Sacrificial Living Pt 8

God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn back. To the epistle to the Romans,
Romans Chapter 12 is where we find ourselves. I don’t know
if you caught the news that was floating the airwaves this past
week. In a town in Nebraska, Pierce,
Nebraska, there was to be There was an auction that was highlighted
in the news, a rather unique auction. It was an auction of
vintage automobiles that just had never sold. A man named Lambrecht
owned a dealership in Nebraska, and he had a curious policy that
when somebody brought a trade in, he would just go park it
out on the back lot. He wouldn’t resell it. And if
he had cars that didn’t sell by the time the New Year’s models
rolled out, he’d park them in the warehouse and wouldn’t sell
them either. Well, it didn’t take long before
he had quite a collection of these cars. And when his interest
and energy for selling vehicles ran out, he simply closed the
shop and said that one day he just went home. Those cars, almost 500 of them,
just sat. And they’ve been sitting for
almost 45 years. Some with less than 20 miles
on them. One of the ones that caught my
particular eye was a 1978 Chevrolet Indy pace car Corvette model
with five miles on it. Another one. because my dad was
such a car nut that caught my eye, was a 1958, the year I was
born, Cameo Chevy pickup with 1.3 miles on it. Now, sit down. The auction was yesterday. I’m
sorry to tell you. The Indy pace car sold for $80,000
in 55 seconds. When I read that story about
these cars just sitting in a pasture with weeds and trees growing
up all around them. When I learned about vintage
cars that were never sold and really committed to a warehouse,
a dusty old warehouse, I immediately thought of a lot of Christians
gifts. That they’re never employed.
They’re never put to the use that God designed them to have. They’re never really fully unleashed. And the church never really enjoys
what they were designed to do. The church never benefits from
them. And I thought, how sad that just as these cars that
were designed You know, if they were living, breathing people,
they were designed to be out on the open road and to be filled
with people and to enjoy experiences. And sadly, some people’s gifts are the same
way. They end up warehoused or parked in a field and never used. One pastor said that no gift
or ability, spiritual or otherwise, is of any value if it’s not used. And in the church, that is nothing
short of tragedy. I suppose. The one bright spot
in this article is that for a lot of those cars, there is hope.
A lot of those cars were quite popular. Some paid great funds
to rescue these vehicles and with the hope of restoring them
and bringing them back to life as it were in. And then to an
appreciation. For the Christian, it’s the same
way. As long as you breathe. As long
as you live. As long as you walk the face
of the earth, there is hope. Of putting to use the giftedness
that God is bestowed upon you. For the use in his church, for
his glory, there’s always time. I think I’ve shared my story
of Doris before in different contexts. Doris was a manager
of an apartment complex. When I was a seminary student,
I would pop in and visit her and soon found out that she was
a professing believer. And every time that I would talk
to Doris, Doris would ask me, you know, what I was studying
and would tell me about her own belief in Christ and her desire
to one day teach Sunday school. And she had talked about it for
some time and I encouraged her to do that, to sign up and to
teach Sunday school. And then one day I came and Doris
was out with a headache and then One day turned into several weeks. Then I heard that Doris was having
surgery on a brain tumor. Doris never returned to work.
Doris never fulfilled her dream of teaching Sunday school. And
I thought about how tragic that is. And sadly how common. If you would take your Bibles.
Glance down at Romans chapter 12 beginning in verse 1. Where
Paul writes, 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. And do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that
which is good and acceptable and perfect. For 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 each exercise
them accordingly, if prophecy according to the proportion of
his faith, if service in his serving, or he who teaches in
his teaching, or he who exhorts in his exhortation, or he who
gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who
shows mercy with cheerfulness. Paul says, that we as believers
are to present a sacrifice. And I have suggested to you,
I have made the point and begun attempting to prove that point.
That what Paul is talking about here is sacrificial living in
the church. In the local church. Paul says,
I urge you brethren to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice. God doesn’t want roadkill, remember. God wants a perfect sacrifice,
and He wants it in the church. Well, the way to essentially
prepare that sacrifice for noble use is contained in verse 2. Don’t be conformed to the world. Don’t be pressed into the world’s
mold, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And the
first thing that Paul says needs reworking and rethinking is the
thought about ourselves in the exercise of our giftedness. Look
at verse 3. 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. It’s not that God thinks we’re
nobodies. We are made in the image of God
and God thinks highly of us in that He has gifted us. He is
included in this great work of ministry. But so often we have
a tendency to overestimate our importance, to elevate ourselves
above even the gifts that Christ has given. Paul says it ought not be that
way. It ought not be that way. And as we began to consider last
Lord’s Day, we all have been blessed with gifts God has bestowed
them on each one of us, and he’s done so for the purpose of building
the church. Each believer has a role. Each
one of us is called upon to exercise the gift that God has given us
in the building of the church. The little passage before us,
verses six through eight, really is a very simple outline. What
Paul is calling us to is the right exercise of very gifts. He’s already pointed out that
we have a variety of giftedness and now he just says, put them
to use. There is a. There is an exhortation and then
there is an example that unfolds. A very simple outline, glance
down, if you would. At the right exercise of very
gifts, look at the exhortation in verse six. Where Paul says,
since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given
to us, let each exercise them accordingly. Now here in verses
six through eight, Paul applies the principles that he set forth
in verses four and five. The first thing you notice, if
you have an honest translation of the scriptures, is that it
italicizes a number of words in that passage. It should. Some
of those words in italics have been supplied, that means they’re
not in the original. You see, in the original, it
is a very quick translation or a quick
transition, rather, into the application of these gifts, the
use of them. Through a process of interpretation
of what Paul is saying, translators have, in a sense, filled in the
blank. If you glance down and look at
your particular translation, I don’t know exactly which one
you have, but in the NAS it says, let each exercise them accordingly. That’s not in the original, but
I would suggest to you that it is a faithful and accurate addition
to. And clarification of what Paul. Is urging us to consider. As
one said, the simplest method of interpretation is to begin
a new sentence with having gifts that differ and then supply the
necessary verb, and that’s what most translators have done. Paul
takes what has already been said and says that we do have gifts
that differ. Now what? I told you that Paul had already
established the fact That we as individuals are part, if we
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are part of a local body of
believers. And as such, we pointed out last
week that in verses four and five, there were four statements. And those four statements were
very simple, that in the body of Christ, we form, we individuals
form a spiritual conglomeration. We enjoy a dignified usefulness. Each one of us has a role to
play. Each one of us has a gift to
exercise. We have a Christ centered orientation. Each one of us is first and foremost
linked in communion with Jesus Christ himself. And yet. We are also in communion with
one another. And we don’t function on our
own. We don’t function well on our own, and we wouldn’t do well
on our own. We’re not a church on our own.
And then fourthly, we noticed that. As a body of believers,
we are purposefully interrelated, we we have need of one another. We have a usefulness to others
as believers in Christ, and here what Paul does is acknowledge
those facts as he moves immediately to apply them. And that’s why
he starts for six in such a matter of fact way. And since we have
gifts that differ or having gifts that differ. According to the
grace given to us and Paul will not cannot leave off that that
concept that these gifts all are a work of God’s grace. Paul reiterates that truth that
he’s already established. that these gifts, each one, are
God-given. They are gifts of God’s sovereign
grace. He points back, according to
the grace given to us, to that vital union that we have with
Christ that was established by grace, that we didn’t deserve
it, that it was the grace of God that saved us, and it’s the
grace of God that equipped us, and it’s the grace of God that
will sustain us in the work of the ministry. The Holy Spirit
that oversees and mediates these gifts, dispenses them out to
each believer. But it’s the Holy Spirit also
that infuses the believer in the midst of that work. And the
exciting thing is it’s the Holy Spirit that enables us to discover
what these gifts are in time. See, these gifts are for the
fulfillment of the various functions needed in the life of the church.
And as the believer walks with his Savior, he will never forget
that everything that he possesses is due to God’s gracious gift. How can we become stingy with
these gifts? How can we become careless or
slovenly with these gifts? One pastor said it in these terms,
he said, a man’s gift depends upon the measure of faith allotted
to him by God. And so he must use and exercise
these gifts in proportion to the faith that is in him. In
other words, if God gives you a gift, God is going to give
you the faith necessary to exercise that gift. And to do so. To the full measure. He goes on and he says, if he
be wise, if the Christian who has received these gifts is wise
and his mind is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he will judge
rightly his capacity and power. If, on the other hand, you see
what he points to, he says he’s going to see himself accurately,
he’s not going to overestimate his gifts. If, on the other hand,
his mind is carnal. He will try to distinguish himself
proudly and disturb the peace of the community. Remember what
started this whole thing? Was an essentially a recognition
that Paul is observing that in this fledgling church in Rome,
there would be the tendency, as is the common lot of every
church. To have people that either overestimate
their gift and overplay their gift, or because they don’t possess
certain gifts, they downplay their own and refuse to serve
at all. And ultimately, what that brings
about is chaos. Nothing short of chaos. Now,
consider the remainder of verses 6-8. Paul lists seven. Such gifts. And I told you, not
only does he give us an exhortation, but he immediately moves into
the example. And he gives he lists out these seven such gifts,
it’s not an exhaustive list. So if you go to take inventory
this morning and you say, well, I don’t see my particular gift
listed there or I don’t find any of these stirring my heart
to service. It’s not an exhaustive list.
But it’s generally representative of the necessary gifts bestowed
upon members for use in the church, the body of Christ, it’s a general
list. And with each gift mentioned,
there is a commensurate exhortation. As Paul mentions these gifts,
he also wants to go into how they are to be used. The formula
is simple. If you possess this, use it in
this manner. That’s basically how he goes
through each of these gifts. The first part of each sentence
clearly describes the gift, names them by name. The second points
out the way or the manner in which it is to be used. Is that
clear enough? Yeah. And really, that’s the
thought that’s born out of the context of the passage. The context
urges us that all of these gifts should be used with soberness
of mind. Remember, that’s what it’s tethered
to in verse 3. We should have a right set of
thinking if we are going to honor God. If we are really going to
lay a sacrifice that is living and holy, acceptable to God,
If we’re going to do that, our thinking must be corrected. And
the first thing that God corrected is. The thought of humility. We should think accurately of
ourselves. And such is the case with these particular gifts. One pastor said it this way when
he said these verses indicate the sober way in which Christians
who do measure themselves by the standard which God has given
them in their faith will give themselves to the fulfillment
of the tasks apportioned to them by the gifts they have received.
Using their particular gifts to fall in the service of God
and one another. In other words, what he points
to. When Paul says here, since we have gifts that differ, according
to the grace given to us. Let each exercise them accordingly. It’s interpretational. We’ve
already pointed it out. That interpretation says that
as we take spiritual inventory, as we remember that we were nothing
more than sinners to whom God moved and for whom God acted
and through whom God worked To bring us to faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, he brought us to repentance and no sooner did
we rise from knees of repentance, we suddenly found and discovered
that God had bestowed upon us instantaneous instantaneously
and as a companion to the forgiveness and salvation that we have gifts. God gave us gifts. It is astounding,
and it should always be astounding. We should always be stunned at
the truth that God has included us in the ministry. We who were
once nothing more than vile sinners. One Puritan said it this way,
the man rich in Christ is reverently to remember others. and God’s
will in them and for them. He is to avoid the subtle temptation
to intrude beyond his master’s allotted work for him. We don’t
go too far. We don’t presume upon others
area of giftedness. We don’t assume that God is gifted
us across the board in every way and that we need no one. He goes on. His chastened spiritual instinct
will rather go to criticize himself. To watch for the least deficiency
in his doing of his own task. See, that’s the thing that you
really watch for in the church. That’s when you know you have
a genuine believer in Christ is one who is more of a critic
of himself. Then of his brothers in Christ. He finalizes his thoughts with
this statement, he works as one who is not to contrive a life
as full of success and influence as he can imagine, but to accept
a life assigned by the Lord who is first given to him himself. That’s the believer. The believer
stands before God and remembers that first and foremost, Christ
died for him. And that He deserves nothing.
And yet, He has been bestowed everything. And all Christ asks
is that He stand and rise and serve as God has equipped Him. Simple, really. Since we have gifts that differ,
according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them
accordingly. And he gets into the examples.
The first of seven is the gift of prophecy. Look down at verse
six. Where Paul says, since we have
gifts that differ according to grace given to us, let each exercise
them according if prophecy according to the proportion of his faith. There is much misunderstanding
regarding the gift of prophecy some see it purely as telling
of the future. And it’s certainly in both the
Old Testament prophets and the early New Testament prophets
absolutely included that element. It’s interesting though in the
differing lists of the gifts both in 1st Corinthians and Ephesians
chapter 4 in In this passage. That some of those sign gifts,
some of those that are acknowledged and pointed out as sign gifts
in the church. The sign gifts begin to fade
away, and that’s evident here, even in this book of Romans. Paul had written some nearly
five years earlier to the Corinthians, and he he spent no little time
detailing the sign gifts and talking much about the sign gifts. Here, almost five years later
in Romans, he hardly mentions them at all if you include prophecy
in them. There certainly were. Those elements
of future or foretelling of the future that were embedded in
this office in early days, but this office certainly had a perpetual
element to it as well, and prophecy would go by the wayside once
the fullness of God’s revelation was complete. I would argue that
that. Was already underway by the time
Paul writes the epistle to the Romans, and so the office, in
a sense, is going through somewhat of a metamorphosis that at one
time where a prophet would stand and certainly tell the future. Now, the office was. Becoming
one more of speaking for God, speaking on God’s behalf, articulating
the revelation that God had already given. We might call it preaching. Some pointed to a special, a
miraculous gift of preaching, and that was certainly the case.
That was part and parcel of what the apostles were called to do.
They were called and equipped with sign gifts to authenticate
the preaching of the Word, and the preaching was in very many
ways miraculous. It was revelation. Another just
described the prophet as being distinct, pardon me, distinguished
from a teacher by the immediacy of his inspiration. You see,
the teacher would go and mull over details not unlike what
we do in the ministry of the word. He would mull over those
details and he would dig into those and he would come out,
as it were, of his study inspired. Whereas the prophet would stand
and suddenly become inspired by God and his spirit and speak. All the while, the purpose, the
purpose for the prophet was always to instruct the body to bring
about God’s message, to edify those in his hearing, to exhort
them, to comfort them, even to rebuke them. Charles Hodge has an excellent
description of the prophet, the original and proper meaning,
he says, of the Hebrew word rendered prophet is interpreter. That changes a lot of things
when you stand and look at what the prophet was functioning,
how he was functioning. He was an interpreter, one who
explains or delivers the will of another. It matters little
whether the will or purpose of God, whether the prophets were
called upon to deliver, had reference to present duty or future events. They were merely God’s mouthpiece,
he says. Anyone, therefore, who acted
as the mouth of God, no matter what was the nature of the communication,
was a prophet. Anyone employed to deliver a
divine message. And in that list, if you look
back into the Scriptures, Genesis 27, Abraham was identified as
a prophet. Moses, Deuteronomy 18, 18 was
a prophet. Many of the writers of the historical
books, it wasn’t just the minor prophets or the major prophets
as we lay them out. They were servants of God, they
were spokes men of God. So this prophecy points essentially
to the function of communicating revealed truth. They weren’t
inventors of the truth. Prophets was merely an organ,
a mouthpiece of God. Paul says that in the church,
if the church is to be what the church should be. We need to
exercise this gift accordingly. Paul says, if you have the gift
of prophecy, it is to be exercised according to the proportion of
his faith. Now, what does that mean? Does it mean, you know, he’s
he’s got to be a believer? Well, that’s just so patently
obvious. Does he need to have the faith
necessary to stand before people and know that he’s called that,
too, is plainly evident. The proportion of his faith points
really to the content of what he begins to share. He delivers
and preaches and proclaims everything that God has told him. And he
adds nothing. And he withholds nothing. He
doesn’t exaggerate the truth. He doesn’t he isn’t there for
self display or self glory or self seeking. He is God’s man. on God’s mission with God’s message,
not his own. One said it this way, the prophet
in exercising his gift is to watch over his utterances and
not allow them to fluctuate with his own independent thinking,
but to see that they were steadily adjusted to the eternal truth.
It was already revealed in him as a believer. See, the prophet,
as I said, he didn’t come with his own agenda. Many shepherds
in this day and age would do well to mind these admonitions
that there is a standard and the standard is God’s word. It’s
God’s revelation that we are to declare not our own. The prophet. The prophet was to adhere to
that standard. No one was to consider himself as the inspired
vessel or to require anybody else to look at him in that manner. He was essentially to conform
himself to God and to his service. And in his speaking was to speak
only what God had revealed, not with adding any of his own ideas,
not with conjecture, Not with suppositions, not with theories. One said it this way, the prophet,
when he speaks, speaks God’s word is not to go beyond that
which God has given him to speak. No peril could be greater than
that an organ of revelation should presume to speak on his own authority. He is not to withhold the truth
which he has commissioned to disclose. Did you get that? There should be fear. There should
be fear to preach God’s Word. There should be a great hesitation. James 3.1 says it. Let not many
of you become teachers. Don’t rush to the pulpit. But
if you’re there, when you’re there, you better say everything
that God has told you to say. Don’t withhold anything. You
certainly better not add anything. You should never exercise this
gift in some kind of a proud confidence as if we are our own
man, as if we don’t answer to our sovereign. I see this so much in this day
and age with this almost an epidemic of wanting to be unique. Wanting
to have the most Fresh take on a given passage that’s ever been
advanced. To be original. To be new. Fresh. Let me tell you, if you
ever find something fresh from me, run. If it doesn’t square with what
Scripture teaches, flee. The pastor, the preacher, the
prophet, he is supposed to proclaim God’s Word. Not his own. There’s a word to those who serve
as well. Paul is laying out these examples,
these seven particular gifts, they’re not an exclusive list,
but service. If there was anything in this
list that functions as kind of an umbrella, it’s this one. Not
everybody is going to preach, not everybody is going to have
the gift of mercy. Not everybody’s going to have
the ability to teach and instruct in a formal way. But no matter
what your capacity, ultimately it’s serving. No matter what
you call it, no matter what element of ministry you fulfill, ultimately
it’s called service, isn’t it? This word is a very general word.
When Paul says, if service, if your gift is service, that you’re
to exercise that according to serving. Now, I know that sounds
so simple as to be absurd, but as I’ve already pointed out,
we’re like so many vintage cars parked in a warehouse or in a
field refusing to do that which God has equipped us to do. To
serve. If God has equipped you for a
particular purpose, all Paul is saying here is Do it. The general term. It could be. Pointed to almost any ministry,
it’s completely broad. This word, this wide word for
service included the function of the apostles, the apostles
went about serving. It included the function of the
prophets, the prophets by doing what they did were serving God. Down to the very least, what
we might in our flesh call a mundane gift, it’s service. It’s the
special way of exercising our particular giftedness that ultimately
God says is serving. And it’s used of the service
of ministry, As I said, it’s an inclusive word, all kinds
of ministry of all kinds of various kinds, every spiritual work,
everything done in the name of Christ. Paul says it so simply, if you
have the gift of service. And what believer doesn’t? Serve. And what he says here in so many
words is that we are to be devoted to those things. And that’s what
I would ask the saints of God this morning to check your hearts.
Are you doing it with everything in your power? Are you doing
it for God’s glory? Are you rolling up your sleeves
and saying, you know what? I’m going to work today as if
the entire church depended on the exercise of my gift. You
know how that would change the church? being devoted to it, being in
it, being completely and wholly given to it. Not disgruntled,
not turned aside, not offended because nobody’s recognizing
what we’re doing. One commentator said it this
way, those who have received this particular gift are to give
themselves wholeheartedly to the fulfillment of the tasks.
They’re to use the spiritual gift which they have to the full
for the very purpose for which it was given. What a privilege, what a privilege
to stand before God and realize, you know what God has allowed
me, he’s awakened me to my sin, he’s revealed to me the savor,
he’s brought me to faith in the Lord Jesus himself. And all he
asks that I do is serve. Whatever tiny little way he’s
equipped me to do to serve. What about teaching? The third
in the list, he who teaches in his teaching, it sounds very
similar. If you’re going to prophesy, do
so according to the proportion of your faith. If you’re going
to serve, do that in the proportion of serving. If you teach, it’s
in your teaching. Here, the teacher is distinguished.
You know, a teacher is one who digs down and studies deeply
into the word, perhaps less passionate. That was one of the things that
seemed to separate these definitions or considerations of definitions
between prophesying and preaching and teaching, perhaps less passionate. What Paul is distinguishing here
is functions, not people, because you can have some that are Gifted
in a multiplicity of ways, anybody who’s heard me teach, it’s totally
different than what I do behind the pulpit. The teacher gets
in and digs in, expounds the meaning of what has been revealed,
and what he’s really aiming for, the teacher, is he’s aiming to
affect the understanding of the hearer. And he’s. He’s committed to that task.
His teaching is addressed to the understanding of the here,
whereas even exhortation, which we’ll consider shortly, exhortation
is addressed to the conscience and the feelings. And we come
alongside somebody when we exhort them. Teaching is even somewhat. Cold, perhaps. Straightforward,
factual. See, the teacher would dig in
and in Paul’s day would dig into the Old Testament scriptures,
would bring out the facts of the scriptures. He had certainly
the tradition of Christ, the oral stories, the history of
Christ, perhaps whatever writings were already beginning to disseminate
into the churches. And he would dig into those things
and he would bring forth the facts of the matter. He would
teach. There’s a fourth gift that’s
mentioned, I’ve just alluded to it. He who exhorts. He who
exhorts in his very exhortation was to use his giftedness. The exhorter was one who would
stir you up. He was one who would bring you
encouragement and the right application of truth. It literally means
to call to one side, and we’ve looked at the word so many times,
the word from which we understand the Holy Spirit being sent for
that very purpose, the paraclete, the called alongside one. This
word combines the ideas of exhort, comfort, encourage. It brings
all those together. And it’s very different from
teaching in that it aims, as I said, at the feelings, at the
conscience. It seeks to direct someone in
the ways of Christ. But it can also point to pleading
with someone, coming alongside and begging them to forsake their
sin, to warn them of the consequences of the actions that they’re taking. The exhorter. The exhorter is not a completely
different person sometimes than the teacher or even the prophet,
but he does so in a completely different spirit. He comes alongside
with that same doctrine and he pleads with the life to be edified
and encouraged and to follow the ways of Christ. Reprove,
rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction, Paul told young
Timothy. Timothy was to fulfill all of
those roles. He wasn’t just to preach the
Word. He was also to step in as a faithful shepherd and to
come alongside and to get down in the trench with the wounded
sheep. See. I found it curious. The one pastor looking back said
many people in the pardon me for many people in the early
church life was a pretty grim affair. There must have been
a continuing need for people who could encourage others. Now
I paused and I said. For people in the early church,
life was a pretty grim affair. Let me tell you, life life didn’t
get any better. Life is still a struggle. There
is still broken hearts. There are still lost jobs. There
are still broken relationships. There is still a plethora of
sinful tendencies into which any of us can fall. We’re called to come alongside.
And to encourage, we’re called not just to lay out the facts.
But we’re called to come alongside and to get down in the trench
and to plead with them to follow the ways of Christ and to be
restored to them. There’s another not only prophecy
and service, teaching and exhortation, but glanced down at verse eight,
he who gives with liberality, you say, well. All of us are
givers. The interesting word here. A
lot of commentators tried to take this and make each of these
an office in the church. These are the ones these are
the ones that dispense the fund. You know there’s a there’s a
needs fund for anybody who has a particular need. They go and
they see the deacons and one of the deacons fulfills this
role. The interesting thing is though the typical Greek word
for giving is didomai. But here the word that Paul uses
is meta-didomai which really loads it up with personal meaning
to talk about the fact that it’s giving of our own. It’s giving
from our own resources that is in view here not some deacon
that’s sitting on the top of the treasure chest. This isn’t
him bestowing what is the church’s responsibility. This is a man
giving out of his own resources. And every Christian is called
upon to do this to a degree. The Philippians excelled at it. Those in the Macedonian region
excelled at it, as Paul points out to the Corinthians time and
again. That when they gave, they were
to do so with liberality. Now, I know some of you by political
nature don’t like that word, you don’t want to be liberal
in any way, shape or form, but let pardon me. The word literally
means singleness or simplicity, singleness of purpose, single
mindedness. Simplicity of purpose, and what
it really came to mean was a sincerity, a heartfelt desire where all kinds of ulterior motives
were set aside. And the only thing that I’m after
is relieving the need by my gift. The only thing that I’m concerned
with is rendering assistance where God has enabled me to render.
And the man who gives is to do so with singleness of purpose.
And not with these mixed motives. Not looking to, you know, make
a name for himself. Boy, what a giver he is. There
goes a liberal giver. He’s not supposed to be known
for that. Nor is he supposed to give so that boy, when I’m
down on my luck, I know that they’re going to remember me.
That’s not it either. God has given to him. And with
an open handedness, he simply gives. There’s a liberality of
spirit that is insincere. Two more and we close. Not only
prophecy and service, teaching and exhortation, giving, but
also he who leads with diligence. This is another one that is so
plain and so evident that what it points to is anybody who in
the church is in charge of something. But certainly it points to the
elders, the leaders of the church. The New Testament, that word
is used, it’s never used of governing authorities, several authorities,
but it’s talked about as the headship of the family. It’s
talked about as as the leaders of the church, those who lead
or to do so with diligence. Paul mentions those in 1 Thessalonians
5. We request of you, brethren,
that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and
have charge of you in the Lord and give you instruction. Those
are the leaders of the church. Paul speaks to Timothy about
the elders who rule well. He says that an elder must be
one who manages his own household. How else will he manage the church? These things are to be taken
up with diligence, that diligence just points to zeal and energy,
a passion to fulfill that role. Not. Carelessness, not slack
hand, as the Proverbs point out. Not putting off and not idleness,
not laziness, not doing so, as Peter points out, under compulsion,
we are to be eager Those who lead the church are to be eager
to fulfill that role as unto God. Paul said with great solemnity
to the elders. On the shores near Ephesus, be
on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God,
which he purchased with his own blood. This is to be done with
great concern. Finally, Not only prophecy and service,
teaching, exhortation, giving, leading. Showing mercy. He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. This is an interesting one. What
he calls us to. Is to compassion, to active compassion,
that’s what mercy is. Mercy isn’t just a feeling. Mercy
is actually compassion in action. One pastor described it as actively
demonstrating sympathy for someone else and having the necessary
resources to successfully comfort and strengthen that person. Now,
a lot of us have a lot more of this than we ever use. We think
about it, we feel deeply and we never do anything. Paul says
to show mercy is to to really put those feelings, those sentiments
to use. He refers to it as special sensitivity
to suffering and sorrow. You see, a lot of us notice those
things. But it’s special sensitivity
to suffering and sorrow with the ability to notice misery
and distress that may go unnoticed by others with the desire and
means to help alleviate. In other words, to do something
about it. But note that we are to do this literally with hilarity. That’s the word. That’s the word
that’s translated there. Cheerfulness were to do so with
a joyful heart. Nobody wants anybody coming to
their bedside in the hospital. It was there just kind of going
through the motions. It was my turn. I’m on the list.
So what God wants. That’s not what someone who needs
mercy desires. God wants us. to exercise our God given giftedness. He wants us to be used by him.
And then this final quote that I take regarding mercy. It is
an attitude that really could be applied to any exercise of
our giftedness. One pastor said a particularly
cheerful and agreeable disposition may be well evidenced of the
special gift that marks a person out for this particular service.
In other words, he says there might be very few in your congregation
who are able to go show mercy, practical mercy with a cheerful
heart. You might say there’s five maybe
in this body. But he goes on. But an inward
cheerfulness in ministering will in any case come naturally to
one who knows the secret that in those needy and suffering
people who is called to tend to the Lord. The Lord himself
is present. Did you hear what he said. You
may not have the gift of mercy with cheerfulness. You may not
put that label on it. But the instant that you go to
someone in need, the Lord is there and the Lord will give
you. A cheer in your heart if you are in Christ, if you are
alive in him. Because he goes on to say, for
he will recognize in them Christ’s gracious gift and in whose name
he ministers and of an opportunity to love and thank him who can
never be loved and thanked enough. You know what he says? He says
the instant that you go to show mercy, you’re immediately reminded
of God’s infinite mercy to you. What a joy. And you say, well,
You went through these gifts, these seven gifts, I just don’t
see it. Do you know that in this church there are probably the
most successful ministries we have in this body are because
of those who prayed before God, having already tasted of his
grace, Christians who prayed before God, God, I know you’ve
given me a gift, but I don’t know what it is. And God began
to unfold and direct them. They began to open their eyes
and they looked about and they saw a need. And let me tell you,
if you see the need, I can almost guarantee that God has equipped
you. Having recognized the need, he’s
equipped you to fulfill that need. And there are many needs in our
body. These are a few, perhaps eight of perhaps a thousand different
needs in our body. Emissions liaison, he said, we
don’t have any missionaries. That’s the point. We need a missions
liaison. We need somebody to step up and
to look and to see who’s out there and to call them in. A
book table in the early years of this church for the first,
at least the first three years, we had what I would say was the
most excellent book table. And in those books, we gave them
freely, never charged a single penny. Maybe that’s why we don’t
have a book table. We never charged a penny for those books. We gave
them freely and and nourished people’s souls because of it.
We don’t have a prayer list. You realize that we have a prayer
chain. We don’t have a prayer list. The bulletin board. The bulletin
board stands empty half the time. The building search, special
music, just as we discovered a new brand new gift in our midst
today. And some of you would say after
hearing that we don’t need anymore. We have we have him. PowerPoint. The ability to allow me to put
my scripture notes back in the bulletin and to have the words
that we sing up front. A potluck coordinator, a home
fellowship coordinator, an institute coordinator, someone who could
create a new members packet. We have the materials. There
are those things and there are, I’m not kidding you, a thousand
more. I’ll give you the list if you want. Let’s examine our
hearts before God. Oh, merciful God, we know that
you desire to use us. We know that you have saved us
by your grace and you’ve infused us with your grace and you want
to serve. Don’t let us be a rusting car
in the field. Grant us the grace to be rescued
and put to use for Your glory. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
Amen.