God Empowers His People to Serve

Well, yes. Last week, we did look at membership, what it means to belong to the body of Christ, and we looked at, you may remember, one Corinthians 12, which is a classic text on that theme where we're introduced to the metaphor of the body, and that as Christians, we belong to the body of Christ, like hands and feet and ears and eyes belong to the human body, and they all work interdependently to accomplish a common goal. This morning, we're continuing that look by going to a part of scripture where Paul begins talking about having moved on from the idea of membership in the body of Christ to the practical usefulness of those individual members. So to use the metaphor of a hand or a foot, what the hand needs to do or what the foot needs to do in the body of Christ. In one Corinthians 12 and 14, Paul talks about this as having gifts that God gives the church.

This morning, we're going to be talking about spiritual gifts, and we're going to be looking at that this time from Romans chapter 12, where Paul talks about it in very similar words as he does in one Corinthians. So turn with me please to Romans chapter 12, and we're gonna read from verse three. Romans 12:3. Paul writes to the church in Rome, "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 of one another."

"Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, in proportion to our faith. If service, in our serving. The one who teaches, in his teaching. The one who exhorts, in his exhortation. The one who contributes, in generosity. The one who leads, with zeal. The one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness." So far, our reading, this is God's word. This morning, we are looking at having moved on from the concept that we belong to one body, now to the idea of what we do in that body.

This morning, I want to get the basic definition of what a spiritual gift is right. What is a spiritual gift? Well, I want to pose to you that our understanding of a spiritual gift should be God empowering his people to serve. God empowering his people to serve. And we're going to look at that statement, and we sort of break it down according to what we find here in Romans 12, but also in other parts of scripture, namely one Corinthians 12 and 14 and Ephesians 4.

So we're going to be jumping through some of those texts as well. Firstly, in that sentence, God empowering his people to serve, we find the first word: God, the origin of these gifts. When we talk about spiritual gifting within the church, we're talking about gifts. We're talking about abilities, specifically, that have been given to members within the church, but because they are gifts, they have an origin. If they are gifts, then they have a giver.

In verse six, we are told that these gifts have been given to members of the church according to the grace given to us. As gifts given by a giver, we are told in verse three that these gifts are to be used according to the faith that God has given us. God is namely the giver of these gifts, and God bestows on our hearts supernaturally, spiritually, a desire according to the faith that we have to use them within the body. What is, I think, important and helpful for us to remember, however, is to see that God does this sovereignly. God assigns gifts to us.

God gives it to us for us to use the way that He wants them to be used. This means, first and foremost, that no one can ever have pride over the gifts that they receive. No one can claim to deserve any of them because God has purely given them by His grace. Purely out of His sovereign plan, His sovereign choice for you and I to work with. How does God give these church gifts?

Well, the Bible gives us one answer to this: the Holy Spirit. After listing several spiritual gifts in one Corinthians 12, Paul says this in verse 11, "All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually, how? As He wills." Now, I have seen all sorts of abuses in the modern day church about how to claim and name gifts. There are quote unquote ministry schools that can train you how to use certain gifts, how to apply them to yourself.

But scripturally, we have to understand that it is a sovereign choice of the Spirit. It is the ministry of the Spirit who gives to each one of us as He wills these gifts to use. And so the first thing we must remember when we deal with the topic of spiritual gifts is that it begins with God. It is His gift to give. And it comes from the realm of the spiritual rather than the physical.

The second point in our sentence is that God empowers His people. This means that these gifts have a purpose. The Bible teaches that every member in the church, every member of this church, every true believing Christian has a function in the church. Ephesians 2:10, some of us may remember two verses eight and nine, you know, our salvation is a gift of grace through faith, but the end result of that listed in verse 10 is what? That we may do the works that God has prepared in advance for us to do.

We are given grace to do good works. It means that everyone has a ministry in the body of Christ. Everyone serves. But secondly, we learn that this service, this ministry comes about in a variety of different ways. Last week, we saw Paul describe the church with that metaphor of a human body.

And he says, if you are a hand, you will do the function of a hand. And if you're a foot, you will do the function of a foot. Here in our passage this morning in Romans 12, Paul returns to that same metaphor. In verse four, he writes, "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 of one another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. Let us use them," he says.

As Christians, we have been saved. And when we were saved, God started a transformation in us. Not only in an objective and a legal sense has our future, our eternity been transformed, but our purpose has been transformed. Our purpose has been realigned with God's purpose. In that transformation, we become sensitive to the things that desperately need His love.

We become sensitive as new creations to the needs of people within our church as brothers and sisters. In Ephesians chapter four, the apostle Paul talks about every church member being part of an active team that ministers to one another. We are not, therefore, spectators being preached at on a Sunday morning to go home and just wait for next Sunday's message. We are not consumers. Everyone has their position within the body of Christ.

And that position calls for service. Paul makes a point in verse eleven and twelve of Ephesians four. Ephesians 4:11-12 begins by saying, "It was Jesus Christ who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers." But then verse 12 says, "In order that, with this goal in mind, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ." From the Greek, and translated into our English, we use the word edify, which means to build up.

And it comes from the terminology here. To be edified as a Christian is to be built up by those around us, to be encouraged and to be spurred on, how? By the gifts that we've been able to use through the ministry of the apostles and the pastors and the teachers and so on. In other words, all of God's people form a unified organisation where everyone becomes a key stakeholder and an investor in this movement. There are some people who have been given the role of coaches, and we may call them the apostles, who gave us, who explained to us the gospel that forms the crux of the New Testament. Others have been given the job of reminding the team of what the game plan is.

They are the pastors and the teachers. They are the ones that simply point back to what the coaches, the apostles have told us and say, remember, this is what we're on about. This is what we're doing. That's why some churches, including our church, refer to their pastors formally as ministers of the word. To minister the word is simply to serve people with God's word and to say, remember this?

This is what we're doing. This is the plan. But what's the end result of the ministry of the apostles who revealed to us the game plan, and of the pastors and the teachers and the evangelists who remind us of the game plan? Well, that is for the church to be built up and equipped for service. So that's why coming back to our passage in Romans 12, Paul talks about spiritual gifts, having just mentioned that famous couple of verses at the beginning of Romans 12 that we read this morning earlier.

Romans 12:1-2. In view of God's mercy, which Paul has been explaining for 11 chapters, he's been explaining the gospel. Live your life as living sacrifices to God now. In view of what He's done, live your life completely dedicated to Him. Be transformed in the renewing of your mind. Align your mind and your heart to that cause, and now he begins to say, and this looks like this: We serve one another as members in the body according to different gifts that we have been given.

So God empowers His people so that we can be used by Him to do good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do. But then the final question is, what are the types of things we need to do? What are the types of things God has gifted His people with? That's our third and our final point. God empowers His people to serve.

When it comes to the spiritual gifts, the Bible says that no one person has been given all the gifts. Instead, they are given to all its members to be used in service to one another. To paraphrase verses four and five in Romans 12, we are told just as in our bodies, we have many different parts, and these parts don't all have the same function, so we, as the body of Christ, don't all have the same gifts. It's a sobering thing for pastors, our famous pastors especially, to remember that the pastor of a church doesn't have all the gifts. He is one cog among many.

The elders don't receive all the gifts. There is no super Christian in any given church. Incidentally, I would also say for our charismatic brothers and sisters that according to the Bible, no single gift is given to all the people in the church. There's no indication anywhere in scripture that every believer needed to have, for example, the gift of tongues. In fact, Paul says in one Corinthians 12 and 14 that tongues were given as one gift among many.

It was not more important or less important than the other gifts that were given. For what end? Was that gift given? The same purpose as all the other gifts: to build up the church, to edify the church, not to prove to myself that I truly believe in Jesus. Returning to the main question, what are these gifts?

What are these abilities given to the church so that we can understand what this mutual service or encouragement or building up means? Well, let's have a quick look at the gifts listed in verses six to eight, and I'm gonna quote them from the NIV, just because the NIV sort of translated, I think, a little bit more smoothly. It says, "We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve.

If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully."

Now, it's helpful for us to note that Paul doesn't give us an exhaustive list of the spiritual gifts here. How do I know this? Because Paul, in many other parts in his letters, writes about spiritual gifts as well, and he lists other ones. According to a survey of them, there's probably about 26 or 27 spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament. So there's no indication that the ones listed here are the finite, limited amount, nor I would also add, the 20 odd that we are sort of given is not explained in any sort of way to say that these are the only gifts that God gives spiritually.

There could be more that is just given and is just used within the church. It is therefore Romans 12 is therefore an example that in a way gives us examples of what the gifts may be for a common purpose. So if you are a teacher, then you must teach. If you are a leader, then you must lead. If you are given the gift of mercy, do it cheerfully.

Let's have a quick look at some of these. Now, we begin. If we begin from the beginning in verse six with the gift of prophecy, the more controversial one of them. Paul begins by mentioning this and there is plenty of debate of what this means and whether this gift exists. Traditionally, some of us may know, the reformed church has been cessationist, which means the church has generally viewed the spiritual gifts as having ended in that one generation of the early church, the age of the apostles.

And so the gifts that are spoken about in some of these places were given for a certain time, for a certain purpose, and that was to get the church going. These were supernatural, great, awesome gifts. Gifts of healing and gifts of prophecy that were showy and impressive and changed and convicted people to believe in the gospel, and therefore, the church could get going. But today, the church doesn't have these gifts. That's the cessationist view. God gave the church at one time amazing power, but that was it.

My elders know, and some of you may know that I'm not personally a cessationist. I call myself a cautious continuationist. I believe that God empowers the church through gifts. But the question is, what do I make with this gift of prophecy? Well, again, the cessationist position and perhaps cautious people like myself, we wrestle with the idea that God gave a prophetic gift in the same sense that He gave the gift of prophecy to the Old Testament prophets, like Jeremiah or Moses.

The problem is because those prophetic messages uttered today in the name of prophecy could possibly erode the boundaries of scripture itself. We see that prophecy throughout the Old Testament, those words of Jeremiah and Moses were on the level of being the word of God. Old Testament prophecy became scripture, and scripture became the infallible word of God. Biblically, prophecy, therefore, has a huge responsibility. Deuteronomy 18 shows the weight of prophetic revelation by saying that any person who speaks a word of prophecy and that utterance is found to be false, in that it doesn't compute with the things that were predicted, or it doesn't compute with what God's will is and what it has been revealed to have been. A false prophet is to be taken outside the city limits and killed.

That is the weight of prophecy. Prophecy was a serious thing in the Old Testament because it was claiming to be the very word of God. And so, sympathetically, cessationists argue that if people claiming to have a prophetic gift today, whether they admit it or not, they are claiming to speak words that should be regarded as equal weighting with scripture itself. And if these prophecies then contradict the Bible in some way, it means either one of two things. It means firstly, that the Bible has it wrong and God is changing the plan, or it means that you are a false prophet.

Logically, cessationists say that the prophecy alluded to here was therefore only given to the early church, that first single generation of the apostles, along with many other amazing gifts like healing and miracle working and so on, because the early church needed to make tremendous inroads with the gospel. Those gifts pointed to the validity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth of the gospel. But now, after that generation, we have the completed canon of scripture. We have the full revelation of God in Jesus Christ. And so when the apostles died out, those gifts were brought to a close because the work was done.

For me, however, for a host of different reasons that we don't have the time to explore fully, I believe that trying to argue that the Bible tells us that these gifts have ceased is problematic if you're arguing from scripture because we're never told in scripture that these gifts found in the New Testament die out with the apostles. Those who hold to the idea that they have ceased cessationism, in my opinion, try to argue from their experience instead of from the Bible. In other words, they can't identify gifts in themselves or in other people, therefore, the gifts don't exist anymore. Their experience drives their theology and therefore, it is a weak position to hold scripturally, in my opinion.

As a cautious continuationist, however, I need to deal with what it means to say this gift of prophecy exists in the church. So I'm sympathetic to the issue of, obviously, the infallible revelation of God given fully and finally to us in scripture. So what is this first and controversial gift talked about here? Firstly, prophecy in the Bible was never really removed from the rest of God's word. Occasionally, Old Testament prophets would include supernatural insights given by God Himself into the unknown or unseen future.

This is what theologians call the prophetic aspect of foretelling, to foretell what will happen. The foretelling of the Messiah to come is an act of that. But there's also a greater focus in the Old Testament prophets on another aspect of prophecy: forth telling, telling people what God has already said. In essence, it's pointing back to God's word. It's saying this is what God wants for us.

So when Jeremiah would call people back to the covenant that was made with Abraham, he's saying, we have that revelation. Believe it. Return to it. Live your life in accord to that. So the prophets like Daniel and Moses in their prophecies were always revealing what God had been saying consistently all along.

So even in their prophecy, there is an amazing unity. Even as they uttered new metaphors, new words, it always pointed back originally to God's plan of salvation. In that sense, prophecy is always subject to the test of the rest of scripture. All prophets were to be held to account for what they said based on what had been said earlier. In that sense, the gift of prophecy in my mind then is one of speaking into the current context of the world with a sharp and incisive word based on the same old message of the gospel.

And so, practically speaking, someone with this gift has been given a Spirit-enabled power to speak with authority, with legitimacy when they declare the truth about God contained in scripture. For this reason, I put prophecy into the category of preaching. Preaching and teaching, we see it even in this passage here, are two different gifts. Preaching and teaching are two different gifts. And so the gift mentioned by Paul isn't talking about new revelations necessarily, but an incisive pronouncement of God's truth into the current context.

That may be persuasive to you, that may not. You can talk to me at morning tea. Let's move on quickly to the gift of service that Paul mentions next. The word for service is linked to the biblical word deacon. They are individuals given an innate or given a deep heart to care for people in need.

They are moved to be ones who want to serve. Traditionally, the church has installed people into a formal office called the deacon, the server. However, these gifts are not limited to use only by those installed in that office of deacon. The gift of service is broad enough to be exercised in a whole variety of spontaneous ways within the church. By God's grace and wisdom, therefore, He will give people in this church a heart that is particularly moved to serve the church in extraordinary ways.

Now that's a broad concept to wrap our heads around, but to give a practical example, I believe someone like John Campus is someone who has the gift, the spiritual gift of service. A man who has not been paid a cent by this church for decades, and you can find him here probably more than you find me. Secondly, the gift of teaching. They will be individuals called to be teachers. What do they teach? They don't teach maths or English. The definition here is ones who teach scripture.

The gift has generally been what churches look for in calling their ministers. But it would be foolish for us to think that the only person in the church with this gift is the pastor. That's not necessarily true either. In fact, Paul tells Timothy that an elder should also be able to teach. And so it may be the case that some of our elders, alongside the pastor, have this ability.

I would say that Rick, our elder, has that gift. Even though he's never been ordained as a minister, he has a gift for both learning and communicating what the Bible says. Next in that list is the gift of encouragement. The Greek word for this gift is parakaleo, which literally means to call to one's side. These people are the strengtheners.

They are the comforters of the church. They urge us. They console us, comfort us, cheer us up. A great New Testament example of this is Barnabas. He was the great partner of Paul in his missionary journeys. The name Barnabas means son of encouragement, and that name was affectionately given to him after he became a Christian because he was originally known as Joseph, the Levite.

But this nature, this character of Barnabas was one of encouragement at all times. Famously, Barnabas was the one that grabbed Saul, that great persecutor of the church, and took him to the apostles so that they could be reconciled, so that he could be forgiven and accepted as the called missionary to the Gentiles that he was. That was the heart of Barnabas, the encourager.

While the gift of encouragement is not one of your most upfront or flashy gifts, it leaves an impression. It's a gift that's excellent in the context of counselling. People with this gift also make great small group leaders. They're the types of people who are excellent in the ministry of the morning tea on a Sunday morning. When you talk to them, you leave feeling encouraged to stay firm in the Lord, to focus on the good things that God has done for us.

Now, again, alongside all the other gifts, these gifts or these attitudes are not purely for some people, not for us. All of us are called to be encouragers. All of us are called to show mercy, but there are some individuals empowered supernaturally by the Holy Spirit who will go to extreme lengths to comfort, to spur on, and to strengthen those who need it. Practically, an example of this, many of us will remember the late Jeff Rogers, who was a member of our church, who passed away last year.

Jeff was an encourager. He was a man who would constantly tell me when I visited him that our little church was incredibly special, anointed by God, useful to God to do amazing things, and that was so encouraging when that week, I had a huge pastoral conversation with someone and it went badly and I thought, what's the point? People leaving this church, what's the point? And here is Jeff saying, keep at it. There's amazing things happening. God is so good and He's so powerful. Hang in there.

Then we have the gift of giving. This gift refers to giving away what is one's own. It is a special ability of generosity that some Christians have to share their material possessions with others, including their finances. Again, all Christians are called to be generous, to live out of the response of a God who gave us Jesus Christ so generously. But these individuals will have a heart and a mind that is inclined to share with others what they have with an immense generosity. Again, I can think of members in our church who have this gift as well.

The gift of leadership, Paul mentions next, is one who speaks and acts with authority. The New Testament usage of this word, this gift, always takes place within the context of leading people to accomplish common godly goals. The emphasis on leadership is therefore not on rank, or authority or office, but on a kind of pastoral care. They are people with a vision of what needs to happen and a drive to bring others along with them to accomplish those goals.

Again, some ministers may have that gifting, but not all need to have that gifting. Hopefully, fellow elders in the church council will have that gifting in order to lead the church. Meanwhile, it is good for us to know that it may be non-office holders who also may lead people from the pews. She would hate me for saying this, but my mum, I believe, has that gift. No matter where she has been in her six decades of life, she has had a following. She's led people, she steered individuals towards common goals, and it's something that she innately seems able to do.

Then finally, we have the gift of mercy. The gift of mercy gives certain Christians a deep sense of compassion towards the needy. Again, the Bible calls the entire church to love and to show mercy, but people who have this spiritual gift will not only have deep reserves of mercy for those who are weak or needy, they will also often be the ones who motivate the whole church into action, to serve and to be catalysts for things and people that are in need.

They have big hearts with deep care for those who find themselves vulnerable. I would say we have several women that come to mind in this church when it comes to this gifting. Ladies who go to extreme lengths, giving hours of their time and also lots of their money to help those in need. But finally, in wrapping up for us this morning, I wanna stress how difficult it is to talk about the church and our function as God's people without us having a proper understanding of the gifts.

Inside this body around us, we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit through the renewing of our minds to offer our bodies to God as living sacrifices by serving one another. This service is done through the spiritual gifts that God has poured into our hearts, so that we can edify, so that we can build one another up for further works of ministry. A church whose life and ministry is not built on the exercise of spiritual gifts is biblically a contradiction in terms. We cannot be the body of Christ without having hands and feet, eyes and ears.

In other words, as we begin over the next few weeks to talk about church membership, what it means to belong to the local expression of God's church, you and I need to remember that we cannot be a church without the spiritual gifts. That is how important it is for us to be thinking and praying about what it means to belong over the next few weeks as well. And so as we try to gain understanding about these next few things, I wanna encourage us to be praying personally to God, to reveal to us if we don't yet know, if we're not sure the gifts that God may have given us.

God's power is certainly present in our lives. It is good for us to remember that not for a second have we not been empowered to serve our fellow brothers and sisters. The church needs you as much as you need the church. Preacher Paul Washer once said, "I used to tell young preachers, in order to preach, you've got to have the power of God on your life. Now I tell them, in order to tie your shoes, you need to have the power of God in your life."

In the church, God is working His power through the Spirit to breathe life into this organisation, so that we may be helpful to Him. And that service is done in and through the church. And so whether it is the gift of mercy, whether it is the gift of generosity, or leadership, or encouragement, or any of the 27 spiritual gifts, may we be found willing to use those gifts that God has given us. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we come before You to ask for Your wisdom to gain Your providential leading so that we may understand to what You have called us specifically in our service in this church. Lord, I thank You that sovereignly You have already caused us to have these abilities, these gifts, these hearts moved by certain things already to serve Your people. But Lord, it would be so lovely. It will be so edifying to us to be able to understand what You have given us, to see, Lord, with clarity, the things that You have enabled us especially, uniquely, characteristically to do in that area so that we can be a blessing.

Lord, it is important for us because it was important for that first generation of the church to understand as well. And our purpose, Lord, as Your body hasn't changed, Your great plan of salvation has not changed, it will never change. But we ask, Lord, that You will so illuminate our hearts and our minds to understand these things and that You will empower us and clarify to us how we may be useful in Your service and in loving service to our brother and our sister next to us. We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen.