Romans 12:3-8 "Grace to Serve Others" - The Men's Bible Study with Steven J. Lawson

[Music] well good morning thank you for joining us for the men's Bible study I'm Steve Lawson this is my good friend Kent Stainback we're coming to you from Dallas Texas herbes house some of you have wondered have I Shrunk the Bible study down to us just Kent and me Honey I Shrunk the Bible study the answer is we're still in quarantine and tomorrow I think some of that's going to begin to loosen up but we're still not able to have all the men here but we wanted to be able to continue to bring the Word of God to you and so therefore Kent and I have continued to meet here on Thursday mornings so this is really kind of like a one-on-one in some ways yeah well I need trust me what we're looking at today I need more than anyone else but we're so glad that you have joined us we're gonna be in Romans twelve verses three through eight I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get all the way through verse eight the title of this study is Grace to serve others Romans 12:3 through 8 and I know that I need to begin in a word of Prayer so why don't you join me in prayer father as we begin this study this morning we pray that your Holy Spirit would be the teacher that he would illumine our minds and open our understanding of this text and that he would also bring application to our own hearts that there would be both conviction and comfort that the various places that we touch on in this study I pray that you would meet with each of the people who are joining us wherever they are from around the world minister to their hearts into their lives pray this in Christ's name Amen all right well we want to begin by looking into our text Romans 12 I want to begin by reading the passage beginning in verse 3-4 through the grace given to me 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 as God has allotted to each a measure of faith but 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 prophesy according to the proportion of his faith if service and is serving or he who teaches in his teaching or he who exhorts in his exhortation he who gives with liberality he who leads with diligence he who shows mercy with cheerfulness what a great passage of Scripture in the opening two verses of this chapter Paul instructed us that we are to present our bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice to God and in these next two are in these next verses we find the immediate application of verses 1 and 2 how it is to practically work out in our lives and it begins with serving others in other words if you are truly presenting your body as a living and Holy Sacrifice to God the very first step of daily practical application of this will be that you will serve others the order here is very important first we present our bodies to God a living and Holy Sacrifice then out of that we serve others we could put it this way first the vertical toward God then the horizontal toward others that's exactly what Jesus taught in Matthew 22 when he was asked what's the greatest commandment he said first the vertical love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and then he said in the second is like it that you love others as you love your so we see that same priority first we love God first we present our lives to God then second we love others and we serve others there's really an inseparable connection between these two verses one and two cannot be separated from verses three and following so I want to dive right into this because I've got a lot to to teach us today from God's Word and so as we look beginning in verse three the very first point of application that Paul makes is number one resist pride resist pride he says beginning in verse 3-4 through the grace given to me and I want to come in on the word for that connects verse 3 with what preceded here is a logical now application for through the grace given to me I say to you this grace that was given to Paul is to be understood as the grace of Apostleship that by this grace bestowed on Paul not just in saving grace but in serving grace and he connects that connected that at the very beginning of the book in Romans 1 and verse 5 he says through whom we have received Grace and Apostleship he ties the two together and he will do the same later in the book of Romans in Romans 15 and and verse 5 excuse me 15 Romans 15 15 but I've written Barratt very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again because of the grace that was given to me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles so Paul is saying that God has called me to bring this message to you and God has appointed me to be an apostle such that what I say comes directly from the head of the church the Lord Jesus Christ himself so back to Romans 12 and verse 3 for through the grace given to me I say to you to everyone among you and this now he is underscoring this is for every believer in the body of Christ if you are a believer in Jesus Christ this is addressed directly and personally to you as it is to me and here's what he says not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think I mean why would he say that I was just taking 11 chapters to walk us through all of the Grace and all the blessings that have been bestowed upon us in justification sanctification glorification election predestination etc and there has been an abundance of riches that have been entrusted to us and it might be tempting for us to think well I'm a little better than other people I have so much going for me and the temptation is to get your nose in the air and to think more highly of yourself and you ought to think and so Paul has to begin this practical section by reminding us hey you need to maintain a humble spirit as you serve the Lord when he says not to think more highly of himself it's really one word in the original language other than the word not and it it's a compound word and the prefix is who pair you can almost hear hyper and not to have a hyper opinion of yourself is is what this is saying are not to be high-minded and we would say in the vernacular not to have your nose in the air not to overestimate your importance not to overvalue yourself how you view yourself this is a call to resist pride and arrogance and to be puffed up and I want you to think with me here now because of what you know because of what you have because of who you are because of who you know because of where you're from because of where you live because of to whom you were born because of where you serve because of what gifts you have do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think and the reason is because you have nothing of any spiritual good but that it has been given to you by God you didn't earn it you didn't make it you didn't create it you didn't pull yourself up it's all been by grace that it has been given to you and not just your salvation but everything that you need to serve God has been given to you as a gift how could you become high-minded when you have done nothing except receive it with an empty hand that's the point Paul makes and so humility is absolutely essential in serving the Lord and I want to take us through a series of cross references now that that I think is really worth our time to take this moment and to let the rest of Scripture confirm this later in this very same chapter in Romans 12 verse 16 Paul says do not be haughty in mind but associate with the lowly do not be wise in your own estimation in other words do not be elevating yourself above others and don't think you're so good that you cannot rub shoulders with those that you perceive to be of a lower place in the body of Christ in other words who in the world do you think you are that you're above association with others who are lowly minded he says in Galatians 3 excuse me a glacier in 6 and verse 3 if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deceives himself I need to hear this we all need to hear this in Ephesians 4 verses 1 and 2 I love this because listen to this therefore I the prisoner of the Lord employer you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called now what is the very first step in walking in a manner worthy of your calling what is step number one he says with all humility the word humility means lowliness of mine this is the very opposite of the mindset of the Roman Empire at this time in fact some people believe that Paul actually coined this word under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit there was no place even in the vocabulary the first century in the Greek language for the word humility humility would that's the last thing we want we're Romans we conquer people we elevate ourselves we dominate we rule and now here comes this Christian message that says their very first step in following Christ is with all humility and this even reminds us there's no partial humility it's kind of an all-or-nothing in Colossians 3 and verse 12 Paul writes as those who have been chosen of God put on a heart of humility the doctrine of a election should not puff us up that we know more than other people or we've come to a higher position of understanding it should so humble us that we would be lowly in mind as we serve others Philippians 2 and verse 3 withal excuse me with humility of mine regard one another as more important than yourself this is nothing new this is all rooted and grounded in what was taught in the Old Testament Isaiah the prophet and Isaiah 57 verse 15 listen to this for thus says the Lord or excuse me for this says the high and exalted one normally the Prophet does say for thus says the Lord but he's going to make a contrast here between the high and the lowly and so rather than saying thus says the Lord he says thus says the high and holy are the high and exalted one who lives forever his name is holy i dwell on a high and holy place and also with so where else do you think God dwells high and holy place and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite so do you see these two extremes God dwells on a high and holy throne and with the lowly in spirit God is omnipresent he has everywhere present but he unusually manifests his grace and his power and His mercy with those who are lowly in spirit in Isaiah 66 in verse 2 God says I will look to him meaning to look with favor to him who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word really the evidence that you are humble and contrite in spirit is you tremble at God's Word in James 4 and verse 6 which is a direct quote from someone 38 verse 6 in proverbs 3 verse 34 James writes God is opposed to the proud and he gives grace to the humble how are we gonna serve God if God is opposed to us our ministry would go nowhere but he gives grace to those who are humble listen to 1st Peter 5 and verse 5 all of you clothed yourselves with humility toward one another for God as opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time what is the proper time for God to exalt you when you and I finally humble ourselves and he's not gonna exalt us until we finally come to the place where we truly humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God and he will not exalt us one millisecond before that so let us humble ourselves and then God will exalt us that's what he says in Luke 18 in verse 14 James 4 verse 10 humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you there's no end to the verses that we could cite one more James 1 verse 17 every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow let me just summarize this and put a bow around this by saying this we have zero reason to be proud we have every reason to be humble we have 10,000 reasons to be humble we have no reason to be proud yet our flesh wants to continue to exalt ourselves we want to continue to look in the mirror and sing how great thou art there is there is no place for pride or arrogance in our serving the Lord he sings solo it the spotlight is on him not on us that's why Jesus said in Luke 9 and verse 23 if anyone wishes to come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me so that's the first point of application here resist pride jesus said in mark 10 verse 45 I've come not to be served but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many for those of us who would be effectively used in service that must be our mindset we have come not to be served but to serve and to give our life for the Lord so that's number one resist pride as you look into your own life and into your own heart as we have been looking at these verses may the Lord shine light into your life in those areas where you need to humble yourself so that Christ can be exalted through your ministry and through your service now this leads to the second half of the verse remain sensible remain sensible after the negative now the positive he says but to think so as to have sound judgment the emphasis continues to be upon thinking upon our mindset not on our feelings but upon our our thinking how we view ourselves how we view God and he says but to think so as and now this is all one word in the original language to have sound judgment it's translated as four words in our English Bible one word in the original Greek and it simply means this to think soberly to think soundly to think sensibly to think sanely really about ourselves not to have an inflated view of ourselves but a realistic view that is sensible it's interesting I looked up how this is used elsewhere in the New Testament and it's interesting in mark 5 and verse 15 after they observed the man who had been demon-possessed and Jesus cast the demon out of this man it says that he was sitting down clothed and in his right mind right mind is the very same word here we need to be clothed in our right mind we're insane if we think that our ministry is prospering because of us no it's prospering because of the Lord and what the Lord is doing in us and has done us in us and the gifts that he's given to us and the doors that he's opened in front of us and the wisdom and love and power that he's given to us it's really all of the Lord and if we are to think sensibly about ourselves we understand this and the word is translated in Titus 2 verse 6 urged the young men to be sensible to have a sober judgment of ourselves in our ministry and in in our sir of us sometimes I have students in seminary ask me how do you remain humble as they would as they have this skewed view as if I'm walking around having to resist this and and I say to them our theology and our doctrine and our understanding of the Bible teaches us we have no reason to be proud we have every reason to be humble yet our flesh continues to want to exalt ourselves but nevertheless this verse is critically important and and Paul continues at the universe 3 with some more information that I think helps us have a sound judgment of ourselves he says as God has allotted to each a measure of faith now let's just hit the pause button here for a moment God has allotted and that means distributed or assigned to each believer he's given it to you he's given it to me he says a measure of faith a quantity of faith a distribution of faith this faith spoken of here is is not the faith that we would think of at the moment of conversion though it's just all one faith but it's the faith that we are to use daily in serving God it's serving faith if you will even this is a gift from God we cannot use he will lift the spiritual gifts in verses 6 and 7 and 8 gift of prophecy service teaching exhortation giving leading mercy those gifts can't can only be used with the faith that God has given to us in other words every gift can be used either with faith or in the flesh one of the two either I can preach with the faith that God has given to me or I can preach in the flesh it's the same with us singing let's say at church I've seen a lot of people sing in the flesh that this is a performance and I've seen other people sing exercising faith that God has given to them so what does this faith mean it means that as we serve the Lord we are trusting the Lord we are consciously aware of my need for serving grace I am consciously aware that I must trust God for everything that is necessary to carry out this this ministry and this is evidenced first and foremost in prayer that we are utterly reliant upon God as we bring to him our petition oh god help me god be to me everything that I need to carry out this ministry God you must go before me open the door prepare the hearts of the people that I would serve God you must be with me to give me discernment to give me wisdom to give me love as I serve others Lord you must be underneath me to uphold me so that I can persevere in serving others God you must come in behind me and you must secure the the harvest and the fruit that will come from this labor we must express this to God in prayer and lay the matter before him that that is what Paul is saying in in this verse and even the faith that we have to come to God in prayer to trust God even this is a gift from God that's exactly what what this is something that God has allotted to each a measure of faith and I want to give one cross-reference at this point critically important Hebrews 12 verse 2 looking unto Jesus now listen to this the author and perfecter of faith Jesus authored this faith in us he sired it he created saving faith in us and he is the one who must perfect it and the idea there is to mature it and to grow it throughout the entirety of our Christian life in other words the first step into the kingdom of God was in a sense a baby step of faith and now as we walk in a manner worthy of our calling he must cultivate and enlarge and deepen our faith as greater challenges are before us as we live the Christian life and specifically here as we serve the Lord so Kent that this is an incredibly practical passage and I was joking the other day like how much you need these and I really wasn't joking no but seriously I stand at the head of this list I am number one in need of this and everyone else is so far behind me you would think you're in a different line I need to to not think more highly of myself and not to think I need have sound judgment that God has allotted to me a measure of faith and really what he said in chapter 11 verse 36 that all things are from him and through him and to him and that's true not just in salvation that's true in ministry and and even this ministry the Lord has opened up to us in the men's Bible study Kent when you first invited me to come and and talk there were like four of us up in your your board room all of that came from the Lord and all of this has been continued by the Lord and all of it is to the Lord for His glory for his honor and and for him to use as it would please him so it's good for me to be reminded of this more than anyone else and now let's keep moving here to verse four the third thing that I want you to note is regard others we've said resist pride we have said what remain sensible and third now regard others and when he says regard others the idea here is ministry as a team sport and you're not the only person on the team and you God has placed other people around you towards the common goal of serving the Lord none of us can serve the Lord independently I McKenna I could have never done any of this without you I couldn't do this without Paul over here running the camera and the lights and and everything and and so notice what he says here in verse four for and so he's continuing the explanation there's not a break in the flow of thought for just as we have many members in one body and he's talking about the body of Christ that using the analogy that he will that he used earlier chronologically or earlier in first corinthians chapter 12 that that we're the body of christ and he'll use it in ephesians 4 also that we're just there there many members in one body and all the members do not have this function and he will go on to tell us in the verses that are ahead of us how he's given different gifts to the different members of the body and no one believer can serve the Lord independent of the other members of the body around him in other words we're all just fused together into one body and Christ has placed us exactly where he wants us to be in the body of Christ and he's an athletic metaphor I mean some of us are blocking tackles and others of us are pulling guards and others of us are quarterback some are wide receivers you need to know your position and you need to play your position and the team thrives for the glory of God as you realize hey you're not the only person out on the field and you need the other people around you that that in essence is what Paul is saying with a more modern analogy that I've used with with sports but we play different positions on the same team we have different assignments in the one body of Christ that that's what what Paul is saying and I don't want to get pulled away in the first Corinthians 12 4 through 6 you can look at it on your own he talks about variety of gifts and variety of ministries from variety effects and many members in one body I'll just leave that without being pulled in another direction this leads us now to the last heading I want to set before us it begins in verse 5 and it is recognize unity recognize unity that though we are many members we've got to pull together towards one common goal one common purpose many different members cannot have many different purposes the many different members are put into one body and my body only functions when my legs my hands my eyes my ears are all working in sync as one body towards one purpose and direction and that's what are you saying here so verse 5 so we referring to believers who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another we're interconnected it's like when my hand is hurt my other hand wants to hold it then my lips want to kiss it then I want to put it I mean we're all just wired together it's the best illustration I think that's the moment can't and so verse 6 since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us and and this is also another reason for humility I mean these are grace gifts whatever I have to use to serve the Lord was not in me before I was converted God has put this in me a gift a grace gift and he's also given the grace meaning the enablement and the empowerment to use that gift and he now begins to walk us through these gifts and and I'll do this I think rather quickly he says in verse 6 if prophesy according to the proportion of his faith now of all these gifts this is the hardest one to to really interpret the word prophecy means to speak forth before others in other words you stand before others and you speak and you speak what God has given to you to say and there are two elements of prophecy one is foretelling fo re telling the other is forth telling fo r th the foretelling was what was given in the first century the ability to predict the future or to speak of that which is to come or to speak special revelation that would be given to you before the New Testament would be written that gift is no longer in operation with the coming of the New Testament the 27 books of the New Testament that gift has ceased to exist in first Corinthians 13 verse 8 talks about that gift passing away but there is an element of this gift that has remained and it's the fourth telling which is taking the body of Revelation that has already been given and is recorded in the Word of God and to be able to speak what is in the Word of God we would call that gift preaching the the ability to stand before a group of people and to declare what has already been written and recorded in the scripture and first Corinthians 14:3 elaborates on that it says one who prophesies speaks to men and it gets three things for edification exhortation and consolation to put that in the vernacular that means to speak so as to build up that's edification fire up that's exhortation and hold up that's consolation and this Gifford differs from the gift of teaching which you speak to others for information and interpretation this goes further than teaching and it is the heralding of the Word of God that is intended to move people in a particular direction to act upon the truth that has been taught now everyone who has the gift of preaching today must be able to teach the Word of God or you just be a bunch of hot air you just be a motivational speaker you just be a life guru you know you must be able to teach sound doctrine and so with this gift of preaching this forth telling that is prophecy you must also have combined with it the gift of teaching so that you you are clear in what you're teaching but then you're able to exhort with it and excite people and motivate people and even persuade people to pursue a course of action so in other words unfortunately in some churches there are just lecturers in the pulpit they're not really gifted to preach they're just gifted to teach and the teaching is wonderful it's just awful in the pulpit it's great in the classroom that's where they should be as in a classroom teaching but when you stand in a pulpit before a congregation you need to be able as 1st Corinthians 14:3 says to speak for edification exhortation and consolation and the consolation is very important to be able to comfort people and to encourage them with the Word of God now notice what he says after this at the end of verse 6 he says according to the proportion of his faith it would be important for me to bring to our attention that actually before the word faith is not a personal pronoun his in the original language it's the definite article V so the faith and that's a very important distinction because when the Bible uses faith and eyes I just need to teach here for a moment I just talked about the gift of teaching I need to teach here for a moment there is objective faith and their subjective faith so when we come to a text like this we need to ask the question is this objective faith or is this subjective fake and you may say so what's the difference between the two objective faith is the faith once and for all delivered to the Saints Jude 3 it's the objective truth of sound doctrine we talk about the Christian faith that that means that's what we believe that's the theology and the doctrine of what we believe that's objective faith subjective faith is the exercise of our faith it is our subjective trust in God it's our personal faith in God as we serve Him so we have to ask ourselves the question here Kant is this objective faith meaning the Christian faith or is it subjective faith the faith of the one who prophesize and I personally interpret this to be objective faith and I think that's true to the fact that the definite article VIII is in front of faith we're talking about the faith once and for all delivered to the Saints so we could ask so what does that mean in this verse and it means this that as you would preach your preaching must square with the faith it must originate from the faith it must be consistent with the faith it cannot go beyond the faith it must be rooted and grounded in the faith in other words you have nothing to say apart from the Word of God as you stand to preach and your preaching or hear prophesying must be according to the faith and the faith is recorded in the Old Testament and now it is given to us in the New Testament now what I've just told you there's in-house debate among other highly respected interpreters and theologians some take it subjective that's how the new American Standard is actually translated here but most correctly and precisely it is objective faith here so as I preach and those among you who preach and as you go to church it needs to be according to the faith recorded in the Word of God well let's move on here as we come to verse 7 he says if service in his serving and there is a supernatural god-given desire and ability to serve others and it refers to different tasks sometimes there behind the scene tasks that that makes everything function and in 1st Corinthians 12 Paul actually argues that those parts of the body that are not seen are more important than those parts of the body that are seen for example an organ on the inside of your body is actually more important than a fingernail and those parts of the body that are serving members in the body of Christ in a way where they're not as visibly seen or heard they are strategically important and the word service here is what's translated deacon in 1st timothy 3 and so it's used in a way of it was used in the first century of someone who would serve tables and in john to the wedding feast at the in cana the the the servants there that filled the water pots that that's the idea there on this spiritual gift and he says and he who teaches he who teaches in his teaching and this is the ability to take the Word of God and to teach it with clarity correctness and profundity that you just have this god-given ability to open up the meaning of the word of God and with this gift is the desire to study and to read so that you know what you're talking about let's look at verse eight or he who exhorts in his exhortation and this word exhort has a wide spectrum and the idea is to come alongside others and either encourage them challenge them comfort them motivate them lift them up light a fire under them and it is it is used to to stir up people to move out to be involved in serving the Lord or to take steps in the will of God and in your in your life and this is an invaluable gift that God has given to the church you're just always coming alongside others and assisting them in moving forward in the will of God for their life and then he says he who gives with liberality and we are all to give just like we're all to exhort but God has given some people an unusual open handedness with their possessions to they they just derive great pleasure in giving to others in helping others and it's almost that they receive a greater pleasure from giving it to someone else then for them to key but for themselves and they give with liberality which means generosity they're not miserly in their giving but that they give over and above and beyond what you would think and it is and it brings great blessing to others in the body of Christ and then he says he who leads with diligence there are those who just see a need and they organize a strategy and they involve other people and then they move out and lead others in serving the Lord and they do it with diligence meaning whatever the speed bumps are that her in front of them that doesn't stop them they just plow around the boulders they don't take no for an answer they just figure out a way if they can't get in the front door they're gonna come down the chimney if they can't come down the chimney they're gonna come in the back door I mean there's a diligence about them to keep on moving on and the word diligence also is the idea of speed and not lagging behind I've been in a lot of board meetings over the years of my ministry and there are some guys that are they're just professional talkers we can just beat something to death and and I just get weary of talking about it and then someone will speak up in one of those meetings and and he's ready let's get this done let's let's move out now and just has an influence with others that yeah you know what what we do need to do this and let's stop talking about it and let's get it going and that guy ends up being the the head husky on the sleigh team that that moves out and and he's not stopping for anything we need people like this in the body of Christ the the glass is not half empty with these people it's half full let's do this and then he says he who shows mercy with cheerfulness and what a gift this is in the body of Christ mercy is showing pity to someone who's hurting and that there are people who just have their spiritual antenna up and they see the people back in the corners who aren't necessarily drawn into the circles of fellowship and who are kind of licking their wounds and they're hurting and and they're just drawn they gravitate to these people to show mercy to them to reach out and draw them in or to minister to them and it says they do it with cheerfulness the the idea with great joy and we're cheerfulness really is almost like with hilarity they are such a blessing to hurting people as they show mercy to them they just bring cheer and joy into their hurting soul and are able to lift them up in a kind of a one-on-one way so Kent this is quite a passage of Scripture I can't believe we got through all of this but it I'm going to toss it over to you and let you ask some questions Kent but let me just end it by just saying this the first step from presenting your body of living and Holy Sacrifice to the Lord is humility in serving others and we this is God's Word to us today so everyone needs to think about how do I take these steps in serving others so Kent powerful powerful message Steve I wish I could go just get a an injection and a shot just in check that's it I wouldn't have to work that's a mate it's just such such truth Steve you've been around a lot in churches and seen a lot can you give us some examples of true believers how a lack of humility can hurt a pastor leadership in the church and even church members how does that sometimes play out and you've seen it play out can you give some examples of just the destruction I guess the flip side of the coin without this what happened yeah yeah yeah I know I was a pastor over 35 years can't and I've been tossed into the deep end of the pool starting at age 30 when I graduated from seminary and the things that come to my mind first of all I mean and obviously I'm gonna bypass me only because we'd be here for the next five hours I see it in churches where people almost have squatter's rights that this is my church mm-hmm this was my church before you got here it's gonna be my church while you're here it's going my church after you leave mm-hmm it's not your church it's Christ's Church and we're all stewards of Christ's Church but there is a sense of unhealthy ownership that some people have of their church or they don't hold it with an open hand and they become easily offended if you change anything and and and you can't you know me I'm probably the most traditional guy doesn't change anything I eat the same thing every day I wear the same thing every day Mary do the same wife yeah so I'm not someone who goes around changing things but I've seen this in churches and there's an arrogance that's behind it mm-hmm you we only see the symptom but there is an arrogance there and then also people presuming a place of ministry that it's kind of like no one else can sit in my Pew no one else can have this ministry and that that too becomes unhealthy and people become so easily offended and we lose sight of the fact you didn't die for the church Christ died for the church and he's the head of the church and we all serve at his bidding and those are just some things that that come to mind and you know I've been in some congregational meetings some really ugly congregational meetings that I I I see unbelievers who act more graciously then suppose Christian it and that is that's because of a lack of humility a total lack of humility they think more highly of themselves than they ought to think they think their opinion is is is wiser and better etc and we all need a reality check that whatever it is I have has come from the Lord and God's given things to other people as well and and this has worked out even in my life I think about elder meetings that I've been in and people think because I preach strong that I must just like dominate elder meetings as well and it's like no no I I let other people speak and let other people have their way and yield to them and you kind of pick your places where you speak but that's a mark of humility none of us get everything that we want it our way and that's the way a marriage works and that's the way the church is to work as well there should be a gracious 'no sand yielding to one another another question go ahead did you know I was just gonna say I don't know if that's a good answer good answer you're just saying that this this can be damaging I guess to the church well it really is and I hate it for young believers who come into the church and they're so bushy eyed and they sound excited for the Lord and then they see these older Saints in a food fight second question Steve can we get to a point as we mature in our Christian life where we're humility is easier and we don't have to worry as much about pride no no not at all we will battle ego and pride as long as we're in Christ in this world and will never outgrow arrogance and pride we will always be battling it and that's why Jesus said we have to die daily mm-hmm this is a daily death so we sail with us every day as long as we really will and that should create a longing within us for heaven that one day will shed this ego and just be single-minded in our love for Christ and others okay next question on our spiritual gifts can we have more than one spiritual gift I think the way it works that's a great question I think the way it works is you get one spiritual gift but it can be a collage of several aspects of gifts merge into one gifts so in other words you've got one spiritual gift and it could be sixty percent this and thirty percent this and ten percent this that's why some preachers are different and I don't mean to always be talking about preaching it's just what I'm most familiar with that some preachers are more of a teacher than others some preachers are more of an exhort er than others some preachers are more merciful than others and and it's because of the different mix of these different gifts that are woven together to uniquely form your gift and it for some it may be you know ninety percent this and five this and five that for others it maybe you know 60% this in 30 and 10 and and so that's why it we all serve in unique ways and there's no one like you in a sense you're a spiritual snowflake each one is different than an another and we have a contribution to make in a way that no one else can make and so that's why actually you're you actually are very important to the body of Christ you shouldn't think more highly of yourself and you should you also should not think more lowly of yourself than you should you have a god-given gift to contribute and use in the body of Christ that you're wired in a way like no one else would carry out this assignment so next question to that I guess would be are there people do we have gifts that we don't use and we should be using them or are there people in the church that have been given gifts that is not exercising them and why is that yeah I think the greatest unemployment problem in the world is in the church the unemployment problem of believers not using their gifts and they think that just coming to church listening to a sermon and go home no they need to be exercising their gifts coming to church is just to prepare them throughout the week to have ministry of course first and foremost to worship the Lord so yes it's possible for a believer to have a gift that is dormant and and for whatever reason lack of opportunity to use that gift mm-hmm and and churches need to help believers see how they can plug in but also believers you don't have to have a formal program to use your your gift I mean if you have the gift of teaching and there's not a Sunday School class available for you to teach why don't you go to your to your business associates and say hey every Friday morning let's have a Bible study and let me see so take some initiative take some initiative sure all right which is what you did Kent and starting this Bible study okay another question how do we go about finding our spiritual gift that's a great question alright number one you need to know what the gifts are number two if I was to put you in a room with ten people and you want to help them what would you what would you want to do mm-hmm would you want something you'd enjoy yeah you derive great pleasure from the exercise of your gift would you want to go to the one person who is hurting in this group of ten and sit down next to them and start talking to them yeah or would you want to stand in front of them and take a passage of Scripture and begin to explain it to them that's interesting or would you want to organize them or would you want to lead them on a mission or would you want to give something to them so that's just one way so it's in your fiber yes it's the way God's made you and in in it you derive joy yeah from that gift so if it's something you like doing yeah so I would just say so what do you want to do okay then there's another element there's also the feedback okay and there needs to be affirmation that's interesting from others because you may think you have the gift of preaching but if no one comes back to church next Sunday you know you may not have the gift of preaching you know they may not have the gift of listening when you think you as a gift of preaching and so what there needs to be affirmation and you need to have your ears you don't pass out pieces of paper and give me a you know grade me on a one to ten yeah but but you just have your your ears open to what kind of affirmation is coming from other people so does everyone have a gift every ever labor have again every every Christian has a gift Wow yeah it needs to be used well much time we have but we got we got questions yeah a lot of them I mean do you wanna yeah hit me with one more I have no idea where we are if we have the gift of preaching are we excused of exercising mercy I wish no the answer is is no you are to every one of these gifts I am I have the gift of preaching but this does not excuse me from mercy from giving from teaching from serving we are to function in all of these other areas so that's that's a great question yeah yeah another question can you just describe the difference between humility and inner confidence well humility literally means lowliness of mind or to assume a lowly posture inner confidence should be there would be a positive and a negative inner confidence if your inner confidence is in yourself that's not really humility that's self elevation there is an inner confidence that's in the Lord mm-hmm that accompanies humility that I have presented my life a living and Holy Sacrifice to the Lord and so therefore he will take my life and he will use my life as it pleases him there is an inner confidence that God is with me mm-hmm and that's what Jesus said at the end of the Great Commission and lo I'm with you always even to the end of the age I have that confidence that the Lord is with me driving here today cannot I mean I prayed the entire way and and as I pulled into the parking lot as best I can as much as in me is the Lord is with me not just I'm the presence but his hand is on me for good in that I've confessed my sin I've humbled myself so there is an inner confidence you need to know that the Lord is with you and helping you because then when success comes you don't take that to yourself you go well that was all the Lord and that was all people it was we're praying for me yeah that's great yeah alright let's take one more question yea this is a lot of people a lot of our listeners have this question in one form of another yeah cuz we get a lot of them our pastor is a good teacher but he is an inadequate preacher what should we do or people also text and say we don't we don't even have a pastor who preaches the word what what do we do in those kind of situations what do people do well it's hard to give a one-size-fits-all answer yeah and so I don't want to send people off in two directions they shouldn't go but would you go to a barber who cannot cut hair would you go to a restaurant that cannot serve food would you sit under a preacher who cannot preach the answer to all those is no I don't know what all your options are and you may be in the best place within a hundred miles but I just have to believe that there's someone within driving distance who can preach and you know we do have men in pulpits who ought not to be in pulpits and there's a sense in which I don't think we need more preachers I think we may need fewer preachers I think we may have too many people standing in pulpits some of whom ought not to be standing in pulpits and I think we may have too many churches and there may need to actually be the merging together and the best preacher within certain zip codes needs to be doing the preaching rather than we have 28 different little tiny churches and 28 preachers 20 of whom aren't gifted to preach mm-hmm I mean I don't know that I'm just pulling that off top of my head but if you're in a church that the man is not gifted to preach that that's that that's can be an excruciating experience that creates frustration for people it would be like someone standing up to sing a solo on Sunday who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket I mean that's just painful to have to listen to go through that so unfortunately many pulpit committees don't know what they're looking for it's amateur hour mm-hmm and they've never really done this and they're just looking for bedside manners and who's got the best personality and rather than who can actually preach it's like you're looking for a doctor with bedside manners but he can't practice medicine yeah I I can get my family to sit on my bed I can talk to me and pray for me I need someone who can do surgery I need someone who can preach the Word of God so unfortunately I know there are many people who are in situations like that and I would just say to you best case scenario is you find a church where the man can preach the truth of the word of God until then maybe you just need to be listening to podcasts and Bible studies like this that become available to you and I don't want to be harsh and what I've just said but I am being objectively true truthful in and what I just said so we need to pray that the lord of the harvest will raise up laborers for the harvest and to send forth preachers well we need to stop right here can't thank you for those questions thank you for being here every morning with me thank you for not being tired of me yet maybe you are but not yet so we'll be here tomorrow morning for steadfast hope at eight o'clock Central Standard Time we'll be in the book of Philippians it'll be a short devotion ten-minute devotion five to seven minutes for questions and we'll be back here next week in Romans chapter 12 beginning in verse 9 for our men's Bible study going through Romans and that'll be at 8 o'clock excuse me 7 o'clock Central Standard Time well wherever you are around the world god bless you thank you for joining with us I counted a stewardship that's been entrusted to me and I know Kent feels the same way that we can bring the Word of God to you god bless you wherever you are [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] you you [Music] [Music]

Channel: OnePassionMinistries

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Length: 75min 58sec (4558 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 30 2020