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1.
INTRO:
1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapter 12, verses 1-2.
1.2. We saw that really for the first time in this book that the apostle Paul goes from teaching us what the Lord has done for us to teaching us about how we are to apply these truths he has taught in our lives in our serving God.
1.3. Paul urged us in the strongest language that because of Gods great mercies and blessings that He has given us that we should present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice, one that is holy and acceptable to God.
1.4. Paul stated that we must not be conformed to the attitudes, patterns of thinking, and the sinful behavior of the people of this world that is in rebellion against God.
1.5. Paul then went on to describe how that we must enter into the process of the transformation of our minds, that is our thoughts and thinking, to those things that holy and pleasing to God. Our minds are being influenced and even programmed by this sinful world that is in the hands of the Devil and we must have our minds transformed into thinking the thoughts that are pleasing to God.
1.6. We looked at the importance of controlling our thoughts and the meditations of our heart, and bringing them into obedience to Jesus Christ. We also considered how that we are to daily renew our minds through the reading, study, memorization, and meditation of Gods word.
1.7. In our study today, we are going to look at verses 3 8 of chapter 12.
1.8. Paul will tell us today how that we are to be humble, that is, not think too highly of ourselves.
1.9. He will also mention how that in the body of Christ we are to realize that we are individually members of one another. There are many considerations we need to make in our lives in view of this truth.
1.10. Paul will then begin to discuss the usage of the various spiritual gifts within the body of Christ and exhort us to be diligent and to go all out in the exercise of the spiritual gifts we have been given by God.
1.11. We will discuss how some of the gifts of the Spirit work in our lives.
1.12. VS 12:3 - 3 For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. - Paul tells us that we each should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought and to have sound judgment
1.13.
It is interesting that just after Paul has written to the Romans about
submitting their bodies up to God and about the importance of having our minds
transformed and renewed, he immediately begins to deal with the issue of
pride. Pride is such a prevalent
temptation for all those who are Christians.
Someone has astutely said that all sin has a root somewhere in pride.
1.14. Paul exhorts all Christians when he exhorts, every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. The usage of man here by Paul is merely to include all Christians not to imply that this exhortation is only to be applied by the men in the church to their lives.
1.15.
We could ask two pertinent questions here, I suppose:
How highly ought a person to think of himself? Is Paul referring to anything in particular
to which a temptation to think too highly of oneself might be problematic for
the church?
1.16. To answer the first question of how highly a person ought to think of himself, I will use Pauls teaching from Philippians 2:3-8 where he writes that we ought to use Christ as our example and always consider others as more important than ourselves, 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
1.17. To the second question I posed
of whether or not Paul is referring to anything in particular for which pride
might be problematic, Paul is specifically going to relate not thinking more
highly of oneself than one should to the area of our attitude toward our
spiritual gifts as well as the gifts of others.
1.18. It tends often to happen in
churches that people are arrogant because of their particular gifting. Paul addresses this attitude at length in the
book of 1 Corinthians, chapters 12-14, for the Corinthian church had these
types of attitudes of arrogance regarding their spiritual giftings.
1.19. People in churches often tend
to look down their nose at others who are not as gifted as are they are, or
those who do not have the same gift, manifested in the same way as theirs is manifested.
This attitude is very destructive in the church because everyone in the
church has been given a gift, and there is much diversity of gifts within the
church, and if peoples gifts are being squelched, the ministry and
effectiveness of the church itself is damaged.
People are also damaged when this happens since agape love is violated.
1.20. Paul writes here that instead of a person thinking more highly of himself than he ought, he should instead have sound judgment. That is, he ought to look at himself with a sober attitude and realize that he is just one sheep of Gods flock amongst many, all of whom are equally important and useful from Gods perspective.
1.21. Pride is a spiritual inebriant and it distorts our judgment, therefore we must think soberly in order for us to be able to see ourselves in the proper perspective.
1.22. Pride also blinds us to its presence so that we cannot see it in our life, it also blinds us so that everything we see is distorted. Lance Ralston writes, Pride can be manifest in self-promotion and arrogance, or it can be manifest in self loathing. It doesnt really matter - the issue is preoccupation with self It's all pride.
1.23. This last clause in this verse is interesting, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. The question I must ask is, to what is the faith in this clause relating to?
1.24. Perhaps Paul is writing that the sound judgment that God can give to us comes as a result of a measure of faith that we have received?
1.25. Perhaps Paul is simply leading into the next verse where he talks about each person in the body having a necessary gift and function, and therefore he is simply saying that all Christians have been given a measure of faith for the use of their spiritual gift. Im not sure whether either of these ways of interpreting this clause is more plausible or explains it.
1.26. Do you think of others as being more important than yourself? If you want to be Christ-like and thus pleasing to God, that is what you must do.
1.27. Is your judgment of yourself clouded by pride? Do others comment about you that you are prideful? How about those in your own household? If so, then thats because you are prideful. You should repent of your pride before you fall headlong in your faith and cannot get up anymore as so many have done.
1.28. Because of the blinding nature of pride, we all ought to regularly ask God to reveal if there be any pride in us.
1.29. VS 12:4-5 - 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. - Paul tells us that just as our physical bodies are made of up of many members each of which do not have the same function, so also we are one in the body of Christ and individually members of one another
1.30.
In our culture here in
1.31.
In verse 4, Paul refers to our human body by saying that it has many
members. This could refer to many organs or separate
systems within the body which all must work together in order for our body to
be healthy and to be able to act and function.
Each of the members in a body must perform their necessary function,
otherwise if for instance, my liver decided that it did not like being a liver
and that therefore it would take on the function of the heart and begin to try
to pump blood through me, I would soon be filled with toxins which the liver
had not filtered out and I would have no necessary bile in my system. I would become deathly ill until my liver
decided that it was going to again begin acting like a liver instead of a
heart. Likewise, if my heart decided
that it wanted to act like a liver and produce bile and filter toxins instead
of pump blood I would very soon become gravely ill. So, each member of a human body must perform
its God-given function for there to be a healthy and productive body.
1.32.
In verse 5, Paul writes that just as each member of a persons human body
must perform its necessary God-given function, so too the church which is the body
of Christ has
diversity, and it is comprised of individuals who must each perform their
necessary God-given function in order for the church to be healthy and
productive. The Holy Spirit Himself sovereignly distributes gifts to each Christian just as He
wills as Paul writes about in 1 Cor. 12:, 11 But one and the same
Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He
wills.
1.33.
In order to show the mutual dependence we must have for all of the other
members of the body of Christ, Paul writes that we are individually
members one of another. In 1 Cor. 12:22-25, Paul writes that the
members of the body of Christ that we may think are least necessary are
actually very necessary for the body to be healthy and act and function, 22 On
the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be
weaker are necessary; 23 and those members of the body, which we deem less
honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members
come to have more abundant seemliness, 24 whereas our seemly members have no
need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to
that member which lacked, 25 that there should be no division in the body, but
that the members should have the same care for one another.
1.34. Tear ducts, nose hairs, and
saliva glands are examples of parts of our bodies that seemingly are
insignificant. However, unless your tear
ducts route tears into your eyes you will develop dry eye syndrome and your eye
will be vulnerable to contracting numerous infections. Your nose hairs are the first line of defense
against bacteria and infection that you contract in your lungs and air
passages. Saliva glands produce saliva
when you chew and if they do not work correctly then you cannot properly digest
your food. In the same way, in the body
of Christ each persons spiritual gifts are equally important and necessary for
the health, welfare, and effectiveness of the body, even though that gift may
not be not as visible or focused upon in the body life of the church.
1.35.
1 Cor. 12:14-21 is a commentary on this group of verses in chapter 12 of
Romans, 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot
should say, Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body, it is not
for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say,
Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body, it is not for this
reason any the less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where
would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell
be? 18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just
as He desired. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20
But now there are many members, but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the
hand, I have no need of you; or again the head to the feet, I have no need
of you.
1.36.
We Christians must get it through our heads that we are mutually
connected to every other member of the body of Christ. We cannot function independently of the rest
of the body, but we must come to work together as one entity with the rest of
the members of the body of Christ.
1.37. VS 12:6 - 6 And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; - Paul tells us that because we have gifts that differ according to the grace we have been given, then we ought to exercise our gifts accordingly and with the proportion of faith we have received
1.38.
This word used for grace is charisma in the Greek, and it is from the root word charis which is translated in every place but once in the New Testament as grace. In that one place charis is translated as gift. Strongs Greek
Dictionary has the following definition for this word translated as gifts in this verse :
1)
a favour with which one receives without any
merit of his own
2)
the gift of divine grace
3)
the gift of faith, knowledge, holiness, virtue
4)
the economy of divine grace, by which the pardon of sin and eternal
salvation is appointed to sinners in consideration of the merits of Christ laid
hold of by faith
5) grace or gifts denoting extraordinary powers,
distinguishing certain Christians and enabling them to serve the
1.39.
Spiritual gifts are given to man through Gods wondrous grace just as someone may want to
give a special gift to a friend.
Spiritual gifts are to be used for the ministry of the church, as they
are special enablings of the Spirit which give men
and women extraordinary empowerment for extraordinary works of ministry. The gifts that are given by God are given
diversely just as the Lord sees fit, for He knows what He wants to do through
each individuals life and in the general ministry in the church.
1.40.
The list of gifts which Paul gives here is not meant to be exhaustive.
1.41.
When we are reading the scriptures, we need to realize that when gifts
are discussed, the scriptures can refer to offices, ministries, manifestations of the
Spirit, and what has
been called motivational gifts. Paul refers to
this type of breakdown of spiritual things in 1 Cor. 12:4-7, 4 Now
there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of
ministries, and the same Lord. 6 And there are varieties of effects, but the
same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the
manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
1.42.
In this section in 1 Cor. 12, Paul goes on to talk about manifestations
of the Spirit (what he
calls effects
of the Spirit). Here however, it appears
that Paul is referring to motivational gifts, those which make up and intertwine with a
Christians personality. A Christian may
experience any gift of the Spirit at a particular time, however a motivational
gift is dominant
throughout a persons life.
1.43.
Paul writes let each exercise them accordingly as he is desiring concerning
each particular gift to exhort how one should exercise the gift properly and as
is pleasing to the Lord.
1.44.
The first gift that Paul gives an exhortation as to how it should be used
is prophesy,
whose use has been defined as to bring forth Gods Word. Occasionally in New Testament times we see a
prophet in the church foretelling the future, for instance Acts 13, however
much more frequently we see the gift of prophesy as being the bringing forth of
the Word of God in situations, whether in preaching, exhortation, teaching, etc. The bringing forth of the Word of God is
actually the revealing and applying of the scriptures which God has given
us. Some preachers in the church today
want to see the gift of prophesy used only for the foretelling of the future,
however this was not even its predominant usage in the early church when they
did not have the written scriptures as we have today.
1.45.
Paul defined how the gift of prophesy is used in 1 Cor. 14:3-5, 3 But
one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.
4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies
the church. 5 Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you
would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in
tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying. In these verses in 1 Cor. 12, Paul writes
that the gift of prophesy is used to bring forth Gods Word for the purpose of
edification, exhortation, and consolation. In these
same verses in 1 Cor., Paul explains that the gift of prophesy is the most
vital of gifts for the body since it is the gift which most brings edification
to the body of Christ. Paul told the
people to desire to prophesy so that they might be able to be used to build up the
church, which is of primary importance.
1.46.
The exhortation which Paul makes to the one who has the gift of prophesy
is to exercise his gift according to the proportion of his faith. In other words, he must have faith that the Lord is wanting to
speak through him, and that the Lord has given him this word to be brought
forth. This is a very important
exhortation for one who has this gift since none of us really knows the future
and what Gods plans are for anyone down the road nor all about a person and
their history, and therefore one must trust God that he has indeed heard a word
from God, and then in faith he must faithfully deliver the word.
1.47.
Many today teach that the Spirit comes over a person and they lose
control and prophesy, however that is not at all Biblical. This can be seen in Pauls exhortation that
the gift is to be used in faith. Paul also has
written that the Spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophet (1 Cor.
14:32), and all things are to be done decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40), and
that God is not the author of (1 Cor.
14:33).
1.48.
All of us in the body of Christ must come to the place where we realize
that we have a spiritual gift, and that just as Paul exhorted Timothy in 2 Tim.
1:6-7 to fan to flame the spiritual gift within him, we need to do the same, 6
And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which
is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a
spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. As I
watched my sons Babe Ruth league baseball team practice and play one day, it
was so obvious to us who are parents there that day that what these kids needed
more than anything else in order to succeed in their games is confidence. In the same way, God has given us as His kids
a spirit not of timidity but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7), and
we are to be confident that as we apply ourselves to developing and using our
spiritual gift that God will go before us and use us mightily.
1.49.
In order for the church we attend to be able to grow and be effective in
reaching the world for Christ, each of us must likewise be faithful to exercise
our spiritual gifts before the Lord.
Peter gave this exhortation in 1 Peter 4:10, 10 As each one has
received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God.
1.50.
Paul wrote in Eph. 4:15-16 about how in order for the body of Christ to
grow up and be built up in love, each one must use their own gift
appropriately, 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in
all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole
body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies,
according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of
the body for the building up of itself in love.
1.51.
Paul writes 1 Cor. 13:11 about the fact that once he was a child and thus
he acted like a child, however now that he has grown up he should act like an
adult. Babies are cute and we can overlook
all their childish ways when they are young, however childish behavior ceases
to be cute after a certain age. In the
same way, we as Christians must grow up spiritually and begin to use our
spiritual gifts faithfully and effectively.
1.52. VS 12:7 - 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; - Paul tells us that we ought to exercise our spiritual gift in this way, whether serving or teaching
1.53.
This word used for service in this verse is the Greek word for minister, and sometimes the word is
translated as minister. The KJV translates the word as
ministry in
this verse instead of service. It is also the
root word from which we get the word deacon The original
deacons appointed in the book of Acts, chapter 6, were not given a title, but rather a ministry
of serving tables for the love feasts, and from how this word is used in the
New Testament many churches have adopted a formal office within the church of a
deacon which is
based upon the idea of one who is called simply to serve the body of
Christ.
1.54.
Some think that in this verse Paul is referring to the office of a deacon as opposed to the gift of serving itself that is being
referred to. However, the context does
not really support this interpretation for we see that the rest of the list of
gifts could not be offices, as is seen for example with the gift of mercy. There is no office of mercy.
1.55.
The exhortation to those who are called by the Lord to have the gift of service or ministry is to serve. Paul tells those with the give of service simply do the work of
ministry. Rather than be content to
simply hold a title of a deacon or a server, Paul tells them that if God has given them that
ministry or office that they ought to roll up their sleeves and simply get to
the business of serving.
1.56.
Those who have the gift of service must not let pride come in so that they say, "Im
too important to serve. I need to lead." We need to ask ourselves whether or not what
we are doing is really for the Lord or not?
What is our real motive for doing what we do for the Lord? Will we continue to just minister even if we
dont get recognition for it?
1.57.
The next gift which Paul gives exhortation for its use is the gift of teaching. A teacher is one who is primarily motivated
by God because of his gifting to be a student.
He is one who is motivated constantly to be spending a great amount of
time researching Gods word. He probably
desires to study Greek and Hebrew so that he can get down to the original texts
since he is so detail-minded in his thoroughness as a teacher.
1.58.
The exhortation given by Paul to
one who has been given the gift to teach is to get to the business of teaching.
1.59.
If you are motivated by God in the gift of teaching, you must not wait
around until you have opportunity to exercise your gift, but rather you must be
preparing constantly so that when you are called upon to exercise your gift in
ministry, that you are all studied-up and prepared.
1.60. VS 12:8 - 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. - Paul exhorts us to diligence and going all out whenever we exhort, give, lead or show mercy
1.61.
The next spiritual gift whose use Paul seeks to exhort upon is the gift
of exhortation
itself. Strongs Greek Dictionary has
the following definition for this Greek word translated as exhorts in this verse :
1)
to call to ones side, call for, summon
2)
to address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in the way
of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc.
2a) to admonish, exhort
2b) to beg, entreat, beseech
2b1) to strive to appease by entreaty
2c) to
console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort
2c1) to receive consolation, be comforted
2d) to encourage, strengthen
2e) exhorting and comforting and encouraging
2f) to instruct, teach
1.62.
To exhort someone is to persuade them as to how they ought to apply the truth
from Gods Word in their life, as well as to simply comfort someone in the
midst of their difficulties.
1.63.
To those who have the gift of exhortation, Paul exhorts to get to the business of exhorting. They should not sit around and not get
involved in peoples lives, but rather they should seek out those to whom the
Lord wants to use them to help apply His Word in their lives, and comfort them
from Gods word.
1.64.
The next spiritual gift which Paul exhorts about is the gift of giving. Some believe that this gift involves only the
giving of money itself, and that therefore the person with this gift must have
some money to be able to give, or God has not given him this spiritual
gift. Others believe that this gift
refers to more than just monetary or even material things, but rather has
general non-specific application. I
think that for the most part we have to look at this gift as the imparting of
material substance to others.
1.65.
Paul writes to those who have the gift of giving that they should give with
liberality. That is, that they should exercise that gift
maximally, and not hold back from giving away the substance that the Lord has
blessed and gifted them to give.
1.66.
However, this word translated as liberally also means with simplicity, and some translations
render it this way. The exhortation then
to give with simplicity means to give without being too intellectual or analytical about your
giving. I believe this concept of simplicity is partly what Jesus meant
when He said in Matthew 6:3-4, 3 But when you give alms, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing 4 that your alms may be in
secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. In this teaching, Jesus was looking to
squelch another motive for giving and that was in order to be seen and admired
of men, as illustrated by the left and right hand, the principle itself
conveying this idea of simplicity.
1.67.
Those who are gifted in the area of giving need to also learn to give with no strings
attached.
1.68.
The next spiritual gift about which Paul exhorts is the gift of leading or ruling. The gift of leading seems to perhaps be the
motivational gift of what is called administration in other places in Pauls
writing. It is definitely a gift
oriented around the ability to organize and administrate.
1.69.
Paul writes that the person with the gift of ruling ought to get to the business
of exercising his gift by being diligent in it. He
should not be lazy or half-hearted in using his gift, but rather he should go
all out and organize and administrate with all his heart.
1.70.
The next spiritual gift which Paul exhorts about is the gift of mercy. A person with the gift of mercy has empathy with others but
also is motivated to relieve people from their suffering by ministering to them
physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
A person with the gift of mercy would make a good nurse or counselor.
1.71.
Paul exhorts that the person with the gift of mercy should exercise his gift with
cheerfulness, not
grudgingly or as if under compulsion.
Those who have the gift of mercy tend to want to help those who are
suffering whom others might think, I wouldnt want to help that person,
he deserves to be in the situation that he is in. However,
the person with the gift of mercy tends not to think about whether or not the person whom
he ministers to is deserving of being helped, he just wants to do what he can
to relieve the suffering. People often
take advantage of the person with the gift of mercy as a result. Thus, Paul writes to those who have the gift
of mercy
telling them to exercise their gift as they should, without having a grudge and
not as if they dont really want to help someone but they are really forced to
do. They should cheerfully delight in
showing mercy
to people.
1.72. CONCLUSIONS :
1.73. Follow Christs example and be humble.
1.74. Realize the importance of functioning as a member of the body of Christ and not just as an individual before the Lord.
1.75. Be diligent and zealous in the use of your spiritual gifts.