One Body, Many Members

Introduction

Every time we sing that song, I’m reminded how good it is. I don’t know why I forget in between, but the theology of speak, O Lord is just awesome. The end of it is exactly what the Bible teaches, which is that we’re working to fill the earth with his glory. That’s the goal. That’s the goal since man fell at Eden. The purpose of man at Eden was to fill the earth, to expand it, to multiply, and to be images of God that bring glory to him throughout his entire creation. And I appreciate Rick leading that song. It actually matches so well with Romans twelve and some of the things we talked about last week and what I want to talk about this week. So you can be making your way to Romans chapter 12.

We’re going to begin in verse 1 again, kind of breaking this down in smaller pieces as we work through this text. This morning I want to cover verses 3 through 8, but they certainly flow from the thought in verses 1 and 2. So I want to capture that together as we begin talking about this. 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 and our serving, the one who teaches and is teaching, the one who exhorts and his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. There’s a lot to unpack from this short text, and I want to try to do a little bit of that this morning as we work through it. I’ll just also note that there’s a couple other texts within the New Testament, some we’ll reference this morning, one in particular, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, that deals with almost the same idea, although the context is not exactly the same.

There’s texts like Ephesians 4 that deal with similar ideas about how the body works together and is unified and the kind of work they do when they are working together. And so we can’t capture all of that in one sermon. I want to leave some things for other times as well, anyway. But I do want to get the context of Romans chapter 12. Last time we talked about this idea of offering the body as a living and holy and acceptable sacrifice and being transformed by the renewing of our mind. But we have to remember a lot of what Paul’s trying to do in the book of Romans is avoid the Jew-Gentile conflict that he’s worried about. After Claudius’ edict is removed, the Jews are going to be returning to the city, and he’s a little concerned, it seems, that there might be some clashing that goes on between these two groups.

And really, he’s wanting them to live in harmony. He’s wanting them to act in ways that are good for the whole body, not just for themselves. And so he’s mixing this idea of individuality with wholeness. These two concepts are kind of being blended together here, and he’s going to continue to do this. You’re probably pretty familiar at least with Romans 14 and 15, where he’s dealing with how you interact with people who think differently than you do on certain things. Right? It’s all part of this picture of what it looks like to serve Christ, to give your body to him and give your mind to him, and yet also live in a way that is unified with others who are doing the same, even though their backgrounds may be a little bit different.

And so this morning I want us to think about this idea of what is good for the whole body, but without really losing the concept of individuality. And I think Paul does an amazing job of working through these concepts and blending them together. And so I want us to pick out some of these concepts from verses three through eight. This idea of unity through individuality. That although we are individuals and we’re not expected to give up the individuality that we have, if you’re a Jew, that’s your background. If you were a Gentile, that was your background. Paul’s not trying to tell anybody they have to change in that way, but they are all becoming one in Christ. And they’re going to work together for the glory of the Lord and in his kingdom.

1. The Attitude of Humility

And as you can imagine, with these two groups coming together, that could present some difficulties if their minds aren’t prepared for that. And so it’s taking this overall kind of general preamble we talked about last time about offering body and mind, and now starting to make it applicable and interactive between different people. And so the first aspect of this is the idea of attitude. And so if we want to do what’s good for the body in general, it’s not just doing what I want to do or doing what’s good for me. But he makes this point, he’s gonna make it again in the next section that we’ll talk about some other time later on, about the importance of humility. What God is calling us to, this appeal that Paul is calling these people to when he says, offer your body and be transformed by the renewal of your mind, is really a call to sacrifice pride, haughtiness.

Realizing this is not really about me. I am not the hero of the story. This is not about me getting what I want and me doing what I want. That’s not really what’s happening here. This is actually all about God and what he’s doing, which is why in verses one and two, I’m trying to test and discern what’s acceptable to him, the things that are good and pleasing and perfect. That’s why I’m offering my body as a sacrifice in a living way, in a holy way, in a pleasing way. This is all about what I’m doing for God and for his glory and for his kingdom. And Paul says this message applies to everyone. That’s where he starts. By the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.

Now, this statement about not being arrogant or haughty is not just abstract. I mean, he’s about to get into some pretty important things about how the body works and about different roles within the body. And so he’s he’s here not, he’s not saying you shouldn’t see your own value. Actually, quite the opposite. He’s saying you need to see your value properly. Right? He doesn’t just say, don’t be prideful, don’t be arrogant. He says not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. I hope you think of yourself in a good way. I hope you value what you offer. And you see that it’s important. We want to talk about some of that this morning. What you offer is important, every single one of us here.

We have something to offer that is valuable, that is good for the work of the kingdom. And hopefully we see it that way. And so Paul’s not trying to strip us of all confidence and say you aren’t important. Other people are important, but you’re not. That’s not the point here. But it is to see things in a correct way. Ben Withington III, who is a biblical scholar talking about this text says the idea here is that believers have to evaluate their gifts honestly. That can be tough. An honest evaluation of what we’re good at, what we bring to the table. It’s that we see ourselves for what we are and not really try to go beyond that, but at the same time value and appreciate our part in the body.

That’s what he’s getting at here in this text. So feeling good about the things we can offer and what we value, but at the same time not stepping beyond what we’re actually really good at and what we actually bring to the table. And I want to talk some more about that a little bit later. But I want to point to two phrases that actually point to this idea within the text. The first of those is he says, but you’re to have sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. So that’s one statement we need to think about. And then later, as he’s talking about one of the specific gifts, he says, if prophecy in proportion to our faith. What is Paul talking about?

What does he mean about this measure of faith or this proportion of faith? I think sometimes we get a term or a word and we think it only has one meaning. And so I want to think about that for just a moment. Like a word like salvation. You know, we think it’s just being saved from sin. Actually, the word salvation is used all sorts of ways within scripture. God saved the Israelites from foreign nations, right? And so there’s different ways this term can be used. Faith is a little bit like that. This is not really talking about saving faith, but it’s Paul using this idea of special abilities that people have, special talents, right? Like the having the faith to heal. Or you have been given a gift by God.

You have the ability to prophesy. Right? This is actually the only thing within this text that is a what we would call spiritual gift or some kind of power of the Spirit. The rest of them are not. They could be that in some situations, but they don’t have to be. But the idea here, particularly with prophecy, is you don’t go beyond what God has said. Right? He’s given you a proportion of faith. He’s given you a measure. And what God has given you say what that is, but you don’t try to throw in your own stuff and pretend like it’s from God. Right? And Paul is very clear about that. You can go through particularly 1 Corinthians, and there’s times he says, I’m saying this from the Lord.

Or he says, This is coming from me. This is my opinion. He’s very clear on the source of his information because he’s going to prophesy in proportion to his faith, in proportion to what God has given him. And it’s similar with the idea of the measure of faith that God has assigned, right? The abilities or where we are as a person in our faith right now and the things that we can accomplish, the things we are capable of. We need to really honestly evaluate that and realize what God has blessed us with and what we can offer. All the while realizing, again, this is not about me, what I want. It may be that what I’m capable of and that what I offer is not what I desire.

Maybe I would like to do other things, but that’s not really something I’m very good at. But again, it’s not about me. This is about God. It’s about honoring Him. And notice Paul goes out of his way to make this statement numerous times within this text. Right? He doesn’t say, think with sober judgment about the things that you would like to be good at and do. No, think with sober judgment according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. No, that doesn’t mean we can’t work on our abilities and grow. Certainly we can and we should. But what Paul wants us to see here again is that this is about God. It’s about the blessings God has given us. It’s about God’s grace. It’s about God being honored.

So again, verse 6, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. He never wants to lose sight of the reality that this is about what God has given. It’s about what God has assigned. It’s not really wrapped up in what I want.

Or doing the things that I want to do. Now there’s going to be some level of choice, certainly, within that, but ultimately the goal is that God is honored by everyone. See, this is where the individuality and the unified whole come together. And as we work through some of these ideas, we’re going to get deeper into this. And so there’s going to be some overlap and some of these ideas, but I’m going to have to sacrifice my pride at times. Things that I think I would like to do and realize somebody else is better at those. I should let them do that. That’s a place where they fit. That’s a role that they can fill, and I need to see honestly the things that I’m good at and do those in service of the Lord.

All of this ties together again back to Romans 12, 1 and 2, where we are offering body and mind in service to God. It’s an offering. It’s a sacrifice. It’s saying, Lord, take me and use me where I am best suited in your kingdom. Right? And so Paul’s tying these ideas together. Now, in connection to that, another phrase within this text that I think is vital to understand, but that’s kind of the attitude is what we’re talking about in the first part. This attitude of humility or not thinking more highly of myself than I ought to think. Like there’s there’s areas I’m good at, but I want to also voice my opinion and my thoughts on these other areas I’m not really good at. Right? That’s thinking a little too highly of myself if I’m doing that.

2. Members Do Not All Have the Same Function

But also recognizing and appreciating that unity actually comes together as a whole in a much better way when we understand what Paul says here in this text that members do not all have the same function. It’s meant to be that way. I mean, it’d be very odd and awkward if we all did the same thing. And God never intended for it to be done that way. So this is a matter of perspective here. Paul’s clearly using a metaphor of the human body. I think you can see that in the text. He does it both here, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, I already pointed out some of those texts. And he wants to, in metaphors, we can take them too far, and so we don’t want to stretch them beyond kind of the basic point that Paul’s making here, but he’s certainly pointing to kind of an organism and how an organism works, particularly the human body, to illustrate the way that the church should function.

How many eyes do we need? I’m not pulling this out of thin air, by the way. This is this is the exact point Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 12. What would the body be like if everyone were an eye? Paul asks. Well, that’d be kind of strange. And some, because of practicality or because of function, you know, we have different numbers of certain parts of our bodies, right? How many fingers? Well, we have more fingers than we do eyes. And we have a couple thumbs. We only have one nose. We don’t need to smell twice. All right. So there’s reasons for why the body is comprised in the way it’s comprised. And every part has its function. It would be very difficult, for example, to pick things up if I didn’t have fine motor skills.

If I just basically like had tongs, you know, and I had to try to pick up everything this way, they’d be really difficult. And so, yes, in some senses, maybe I could lose a finger and I can still function, but that finger’s still pretty important. Like we notice if we’re missing that. That’s that’s not what we want. You know, we understand as humans in a fallen world that’s not perfect, things happen, and we deal with injuries or with loss. People who are dealing with those things, they can tell you it’s not real comfortable. And what may seem like a small injury can have a huge impact on the way you feel and the way your body moves and operates. Even though maybe it’s a pinky finger or a small toe that’s broken or has to be removed, those things actually matter, and it makes life a little bit more difficult, and we have to adjust.

And at the same time, we realize we have one heart. You know, things get bad with that, we’ve got to protect that, right? So we understand there’s a difference between these different body parts and they function in certain ways, and we have to honor that and value that. And just because we can see some of the things out here actually doesn’t mean they’re more important than the things that we don’t see.

We have internal organs and functions that no one ever really sees, at least not naturally, that are vital to how we function. They’re vital to how our bodies work. If you’re having trouble with your nervous system, which nobody’s gonna see, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. That’s not very comfortable. Some of you know how that feels. No one sees your respiratory system. I mean, you can kind of see someone’s chest move up and down, maybe, but you’re not really seeing the inner workings of that’s pretty important to life, isn’t it? But it’s not something we go around and talk about, man, you have such a great respiratory system. Your nervous system’s amazing. You know, like we don’t notice these things, right? They’re just they’re there.

But I think that’s a it’s an apt metaphor for the way the body of Christ works sometimes. How many here? You’re welcome to raise your hand at some of these questions if you want to, but how many here have ever led a song in worship? How many? Quite a few. People are being honest. Some of you are nervous about raising your hands in worship. I get it’s okay. How many have taught a class, a class of any kind? It’s a lot. I mean, look around, see how many people. What about an adult class? An adult class, yep, okay, so we’ve quite a few people who are doing some of these different things, right? How many have given a short talk on a Wednesday or a Sunday night or a Lord’s Supper talk?

Quite a few less, but still a good amount, right? You know, everyone knows if you do these things because they’re public. Kind of interesting. It’s like how your fingers work, you pick stuff up, you know, or if you can’t hear very well, it’s it’s noticeable because it’s things that are happening right, but we don’t notice a lot of times if the inner workings are happening the way they’re supposed to. And I think maybe by human nature, sometimes we tend to praise some of those outward things quite a bit and make them super important in our minds. You know, hold them up as these really high positions and things that really matter. But you know, some of this is actually just what’s functional and practical. You know, there’s only a hundred and fifty-six times a year to lead a song, fifty-two times to preach, somewhere between eight to twelve adult classes a year.

And so we have a certain amount of slots to fill, actually very limited sorts of things. But let me ask you some other questions. You don’t have to raise your hands, there’s gonna be a lot of these. How many of you have watched somebody else’s kids? Or helped prepare Bible class material? Or had people over to your home? Privately helped somebody who is in need. I know plenty of people who have done that for us recently, and probably many don’t have a clue what they’ve done. Called or texted to check on somebody, prayed for specific people and their needs within the congregation, listened to and comforted someone who is in a time of sorrow and grief? Rebuked or corrected someone who’s making foolish choices? How many of you have offered a word of encouragement to a tired mom or dad that’s struggling with their young kids?

Or picked up somebody from church or brought them somewhere they needed to go to get something they needed, studied the Bible with a friend or a family member. Nobody gets up here to do those things. But they are super valuable within the body of Christ. So it doesn’t have to be something you do in the pulpit or up front to make it something that is extremely important.

And the reality is not everybody is well suited for public things. Not everyone needs to be doing certain things. Actually, some people certainly can’t. We have elders and deacons that are specific roles that you have to have particular qualities to fill those roles. And we know that naturally.

Now, I will work to do some things and I’ll try to learn how to do some stuff, but she’s fixed washing machines. I’ve not, right? I mean, there’s things that she’s capable of, and if I am humble and wise, I will allow her to do the things she’s good at. And I’ll realize the things I’m good at, and I’ll focus my attention there. Right? This is the idea that not all members have to do the same thing. It’s not a matter of faith, it’s not a matter of value, that you’ve got to look like somebody else, like the person next to you. You’ve got to do the same things that they do to be valuable or to be important. That’s just not how things work. And there’s many more things, right?

All those things I mentioned that you don’t do up here, they’re essentially limitless. I mean, the things that we do, the point I was making about what we do up here when you only have a certain amount of times to lead singing or say prayers or whatever, there are limits, right? I mean, there’s only so much we do in public assembly. But there is so much more that is done and can be done outside of public assembly. Now, I’m not trying to minimize what we do here. In fact, what we do here should be done as well as we can do it. I think I believe that very strongly. That’s actually part of my point.

And we ought to not think more highly than ourselves than we ought to. And we find where we fit in, and we need to find the things that we do the best, and we need to focus there wherever that might be. We need to work at the things that we’ve been blessed with, the gifts that God has given us, not for self-glory, not for self-exaltation, not so people will say, You did such a good job leading singing, though we want people to do that. Not so someone will say, You offered a great prayer, though we want people to do that. That’s not the point. The point is actually much like what Paul says is we’re gonna get here later in the text. If you’re going to lead with zeal.

Do it with diligence, do it well, do it properly. That’s the idea here in the text. And we should value those who have those abilities. In whatever function they are, right? This is the idea. Not everybody has the same function. In Greek is the word praxis, the things that you do, right? It’s where we get our word practice. So whatever it is that you’re doing, and all of us have things we can do, and we all have abilities, we should be doing them to the best of our ability. But mostly what I want us to see from what I’m trying to get at this morning is that God’s people need to see the value and the important non-worship and non-public gifts. And Paul and other writers talk plenty about these.

In fact, Corinth is too worried about all the public noticeable things. That’s that’s part of Paul’s point. And 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 and 12 and 13 and 14, working through these texts, they’re so worried about speaking in tongues and all the things that get you a lot of glory, and that people like, oh wow, he speaks in tongues and he does prophecy. I mean, that’s the sort of stuff that they’re all wrapped up in. And Paul says, that’s not what’s important. What’s important, you could do all those things. If you don’t do it with love, it’s worth nothing. That’s 1 Corinthians 13. And he’s trying to help their perspective and help them realize not everybody needs to be doing the same stuff. That’s really not the goal.

That’s not what actually is important in the body of Christ. What’s really important is that we all are working together as a unified whole and that we’re filling the things that need to happen. Right? I mean, there’s already 10 fingers. I don’t need more.

I don’t need more ears than I have. Right? I mean, we need the right kinds of functions for our bodies to work the right way. And we need the humility to understand we don’t want to fill roles that are already filled. We need to fit in and fall into places that actually need to be taken care of. Right? And we had to have the perspicuity to see that. We need to be able to look through and see the needs that are there and realize that’s something that needs to be done. It doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy certain things or want to do certain things, but look, that’s not the point. The point is we’re making an offering of body and mind. And we’re ready to do what needs to be done within the body of Christ.

3. Individually Members One of Another

Individually, he says, we are members one of another. Right? So we’re all different. We’re all individuals. Sacrifice your pride, not who you are. That’s that’s not the idea. You don’t need to just become some completely different kind of person. You know, you don’t need to look at somebody and say, they’re really good at that. I want to, I’m gonna be like them. No, you need to be yourself. And you use yourself to serve the Lord. Right? Give yourself to him. Right? But also understand that the things that I’m doing, the things that you’re doing, they’re all meant to be for one another. It’s not really meant to be for me. There’s really two things, we don’t have time to go in depth on this, but 1 Corinthians 14 talks about worship.

There’s two things that matter in worship. The first is obvious that we worship, we worship God. The other, and he mentions this repeatedly in 1 Corinthians 14. I challenge you to go read it this afternoon, is that what we’re doing is meant to build up the body of Christ. Those two things are what matter in worship. Worshiping God, building up the body. That’s what matters. Everything else is to the side point. And so if things are getting in the way of that, they are an interference of the purpose of what we’re doing here. And what we’re supposed to be doing as an individual to support the body. Individual, we are members one of another. So I guess the question I have to ask myself is when’s the last time I made a decision based on how it impacts the body.

Now we do this all the time with our own bodies. I mean, we don’t look at a fingernail and say, oh, it’s just a tiny little thing, I’ll just rip it off. No, I mean, like we’re careful. At least I am. I want to be very careful. I don’t like pain. So I’m gonna be really careful how I take care of something like that because it hurts the rest of the body, doesn’t it? Even though it’s this tiny little thing. And so we’re gonna make decisions that obviously influence ourselves, but along with that, it may also be how does this impact everyone else? I’ll just give you an easy example. if you’re teaching a Bible class and then you plan to be gone for four straight weeks, you know, that doesn’t just affect you.

You know, it affects everybody else, too. and I’m not targeting anybody or anything, I’m just bringing out a simple example here. and in fact, this is something you know we try to teach our kids too. Like, there’s times where the elders here are amazing about this, particularly with the situation we’re in right now. There’s times when they’re more than generous about it’s it’s okay if you aren’t able to be here. I really do appreciate that. And they are so good about that. But the other thing is I just I want to be here. I don’t want to miss teaching Bible class, I don’t want to miss preaching for a variety of reasons. But part of those is it just caught it causes disruption, you know, I’ve got to find somebody else to do it, and they’re kind of falling in, they haven’t been doing it, and they gotta get caught up, and there’s a lot of moving pieces that go into how all that works.

And I’m sure this is prominent in my mind because it’s what I’m I’m dealing with, and I’m sure you guys deal with other things as well that are similar to this. And it’s not that we can’t ever make a decision that’s gonna take us away or something like that. That just happens. Sometimes those things happen. But what I’m saying is, are we considering the body? Or is it just what we want to do? Paul would say this matters. You know, decisions we make about the things we’re gonna do day to day, who we’re gonna spend time with and where we’re gonna go, are we gonna miss activities? You know, what is a priority in our life? All of these things are just not, they’re not just individual decisions.

They actually impact the other people around us too. And that’s why he puts all this emphasis here in this text about yes, you’re an individual and you’re you’re an individual member, but you’re also within this body. For as in one body, verse 4, 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. He says it like three different ways within two verses. That you cannot separate the individual from the group. It just doesn’t work. And particularly within our culture, which is a very individualistic culture, we think, oh, I make my decisions and they affect me, and unless I’m making it about somebody else, it doesn’t really affect anybody else.

That’s not how life works. And Paul wants these people to see this. These decisions you’re making as a Jewish Christian or a Gentile Christian and how you’re treating each other, they all impact everybody in the body. And so I can’t tell you how to make all those decisions. I’m just guiding you to a principle. Are we thinking about how the decisions that we make impact everyone else? Or are we just thinking about ourselves? This is what I want, or what I think is best. A little bit like Philippians 2. We have to kind of get other people’s interests in mind, right? Can’t just see it from my own perspective. I may need to think about how this impacts somebody else or how somebody else is thinking about it.

4. Use Your Gifts

All of this is meant to help us come together as one and be unified. And then the last point here, again, pretty simple. Use your gifts.

I mean, that’s great. You know, if you know you’re a great public speaker and you do it all the time at work and you never offer yourself to ever do a talk or preach or teach or anything, that’s great that you have that ability, but you’re choosing not to use it. Now, maybe you’ve decided there’s plenty of people who do that, and you’re going to go do some other things. That’s great. We have multiple abilities, so I understand that. But the point here is whatever our abilities and our gifts are, Paul says we need to use them. We need to make sure we’re taking what we’ve been given from the Lord, the gifts that we have from him, and we’re using them again, because we are offering body and mind in his service.

We’re using them for him to glorify him. So Paul gives some examples of needed roles. And even how they’re carried out, the means by which they’re carried out, right? That’s how he finishes this text off. Here are some important rules. Now, this is not an exhaustive list. We know that because we can go to places like 1 Corinthians 12, and I’m going to mention actually some of them from there in just a minute, where he gives some different items. So these are just ideas or examples of things that people can do. Right? The first is prophecy, which I don’t think we have the gift of prophecy anymore because we don’t have the laying on of the apostles’ hands to continue this work. But we do have evangelists that are mentioned in Ephesians 4.

We do have people who are teachers who do similar types of things. They take these prophecies or they take the word of God and they speak them and they speak truths. And we come back to that thought here in just a moment. But he lists some others here as well. He talks about these differing gifts, which again, it’s good to have differing gifts. We want there to be different gifts that people use. We don’t want it to all be the same. If service, the way we show that or demonstrate that is in our serving. Right? And sometimes in different parts of your life, we are more able to do some of these things. Our young people are in a great time of life to be serving.

I mean, they’re young and they have energy and they’re strong, their bodies recover fast. And so there’s all sorts of things they do, and they do these things. So I’m proud of our young people and how they’re so willing to jump in and serve and help in a variety of ways. Can’t even get into them right now. But I’m just pointing out at different times in our life, certain things are more fit for us. You know, if you’re 85, you might not need to be on the moving crew. We say someone’s moving and you show up, appreciate it, but that may not be where you’re best suited. Right? So kind of naturally we understand how some of these kind of things work. If you’re a good teacher, if you know this about yourself, or you’ve worked on this and you’ve developed it in your life, you should be stepping in and teaching.

There’s some that are a little bit more nuanced and complex, like exhorting. I think this is tough. Some people are just really good with words, and some of us aren’t. It’s hard. Like we have to develop this. If you’re someone who is good with words, I mean make an effort to exhort and to encourage. There are so many people who need that. I mentioned young moms and dads earlier, but that’s not the only category of people who need someone to say, hey, I see you’re working hard, keep it up. Right? I mean, there’s all kinds of people who need encouragement, who need to be uplifted, maybe for a good decision they’re making in their life. They’ve been struggling, but they’re doing some good things. They need someone to come and to exhort them, to encourage them.

And some of y’all are just really good at that. That is super valuable. And I’ll tell you, I’ve known people and I know people who are really good at that kind of thing. They never ever get up here and do anything in the pulpit, but they are so valuable for what they do. And I hope I’m making this contrast very clear this morning. I want people to get up here and do things and be involved. First of all, it’s only men who are going to do that. So we need to see our service and our work well beyond what happens in a situation like this. But see the value of something as so important as the words that are being said to people to uplift, to encourage.

We have texts in the Bible that talk about the importance of this. Hebrews chapter 12. Right? Quoting Isaiah about lifting people up and straightening the feeble knees. We need encouragers. We need exhorters. So important as we’re walking through this life, facing difficulties and struggles. Contributing, Paul mentions. He says to do that with generosity. That’s sort of an interpretation of the term that’s there. It’s actually really the concept of kind of a giving with simplicity or straightforwardness or uprightness. Let me give you an interpretation of what that is. The idea is that you give without strings attached. Or that you give without an agenda behind it. That’s really the concept here. Sometimes it’s helpful to kind of see it on the other end, right? So in politics, all the time they draft bills and things like that, or they put all sorts of junk in it.

It’s actually for their own benefit. Right? It’s not because they’re so giving. It’s not because they care so much. It’s because they’ve put something else in there and now they’re pushing their own agenda. Or there’s some strings attached to whatever this thing is that’s going on that gets them what they want. And so Paul says, hey, contribute, but don’t do it like that. Be the kind of person who does it simply, willingly, sincerely. And you know, there’s some people, this is just a reality of life, who are more able to do that. We just have to recognize these natural things that happen in life. They’re more well suited for some of these roles than others. The one who leads with zeal. If you are in a leadership role, whether it’s an elder or a deacon or you’re leading in some other way, teaching Bible classes, children, adult, whatever, do it with zeal.

Do it with diligence, devotion, commitment. This is what Paul’s calling us to. This is the way that you go about doing it if you’re gonna do it. If we’re gonna give our bodies and minds in service to the Lord, Romans 12, 1 and 2, this is how we go about doing this. One who does acts of mercy shows compassion. This is a little bit like encouragement.

I’m not sure I’m all that great at this now. I’m better than I was when I was younger. There’s a real art to some of this, and some of you are really good at it. Men, some of our wives are way better at this than we are. And some of these things we have to learn and develop over time, and that’s great. But if you are someone who does this, then the manner by which you do this matters. Being cheerful, being joyful. You’re there to help someone in a time of need. As they’re going through sorrow or grief, you can show compassion and you can have empathy. When’s the last time you thought about that being as important as leading a song in public service?

I just want to make us think.

Because Paul mentions these things. These are really important. This is vital as being part of the body of Christ. It’s vital in fulfilling Romans 1 and 2, offering our bodies and our minds in his service. And there’s others. In 1 Corinthians 12, it talks about, so these are interesting. Helping. I mean, that’s pretty vague and open. You can be a helper. Right? This is an important task. Helping in whatever capacity, help is needed. 1 Corinthians 12, 27 and 28. Administrating. I mean, we’ve got some people here who are great at administrating. Organizing things, putting things together. Did you know that’s a work of the Lord? 1 Corinthians 12. People who administrate. People who organize and put things together. That’s valuable. Now they don’t get a lot of credit for it.

Conclusion

People don’t typically mention any of these kinds of things, but they are vital in helping a body function and helping a body be united together. And so what I want us to come away with this morning is it doesn’t have to be something that people see or is up front or is public. What matters is whatever your gifts are, whatever your abilities and your talents are, that you are using them in service to the Lord. If that is our commitment, if we’re committed to honoring God, and that is our goal, and we’re not tied up in how, you know, I should do this or I need to do that, or I have to look a certain way, or else people are going to question my faith, or whatever the thought is, if we’re just purely focused on the idea of offering body and mind to the Lord, so many good things are going to happen.

One of them being we will maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, Ephesians chapter 4. And we won’t be so tied up in this is what I want and this is what I want to do. It’ll be what can I do in service to the Lord. I love preaching through texts. Because they offer so much rich material that is so applicable. And here’s the thing, as I’ve mentioned previous to this, I think so many of these things we do really well at Decker Prairie. But the thing is you don’t want to wait until we aren’t doing things well to talk about this stuff. First of all, it’s not received very well when you do that. It’s like we got this big problem.

I’m gonna point out all the problems that we got. Now, that doesn’t usually go over very well. Sometimes it’s necessary. But this is why working through text and digging into text is super valuable. Because we can calibrate, right? Our kids know what that word means, all you video game players. You can like calibrate that controller, get it working right, you know. Maybe we’re just a shade off. Maybe things just there’s a little drafting going on or whatever. You can get this thing recalibrated, and now it’s back online and everything’s working the way it’s supposed to. So I don’t know if there’s any calibration that’s needed this morning. Maybe. That’s a decision that I’m gonna have to make in my heart and you and yours. But that’s why we look at texts like this and work through them to help us realign our hearts, our minds, even our bodies with God and what we’re doing in his service.

So that’s my encouragement to you this morning. We haven’t really talked much about salvation itself this morning. But it maybe you find yourself in a position this morning, you realize you desperately need God, and if so, we want to help you. The book of Romans talks all about this a few chapters early. It talks about giving yourself in death and a death like Jesus’ death and resurrection like Jesus’ resurrection and becoming one who is a servant of God. And we can help you do that this morning. He tells us we’re buried in the waters of baptism and are resurrected in newness of life. And if you need more information, maybe you don’t fully understand or you’re not sure what all that means, be happy to talk to you more about that.

But we don’t want to miss an opportunity to offer you this. Because this is the powerful message of God that you can be transformed, you can be changed, you can work for his glory and become a new person. Can we help you do that this morning? Come now as we stand and we sing together.