The Body of the Church

Romans 12:3-12

Welcome to Mountain View Baptist Church! It looks like most of us are now back from summer vacations and weekend getaways as we get ready for the fall. Thank you for being in church today! If this is your first time here, welcome. We are glad to have you join us. Please be sure to stop by our welcome center as you leave today so we can connect with you.

Have you ever thought about all the parts that make up a fire department. You have the chief who rarely goes to fire scenes but oversees all the operations of the department. You have battalion chiefs who are the supervisors on the scene. You have the captains and the lieutenants , the driver engineer, and the firefighter. Each are given a role and responsibility. The roles and the responsibility of these workers all come together when you go to a first scene. If you watch them, everyone does their individual job to accomplish the successful work of fighting fires. This is also how the church is to operate by accomplishing God’s will on that given day by individuals.

God illustrates for us the ministry of the church as a body. Each part of the body has a particular responsibility to ensure the harmonious function of the body. The church is a called out assembly of saved, baptized believers for the purpose to glorify God through service and worship.

A church is made up of many individuals all who have a purpose of honoring the Lord in the body. The point is that each member functions to serve the body with his or her gift, not the body to serve the members. It is not one or two people but all of us individually serving the Lord together. This is a team effort to serve God here in the local church.

Several years ago, I was invited to speak at a church in Northern CA. He is a wonderful guy and loves the Lord. I asked me to observe anything I thought might help him to move his church forward. He was the first to welcome me and everyone else for that matter. He was the one who put out the signs by the road, he handed out the guest packets, he led the song service, he did all the announcements, and at the end of the service, he went out to get the signs. He tidied up the bathrooms to already empty building. There is nothing wrong a pastor doing those things but he had people there, including his son in law who could put out and pick the signs. He had music people who could lead music. This poor guy was basically a one man show up there. There were people ready, willing, and able to help but for some reason the pastor did it.

Here in this passage, God is showing us everyone has a gift and can be used by God. There are three considerations in this passage as we think of the ministry of the church. This is centered in the gifts God has given to the church.

Consideration 1. . .

Soberness about our gifts v. 3

The idea of soberness means to use sound judgment in relation to our giftedness. We don’t think of our gifts better or below someone else’s gifts. The teaching is having a genuine humility in using the gift God has to me to strengthen and help the body of Christ.

Humility comes out of consecration because pride is the enemy of righteousness. This means we trust God to work through us to bring a blessing to others. Soberness means a mental clarity and sound judgment. It deals with self control and temperance as to not let our passions or emotions to take over our actions.

By the way, if one part of the body is not functioning, it will affect other parts of the body. My father-in-law had a bad knee for years. He did everything to avoid having a knee replacement. One day, his good knee starting to hurt and the doctor told him because he was using the good knee for both knees, it is now bad. When we a part of the body is not working, it will affect the entire body. God wants all of us to serve where He chooses to gift us.

A sober minded man does not react to things but uses proper judgement and discernment on how to best use his God-given gifts for God’s glory.

“The man who is humble before God is unlikely to be arrogant before his fellow-creatures.” (unknown)

Each member of the body is given a certain amount of faith which comes out of the exercise or our gifts. The gifts are given by grace and we serve God by faith. This measure of faith means God is the giver of faith.

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” While we know it comes from spending time in God’s Word, it is God who gives this faith to us.

Each believer is to exercise their gift by faith. We may not see the result of our ministry, but God sees it and He blesses it. Our gifts do not make us better or less than someone. Humility means whatever God has given us, we seek God’s help in using it for His glory.

Consideration 2 . . .

Given to us by God

The gifts are given to us by God. This means we did not choose them, or earn them, we were given them to us by God. This is a very difficult lesson for me to learn growing up. I saw others have gifts that I wished I had. I wanted those gifts for me. God did not give you the spiritual gift for you, He gave it to you for the church. There is a difference between a natural gift (still God given) and a spiritual gift. When you accepted Christ, He gave you a spiritual gift. It could be a natural gift that becomes a spiritual gift or it maybe something totally separate from your talent.

Natural gifts and spiritual gifts all come from God. This is not an exhaustive list here but a reminder of the variety of gifts and the need for their proper use in the church. The diversity of the the many gifts accompanies the unity of the body.

Spiritual gifts are no proof of spirituality.

Samuel Chadwick

Several years ago when we started a church, Janet was the one and only pianist. Soon as people started coming into the church, we were asking God to give us another pianist. Janet might get sick or might need to take care of a class or junior church. There was a lady who started attending and she was a Christian. She had mentioned she played the piano. When I asked her if she would play some of our services, her reply shocked me. She said, “Oh, I only play for myself and not for anyone else.” I could not help myself when I said, “God may take that away from you then. He gave you that gift to be a blessing to others.” Within a few months God started working on her life. She eventually walked the aisle to get right with God and came to me to volunteer to play when we needed her.

God gives our gifts to us by His grace. That is what a gift is, it is a work of God’s grace in our life. These gifts are different so that the body can grow in a balanced way. Your right hand does not fight your left hand. They help each other and that is the image Paul is giving here.

We cannot get Christ’s gifts without himself.

Alexander Maclaren (Preacher and Expositor)

Wiersbe says, “spiritual gifts are tools to build with, not toys to play with or weapons to fight with. In the church at Corint, the believers were tearing down the ministry because they were abusing their spiritual gifts. They were using their gifts as an end in themselves and not as a means toward building up the church.

Each of these are given to demonstrate the harmony and diversity of the gifts for the edifying of the church.

Since God is the Giver of the gifts, we are to use our gifts according to His will for our lives. This means we exercise our gifts in the body of Christ by encouraging and strengthening believers. If you are believer, you can be assured you have spiritual gift. It may be recognized by others or you may know what yours is, but let me encourage you seek where God would want you to use your gift.

Consideration 3. . .

Use our gift Godly

The gift God has given to you by His grace needs to be covered in love v. 9 This love must be sincere which means without hypocrisy. Divine love is to be exercised with other believers. Paul says we must cleave unto that which is good. That which is morally good and upright. Godly love will be fed and strengthened by good and upright things.

Cleave to that which is good.” Cleave means to stick like adhesive tape, to be welded or cemented together with the good things. The believer should always be identified with good things rather than shady or questionable practices.

J. Vernon McGee

If you cleave to good things, you will abhor evil things. When you use your gifts for God, you will honor Him and your appetite towards spiritual things will grow immensely.

In verse 10, you will notice brotherly love increase and you will prefer others over your selfish needs. This means consider the other person rather than yourself.

Philippians 2:3 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

Not only do we love one another but we will want to do our best for the Lord. Not slothful means giving our best for the Lord. There is not to be half-heartedness but total commitment to being our best. This means we follow through on what we say we will do, we come on time, and we give our level best because we are serving the Lord.

God becomes first priority. When I am asked to do things that interferes with church or serving the Lord, I will respectively turn it down. God is my priority and first in my life. He is before my hobbies, before my recreation, before my wants, before my projects, before my goals in life. He is in first place.

Our first priority in times of adversity is to honor and glorify God by trusting Him. We tend to make our first priority the gaining of relief from our feelings of heartache or disappointment or frustration.

This is why Paul writes be instant in prayer. Reacting before praying leads us to problems. Don’t react first, pray first, and respond to how God leads.

Put the gospel first. And that means you must put the priorities of the gospel at the center of your prayer life.

D. A. Carson

Christian, is Christ first place in your life? What if God asked you to teach that Sunday School class or serve in a capacity to grow you as a believer? Would you say yes? Would you be willing to prioritize your time to attend on Sunday night?

If you are here today without Christ, will you be willing to accept Him today as your personal Savior? There is someone in the back that would be more than happy to show you how you can meet Christ as your Savior.