Gifts & Service

Romans 12:6-7

Gifts & Service

Romans 12:4-7, For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵ so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷ or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; Church is not a museum to collect rare prices and accumulate but to use them for His glory. Church belongs to God not to me or anyone of us here.

The ministry is committed to us. The work of the kingdom depends upon our usefulness, faithfulness, and our commitment.

We must offer ourselves in the single supreme act of worship that any believer can do as a living sacrifice. Offering to the Lord our whole soul, body, mind and will,

Romans 12:1-2.

God wants our life as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to Him, which is the basic act of spiritual worship. That is the entrance into usefulness. There are no two Christians alike. There are no two of us who can serve the Lord alike.

There is tremendous distinctiveness in all of us. The greatest saints in the church's history who changed the course of the world and who impacted the history of the church. They learned the meaning and the value of Romans 12:1-2.

They learned to live that way. Our usefulness now depends on three things. 1. Attitude, 2. Relationship, 3. Service. 1. Attitude

Attitude of humility. V 3, For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Humility! 2. Relationship. V 4- 5, For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵ so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. We are in one body in Christ, the church, and everyone has gifts differing according to the grace given to us.

As the body is one and yet many members The church is one and yet many members. V 6, Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

God given His gracious gifts as channels in the believer, sovereignly designed for every Christian through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the building up of the church. Believers are the channels in us through which the Spirit of God can minister. They are for the common good.

• My gifts are for the church.
• Your gifts are for the church.
• Mine are not for me,
• Yours are not for you.
• Mine are for you and
• Yours are for me.

1 Corinthians 12:7, But the manifestation of the Spirit is given

to each one for the profit of all

For whose benefit? For the benefit of the body, For the instruction of the body, For the encouragement of the body, and For the building up of the body. So, every one of us is designed by God in a special way.

We ought to understand that. We ought to present ourselves a living sacrifice. We ought to look honestly at ourselves thinking wisely about what it is God has given us to do. V 6, Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; The proper relationship is that we are a body.

A body is dependent. We are not disconnected rather we are intimately connected to each other. We are absolutely dependent on the interchange that occurs between us as a body is on the interchange of its own vital members.

Examples of the gifts, the proper service

➢ Prophecy, ➢ Ministry, ➢ Teaching, ➢ Exhortation, ➢ Giving, ➢ Ruling and ➢ Showing mercy.

In the New Testament, there are three categories the gifts fall into. Three categories.

• a) Sign gifts,
• b) Speaking gifts, and
• c) Serving gifts.

Sign gifts. They were unique and primarily to the time of the apostles. They were unique to the New Testament age. They were unique to the establishing of the new covenant, to the time when Israel rejected the Messiah, when the apostles' teaching needed to be authenticated.

They were unique to the time of the writing of Scripture.

2 Corinthians 12:12, For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

These special gifts or signs that belong to an apostle. So, the sign gifts, or the miracle gifts, tongues, healings, miracles, interpretation of tongues, and those miracle gifts were for the apostolic period.

Mark 16:20, And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Miraculous gifts attended the works of the apostles so that the people would know that they were from God.

There was no Bible. There was no New Testament to compare their teaching with, so it was the miracles that authenticated them. Some argue that these gifts have ceased with Apostles sent by Jesus. But they are still prevalent when salvation is preached to the new areas where God shows that He is still working among them.

1 Peter 4:10, As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. You have been given gifts by God's grace, as you have received a gift, minister it as a good steward. You don't own your gift. You only manage it for God.

God gave it to you to, as a point of stewardship. You are to use it for His glory.

Paul is giving instruction here for the ongoing life of the church. There is no need to correct the Roman church as there was need to correct the Corinthian church because they were misusing, counterfeiting, and abusing those sign gifts.

But that is not the issue in Romans and when he speaks here to the ongoing life of the church, he says nothing about the sign gifts. Speaking Gifts. In 1 Corinthians we have the gift of the word of wisdom, word of knowledge, very much like teaching.

The gift of prophecy. The gift of faith. The gift of discerning spirits. Romans adds the gifts of exhortation, giving and showing mercy. So, some of them are the same and some of them are different. A great diversity. First, present yourself to the Lord.

Second, rightly evaluate what it is God has given you to do.

Thirdly, understand that you must mingle as a member of a body and that means you are vital. Then he says do it! V 6, Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; If you have the gift of prophecy, then prophesy.

• Ministry, then minister.
• Teaching, then teach.
• Exhortation, then exhort.
• Giving, do it with singleness of heart or simplicity.
• Ruling, do it with speed.
• Showing mercy, do it.

You present yourself a living sacrifice, you rightly estimate what God has given you to do, you understand that you are strategic to the entire body of Christ and then you get at it. There Is no place for inactivity. You have a gift. Use it.

If you are not using it, then maybe you have forgotten the Romans 11 chapters. Christ the one who came into the world to die on the cross for us, who paid the supreme price, the sinless Son of God became

sin for us, and all that He went through, all the mercies of God outlined in chapters 1 to 11 and we say, "Lord, I would just like to get at this deal to show my gratitude but you don't know my schedule."

What kind of gratitude is that? After eleven chapters of being pounded with what God has done for you. Now he says would you just use your gift. It isn't as if he asks you to do something and me to do something that we can't do?

It isn't as if he asks us to do beyond what we are capable? Identify what it is you can do, don't think more of it, and don't think less of it. Be honest and rightly estimate yourself and then do it and be content. If a Christian doesn't sense an internal drive to use his giftedness for the Saviour who died for him, that is not an external problem but an internal one.

➢ God's kingdom depends on this. ➢ The church depends on this. What are the seven that he mentions that really will help us to identify the general areas of giftedness?

1. Prophecy. "Whether prophecy, according to the proportion of faith." We can imply then if you have prophecy then prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Basically, it's a gift of preaching, of proclaiming. I know there are people who believe that it is a supernatural apostolic gift that has ceased. I don't believe that.

I believe it's still around and its inclusion in Romans 12. It is here with the ongoing gifts of the church. Now prophecy is a very important gift. Paul in writing to the Corinthians said the most about prophecy and tongues. He said the most about tongues because it was being abused and prophecy because it was being neglected.

1 Corinthians 14:1-5, Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. ² For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. ³ But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. ⁴ He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. ⁵ I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that

you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification. Desire earnestly to prophesy. The Greek word is prophteia. The verb is prophteu.

It means to speak publicly, to speak before. Before people, to get up and speak. It isn't very mystical. It isn't even very extraordinary and supernatural in that sense. It simply means to speak before people. It is the gift of public speaking.

Now prophecy may include in a supernatural prophecy, like a prophet of the Old Testament or a New Testament prophet, it may include foretelling the future. But its primary significance is public speaking. What the prophecy gift is according to 1 Corinthians 14:3?

Speaking to men.

1 Peter 4:11, If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which

God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

When God called Moses to deliver Israel out of Egypt, Moses said I can't do it, I can't speak publicly.

Exodus 4:10-16, Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” ¹¹ So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” ¹³ But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” ¹⁴ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶ So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.

What does God mean by that? Your public speaker. It was not a supernatural prophet. It was just a man who stood in front of people and spoke. Aaron will do that for you.

Repeatedly used in the Old Testament.

Numbers 11:25-26, Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. ²⁶ But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp.

1 Kings 18:29, And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.

1 Chronicles 25:2-3, Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied according to the order of the king. ³ Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord.

1 Corinthians 14:3 sums it up beautifully. It says he that prophesy speaks to men.

For what purpose?

To edification and exhortation and comfort. To build them up, to challenge them to obedience and to comfort them in need.

• It isn't necessarily for telling the future.
• It isn't necessarily supernatural revelation.
• It is public speaking with the purpose of building up, challenging to obedience, and comforting.
• The content of it is the oracles of God.
• It may be to unbelievers or believers.
• It is a public speaking gift, proclaiming the Word of the living God.

1 Corinthians 14:24-25, But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. 25 And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you. Both believers and unbelievers can be the recipients of the gift of preaching or prophesying.

Now there has never been a time in God's economy, never ever, throughout all the redemptive history whether the Old or New Testament or to the present day, when God hasn't had His preachers.

➢ Sometimes they gave new revelation. ➢ Sometimes the prophet of God spoke.

Ezekiel 7:1, Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

But there were also times when it wasn't a direct revelation. They were preaching what was already received revelation. They were reiterating what had already been revealed. In the Old Testament we will find that prophets instructed, exhorted, warned, rebuked, encouraged, they stressed duty, obedience, and repentance.

• They promoted reverence.
• They called for righteousness.
• They condemned sin.
• They warned about judgment.
• They promised blessing.

It wasn't always brand-new revelation. It was simply public speaking in giving forth the message of God. Their emphasis usually was in a practical application, making the Word of God relevant to life. They were relevant communicators of God's Word, taking the Word of God and tying it into life.

2 Peter 1:19, And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

It is the light of God's Word confronting the darkness of the world. The gift able to preach the Word of God, to make it relevant to a contemporary situation, to confront a society. The prophets spoke of a contemporary situation, applying the truth of God.

Sometimes it was direct revelation, sometimes it was reiteration. When you see the gift of prophecy in the list of 1 Corinthians, it fit in with the revelatory gift. It can fit in with the supernatural gift. When we see here in Romans 12, we know it fit in with just an edifying gift in the life of the church.

V 6, So if you prophesy, then prophesy according to the proportion of faith.

Now some people say it means of the faith and it may well mean that. When you preach, make sure you preach according to the faith. "The faith,"meaning the revealed faith. God gives gifts and then He gives the amount of faith needed to operate the gift.

When you go to prophesy, do it in accord with the proportion of the gift you have, the measure of the gift you have received. When you preach the Word of God make sure you preach the Word of God, the faith. When you do it, make sure it's consistent with your measured out ability.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-21, Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise prophecies. ²¹ Test all things; hold fast what is good.

They all go together. If you despise prophesying, you will quench the Spirit. If you accept prophesying, then prove it and make sure it's good.

Don't quench it. But don't just take everything that's preached to you. Prove it. Test it. See if it's good.

How do you test it? The faith.

Revelation 19:10, And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” All true biblical preaching is that the Word of God and exalting the Son of God. It is preaching the Word of God.

It must exalt the work and person of Christ and proclaim the Word of God. So, if you have that gift, use it. If you are able to publicly proclaim, then publicly proclaim. Paul says if you have the gift of prophecy, then get on with it according to the measure of your gift, and according to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Preach the Word.

2 Timothy 4:2, Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. Don't let anybody look down on it and don't worry if people want teachers who tickle their ears, who entertain them. You just preach the Word. 2. Gift of serving. V 7, or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;

It isn't very technical, it just says if you have the gift of serving, then be serving. It is a practical service. It is the same as the gift of helps.

1 Corinthians 12:28, And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

It means support. It is a support gift, gift of practical help, a gift of serving. It could come in a multi-million ways, unique as everyone. Serving the word basically means to wait on a table.

When Jesus raised Peter's wife's mother and it says she got up and served them. She diakonia'd them, she deaconed them. It means to serve them something to eat. It is used several places in the New Testament for that kind of thing, to serve, to provide a meal, very menial but very important service. It came then to be a very general term for any kind of spiritual service.

Throughout the New Testament we find that the word is used repeatedly. It's a very common word. 75 different times one form or another that word is used in the New Testament. Serving all kinds of dimensions to it. Any kind of supporting service. It could be the official service of someone designated as a deacon or deaconess, it could be the unofficial service of someone just stepping into a gap to serve.

Acts 6, the apostles said that we need to give ourselves to serving the Word and praying. Let us get some people who can serve tables. We have got to have some support. Even today the church is dependent on the helpers.

If people don't use their gifts, we go get somebody and bring in to do this or that we will be in trouble. You could help the church. No limit, absolutely no limit to it. 3. Teaching. We have taught about the gifts extensively in our Holy Spirit series.

But just to touch on the emphasis of exhortation here. If you have the gift, do it. Paul mentions a third one, teaching. If you have the gift of teaching, then teach.

What is the difference between teaching and preaching? The speaking publicly gift, the prophteia gift, the proclaiming gift, the gift of the herald like John the Baptist. He was a prophet and heralded the coming of the Messiah, the proclaiming gift is distinct from the didactic gift.

Here the word is didask from which we get “didactic.” It is a formal, systematic training or teaching that is implied by that word.

It is used, for example, of training a choir over until finally they have mastered what they have been trained to learn and they are ready to perform. The gift of preaching is a one-time proclamation. It is a proclamation, an announcement, a heralding of the biblical truth.

But the gift of teaching is the function of systematically training people, taking them from one point to another systematically.

• It can refer to a teacher in a seminary or a Bible college or a Sunday school teacher.
• It can refer to someone who disciples a person one-on- one.
• It is the ministry of leading someone along in the systematic understanding of the teaching of the Word of God.

The early church met every day.

Acts 2:42, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. In the great commission we have been commanded by our Lord in Matthew 28, go into all the world, and it says make disciples

of all men, teaching them, didactically, systematically instructing them in an increasing understanding of the Word of God, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. God gave the gift to Paul very clearly.

Paul was a teacher. Paul could proclaim on the one hand, and he could also teach. He could also systematically impart truth. Paul is the systematiser of all.

2 Timothy 1:11, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. He uses all three words to describe himself.

It is not uncommon for a person to be both a preacher and a teacher in God's design. Paul was that. Timothy was a teacher.

2 Timothy 2:2, And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You teach them and they will teach others. Get in the process of systematically teaching people.

Barnabas had that gift.

Acts 15:35, Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. Teaching, preaching, proclaiming, and applying to the contemporary scene and heralding the Word of God and then getting with people and systematically didactically imparting to them the truth of Scripture.

Acts 18:24-25, Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. ²⁵ This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. Systematically he taught them. Elders are to be didaktos, skilled in didactics, skilled in teaching.

They are to have an aptitude for that. It's the ability to analyse and systematize and pass on, instructing people in the Word of God. Jesus certainly had it. On the road to Emmaus, Luke 24, He opened the Scriptures and expounded.

The teaching gift is to fully interpret the Scriptures so that it’s understandable, systematic feeding of the Word of God. I believe this is the primary function of a pastor. It is unusual when a pastor is both a teacher and a herald, but I believe he has to be a teacher.

The primary role of a pastor is to be a systematic teacher of the Word of God, to feed his people systematically the Scripture, to thoroughly interpret the Bible. That's Bible exposition. We don't need to expect at that all men who are leading their churches should necessarily have the ability to proclaim on a wide basis, as well as to do the teaching that they are called and gifted to do.

God's gifts are different and unique. But where a pastor or an elder must be evaluated is based on whether or not he faithfully, systematically exposits to his people the Word of God. Maybe we haven't touched on your gift.

You are saying that I am not a preacher. I am not teacher. Maybe I am a server. That is great. Just as good as being a teacher, just as wonderful as being a preacher.

The issue isn't what you are. The issue is what you do with what you are. Your eternal commendation is not going to be whether you had the same effect that Billy Graham did on the world. The issue in your eternal reward is going to be did you maximize the gift you had because God designed you the way He designed you.

Did you use the gift that God gave you? That's the issue! In a sense, our judgment is relative. Not relative to each other but relative to what God enabled us to do and whether we did it. Present yourself a living sacrifice.

Abandon yourself to a renewed mind, will, rightly evaluate your own attitude. Are you humbly thankful for the gift you have, and do you understand it not too highly and not too lowly? Do you understand how essential it is to the body of Christ, the body of Christ can't function without it?

Will you do it?

If it is preaching, will you preach?

If it is serving, will you please serve?

If it is teaching, will you please teach? If God's given you the gift and He wants you to serve, all you need to do is make yourself available if you have rightly evaluated it. That's so important.

Where is your service?

Are you using your gift? The only thing in life that matters, for that builds up the church and that brings glory to the Savior.