Members of One Another | Romans 12:3-13

All right, so on this fall kickoff Sunday, we're

going to do a couple things. First of all, we're

going to see how the scriptures instruct us to

live life together in the body, every single

one of us. Not leaders, not staff, not deacons,

not all of us. What are we called? How are we

called to live life in the body? And then hopefully,

by the end, with a healthy conviction, we're

going to give you some practical ways that you

can respond well. to what you heard in God's

Word this morning. And I'll tell you how that's

going to happen at the end of the service. For

now, grab your Bibles, and we're going this morning

to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 12. There

Romans 12 · chapter mention

it is, Romans chapter 12. And as you're turning

Romans 12 · chapter mention

there, your first thought when you hear Romans

12 is you might think, ah, I know exactly what

passage he's going to. But you'd be wrong. Romans

12, 1 and 2, one of the most famous passages,

most beloved passages in the New Testament. We

will read it. It is beautiful. It is challenging.

But our focus today is actually on the 11 verses

that come after it, verses which are much less

well -known. So let's read these verses, starting

in verse 1. Let's go back up. We're going to

make sure we read in context. Verse 1, this is

a familiar passage. Paul says, I urge you, brethren,

by the mercies of God, to present your bodies

a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual service of what? Worship.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your mind so that

you may prove or discern what the will of God

is, that which is good and acceptable. So although

these verses aren't the focus of our time this

morning, I do want you to see that before Paul

gets to the issue of congregational life, he

starts here with an exhortation about personal

worship and personal transformation. He says,

look, in view of the mercy that you have received

from God in Christ, give yourself back to him.

Give yourself back to him as a living and holy

sacrifice. Present your entire life. You picture

that, the idea of presenting something on the

altar before God. Present your entire life before

God, your body, your soul, your mind, what you

love, what you desire, what you seek. Lay it

all before him on the throne of grace as an offering.

What a beautiful picture, right, that he's giving

us here. And then rather than letting the world

and this wild culture out there shape your thinking,

instead let the Holy Spirit transform and renew

your heart and mind from within. And in doing

so, you'll begin to more easily and quickly discern

what the will of God is. That's a great promise,

isn't it? You'll find yourself aligned less and

less with the world and the culture and more

aligned with the way God sees the world. This

is a great promise that we have from the Lord.

If you'll present yourself, if you'll only present

yourself to him each and every day, watch to

see how his spirit will change you from the inside

out. We just need to be faithful to that command,

right? Present yourself. Now, those two verses

are foundational to your Christian walk, but...

They're not the sum total of what God desires

for you. Yes, the ultimate goal of our lives

is to glorify God in all things, but the practical

goal of your personal worship is then applying

your transformed life in service to others. That's

the practical outcome. There's the personal growth,

but then there's the practical outflow in the

lives of others. That's what the next 11 verses

are about. So as we read verses 3 to 13, by the

way, if you've been a member here at Oak Hill

for any period of time, you're going to recognize

some of the language here, some of the phrases,

because we talk about it all the time. But here's

the thing, guys. I put those things on the screen

earlier. We talk about these things all the time.

It's one thing to hear it from a church leader.

It's a whole other stronger thing to hear it

from God himself in the pages of Scripture. Amen?

So let's hear the voice of God as he speaks through

Paul. telling us how we should be functioning

as members of his body. Verse 3. For through

the grace given to me, I say to everyone among

you. How many people? Everyone. Every person

in the body in the church of Rome. To everyone

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 allowed it to

each a measure of faith. For just as we have

many members in one body, and all the members

do not have the same function, so we who are

many are one body in Christ and individually

members of one another. Since we have gifts that

differ according to the grace given to us, each

of us is to exercise them accordingly. If prophecy,

according to the proportion of his faith. If

service, in his serving. Or he who teaches in

his teaching. Or he who exhorts in his exhortation.

He who gives with liberality or generosity. He

who leads with diligence. He who shows mercy

with cheerfulness. Verse 9. Not lagging behind

in diligence. Now, that's a mouthful, isn't it?

Did you catch there how deep Paul says our connection

is to one another? Look at the extensive nature

of that list of responsibilities that we have

in relation to each other. In the body of Christ.

Here's the sad thing, you guys. And I'm going

to step on a soapbox for just a moment. In so

many corners of the American church today, we

have taught churchgoers that these things that

we just read are sort of optional for the average

believer. They're just optional. What we've done

is this. We've made life in the church as comfortable

and convenient as possible in order to get people

into the door on Sundays. So we've built huge

buildings that resemble malls. And we put luxury

auditoriums inside those buildings that make

you feel like you're in a theater. And we've

created a loungy vibe as if you're now in a Starbucks.

And then we've added big lights and a big show

so that you feel like you're having this concert

-like experience. It's American consumerism.

And here's the thing, no participation required.

What we do, all the critical commands and responsibilities

of the body, the things we just read about, they

get outsourced to paid clergy. and to expansive

staffs and an elite group of ministry directors

who do all the work in the church and keep all

the plates spinning at one time. The average

churchgoer looks at that, is overwhelmed by it,

and is simply told, don't worry about it, just

keep coming back for the experience, stay excited

about everything, and just make sure you bring

your tithes and offerings so we can keep these

programs going. And this way we give them permission

to check the box, to say, yeah, I'm part of a

church. I go to that building. I see it and hear

it all. And by doing that, we haven't adequately

explained how every member is supposed to function

within the life of the body. We've done a poor

job of teaching churchgoers in America what the

church is supposed to look like. I'm telling

you, if Christ doesn't return in the near future,

historians are going to look back on this era

of church history and they're going to write

books about it and it's not going to be flattering.

It really isn't. I remember a story I heard years

ago. I read it on some Christian blog. And this

guy was talking about how there was this church

that grew really quickly. In about a six -month

period, they added about 100 new people to their

church. And this pastor came to this guy who

wrote the article and he said, so I'm thinking

I need to add like two staff members to handle

all of this new work coming our way with these

new people. And the response was, why would you

do that? You just got 100 people. Why would you

add staff? You got 100 people that can minister.

Total paradigm change. Don't go out and just

hire people to do the ministry for these people.

Equip those people. They probably have all kinds

of amazing gifts that God has given them for

your body. And you thought about hiring outside

staff rather than just saying, why don't we equip

these people who are gifted by the Holy Spirit

and let them minister to each other? It's a totally

different way of looking at church life. Every

member is to minister within the body. Now, I

know you know some of this because you're not

here for the consumerism. Otherwise, you probably

wouldn't be at Oak Hill in a... Elementary school

NPR, right? So I get it. I'm sort of preaching

to the choir. But still, it's good and profitable

for us to keep walking through these principles

in this passage so that we can fully understand

what is it that God is calling us to as a member

of the body. And as we walk through this, please

remember this, you guys. The Christian life is

not a works -based, guilt -driven life. This

is not me standing up here and going, look at

this long list of things that you have to get

out there and do. We're not to be driven by works

or by guilt. The Christian life is a life of

sacrifice and service that is motivated by our

union with Christ, motivated by the redemptive

work of grace that he's done in our lives. So

when we look at a list of commands and responsibility

like these in Romans 12, let our response be

motivated by humility, by thankfulness, and yes,

by a healthy conviction from the Holy Spirit,

not guilt. not just I got to get out there and

do something. Think about what motivates the

heart. That is meaningful to God. The goal for

today is simple, to let God's word challenge

us to renew our thinking about how we're living

life in the body and then for us to find great

joy in doing what God says we should be doing.

Make sense? All right, let's go back to our text

in Romans 12. Those first two verses, again,

Paul urges us as Christ followers, to function

as living and holy sacrifices. And the emphasis

there is on the individual believer, his personal

walk and personal worship. But then in verse

3, as we saw, he pivots sharply toward congregational

life, right? Speaking about the nature of the

gathered believers in the local church. And he

speaks of one body of believers. One body. How

many bodies of Christ are there in the world?

There's one. That's it. Now there's two aspects

to that, right? There's the universal body of

Christ, and then there's all of these local manifestations

of that same body. In this case, they're in the

city of Rome for us in Stevenson Ranch, right?

So what he's describing is true of the universal

communion of saints, but it's to be applied and

lived out in particular local churches. Understand

that. One true body of believers. Every true

believer, Paul says, is a member of that one

body of Christ. Now, two Sundays ago, we looked

at that word member. We looked carefully at it.

It's melos in the Greek. It's a very important

word. We noted that it can literally just mean

a body part, like your eyes, your hands, your

ears, your arms, legs, whatever. It can literally

mean that, but then there's this beautiful, important

allegorical meaning that shows up in Scripture

in two particular ways. First, for the believers

who are in union with Christ, our bodies are

said to be members of Christ or parts of his

body. And then second, we see this in verse five

in your text. Look at it. We're given this very

unusual phrase that has massive implications

for us. We are, Paul says, members of one another.

Let me read verses four and five again today

because they're so, highlight them, underline

them, circle them, whatever. For just as we have

many members in one body and all the members

do not have the same function, so we who are

many. are one body in Christ and individually

members of one another. Now, this requires us

to think beyond material or physical concepts.

Because I don't know about you, but in a material

sense, this is me, right? This is my physical

body, and at least visually, none of you are

part of me. Right? Yet God has declared here

in Romans 12 that if you're a believer in union

with Christ, that you are in some sense a member

of me and I'm a member of you. Now, how can that

be? This is where we have to dig in and draw

out the metaphysical meaning of what Paul's trying

to say here. And then once we get the metaphysical

idea of what he's saying, then apply it in real

life practical ways. So I'm going to try to walk

you through this. By the way, the ancient church

fathers were really good at doing this. In the

West today, we are so intellectual, so concrete,

that we have a hard time understanding these

metaphysical things. But the ancients were really

good at this. Let me try to walk you through

this. I want you to think the one true church

of Christ is a mystical body. It is a universal

communion of disparate people from all nations,

tribes, and tongues brought into being by God's

sovereign grace and through participation in

Christ, in his life, in his death, his resurrection,

and in eternal hope in him. It's a mystical body

from people that you've never met before, from

all kinds of parts of the world, and from all

ages in the past. Think about that. How is that

possible that we're all one? It's a very mystical

idea. Now remember, Jesus is not like Buddha

or Muhammad or Joseph Smith. He's not the founder

of a religion. Jesus is much more than that.

He is the living head of a living mystical organism.

This makes it very different than any other religion

on the earth. And our unity in his body is found

in our union with him. not in the things that

make us different as individuals, our backgrounds,

culture, race, ethnicity, language, or anything

else. It's our union with Christ that binds us

together. In spite of all those differences I

just mentioned that naturally divide us, if we're

united to Christ, we are supernaturally joined

to our living head, which means we're joined

to one another too, because we're all joined

to that living head, which means we're all joined

to one another. And we're all participating in

this one mystical body, each one of us being

a member or part of it. You tracking with me

here? So catch this. Here's what this means.

No true Christian is a spiritually isolated unit.

It's not possible. There's no such thing. No

true Christian can function as a detached spiritual

consumer or spectator. We are not many individuals

that just come together to attend services in

a particular building and somehow cooperate together

so that we can call ourselves a church. That

is literally the modern idea of church. It's

not the New Testament vision for what the church

is. Let me say it again. Many individuals that

come together to attend services in a particular

building and then cooperate to make something

that we can say, this is a church. That's not

it. We've missed the mystical meaning behind

all of this. Here's the practical aspect of all

this. A true Christian's life is necessarily

intertwined with every other member of the body,

especially, particularly, in the local body.

So if you're united to Christ, a newsflash for

you, your life can never be fully private or

self -contained. And I know that challenges this

notion that's out there is that, well, my salvation

is my business. That is not a biblical concept.

We've done way too much of that in the last 50

years, just me and Jesus, and that's all that

matters. First, your life is not your own. Didn't

we just see this two Sundays ago? Jesus has purchased

you at a costly price. You belong to him now,

so your life is not your own. Second, your life,

at least in part, belongs to every other brother

and sister in Christ because you are members

of one another. The best illustration to think

of this is think of a tree with many branches.

And each branch on that tree is very unique in

its size, in its shape, and in what it's supporting.

And if you looked at it from the ground level,

you might think, well, that big, thick branch

here at the bottom has no... connection whatsoever

to all those little branches at the top. They're

completely separate. But because the same life

flows through that tree from the roots up through

the trunk out to that big branch and all the

way to the top to the little branches, yes, they're

all connected. They're all connected. Their life,

their health, their future is bound together.

What affects one affects all. And it's the same

thing with the church. So much so that we heard

in our call to worship passage earlier, if one

member suffers, all suffer. And if one member

is honored, all rejoice. Think about the depths

of that mystical connection there. And if you

haven't felt that kind of shared suffering or

shared joy with others in the body, you're missing

the full picture of who Christ says you are in

Him. You're not feeling the depth of who Christ

says you are in Him. That is a stunning statement,

is it not? I cannot say to the hand, I have no

need of you, nor the head say to the feet, I

have no need of you. In the same way, no Christian

can say, okay, I need Christ, but I don't need

a church. Or I'll loosely connect to a local

church and just pop in every once in a while

to get what I need to get. That's not the picture.

Everything that we do or fail to do affects everyone

else in the church because we are joined together

in Christ. We're all parts of his body. So things

like fellowship and love and service and care

and generosity and forgiveness, those are not

just nice things we should do because we're Christians

or we're trying to maintain the image of this

is what a Christian does. All of those things

are vital aspects of how a church body stays

healthy. And we diligently strive to practice

them because they benefit the overall life and

health of the same one body that we share together.

I'm going to use a big theological word here.

Our obligations to each other arise from an underlying

ontological communion. Meaning, you shouldn't

care for a brother or sister in the body just

because it's a commendable act of external goodness.

You should care for that person because it glorifies

God and because his or her good is bound up with

the health of the body that you both belong to.

You belong to an ontological communion together.

Your health is his health. His health is your

health. So we have these obligations. We live

out Romans 12 because we are concerned about

the overall health of our body and your body

together. This is sort of the mystical idea that

Paul is driving at here. And it requires humility,

doesn't it? To be able to say my life is your

life and vice versa requires us to humble ourselves

because it requires mutual belonging and mutual

concern for the other. We can't just operate

selfishly in the body as we please. We have to

make unity the priority. And unity requires dying

to self. This is why Paul warns against pride.

Look at verse 3. I say to everyone among you

not to think more highly of himself than he ought

to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment.

Think rightly about this, he says, because if

you think more highly of yourself than you should,

you are going to undermine the oneness of the

body. You are going to harm the health of the

body that you belong to. You're going to end

up, if you're prideful, insisting on your own

way, insisting that you're always right. You're

going to end up looking down on others. You're

going to be constantly criticizing and complaining

because pride always compares and pride competes

and pride seeks its own recognition and therefore

undermines the health of a body. Humility does

the opposite. It enables believers to put others

in the body first and rightly consider others

more important than self. Humility encourages.

It builds up. It facilitates love. This is the

picture Paul's drawing for us here, and it's

intense. In America today, we've made it really

casual. Well, do what you want, come when you

want, don't have to work, just enjoy. We've made

it so casual, what Paul is describing is intense.

Man, I wish the church would get it. Here's why

the number one promise we make to each other

in our covenant simply says, we will work and

pray for unity, the spirit within the body. It's

the number one thing on our covenant. Because

if we have unity, we have oneness, we have health,

we're all so much better for it. Amen? All right,

let's look at verses six through eight now. Here

we're told that each believer receives from God

certain gifts. Thank you, Lord. Everybody here

has been given gifts. And so if you've been given

gifts, you're to exercise them as a functioning

part of this one body that we share. And these

gifts can be many things. This is going to be

a little bit controversial. I don't think the

lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament

are exhaustive. I think they're examples of the

types of gifts that the Spirit gives, but I think

there's many more than are listed for us in Scripture.

But here in Romans 12, Paul lists seven of these

things, seven unique functions. Each designed

to contribute to the overall health of this living

body that we're a part of. That is the point

of the gifts, right? They're given to you and

I for the sake of strengthening the body as a

whole. They are not, listen now, they are not

given to us as trophies of our own personal success

in spiritual things. Right? I hate to say it.

You've probably known people. I've known people

that hold it up. This is my trophy. Look how

great I am. They're not given to us so that we

can impress other people or to garner admiration

from people. The whole idea of look at me is

contrary to the nature of the body. Look how

well I do things. Look how much I know. These

things are destructive to the unity of our body

together. So once again, humility is required

of every part of the body as we pull together

our various gifts that the Spirit of God has

given us. to practice them in the local church.

As we heard in our call to worship passage earlier,

God has arranged the members of the body. God

has arranged this body. Isn't that cool? He's

put it together. Each one of them, each member

that he has sovereignly chose. Do you believe

big concepts like this, that God has sovereignly

arranged Oak Hill Bible Church as he desires?

And all he says is, be faithful to the gifts

I've given you because I have a design for that

local church. It's beautiful. Now, obviously,

we don't all serve in the same way. And not all

of our gifts are equally obvious. Some are done

out front and visible, like me flapping my gums

every Sunday, right? Just obvious and visible.

But far more of the gifts that the Spirit gives

are done quietly and behind the scenes. And they're

just as valuable. Think about the thoughtful

believer who goes out of his way to greet somebody

who's new or is just being overlooked and they

see it and they just, they run to that person

and they greet them warmly. That's so subtle,

but so important for a body, right? Think about

the believer who's sensitive enough to notice

when somebody's been absent recently. And so

they reach out, not to wag a finger at them,

but just to say, are you okay? Are you okay?

Is there something you need? Think about the

prayer warrior who spends hours each day lifting

up leaders in the church and those in the body

who have needs. You would never even see it.

Think about the church member who suddenly watches

to see who God is using. They're discerning how

God is working, and then they reach out during

the week to just say, well done. God is at work

in you, just encouraging people. It doesn't take

much. It's a quick text or an email, right? Think

about the believer who completely unbeknownst

to any of us gives well beyond his financial

means to the ministry, either here or to some

mission across the world. Giftedness. Or simply

think about that very quiet person who flies

under the radar, but is the one who's always

volunteering to do the type of labor that nobody

else wants to do. We have a bunch of those in

this church. I see it. Do you see it? It's amazing.

These kinds of faithful service are precious

to God, even when it's not recognized by people.

In fact, Paul wrote about this. Again, back to

our call to worship passage. Adam read it earlier.

The parts of the body that seem to be weaker

are indispensable. This church does not operate

without them. And on those parts of the body

that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater

honor. What a beautiful picture. God has so composed

the body, giving greater honor to the part that

lacked it that there may be no division in the

body, but that the members may have the same

care for one another. Listen, guys, your uniqueness

matters to this church. Whether you realize it

or not, your presence matters, your prayers matter,

your helping hands matter, your spiritual gifts

matter. Go back to the church I talked about

earlier where the staff does everything, the

professionals do everything. No, all of your

gifts, all of these subtle things that you do

in the body, they make a difference. Your participation

in body life is essential to our life together.

By the way, on the flip side, this matters too.

When you're absent from us, it makes a difference.

When you pull back from the body life, when you

stop serving altogether, it makes a difference.

This is how God has designed the functioning

of his body. We need each other, every part,

every part. Let me ask you a question. Have you

ever stopped and looked around on a Sunday like

today and thought, how many people have already

loved me? You walked in the door back there,

or you walked in the gate, and you stop and think,

how many people have already loved me? Can I

count the ways? Somebody brought that coffee,

right? And that, do you see the spread on the

pastries today? It was extra special for you

guys. That got shopped for and purchased and

transported. There are dozens of church members

right now serving your kids in our acorn ministry.

Yeah, they're gifted in their desire to care

for our kids. There's a whole bunch of folks

who got here at 7 .30 this morning. To unload

a shed, sweating. And they'll do it after the

service, loading the shed, sweating even more.

They did it for you. They've already loved you

this morning. The men and women who just put

up these curtains and hung these lights. The

AV team who set up that sound table and all this

equipment you see. Tested it, ran it. They loved

you already today. You just wandered in and it

was there. Do you know somebody creates all those

visuals you see on the screen? They use their

creative gifts to put beauty on the screen. How

gifted are the members of our praise team, using

their talents and skills to glorify God, to bring

us to the throne of grace in song? That doesn't

happen by accident. They loved you already this

week and this morning. The volunteers who greeted

you, the ushers who watch over our seating. There's

a rover outside right now providing security

for this campus. And he sacrifices. He's not

in here. He's not able to worship with you. He's

sacrificing his time and energy to watch over

your kids in this campus. He's loving you right

now. That's just Sundays. That's just Sundays.

How about all the host homes that get used during

the week? Hospitality. How about all the planning

of the various events we have? All the communication

that goes on. The men who sacrifice so many long

hours to oversee this church as elders. The many,

many tasks that our deacon team performs every

month. Our ministry leaders who plan and execute

their work with love and care. One body, many

gifts, all carried out for one reason, the overall

health of our church. Corporate body. And if

you say to me, well, Jeff, I didn't drink any

coffee this morning. Or I don't have any children.

Or I don't really care how nice the slides look.

I slip past the greeters anyway on the way in.

If that's you, grumpy pants, you missed the whole

point. You've missed the body concept. This is

the point here, right? Because we're members

of one another. Every hand lifted for the good

of the body has lifted you. Has lifted you. It's

just a matter of recognizing that truth and then

standing back and going, this is beautiful. Thank

you, Jesus, for the way you've designed your

church. And I have to tell you, every single

week, I am blown away at the many hands that

make this church go. It's your faithful love

that motivates me. every week to press forward

and to do the best I can in my preaching and

shepherding because I wanna love and serve you

as well as you've loved and served me. That's

the body that Paul is describing here. It's beautiful.

Okay, let's finish quickly. We gotta look at

these last few verses. Look at verse nine. Ooh,

I'm actually in the right slide today. This is

good. Let your love be genuine without hypocrisy.

In other words, guys, listen, don't say you love

others and then not actually love. This is an

easy trap for every Christian. Oh, of course

I love the body, but I'm not actually loving

it. Let your love for others in the body be humble

and sincere. Let it be not selfish. Don't let

it be selective. Well, there's some people I

want to love and other people I want to ignore.

If you understand that Christ has loved you,

then be diligent to love his people. And to me,

one of the key ways that we can do this is this

beautiful concept in Scripture of bearing one

another's burdens, which is another part of our

covenant. In fact, I'll put it on the screen.

In our covenant, it says, with tenderness and

empathy, we promise to bear one another's burdens

and sorrows. This is when we come alongside a

fellow member who's struggling to carry something

alone. And that's really the issue. They're trying

to carry it alone, whether it's grief or it's

financial trouble or illness or physical weakness

or family conflict. Maybe it's loneliness or

discouragement. We step in with whatever that

moment requires and we lend practical help. Maybe

it's just a listening ear. Maybe it's a visitation

or a phone call, a financial gift. It's bringing

a meal, offering transportation. Maybe it's just

sitting there with them. And just being present

as they go through something difficult. The reality

is sometimes we can't remove a burden, but we

can refuse to let a brother or sister carry it

alone. Let your love be genuine. Don't say you

love and then not love. Then look at the amazing

list in verses 10 through 13, starting with this

one. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

Develop a deep affection for those you call brothers

and sisters. Cultivate a deep affection for your

brothers and sisters. When we use the term church

family here at Oak Hill, we're not messing around.

We actually mean it. We're connected as a family,

as a body. It's commanded right here in the text.

It is a core part of living life in the spirit.

You've been brought into this union with Christ.

You've been ushered into his mystical body. You've

been given the spirit who then changes your affections,

moving us away from loving self to loving others.

If that's not happening, you should seek counsel

as to why that's not happening. Because this

is the work that God promises to do in us. Listen

to this great quote from John Piper. I love this.

He says, when a person has been plucked from

a burning building, or from a sinking ship, or

from a dreaded disease, everything looks precious

to him, especially people. How affectionate we

are to the people on the shore where we've just

been saved. That's our true condition. We just

need to wake up to it. That's a beautiful quote.

People, people, fellow members of the body, members

of one another. Continuing in verses 10 and 11.

In other words, guys, defer to others. Become

less. Become less in your eyes. Downplay yourself.

Whatever praise or attention you think you deserve,

set out to honor and encourage others. Lift up

their contributions and their efforts. Prefer

to honor rather than be honored. And Paul says,

don't lag behind in this. Don't get lazy in it.

Don't get sluggish. Don't get weary in doing

these things. Stay fervent and diligent. One

author puts it this way, keep stoking the fire

of your love for your fellow church members.

Stoking that fire. Don't let it go out. It requires

intentionality. Stoke that fire. Keep loving.

The health of our body depends on us stoking

that fire for each other. And by the way, if

you're listening to all this, you're like, man,

this sounds like a lot, and I'm tired. Aren't

we all? I'm so busy. I'm so tired. Everybody

says that. It all comes down to this. What do

you love? Right? Because we all make choices.

What do you love? And there's a very simple illustration.

I used this, I don't know how many years ago.

And this is especially for parents with young

kids. Kids get in the car. We're going shopping

for school supplies. Ten minutes in, they're

exhausted. They're so bored, I don't want any

more. They can't go another step. Now, same kids.

Kids get in the car, we're going to Disneyland.

They will go all day long. The zeal in their

little bodies, they just find an extra level,

an extra measure of energy, and they're not tired

anymore. Why? Because that's what they love.

They love Disneyland. And the same should be

true of us in Jesus' church. If you love Jesus,

if you love one another, keep stoking that fire.

You're not going to grow weary. He'll give you

the strength. He will give you the strength to

persevere. Okay, we've got verses 12 and 13.

These don't need a lot of explanation, so we're

going to go really fast through them. There they

are. Rejoicing in hope. Guys, let your joy, the

joy of your salvation, spread all over this body.

Let it be infectious. Let it motivate you to

keep glorifying God and loving others. Number

two, persevering in tribulation. We are called

to endure in times of affliction. Listen to this

now. We do this with the help of our brothers

and sisters. And then when the tide turns, we

help others in their affliction. Listen, there

are seasons of life. I've seen this play out

so many times in the church. Seasons of life

where you get to serve people. And then there's

seasons of life where you need to be served.

And if you haven't served people, when that time

of affliction comes for you, Who's going to serve

you? Seasons change. So while you can, serve

one another, love one another, because that time

may come for you. Number three, devoted to prayer.

Hey, one of the easiest, most practical, most

powerful ways you can love somebody in the body,

and you don't even have to leave your house.

People say all the time, Jeff, how can I serve?

Become a prayer warrior. That's probably the

easiest and number one thing you can do. Set

aside 30 minutes an hour each day to pray. Wow,

what a great service. Contributing to the needs

of the saints. Has God been generous to you?

Be generous to others. Practice hospitality.

Has God been hospitable to you? Be hospitable

to his people. Okay, let me close with this.

The question for all of us today is not simply,

Am I part of a church? Or do I attend a church?

The New Testament question is this. Am I functioning

as a true member of Christ's body and a true

member of one another in that body? That's the

question. Now, when the service is over, after

we sing some more, I'm going to give you guys

several ways that you can immediately apply what

we've learned in God's Word today. There are

opportunities here in this fall season to engage

in the body. Here's the thing. You ready? To

engage in the body requires relationship. There's

no other way. You've got to build a relationship

with people, which means you've got to be together.

So we're going to give you a few chances. A few

ways to do that. I'm going to put some things

on the screen. The first one is today we're talking

about community groups. By the way, if you're

a community group leader, will you stand real

fast? All right, we've got a bunch of them. Very

good. Praise the Lord for you guys, okay? Community

groups, they look like that. Where's Grant? There

he is. Hey, that's Grant's house. Way to go,

man. Community groups, okay? At the end, we're

going to let you, if you want to, sign up for

a community group today. That's number one. Second

thing is called grove groups, okay? This is for

our ladies. This is ladies coming together in

groups of, what is it, six or seven? Seven coming

together to live life in a smaller group where

they can really share life with one another.

We got ladies. Ladies in groves. That's the second

thing. And I'll explain this at the end of the

service. The third thing is, is we have something

called the Ambassador's Well. If you want to

take the gospel into our community, right? If

you want to spread what you've learned in this

body and go out and fan out in the community,

we have something called the Ambassador's Wells

Table. Out in the community at the mall, challenging

people with questions like, how do you know you're

going to heaven? Starting conversations. There

are people here this morning that came to Oak

Hill because of that table. It is an incredible

opportunity to serve. So we're going to talk

about all of that at the end of the service.

But again, as you consider this, can I remind

you again, Christianity is not a works -based,

guilt -driven life. It is a life motivated by

our union with Christ, a life motivated by humility

and thankfulness and healthy conviction based

on God's word and by our responsibilities that

we have towards our brothers and sisters in the

faith. That's what I want to motivate you. as

we talk about these opportunities later. Amen?

Let's bow our heads. Lord Jesus, thank you for

both the high theology, the mystical theology

of this beautiful picture that you've drawn for

us in this body metaphor. Thank you for that,

Lord, but then thank you also for all the practical

applications of how we live that out. Father,

make us more than a gathering of individuals.

Make us a healthy body that is humble in spirit

and faithful in service and tender in our bearing

with one another. Keep us united in truth and

deeply committed to one another for your glory.

Thank you for our time this morning. We love

you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.