Romans 12:3-21 (2)

Two things that I am really excited about:

Tuesday-Thursday this week we have something called Sr. Bible Connection. I am teaching two of those days and I am just excited about what the Lord will do during that time

MomCo: In the Fall Kristen Brodreck is launching a new ministry here specifically for mom’s called Mom co. It doesn’t matter if your a mom to adult children or babies. This is a ministry specifically to support moms. Mom’s if you ever feel like you need a little extra support then this is the ministry for you. Men, It goes without saying in my household that when my wife is involved in something, I am responsable for the kids and vice versa. Men, you can watch your kids when your wife is at MomCo.

Well we have been in the book of Romans for a while now and we are in just some really practical chapters.

Remember what Romans is, it is Paul’s gospel…It is his version of the good news of Jesus…

So in the first 11 chapters he tells the church that there is actual salvation from our lives of sin!

That we can actually be made new again. He tells the church that through Jesus there is this new ability that we have to live though his spirit. And that we can have righteousness just through believing in Jesus

And one of the major questions that would have been alive in the church at that point is that you have all of these new Jewish christians and gentile Christians with totally different traditions who are now gathering together…What do we do next?

See chapter 12-16 is all about what it means to be the church

It is about what it means to find unity in community though Jesus

So this past week Pastor Even took us though the Penultimate text of Romans 12:1-2

Those two verses deserve their own treatment…Thats why I separated them out

But its helpful context for what we will talk about today…

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

So what the Apostle Paul is telling the church is look, you are living sacrificially!

Living in a sacrificial way is actually an act of worship!

And you have to remember he is telling this to both Jews and Gentiles

if you are in Christ then your mind is being renewed and you can form a new community around the messiah…

So let’s get into the rest of chapter 12 then!

Romans 12:3–8 NIV

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought! but think with sober judgment…

Probably the best story in the Bible about an inverted and arrogant community is the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11…People come together and say come, let us make a name for ourselves…In other words let us make a monument to our own greatness rather than worshipping our creator

Babel was the human family trying to make community based on human pride and arrogance…

And see the community of the church is community based on the greatness of Jesus

Arrogance causes a host of different problems in community.

Years ago I had to deal with a person on a worship team that felt like her voice should be the only voice…and when it was another person’s time to sing, she would sing over them, like not even harmonizing, singing over…The sad part is that she thought it made her look good but then everyone was judging her…it was actually shaming her

We eventually had ask her to step down because although she might have had a ton of talent, she refused to use it in community…She wanted to use her talent to build herself up…

And see Paul starts this section on Spiritual gifting by first having a serious talk about humility. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought…

Because spiritual gifts are awesome. and there is a temptation to use them for your own glory

I am not immune from this at all. probably like 10 years ago now, I just remember feeling like my sermons were not landing. I was spending serious time studying the best academics in the world writing and crafting…Word-smithing and trying to get everything just right…

And I just felt like week after week there was a flop happening in the pulpit and I distinctly remember what happened next I was kind of at the end of my rope with preaching thinking that maybe I’d just quit…and I asked the Lord…Why isn’t this working out?

And I brought this little frame up so I could show you something….

My kids were paying on a playground and was talking to Jesus saying…Lord…what is going on with these messages and I got a gentle rebuke from God that just changed my life

And I printed it into a picture and have kept it front and center on my desk ever since…

And to be clear I don’t really know how God speaks to people…To me its like telepathy…I just know what God is thinking in my head and it it is like a self evident truth, And I just can’t get away from it….

They are words that I can not dismiss and I just know that the spirit of God has spoken….

So in that moment God said “You have shown them your mind, now show them my heart”

The Gentle rebuke I got from the Lord was, I have given you this gift of teaching to reveal who I am not how smart you are!

One of the ways that I know the Lord is saying something to me is that I’ll just tear up…

I sat there on that swing and just teared up then immediately went home and made this little picture that I keep on my desk now

Paul starts with humility before he gets into gifting…Because when your gifted, arrogance ruins the gift!

One of the things that I always think is funny is when people say that the most humble people would never know that they are being humble…

I don’t think that’s true…How would you know to work on humility if you didn't realize when you were being humble or being arrogant?

I used to follow around this christian academic and speaker and he talked about humility and living in the spirit

and these next three points are from him. Dallas Willard

His whole point is that you can not live in the spirit and be arrogant…

If you remember back to Romans 8 it was all about living by the spirit and not the flesh…

What we have to realize is that being arrogant is inherently a fleshly way of living

So these first three points are from Dallas about how to train yourself to be humble.

Humble Living

1. Never Pretend: just be who God created you to be

Now if your a child, pretending is play, it is fun

But one of the things that we have to understand is that the word pretentious and the word pretend both come from  the Latin verb praetendere…..

To pretend is to present yourself as something that you are not. The word pretentious means that you are trying to make yourself seem more important than you really are

And we have to remember that the community of the church is an upside down community from the values of this world, the last is first the first is last!

So if you want to work on humility we have to work on not pretending! Youre not trying to make yourself seem like the most interisting person in the room!

You’re going to have to learn to do that

Sometimes our body pretends before we even think about it…

This is why it is a discipline.

2. Never Presume :that you should be treated in a certain way

Presuming that we ought to be treated a certain way is often the enemy of humility

To presume is to think of yourself more highly than you ought! It is to make decisions before they should be made. Not taking the whole story into account

have you ever seen when an important person gets pulled over in their car…like a district attorney or a city official and they inevitably say, “do you know who I am?”

Presuming that you should be treated a certain way

You never need to say, “don’t you know who I am?” here, you are a child of the most high king and you will be treated as such…

whether you have been a christian for 90 years and pray for 26 hours a day or whether you are here just trying to figure out who Jesus is….

No presumption is needed. You are

3. Never Push: Stand for what is right, but let Him do the pushing

This point in my opinion fits best with a part of Romans 12 that we have not read yet

Romans 12:18–19 NIV

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

In “Pushing” what Dallas Willard meant is that arrogance thrives in scenarios where you are pushing your own agenda over and over again

Where you have to get your way…

Maybe you’re a pushy person…What you are doing is always telling someone else what to do. You are pushing your will or your agenda.

Arrogance thrives in areas where you have to get your own way

Arrogance thrives in scenarios where you don’t quit until your will is done

Maybe you live in a scenario where you are the big boss at work…Where what you say gets done

This could easily train you into believing that everything you do is just right…

But we both know that is not true

So if you want to work on humility.

Never pretend, never presume and never push…

I’d suggest if you are a pushy person, always exerting your will on someone else, take a month and ask your spouse where they want to go eat, even if you don’t want what they want then go there. Take a month and ask others what they want and do that.

Serving people I think is one of the best ways to rid yourself of the need to push your own agenda…

The more you die to the need to push others around the more you are freed up to actually do what Jesus has asked of you

Remember: The big point that Paul is making is that

Humility is the lifeblood of Christ centered community (Romans 12:3)

So Paul moves from humility to gifting…

Lets look at a the scripture again:

Romans 12:4–8 NIV

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

In many places Paul uses the same metaphor. That we are one body with many members…

And remember what Paul is doing is reminding the ethnic Jews and the Gentiles that you are now one community in christ, in chapter 11 he used the metaphor of an Olive tree that they are all a part of and now they are one body.

That has massive implications…We are all a part of the body of Jesus

Now every time when Paul talks about spiritual gifts he does it to illustrate a different point…In 1 Corinthians he talks about the gifting of people in the church to edify one another…

So your gifting is actually for someone else! to grow them!

that is true…But thats actually not his point here

In Ephesians 4 it is more about strengthening the church to overcome the schemes of the evil one….

But here in Romans 12 there is a slightly different purpose that Paul is mentioning the gifts

In Christ we are all interconnected and we belong to one another

Romans 12:5 NIV

so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

It is to hi light the fact that in Jesus we all belong to one another

That we are all connected though Jesus.

We are connected here through the blood of Jesus

So this is just slightly different from 1 Corinthians and Ephesians

What Paul is saying is that we are responsible for one another

That our spiritual lives are not our own!

The American church has a concept about faith that is the anthesis of this verse and the opposite of the rest of the world

That it is private!

No! Scripture tells our our faith is something to work out in community!

I think live streaming church is the best and worst thing a church can do….

I fight all the time the urge to just get rid of the cameras and just tell people who watch online…well you just have to be here sorry…

BUT It is valuable for people who are sick and on vacation…It helps people find our church and its okay for those special occasions but!

If you are only an online attender, your growth will be stunted because you need each person here to help you grow…

Your faith grows in community

Your faith grows in life groups

Your faith grows when you practice your gifting

and guess what, when you practice your gifting, you grow others

Prophesying: This is simply speaking the truth to culture…Holding the bible up to the lies that our culture believes and saying this is the truth

Serving: This can be anything but essentially it is helping someone else…This is HUGE in your spiritual growth and understand that we don’t want you serving because we need another warm body in Children’s ministry….We want you serving because it grows you! Serving empties you of pride…And every time you give for others it grows you more into the likeness and character of Jesus.

Teaching: Hopefully this is what I am doing right now. A clear and simple articulation of God’s word and what it means…This grows the teacher and it grows the people

Encouragement: The root meaning of the word encouragement is to put your heart into someone else. In other words to take your bravery or your courage and to give it out to others…To give them confidence that they can really run the race and finish well!

Giving: Did you know that giving is a spiritual gift? Now scripture calls us all to give, to tithe…That is very clear…But there are certain people in the church that have the gift of Generosity.

I will never ever forget…The first time I got the job as Sr Pastor…I got the job at the end of November and it started on January 1st…I was working 2 jobs at that point…I went to my other job to give 1moths notice and my boss said…well I am actually really glad you are telling me this becuase we are hitting a financial slump, I need your December salary to cover others…I remember Desiree and I working this out, I was going to have one of the most expensive moths of the year where I was missing one salary…And by the grace of God we would only be $200 short on our bills…And that same day, an uncle of mine sent me a card congratulating me on becoming a senior pastor and there was a $200 check in that card.

Guess what happened to me in that experience: I grew in faith that God can and will provide…I was affirmed in my calling that God really did want me to be a pastor…I was overwhelmed by the love and care of the lord that he provided for my every need

Leading: Leadership means taking responsibility for something. There are so many more ministries that can be done if people with the gift of leadership would stand up and take responsibility for something.

The rest of Romans 12 caries on with this theme of humbling serving one another

Romans 12:9–16 NIV

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Here is what I think is so key about this

In 1 Corinthians 12…Paul talks about spiritual gifts then what does he do…He moves to 1 Cor 13 which is the love chapter

The point there I think is the same here…Gifting is great but the number one gift of the christian community is love!

Love is the chief gift of the christian community

Also

Christian community is means to be a blessing

It is a blessing to those inside of the community and it is even a blessing to those outside of the community

Paul literally give us the building blocks of community

Hate evil and cling to good! Be devoted to one another in love

Honor one another above yourselves!

This whole section is about expressing the gifting you have in love!

Christian community ought to be a blessing to all people whether a part of the church or not.

I love this statement of the way this little section ends…

Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of a low position Do not be conceited! again…Paul is dealing with humility here!

This is absolutely counter cultural to the roman world.

The roman world had social strata that you did not mess with..>you would socialize in your own group and the people who you socialized with would either make you look good or drag your status down

And Paul is saying, do not be concerned with such worldly thinking….You associate with people in a low position…Why? It will do two things, one help with them to christ and two it will up their status

lets finish off chapter 12

Romans 12:17–21 NIV

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Living at peace means choosing mercy over payback — the Christian community lays down the right to get even and picks up the call to forgive. (Romans 12:17-21)

The whole way through this text Paul is bringing two totally different communities together and telling them look, you are all made new in the messiah

You are now one body!

And this community is a community that instead of being characterized by arrogance and exclusivity is characterized by grace and forgiveness

This is a community that serves one another in love

that builds one another up

Because it is not based on our own goodness but the goodness of the messiah Jesus!

Response:

Prayer team

Maybe your here and the message you got today is a serious need to practice humility because it honors Jesus…Who in the ultimate act of humility laid down his life for us

Maybe your here today and you need to practice your gifting