INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• John MacArthur Jr. shares the following story.
• After World War II, a group of German students volunteered to help rebuild an English cathedral that had been severely damaged by German bombs. As work progressed, they became concerned about a large statue of Jesus, whose arms were outstretched and beneath which was the inscription: “Come unto Me.” They had particular difficulty trying to restore the hands, which had been completely destroyed. After much discussion, they decided to let the hands remain missing and changed the inscription to: “Christ has no hands but ours.” (John MacArthur Jr.)
• The work of Jesus Christ in the world is in the hands of those who belong to Him. In that sense, He has no hands but our hands, no feet but our feet.
• WE are called as Christians to serve the Lord together.
• SLIDE #2
• It is my contention that a Christian who is growing is a Christian who is serving. One of the blessings of the Life Group Ministry is the fact that we can grow closer to Jesus together and in turn we will grow closer to one another.
• As this growth process happens, we will be more eager to serve Jesus together.
• Romans 12:1-2 encourages us to present ourselves to God as a living and holy sacrifice. WE are further encouraged to not be conformed to this world but rather to be transformed by the renewing of the mind so that we can identify God’s will.
• The purpose of offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices is not mystical or complex but extremely practical. We are to work together with others who are living their lives as a living and holy sacrifice to God to carry out the work of the kingdom of God through the church. We are the hands and feet of God!
• When we give ourselves over to God, it will have not only profound effects on ourselves, but it will also have a profound effect on others. It will affect our relationships with God, the church and those who are lost.
• The passage we are going to dive into together today in Romans 12:3-8 underscores the fact that we cannot be committed to Christ, yet inactive in the work and life of the church. Many people will claim a close relationship with Jesus, yet they will not be an active part of His kingdom!
• Our passage will help us to realize WHY true devotion to God REQUIRES us to use our talents and gifts for the kingdom of God through His church.
• Once again in our Life Groups you will be encouraged to grow in your faith to the point where service becomes even a larger priority for you.
• When the life of each individual Christian is a living and Holy sacrifice to God, we will all be focused on working together in God’s church.
• Let’s begin with verse 3!
• SLIDE #3
• Romans 12:3 (ESV) 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.
• SLIDE #4
SERMON
Serving Jesus Together requires…
I. A proper attitude.
• The issue of serving God with a proper attitude is not only important in the church, but it will carry over into everything else that you do in life.
• One of the things that will get in the way of our service to God and His church is when we think too highly of ourselves. When our attitude is that we are above doing certain things, it will keep us from fully serving God.
• This does not mean that there will be some things we really do not like doing, it means that we will not think we are too good to do something.
• Service begins with honest evaluation of our gifts and personal dedication to Christ!
• We need to be willing to do whatever God calls us to do. If we think we are too good to do certain things, then we have some issues that need to be dealt with.
• SLIDE #5
• Luke 14:11 (ESV) For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
• We are told to THINK SO AS TO HAVE SOBER JUDGMENT.
• This is the true standard by which we should look at ourselves, our place and value within the church; we are to use sober judgment.
• We must not think so highly of ourselves that we think we are above doing things within the church. What constitutes sober judgment is explained in the next phrase.
• On the other side of the coin, using sober judgment when looking at ourselves would also include not underestimating what we have to offer to God.
• I know many people who have wonderful gifts to offer to God, but they will not because they do not think they have anything to offer.
• It is very easy for a person who has the “upfront” type gifts to think too highly of themselves and it is just as easy for a person who has more behind the scenes gifts to think they have nothing to offer to God.
• One of the keys to effectively serving and working together for the Kingdom of God and the church is to honestly and soberly look at our gifts and accept what we have to offer and use the gifts. The next phrase explains to us what constitutes “sober judgment.”
• The reason we are not to think too highly of ourselves or too low is because the gifts we have are not of our own working, they are from God!
• Look at the last part of verse three with me! GOD HAS ASSIGNED EACH A MEASURE OF FAITH
• At first glance this verse seems to say that God gives us our faith, but that is not really what is being said.
• MEASURE OF FAITH? This can mean several things. That each Christian is given a measure of faith is an unexplained statement.
• Let’s break down the statement. The word “faith” without looking at the context could mean- faithfulness, personal faith, body of doctrine, or one of the supernatural gifts called “faith” (1 Cor 12:9 & 13:2)
• MEASURE- means (instrument by which) of measuring something, or standard by which something is measured, or the amount or quantity of something after it is measured.
• Assigned- distribute something, to deal out, an allotment. This assignment was done in the past to Paul’s readers.
• What we are told in this complex statement is that one gets his measure (amount, quantity) as a result of becoming a Christian. We receive our gifts from God.
• SLIDE #6
• Ephesians 4:7 (ESV) But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
• Measure would be explained by “gifts that differ” in verse 6 and would express the idea that the gifts are distinguished from each other in that this gift results from this measure or amount of grace, while that gift results from a different measure.
• Remembering that God gives us our gifts should help keep us humble before Him and other people.
• We should not think too highly or underestimate ourselves or run other down because of giftedness. Plan and simple, what we have is from God!
• Let’s turn to verses 4-5
• SLIDE #7
• Romans 12:4–5 (ESV) 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
• SLIDE #8
Serving Jesus Together requires…
II. A proper relationship- Unity in diversity.
• When we give ourselves over to Christ, when we allow our lives to become a living and holy sacrifice to God, we become part of the body of Christ.
• Paul likes to use the example of the body when speaking of our relationship to one another. He uses this illustration in 1 Cor 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:25, 5:50.
• What we find is we are apart of one body with many parts. All the parts are very important and all parts are needed for the church to run like God intends it to.
• When building a house, do you know of anyone who only uses a screwdriver to build the house and no other tool?
• We need to understand that each one of us is a part of something bigger than ourselves.
• We are to take our diverse talents that God has gifted us with and use them for the common cause of Christ!
• When we look at our own body, we can see how important unity and diversity are, the parts of the body do not fight with each other or look down on each part, they work together in harmony.
• Just think what would happen to your body WHEN parts of it decide they do not want to work any longer or if they only want to halfway work? It makes it much more difficult for you to function.
• Now I want each of you sitting here this morning to picture the church as a human body, now picture yourself as a part of a body.
• Are you a fully functioning part, are you an ear that does not feel like hearing or an eye that does not want to work. Are you a leg that only wants to function when you feel like it? Are you a heart that only beats once and a while?
• Are you a heart that wants to be an eye or an eye that wants to be a hand? Do you dislike a part you are not or do you look down on the liver? Get the picture?
• As we realize our spiritual relationship with Jesus, we will see the good in others. When we realize God gifted each of us for a purpose, we should want to use what God has given us to the best of our ability.
• Negative people cannot seem to get this, they always look for the worst in people, they have a desire to focus on the negative things and they are very self-centered.
• In verse 5 we are reminded that we are all one in Christ and individually members of one another.
• Individual members of the body collectively make up the church! The unity of believers is supplied by or relationship to Jesus. When we look at individuals, we are looking at parts of the body, like the eye, leg, arm, etc…
• Part of “sober judgment” (verse 3) regarding ourselves is to realize that we are all part of the body and that we are all called to do our part to make the body function in the most efficient manner possible.
• We are to use the special gifts we have for the glory of God and the benefit of His church and the members of His church.
• Our relationship with Jesus and other members of the body involves a mutual responsibility to and for each other. (FACTORY BONUS SYSTEM EXAMPLE)
• SLIDE #9
• Romans 12:6–8 (ESV) 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 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.
• SLIDE #10
Serving Jesus Together requires…
III. A proper exercising of our gifts.
• This verse helps to define “measure” from verse 3.
• This is why individual members of the body have different functions just as the parts of the human body do. God has given different gifts to each Christian.
• We are to use our gifts to help the body function properly.
• Proportion- only time this word is used in the New Testament. Mathematical term meaning “in right relationship to”, “in agreement with”
• If you are an eye, you are not expected to do what the arm does etc…
• The principle is similar to the parable of the talents in Mathew 25.
• The master did not expect the 1 talent man to make 10, he expected 1. He did not expect the 5 talent man to get 20, but only 5 more. On the other side, the master was not happy with the one talent man who just returned the one talent back.
• There are too many of us who are 5 talent people who perform like the 1 talent man.
• Some of you are 2 talent folks who are trying to be 10. God expects us to work with what we have been given.
• Think about our worship service today and what all it takes to make it happen.
• Bulletins prepared and printed, someone to make sure we the bulletin paper to copy to, toner and ink in the copier, greeters, cleaning, song service preparation, musicians, servers, nursery workers, someone to prepare communion, keep the baptistery clean, someone to keep the decorations current, Jr. and Wee Worship workers, and someone to coordinate all this.
• All this and more just to have an hour plus worship service.
• What would our worship service be like if no one would step up and exercise their gifts? What if?
• We could have a worship service if a few people decided not to use their gifts, but it would be much more difficult.
• In the examples given to us in verses 6-8 the theme is; whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability and to the level of your giftedness.
• How many athletes have you seen waste there talent or how many good students have you know who would not work up to their capability, it is a waste. How many Christians do you know who are wasting the gifts God blessed them with?
CONCLUSION
• We are not called to sit and soak, we are ALL called to be an active part in God’s church. God has gifted EVERY ONE of His children with a gift that is to be employed in the operation of His church.
• In order for us to all work together in God’s church we must all have the proper attitude of humility, we must have the proper relationship of unity in diversity and we must all properly exercise the gifts we have been blessed with.
• Are you ready to be used by God? Do you belong to Him?
