Gifts of Grace - Rom. 12:3-8
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Gifts, from a human perspective can be a funny thing at times.
Have you ever recieved a gift from someone and knew right away, it was a regift?
Like, buddy, I know you didn’t buy this for me. You found this in your closet and were out of time or money and so you threw it in the bag, covered it with the fancy paper, and here we are.
Or perhaps you’ve been the regifter. The fact that you got the gift in the first place was a bit awkward, and now that you can bless someone else, you feel nervous but excited to finally get rid of it. You justify being a terrible person by that familiar statement, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
A couple weeks ago we had a yard sale at my dad’s house in Spencer, trying to downsize before we close the sale and a young boy came to me asking how much we wanted for a used mechanical pencil and some old rubber bands.
Where he found them in the garage, I do not know. What he was going to do with them, was not my problem.
And as this young man looked up with me with excitement and anticipation, I pulled out my phone acting like i was searching the price list and replied, buddy you are in luck! Pre-clicked mechanical pencils and stretched rubber bands are free today!
He was elated! He hopped and skipped over to his mom thrilled about the pick of the day.
But what he didn’t know is that I was even more thrilled that he took them home for his mom to throw in her trash later that day!
Perhaps you’ve experienced the regift, or a genuine gift that became a regift. Maybe you have been gifted something that wore out quickly or was trash when you got it.
Well, in our passage today, we learn of some gifts that are not disposable. In fact, they are genuine and invaluable for the individual believer and the church as a whole.
Now, as we look at Paul’s letter to the Romans, we remember that he is writing them to highlight the truth that the righteousness of God is extended to the unrighteous through faith in the Gospel.
And for those who have accepted the truth of Jesus and trusted Him by faith, their life is going to be different!
And so the final five chapters of Romans is not teaching us how to be morally accepted in God’s sight. Paul’s intention is not for you to try to find the ability in yourself to obey the principles He teaches, but to live in dependance on the grace that God will provide for your obedience.
Also, these actions he calls us to, are not in order to earn God’s favor, but because God’s favor has been placed upon us.
Last week, we studied verse 1-2 where Paul gives us two imperative responses to the greatness of God that deal with heart of presenting ourselves to God and the transformation needed in our deepest parts.
In these verses, Paul calls believers who have already experienced the manifold grace of God through the Gospel to make available everything about them, seen and unseen, as a living gift back to our gracious God.
In fact, if you remember last week, Paul emphasized that we are to give an all-access pass to every part of our person. To all my stuff externally, and to all my thoughts, affections, and plans internally. God has every right to every part of me.
And so we dwelt corporately on this thought:
Because of God’s grace to me, I present everything I am and have to Him. Renewing my mind in His Word is vitally important today!
And then Paul transitions to what this presentation in v. 1 and transformation in v. 2 looks like in the life of the church.
The truth of scripture is clear that the church is not a building.
It is a group of people called out for God’s purpose. Dual-application
Global Church
Local churches
So Paul is talking to a local group of believers, teaching them how to live out their faith. And many of these principles can be applied to the church globally.
Notice with me Paul’s explanation of God’s grace in the church in three ways:
1. Grace to be Humble (v. 3)
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
2. Grace to be Unified (vv. 4-5)
1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Spiritual Gifts
The Christian church is composed of many different kinds of people with different gifts and different ministries. The manner in which these are combined is not like a melting pot but like a salad bowl. Within the church, there is no loss of individual identity, but rather the complementing of distinct elements to create a new, special, and united body.
3. Grace to be Faithful (vv. 6-8)
Weekly Focus:
God has gifted me and will provide the grace I need to unify with other believers and be faithful in building His church.