This week we are looking at the second of the three
ways a person who is involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus
will invest their lives in. We are looking at how consistently investing our talents
serving God by serving others as a part of a ministry team will result in a
growing and maturing relationship with Jesus. To do that, we are looking at a
section of a letter that is preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament
of the Bible called the book of Romans.
And
in Romans 12:1-8, we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us a timeless truth when
it comes to how investing our talents serving God by
serving others as part of a ministry team will result in a growing and maturing
relationship with Jesus. And
that timeless truth is this: Investment of our
talents on a ministry team exposes us to the spiritual gifts that we have been
given by Jesus in a way that moves us toward a growing relationship with Jesus. The
timeless reality that that individuals who are involved in a growing and
maturing relationship with Jesus Christ consistently invest their spiritual
gifts, talents, and abilities in a selfless way to serve others.
And because of this reality we have set as a goal that
everyone who attends City Bible Church would be investing their talents serving
God by serving others as part of a ministry team. We feel strongly about this
goal because we believe that transformational spiritual growth occurs when we
are leveraging the spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given
us in a selfless way that serves others. We encounter God as we use the
spiritual gifts we have been given to help others encounter God. We experience
God’s transformational activity in our lives as we help others experience God’s
transformational activity in their lives.
However, to invest our talents on a ministry team in a way that exposes
us to the spiritual gifts that we have been given by Jesus in a way that moves
us toward a growing relationship with Jesus requires three
things. We see Paul reveal the first of these three
requirements in Romans 12:3. Let’s look at it together:
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think
more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound
judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
In
verse three, Paul uses a play on words to explain that, as followers of Jesus,
we are not to be arrogant about our status as a Christian. When Paul uses the
phrase to think more highly of oneself than he ought to think, this phrase
literally means to have an arrogant opinion of oneself. Instead of being full
of ourselves as followers of Jesus, Paul explained that we are to have sound
judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
Paul’s
point here is that as followers of Jesus, we are to carefully consider with
wisdom the reality that it is God who has given is the gift of faith and
brought us into relationship with Christ. It is not what we have done for God;
because all of humanity has selfishly rebelled and rejected God as a result of
a selfish pride that places ourselves before God and others. Instead, Paul
reminds followers of Jesus throughout history that it is what God has done for
us through Jesus that brings us into relationship with Him. And this reality
should cause us as followers of Jesus to be self controlled in our opinion of
ourselves and lead us to a life of humility.
And it is here that we see Paul reveal for
us the reality that the investment of our talents on a ministry team
requires the right attitude. Individuals who experience a growing relationship
with Jesus will leverage their spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities on a
ministry team with a humble recognition that it is the Lord who has brought
them into relationship with Him and given them the gifts, talents, and
abilities to serve others. And because of that reality individuals who are
growing in their relationship with Jesus will not be full of themselves but
will place others before themselves.
Now
a natural question that arises here is “well, what exactly were the members of
the church at Rome arrogant about when it came to their status as a Christian?”
Paul provides the answer for us in what he says next. And it is what Paul says
next that we discover a second requirement that is
necessary in order to invest our talents on a ministry team in a way that
exposes us to the spiritual gifts that we have been given by Jesus in a way
that moves us toward a growing relationship with Jesus. So let’s look at what
Paul says next in Romans 12:4-5:
For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not
have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members one of another.
In these
verses, we see Paul use the analogy of the human body to explain that, just as
that there are many parts that compose our bodies and each of these individual
parts have a different role and function that helps the body function
correctly; so we, who are many, are one body in Christ. And because of that
reality, just like the individual parts of the human body, there are many
individual followers of Jesus who partner together to form the body of Christ
and help it to function correctly.
Paul’s
point here is that as followers of Jesus we are not independent but
interdependent. However, some members of the church at Rome viewed themselves
as being independent of other followers of Jesus and had become arrogant
because of the spiritual gifts that God had given them. And just as it was in
the Roman culture of Paul’s day, while we live in a culture that values and
celebrates independence, independence is not a Biblical value; freedom is a
Biblical value, independence is not. And in a similar way, as followers of
Jesus we are not to be dependent. As followers of Jesus we are not to be in a
place in our lived where we are constantly depending on others. Instead of the
two extremes of dependence and independence, Paul is calling followers of Jesus
throughout history to live in interdependence with one another.
And it is here that we see Paul reveal for
us the reality that the investment of our talents on a ministry team requires partnership. Just
as there are many different parts of our human bodies that have different
functions and roles but partner together to help it function as it was
designed, there are many individual followers of Jesus who partner together to
form the body of Christ and help it to function correctly. And just as a
growing and maturing body has every part partnering together in growth and
maturity, for the local church, for the body of Christ to grow and mature so as
to be the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world around us,
every part must be partnering together as we invest our talents serving God by
serving others as a part of a ministry team.
And
as we partner together as part of a ministry team, God is at work in and
through that partnership to move us towards a growing and maturing relationship
with Jesus. Now right about now you are thinking to yourself “Well Dave that sounds great in theory, but
how do we partner together so as to move from independence or dependence to the
interdependence that results in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus?
What does that look like?”
If that
question is running through your mind, I want to let you know that you are
asking a great question. Friday we will see Paul answer this question and, in
so doing, reveals the third requirement that is necessary in order to invest
our talents on a ministry team in a way that exposes us to the spiritual gifts
that we have been given by Jesus in a way that moves us toward a growing
relationship with Jesus…
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