Introduction
To get a good start in the church Paul will tell us we need to:
Adopt the toward ourselves, 3
Choose to other believers, 4-5
Get immersed in ministry, 6-8
Adopt the right attitude toward ourselves, 3
Having the right attitude toward ourselves requires sober judgement – sound thinking
CSB: Think sensibly, NLT: Be honest in your evaluation of yourself
Sober thinking avoids two wrong attitudes:
Thinking too of ourselves
Thinking too of ourselves
Paul says we are not to think more highly than we to think.
We are to think about ourselves.
We are not of , but we aren’t the person around.
We are not of , but we can’t .
We are not the , but we aren’t .
Sober judgement also accounts for our for who we are and what we can do. Each, Paul says, has been given a measure or allotment of faith according to God’s choice. What faith and abilities we have have . We didn’t make ourselves so there is no place too think more highly of ourselves.
Choose to value other believers, 4-5
Who are they? What are they to mean to us?
Paul answers these questions by explaining our relationship to each other through the use of a metaphor – a pictorial way of speaking.
The metaphor he uses to help us value our fellow believers correctly is .
He begins by stating that a body has and those parts have functions.
He then tells us that all of us together we belong to , the body .
The significance in this is in his last statement in verse 5: we are members of .
Get immersed in Spirit-empowered ministry, 6-8
In this passage Paul makes two points:
1. Each of us is to help build up other believers and the Kingdom of God.
2. We are to immerse ourselves in ministry.
1. Each of us is gifted by God to help build up other believers and the Kingdom of God.
One reason others in the church are important to us is that they have spiritual gifts that but need.
These gifts, Paul says, differ according to for us.
He lists seven of these gifts here:
Prophesy – the gift of speaking in a way that , builds up, and or strengthens other believers
Service – the gift of generously and self-sacrificially serving others
Teaching – the gift of helping other people God’s Word
Exhortation – the gift of others through our words to do what God wants
Contributing – the gift of giving generously and sacrificially to the church and to others
Leading – the gift of and a group of people to a goal
Mercy – the gift of showing , forgiveness, and acceptance to others
These seven do not comprise a complete list of spiritual gifts . Many in the Roman church had gifts not listed here. Paul uses these seven to illustrate his point.
There are three other places where spiritual gifts are listed:
1 Cor 12:8-10, 28, Ephesians 4:11, and 1 Peter 4:10-11.
At least 21 gifts are mentioned in the New Testament.
We’ve been given these gifts, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 4, for the of each other until we are reach spiritual maturity and measure up to .
In 1 Corinthians 12 he tells us that our spiritual gifts are given to us for the common good, that is, for the benefit of in the body of Christ, not for our selfish enjoyment.
Because God chooses the gifts we have this leaves no room for bragging, and no room for low self-esteem.
Because none of us has all of the spiritual gifts, we all need each other.
2. We are to immerse ourselves in Spirit-empowered ministry.
The command (the end of verse 6): let us use them.
We are to use the gifts God has given us for the purpose for which they were given.
We are to use the gift of prophecy according to the proportion of our faith
We are to use the gift of service by serving
We are to use the gift of teaching by teaching
We are to use the gift of exhortation by exhorting
We are to use the gift of contributing to give generously
We are to use the gift of leading with zeal
We are to use the gift of mercy with cheerfulness
Since God has given us special abilities (gifts) for the building up of other members of the body of Christ and the building up of his Kingdom, what could be a greater purpose in life than to immerse ourselves in using our gifts to do just that?
We have gifts, use them!
CONCLUSION
Being part of a healthy growing church starts with each of us having the right about ourselves.
Then we must have the right for others in the church, and for importance to everyone else in the church.
Last we must be sure we are the special gifts and abilities God has given us consistently and unselfishly.
When believers do these things God’s church is a great thing to be part of. People are great to be with, all of us enjoy what each is bringing to the table with them, and we are felling fulfilled as we see how God is using the gifts he’s given to us to build up believers, his church, and his Kingdom.