Humble Mutual Service

Good morning, church family. For those of you who don't know me, my name's Bec and we're going to get straight into today's Bible reading.

! So if you can open your Bible or device to Romans chapter 12, and we're going to read the first eight verses.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment,

each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,

so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching,

the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity,

the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

This is God's word.

Well, good morning, everyone.

My name's David.

I'm one of the pastors here.

If you're visiting, it would be great to meet you after the service.

Will you pray with me as we come to God's word?

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we depend on you for all things,

and we just ask again that you would help us understand your word.

I pray that you would enlarge our vision of Christ

and the beauty of what you've done for us and who he is,

and I pray that you would help us to trust what you say here

and help us to live it.

So we ask for your help for all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, what is so special about church?

Some look for great music when they're picking a church.

Some look for well-run programs, especially kids' programs.

Others look for profound teaching or a strong leader.

You've probably got other things that are coming to mind.

Like, what's so special about church?

And if we compare it to other organizations in the world,

let's face it, compared to some businesses and countries,

there's better organized, they're more productive.

Some of them, not all of them.

But what's so special about church?

Yet in Ephesians 3, verse 10, it says this,

Ephesians 3:10

Through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known

to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Heavenly beings are looking at the church and going,

Wow, what is that that you have created, God?

What makes the church special?

I think we're going to see it in our passage today.

We're up to in Romans.

Luke really helpfully took us through last week.

Out of the mercies of God, we give ourselves back to God.

It's in view of what he's done.

His forgiveness in Christ, that when God looks at us,

we are righteous in him, we're justified.

We have peace with God.

We are being transformed into Christ's image.

We are adopted, as Sam took us through this morning.

We are children of God.

We are given his spirit.

We are totally united to God.

We have the hope of being glorified.

We will be with God.

We will be together.

The church will be beautiful in the new heaven and new world.

All the mercies of God, and how do we respond?

God has given all of himself to us.

We give all of ourselves back to him.

Not because we have to, because just his love for us, we want to love him.

And the first topic, the first concrete example of how we do that,

that Paul picks is church.

As we offer ourselves back to him, holy and acceptable worship will be a large part what we're doing right now.

Or not right now, but who we are as the church.

What we're going to see today, we're going to see three main things.

In verse 3, when we think rightly, when truth transforms us,

we're going to actually think rightly about ourselves.

I'll find that surprising, but we'll come to that.

Secondly, we're going to think of ourself as an interdependent one body of Christ.

And third, the body needs the varied graces of God, and so we're called to use them.

So that's where we're headed this morning.

Have your Bibles open.

In verse 3, there's a play on the word think.

It appears four times in this verse.

As we devote ourselves as lifelong learners to God's word,

as our mind is being transformed, it is surprising.

The very first thing Paul says, you're going to think differently about you.

Everything he could have talked about, he focuses on you.

If you have a changed mind, if your mind is changing, you will think more truly about yourself.

I find that very surprising.

It's not the only topic.

This is the start.

The rest of Romans is really talking about how we worship God now.

I'm not saying it's the only topic.

But essential to the Christian life is how you think about yourself

and how you think about yourself in relation to the church.

Paul appeals to his apostolic authority by the grace given to me.

Now, there's two effects by saying that.

First, he's saying, I'm an apostle.

What I'm about to say is really important.

The second effect is, by the grace given to me.

We see that phrase again in verse 6.

In one sense, he's elevating himself.

In another sense, we've all been given grace.

I say to everyone among you.

Now, that's emphasised.

Every single one needs to hear this.

All of us need to hear this, not just a few of us.

If, as a church, we all had great understanding of doctrine,

if, as a church, we were all just using our skills

and going above and beyond in service,

could I suggest if we had all that and not verse 3,

our service of God would be tainted?

It could be, at least.

Maybe I should...

It could be tainted.

Not pleasing.

I think often what causes division in an eldership...

I think our eldership is in a very healthy place,

if anyone reads into my words.

Often what causes division in an eldership or a ministry team

is verse 3, I think.

There's a negative command and a positive one.

Don't think.

Do think.

Don't think of himself more highly than he ought to think.

Pride.

Jerry Bridges, in his book, Respectable Sins,

he uses the analogy of a tree, of where sin comes from,

and you picture the branches of, like, gossip and slander and boasting,

but the tree trunk, where it all comes from, is pride.

Highly thinking of self.

Now, we're familiar with the self-exaltation, boasting form of pride.

Like, we're all prone to it.

But I think there's also an inverted form of it.

It's not a false humility either.

That can be overly thinking of self too.

I can't do anything right.

No one's gone through the hardships I've gone through.

It's still inward, overly thinking self.

Humility is, I can't remember the author who said this.

I'm borrowing some quote here.

But humility isn't thinking less of yourself.

Humility is thinking of yourself less, often.

Paul is saying the gospel grace produces the joy of self-forgetfulness.

So don't think highly of self, whether that boastful form,

which we can all kind of spot, but also the negative self-obsession as well.

Don't think highly of yourself, but do think of yourself with sober judgment.

Now, sober isn't this gloomy, serious, Christians can't make jokes.

It's not talking about that kind of sober.

It's saying don't be intoxicated.

Don't be out of control.

Pride distorts our vision of reality.

Let me press the image a bit here.

That phrase of a sound mind, a sound judgment, you also see it in Mark 5,

with the demon-possessed man.

I'm not claiming we can be demon-possessed, okay?

But the demon-possessed man, when Jesus heals him,

we're told he was found to be of a sound mind.

He was out of control.

When pride overestimates and focuses on self, either puffed up or self-pitying,

we're out of control.

Like we've lost touch with reality.

Sometimes we're so down on ourselves that what we do for God,

it's never good enough and nothing is acceptable to God.

I don't sense his pleasure in me.

I'm not as godly as all these other Christians in this room.

You've lost touch with reality.

Those self-assessments are not true.

It's not a sound mind.

But then your ego is flattered, your position in the church,

or the ministry would fall apart without me,

or I pray better than that person, I sing better, I preach better,

I give more profound answers in Bible study.

I've lost touch with reality.

We're not seeing ourselves right.

We're out of our mind.

So how do we get a sound mind?

How do we think of ourselves truly?

Well, it's the second half of verse 3 there.

Each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Now, when I first read that, I confessed to my small group

that I didn't know what it meant.

Let's just move on to verse 4 because we all, we can all,

okay, verse 4 we can understand a bit better.

Let's not do that because I think there's,

I think, of course, all scripture is beneficial

and there's often gold.

When it doesn't fit in your head,

that's where there's so much gold to be mined from it.

So what is the measure of faith?

What is that?

There seems to be two main options.

The first is that given the context that we're about to go into

of the different gifts, the different abilities,

then some understand the measure of faith

with just the different gifts, the different abilities.

Now, I'm oversimplifying that argument for the sake of time,

but I think that personally I don't like that

because the definition of faith,

that's just stretching what that word means.

A second option, which I'm leaning towards this one,

is faith is the normal meaning as we use it,

that all believers are given,

that we have faith in Christ,

that faith in Jesus is the measure,

the criteria to measure ourselves by.

If you want an objective view of yourself,

have a look at your faith in any given moment.

I think this is great.

You want to have a look at yourself?

How much are you looking away from yourself?

How much am I...

You want an accurate picture of yourself in this moment?

How much am I looking to Christ in this moment?

How much am I looking to Christ in this moment?

How much am I looking to Christ in this moment?

Chapter 4, Abraham, we're told,

he grew strong in faith.

Faith is often spoken of in the New Testament

as it's organic, it grows.

All Christians have it, we all have it,

but we're called to grow.

It can be strengthened.

I think to get our heads around this,

I want to just imagine that Paul said,

assess yourself by knowledge,

knowledge of the truth.

That sounds like it would be helpful.

But then Paul Tripp,

in his book to pastors,

Dangerous Calling,

he's got a whole chapter,

and the title of the chapter speaks for itself,

Big Theological Brains and Heart Disease.

We all know,

knowledge is very important.

We need our minds renewed by knowledge.

We're all meant to be learners,

lifelong learners.

But if we made knowledge the criteria,

that could lead to pride.

Another option is,

what if it was the ministry fruit you're producing?

Assess yourself by the fruit of your service.

That could be dangerous too.

Missionary Friends shared an article,

I know Dean and Rachel are here,

but this is a,

I'm going to mispronounce this Japanese word,

which is why I'm spotlighting you right now.

An old faithful Japanese man speaking to missionaries,

and he was asking,

what are we aiming to be?

A hero?

Or a hero?

Yeah.

Fertiliser?

Is that pretty close?

Not really, okay.

He's playing,

are we trying to be a hero,

or hero?

Fertiliser.

Which one is your image of missionary work?

Do you want to be poo?

Or do you want to be the hero?

The hero works alone,

you're trying to get all the credit.

The fertiliser,

you're just part of the process,

and you're forgotten.

If ministry fruit was the way you assess yourself by it,

that too could lead to pride.

But if you look,

if faith is the criteria,

faith,

looking away from yourself,

that will give you a sound,

sober assessment.

Now Paul is quick to say,

give,

that the faith is from God.

And we're going to come to that.

I really appreciate all the musicians leading us

in worship of God.

Like,

I don't have a musical bone in my body,

so I really appreciate you leading us.

But your musical skill,

all the effects,

the fruit of serving this church,

that isn't the best measure.

The best measure to look,

is to look at the faith you've got.

Am I depending on Christ,

as I prepare this music?

Am I wanting Christ to be the spotlight,

as we sing,

or am I wanting to be the spotlight?

Am I worshipping Christ in my heart,

as my lips are praising him?

I think faith gives us,

an accurate view,

of ourselves.

If we bring faith into the equation,

it can take us from pride,

to self-controlled humility.

And before we start thinking,

faith is a reason to boast,

we're to give the glory to God,

as God has given to each one of us.

Now, I think we're uncomfortable.

I'm uncomfortable with the idea

that God might distribute faith

in different amounts.

But I think that's just our culture's,

can I suggest that could be

our culture's push on equality?

Equality is our world's best attempt at unity,

but it's just uniformity.

Whereas God's unity of interdependence

is so much more beautiful.

If we can get past the offence

of equal amounts,

it's actually,

I think it's really practical.

When we see new or young Christians

serving Jesus,

and they don't get their doctrine quite right,

do we go,

oh, tsk, tsk.

No, we don't.

We rejoice.

We see the measure of faith God has given.

Is it mature yet?

No, not yet.

But we rejoice, don't we?

When we see older saints

who their prayers,

you're just like,

wow,

I want to depend on God like that.

We don't need to be threatened by it.

God's given that faith,

often through a lot of trials.

We can just thank God for their faith

and want to be like it.

I think acknowledging that God gives faith

in different measures,

we're all called to grow in it,

I think it's extremely practical.

If we make faith the criteria of seeing ourselves,

it destroys pride.

It will produce true humility.

When we see it,

we can give thanks to God for it.

So then in verse 4,

verse 4,

Paul moves on to

a way of expressing that faith,

and it's in the church.

The word for there in verse 4,

I don't think it's giving a reason

for verse 3,

I think he's just moving on.

Here's an important outworking of faith.

If you're filling your mind with faith,

you will see the church like this.

You'll see the church

as one body of Christ.

If we're conformed to our Western culture

that we live in,

we're going to primarily think of ourselves

as individuals.

We're going to prize and defend

personal freedom.

We're going to tie our worth

to our abilities and our achievements.

But if our minds are being renewed

and our faith is growing,

church isn't something you do or not.

It's something you are.

Verse 4 and 5 is not a command.

Be, become one body,

be one body.

It's stating a reality.

We are one body.

The body of Christ, no less.

You have been purchased

by the blood of Jesus.

You fully belong to this church,

not by virtue of what you do,

but because Jesus has made you his own.

You are joined to him,

so we're joined to each other.

Any ego of self-sufficiency

or self-pity,

that thinking needs to replace

by true thinking of who I am.

We belong to the Lord of heaven and earth

and we are inseparable from one another.

We are dependent on each other.

If the sound guys turned off

the sound desk right now,

you wouldn't hear me.

I need it.

Please don't do that.

If the cleaners

and those who organise insurance

for this building

and all those who have given generously,

we just couldn't be meeting right now.

Those who have been praying for this morning,

I suspect all our efforts this morning

would just fall flat

if you hadn't been praying.

Without the constant encouragement

and instruction and correction

and affection

that you've shown me,

I think if all that was taken away from me overnight,

I reckon my faith would likely just...

I'm not saying it would disappear,

but I think it would be really malnourished.

I think it would be really malnourished.

The church needs organisation,

but we need to see it as much more than an organisation.

We're an organism.

We are...

It's living.

Jesus has created it.

He's sustaining us.

He's...

He's among us.

The grace of God is empowering his church.

Now, the unity spoken of here,

it's a beautiful picture, is it not?

The little toe is connected to the earlobe in my body.

There is no one in here, in this church,

where each member's one of another

because we're joined to Christ.

Now, this unity, it's bigger.

It's bigger than this church, I think.

Over the holiday periods,

if you visit another church

that believes in the Jesus of the Bible,

you will be meeting strangers,

but you will have profound unity

as you worship him together.

Like, haven't you...

We've all found that.

You come across a Christian

and you've almost got more in common

than biological family.

So it's bigger than this church,

but the way we give expression to it

is we're embodied creatures to pick up.

We express it in this local church mainly.

So the New Testament,

it's got many metaphors for the church,

like the city of God,

the light on a hill.

We're meant to be a witness

as we engage the world.

We're a living temple.

We're the bride of Christ.

We're a flock under one shepherd.

One body pictures up the interdependence

of the functions in the body.

So verse 6,

having gifts that differ

according to the grace given to us,

let us use them.

God is the source of this,

of the graces,

this empowering to serve him.

When we think of gifts,

it can be God takes

our natural abilities

that he created us with

and he redirects them

in service of him.

But sometimes he creates in us

abilities that go way beyond

our natural temperament.

And he's just like,

how did you do that?

He has the ability to do that too.

He even has the ability

in the moment you need it,

he gives you grace for that.

Each one of us are given grace,

not just a few.

The emphasis here is on the differences.

We need the differences.

This isn't an exhaustive list.

There's other lists

in the New Testament.

They're not exact.

I don't even think

together they're even

an exhaustive list.

I don't think these gifts

are static.

I don't think you should be going,

which one am I?

Different needs in the church

call for different responses.

They can change over the years

of our abilities

and what we need.

The point is,

God knows what this church needs

and he provides it.

And it's not in equal measure.

And it's not the same function.

The main focus in these verses

is use them.

Use them.

The body needs it.

It's pride getting in the way

if we have that thought,

I wish I had her gifts.

That's special.

That's pride.

Just rejoice.

God gave her that.

It's pride getting in the way

when leadership

recognise that person's gifts

and not mine.

that's just pride getting in the way.

If we rejoice in our Lord's design

of the interdependence,

if faith and love for Christ fuel us,

we know that we're worshipping him.

Use them.

Now,

I see so much expressions

of faith in this church.

I thank God for you.

Let's just keep growing.

Let's keep developing

and using the gifts God has given.

The body needs it.

Let's

fairly briefly go through

the things listed here.

Now,

prophecy is probably

a tricky one,

isn't it?

What is that?

Let me shock a few people.

I think prophecy happens

in this church

regularly.

Prophecy is

a revelation

from God,

but it never,

ever

carries the authority

of Scripture.

Never.

We're called to weigh it.

We're called to evaluate it.

We're meant to assume

there's going to be

truth in it

and error.

It's never,

ever

on the same terms

as Scripture,

which is,

I think,

probably why

we're rightly afraid

to call it prophecy.

I think we're afraid

to put it

on the level

of Scripture.

So,

I think,

don't think of prophecy

as predicting the future.

Think of it

as God-given insight

into a particular

situation.

I think we all

know the experience

when

one of us,

we're just sharing

together what's going

on in our life

and

it's a really

difficult situation.

you're trying

to discern

God's will,

what's going

to please him.

You're just

really struggling

or you're just

paralysed,

you don't know

what to do

or you're just

paralysed by fear

or something like that

and a brother or sister

just says something

and it just

hits the mark.

I think it's

something like that.

They may not even

realise how profound

their sentence was.

They're probably

not even realising

this is from

God

but when it's

just this

surgical strike

and it's exactly

what you need.

I think it's

that sort of

thing

that prophecy

is speaking

into a

particular

situation.

We need

that.

God gives

that

in his

church

but then

the

qualifier

is

do it

in proportion

to our

faith.

Don't go

beyond

what you

understand

the gospel

to be.

Don't just

spout off

your opinion

left,

right and

centre.

Rely on

God

and speak

what you

trust

will be

helpful.

So that's

prophecy.

Verse 7

if service

I think

that's

practical

meeting

practical

needs

in our

serving

the one

who

teaches

which

requires

study

and

effort

in

his

teaching

the one

who

exhorts

I think

that's

encouraging

when

someone

just

needs

strengthening

giving

them

boldness

to act

and believe

what's

the point

of those

second

phrases

in our

serving

in his

teaching

in his

exhortation

I think

it's

emphasising

the way

we

worship

is by

using

them

I think

for different

reasons

sometimes we

can find

ourselves

just going

through the

motions

in church

in the

past

we've been

on fire

and just

appreciating

what Jesus

has done

for us

and we're

just

looking

for needs

and we

want to

meet those

needs

and for

whatever

reason

is going

on in

life

we just

see a

need

and we

start

thinking

someone else

will do

that

if you

can meet

practical

needs

express it

in meeting

practical

needs

and that's

worship

if parents

you're called

to teach

your children

express it

in your

teaching

I don't

know how

many people

are in

this room

120

50

I don't

know

over

morning tea

there's

about 150

people who

need

encouragement

we all

need

strengthening

if you've

got an

opportunity

take it

the final

three of

these

gifts

that's

talked

about

really

emphasises

the manner

in which

we go

about it

so

giving

money

contributing

money

but not

just

money

but

other

things

as well

like

is giving

money

to church

before

or after

tax

that's

a rubbish

question

isn't

it

I've

asked

that

question

it's

a rubbish

question

if

contributing

do it

God

wants

generosity

do it

because

the mercy

of God

it's

an act

of

worship

it's

not

a tick

the box

if

you're

leading

a team

or us

as

leaders

do it

with

diligence

fulfilling

your

obligation

is

worship

serving

your

team

members

and

letting

them

get the

praise

and

protecting

them

it's

do it

with

diligence

and

that's

worship

mercy

the manner

in which

we carry

out

mercy

should

be

with

cheerfulness

not

because

we

just

have

to

give

money

to

that

homeless

person

we

come

across

there's

a

cheerfulness

of

being

merciful

like

our

heavenly

father

is

merciful

the

body

needs

all

the

varied

graces

to

build

ourselves

up into

the

likeness

of

Christ

so

what

is

so

special

about

the

church

God

is

glorified

in

his

unified

church

nothing

else

creates

this

unity

you

won't

find

humble

interdependent

God

serving

unity

in

anywhere

else

you

won't

find

it

in

any

religion

any

other

religious

group

you

won't

find

it

in

any

company

you

won't

find

it

in

any

club

you

won't

find

any

family

not

the

diversity

expressed

in

unity

you

won't

find

it

in

any

friendship

circle

you

won't

you

can't

because

of

the

differences

in

the

church

and

the

humility

and

interdependence

and

the joy

and

just

worshipping

God

together

that

unity

is

amazing

and

I

can't

create

it

you

can't

create

it

it's

only

Jesus

who

creates

it

and

it's

the

blood

of

Jesus

he

prays

the night

before

he dies

in

John

17

his

high

priestly

prayer to

the

father

and

he's

about

to

go

to

the

cross

to

make

it

happen

the

father

is

going

to

answer

this

prayer

that

they

may

become

perfectly

one

so

that

the

world

may

know

that

you

have

sent

me

and

love

them

even

as

you

loved

me

only

Jesus

can

create

this

unity

this

humble

interdependence

as

faith

in

Christ

destroys

!

pride

as

we

rejoice

in

dependence

on

each

other

celebrating

the

importance

of

all

the

varied

graces

as

we

together

voluntarily

joyfully

offer

ourselves

as a

living

sacrifice

to

him

Jesus

gets

the

glory

in

his

unified

church

so

that's

how we

can

be

a

living

sacrifice

as

the

church

whatever

graces

God

has

given

you

use

them

for

his

glory

will

you

pray

with

me

let's

pray

oh

heavenly

father

increase

our

love

of

your

church

so

that

it's

closer

to

your

love

of

the

church

lord

help

us

to

be

fueled

by

the

hope

of

you

promise

to

complete

what

you

started

that

when

you

return

the

bride

will

be

beautiful

the

church

will

be

glorified

help

us

to

keep

striving

and

being

motivated

by

that

day

that's

coming

lord

i pray

that

you

would

fill

us

all

with

increasing

faith

lord

i pray

that

you

would

expose

help

us

to

celebrate

each

one

of

us

among

us

giving

praise

to

you

for

what

you've

given

this

church

for

our

good

we

thank

you

for

your

faithfulness

to

this

church

family

over

so

many

years

and

we

just

ask

for

your

continued

grace

help

us

to

do

this

for

your

glory

in

Jesus

name

Amen