Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ (Part 2)
This is the second week of our fall sermon series, “Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ” dealing with Romans 12-16. Part 2, this week, is titled “Humility, our Gifts, and Real Life” and works with Romans 12:3-8 and issues of pride, humility, and our spiritual gifts. This sermon was originally preached September 14th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
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September 14th, 2008
Pastor Duane M. Smets
Series: Viva La Vida | Romans 12-16
“Humility, Our Gifts, and Real Life”
Romans 12:3-8
Introduction
Good morning everyone. This is our second week in our new sermon series, “Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ.” Today we’re working with verses 3-8 of Romans 12. So we’ll read the text and then get right into it. Read text and pray.
Lord God we thank you for your book the Bible. I pray you would use it’s words and our study of them today to teach us, to humble us, to learn about ourselves and to grow up together into Jesus Christ our Lord who is our head. Jesus you promised to build your church and said the gates of hell would not overcome it. So bulid up up, teach us what it means to be a church and act like a church. Holy Spirit purify us and fill us that we might use our gifts for the glory of God. Amen.
For several weeks now a book titled “Devil Bones” by Kathy Reichs has been on the New York Times best seller list. It was made into a hit TV series called “Bones” which is now on its’ third season. The book is about some human bones which were discovered accidently when a plumber was fixing something in a house and knocked a whole through the wall. The quest then becomes to try and unravel the mystery of who the killer is. As the story progresses several people become potential suspects. Is it the work of a devoted wiccan or voodoo artist? Or is it the evangelical preacher who is trying so hard to pin it on a wiccan or voodoo practicioner? Or is it the professor at the college who seemingly knows too much about these particular bones?
What you discover as the story progresses is that the real story isn’t so much the bones themselves or even the murder itself but how each of the characters is deeply flawed and fully capable of doing such a horrible thing. The moral lesson the reader is to pick up on is that there is a devil in all of us, deep down we’ve got evil bones.
The origin of story of the devil in the Bible comes primarily from a few snapshots in Job and the description in the book of Isaiah, chapter 14, where God reveals the story of what happened in heaven. The devil or Satan is called the great “day star” or “son of dawn,” an angel. One days this angels says, “I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
This seems to be the earliest sin ever recorded in the Bible, going back even before the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. In it Satan, the prideful daystar, a bright, beautiful and powerful angel, surely far beyond any earthly glory we have encountered…did not consider that enough but wanted more. In arrogance he wanted recognition and status of God himself, he wanted the place where only God can sit, the supreme throne of heaven.
Pride. Many theologians have noted that pride is in many ways at the heart and essence of sin itself. Our contending for supremacy with God. C.S. Lewis said, “The essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison. It was through pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-God state of mind.”
Pride. Addressing it is perhaps the most fitting way that Paul, the human author, of Romans could introduce a section of Scripture which talks about the best parts of who we are as individuals, our gifts given to us from Jesus.
Verses 1-2 of Romans 12 address our attitude toward God after embracing the gospel, we are recipients of mercy and live a life of worship. Our verses for today address our attitude toward ourselves, we are conduits of humility and live a life of service.
There is a great reversal a sort of roller coaster of emotions that happen in the course of becoming a Christian. You become a Christian when you truly realize that you are helpless, only have made a mess of things, are crooked deep down, and truly deserve judgment from God for being a terrible person. If you don’t think you’re a terrible person deep down, then I dare say you may not yet truly be a Christian.
So on the roller coaster of emotions…we start out thinking we are really good people. But then we realize we’re really not very good and in fact we are far worse of then we thought. Like the man who gets caught cheating on his wife. He feels terrible and pleads with her, “I’m sorry, just give me another chance, have mercy.” But deep down he knows there is just something wrong with him and he knows even with another chance he will surely do it again. Knowing that, realizing that we will surely do it again, is that point when we realize we are far worse off then we previously thought.
Then we encounter the gospel which says not only my punishment gets taken care of by Jesus on the cross but real change in me becomes a reality and a real possibility for me. So we start feeling better about ourselves again on this side of Jesus. God starts working in you and showing you that you are not completely useless and in fact are useful to him and he has in fact given you gifts to help you in that…the next step is that we can easily start slipping back into that horrible pride we started out in, pride is sneaky and often subtle.
So Paul starts off this section with a warning for us. He’s about to tell us that though were sinners, we’ve been given gifts by Jesus himself, but he must first warn us about pride. It truly is a roller coaster of emotions of sorts. It may take years sometimes to traverse all those stages where we go from thinking great about ourselves, to thinking horrible about ourselves, to thinking great about ourselves in Jesus, and then finally moving to thinking soberly or humbly about ourselves. But true humility and using our Jesus given gifts is where we want to go.
Godly Leadership Quelles Rebellion
So let’s see how Scripture walks us through humilty and using our gifts. First, Paul re-asserts his apostolic authority. Here are the very first words of the book of Romans, ” Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” Here in Romans 12:3, he reminds of that, “By the grace given to me I say to (you)…” What is the grace given to Paul? That is an authortative leader in the church, so that when he says, “I say to you.” That is significant.
Now, Paul was also a writer of Scripture, at the end of this book he says he was writing by the command of God (Rom 16:25-26), basically he says God told him to write this book. That’s a big deal. Here in our verses for today, that surely applies, but I think there is also a principle of leadership at work here. He is about to talk about the graces or gifts given by Jesus to people and so he refers to his own gift first off as an example about how to be humble with it…”By the grace give to me I say to (you).”
Paul was a leader in the church and for leaders there are two side to this. One side is the lure and lust for power. Christian or non-Christian, president or citizen, business owner or business worker, pastor or parishoner…there is always a lure and lust to have more say, more influence, more control. Everybody wants things to go their way and wishes the world would bend and bow to their will.
Even if you are not a type A, overconfident, outgoing person…you still get frustrated when things don’t go the way you want them to. As a Christian, you want or wish God would be this way or that way and do this thing for you. As a Californian, you want this person or that person to be president. At your job, you wish your boss would do things differently or if you are the boss you wish your employees would behave this way or do this for you. If you’re a pastor you wish you could make people stop doing dumb things and if you’re a parishoner, you wish you’re pastor would get off your back.
Most people who become control-obsessed megalomaniacs do not start out that way. They usually start out with some natural talent or insight and become successful. But that success is like a drug and then they want it more and more. That’s one side of this for leaders.
The other side is more subtle. It is the leader who is so afraid of those he is leading that he is afraid to speak. He doesn’t want to be prideful or overbearing so he holds back. You may have a good idea but you afraid to speak because you’re afraid of getting shut down. Or maybe you know God means you to be a leader but you are consumed with past faults or failures and so you hesitate and hold back from stepping forward and being who God has called you to be. This too is a prideful lust and lure, only this one is not so much for power but for approval, the approval of people.
The godly leader avoids both of these extremes and says, “by the grace of God I am what I am (1 Cor 15:10)” and then walks forward in that confidence. I think that is what is going on here. I think Paul is saying, “By the grace of God, I am what I am” so listen to me.
You see, as we’ll learn today, God specifically gifts some people to be leaders and other people to be followers. And that is okay. It is good and healthy. Everyone is to be both a leader and a follower on some level, but some will primarily be leader and some will primarily be followers. And even ones who are primarily leaders need to be lead and need to be following someone. This is one of the principles of Christian living and Christian maturity.
We start out sinners in prideful rebellion against God. So when we embrace the gospel and become Christians one of the things God wants to teach us and do in us is make us humble and submissive to leaders he has placed over us. And that is not always very easy. To do something we don’t really like because we recognize that God has placed someone over us. That is very humbling.
So for example, I am your pastor. That means God has called me and place me in this position to lead this church. That means you got to listen to me. I’m sorry. I don’t know how you guys do it, listening to me preach week after week. You’re crazy. But that’s just the way it is. That’s the way Jesus set it up. Hebrews 13:17 says “Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls.” Unless I am in sin, you got to listen because otherwise you are rebelling against Jesus and the leaders and leadership he has put in place. The gifts God has given me put me in this position and by the grace of God I am what I am and so I say along with Paul, “I say to you…” listen up.
Humility is the Platform for Jesus’ Gifts
Okay, now that sounds like a weird way to start out talking about all the gifts and using them humbly, but we’re just following the text and that’s what the text does so maybe it’s better that way. Let’s look at the next part…”I say to everyone among you not think of himself ore highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
How do you think of yourself? How do others think of you? If you asked your spouse, your friends, your co-workers…what would they say? What would they say you are like? Does your self-perception line up with how you really are? Do you think higher of yourself than you really are or ought to? Do you think lower of yourself than you really are or ought to? Who are you?
John Owen said, “There are two things suited to humble the souls of men…a due consideration of God and then of ourselves.” Some of you may know that we have a leadership development group here at The Resolved Church as a way of raising up other pastors from within and attracting solid dudes from the outside. Currently, our group is working through an in-depth self-evaluation project.
The self-evaluation is about a 15 page packet with 22 main questions, and each question has like a paragraph of questions to stimulate thinking and self-reflection. Here’s an example…
Do you serve willingly? Do you serve yourself or others primarily? Do you truly serve the well-being of others and shepherd them under the Lord? Do you strive for personal glory either aggressively (compulsively driven “on an ego trip”) or passively (preoccupied with your “low self-esteem”)? Do you manifest the combination of forcefulness and sensitivity, commitment and flexibility, which characterizes servants of the Lord’s glory? Do you lord it over other people? Do you resist or avoid serving and loving others? Do you serve compulsively? Do you serve other people slavishly, kowtowing to their demands, expectations and whims. Do you let others lord it over you? Are you confused about what it means to serve and love others? Do you know how to say “No” realistically, firmly and graciously? Do you regularly rest and lay aside your work?
I share that with you as an example of one way you can work at having your self-perception line up with how you really are so that your not thinking of yourself more highly or lowly than you ought but with sober judgment. R.C. Sproul wisely points out that “our tendency is to see only the best of oursleves and only exalt our strengths as being the important ones.”
Let’s go back to our verse. We’re told to think about ourselves humbly “according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” Now, just so you know there is some debate about this word measure. Some think measure means quantity, so that each has a different amount of faith that corresponds to their gift, so that some gifts require more faith than others. Others think meansure means quality, so that each has the same faith, the essential beliefs of Christianity, called the analogy of faith, by which we judge everything, especially ourselves.
There is good exegetical warrant for both views and there are good scholars on each side. Personally I think it is probably both because certainly we all have the same faith in Jesus and are to judge everything by those essential beliefs, but it also is true that within those essential beliefs we believe it is God who gives faith and certainly to people with their gifts for specific tasks (1 Cor 12:9) as we see throughout Scripture.
But I don’t want to get into that too much for fear that we lose the main focus here which is any consideration of ourselves and our gifts must begin with humility, a sober self-estimation in light of God and his mercy.
Our Gifts Belong to One Another
My third point for today is, “Our Gifts Belong to One Another.” It comes from verse 4-5, “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 indivudally members of one another.”
Okay, the body of Christ. We have learned here at The Resolved Church on several occassions that church is a group of people who believe in Jesus and are committed to each other. The church is not a building. The church is not a institution or a business. The church is not a Sunday service or gathering. The church is a body. It is a group of people who are members committed to one another.
That is one of the reasons why we have official church membership here. We have an eight-week membership class, we just had ten people take the class this summer and five have actually decided to sign our membership covenant and become a part of the church and we’ll present them all to you next week. Some of you have yet to take that class or commit as a member. We’ll offer the class again soon, we just chose not to do it this fall because we have so many new things going on.
Now, back to the idea of being a body. Obviously the idea of the church being a body is a metaphor for our personal human bodies. The metaphor is used several places in the Bible to talk about the church. Here’s the analogy or the comparsion…it’s simple. The body is composed of several parts, if certain parts are missing the body is not going to function correctly. With no mouth you couldn’t eat or be fed. With no eyes, ears, or limbs you could not see or sense. With no heart there would be no blood or life flowing through you. And with no head you’d have no brain and not be able to do anything. The body is a diversity of unique parts which all work together in order to create this amazing result.
God looks at that, the body he made, and says that is what the church is like. There are all these unique parts that are intended to work together as one and when they do it is an amazing result. It is a beautiful and complex thing. Unity in diversity. This is what the Bible calls us to, this is what makes things truly amazing. Different people, different backgrounds, different interests, different gifts, coming together and working together and loving each other because of our common bond in Jesus. Revelation 5:9 pictures the church this way, people from every tribe and tongue.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again today…but one of our problems is that often we only want to be around people who are like us, who have the same interests and background as we do. That is because of pride, because we love ourselves to much. The ironic thing is that the people who are most not like us are the one we need the most because they are the ones who truly end up helping us grow the most.
Look at the part where it says, “they do not all have the same function.” One of the problems we sometimes face is where we think everybody ought to do or be the same way. Sometimes people falsly think, “Oh, if I’m going to be a real Christian or good Christian, then I should probably become a pastor.” No, that’s not true.
Or we’re tempted to start resenting our gifting or area of service and think, “Well, somebody else should do this, or why doesn’t that person ever do this or that.” The thing is it may not be their gifting and you got to let them be free to be who they are. It can be so frustrating and devestating to try and force a person to perform in a way they are not gifted in, that can be crushing.
It has been a personal area of growth for me to let go of a lot of things. I used to think that because I am a pastor that I need to do everything. But that is not true and it’s actually pride and actually hinders many of you from having an opportunity and area to serve. My gift is preaching. That is my area of service and I can be free to let others serve in the ways they are gifted.
One more thing on this part of the verse and then we’ll move on to actually talking about the actual gifts. Look where it says, “(we are) indivudally members of one another.” “We though many, are one body in Christ, and indivudally members of one another.” This is a huge, paradigm worldview shaking statement…”we are members of one another.” It’s saying we belong to one another! You and I, if we are Christians and are committed to being members of the same church, then we belong to one another.
It’s like in marriage. I had a pre-marital counseling session yesterday and I was explaining this to the couple that when you get married, that according to the Bible in 1 Corinthians 7, even the wife’s physical body becomes the property of the husband and the husband’s body becomes the property of the wife. They become one and belong to one another physicially and spiritually.
This is saying a similar things about the church as a whole. It is the same idea. The Bible often compares family and marriage relationships as being analogous to the church. We as the church are members of each other and we become one together. I’m not making this up. Look at it again, “We though many, are one body in Christ, and indivudally members of one another.”
This is one of the reasons why we are trying to make a huge shift to focus on community groups this fall. It feels a little like pulling teeth or trying to turn a big freight ship with a tiny little rudder. But the thing is we cannot and will not experience oneness, being members of one another by only seeing each other once a week on a Sunday, we must get together in the middle of the week in a small group setting.
So again, I implore you. I say to you, do whatever you got to do to shift your priorities so that you can be a part of either the community group on Tuesday nights or the one on Thursday nights. Without being a part of one of those two groups you will really miss out one the heart of the life of this church…you will end up being like an outsider looking in on Sunday and you will not have a place to discover and use your Jesus given gift.
The Gifts
So let’s actually talk about the gifts mentioned here in Romans. Let’s re-read verses 6-8 and then go through it. “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.”
Okay, we’re finally there. Actually talking about the gifts. How many of you actually know what your spritual gift is or have thought about it? If you don’t know you need to think about it.
First, know that Jesus does give us gifts. We have gifts, that are by grace, meaning we don’t deserve them and definitely did not do anything to earn them, we have gifts and they are given. By who? Jesus. Ephesians 4 says the same thing it just exands a little. Ephesians 4:7 says, “Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
Think about that. Jesus not only gives us the greatest gift of all in coming into the world, becoming a man, living the life we’ve failed at, dying the death we deserve, and then rising again, but he also gifts us gifts on top of all of that! Jesus is really really good to us. You got to get ahold of this. If you are a Christian Jesus has personally given you a gift!
Next, what are the actual gifts? There are actually three main gift lists in the New Testament, one in 1 Corinthians, one in Ephesians, and this one here in Romans. If you combine them all together there are 22 gifts. But here is the thing, none of the lists are the same. There is definitely overlap where you see the same gifts listed but then there are gifts that are unique to each list. On top of it many of the gifts just seem like things that are basic to being a Christian. So what is the deal with that.
Here’s the deal. Since non of the lists are the same and there is overlap, that leads us to believe that the gifts are not intended to be these tightly knit fixed categories like check boxes you either mark or leave blank. No single Christian has probably ever only had one spiritual gifts and probably no single Christian has had the same spiritual gift in the same degree. Gifts sets come in all different sizes and packages as it were.
In addition, it is true that many of these things are things that ought to be present in the life of every Christian, the point at which one realizes it is a gift is when you extraordinarily excel in that particular gift with an unusual joy and unusual effectiveness.
The gifts are divided into two main categories, as noted in 1 Peter 4:11, gifts of speaking and gifts of serving. The gifts of speaking here in Romans are: prophesying, teaching, and exhorting. The gifts of serving here in Romans are: contributing, leading, and mercy.
Let’s talk briefly about each one. First the speaking gifts. Prophecy. Most people when they here the word “prophecy” they think of someone foretelling the future, like some spiritualist guru psychic palm reader or something. Prophecy in the Bible sometimes included foretelling, though not in the ecstatic hyper spiritual possession way, but in a plain and clear communication from God way. So sometimes prophecy included foretelling, but most of the time it was forth telling. Telling it like it is. Just being straight and cutting through all the layers and getting right to the heart of the issue. Most of the time that was prophecy, forth telling.
Today, there are no longer, capital “P” prophets. Now what I mean by that is that there were people who for a given period of time, had a gift of prophecy in an official way, that official way was the command of God for them to right Scripture. In Ephesians 2:20 we learn that the church is built on the foundational writings of the Apostles and Prophets. After the foundation was laid, there was no need for any additional books to be added to the Bible and so when John, the last of the apostle’s died, the capital “P” position of prophet ended.
Now, I’ve been saying capital “P” intentionally…that is because I don’t think that means people may not have a prophetic like gifting, like it’s talking about here in Romans. They’re not writers of Scripture and may not be gifted to supernaturally tell the future, but they may have a real gift at forth telling, telling it like it is and being straight with people. So, following Wayne Grudem, I use his distinction of capital “P” Prophet and little “p” prophet for the gift people in the church today may have. If you want to read up more on that check out is Ph.D. dissertation now in book form titled, “The Gift of Prophecy.”
You’ll notice that with each of the gifts there is an added qualification. Interestingly, each of the added qualifications seems to indicate a specific way of applying the command to be humble with the use of our gifting. Each gift comes with a specific way for us to use it with sober judgment, not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought.
We need that because you’ll learn that the thing you are most gifted in will be the exact area you are most prone to sin in and usually because of pride. If happens for me all the time. The times I think I preached a really good sermon, nobody says anything and it just feels sort of dull. The times when I really think I bombed it or whatever, people are crying and coming up to me afterward telling me how great that was. Pride. It will attack your gift for sure. So having the specifically additive on how to use our gift humbly is much needed.
With prophecy, it is to be used in proportion to your faith. So for example, if you really believe you are supposed to say something to somebody about their life, be humble about it. Don’t say, “The LORD says…” Because what you did then was just put your words on par with Scripture and you were not honest and humble about the potential for you to be wrong since you are sinner. Instead, say something like, “You know, I really feel like God wants me to tell you this and I could be wrong but…” That is using the gift of prophecy with humility.
The next speaking gift is “teaching.” Teaching can include a whole host of things. There are many different types and ways of teaching. There are people who love learning and reading and going to school. You know those weirdoes. I’m one of them, I went to college full-time for eight straight years and loved every minute of it. I just wish I could figure out how to get back in! I love homework! Others of you can’t stand school and learning and homework and teaching. It’s not your gift.
The humility application that is added is to teach. If you’re gifted to teach then use your gift to actually teach. You know there is a difference between actually teaching someone something and just imparting information. Just giving a lecture or a speech to someone is not teaching them. Teaching happens when learning happens, so make sure those you are teaching are actually learning and putting what you teach them into practice. Pride would make you think you are done at just saying what you were supposed to say. That’s a lot easier but it falls short of teaching.
The final speaking gift mentioned here is “exhortation.” This word can mean to encourage or use words to spur someone along. Barnabas, one of the disciples and apostles in the Bible, was called the Son of Encouragement. He had a unique gift of always seeing the best in people and situations, he could see potential and what could be. Some of you are like that, you are visionary and love to encourage others. This is the gift of exhortation. The humility application that is added is to be encouraging or exhorting. If your gift is exhortation/encouragement then use it to really encourage people, because you could easily use that to try and build yourself up rather than the other person.
The first serving gift is “serving.” This word is a broad word meaning just service or ministering. In Acts its used of the people who took care of tables, set-up, tear-down, tending them while their up etc. Now everyone who is a Christian is called to serve others and be a servant like Christ Jesus. But someone who is gifted in serving is someone who particularly excels in serving. The don’t like to talking in front of people, they enjoy doing the behind the scenes work, being a number 2 or number 3 person. And they are really good at it. They work hard and are reliable and consistent and think of good ways to handle practical details.
The humility application added to serving is to serve. If your gift is serving you will most likely hit a point where you feel burnt out and it starts to feel like a duty and like everything is just dumped on you and now you’re just stuck with it and you keep doing it either out of guilt or just wanted to please somebody else. If you’re gifted in serving in order to stay humble with this gift you have to have a sacrificial mentality where you are like water always being poured out for others to drink.
The second serving gift is “contributing” or “sharing.” This gift is one where a person is uniquely enabled by God to give their time, treasure, and talent to anything that is needed. They are always looking and willing for a place to help out and lend a hand.
The humility application added to “contributing” is to do it generously. If you’re gift is contributing there will be a temptation to at times be stingy and not want to help, or a withholding of something you know you could give or do.
The third serving gift is “leading.” Leading is truly a serving gift, not a power play. You’re a leader if you have people following you. If you think you’re a leader but no one’s following you, you’re not leading you’re just taking a walk. Leaders do everything for those who are following them. Interestingly, the word here is where we get our English word, “president” from. It means you are gifted in caring for others, watching out for others, and directing others to right paths.
The humility application added to leading is to lead with zeal or diligence. The temptations for leaders who have others under them is for them to then become slack in their work and not striving forward passionately with intent dedication. Those who are gifted to lead, must stay humble by working hard.
The last serving gift is “mercy.” This word most likely has reference to ministering to the poor either in spirit or finances, to either the physically or emotionally sick. This gift is a particular gift where you excel in compassion and love giving aid to others. Some of you are so generous, you are just always giving and will help anyone out with anything they need. That’s the gift of mercy.
The humility application added to the gift of mercy is to use it with “cheerfulness.” The temptation with a gift of mercy will be to treat it just as if it were a duty or the right thing to do rather than being motivated by the massive joy there is in Christ in being a vessel of mercy to others.
That’s the gifts. And they are so needed. Their use and activity is what makes a church strong and healthy. How do you know what gifts you have? How do you discover what Jesus has given you? Sometimes it is just trial and error, you have to try a few things before you find out what you really like. Sometimes is much more natural, you gifts will most likely go hand in hand with the things that you’ve naturally always been good at. That doesn’t make it more or less spiritual. For the Christian, everything is spiritual as we learned last week, that all of life is worship.
Once you know what your gifts are then you have a responsibility before God to use them and use them humbly. I pray that going through these extremely practical things today will greatly enhance and help your walk with God. You see, you are meant by God to be using your gifts and if you’re not using them, you have a sort of uncompleted lacking and sometimes aimless feeling. You will be most satisfied in life when you are using everything that you are for the glory of God alone.
Conclusion
Well, it’s been a thick and long study today. Let me just wrap it up in a short review and then we’ll close. We started off talking about pride and how we’ve all God devil’s bones deep down. The beauty of the gospel is the Jesus has mercy on us and changes us. He takes out the dead man’s bones and gives us a new heart. One that loves him, becomes okay and honest with ourselves, and then gives it’s life away for others.
We learned first that God places leaders over us to help us with our natural tendencies to prideful rebellion. We learned that humility is the platform for the gifts Jesus gives us and is the only way to be happy and useful with them. Then we went through each of the gifts and learned what they are and how to use them.
Let’s conclude this day with Jesus, the life of Christ. To have to true humility, to be able to truly use our gifts for God’s glory, we need the death of Jesus. The disciples spent three years with Jesus. One time during the course of one of their journeys they got into an argument about who would sit near Jesus when he took his seat on the throne, they fought about who would be the greatest. Then Jesus utters these words to them, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45).”
Jesus gave his life for you and I, so that we might be transformed into humble servant like him. It’s not about who’s greater or who’s better. That’s pride, it’s by nature competitive. Humility, accepts it’s place and position and does not strive to improve it but only to be who God wants and do what he wants. That only happens through us dying to ourselves and in order for that to happy we have to be crucified in the cross of Christ so that his life might get imparted to us. Jesus, the most gifted and most human man of all. May he make us like him.
