Romans 12:3-8
Are you Puzzled?
October 6, 2013
There are some people who are really, really patient. I’m not one of them! I’d like to think I am, but I’m not. I’m not just talking about waiting patiently in lines or waiting for others. I’m talking about doing projects. For example, there are puzzles I would like to work on, but I don’t have the patience.
Some puzzles just have way too many pieces for me. Like this one, it has 24,000 pieces on it, and took years to finish. That’s just crazy and ridiculous. Do you know how long it would take to separate the border pieces from the middle pieces? I don’t have the patience for that. Yet, I do like working on puzzles. I like the ones which are not too complicated and don’t take me hours. I like the puzzles like this one.
Maybe you are wondering and even puzzled about the puzzle piece you were given this morning. Maybe you’ve already given your piece away. Or maybe you’ve thrown your piece in the garbage, or you conveniently put it down somewhere and conveniently forgot it?
Of course, you may look at the one piece you received this morning, and wonder, ‘So what am I going to do with this piece, it’s really worthless.’ But, I’m going to tell you why this piece of the puzzle is so important.
Have you ever found one piece of a puzzle lying on the floor? You’re not sure what puzzle it belongs to, so you put it on the counter and it collects dust. When nobody complains about it, you eventually throw it out. It was a seemingly insignificant piece. One piece missing out of 200, that’s not much, it’s ½ of 1%. You’d hardly miss it.
In fact, if puzzle pieces could think, they would feel rather insignificant. Significance is defined as ‘the quality of being important or being regarded as having great meaning.’ A puzzle piece, significant? Give me a break!
And I believe we’re pretty similar to these pieces. Left to ourselves, we can feel pretty insignificant, but when we find ourselves in a community, whether it is family or church community, we can feel more significant. So, along with our puzzle pieces, we need to learn 4 secrets of significance. Knowing these four secrets can transform the way we think about ourselves.
Here's the first secret — EVERY PIECE IS A GIFT
Isn't that true? This morning, when you came in, you were handed a bulletin which contained a puzzle piece.
Some of you may have looked at that piece and thought it wasn't worth very much. Think of what the Bible says about the concept of spiritual gifts. “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well” (12:6 NLT). That's the spiritual equivalent of saying ‘God has given each of us a piece of the puzzle.’ Let's draw some parallels --
When you came in, you were given 1 puzzle piece. You didn't choose the piece you received. You might not have liked the color or the shape. You might not have wanted a piece at all. You didn’t choose what you received.
You may have felt that your piece was insignificant. If you got rid of your piece, it’s either because you placed no value on the piece you received, mostly because it looked insignificant and you didn't have to go buy it, but I did! If you don't value your piece, give it to me!
Or maybe you wondered what this piece of Puzzle was for. I'll bet you've been wondering what that piece of Puzzle is for ever since you received it! The same reactions take place in the church when God passes out these supernatural abilities.
Nobody chose the piece or the spiritual gifts God gave them. I didn't and you didn't. If we believe that God knows better than we do, then we need to accept that God has given us the gift we needed to have, and no other piece would be better suited to us. It also means we can't take credit for the piece or gifts God gave us. God gets the glory - not us.
But you might look at that supernatural ability God gave you and undervalued it. You might feel you don't have a piece, or the piece God gave you is too small. You might have questioned why God gave you a piece at all. You're struggling with significance. But the first lesson we need to learn is this: everyone has received a piece / a gift which came directly from God.
Paul said it well in Romans 12:6 ~ "God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well." Every piece is a gift, and every person has received a gift. Take a look at what you’ve been given, value it, it was given by God.
Not only has everyone received a piece, but there's a second secret EVERY PIECE IS PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER
Isn't that the truth? One piece of Puzzle by itself isn't worth very much. You can't even do much with two pieces of Puzzle, but once you start to put pieces of a puzzle together, watch out! Because each piece begins to play its role in becoming part of something much bigger. Each piece plays off of the other pieces.
The best thing you could give kids of all ages are legos. They’re really just puzzle pieces too. Because, once you’ve built what you can with legos, it’s time to move onto bigger projects. And every time you accumulate more legos, they become part of something bigger. There is no such thing as a wasted lego piece.
Romans 12:4-5 states: 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function,
5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Paul used the concept of the human body to communicate something important — if you look at any part of your body, it is important only inasmuch as it is connected to your body. Your hair is valuable, if you have any, and you spend time and energy caring for it, but the minute that hair is cut from the body, it is no longer useful to you. After you cut your nails, do you save them? No! They go into the garbage. Why? Because the nail is no longer attached to the body. No one gets upset about hairs and nails that have become detached from the body.
The parts of our bodies that are attached are useful, but once it’s removed from the body, that part dies. Each part is a piece of something much bigger.
The only time a Puzzle is useful is when it's connected. The implication is this: God has given all of us a piece / a gift, and that piece only becomes useful as we use it as part of something bigger. Every piece is a gift, and every piece is part of something bigger. You’re here for a reason, you’re part of something bigger, Christ’s Kingdom.
There’s a third secret that would make you and I and Puzzle pieces feel more significant — EVERY PIECE HAS A ROLE TO PLAY —
Romans 12:6-8 says: 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.
And there are more in other places in the Bible as well. This is only a small list of spiritual gifts. God has given a diversity of gifts to the church. Just as there are diverse needs within the church body, God has given an abundance of different gifts to meet the needs and every believer has a share in the ministry. There are gifts I have that you don’t have and I definitely know you have gifts, I don’t have.
Imagine a church in which the teachers are teaching, leaders are leading, servants are serving, the generous are cheerfully giving; imagine a church in which everyone discovered the role they had to play, and used whatever piece they were given to build something bigger.
Every piece is different, and every piece is important. Some big pieces get all the attention, but every piece is needed. There’s no such thing as a spare piece. You are needed, you have a role to play here at First Baptist Church.
One final secret to help us feel significant is the fact that -- EVERY PIECE IS DEPENDENT ON OTHER PIECES
Romans 12:5 tells us, “And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.”
Tony Evans wrote: "The beauty of the body of Christ is that it needs ears and noses and all sorts of parts. . . Every member of an orchestra doesn’t play the same instrument, but they all play the same song. . . each instrument in an orchestra is needed to fully express the music the conductor has chosen to play.
The body of Christ operates like a good orchestra: different parts doing their work, producing beautiful music under the direction of our divine Conductor, Jesus Christ. There is unity in the music, but diversity in the instruments." We need each other, we have different roles to play, and when we fulfill our roles, amazing things happen.
What are you going to do with your piece? God can use the piece He has given you to set the stage for things far greater than you could dream of, far beyond the borders of your life.
A Sunday School teacher in Boston named Edward Kimball decided to visit all the boys who came to his class to be sure that they knew Christ as their Savior. One of these boys was busy in the back of his uncle’s shoe store stocking inventory. His father died from drinking too much whiskey when the boy was four. He was part of a family of eight, reared in poverty by his strong-willed mother, periodically attending school. As a result of a visit by that teacher at his uncle’s shoe store, the boy made a commitment to Jesus Christ. His name was D.L. Moody. He went on to become a preacher, and in a day without public address systems, he spoke to more than 100 million people, leading 1,000's of people to follow Jesus. Even Billy Graham’s conversion can be traced to a succession of converts that extends from a Sunday school teacher in Boston by the name of Edward Kimball.
Pastor Rick Warren wrote, “If we can ever awaken and unleash the massive talent, resources, creativity and energy lying dormant in the typical local church, Christianity will explode with growth at an unprecedented rate.” I believe if we unleashed our gifts, if we ever looked at the puzzle piece God has given to us and believed that we could do it, First Baptist Church would explode
Your piece might seem insignificant, but it’s not. As for me, I’m going to keep my piece of puzzle on my desk to remind me of the four lessons of significance.
Every piece is a gift
Every piece is part of something bigger
Every piece has a role to play, and
Every piece is dependent on other pieces
So, you’ve been given a piece of the puzzle. What are you going to do with your piece?
You see, we are all like this picture. A bunch of pieces which are together, but not being used. We’re hanging out, but there’s nothing happening. It’s when we put the pieces together that something begins to take shape and a picture is formed.
It’s like this picture. But look, the picture has come together, but something is missing. It’s this super heroes face. It’s not there, why? Because that super heroes face is you!! You decided your piece was not important and you made the decision you didn’t want to be part of something much bigger. You didn’t think you had value, you didn’t think you could add anything to the picture, BUT . . .
You were wrong! We need you! The church needs you! You’re family and friends who don’t know Jesus need you! You are vitally important, so we need you to put in your missing piece of the puzzle so we can have full complete picture! And when you do . . .
WALA!! Now the puzzle is complete, and there’s nothing worse than a puzzle missing one piece.
Friends, you are all needed.
What will you do with the one piece of the puzzle you have?
Take it with you,
put it on mirror,
put it on desk
put it somewhere to remind you, you are loved and gifted by God
Let others ask you about it and tell them the good news of Jesus.
