Last week we noted from Romans 12:1-3 that we are not to be Christian Zombies, but be WAMBs: Worship God with our attitudes, our Minds, and our Bodies! How many of you had zombie moments last week? How many of us Christians had moments during the week when we didn’t think or act godly?? - notice that my hand is up.
The Christian faith is an ongoing battle! Do we really love God who loves us with an everlasting love? This is the most important thing we all need to grasp. In Romans 8:38-39, we noted that nothing can separate us from God’s love; neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Have we really grasped this truth of God’s love? If we do, shouldn’t we love Him back? If you love God then keep on fighting the good fight of faith, till you are taken home to heaven, where Jesus will welcome you and tell you, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”
And so, before we can move on with the rest of God’s instructions to us in Romans 12-16, we must be committed to worshiping God always! Don’t be a Christian Zombie, be a WAMB! Worship God with your attitude, mind, and body! Today the challenge is, “Don’t be greedy, love your family!” What are the 2 greatest commandments??
And so Romans 12 follows the same thing; Love God = Worship God! Love your neighbor starts with loving your family, first your physical family, then your spiritual family! How do we know this? What is the 6th Commandment from the 10 Commandments? - Honor your father and mother! And God tells us in 1 Timothy 5:8, If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Don’t be greedy, love your family! If you need more information about loving your physical family, study again Ephesians 5-6. If you would like copies of those messages from Ephesians 5-6, let me know. Our passage today, Romans 12:4-13, speaks of loving our spiritual family, the people of the Christian Church! Please open your Bibles to Romans 12. Let us pray our commitment to God’s Word before we read…….
Romans 12:4-13…
Don’t be greedy, love your family!
How do we love each other in the church?
The first thing we have to realize and accept is what is noted in v4-5: As Christians in a church, we are one body and we belong to each other. What does this mean? It is God’s plan for Christians to be stuck with each other. No matter how different we may be and no matter how spiritually mature or immature we are, if we profess to be Believers of Jesus Christ in this church, we are stuck with each other!
By the way, how do we know who the Believers are in the church? What did we learn from Romans 10:9? That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Christians believe with their hearts that Jesus Christ is their only Savior and confess with their mouths that Jesus is their Lord.
And you know, this is one of the main reasons why we do church membership.
When you apply for church membership, you will not only put in writing your belief in Jesus Christ as Savior but have an opportunity to confess that Jesus is your Lord. If you have never applied for membership and you call All Nations Bible Church your home church, I encourage you to become a member. Talk to me about completing a Membership Application. Proclaim to be a Christian and be a Church Member. Only Church Members have the right to vote in congregational meetings because at least we know that they have proclaimed their Christian faith through the Membership process. Be a Church Member; we will be having a Congregational Meeting soon to vote on next year’s leaders and budget.
Now, getting back to our passage; We start loving one another in church by:
1. realizing and accepting God’s truth that we Christians belong to each other!
What is the second thing we can note from Romans 12:6?
2. Christians are to use their God-given abilities for service in the church.
What’s significant about this for us?
a. Every Christian is given a spiritual gift from God!
b. Every Christian should use their spiritual gift!
And so, each one of us who profess to be Christians must know our spiritual gift and use them!
How can we know our spiritual gift or gifts?
The first thing we need to note is that (1) spiritual gifts are gifts from God not our own talents or skills we have learned. Therefore, a spiritual gift is to be received humbly by God’s grace! If our hearts are not right with God, we will grieve the Holy Spirit and the gift God desires to exercise through us will be hindered.
Worship of God with humble hearts is always the first thing we must do and maintain before taking action!
And so the second thing we should do to know our spiritual gift is (2) pray to humble our hearts and ask for God’s leading in learning your gift.
And of course God does not lead us blindly. We have His Words, the Bible. I think this is very important! Many Christians today will pray but then ignore God’s Word! They will say, the Holy Spirit told me this is my gift! This might be true but shouldn’t we ask what God says in Scriptures and confirm what the Spirit may be saying? Another way of looking at this is this: If we can just pray and listen to the Spirit and live our lives that way, then why bother with the Bible? Be careful! Jesus Himself said in Matthew 4:4…….
And 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
And so as you pray to humble yourself and ask God for guidance, (3) study Scriptures!
Some of the gifts are listed here in Romans 12:6-8. Pray with a humble heart and learn from God. What is God really saying? God does give us helps in determining our gifts with His Words. Let’s take a closer look at this list in Romans 12. Look again at v6……
And so if you think your gift is prophesying, don’t get carried away; your prophesying is limited to the proportion of your faith.
If a person says, I have the gift of prophesy and this is what is going to happen, but that person has troubled relationships, hardly attends church, doesn’t read the Bible, and does not have a humble spirit, does this person really have the spiritual gift of prophecy? What does the Bible say? – the gift of prophesying is only as good as one’s faithfulness to God!
And the spiritual gifts list continues in v7-8. If you think you have a particular gift (serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, mercy), where are you practicing this gift? And more importantly, how well in God’s eyes are you doing it?
And so, the fourth thing we should ask to learn our spiritual gift is (4) What would God say about my service?
We must also study the other passages that speaks abut spiritual gifts. You can find them in 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. There are also spiritual gifts mentioned in the Old Testament. Again, the point is we are not just to pray about learning our spiritual gifts, we must study what God says, and ask what does God think of my service.
You see, we can not really say it is a spiritual gift when we don’t (5) do it in love!
This is the focus of v9-13 of Romans 12. We must have sincere love for others! We must hate evil! We must not be selfish but honor others first! We must be zealous about God and serving God! We are to yield (give way) to God the Holy Spirit in our lives! We are to help those who need help!
Spiritual gifts are not for self-esteem! Spiritual gifts are for building up others!
Don’t be greedy, love your family!
And remember how God defines love; it is only through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
We say we are Christians saved by grace and bound for heaven! Praise the Lord! But as we wait for heaven, do we think about what Jesus will tell us when we see Him face to face? What should we be working on and doing before facing Jesus?
Don’t be a Christian Zombie, be a W-A-M-B (show sign)!
Worship God always with everything!
How often do we stop and smell the roses of God!
This hit me recently while I was taking a walk in this Autumn weather with the beautiful colors of the leaves on the trees, and a flock of geese flew about 10 feet over my head! Alone with that beautiful colorful surroundings and those awesome birds, I thought about God’s involvement in my personal life; God ordained that beautiful moment just for me! I had to stop and give God praise and thanks! I encourage each one of you to take stops often during the day to be still and know your personal God!
And like looking at a Yield Sign as you are driving, as you are living your Christian life, slow down and watch out for the devil’s traps, and give way to God the Holy Spirit living in you! Do not ignore the yield sign (show sign – Eph 4:30-32) from God!
As we truly yield our lives to the Holy Spirit, we will not be greedy and we will love our families!
Be a WAMB! (Worship God with your Attitude, Mind, and Body!)
Yield to God the Holy Spirit within you!
Love your family! (Start with your immediate family, then your church family, then the world!)
