Use the Gift You've Been Given - Romans 12:1-8

Romans 12:1–8 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 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. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 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.

As you turn there, I want to acknowledge that there are probably those watching who don’t know or are not a part of Oak Hill… who may not even be familiar with the idea of church.... so first of all, welcome… this is only a little taste of what church is like and we would love to have you come experience the full thing sometime, but we are glad you are here now…

And you should know that we are committed to preaching through whole passages of the Bible… often whole books of the Bible...

For those of you who don’t know or are not a part of Oak Hill, first of all, welcome… and you should know that we are committed to preaching through whole passages of the Bible… often whole books of the Bible...

Because we believe that God wrote a book… and his Holy Spirit carried along human authors to record for us the very words of God… and I can’t really improve on that… the best I can do is try to explain and help you apply it… and that’s what we are going to do right now.

So I would encourage you… if you have a Bible in your home… or if you have one on your phone or tablet… have that in front of you as I preach so that you can read the very words of God.

Actually, if you use the YouVersion app, there is an event that has all the sermon notes and the passage in it… you can get a link to that in the live-stream comments.

Ahatever you are using, like I said before, you can find the book of Romans… it’s a big book about 2/3 of the way through the Bible… find the big number 12 (that’s the chapter) and we will start at the words right next to the 12 (that’s verse 1)

At our church, we are in a sermon series called, “We are the Body,” and it’s called that because there are a number of passages in the Bible where God, through a man named Paul, describes the church as the BODY of Christ...

The physical representation of him in the world right now...

I find it so interesting that in the middle of a sermon series on being the body of Christ, God would see fit that we would have to be separated for a time.

I find it so interesting that right in the middle of a sermon series on being the body of Christ, God would see fit that we would have to be separated for a time.

It’s certainly not what I had envisioned… I miss you… I had envisioned him drawing us together MORE OFTEN… I had envisioned in-person ministry increasing as he motivated us through his word.

Our stated vision for this series is...

…that we would grow in Christ-like maturity through serving one another as stewards of God's powerful grace.

And while this definitely looks different on the surface of what I expected, I believe God is far more wise than I could ever envision...

And I believe now more than EVER that this is what he wants to do in us through this season…

That he wants to mature us through a deeper sense of what it means to be the body...

That he wants us ALL to SERVE one another out of the abundance of grace he has provided...

I believe that a shared social issue like this demonstrates just how much we share a common experience… like we talked about last week...

We are ALL suffering when one member suffers… we are all rejoicing when one member rejoices.

I believe that an inability to gather is forcing our church body to adapt and to think more creatively about how to be there for one another...

And I believe that this absence of in-person fellowship is going to make the moment when we CAN gather again all the more sweet.

I believe now more than ever, when we can’t gather in a BUILDING, we are ready to learn what it means for the church to be a BODY.

The truth is… even in the midst of a very challenging time, God is being INCREDIBLY merciful to us as a church body.

He has given us a hope in Jesus Christ that stares sickness and death in the face and says, “You have no hold on me.”

He has given us, in this time, unprecedented technology to connect with one another and tell others about the good news of Jesus Christ...

And he has promised, by the power of his Holy Spirit, to be with us always… wherever we are… together or apart…

And I don’t know about you, but those mercies MOTIVATE me… they make me not want to waste this trial… they stir me up to be the body of Christ with you all…

And I hope that is what happens for you as well...

Here’s our big idea for today:

Big Idea: Let faith in God's mercies motivate a life of ministry.

Now when I say ministry, I’m not talking about paid vocational ministry… I’m talking about how we serve one another through spiritual gifts to point one another to Jesus.

That’s ministry… how we serve one another through spiritual gifts to point one another to Jesus.

Let faith in God’s mercies motivate a live of ministry.

Your Bible is open to the book of Romans chapter 12, and I want to give you a little bit of context:

Paul is writing to the church in Rome…

He’s never been to Rome, but he really wants to go…

And he doesn’t want to go to see the sites like the Pantheon or the Coliseum (which weren’t even built yet), he just wants to visit the CHURCH that has started there.

Up until now, he has been prevented from going, so he writes this letter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to establish the Roman church in the gospel.

The “gospel” is the “good news that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord over all...”

By the time of writing this letter, the gospel had been working it’s way through the Roman empire like a vaccine to the pandemic of sin… and it was having great affect. It was turning the world upside-down.

When the gospel was believed, the believers were established, and churches were planted...

But where ever the good news spread, people also opposed it… they twisted it… they tried to deny its power…

And so Paul wrote this letter to establish the Roman church and make sure they were grounded in the truth.

The first half of the letter is devoted to understanding what the gospel is..

That it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe...

That through faith in the finished work of Jesus… who died in our place for our sin and who rose again… we can be united to him and have a whole new life...

The second half of the letter is devoted to what that whole new life looks like. And is the turning point between those two parts of the letter...

So with that context in mind, read with me in , beginning in verse 1. [Read ]

Let faith in God's mercies motivate a life of ministry.

Today, from these verses, I believe God wants us to see...

3 Faith-Motivated Steps Toward Ministry

The first is this:

1) Present your physical body as a living sacrifice. (v. 1-2)

A life of ministry has to start here: I have to present my body to God as a living sacrifice. I have to see that my life is not my own.

Look at verses 1-2 again: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Explain: When Paul says, “by the mercies of God,” he’s referring to ALL of the mercies that he explained in chapters 1-11.

What he wrote there is so important for each person to understand: that all have fallen short of the glory of God… that there is none righteous, no not one.

In our sin, we turned our backs on God and worshiped the creation.. we sought after our OWN passions and desires… and because of that sin, we have committed cosmic treason and deserve eternal death.

BUT… the good news is that Jesus… the perfect God-Man... became an a sacrifice that covered our sin by dying on a cross… the word that Paul used in chapter 3 was a propitiation…

He satisfied the wrath of God by dying in our place… he became a sacrifice for us… and that sacrifice rose again… he is a living sacrifice.

And by faith in Christ’s sacrifice, we are united to him in his death and resurrection.

We die to sin and receive new life to live for God.

So in chapter 6, Paul writes,

“Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” (, ESV)

That’s exactly what he’s saying in chapter 12: the proper response to FAITH in the grace and mercy of God is to present your BODY as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

If you truly believe in Jesus, it means you have died with Christ… and you have been raised with him for a whole new way of living.

Our faith-filled response to Christ's sacrifice for our salvation... is our own sacrifice of service for our Savior.

Paul calls this “spiritual worship...” and I want you to notice that what is described as “spiritual worship” plays out very physically: we present our bodies.

Spiritual worship is not something that stays inside our minds or hearts… it is expressed in the way we use our hands and feet in relationship to the world around us.

This will require us to think differently from the world. Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (, ESV)

The world has a way of thinking… a way of living and behaving… and our default mode is to go along with that way of thinking… to be conformed to what the rest of the world is doing.

But God says, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

As you put your faith in the good news that God has revealed, allow the Holy Spirit of God to change you from the inside out.

Fill your mind with his thoughts and his perspective… that you have been brought from death to life by the sacrifice of another so that you can live forever with him.

That is not the way that the world thinks… they CANNOT think that way... because for them it is not true.

But for you, it must change the way you live and the way you use the members of your physical body.

So that means that there are a number ways the body of Christ should look different from the world during this current crisis.

Illustrate: I was reading this week about how the church responded throughout history to various plagues around the world… and I found this excerpt from sociologist Rodney Stark helpful:

“‘During the first plague, the famous classical physician... Galen... fled Rome for his country estate where he stayed until the danger subsided. But for those who could not flee, the typical response was to try to avoid any contact with the afflicted, since it was understood that the disease was contagious. Hence, when their first symptom appeared, victims often were thrown into the streets, where the dead and dying lay in piles....’"

But the Bishop Dionysius recounts the church’s response:

"Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains…. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead ... [a death that] seems in every way the equal to martyrdom." (Dionysius)

Source: https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/how-early-christians-saved-lives-and-spread-the-gospel-during-roman-plagues/?fbclid=IwAR3299XnAYGCEBjYbUJO0SYUlsNmN1jFpKFMkcy96RSmHBinoI7A3MUxjwA

So here’s what was happening in the plagues of the first three centuries: While the world was thinking of itself first, the church was giving the basic care of feeding and giving shelter to those who were sick. And they curbed the mortality rate exponentially, so much so that people asked about their source of hope and courage and the gospel spread as fast as the plague they were combating.

And my point is not that we start ignoring the guidelines or quarantines and running headlong into each others homes… let me reiterate that social distancing is an important way to love your vulnerable neighbor and our dear hospital workers…

But my point is that first thought of the one who has faith in Christ is not self-preservation but self-sacrifice.

The first thought is, “How does God want me to use my body for his glory now that I know my soul will live forever.”

The first thought is, “How does God want me to use my body for his glory now that I know my soul will live forever.”

To bring this into the modern day, instead of fighting over toilet paper in the grocery store, we instead take our last role to our neighbor to make sure they have what they need.

To bring this into the modern day, instead of fighting over toilet paper in the grocery store, we check on our neighbor to make sure they have what they need.

Maybe this looks like foregoing a birthday party you REALLY wanted to go to because you want to help stop the spread of the virus and make sure our hospitals don’t get overloaded...

To bring this into the modern day, instead of fighting over toilet paper in the grocery store, we check on our neighbor to make sure they have what they need.

Maybe instead of stock-piling our money because the economy is likely headed into a long-term recession, we make sure that the people in our church have what they need today.

Instead of stock-piling our money because the economy might head into a long-term recession, we make sure that the people in our church have what they need today.

Maybe this looks like, if things were getting really bad, volunteering at a make-shift hospital because they needed the extra help...

We don’t really KNOW what this is going to look like, but our first thought is not self-preservation, it’s self-sacrifice.

Maybe this looks like, if things were getting really bad, volunteering at a make-shift hospital because they needed the extra help...

Apply: Has faith in God's mercies brought you to the place of sacrificing your physical body for him?

Presenting your body as a sacrifice begins in prayer and the word…

Offering

We need to daily present our bodies to him in prayer, “God use me however you want. Today, let me live in faith that you have shown me all the mercy I will ever need.”

And we renew our minds with the truth of God’s word so that we can discern his perfect will. There are lots of tough decisions we need to make in these days. You need his word guiding you so that you will live in sacrificial worship.

Ultimately, presenting your physical body as a living sacrifice will require this second faith-motivated step toward ministry:

2) Consider yourself in sober judgement. (v. 3)

This is so critical as we think about what ministry is… and as we move toward thinking about spiritual gifts:

Look at chapter 12, 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.” (, ESV)

Explain: Paul is charging the church not to fall into the trap of spiritual pride.

…of thinking that you are more important than others… your gift is about you and your self-fulfillment… that your gift means that others should sacrifice for YOU instead of all of you sacrificing for God.

It’s amazing to me how MINISTRY can become a source of PRIDE for so many when it is really meant to be an expression of sacrificial service.

PRIDE is simply looking at yourself instead of looking at God.

Some people think of themselves more highly than they ought to think: they think, “Look at me… look at my gifts… the body is LUCKY to have me.”

They use their gifts as a personal identity…

Some churches put certain gifts… or certain gifted people on pedestals… the Corinthian church was dealing with that the past few weeks…

They create a cult of personality where it becomes all about following a certain gifted person or getting into an elite group within the church...

But that is not sober judgment… that is not thinking of yourself clearly.

The gifts say a lot more about the giver than the recipient.

The truth is, we bring nothing to the table except the SACRIFICE of our bodies for the WORSHIP of God.

But sober judgement is also not assuming that God doesn’t want to empower us to serve.

Remember, PRIDE is simply looking at yourself instead of God.

So some people struggle with pride in a different way...

They think, “I SHOULD be able to bring more to the table, but I can’t… and therefore God must not want to use me.”

That’s pride. That’s putting the weight of importance on what YOU are able to do instead of what God wants to do through you.

Notice what Paul says is the antidote to pride: consider yourself in sober judgement EACH ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF FAITH THAT GOD HAS ASSIGNED.

In other words, our service is not focused on ourselves… but flows from our faith in God.

And to the degree that we operate out of faith… it’s to THAT degree we should serve the people around us.

Our judgment of ourselves does not come from our own work, but in the work God has done in us through Jesus Christ.

Apply: Has faith in God's mercies brought you low before him, recognizing everything you have comes from him?

Apply: Has faith in God's mercies brought you low before him, recognizing everything you have comes from him?

Take a moment every day to consider your position before God… completely in need without him…

...but by his mercy fully EQUIPPED to serve him by serving the people around you.

...but by his mercy fully EQUIPPED to serve him by serving the people around you.

Here’s how God equips his body… look at verse 4: “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them...

3 Faith-Motivated Steps Toward Ministry… 1) Present your physical body as a living sacrifice… 2) Consider yourself in sober judgement…

1) Present your physical body as a living sacrifice. (v. 1-2)

Then you can:

“Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” (, ESV)

2) Consider yourself in sober judgement. (v. 3)

3) Serve out of the motivation of grace God has given you. (v. 4-8)

Here Paul brings up the same body analogy he made in … look at verse 4: “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them...

Explain: Over the past few weeks, we’ve been laying the foundation that to be part of the body of Christ, you need to confess Jesus as Lord and be baptized spiritually through the Holy Spirit and physically in water baptism, identifying you with Christ and the church.

The church is the body of Christ, and every LOCAL church is an expression of that body.

We’ve talked about how if you are genuinely part of the body, the body needs you... and you need all the other parts... because God has empowered each part with unique Spiritual gifts.

He wants to build up his body through each part working properly in HIS power and in his love.

- “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” (, ESV) (explain with concentric circle diagram)

In , we saw three ways that the same God works in his people -

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” (, ESV)

Gifts, services, activities… Explain with concentric circle diagram] - I made a diagram for you to show you the differences in these words and how the gifts work… it’s on the screen and in your YouVersion App...

[Explain with concentric circle diagram] - I made a diagram for you to show you the differences in these words and how the gifts work… it’s on the screen and in your YouVersion App...

So you have the mercy and grace of God at work in his people… they are actively working as we put our faith in him...

So you have the mercy and grace of God at work in his people...

And out of his grace he gives GIFTS… the word literally means gifts of grace… these are supernatural motivations of the heart that come from our faith in him...

It’s not our natural ability… it’s his supernatural grace at work in our hearts to transform us from the world’s way of thinking to God’s way...

You can think of these gifts of the Holy Spirit as “enlivening the body”… they motivate us to move...

We will see them in the rest of …

And as we get moving, we see different people acting in different roles in the church… different SERVICES or MINISTRIES...

We see these ministries in … apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers...

And their job is equipping the body... to equip the saints for the work of the ministry...

They are the joints that mobilize the body…

And so as the body is enlivened and equipped… there are a variety of ACTIVITIES… MANIFESTATIONS of the Holy Spirit at work… empowered actions that point to him.

This is the actual works that God does in and through his people.

It is the evidence of his supernatural power.

Again… this isn’t natural abilities, but supernatural empowerments as we serve one another in our various roles… out of our various motivations.

And all of this is held together with the bond of LOVE...

1 Corinthians calls this love “the more excellent way...”

Ephesians says that the way we do ministry is by speaking the truth in love to one another...

And Romans urges us in 12:9 (the next verse): let love be genuine.

Love is what unifies the body and holds it together.

Now what Paul gives us in seems to be a list of these motivational grace gifts that enliven the body in different ways:

Verse 6 says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 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.”

In other words, if the grace of God is motivating you in a certain way, don’t sleep on that… get serving!

We aren’t sure if this is an exhaustive list of spiritual motivations or not… it probably is not...

But it is an inspired list… and we should be careful to know what these motivations are… and be cautious before we assign the same value to another motivation.

A lot of people then wonder, “how do I know what gift God has given me so that I can use it?”

But before you can know what gift you’ve been given, you have to know what each gift actually is and how it functions.

You’ll see a chart on the screen… there is a link to a more detailed version of this chart in the YouVersion notes.

Illustrate: And I thought it would be helpful as we look at these definitions... in light of our current situation, to also consider how that gift might look work in a crisis.

So the first gift Paul mentions is...

Prophecy - to proclaim spiritual truth with motivation of revealing sin and correcting wrong.

A lot of times we think of prophets as one who tell the future… but the actual idea of prophecy is not foretelling , but FORTHTELLING...

The prophet’s primary message was NOT “this is what is going to happen,” but rather “this is what you need to do: repent.”

And if it serves God’s purpose to reveal sin and call people to repentance by telling something that is going to happen, he can choose to do that...

But in this day when we have the words of scripture right in front of us, the prophet, in a spirit of love, is motivate to call people back to what God has already revealed.

That God’s people would live purely before him.

So in a crisis like this one, the gift of prophecy might motivate someone most strongly to get on social media and say something like, “This is an opportunity to check our hearts before God and return to him in prayer and faith. Our nation and more importantly the church needs to get on our knees and confess sin and cry out to God for mercy. We need to uphold the cause of the weak and vulnerable. We need to look beyond ourselves to our neighbor because that is God’s law of love.”

That’s an important motivation… but it’s only one of many. There is also the gift of...

There is also the gift of...

Service - to see and meet practical needs

This is the person whose first response to a crisis like this is, “What can I do?”

And they are on the phone with the pastor or other service organizations... they are the worker bee that wants to meet everyone’s needs.

People motivated by service are SO critical to the work of the body.

But then there’s others who are more motivated in the area of...

Teaching - to clarify and communicate truth.

So instead of the call of the prophet, “REPENT,” the teacher is the one researching and sharing about how the church responded to these things in the past...

And they are giving truth about how we need to respond in the present.

They are applying doctrines like God’s sovereignty and the fallenness of the world to the present situation...

This is how I personally am most motivated…

But the body needs more than teachers… We need people motivated in the area of...

We need people motivated

Exhortation - to come alongside, encouraging, stimulating, and motivating others to full maturity in Christ.

A lot of people think exhortation is some strong word of rebuke, but that’s not really it at all...

It’s speaking courage into the hearts of God’s people based on God’s truth.

It’s coming alongside and urging them in the right direction… a form of the same word is used in verse 1 when Paul said, “I appeal to you...”

That word “appeal is the same word.”

This is the person in a crisis who you need to remind you that God’s got this and you don’t need to fear but walk in faith.

But if all you have is talk, you don’t have enough… The body needs some people by God’s grace who are motivated in the area of...

The body needs some people who are motivated in the area of

Giving - to share personal assets with others for the support of their ministry

In a cris, these people are looking into the most effective ways to fund and resource the work of the church…

They are making sure we are being good stewards and making every dollar count.

They are personally contributing in ways that are sacrificial beyond the average member because they understand that ministry plays out in a physical world.

If that is you, thank you.

Now all of these people who are motivated to prophecy and serve and teah and exhort and give… they need some organization so they can be most effective…and that’s where the next motivation comes in:

Leadership or administration - to coordinate activities of self and others to attain a common goal.

The word here literally means “giving aid”… leadership is giving aid to the whole body by making sure each part able to operate effectively.

They are bringing everyone together and setting them in the same direction.

They are making sure we don’t have mission drift, but we stay focused on Christ and his purposes for the church.

They are helping people get where they need to go so that they can serve out of their gifts.

There are a variety of gifts that need organized: Prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, and last but not least...

Mercy - to identify with and comfort those in sickness, pain and emotional distress.

There is a lot of that in a crisis like this one right now…

And people motivated by mercy rush toward those who are suffering ad hurt and on the outside and they provide them with care.

Those are the gifts Paul mentions… they don’t necessarily determine the role in which you serve or the so the activities you will perform in those roles… but they do provide the foundation of HOW you will serve in those roles and activities.

Apply: And so the question is, how are you motivated to serve out of the grace God has given you?

Even in this time of social distancing, how are you motivated to build up the body of Christ through the gift God has given you?

Maybe you are wondering, “Well how would I know? How would I even begin to figure that out? Al of them sound like nice things, but I’m not sure any one of them really fires me up.”

Well, first I would say, pray. Ask God to reveal it to you. Ask him to empower you.

Maybe none of these stand out because you’ve been more focused on your own ability than God’s supernatural ability.

And so rely on him in prayer. And as you pray, get serving.

I teach in our membership class that the spiritual gifts are discovered in practice, confirmed in community, and expressed in service.

a) Discovered in Practice

Just start serving. Anywhere you see a need, serve.

By the way, sometimes the way you see needs tips you off to how you are motivated.

If you always see financial needs first and you want to meet them, perhaps you are gifted in giving.

As you serve and begin to see your primary spiritual motivation pop out in this list, then ask someone who knows you well. The gifts are..

b) Confirmed in Community

Ask your Gospel community… “I think I’m motivated in this way… I think the Spirit is empowering me in this way… do ou see it?”

Or maybe instead just ask them, “How do you see the Spirit motivating me?”

The gifts are discovered in practice, confirmed in community… and finally, they are..

c) Expressed in Service

The goal of knowing your spiritual gift is not so that you can know it and feel good about yourself...

It’s so that you can ge serving.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

Knowing your spiritual gift helps you see how God is working in you so that you can go all in on serving him.

It helps you lean into him even more through faith so that he works in you.

So this week, how will you serve others in the body of Christ? The opportunities are many, even in social distancing… don’t let a day go by before you...

Present your physical body as a living sacrifice.

Consider yourself in sober judgment.

And serve out of the motivation of grace God has given you.

Let faith in God's mercies motivate a life of ministry.