There’s nothing like the local church when she is working right. When the church becomes the church that God intended her to be, the church is a force to reckon with. Lives are changed. Marriages restored. Families united. Communities transformed. No wonder the church was labeled as “These who have turned the world upside down”.[1] One of the ways to make the church work right is to help the members discover and develop their spiritual gifts. Let us open our Bibles in Romans 12:3-8 as we continue our series on gifts, “Empowered to Engage.”
“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, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 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 who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”
Paul spoke with authority. In verse 3 he says, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you”. What he was saying was, “God gave me the power to tell you this.” Verse 3 continues: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Simply put, we should not overestimate or underestimate ourselves. Instead, we should rightly ASSESS ourselves. The New Living Translation goes like this: “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”
We should not put ourselves up on a pedestal. We should not also put ourselves down. Overrating or underrating ourselves is actually pride. A humble person knows where he stands. An honest evaluation of yourself is seeing how God sees you. We are to become the way He meant us to be.
Note that God starts with you and me. We will not whine about people who are not here. We usually think while listening to a sermon, “Brother so and so should be here. He really needs this message.” When we say, “Pastor we should do this or have that,” we better ask, “Who does the ‘we’ refer to? Who’s ‘we’?” Because there are times what we really meant by “we” is “you not me.” So, there will be people who would say, “We should get involved.” But what they are really saying is, “You should get involved. Me? I’ll just comment.” That’s the problem. We tend to comment but not commit. But before God changes others, He starts with us. Yes, that means both you and me.
We are to see ourselves also as part of a bigger context, the Body of Christ, the church. Let’s read verses 4 and 5. “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 who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Note the last clause: “each member belongs to all the others”. We need each other. Each one is complete in Christ. But we complete His body. Each one finds value as a part of the church. That’s why we are not to compete against or compare with each other. We are to cooperate with one another.
So, we must rightly assess ourselves. Thus, we should responsibly ACCESS our gifts, that is, make use of our gifts properly. We already saw the support gifts. Now we will look at the service gifts. We will not devote time in studying the sign gifts in our series because I think it is better to do so in a Bible study format due to so much theological issues involved. Thus, if you want to know more about sign gifts, wait for our MGC 301 class in our Sunday school. That’s the “Ministry: Growing in Commitment” class. Let us look at the service gifts one by one.
Verse 6 talks about the gift of prophecy. “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.” We already saw that to prophesy is to preach. First Corinthians 14:3 says that “everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.” God enabled this person to proclaim His Word. Now, in Romans 12:6, the clause “in proportion to his faith” can be translated “in agreement with the faith”. That means he should preach God’s Word, the whole Word and nothing but the Word. The person with this gift has the passion to declare the truth.
Verse 7 says, “If it is serving, let him serve”. First Corinthians 12:28 described it this way: “those able to help others”. They help other people through their service. They meet practical needs such as ushering, maintaining the church facilities and manning the tech room or the sound booth. But don’t limit it to church activities or programs. Those of you with the gift of service can cook food for the needy people in soup kitchens, for example. It does not even have to be a formal feeding program. You can babysit for a couple who needs a break and has to go out for a date. When our helper had to leave, the wife of one of the pastors in my former church took care of Derek, my youngest son with autism, during weekdays until we got a replacement. Usually it’s them who watched over Derek. But they have to go to school. She helped us so that Ellen can go to her small group and I could go to the church office. Of course, we gave her some money. But it was a labor of love on her part. The person with this gift is always on a look-out for needs that need to be met.
Verse 7 continues, “if it is teaching, let him teach”. We already saw that a pastor has to have the gift of teaching. But a teacher does not necessarily have to have the gift of shepherding. They can teach Sunday schools or facilitate discussion in small groups. But again it does not have to be a formal teaching situation. She can mentor one on one or help another mature in the Lord. In the Great Commission, the Lord commanded “make disciples of all nations… [and one of the ways of doing so is] teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” The person with this gift has the burden to see people understand and apply Biblical truths.
Verse 8 says, “if it is encouraging, let him encourage”. The person gifted with encouragement or exhortation stimulates others to follow the Lord and strengthens the faith of those who are discouraged. One way of using this gift is counseling. But you don’t have to be a professional counselor to exercise your gift of exhortation. You can just care enough to lend a listening ear. We need people like you to join our care team who would visit the sick, follow-up those who attended our church for the first time or those who are absent in our worship services. People with this gift love to come alongside people and cheer them up.
Verse 8 continues, “if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously”. This is the gift of giving. Now, that doesn’t mean only those with the gift of giving can contribute because it is everyone’s responsibility to support the needs of the church. That doesn’t mean also that only those who are rich or only those with the capacity to give have this gift. Second Corinthians 8:1-3 gives us an example of generous givers. “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.” People with this gift have an overwhelming desire to share their resources. There are those who even live below their means just to support a missionary, for example. The clause “let him give generously” can also be translated as “let him give with simplicity.” Those gifted with giving does not want to call attention to what they are doing. They don’t want to make a big deal out of it.
Verse 8 also talks about the gift of leadership: “if it is leadership, let him govern diligently”. They see what needs to be done and leads people to do it. He is more of a CEO or a chief executive officer. First Corinthians 12:28 mentions “those with gifts of administration”. Now, leadership and administration can be one and the same. If combined in a person, he can organize or structure and lead that organization. If a person has the gift of administration and not leadership, he is more of a manager, a COO or a chief operating officer. You can coordinate or supervise activities. Again, don’t limit your gift to leading a church or a fellowship or church activities. You can be a community organizer, for example. You can work in a micro-financing NGO or non-governmental organization, gathering a group of partners or entrepreneurs and helping them start and maintain their small or medium businesses.
Last but not least, verse 8 talks about the gift of mercy: “if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” This gift is somewhat like the gift of exhortation. But the gift of mercy can do more than offer words of encouragement. She can empathize or place herself in the other person’s place. She can really identify with those who are suffering and neglected and find ways to make them feel better. A friend of mine took up speech therapy classes so that she could take care of her daughter who has special needs. But she discovered that she could be effective also in helping other kids with disabilities. So, she became a full-time speech therapist. She has the patience because she can really understand and care for them. She is now Derek’s speech therapist. Paul added the clause “let him do it cheerfully” because doing works of mercy can be stressful or emotionally draining. People gifted with mercy pursue opportunities where they can care for people.
When Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea was building its prayer mountain, they struggled in raising the funds for its construction. Pastor David Cho challenged the people again and again and still they could raise the funds they needed for the project. Then, an elderly woman went to Pastor Cho. She gave him her bowl and chopsticks, her only earthly possessions. She told him that he can sell those and give the money for the prayer mountain. That selfless act touched the entire church. Donations flooded in until the prayer mountain became a reality. Now, that church is the biggest evangelical church in the whole world. Our selfless act of unwrapping and using our spiritual gifts to serve people can trigger such a powerful impact. Brothers and sisters, it is really great when the church is working right. We should rightly assess ourselves and we should responsibly access our gifts.
Let us pray…
[1]Acts 17:6. The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). All Bible verses are from the New International Version
