Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

When asked what holiday is their favorite, what do you think the top 2 were among Americans?

Christmas and their birthday.

Why do you think this would be the case?

Among Christians, Christmas has a different meaning however for the world around us (and for Christians as well), one of the reasons that Christmas and their birthday are the more anticipated holidays are because they receive gifts during these days.

Gifts are exciting to receive whether you are 5 years old or 95 years old.

Whenever Christmas came around, as a child, it was always fun to gather with my cousins and aunts and uncles to play games and watch movies together on Christmas Eve and then talk with my cousins about what we were hoping to find under the tree the next day.

The anticipation always made that night seem like it lasted forever because of the expectation of an awesome gift the next day.

Even for children who do not receive hundreds of dollars worth of gifts, Christmas still represents a fun and memorable holiday because of the anticipation of unwrapping a single present, large or small.

Birthday gifts are also fun to receive because it shows that someone else values and cares about you.

Whether it be a parent, grandparent, family member or friend, receiving a card or a gift on your birthday is special because of the relationship between you and the person who gave you the gift.

As Americans, we love to receive things!

However, it is interesting to note that many Americans (54%) said that they would rather donate money or give a gift rather than receive something from someone.

This is strange for a worldly person, however for a Christian, this makes sense.

We should be willing and desire to give our time and resources to others rather than expect something in return each and every time.

I want to make an amendment to this poll and say that there is a 3rd “gift receiving” day that should be present for Christians.

The day that you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

This day is often forgotten when we think about other major holidays, whether they be secular, like the 4th of July, or religious, like Christmas or Easter.

We receive many “gifts” whenever we accept Jesus as Lord: Forgiveness of sins, salvation, justification, comfort, peace.

However one thing that many Christians do not focus on nearly as much is our “spiritual gift” that we receive from God in this time.

As we will do tonight, we are going to see that each and every believer is given a “spiritual gift” and it is not of our own natural ability.

Rather, this gift is something given to us by God whenever we become a Christian that enables us to grow the Church and share the Gospel.

With that in mind, please turn in your copy of God’s word to Romans, chapter 12 as we examine what the apostle Paul has to say about spiritual gifts and what we are supposed to do with them:

Be Transformed (1-2)

In the first 2 verses of , Paul states that we are supposed to not conform ourselves to the ways of the world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

We find ourselves in a day and age in which society loves to pride itself on being tolerant of people with differing viewpoints.

This is true across the board with the exception of Christianity (often times).Our society tells us that the church is too “exclusive” and needs to be less judgmental in order to make people feel better about themselves instead of guilting people or making them feel “bad”.

I want to be sympathetic to individuals like this.

As a church, our job is not to use hateful words or say things in a “mean” tone of voice.

Rather, we are called to be loving and kind, however our message must come back to Scripture each and every time.

I have had many conversations with students (both Christians and non-Christians) who immediately, when asked a question, fall back to “i think this is the answer because it feels right” or something along those lines.

To a non-Christian, that is the best answer they can muster up because there is no absolute truth to fall back on.

However, for a Christian we must align our thoughts and beliefs on God’s Word and not on our feelings or the feelings/opinions of our society.

This can be difficult to do, however, this is exactly what we are called to do in Scripture.

We are not called to simply learn and grow in our knowledge but to put to practice what we learn.

Notice how Paul states that we are to offer up our bodies as a “living sacrifice”.

As we talked about this morning, the church is called to be salt and light to the world around us.

We are to look vastly different than non-Christians.

We present ourselves as “living sacrifices” because in our coming to accept Jesus Christ as Lord, our old selves are gone and dead and the new creation that lives on is led by the Holy Spirit.

By living, we are a sacrifice to God.

Our mission as a new creation is to glorify Him.

Obviously we will mess up and we know that we continue to sin, however our heart and spiritual worship must be centered on God and conforming to His will rather than man’s will.

Whenever we think of the word “transform” what do we often think of?

We can think of recycled plastic that is broken down and used to create something new.

We can think of a “transformer” from the comics or movies in which a robot transforms to a car or plane.

However what Paul seems to be talking about here is a “ radical reorientation that begins deep within the human heart.”

This change takes place deep within us.

There is a Christian song that came out about 5 years that talks about the Christian being “consumed from the inside out”.

That should be our call and goal each and everyday as Believers.

To be transformed and consumed by the grace of God from the inside out.

Our heart changes whenever we become a part of the Kingdom of Heaven and we have the Holy Spirit to help us walk in the way of the Lord.

Because of that, we cannot be consumed over fleshly things but rather we are able to discern our situation and figure out what is correct because of the help of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Whenever we listen to the Spirit, we are able to do the will of God.

radical reorientation that begins deep within the human heart

Be Humble (3)

Be Humble

Getting into the meat of Paul’s message of verses 3-8, we see that there are 3 key things that we are called to do with our Spiritual Gifts.

First, we are called to “Be Humble”.

Paul, one of the greatest “Christians” to ever walk this earth, begins verse 3 by saying that it is by “grace” that he is writing to these people.

Paul was very influential in the spreading of Christianity among the Roman Empire (he took the Gospel to the West - something that played a crucial role in people like you and I being raised in a very “Christian culture”) however, he never lost sight of the fact that without this grace, he would be a sinner and without hope.

That is something that we must keep in mind each and everyday as Believers.

Without the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary, there would be no hope.

Therefore, we cannot boast in our own accomplishments when it comes to salvation or anything spiritually related.

It all comes back to the work of Jesus Christ.

Whenever we keep that mindset, we are able to do the work of the Spirit rather than get caught up in selfish thoughts and pridefulness.

Paul states that we are called to “think soberly” and “not think higher of ourselves”.

Whenever we focus on ourselves, it is easy to think that we are “better” than someone else.

That is a natural human tendency!

We love to compare ourselves to other people in hopes of making us feel better than we actually are.

We rationalize and judge others at the expense of exalting ourselves.

Paul says that we are to do the exact opposite.

We are to not get “over-hyped” on our own accomplishments or works but rather we think and focus on who our gifts have come from.

Whenever we do this, we approach humility rather than pride.

Humility is something that our culture is surely lacking on a large scale.

Whenever Believers focus on Jesus Christ and realize that He is the giver of our spiritual gifts rather than our selves, we are able to stay humble regardless of the impact that our gift might have.

At the end of the day, we must realize that these “gifts” are from God and we did not “earn” them just as we did not earn our salvation.

We only receive salvation because Jesus Christ died on the cross.

Likewise, as show, Christ has power over all things yet He chose to give us gifts.

We must remain humble with this gift because we must realize that it is from God.

It seems as though Paul’s point in this verse (3) comes down to this: Remember all that you have, your salvation and your gifts for service are only what God gave you.

If you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus as our standard of measurement, pride will not sneak into your life.

Be United (4-6)

I was going to preach on last Sunday night to begin our Spiritual Gifts theme, however because of weather and everything else that did not get to happen.

We will get to Ephesians after Easter, though!

I say all that to say that verses 4-6 of have much in common with .

We see in these verses that there are 3 distinct things that we must understand!

First is diversity within the body of Christ.

Paul loves to use the analogy of a body and if we think of our own bodies we can see what Paul is saying here.

We all have a body, however our unified body is composed of various parts.

As a Type 1 Diabetic, my pancreas does not work.

My body is made up of parts that work and some parts that don’t work quite as well.

As a church body, though, we see that we are unified as the body of Christ.

However, we are diverse in gifting and purpose.

Just as our human heart and feet have different functions, each church member will have a different job than another member.

Praise God for this fact!

As Rick Warren said: “Organizing around the gifts of your people will allow the church to focus on ministry, not maintenance.

A gifts-based ministry encourages teamwork.

It also makes better use of the talent around you (and why do you think God brought this talent into your church?).

Building your structure on the gifts and talents within the church promotes creativity and allows for spontaneous growth.

Decision-making becomes more efficient while the structure grows more stable.”