Romans 12:3-8
What are your gifts and how should you use them?
Jr. Church
Intro
The passage may be analyzed as follows: using different gifts for the benefit of the Christian community (12:3–8); enhancing relationships within the Christian community (12:9–13); strengthening relationships without and within the Christian community (12:14–16); and responding to hostile people and their hostile acts (12:17–21).
Prayer
Message
Verse 3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
If we want to keep things in perspective there are two things that we always have to remember. We have to remember first of all who God is, and second, we have to remember who we are.
Verse 4
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,
Verse 5
so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
We should also bear in mind that “members” has no meaning apart from the body; one cannot be a “member” of nothing.
Verse 6
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
Different brings out the truth that God does not make Christians into a collection of uniform automata. They differ from one another both in their native endowments and also in the gifts that God gives them through the Spirit. The differences are not arbitrary but according to the grace given us. The thought of grace persists. The apostle is not writing about some human excellence. And given is important. It is not a matter of the believer making an earnest effort in order to produce some spectacular result in Christian character or achievement, but something God has given.
Each of the Roman Christians has a gift and therefore a responsibility.
Verse 7
if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
Verse 8
the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Close
What if you don’t know what your gift is? I say to you, try different aspects of the life of the church. If you don’t know what your gift is, try being involved in evangelism, try being involved in Sunday School teaching. You may have to try a few things before you discover where your niche is. And listen to the body of Christ. The body of Christ will begin to communicate to you where your gift is, and where you can be used of God.