0:24
We move along with Paul's argument that he laid the foundation for in the first two verses. We'll be looking at verses 6-8. Romans 12, beginning in verse 6.
0:35
And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly. If prophecy, according to the proportion of
0:45
his faith, if service, in his serving, or he who teaches, in his teaching, or he who exhorts, in his exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads
0:58
with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Let us pray. Father, we do ask that you would open your word to us. We know that in Christ
1:10
you have given us the Holy Spirit, the same spirit who see searches the deep things of God. And in the spirit you have given us the mind of Christ. And we
1:20
can discern that which is spiritual, that which the natural man not only has no desire to discern, but has no ability to do so either. And so we pray that by
1:32
the grace of your holy spirit dwelling within us that you would indeed by your word conform us into the image of your son Jesus Christ that we may imitate him
1:42
that we may think his thoughts as he thinks your thoughts for your glory and for our good. We ask in Jesus name.
1:59
Number of years ago I saw a little comic strip. It was a um a couple standing in front of a statue in a park and the statue was that of a plumber who held his plunger high in the air and the
2:10
inscription underneath said, "Our hero." Hero is a word that has been sadly misused in recent time made to apply to
2:22
just about anything, including the guy who unplugges our toilets. other words that have been um changed and and really distilled or diluted, I should say. Um
2:33
the word classic, you know, something's an instant classic. I'm sorry, that's an oxymoron. You can't be an instant classic. But but the
2:43
classic word that has does not mean what you think it means, of course, is inconceivable. Okay? So all all through our our vernacular now we have people using words and and we can you know we can
2:55
imitate inigo montoya you keep using that word I do not think it means what you think it means well the word I want to focus on today in this passage is the word epic epic is definitely a word that
3:08
has changed its meaning uh it now means just about every novel and every movie that is produced is an epic and and even the final men's round of the French
3:20
Open. It was an epic last Sunday. You missed an epic if you didn't watch it. Now, I will grant that five and a half hours is a long time to play tennis. Okay. And I don't know if you followed
3:31
it, but you'll be happy to know that sinner was defeated. Okay. Don't know where to go with that one. So, how about nowhere? But what is an epic? What what truly is
3:43
an epic? because epic is actually a genre of literature that dates back perhaps longer than any other than maybe poetry. Okay. So, so Homer's works from the the
3:55
9th century before Christ are epics, but they're not epics because they're long. Long books do not make it an epic. Long movies don't make it an epic. It just
4:06
makes it long. I don't know if you've ever read War and Peace, but I will tell you that the movie starring Henry Fonda is even longer or seems to be. And you
4:17
know, it's that's not what makes an epic an epic. It's length. An epic is a panorama of time. It is a cultural meta
4:27
narrative. An epic is a story that a people tell about themselves. And so that epic will go back and it will begin in their distant and even
4:39
mythological past. It gives them an identity. It gives them what's called a cosmology, the beginning of our people. And then it will go through their present. Well, now that present includes
4:51
their actual history, the time that they have lived up until the point where this author is writing the epic, the story of the people. But then it'll also go off
5:02
into the future. It will it will foretell what will happen in days to come when this people will be glorified or if the epic is
5:15
condemnatory then it will be destroyed and so the epic has cosmology it has history it has esquetology and I don't know if you've read many
5:26
epics but if you've read even a handful whether whether Greek or Roman or or uh trilogy of the ring ings, whatever you may have read, you'll realize that they
5:36
kind of follow the same plotline. They have the same types of of characters, heroes and villains, the same crisis, and and often the same
5:48
anticipated result, the victory of the hero and the restoration of things as they ought to be. Where does that common plot come from? And why is man in his
6:02
cultural settings so drawn to the epic as a a form of his national and social and cultural literature?
6:12
We're not really old enough here. We'll be celebrating 250 years next year and that's not very old and and so we don't really I don't know that we have any epics. uh we have to kind of make our
6:24
own and we don't have much time to do it in but we do have a a sense of the epic and sometimes that word is used the epic
6:34
history of the United States. Why do we think that way? Well, I would submit to you that we think that way because man is actually playing in an epic. that man is actually the the the
6:48
leading character and both the hero and the villain of the epic of God's redemptive history, but also even more than that, God's self-disclosure
6:59
to the cosmos. We we like to think that, you know, that the devil's the bad guy. Well, the devil's a bad guy, but the devil didn't cause Adam to sin. And so
7:12
Adam is both created in the image of God to bear God's glory as with all his descendants and he's also the author of sin and death both the hero and the
7:23
villain showing that as we see in our epics at least the true ones it's not so easy to discern good and evil things are bit more gray and the
7:36
heroes are not perfect and the villains are are almost in some cases something you consider sympathize with. And so the struggle of the epic and the whole plotline of the epic is really something
7:48
that that we're drawn to because we're part of one. And yet we don't understand our part in the fundamental epic of God's self-revelation
8:00
God's self-revelation through human history, through creation history. So all of the components of Middle Earth of of of Beaywolf or of any other epic are derived from the real
8:12
life drama of redemptive history. Now that makes people nervous. And that is when you when you talk about the scriptures as literature, people think
8:22
you're saying, "Well, it well, it's not really inspired. Well, it's it's not really the the the writing of God. It's it's just Jewish literature." No, that's
8:32
not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is the inspiration of God through his self-revelation has been given to us, mediated to us in literature and very good literature at that. High quality
8:44
poetry, prophecy, letters, letters that we couldn't write, histories, drama. A recent book came out in the last
8:55
several years that's called the drama of scripture. And theologians, I think, are finally beginning to at least return to or or even discover that the the scripture does relate to us an
9:07
overarching meta narrative. And you know, I'm not fond of dispensationalism. That's not a surprise. But I do believe
9:17
that one of the greatest damages that that form of thinking and hermeneutic has done is to tear apart the epic of God's self-disclosure God's self-disclosure into individual short stories. And then
9:30
we take those individual short stories and we teach them to our children in Sunday school with color glossies or flannelraph that dates me right.
9:41
No, we need to see the big picture because by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, we who were once a far off have been brought near. We who had had no
9:53
interest and no participation in the commonwealth in in the in the good of God's people have been grafted in so that the story that the Israelite could
10:04
say this is our story. We can say that now as well and we can all say that our story originates with the original protagonist Adam. And so
10:14
when you read the scripture and when we read these passages here in Romans and I am going to tie this together hopefully I want I want you to see yourself as a
10:25
part of it. And and I do emphasize quite often in in the teachings the the nature of scripture as an overarching narrative, a meta narrative that that
10:38
displays to us the grand arc of revelation. I'm not trying to diminish or trivialize the scripture by any means. I I feel like I'm actually uh
10:48
trying to exalt it that that this is really relaying to us the greatest epic because it's also real. You know, we we don't need elves and we don't need
10:59
dwarves and we don't need rings. We have God, the triune one, the father, the son, and the holy spirit. We have the election of God's people starting
11:10
with the seed of woman, the seed of Abraham, the Messiah of Israel, our savior Jesus Christ. So, you know, okay, all of that is kind of shadowed in our
11:21
humanly writings. And many times people look at them and they read them and I know that in his life after writing the trilogy of the rings, Tolkien spent a great deal of time trying to show that
11:31
it wasn't an analogy of Christianity. But you know, frankly, just about everything we write is somehow an analogy of what God has done because we bear his image. And even in a perverted
11:43
and corrupted way, we still think his thoughts after him and our perception of reality align with the epic. So why not align it with the right one? Why not
11:55
align it with the divine one that we have in scripture? So I want I want to to try to take that grand arc of revelation. This is kind of a I don't
12:06
know a principle of teaching for me is to try to look at the scripture and and to tie it back to what we are familiar with and argue that the reality of the
12:16
greater story is actually the source of the lesser ones. And though that's why we see many similarities in human writings and many plot lines that
12:27
follow. But you know what? We do that and yet we still ignore the grand plotline of which we are a part. We say, "Oh, that's kind of a Christ figure." You know that this person, this is a
12:37
character is a Christ figure. Well, what about the Christ who's not a figure? What about him and his role and our role? Because we are, as I said, we
12:48
we're a part of this meta narrative. And in Christ, we're a part of the protagonist. We're a part as it were of the solution. And I think this is what
12:59
Paul and later Peter says with regard to our role in the church. So an epic an epic has as with any other story, any
13:11
other um uh drama, it has a script. Okay? It has um acts and and leading roles. And then there are supporting
13:21
roles. And then finally, there's an an element of of what's known as denum, the tying together or what we might call in a screenplay the curtain call when it's
13:33
when it's all wrapped up. Well, that's all there in the scripture. And that's all here in Romans 12 6-8.
13:45
Paul in these verses and let me read them again. He is actually describing both the script and the cast of the narrative of God's redemptive history. He says, "And since we have gifts that
13:57
differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly." There's the role. And once again, his language, as we saw
14:09
in verse three, is not discriminatory. And I I say again that perhaps the best English translation of what he's saying is all y'all all y'all have gifts
14:23
according to the grace given to you then exercise them accordingly. And then he goes on and we'll talk about the individual ones as he's discussing.
14:33
But what he's saying here is the the kind of the overarching summary of the epic of what God is doing in Jesus Christ and now through his
14:47
church. Now the script itself is actually alluded to with one phrase in verse six that is rather controversial. not in a negative way but rather in the
14:59
sense that um commentators and theologians don't necessarily know what it means and that is it's translated in the New American Standard proportion of
15:09
his faith his faith but it's actually the analogy of faith last week we talked about the measure of faith the metron pisto
15:21
metron meter metrical system and whatnot well this is the analogia pistu. Well, the analogy, the Greek word transliterates right into the English,
15:33
and I don't quite know why the New American Standard said proportion of faith here, but it's the analogy of faith. And because that is a very significant phrase in Christian
15:44
theology, I'm going to wait till next week and dedicate some time to discussing that. What I want to focus on today is the cast, both the leading and the supporting
15:55
roles that Paul mentions here. Now, once again, I want to reiterate and hopefully make as clear as possible that no one in Christ lacks a role in this script. that
16:10
there is no one who is in Christ born again by the Holy Spirit who lacks gifts that are to be exercised in the script.
16:20
They no one in Christ fails to have a part as it were in this epic rather everyone has a role though all the roles are not the same.
16:34
So in Ephesians chapter 4, which is one of the spiritual gift chapters, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4. Okay, those are the three that are known as
16:46
the gift chapters. But Paul writes, "Speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head from whom the whole body being
16:58
fil uh fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies according to the power working in each individual part causes the growth of the body for
17:10
the building up of itself in love. Well, that metaphor of course is the common one, the body. And Paul's already alluded to that in verse one of this chapter that our body is a living, holy,
17:23
acceptable sacrifice unto God. But it seems to me that when Paul uses the word body, he uses it with a double sense, and we'll talk about that this
17:33
morning. And we tend to use it only in a single sense, and that is my physical body. We tend to moralize what Paul is
17:45
saying in these letters and by moralizing it we tend to individualize it. And so we read something like Romans 12:1 and verse two and we say okay I
17:56
need to keep my body pure. And there are of course those who teach that that means you should you should not smoke. Okay. Because smoking is I've heard it preached. I don't know that it's still
18:07
being done. I hope not. But that when Paul says in Corinthians, he who will describe the destroy the body of Christ that God will destroy that means don't smoke because smoking destroys your
18:19
bodies, but so do Doritos. I mean, let's be fair. What is it? Polyunsaturated fats or whatever, you know, uh you you can't you can't go
18:30
there with that. And yet many do. But what they're really losing sight of is the primary way that Christ uses the word body and how I believe he's using
18:41
it here and how he uses it. For example, when he speaks of the Lord's supper in 1 Corinthians 11, that if you do not examine the body, do you not do you not properly understand the body that you
18:52
eat and drink death to yourself, which is why many of you are sick and some have fallen asleep. This is the body of Christ. It's the body of which we are members one of another. That's the
19:03
context here. Not the ethical and moral behavior that we're supposed to align ourselves with. That's part of it. But that's part of it in as much as that
19:13
that is part of the body. And that we'll get into later as he gets into some of the the interactions of the body. But the context with Paul is very much the body of Christ.
19:26
Adolf Schlottter writes, "What Paul says here prevents the believer from withdrawing from the fellowship in order to cultivate his own life.
19:38
But by the same token, the community is forbidden to enforce unity by insisting upon sameness." upon sameness." And so all of Paul's teaching here is a
19:49
double-edged sword. double-edged sword. You can't just pull away and say, "Well, I'm going to live out my Christian life according to the light given to me on my own because the church is corrupt and I
20:00
don't want to be a part of it." No, you you cannot be in Christ and not in his body. And it is again going back to that metaphor, what happens to a member of a
20:13
human body if it is cut off? It dies. It dies. Corruption sets in. And I think the longer it is cut off in
20:23
the spiritual sense, the less able it is to actually reunite. And so on the one hand, he's saying you can't just have fellowship on your own. But on the other hand, he's also saying here when he
20:34
talks about the various gifts and how they've been distributed from first Corinthians according to the spirit and how they differ from one another and yet how everyone is responsible to exercise
20:46
their gift accordingly and according to the analogy of faith and the proportion of faith and all of that. It means that we cannot enforce some type of
20:57
uniformity. There can be unity but there will never be uniformity be uniformity and so we can't enforce sameness. The church however has often been
21:12
offscript in both of those more so the latter where the church tries to implement policies of uniformity in both dress and but also speech appearance
21:25
activities you know this uniformity but also in our culture even more so the idea that you can be a Christian on your own that you really don't need the
21:37
church because you know what? The church is kind of a mess, isn't it? It's full of people. Okay? And and so why bother? I can I can worship God through Jesus Christ in nature or in my living room or
21:48
in my bed. No, that is not the revelation of God. You are you are off script whenever you think that as the church is offscript
21:59
whenever it tries to enforce uniformity rather than to allow the diversity of unity or I should say unity in
22:10
diversity. This section in Romans 12 is often paired with 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. As I mentioned these are the spiritual gift inventory. You
22:22
maybe have heard that phrase that Paul's spiritual gift inventory that it was very popular in the 80s for you to take a spiritual gift inventory exam and
22:33
determine what your spiritual gift is by take you know answering a battery of questions. I guess it's all online now um you know and you can also find out what character of pride and prejudice you represent. Um, that was wrongheaded
22:48
because first of all, Paul's mention of spiritual gifts in these three chapters, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, those lists are not exhaustive,
22:59
but they are also not permanent. And we know that some of the gifts were definitely not permanent. The point of all of them was that the Holy Spirit
23:10
will give to each and every believer that which is needed for the building up of the body. And that which is needed has changed over time and in different cultures.
23:22
And it also changes within the body's life. And so they they cannot be um permanent. There are some of the gifts that no longer hold sway in the church.
23:35
And we'll speak about one of them next week and that is the gift of prophecy. But there are other gifts that really never go out of vogue like showing mercy or benevolence.
23:46
or benevolence. But these gifts are not these are not exhaustive lists at by any means. Paul is not just lift listing gifts. One commentator writes, "He is exhorting
23:57
each member of the community to use his or her gift diligently and faithfully to strengthen the body and help it to
24:08
flourish." Again, all who were in Christ are members then of the cast of that epic in this scene, in this act in which we live. As it was said by um well,
24:20
Esther's uncle, what was his name? Mori, you have been raised up for just such a time as this. Whatever time you are living as a believer, you are gifted to
24:32
function within the church as part of the cast. But the scriptures also take that that whole cast and divide it up into two categories
24:43
and further dividing up those categories into different giftedness and different functions. Now, at this point, Peter comes in and he says in 1 Peter chapter
24:55
4, essentially he summarizes Paul's teaching and that's saying something. But he says, "As each one has received a gift," the Greek word there is charisma
25:06
as in charismatic. Okay? So, he's not talking to the denomination of charismatics. He's talking to all believers. And he says as each one has received a charisma. And so
25:20
every believer is by definition a charismatic. But in the right sense he says as each one has received a gift employer
25:32
one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks let him speak as it were the oracles of God. He who serves or whoever serves,
25:46
let him do so as by the as by the strength which God supplies. Speaking, serving. There you go. There's your two
25:57
categories of charisma within the church. Speaking and serving. And he says, "What for?" So that in all things
26:07
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Once again, theology leading to doxology.
26:19
If the church were to get its ecclesiology correct, there would be doxology in this world. If the believers would recognize what the scripture
26:30
teaches concerning the work of the Holy Sp spirit within the body of Christ, knowing that there are those charisma that have been poured out to each
26:40
individual in the lines of speaking in the lines of serving and then functioning in them by the grace that God provides the body of Christ would
26:51
grow and I don't think it could be ignored in the world frankly. But we don't do that. In fact, we've rarely done that. What we prefer to do
27:02
is to assign those functions to the clergy and then pay them for it. Not much, but pay them. And that's what we've done for 2,000 years. Is let let's get someone else to do it. Like Moses,
27:13
you go up the hill. The gifts are are ordained. The church actually now gives out the gifts by laying on of hands and ordaining people. I don't know where you find that. I mean there's laying on of
27:25
hands but that's not where the charismata come from. It comes from the Holy Spirit ultimately distributed as he wills. And yet we understand that just
27:36
as a body I mentioned last week we have paralysis when the members don't do what they're supposed to do. We have epilepsy when the members are out of control. Well, what happens to an epic? What
27:47
happens to a script when members of the cast decide they want to play a different role than the one assigned to them or they decide they don't want to play that role, so they're just going to
27:59
sit down. What happens to it? Now, this analogy or this metaphor works for me because I was in the High School Musical for four years and that was a very um
28:11
influential period of time in my life. that that whole dynamic of acting out the sound of music or little Abner or something like that, Westside Story, but
28:22
also realizing that, you know, as much as you want to be the lead role, you can't all be the lead role. And realizing that sometimes being a
28:34
supporting role is actually more gratifying than being the lead role. And also sometimes you get more laughs. That was important too.
28:47
So as in an epic there are leading and there are supporting roles but the only hero really in the epic of God's self-revelation is Jesus Christ. And
29:00
even the A-listister of A-listers the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit is presented to us as a supporting role. Now that may say seem blasphemous but
29:11
let me read scripture where Jesus says to his disciples he will not speak on his own initiative. He even he doesn't write the script. He reads the script given to him by Jesus
29:24
Christ. Even he will not speak on his own initiative but whatever he hears he will speak. He will glorify me for he will take of mine and shall give it or
29:34
disclose it to you. There are leading roles in the church, but frankly all they are are the more visible and the more vocal serving
29:47
roles. Peter says once again that whatever we do, whether speaking or whether serving, he has already established the overarching rubric and that is serving one another. So that
30:00
whether you're leading, speaking, teaching, or whether you're showing mercy, benevolence, mercy, benevolence, it's all in the same cause, serving one
30:10
another. So the only distinction between the the leading role and the serving role or the supporting role is really
30:21
visibility, which is exactly how you see it in an epic. And so we're we're drawn to the individuals of whom we read or on the screen. We see more often they are the
30:32
leading roles. leading roles. But the danger here and the temptation in terms of the leading role is that of
30:43
pride. Paul mentions leading roles in Ephesians 4. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor, teachers. here in Romans 12, what we just read, those who prophesy,
30:54
those who teach, those who lead. These are the front and center servants of one another. These are the men and women that we see more often and their role is
31:08
very visible. And so there's a much greater temptation to pride, but there's no greater rank because all of it is of grace. This is the reason why
31:21
during the reformation many of the Protestants wanted to forego the vestments and there was a great controversy over that and sadly the wrong side won but
31:33
that is the idea of wearing some type of clerical garment. clerical garment. A distinction is made between servants of one another and it's a distinction
31:44
that should not be made there. There should be no difference in appearance that is that is unusual. For example, I wear a suit coat every day of the week. Okay? I'm not going to wear a clerical
31:56
robe when I go to Walmart. I'm not going to go to Walmart either, but the point being is this is clearly a distinction being made within the body of someone
32:06
who has a particular gift perhaps one hopes, but we're giving them also a higher rank. Okay? This the same thing is true when you when you when you pull up to a church and and you notice that
32:18
the the first parking space is reserved for the pastor. Why is he paralyzed? Okay. He who will be greatest among you
32:28
shall park in the first spot. Maybe he's just handicapped. I don't know what what's up with that. And then the title, Reverend. Where'd that come from? I I get that in the mail. You know
32:39
where that mail goes. Okay. Reverend. Wh why do we do that? Why do we gravitate toward toward giving people we're actually fueling their pride? We're
32:50
making life harder for them in the Lord actually. Okay. Don't don't think that you're just giving honor where honor is due. No, you're be you're off script and what you're doing is you're actually helping lead that man into temptation
33:03
into thinking of himself as somehow different from everyone else. Whereas in fact, he's differently gifted but not in rank. not sometimes even in grace and
33:14
not in wisdom necessarily. He has a role but as Andrew Nyigan says, "So it is true of the Christian that he is only a member of the body. However richly
33:27
equipped he may be, however great the commission entrusted to him, he still is and ever remains only a member."
33:43
Peter, you know, the first pope in his letter refers to himself as a fellow elder. fellow elder. That's one of the most powerful non-important statements that you can read in the Bible.
33:55
I, Peter, a fellow elder, exhort you elders. Okay? elders. Okay? I, Peter, the pope, no. Okay. So, so the
34:05
leading roles are there. They're visible. They're vocal and yet they're very dangerous in the sense that they can lead to temp to pride and and so don't don't let's help that temptation.
34:18
Don't make distinctions that are unbiblical. Jesus says, "Call no man father for you have one father your father in heaven." Now, obviously, the scripture does exhort us to to honor those who
34:30
diligently work among you and to hold them in high regard and to to obey your elders so that they may go well with them for they must give an account. You know, there there is mutual respect for
34:40
one another, but let's not participate in this hierarchy of A-listers and beers, leading roles and and supporting roles. But there are also supporting
34:51
roles. The other major category of the role of the roles is that of serving. All of the grace gifts are for service. I already reiterated what Peter said
35:02
that it doesn't matter whether you have a leading speaking gift, whether you have a serving gift. The role or the purpose of each of them and all of them is to serve one another. And yet there
35:12
is a distinction. Now again that distinction as we note in our church we think it's biblical that distinction is divided up in the offices of elder and deacon and I've often said that a a
35:25
deacon is not an elder on the on deck circle. In fact if you have a deacon who's just thinking he's doing his time and putting in his time to become an elder you don't
35:37
understand what is taught here. Deacon or diacinos means servant. And so the diacinate is that of service. And and it was amazing that it it
35:50
somebody made a comment recently and nobody in this room made this comment but that our diocinate is dormant. I'm like what?
36:01
Our dacinet is wonderful but we never see it. Okay. We never see it, but things happen around here that happen because there is a diagonate. Things
36:13
happen around here because people are serving and they're they're cleaning up, they're washing, they're arranging things, they're fixing things, they're they're doing the work that the body needs to have done, but they're not
36:25
doing it visibly. And so, it's very easy to to kind of overlook them. They're almost invisible. But I would submit to you that their invisibility is part of
36:35
the glory of that gift. That they may not receive the praise of men, but they'll receive the praise that matters. They are
36:47
exercising the gift that the spirit has put in them, the charisma, but they're not out in front. They're not visible. And I will tell you that if you have
36:57
heard what I heard, if you if you think even as you as you observe that the diacinate of Fellowship Bible Church is dormant, I will assure you it has never been more vibrant in the 34 years I've
37:09
been a member of this body. And I praise God for that. But this is the mindset that we we our whole culture is drawn toward the leading role. Who ever wants to win the
37:21
Oscar for best supporting actor? who remembers them you know you want to be the you want to win the best actor or the best actress
37:31
every wants to everybody wants to be or there's another personality and that is I don't want to be anything because I might do it wrong both of those are illegitimate there is
37:41
no distinction of rank there are no awards and we need to train our minds this is what renewing our minds according to the new humanity of the body of Jesus Christ
37:53
we need to filter out of our minds the way we normally think of of heroes and then servants and realize we are all nothing but servants. We are all nothing
38:04
but members of the body. And yet what happens to a script again if any member of the cast decides not to play his
38:15
part? Well, let's look at this one because in in a way and I think in a very large way
38:27
the role of serving is I won't say it's more vital than the role of of speaking because to have merely a serving church or a speaking church either one is is off script and it destroys the plot of
38:41
God's purpose. And so but I I want to to say that the the the role of serving is if if anything marginally more important than the role
38:52
of speaking. And yet there is a great temptation to envy and to despair. Paul mentions in Romans 12 exhorting or
39:02
he says serving, exhorting, giving and showing mercy. Again, these are not exhaustive, but these are by their nature largely invisible and they are
39:13
not grand and they are not something that the church necessarily praises. But what happens if you take them away?
39:24
Well, if you do not have the supporting cast in the church, you will have either a didactic or a moralistic church.
39:35
What I mean by that is that you will either emphasize doctrine, which is something that many reformed churches do, and you might have sound doctrine, or what many other churches do
39:48
of various denominations is you will emphasize ethics emphasize ethics and how people are supposed to live in the world, what they're to do and what they're to not do. You have a church
39:59
that becomes very dry and dogmatic or you have a church that becomes very moralistic and even legalistic. But what you don't have is a functioning
40:10
script. What you don't have is a living body. If mercy, compassion, benevolence all die away,
40:21
die away, you might still go by the name of church, but I would submit to you your candlestick has been removed. You have grieved the Holy Spirit
40:31
because first of all you have refused to glorify God in acknowledging with gratitude the grace gift that he has given you in Christ. And then secondly having that grace
40:43
gift, you have defied the will of God, the good and acceptable and perfect will of God by refusing to exercise it. It doesn't work.
40:55
The body cannot function unless every member is functioning according to what every joint and ligament provides for the building up of itself in love. The script falls apart when any member of
41:09
the cast decides, well, I'm not important enough. I'm just not going to do it. I'm not going to show up for rehearsal. I'm not going to show up when the curtain opens because I'm not that
41:21
important. But what scripture teaches is no, you are doing actually great damage both to your own faith and to the life of the body of the whole cast. And that is
41:33
definitely these are definitely thoughts that need to be taken captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Well, how does a play end? Well, it ends with
41:45
a curtain call. And so does, as Paul teaches in First Corinthians and again in 2 Corinthians, the epic of God's redemptive history will end with a
41:57
curtain call. curtain call. And during that curtain call, every member of the cast will be called on stage. And I mentioned this last week, and I want to bring it back again in 2
42:08
Corinthians 5:10. We must all and again it's all y'all. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give account for the deeds done in the
42:20
body. Same word as in Romans 12:1. And I do think that it means your body. Paul speaks of that in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Your body as a living, holy
42:32
or acceptable or acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. But I think even more in Paul it means the body of Christ. Because the church is the venue where
42:43
that sacrifice takes place. It doesn't take place on a mountain or some altar in your home, in your living room, some some holy place in your
42:53
closet. That's not where it takes place. The sacrifice that is living, holy, acceptable to God takes place right here. It takes place within the body of
43:06
Christ, within the congregation of faithful believers. faithful believers. And that sacrifice is to go outside of yourself and live within the gift or
43:17
gifts that God has given you through the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. There is a great mystery at work here. The gifts are entirely due to the grace
43:29
of God. And yet every believer is responsible to exercise his or her gift. We can say as as uh professor Henry
43:40
Crobdom said, it's 100% God, but it's also 100% man. So we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work within us, both to do and to will according to his
43:51
pleasure. We acknowledge that that no role in the church derives from the person himself or herself. They're all gifts given graciously by the Holy
44:02
Spirit. And yet we will all be held in account for the deeds done in the body. Whether or not we functioned in the gift that God gave us according to the
44:13
measure of faith that God gave us will be, I think, the determinative factor of that judgment. We will not lose our
44:24
salvation. We may lose whatever rewards that we can imagine that we will receive but we will suffer loss. Whatever we have done in our Christian life will be shown to be
44:36
wood, hay and stubble. It will all burned up. burned up. But if we live in the gifts and in the body, then it will prove to be gold, silver, and precious stones. They'll be
44:48
refined by the fire and come out brighter. And we will hear no matter what our role, leading role, supporting role, we'll have that greatest of all accolades, that greatest Oscar when the
44:59
Lord says, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master." Let us pray.
45:12
Father, we do ask that you would teach us these things deep in our heart and and make us aware of what you have gifted us where you have placed us in the cast. What part of the body, what
45:23
joint, what ligament, knowing that we are in Christ part of the cast, knowing that we have a role through the charismata that you have deposited and distributed to us by your holy spirit.
45:35
teach us, give us courage, give us strength and wisdom to live within the gifts and the gifts that you have gifted us for the serving of one another.
45:48
Knowing that when the body serves one another, it is built up into Jesus Christ and he ultimately receives the glory and you through him. Father, we
46:00
ask that you would do these things entirely for your glory and yet also for our supreme good. For we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
46:16
Please rise for the benediction from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 where Paul writes, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body pres be
46:27
preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who calls you and he also will bring it to pass." Amen.
