SERIES: The Book of Romans
Right Thinking About Yourself
Introduction: Our Scripture text today is Romans 12:1-8:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. {2} Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
{3} 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. {4} Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, {5} so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. {6} 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. {7} If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; {8} 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.
Few passages I will ever preach are more important than the first two verses of Romans 12, which was our text two Sundays ago. If you were unable to be here that Sunday, I would encourage you to get a tape of the message, because for the next month or so we are going to be fleshing out and applying the concept of the believer’s transformation that is central to those two verses.
Allow me just a moment or two of review. God calls upon every believer to experience a metamorphosis, a transformation of his life to the glory of God. This transformation begins with a decisive and thorough act of dedicating our bodies—not just our hearts, souls, or spirits, but our bodies—as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. Such transformation is prevented when we allow ourselves to be conformed to the world around us, but it is produced when our minds are renewed.
Now in the rest of chapter 12 and 13 the Apostle demonstrates for us what a renewed mind and a transformed life look like in regard to how we function in the Body of Christ, how we handle interpersonal relationships in the church, how we respond to the authority of government over us, and how we deal with our neighbor.
Today in verses 3-8 we are told that the transformed lifestyle is demonstrated as we exercise our unique spiritual gifts in the church. You see, the will of God is identical for all believers in respect to total dedication and complete transformation. But God’s will is different for each one of us in respect to service in the Body of Christ. It is to this topic which Paul now turns, as he encourages us to know ourselves realistically, evaluate ourselves functionally, and give ourselves wholeheartedly.
Know yourself realistically. (3)
Elliot Roosevelt, son of Franklin D. Roosevelt, was once arrested for driving while intoxicated. It was reported that when the patrolman attempted to remove him from his car he resisted, demanding indignantly, “Do you know who I am?” With that phrase Roosevelt condemned himself, for his claim to be “somebody” only emphasized his crime. As the son of a President, he should have acted like one.
All of us like to think of ourselves as a “somebody.” We want people to sit up and take notice of just exactly who it is they’re dealing with. But the trouble is that most of us don’t even know who it is we’re dealing with because we don’t really know ourselves.
There is probably no subject more difficult for most Christians than the matter of properly evaluating our own worth and value. Many have such poor self-esteem that they end up paralyzed by self-generated inadequacy. On the other hand, some have such an exalted view of self they end up acting like God’s gift to the church. Both viewpoints are highly destructive of unity and service in the Body of Christ. So it’s no wonder that immediately after calling for the renewal of our minds the Apostle turns to our self-concept.
Every person has three possible options in his estimation of himself:
1. He can think more of himself than he ought.
2. He can think less of himself than he ought.
3. Or he can think realistically and appropriately.
Paul’s first exhortation is,
Don’t think too highly of yourself. “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” The tendency toward self-seeking and self-aggrandizement is apparently so strong in human nature that before any groundwork can be laid as to how the church functions together, warning must be given not to think too highly of ourselves. If this is such a problem in the church, what are some of its symptoms? Well, I can think of several: boastfulness, hogging the discussion in an adult Bible Fellowship, a Bible study, or a home fellowship, demanding to have our own way, refusing to accept some jobs because they are “beneath one’s dignity,” seeking a position in the church in order to serve our own ego needs rather than the needs of others, name-dropping, dressing to draw attention.
We really see a lot of these things around us, don’t we? But the renewed mind doesn’t follow these habit patterns. The renewed mind recognizes that all we are and all we have is a result of God’s grace.
But there is a second danger in self-evaluation, which, though not specifically mentioned in this text, is implied by the last part of verse 3. If we are not to think more highly than we ought but rather to think soundly or accurately, then it stands to reason that we are also to avoid thinking too lowly of ourselves.
Don’t think too lowly of yourself. Low self-esteem is a very real problem for some Christians today. It is often caused by a perceived lack of love and affirmation in childhood or by negative judgments from one’s peers or family. And it is provoked and intensified by society’s idolization of the superstar. The really valuable people, the media declares, are all beautiful, thin, athletic, and rich. And those of us who are rather ordinary are tempted to think of ourselves as inadequate, since we don’t measure up. The result is that we have a difficult time loving others and serving them as we should. In a very real sense this is just another means Satan uses to conform us to the world.
I believe the problem of low self-esteem may be greater today than ever before, and the reason is that 20th-century humanism has abandoned the divine foundation upon which true self-worth is based—the fact that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God, he is loved by God, he is gifted by God, and God has a wonderful plan for his life. Perhaps because this abandonment of the foundation is a relatively recent development, the New Testament mentions the problem of low self-esteem only indirectly.
I’m frankly not sure which of these two problems—thinking too much of ourselves or thinking too little—is worse. Both give us unrealistic pictures of ourselves and both are destructive of unity and mutual service in the Body of Christ. But there is an alternative.
Think appropriately of yourself. The word translated “sober judgment” means literally “to be in one’s right mind.” God is asking us here to be reasonable, sensible, and serious in our self-evaluation. Is there some gauge that will enable us to come to the proper estimate of our own value? Paul answers in the affirmative, suggesting that our estimation must be “in accordance with the measure of faith God has given.” We need to trust God that He knows best and has gifted us in just the right ways for our own personal fulfillment, as well as our usefulness in the Body of Christ. And that brings us to the fact that the primary reason God wants you to know yourself accurately is so that you might …
Evaluate yourself functionally. (4-6). In these verses the Apostle tells us some very important things about ourselves relative to the family of God. In verse 4 he gives an analogy and in verse 5 the application. The analogy has to do with the human body, and it’s an analogy which he uses in several other passages, most notably in I Cor. 12.
The human body is made up of many members—we have eyes, ears, nose, hands, feet, joints, etc.—and no two of them have the same function. An eye can’t smell, a nose can’t hear, an ear can’t see. So also, we who are Christians constitute the many members of the Body of Christ, the Church, and while we individually belong to one another, each one has a different function in the Body. And we have different functions because we have different gifts or talents or abilities.
As I see it, Paul is affirming four things here about the believer’s function in the Body: he is a member, a unique member, a gifted member, and a dependent member.
You are a member of the Body of Christ. The Church is too often viewed as a building on the corner that people worship in on Sundays. That is a church building; it is not a church. I don’t know if you have noticed, but the sign out in front of our building does not read, “First Evangelical Free Church,” but rather “Home of First Evangelical Free Church.” That’s not accidental. The people comprise the church, and the church, in turn, is a living organism, a Body. If you know Jesus Christ personally you are a member of Christ’s Body, the Universal Church.
Furthermore, you are not here at First Free by accident. In 1 Cor. 12:18 Paul says that “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the Body, just as He desired.” When God created the human body, He put the ears on the side of the head rather than on the bottom of the feet for a reason. He knew what He was doing. By the same token, God placed you in this Body just as He desired. Every need this Body has is able to be met by someone God has led here.
You are a unique member of the Body. There are no identical twins in the Body of Christ. Every member is unique. Some are visible and prominent, sort of like the eye or nose or ear. Some are much less noticeable, much like the kneecap, the elbow or the big toe. But each member is necessary. Sometimes when I see a person function in a very special way in the Church, I say to myself, “I wish we had a half-dozen like her” or “I wish we had an entire Elder Board like him.” Not only is that wishful thinking; it is actually contrary to God’s intention and purposes.
Variety and uniqueness are part of God’s perfect plan for the whole universe. What we need to realize is that being unique is not bad; it’s good. And we need to fight the envy and jealousy and inferiority feelings that so easily arise when we see that someone else in the Body has a more visible or honorable function; or for that matter, the pride and feelings of superiority that can emerge when we have played a visible role with some success.
While each member of Christ’s Body is unique physically, emotionally, psychologically, and in every other way, the primary area of uniqueness the Apostle addresses is our gifts or talents. And that brings us to the third fact:
You are a gifted member of the Body. Verse 6 tells us that we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. There are some 18 different spiritual gifts mentioned in the NT and I am inclined to believe that the lists are not exhaustive. And even when two members of the Body have the same gift, they don’t have it in the same measure or use it in the same way. Take the gift of teaching, for example. In a church our size there may be several hundred people with the gift of teaching, but one may have the ability to use that gift with large adult groups, while another may have much more ability to teach through small group discussion or even one-on-one, while still another may be uniquely able to teach children or the handicapped or the highly educated.
The important factor is that God has granted to every believer a spiritual gift, an ability he or she can use to minister to other believers. If that is true, and frankly, I don’t know how one can dispute it biblically, why is it that so many Christians go year after year without any particular area of spiritual service? How is it that a born-again Christian can be satisfied to simply come to church, pray before meals, and do nothing by way of using the ability God has uniquely given him or her to serve the Body?
I was talking to Brad the other day and he shared with me something relative to Cornerstone, our newest church plant, that I remember about this church ten years ago. He said, “One of the special things about a new church plant is that everyone serves. There’s an excitement about it that causes everyone to accept a job and do it with enthusiasm.” Unfortunately, as a church gets larger and more established, it becomes easier for people to be relatively anonymous. Many come just to be fed and to get a recharge for the coming week. They will never grow spiritually as they could if they found that area of ministry that God has gifted them for.
Here are some of the excuses people offer for not serving:
“I don’t know what my spiritual gift is.” OK, I can accept that, but have you tried to find out? We regularly offer classes on discovering and developing your spiritual gift. Have you ever taken such a class? I’m convinced that if you really want to serve God, He will show you what your capacity for spiritual service is. Someone has said that a proper search for one’s spiritual gift is initiated by prayer, enlightened by study, indicated by desire, confirmed by ability, and accompanied by blessing. The important thing to remember is that even if we don’t know what our spiritual gift is, there are things we can do to serve one another. It doesn’t take a unique spiritual gift to pray, or to work in the nursery, or to serve as an usher, or to clean the church kitchen. It just takes a willingness to serve. And often through taking initiative to serve in relatively simple ways, God will show us that area of unique giftedness He has granted us. Other excuses?
“I’m too busy.” Listen, I know life is busy—mine is probably as busy as yours. But there’s a very simple answer to this excuse: if we’re too busy to serve the Lord, then we’re too busy. We’re that busy probably because we choose to be, not because we have to be. Perhaps we need to get our priorities realigned.
“I’ve served my time; let the younger people do it.” Frankly, this is a real problem, even in our church. It is extremely difficult to get individuals in their mid-50’s and 60’s to accept a term on the Elder Board or Deacon Board, yet this is the time in life when the wisdom they have gained through life’s experiences is extremely valuable.
Allow me to address those who are retired or semi-retired. The golden years can be the most spiritually productive in a person’s whole life, or they can be a very selfish time when we take the attitude that “I have the right to enjoy the fruit of my labor—go where I want, buy what I want, and do what I want.” I would remind you that retirement is a concept that is absent from the Bible, and while no one would begrudge your opportunity to collect a pension and enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle, why not think in terms of re-gearing instead of re-tiring. Many have found a whole new lease on life through second careers of voluntary service, short-term missions, inner-city ministry—you name it. If you opt for the selfish approach, you will probably be miserable and everyone around you will be miserable, too.
However, I don’t want anyone to assume that you have to use your spiritual gifts within the four walls of this church. Some of you serve the larger Body of Christ very faithfully through BSF, others through CBMC, through World Impact, K-Life, Young Life, and a great number of other Christian organizations. There are many places you can serve, but you must serve somewhere if you hope to prosper spiritually. All of us must one day stand before the Lord and answer the question, “What have you done with the gifts and abilities I entrusted to you? What interest can you show Me for my investment?”
You are a dependent member of the Body. Since no one has all the gifts, it only stands to reason that everyone is dependent upon everyone else. Therefore, there is no basis for the visible, up-front members of the Body feeling superior to the less prominent, nor for the less prominent feeling inferior. We are so prone to judge by the capacity of the vessel rather than by the percentage of the vessel that is yielded to the Lord. There are great and gifted leaders who may be described in terms of 100-gallon capacity; these are few and far between. Then there are others of 10-gallon capacity, still more one-gallon. Judged by worldly standards, the big 100-gallon vessels get all the breaks. Honor is always coming their way as they are seen, known, praised, and rewarded. But things aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes the responsibility that is theirs is more pain than privilege. Besides, the Bible makes it clear that mankind looks on the outward appearance while God looks on the heart. The 100-gallon vessel that is only half full is not nearly as pleasing to God as a half-pint that is overflowing.
Now I want to address one other issue here that is not in your outline, and that is …
A word about membership in the local Body. As far as I can recall, this is a subject I have never addressed in detail from this pulpit. Our text is talking about the fact that each of us as a believer is a member of the Body of Christ at large, and that is infinitely more important than membership in the local church, but that does not mean that local church membership is unimportant.
Since we have chosen to govern our church congregationally, it is essential that we define what the congregation is, and a membership roll has been chosen to determine that; it specifies who is allowed to vote or hold office. While the Scriptures don’t demand the keeping of membership rolls, they certainly allow for it, and the advantages in terms of doing the Lord’s business decently and in order seem to greatly outweigh any disadvantages that maintaining membership rolls might present.
Perhaps because we have been very low-key in our approach to membership, we have inadvertently encouraged a lack of responsibility on the part of some. As of today our church has 514 active members who live in the greater St. Louis area. If you should add the minor children of adult members, the rolls would increase to about 800. But that still means that on any given Sunday approximately half of the individuals that gather here for worship, edification, and fellowship are not members of the church. So what? They attend faithfully, don’t they? Yes, most of them do, some for as long as ten years. They give, don’t they? Yes, I’m sure a sizeable amount of our church income comes from non-members. They even serve, don’t they? Yes, many do.
But I want you to think with me about a couple of problems this situation creates. One is a problem now while another is a potential problem in the future.
The problem now is that many who are obviously gifted for service in church offices are ineligible because they are not members. Every Fall when the Nominating Committee meets there are a number of fine candidates for Elder and Deacon who must be passed by because they are not members, nor can they be considered according to the Constitution until they have been members for one full year. In fact, I wonder if a few haven’t refrained from becoming members just so they won’t be asked.
The other problem non-membership produces is really only a potential problem, but history has shown it can be a very real problem. People who do not join a church tend to withhold their final allegiance during a crisis. If, for example, their favorite pastor left, they might visit around until his replacement arrives and then check him out before deciding if they wanted to continue their involvement. Friends, that is not commitment to the Body. That is a selfish attitude that views church as a place where I go to get my needs met, rather than a Body I am called upon to serve and with whom I am to share my life.
On the other hand, when a person takes that step of becoming a member he is saying in effect, “This is my church through good times and bad. This is my church and if my favorite pastor leaves, I will do everything I can to see to it that an even better shepherd takes his place. This is my church because God has brought me here and I will not leave it until God makes it clear that He has other plans for me and my family.”
That step of commitment has been hard for some of you to make, especially those who have gone through a hurtful experience in your previous church home. I can’t promise you that you will never get hurt here at First Free, but I can promise you that you can do more to keep our church on the right track as a member than you ever can as a non-member.
I don’t want anyone to interpret these remarks as the initiation of a major membership drive. I still believe the best members are those who are moved by God to take this step rather than pressured by the pastor. The real issue is this. Am I serving the Body of Christ to the best of my ability with the gifts that God has entrusted to me? That’s a question each of us must ask and answer individually.
Now, once a person has arrived at a realistic view of his own worth and value, and then has properly evaluated himself as a functioning member of the Body of Christ—being unique, gifted, but nevertheless dependent upon other members—then it is time to give himself or herself wholeheartedly to the Lord’s service.
Give yourself wholeheartedly. (6-8)
I see two important concepts shared in verses 4-6:
Serve in the area of your spiritual gift. “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, etc.” In other words, it is our responsibility to do our thing in the Church, not someone else’s thing. One of the responses I love to hear from a potential recruit is this: “Thank you for asking me to do such-and-such. I really feel honored. But I also feel that it would be a mistake for me to take that job because I have neither the gift nor the ability to do it. However, I will be glad to help out in this other area because I really believe I could make a unique contribution there.”
Don’t try to be somebody you’re not. There may be occasions when because the gifted people are unwilling you have to step into the gap and do a job for which you are not fully qualified. But be sure to give it up as soon as a gifted person is available. I have often thought of the fact that when this church started a couple of women—Betty Hockett and Eloise Brightup—were willing to play the piano even though neither were concert pianists. They didn’t seek the task, but they graciously served until God brought Ruth Brazeal and Donna Lusk and others more gifted in that area.
Now I want us to spend a few brief moments considering the individual gifts mentioned in this passage. I believe this list is only representative, not exhaustive, but I would assume that a large majority of believers has at least one of these gifts. Some are speaking gifts, others are serving gifts. Some are up-front gifts, others are behind-the-scenes gifts.
1. Prophesying is communicating God’s message under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in a forceful way, calling God’s people to obedience. An example in our day might be Chuck Colson or Coach MacCartney.
2. Serving is such a broad term that it’s difficult to pin down, but generally it refers to meeting the material needs of believers. Please note that this gift’s importance is hinted at by the fact that it is second in the list—right between prophesying and teaching.
3. Teaching is the ability to declare, explain, systematize, and apply to people’s lives what is set forth in the Scriptures.
4. Encouraging is sometimes translated “exhortation” and has to do with the ability to nudge people into biblical behavior changes without blowing them out of the water.
5. Giving refers to the ability to give beyond the ordinary to the work of the Lord or to the people of God—giving that is generous, sacrificial, and done with such cheerfulness that others are blessed. It is often accompanied by the ability to earn beyond the ordinary, but we must realize that money is not the only commodity that qualifies as a gift. There is also hospitality, time, skill, and care.
6. Leadership speaks to the ability to govern and manage people. It is generally indicated by the willingness of other people to follow. Unfortunately, some are tempted to exploit the gift of leadership to satisfy their own ego needs rather than use it as an avenue for service.
7. Showing mercy has to do with ministering to the sick and needy. This is to be done in a cheerful, spontaneous manner that will convey blessing rather than engender self-pity.
Finally, our text urges us to …
Serve with whole-hearted zeal for the glory of God. I think this concept of doing what we do wholeheartedly comes out most clearly in Phillips’ paraphrase of Romans 12:6-8:
Through the grace of God we have different gifts. If our gift is preaching, let us preach to the limit of our vision. If it is serving others, let us concentrate on our service. If it is teaching, let us give all that we have to our teaching. If our gift be in the stimulating of the faith of others, let us set ourselves to it. Let the man who is called to give, give freely; let the man who wields authority think of his responsibility; and let the visitor to the sick do his job cheerfully.
In other words, whatever your job is, do it right and do it wholeheartedly.
Conclusion: Several years ago I read of someone who asked a little boy what his father did, trying to learn what his occupation was, and the boy replied,
“He watches.”
“You mean he’s a night watchman?”
“Oh no,” the little boy exclaimed, “he just watches.”
“Well, what does he watch?”
“I don’t know if I can tell you everything,” he continued, “but I can name a few things. He watches TV, he watches Mom do the housework, he watches for the paperboy, he watches the weather. He watches the stock market. He watches football games. And He watches us go to church. But mainly he just watches.”
This dad, and thousands like him, have a contagious disease called “spectatoritis.” But it is not only dads in the home that suffer from it; sometimes it strikes believers, particularly in large churches. Under the great physician, Paul offers a prescription with three ingredients that guarantee a cure: Know yourself accurately, evaluate yourself functionally, and then give yourself wholeheartedly.
I close with a quotation from Dr. F. B. Meyer:
It is urgently needful that the Christian people of our charge should come to understand that they are not a company of invalids, to be wheeled about, or fed by hand, nursed and comforted, but a garrison in an enemy’s country, every soul of which should have some post of duty, at which he should be prepared to make any sacrifice rather than quitting.[i]
DATE: November 5, 1995
Tags:
Spiritual gifts
Membership
[i] F. B. Meyer, quoted by Ray C. Stedman, Expository Studies in Romans 9-16, From Guilt to Glory, Vol. II, 104.