BACKGROUND:
Paul is here speaking as God’s messenger, an apostle. The authority he was about to exercise was not his own by right, but was an evidence of God’s grace. He warned the believers that inflated pride has no place in a believer’s life. This is especially significant in light of Paul’s teaching up to this point in his letter. The Jews are not better than the Gentiles; the Gentiles are not better than the Jews. Rather, all are dependent on God’s mercy for their salvation, thus there is no room for pride. Any such pride would undermine the oneness vital to the growth of the church.
God has given each believer a measure of faith with which to serve him. This expression refers to the spiritual capacity and/or power given to each person to carry out his or her function in the church. The concept of measuring your value is described further in, where Paul uses the terminology “different gifts, according to the grace given us.” It is God’s discernment, not ours, that gives out the measure for service. Whatever we have in the way of natural abilities or spiritual gifts—all should be used with humility for building up the body of Christ. If we are proud, we cannot exercise our faith and gifts to benefit others. And if we consider ourselves worthless, we also withhold what God intended to deliver to others through us.
Replacing the national identity that had once set apart God’s people, Paul gives a new picture of the identity of God’s redeemed people. They are like a body. Each of us has one body, but it has many parts—eyes, ears, fingers, toes, blood vessels, muscles. And each part has a special function. Not every part of our body can see; not every part hears. But all must work together if the body is going to move and act correctly. (1 Corinthians 12:12-27.) Just as our physical bodies are composed of many parts, so Christ’s body is made up of many believers who all perform different work. And as our bodies cannot be taken apart, so we belong to each other.
The members work together to make the body work. When it is not done, the body suffers.
We must be humble and recognize our partnership in the body of Christ. Only then can our gifts be used effectively, and only then can we appreciate others’ gifts. God gives us gifts so we can build up his church. To use them effectively, we must: realize that all gifts and abilities come from God; understand that not everyone has the same gifts nor all the gifts; know who we are and what we do best; dedicate our gifts to God’s service and not to our personal success;
be willing to utilize our gifts wholeheartedly, not holding back anything from God’s service.
We must be humble and recognize our partnership in the body of Christ. Only then can our gifts be used effectively, and only then can we appreciate others’ gifts. God gives us gifts so we can build up his church. To use them effectively, we must: realize that all gifts and abilities come from God; understand that not everyone has the same gifts nor all the gifts; know who we are and what we do best; dedicate our gifts to God’s service and not to our personal success;
be willing to utilize our gifts wholeheartedly, not holding back anything from God’s service.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
As I absorb today's passage, I think about the importance of knowing my gifts and strengths.
v. 3 says, "For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you do not think of yourself more highly than you ought. But rather think of yourself with sober judgement in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Be realistic. The exercise of your spiritual gift is directly dependent and influenced on your attitude about yourself, your own self concept. He says think about yourself with sober judgements.
The word "sober" is two words in Greek. It's "to save" and "mind" -- to save your mind. Do some realistic self appraisal. What are my strengths and what are my weaknesses? If God is going to use you effectively you've got to know what you're good at. What has God gifted me at? What am I not good at? To put yourself in the wrong position such as teaching because the church needs teachers but you don't have the gift of teaching, there's nothing worse than listening to a teacher who doesn't have the gift of teaching. Yet people have other gifts that are just as vital and as important.
We have the tendency to go to one of two extremes in evaluating ourselves. We either think we're indispensable or we think we're worthless. And both of those are wrong. Sometimes we get full of pride and think we're holding the world up. This poem is for you:
Sometime when you're feeling important
Sometime when you're ego is up
Sometime when you're taking for granted
That you're the prizewinning pup
Sometime when you feel that your absence
Would leave an unfillable hole
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how it humbles your soul
Take a bucket and fill it with water
Put your hand in it up to the wrist
Now pull it out fast and the hole that remains
Is the measure of how you'll be missed.
You may splash all you please as you enter
And stir up the water galore
But stop and you'll find in a minute
It's right back where it was before.
The fact is, if we don't do our part, God's kingdom is still going to go on. It is not dependent upon us. We are not indispensable. Any of us can be replaced. But on the other hand, all of us are needed. Have sober judgement. Ask yourself - What am I good at? What do I like to do? What ability has God given me? Don't overestimate. Don't underestimate. Either extreme is bad.
Many people misunderstand what humility is. They think humility means to go around saying, "I'm no good! I'm lousy! I'm junk!" Jesus Christ did not die for junk. He died for people and the very fact that He died for you indicates your value. The very fact that Paul says, "I was lost but now I'm found." The very fact that you're looking for it means it's valuable to you. You are valuable and worthwhile. Humility does not mean downgrading yourself. It means be honest. Honest about both your strengths and your weaknesses.
v. 3 says, "For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you do not think of yourself more highly than you ought. But rather think of yourself with sober judgement in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Be realistic. The exercise of your spiritual gift is directly dependent and influenced on your attitude about yourself, your own self concept. He says think about yourself with sober judgements.
The word "sober" is two words in Greek. It's "to save" and "mind" -- to save your mind. Do some realistic self appraisal. What are my strengths and what are my weaknesses? If God is going to use you effectively you've got to know what you're good at. What has God gifted me at? What am I not good at? To put yourself in the wrong position such as teaching because the church needs teachers but you don't have the gift of teaching, there's nothing worse than listening to a teacher who doesn't have the gift of teaching. Yet people have other gifts that are just as vital and as important.
We have the tendency to go to one of two extremes in evaluating ourselves. We either think we're indispensable or we think we're worthless. And both of those are wrong. Sometimes we get full of pride and think we're holding the world up. This poem is for you:
Sometime when you're feeling important
Sometime when you're ego is up
Sometime when you're taking for granted
That you're the prizewinning pup
Sometime when you feel that your absence
Would leave an unfillable hole
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how it humbles your soul
Take a bucket and fill it with water
Put your hand in it up to the wrist
Now pull it out fast and the hole that remains
Is the measure of how you'll be missed.
You may splash all you please as you enter
And stir up the water galore
But stop and you'll find in a minute
It's right back where it was before.
The fact is, if we don't do our part, God's kingdom is still going to go on. It is not dependent upon us. We are not indispensable. Any of us can be replaced. But on the other hand, all of us are needed. Have sober judgement. Ask yourself - What am I good at? What do I like to do? What ability has God given me? Don't overestimate. Don't underestimate. Either extreme is bad.
Many people misunderstand what humility is. They think humility means to go around saying, "I'm no good! I'm lousy! I'm junk!" Jesus Christ did not die for junk. He died for people and the very fact that He died for you indicates your value. The very fact that Paul says, "I was lost but now I'm found." The very fact that you're looking for it means it's valuable to you. You are valuable and worthwhile. Humility does not mean downgrading yourself. It means be honest. Honest about both your strengths and your weaknesses.
Another foundational truth from these verses today is this: There are no Lone Rangers in the Christian life. God says no Christian is independent. We are all interdependent. We depend upon each other. v. 4-5 "Just as each of us has one body with many members and these members do not all have the same function so in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others." Paul gives us an anatomy lesson. He says the church operates just like a body. This is one of the most used analogies in the New Testament referring to Christian service and referring to the body of Christ, the church. 1 Cor. 12, Ephesians 4. Many places the church is called the body of Christ.
What do we learn from this idea of cooperating with other members in the body of Christ? I think there are four important implications. They have a lot to do with our philosophy of ministry at COV.
1. Every believer is a minister. We are all different parts of the body and we all form the body together. The question is "Who are the ministers at COV?" Those who are on staff are not the ministers. The Scripture says every Christian is a minister. Not every Christian is a pastor or a director of a ministry but every Christian is a minister. Ephesians 4:12 says that pastors are given to prepare God's people for the work of ministry. God expects the body to use its gifts to minister to itself.
2. Every believer has a different function. Not all of us do the same thing. 1 Corinthians 12 says the hand doesn't do what the foot does and the foot doesn't do what the head does and the head doesn't do what the mouth does. Aren't you glad that all the members of our church don't have the same function? What if we all decided we were going to be the ear? The listening part of the church. Or the eye? Most of the time all of us want to be the mouth! But every believer is a minister and every believer has a different function. Chaos occurs in the church when we put people into positions for which they are not gifted. We force them to plug holes.
As long as God allows me to be your pastor I will not allow that to happen at COV. That causes chaos when we force people to fill positions either by using guilt or fear or whatever. That's not the way the body of Christ is meant to operate. We've all got different functions so we shouldn't expect everybody to act the same or to like the same or to do the same. A lot of churches somebody gets elected to a position when they're not even gifted to that position. It causes all kinds of problems in their lives.
3. Every ministry is important. Corinthians 12 says the hand can't say to the foot, "I don't need you." The foot can't say to the eye, "I don't need you." We're interdependent. We need each other. Some are bigger and more prominent, more obvious. Some are less obvious. I have a hand and that's obvious. I also have a liver. That's not seen but which is more important to my life? the hand or the liver? It may not be seen but it's more important. It's like the lights in my home. The most important light in my home is the little night light that keeps me from tripping over the bed when I get up in the middle of the night. That is the most significant light in my house. It's tiny but it's the most important one. There are no little people in the body of Christ.
One of the secrets of guilt free living as a Christian is to discover what is my spiritual gift? What does God want me to do? And when you know what that gift is you don't feel bad to say "No" when people ask you to do other things. There's tremendous self esteem that comes from knowing I've got a part of the puzzle that nobody else can fill. Nobody else can be this at COV. I'm part of the picture. Ponder these truths in your heart today.
3. Every ministry is important. Corinthians 12 says the hand can't say to the foot, "I don't need you." The foot can't say to the eye, "I don't need you." We're interdependent. We need each other. Some are bigger and more prominent, more obvious. Some are less obvious. I have a hand and that's obvious. I also have a liver. That's not seen but which is more important to my life? the hand or the liver? It may not be seen but it's more important. It's like the lights in my home. The most important light in my home is the little night light that keeps me from tripping over the bed when I get up in the middle of the night. That is the most significant light in my house. It's tiny but it's the most important one. There are no little people in the body of Christ.
One of the secrets of guilt free living as a Christian is to discover what is my spiritual gift? What does God want me to do? And when you know what that gift is you don't feel bad to say "No" when people ask you to do other things. There's tremendous self esteem that comes from knowing I've got a part of the puzzle that nobody else can fill. Nobody else can be this at COV. I'm part of the picture. Ponder these truths in your heart today.
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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