Seven Spiritual Gifts In The Body Of Christ Series

When examining the human body, there are numerous systems all working at the same time to regulate, protect, strengthen, and heal the human body. There is the respiratory system which brings oxygen into the body and expels carbon dioxide. The brain communicates instructions to the rest of the body. It is amazing how the entire body works together as one to allow us to live.

Similarly, think of a city. All sorts of systems work together. Massive networks of underground pipes distribute water. Electric lines channel power. Supermarkets bring food. Cell towers communicate telephone signals. And it all works together.

Think of a football team, certain players block. Others run the ball. Others go out for passes. Others are defensive. Others have special functions, like kickers or punters. One player leads on offense, another on defense. It all works together for the team to fulfill it’s function, to win games.

It’s similar in the military, an army has frontline soldiers, it has cavalier units who specialize in speed and firepower. They have artillery units that stay further back. They have air units that fly overhead. They have generals who strategize and lead. They have scouts, they have guards, and all sorts of other roles to make a powerful, mobile force that can fulfill it’s mission, to defeat the enemy.

We as Christians are also part of a whole. We are not lone-wolves prowling about by ourselves looking for prey. Instead, we are part of a vast body of believers, all working together to win the world for Jesus, and disciple one another on the journey home.

Along those lines we’ll be looking at Romans 12 today, starting in verse 3, which says, “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…”

We’re told very quickly that it’s important that we look at ourselves with very sober judgment. To me that means firm humility. In our service in the body of Christ we will tend to want to think of ourselves as indispensable to the group. As the worker sometimes says to himself, “Without me this place would fall apart.” But it usually isn’t true. View yourself with humility. Your job isn’t the end all be all. I know that. God can easily replace me, if I were to decide to go back to the sin life. I’m just a small part of the whole.

Notice also that we have our place in the body of Christ ‘by grace.’ It’s not that we worked our way in by being awesome or something. No, we were sinners. And Christ saved us, by his death. So have sober judgment about yourself in this equation.

So Paul says to think soberly… second part of verse 3, “in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

So we have this measure of faith within us, manifested as trust in God, commitment to God, allegiance to God, and this faith is how we’re connected to the whole. It’s through faith in Jesus that we are part of the body.

Next in verses 4-5, “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.”

I have a body with hands, shoulders, feet, knees, eyes, ears, and all sorts of different parts. They do not all have the same function, do they? My feet do very different things from my hands.

Yet they are all part of my body. They work together, not against each other.

And we as Christians form one body, though we’re many different people. Often I’ll meet a Christian, from another church, in another city, and I instantly know they are family. I can sense they are one with me, with all Christians. And we instantly connect. That’s why wherever I go, I meet family in Christ. Because that’s what we are. We are connected.

Each member belongs to all the others.

Then it says in verse 6, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.”

We each have giftings, areas that we are passionate about, and get excited about when we help others. These passions, these gifts were given by God through faith to you, to be used to bless the body.

But they are very different from each other. One person has a gifting of exhortation, you see them calling out the sins of the world, calling people to repent. Another person has a gift of showing mercy, and they have great compassion for the lost. The two may sometimes be tempted to argue. The one showing mercy says hey stop calling out all those sins that isn’t nice that isn’t going to win people to Jesus. The one giving exhortation says back, this is my gifting, to call out sin and righteousness boldly, and it is a message that is needed. So the two must understand, don’t fight, understand you have different giftings.