everybody ought to
have to take their turn doing every little task in the church. There are people that think that
everybody ought to be as gifted. Everybody ought to have a turn.
No matter what the task is. The truth is they’re not the
same. We’re not the same. We’re we’re as unique as the
proverbial snowflake. Christians aren’t designed to
be the same. They’re not meant to be the same
by God. Just in the attitudes that we have and our abilities
and our temper temperaments. At this point, point two is so
liberating. Because it’s essentially a functional
version of the first point. It’s diversity in action. In
the first point, we learned that we are individuals, but together
we come and we form a spiritual body. But to pause for a moment
and realize, yes, but we are individuals. And we are distinct
individuals. And that we don’t have the same
function, and that is tremendously liberating. Each person, therefore,
counts. Each person has been given a
gift package by God Himself. And it’s unique and distinct
from every other brother. Every other person in the church.
Everyone who has named the name of Christ receives from Christ
a gift package. A group of gifts. A way of serving
and functioning within the church that no one else can duplicate.
That’s why I said last week, when the church loses one of
these men or women, One of these gifts. They lose not only the
individual, they lose that gift package, and for that reason,
the church is constantly molding and shaping and reforming. Christians said one like the
various members of a single body, although they differ from one
another and have various functions, all are necessary. They’re necessary
to each other and equally under an obligation to serve one another
because they all belong together as a single whole. That’s the
point that I made last Lord’s Day. If you are as so often is
the case. If you are one that seems to
take the approach that church is unnecessary that it’s optional. What a sad. What a sad approach. That essentially what you’re
doing when you take that approach. And there are few that have ever
been part of this church that did that. When you take that
approach, you rob the church of your gift package on that
given Lord’s Day. Or perhaps for a season if you
rob it on more than one occasion. See, If we don’t have the same
function or the same office. Even the most obscure gift is
absolutely crucial and necessary in the life of the local church.
And it shouldn’t surprise you that this, too, is amplified
in Scripture. If I could, I would take you
back. To second, First Corinthians,
Chapter 12, just for a moment, First Corinthians, Chapter 12.
where we see this point amplified in a number of different sections
in a number of different ways. We peeked at this first verse
briefly last Lord’s Day and I won’t be able to give much more time
to it today than I did last week. There are gifts in the history
of the church that we believe have ceased speaking in tongues
for one. God can do whatever God wants
to do if God wants to revive that gift that when God if he
does revive that gift he will use it in the same way that it
was used in the Corinthian church with an interpreter with a specific
message. These weren’t just you know noise
sessions. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse
8 4 to 1 is given the word of wisdom through the spirit and
to another the word of knowledge according the same spirit to
another faith by the same spirit. You see the pattern here different
gifts same spirit different gifts same spirit. at the end of verse nine and
to another gifts of healing by the one spirit to another the
effecting of miracles to another prophecy to another the distinguishing
of spirits to another various kinds of tongues to another interpretation
of tongues. But the one in the same spirit
works all these things distributing to each one individually just
as he wills look at that state. It’s God in his sovereignty that
determines who is going to receive what specific gift and in what
measure. Glance down, if you would, at
verse 15 through 17, the illustration that we just briefly looked at
last week. If the foot says now this is it’s it’s. It’s an illustration, but it’s
an amusing illustration. Feet don’t speak it well. In
a sense, they do. If the foot says, because I am
not a hand, I’m not part of the body. Well, that’s foolish thinking.
That’s the foot pouting because he doesn’t have a more grand
presentation. Usually he’s got socks or shoes,
hopefully. And, you know, he’s just kind
of out of sight, out of mind. So to take the approach that
because I’m not this, I really don’t count. Well, that’s foolish
thinking. The other point that we looked
at last week, if the ear says, because I’m not an eye, I’m not
part of the body. Well, that’s the same kind of foolish thinking. If the whole body were an eye,
where would the hearing be? There’s obviously a need for
an ear. Two of them, as a matter of fact. There is a need for
that part of the body. They bring something to the body
that is lacking otherwise. If the whole body where it doesn’t
matter. Pick your member, whatever part
of the body you want to use as part of the illustration. If
the whole body were that particular member, an eye, a foot, a hand, then other functions couldn’t
be performed. I will come back to that idea
in a moment. But you begin to look at the
idea of Christian unity and the distinct understanding of unity
from the rest of the world, because the rest of the world says everybody’s
got to be perfectly even, right? We’ve got to level the playing
field. We had somebody come to us, our P.E. teacher in Olive Tree. A young
person came and said, teacher, I noticed the other team won.
It’s our turn to win this time, just so everything’s fair, right?
That’s how the world thinks. But everything’s got to be even.
We all have to have the same opportunity. We all have the
same pile of money. We all have to have access to
the same things and the same experiences. That’s the world’s
idea. Paul says that’s not the way
it works. One part functions in this capacity. Another part was designed and
made by God to function in another capacity. Every person has a
function. Every person has a function that
they alone can discharge that they alone can exercise faithfulness. And it’s pointless to covet.
The gifts and the functions of other people, it’s pointless,
absolutely pointless. Glenn Stanford’s 19. If they
were all one member, where would the body be, in other words,
if we were literally comprised of nothing but eyes, what a hideous
beast that would be in the first place or all feet. Where would
the body be? You couldn’t even refer to it
as a body. A body is by nature composed of various distinct
parts. That’s Paul’s point, and he calls
attention here. To the nature of a body and that
the body isn’t just comprised of certain kinds of members,
it’s comprised of a distinct group of members. Which makes
pride completely out of place, doesn’t it? The body does need
me the body. You know I am needed. I am distinct. I’m given by God to the body
but to withhold myself and to go and to pout because I’m not
able to function as one member is pride. To absent myself because
I’m not able to function in a certain capacity to withdraw myself because
I don’t get my way is to rob the body of the gifts that God
gave that person for that church. Just as it would be unreasonable
for all Christians to have the same gifts. It’s like having
all the members of your body have the same particular function. It’s a totally inappropriate
image. And yet the church has this tendency
to think of the sacred and the secular And, you know, the sacred,
oh, if I could only be a pastor, if I could only be an elder,
I’d even accept, at least for a time, the privilege to be a
deacon and then an elder or a pastor. And we have this tendency to
separate and to make distinct sacred and secular. And secular
is over here and it’s the mundane part of our world. We do it all
the time. We do it with our, you know, our, our, you know,
when we eat, when we take out the garbage, when I have to do
my homework, when I have to go to work. That’s the sacred part
of our lives and that’s really kind of the unimportant. But
it’s the necessary evil right of the sacred when I have my
quiet time when I read my Bible when I go to church with the
saints of God. You know what I love the way
A.W. Tozer said he said all of life
All of life becomes sacred before God. Every act of a Christian’s
life is or can be as truly sacred as prayer or baptism or the Lord’s
Supper. To say this is not to bring all
down to one dead level. It is rather to lift up into
a living kingdom and to turn the whole of life into a sacrament. Do we live like that? Whatever
gift you have, do you live Lord, let me glorify you with the gift
that I’ve been given today. See, every member has its place
in the church, every member has its place in the body and its
function to perform, and every member is absolutely valuable
toward that end. Point three. I said there were
four characteristics Individuals who are part of a local body
of believers not only form a spiritual conglomeration, they enjoy a
dignified usefulness, but they have a Christ centered orientation. Look at the passage. This is
the third statement, just as we have many members in one body
and all the members do not have the same function, so we who
are many are one body in Christ. You know what that says to me?
The only kind of unity there is is in Christ. There are some
that have a relative degree of unity, but the only true oneness,
the only true unity that exists anywhere on Earth is being in
Christ. The connection that we have as
individuals becomes not only a connection that we have with
Christ, but it’s a connection that we have with one another
because of our mutual orientation to Christ. We are said to be
in Christ by virtue of our union with Him because of our faith
in Him and Christ alone. We are in Christ, literally placed
into Him. Back to Romans 6. These little words point to the
fact that there is a unity as Christians. There is a unity
that Paul is addressing here. And it isn’t a matter of our
human contrivances that bring about some kind of unity, it
is because we are placed into the Lord Jesus Christ that we
are said to be one one with him and one with one another. Did
you know that when you commune, when you partake of communion,
you are not only communing with God, you are communing with your
fellow saints. And that’s why we’re cautious.
To fence the Lord’s table and to guard against somebody partaking
unworthily. Somebody partaking that has issues
with another church. Somebody partaking that has issues
with someone within the church. Somebody who has not really made
a profession of faith yet. In the case of a younger person.
This is a divine organization. It’s not a man-made thing. We
are part, not only of Christ, we are part of one another. It
is the body of Christ. But this verse also. I believe
points also to the source of this diversity. How did we all
get these various gifts? I know that we’re all pulled
into one in Christ, but I think it also speaks to the fact that
this is God’s doing. If you’re still in 1 Corinthians
12, glance down at verse 11. We touched on this verse last
Lord’s Day, but one and the same spirit works all these things
distributing to each one individually, just as he wills. It’s it’s the
fact that we are in Christ. It’s Christ’s doing. Christ is
dictating who gets the particular gifts. But now God looked down
at verse 18. But now God has placed the members,
each one of them, in the body just as He desired. One faithful brother said these
words about that concept, each member occupies the body in the
position which God has seen fit to assign it and which is most
conducive to the good of the whole. The position and the gifts
of every member are determined by the Lord, not according to
their relative merits, nor in virtue of their own selection,
but as God wills and orders. It is inconsistent with the idea
of the church that each member should decide on his own position
and function. You know what he says? It doesn’t
matter if you decide to go to seminary and you foot the bill.
It doesn’t matter if you graduate. It doesn’t matter. If God hasn’t
gifted you to function in that capacity, it does not matter. It is inconsistent with the idea
that each member decide his own position and function while we
are contending against him. Therefore, we contend against
the position and the office which he has assigned us in the church.
Do you know what that is like? Our whole life before we were
in Christ was one of enmity. It was a battle. It was an ongoing
war that we had with God. If you don’t like the way God
has placed you and positioned you in the church for service,
you’re taking up arms again against God. What a crazy thought that
is. I want to take you to another
passage of Scripture for the next couple of points. If you
would turn to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Paul is calling us to practical
unity because of our calling in Christ in Ephesians chapter
four. Paul has given, just like in
Romans, he’s given three solid chapters of doctrine. In Romans,
eleven solid chapters of doctrine. Now he gets into the practical
application of that. For the sake of time, jump down
to verse seven, where Paul writes, But to each one of us, grace
was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Now, you’re
just going to have to trust me because I don’t have time to
build the case. He’s talking about every person in the church
possessing some kind of gift that God has given. What each
person receives is no less than a gracious gift from the Savior
Himself. a way for us to function in the
church. It wasn’t earned, just like our
salvation. It wasn’t deserved, just like
the forgiveness that we have in Christ. And not one person,
no one who has ever come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ did
not receive some kind of a gift package from God. Absolutely
profound. And it absolutely echoes the
passage at hand. Nobody’s overlooked. Every single
person has a position, has a dignified usefulness In the church. One of my favorite commentators
is Johnny, the Scottish preacher of another day, he said that
the gift is measured. God himself measures it out,
should we do this, how much God himself determines the gift is
measured, and while each one receives. He receives according
to the will of the sovereign distributor. And whether the
measure is great or small or of more brilliant endowment or
of humbler and unnoticed talent, all is Christ’s gift. All is essentially indispensable
to the union and edification of that body. The law of the
church is essentially unity in the midst of circumstantial variety. What a beautiful way to put it.
God is the one that sovereignly determines who receives what
gifts and in what measure. And it’s ours merely to take
up those gifts and to serve him for his glory. I said there were
four points. I said that we would make it
through chapter five if you would or chapter 12 verses four and
five. Four characteristics of local
church members. If you are An individual who
is part of a local body of believers you form a spiritual conglomeration
point one point two you enjoy a dignified usefulness point
three you have a Christ centered orientation and point four you
are purposefully interrelated. God has purposely put you in
a specific spot in a specific way with a specific package for
his glory. Look at the last statement. So
we, verse five, so we who are many are one body in Christ and
individually members of one another. You see that this idea of by
being united in Christ. As believers in the Lord Jesus.
We become members of one another, we’re bound together, we’re knit
together. See, the idea is that people
tend to think of their gift as their gift and that they don’t
get their way. They pout and they go off and
they’ll just they just won’t use their gift. Not there anyway.
Or if they use their gift, if they have a gift or think they
have a gift, they begin to function on their own. And if I want to
exercise my gift, by golly, I’ll exercise my gift. Oh, really? There’s this thing I to what
degree it’s real. I don’t know. There’s this thing.
now that modern psychology has identified called Tourette’s
syndrome. Perhaps you’ve heard of it where
suddenly sometimes it’s just a nervous tick. Sometimes it’s
it’s you know much bigger than that where words will suddenly
fly out of people’s mouths and thoughts and the way some people function.
It is as if they have a spiritual Tourette’s syndrome. where they
just do what they want to do independent of anybody else and
irregardless of what anyone else thinks of what they do. They
just exercise their gifts. And it’s kind of a crazy thought.
We do a tongue in cheek illustration if I may. The day that the eye
went to the movies. Well the eye woke up and decided
I think I’ll go to the movies today. And the eye was feeling
you know, like he might like a little companionship. And so
he decided, you know, the movie won’t be quite as enjoyable if
the ears don’t come too. And I’ll go ask the ear if he
wants to go with me to the movies. And the ear was delighted at
the idea. And the more they talked about
the idea, why, the nose caught wind of this idea that the eye
and the ears were going to go to the movie. But the eye and
the ears knew that if they went to the movie theater, the nose
was going to catch wind of the popcorn and the popcorn was going
to be useless unless the mouth comes also. Well, let’s invite
the mouth, but the mouth suddenly realized that unless the hands
come, how will we enjoy the popcorn? And off to the movies they went,
or did they? Because the feet said, uh-uh,
not so fast. You see, that’s the way we tend
to function. We tend to think that everything that we do is
in isolation of everything else, and it’s not. We’re all interrelated. When one member suffers, the
entire body suffers. When one member rejoices, the
entire body rejoices. One pastor said it this way,
it is a beautiful spectacle when a Christian church sets itself
earnestly to realize this ideal. Many a church now reputed to
be feeble would be surprised to find how strong it is if it
should truly grasp and carry out this idea. We can’t function
in some kind of spiritual Tourette’s, we work together. or we work
not at all. We work together or we work against
one another. To each one was given the manifestation
of the Spirit for the common good. That’s what Paul said.
It was the whole purpose of these gifts. It wasn’t designed to
benefit me. This gift package that was bestowed
upon you was not designed to benefit or to glorify you. It
was designed for the good of the church. It was designed to
build up the church. That’s the point Paul was making.
When he said that the foot says, because I’m not a hand, I’m not
part of the body, it’s foolish thinking, and he concludes that
in verse 18 of Chapter 12 by saying, but now God has placed
the members, each one of them in the body, just as he desired
to see the Christian church, the Church of Christ. It’s a
living organism. And it contains a vast number
of various parts, each one with a multiplicity of gifts diverse. Each person with a special function
to bring. What was the function? Paul addressed
it to the Ephesians. He never really gets to that
point in chapter 12, he’s talking about chapter 12 in first Corinthians
is talking about the diversity and the unity that is supposed
to be there because of that diversity. But in Ephesians, chapter four,
he lays it out explicitly why all the diverse gifts. Verse
11, he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists,
some as pastors and teachers, why for the equipping of the
saints for the work of service, it goes back to the diversity
again. To the building up of the body of Christ. See every
function of every part. of the body of Christ is absolutely
crucial to the building up of the body. Absolutely crucial. And that’s why I say if one falters
or one falls short or if one refuses to do what it’s designed
to do, the church. The church is feeble because
of it. How long does this go on? Paul says it in verse 16 of chapter
4, the whole body being fitted and held together by that which
every joint supplies. According to the proper working
of each individual part causes the growth of the body. See Paul’s
point. Paul’s point is that we’re all
supposed to be functioning. We’re all supposed to get the
gifts that God’s given going. And we’re supposed to be functioning
excellently for God’s purpose. I’ve addressed it, if you’re
absent, you’re not there to exercise your gift, I get that sometimes
it’s providential, you’re providentially detained, I understand that.
Where there’s negligence, however, where there is positive negligence,
the church is weakened. The church cannot be what the
church is designed to be if someone refuses to exercise their gift.
Same way with departures. Sometimes those are providential
as well. The Lord takes his own. Others leave for their own purposes. And when the church is left the
church is not the same that it was in days past. It must change. But God has given a provision.
God has given a package of gifts to each member that is there
and each is to exercise and the church is constantly reforming
and changing. And it all comes down to the
faithfulness of those who exercise those gifts. And the discovery
of new gifts. The question to you is how do
you fit in in the church? How are you exercising your giftedness? How are you Going about discovering
your own giftedness and the usefulness of it. I return again to a statement
that Jim Elliott made. Jim Elliott, the famous missionary,
said the Lord’s work done in the Lord’s way will never lack
the Lord’s provision, and that’s why I said to you, the Lord has
done a lot greater things with a whole lot less than what he’s
compiled in this body. When you look at the gifts and
giftedness of the various members of this church. Sky’s the limit. The church is constantly growing
and reshaping according to the gift packages that God has put
in. We’re not going to look at God. And thumb our noses at him
as if he left us shorthanded. We’re going to pick up. We’re
going to look to each other. We’re going to look to God in
the usefulness of the various gifts that he’s placed here. As Lloyd-Jones said it, the body
works harmoniously when all the parts and portions fulfill their
function. When this happens, and only when
this happens, they are called upon to take part in the total
action of the body for specific purposes. They must not act alone. They never act independently.
They are part of the whole body and they never act except when
they are moved by the whole body. Our merciful King, we rejoice. We
rejoice in the diversity that we already sense. We rejoice
in the richness that You provided. We rejoice in the privilege that
we have to serve You. To think that You would like
us to serve. Father, we thank You and praise
You and we pray Great days would be ahead for the sake of your
kingdom in this church. We pray that we would find new
gifts and new ways to serve you. Perhaps even the greatest days
yet are in front of us. We thank you and we praise you
and we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.