05/22/2022 - Part 2 - Our Reasonable Service / Gifted for Service to the Glory of God

Grace Place Atlanta COGBF 4700 Mitchell Street Forest Park, GA 30297 Website: atlantacogbf.org Email: info@atlantacogbf.org Phone: (404) 241-6781 Wayne D. Mack, Pastor / Pastor Wayne D. Mack Sermon Notes May 22, 2022 Romans 12 – Part 2 Gifted for Service to the Glory of God Romans 12: 3-8 and 2 Kings 5: 1-19 Serve God with Spiritual Gifts 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. In Romans Chapter 12, verses 1 & 2, the children of God are beseeched (begged, counseled, pleaded) by the Apostle Paul to present our bodies a living our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. Last week, we learned the true meaning behind this urgent appeal. It was said in response to what we as NT Believers have been graciously given by God in the first 11 Chapters of Book of Romans. In a word, the first 11 chapters are nothing, but an arsenal of the mercies God has lavished upon every person who names the name of Jesus -- one blessing after another. Of those blessings, two of my favorites are both found in Romans - Chapter 8: 1-4 and verse 28 • 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. • 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Many of you have your own as well. Against a backdrop of those 11 mercy chapters, we are reminded that because of everything God did to secure a right relationship with us, the only reasonable response from us to God is to give Him our Bodies and our Minds. In giving Him our bodies, we commit to presenting, that is, to present – voluntarily and willingly -- once and for all our bodies a living offering, a living sacrifice. To present our bodies is a commitment that we are willing enter into with no intent to rescind or reject. This commitment is our “reasonable service” or our “spiritual worship”. This means that every day is a worship experience when your body is yielded to the Lord. Secondly, we give Him our mind. You see, the world wants to control your mind, but God wants to transform your mind. Transform is the same word as transfigure that Jesus used on the Mount of Transfiguration. If the world controls your thinking, “Do you know what you are?” A CONFORMER! But if God controls your thinking, you are a TRANSFORMER! (Whether red, white, black, or yellow). In the same commitment, we also give the Lord our minds NLT says of living sacrifices and the mind Being a living sacrifice is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 1 Now, given that, after we have presented ourselves, then God gifts us. He gifts us for service to Him, to one another, the church, the community, and the world. Listen to how Paul says He goes about doing it: Romans 12: verses 33 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. In this passage, God starts with the mind, then the body. First the mind: Paul says of the mind, to every believer, that is: …to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. In view of all the blessings God has bestowed upon each one of us, Paul is warning us to never think you, nor I are better than we really are. We are told to be honest in our evaluation of ourselves, measuring ourselves by the faith God has given us – not the level of giftedness we have received from God. Why is this so important? Because God knows, unearned giftedness will go to our heads. It will cause us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. And when we do, then it is imminent that we will miss the blessing God has instore for us. Turn to 2 Kings for a great example of this [thinking more highly of yourself than you ought!] 2 Kings 5 - New Living Translation ~ The Healing of Naaman 5:1 The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.[a] 2 At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. 3 One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. 5 “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.” 6 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.” 8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.” But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage. 11 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir,[c] if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have 13 done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” 14 So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed! 15 Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused. 16 Then Naaman said, “All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord. 18 However, may the Lord pardon me in this one thing: When my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to worship there and leans on my arm, may the Lord pardon me when I bow, too.” 17 19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said. So Naaman started home again. [Thinking too highly of ourselves is dangerous. It’s a sign that we are intoxicated with the arrogance of self. There’s no place for it in God’s Church. Paul cautions every member of the Rome church -- “not to think of himself or herself more highly than he or she ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Thinking soberly means not being drunk or under the influence of self and therefore, acting independent of God [which is sin]. Church members who think more highly of themselves than they ought to think, have a superiority complex and need to be reminded that whatever they have that’s worth anything – it came from God. Better yet, every member has the same thing, because it is God who has dealt to each one of us a measure of faith. What this means is, God has given every believer the precise and correct measure of the spiritual gifting to carry out our assignment and to fulfill our role in the body of Christ. Now, Paul goes from the transformed mind, back to the body: 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.