Context:
The blog has been at rest for a few weeks due to school holidays. Although the schools across NSW have been back for a week now, many groups have chosen to use this first week back as a social time where we get to know one another better and just have some laughs. If that is not the case for you, then I hope you enjoyed Romans 12:1-2 together without the blog behind you.
We have been reading through all of Romans this year and have reached chapter 12. I’m sure that any commentary you picked up on the book of Romans would describe how chapters 12 and onwards (minus some personal greetings in chapter 16) are focused on the outworkings of the first eleven chapters. That is, given how huge and generous God’s mercy is, this is now how you are to act. You could describe chapters 12-16 as the practical part of Romans. You could, but don’t be mislead to thinking that there is no more theology in them, nor that there was a desert of application in chapters 1-11!
Given the abundance of God’s mercy, 12:1-2 tells us to present ourselves willingly to the Lord with all we’ve got. True spiritual worship is to know the mind of God and mould our minds to his. True spiritual worship is to reflect and feed on the word of God, learning of his mercies and give him everything we’ve got. So what does THAT look like? Welcome to verse 3…
Observation:
Verse 3: Paul has something to teach us now and his credentials are simple...’by the grace given him.’ In verse 7 he will exhort all who are given the gift of teaching to teach! He is exercising this gift at verse 3. His gift, by grace, is to teach – and so that is what he will do. It’s not by some authority that he has to lord it over others. He doesn’t think of himself as more important than his readers. He’s not their priest or father – remember how he longed to be with them in Rome back in chapter one so that they could mutually feed on one another’s faith. He has been given the gift to teach. But more on that later.
He teaches us to ‘not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.’ The context makes this clear – God has shown us great mercy – don’t pretend that you are a champion all on your own. Our sinful nature will try to convince you that you are something great and someday the world will stop and wonder why they never noticed such an amazing person like you sooner. You’ll be on the front cover of TIME magazine and interviewed every time public opinion is needed. The reality is though, that even the things that you are good at, are gifts given to you by God. We are told by Paul to ‘think of yourself with sober judgment.’ Give yourself a reality check. Your time here on earth is short, it is unlikely that you will do anything of huge earthly significance and even if you do (like invent the hover-board before 2015) you won’t be remembered for all that long and who cares if you are! You’ll not be around to enjoy the benefits. But God has given us this time on earth to listen to His Son, to receive Him as Lord and Saviour and to influence the small crowd that you interact with in your life so that they too will hear and receive the mercies of God. That’s sober-minded. And what an amazingly important and crucial thing you will be doing by working for the Lord for eternal treasures!
Added to this, Paul says, ‘in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.’ This could mean that different people are given different measures of faith and some are called to do greater things than others. This isn’t the way that faith is described in the bible, however, as it is not to do with the size of our faith but with the object that our faith is directed toward. I believe it means, on the other hand, that we are to have a sober mind with the amount of understand faith God has given you! That is, cast your eyes over the view of God’s mercies – they are plenty and they are wonderful. As you look at that view, be sober minded. Your faith is in the unmeasurable depths of God’s grace and mercy. That’s how sober minded you ought to be. Do you understand God’s mercy? Then by the faith you have put in these mercies, consider how level headed you ought to be about your own priority. Everybody in the church around you has received the same amount of grace and mercy if they have turned to Christ. Don’t think you are any better than anybody you worship alongside. We do have various degrees of maturity in the church, however – those who have considered the mercies of God longer and those who are weakened by the pull, the hardship and the temptations of this world. This leads us to the metaphor of the church.
Verse 4: This verse is the first half of a metaphor and describes the image of the metaphor. The church of Christ is a body – think of your own body – we are not blobs made up of identical cells but we are a complex creature with many different limbs and organs and functions and purposes. Paul has used this metaphor in his other letters: 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 and Ephesians 4:16.
Verse 5: The metaphor of the body refers to the church. The qualification for being part of the church is that you be ‘in Christ.’ That is, of the same faith that Paul has been describing since chapter one. If you depend on Christ Jesus for your salvation and your relationship with God for eternity then you are part of the church. If you declare with your lips that Jesus is Lord and if you believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you have been grafted into the body of Christ. Do you have to go to church in order to be part of it? No and YES! How can you be a healthy part of the body unless you are interacting with the body. If I leave my foot behind and let it fend for itself, unattached to my leg – it will die! Each member of the church belongs to all the others! Think on that! If you are in Christ, then you belong to the other members of the church!
Verses 6-8: Several gifts are mentioned in this section but all are introduced with the simple lesson that gifts are gifted from God – by grace. Merited to those who don’t deserve them!
Prophesying: this is not to be understood as someone who can predict the future. It should be understood as someone who is able to speak the words of God into the culture and times that they are in. See the explanation of Aaron as a prophet to Moses in Exodus 7:1-2. The focus of prophecy in Numbers 12:6-8 is not the method of prophecy (visions and dreams) but that God speaks to them and they are God’s mouthpiece. See Deuteronomy 18:15-22 on the purpose of a prophet – to speak only what the Lord has told them to say. Lastly, know that God has spoken now through his Son (Hebrews 1:1-4). The Word of God has come and the Holy Scriptures have been written down (2 Tim 3:15-17). What we need now is not people who can give us new dreams and visions but those who can correctly handle the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15)! We call them preachers.
‘In proportion to his faith.’ This is tricky. It seems to reflect the similar phrase in verse 3. This can be understood to mean that those who speak the words of God are to reflect the understanding of faith that they have received. A young prophet or preacher will be less informed by wisdom than an older preacher. Young preachers ought to have a sober mind about how much they know. (NB: I will be doing some more commentary work on this phrase later this week for myself to try and be more confident in this understanding).
Serving: a servant is someone who assists and cares for the needs of their master. The idea of service ought to be as common in the church as pews. On the night of the last supper, Jesus washed his disciples feet and told them to do likewise – not to become feet washers but to serve one another. Don’t treat yourself as more highly than anyone else. Ultimately, we are called to love our neighbour as ourselves – this is the act of service through love (Gal 5:13-14). Paul describes himself as a servant of God (Rom 1:9; 2 Tim 1:3) and describes those who preach the word in the church as servants (1 Cor 9:13-14), and Peter describes those who oversee the things done in the church as servants (1 Peter 5:2). All of us in the church are called on to serve – in fact, whatever gift you have been given by God must be used to serve others (1 Peter 4:10).
Teaching: If God has given you the gift to teach then teach. Don’t keep your knowledge in and deny others of the learning that you have. This is why we have theological colleges, and this is also why we have the church, so that we can be equipped by the preachers and teachers of the church to grow in maturity of faith together (Eph 4:12 onwards). But be sure to put this test in place: do not think yourself more highly than you ought and teach others under the guidance of faith.
Encouraging: this simply means to give somebody else courage! To build them up and help others to have strength in all of life – to keep the faith and to fight the good fight. This can be done by words or by letters on a card or by an arm over someone’s shoulder. Thank God that he gives us people in the church that can encourage us when we are feeling week or low – does your Growth Group have this kind of a culture?
Contributing to the needs of others: if you are quipped to give to the needs of others, remember the generosity that God showed you in providing for your needs. The grace of God is to produce the graciousness of His people. The generosity of God is our model.
Leadership: Note two things – 1) the NT instructs us to have leadership in our churches. They are given titles like overseers who over see everything in order to protect and guide and pastor the flock and like deacons who are described as servants. Our greatest leader, the Lord Jesus Christ did not come to be served but to serve. So leadership is not tyrannical but there is a definite place for leaders in the church who have a proven background of faith, self-control and care for others. 2) given that there are leaders in the church, it is right for those who are not leaders to regard their leaders with respect and love. If you are to be a leader, then be a good leader. If you have someone leading you in your faith, then let them govern and support you in every way that you can. They are God’s gift to you as you are a gift to them.
Showing mercy: aren’t we all called to show mercy? The challenge is for us to do it cheerfully. Be slow to anger and abounding in love. Show mercy in view of the mercies of God.
Meaning:
The gifts listed in this passage are not exhaustive but they are also not very rare! Who of us are NOT called to serve, encourage, contribute to the needs of others and show mercy? You could also say that so many of us are given the privilege of preaching the word of God in our homes, therefore prophesying; teaching others; and leading others in our homes or ministry teams. All of these gifts and any other gift that you can imagine must be practiced with humility before God and with love to one another.
As a saved people, we ought to view one another as parts of the same body. Love one another and serve. Anything that you have to contribute ought to be done knowing that God has raised you from the dead and you are now partnering with others who have also been raised from the dead.
By the grace of God in Christ, we are the church of God in Christ, and each of us belongs to one another. (23 words – can you summarise this in less words?)
Application
The word humility comes to mind here. The word does not mean to put yourself down or to refrain from being good at anything or think of yourself as a good for nothing. It means to refrain from boasting. It means to act without seeking reward. It means being aware of your ability and deciding to put it to use for the sake of others over yourself. These are my words to define humility… Here’s what John Dickson writes, “Humility is the noble choice to forgo your status and use your influence and resources for the good of others before yourself.” Anyone in the world can practice being humble. But this passage calls us to be humble through our clear recollection of God’s grace shown on us. When we act and plan, consider what God has done for you.
The church is the place to serve. Our modern educated mind will fight this idea and try to explain that we live in a bigger world today – that because of the internet our communities can be spread right across the globe. Why then keep supporting the local church of yester-year. Life is also much more hectic these days and there is less time in our weeks to give to the local church. I can be a Christian in every little external community that I have. These thoughts confine church to being a man-made society which is becoming or has already long become out-dated. That might be exactly the way the world sees church – but God sees the church (the local gathering of believers that represent the greater universal church) as an essential nurturing place for Christians. Everyone in Christ belongs to one another. It is the place to hear the word of God, to be served by your brothers and sisters, to learn and grow in your Christian understanding, to be encouraged, to receive help when in crisis, to find guidance from wiser and maturer Christians and to be accepted even when you don’t feel you should. It is also the place to take the things that God has nurtured in you and to share those with others.