Serve
Week of September 18, 2011
Bible Verses: Romans 12:3-16.
Lesson Focus: This lesson is about how mature Christians function in the body of Christ.
Serve in the Body: Romans
12:3-5.
[3] 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. [4] For as in one body
we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, [5] so we, though many, are one body in Christ,
and individually members one of another.
[3-5] The link between Paul’s general
appeal [1-2] and his particular instruction which now follows [3-8] seems to be
the place of the mind in Christian discipleship. Our renewed mind, which is
capable of discerning and approving God’s will, must also be active in
evaluating ourselves, our identity and our gifts. For we need to know who we
are, and to have an accurate, balanced and above all sober self-image. A
renewed mind is a humble mind like Christ’s. The formula Paul uses to introduce
his exhortation to sober Christian thinking is impressively solemn: by the grace given to me I say to everyone.
Paul is addressing his Roman readers with the self-conscious authority of
Christ’s apostle. For the grace given
him, which qualifies him to write as he does, must refer to his appointment as
an apostle which he regularly attributed to God’s grace. The repetition of the
verb think makes the emphasis unmistakable.
In thinking about ourselves we must avoid both too high an estimate of
ourselves and too low an estimate. Instead, and positively, we are to develop a
sober judgment. How? First by
reference to our faith, and secondly by reference to our gifts. Concerning the
meaning of the measure of faith, the
main question is whether measure
means here an instrument for measuring or a measured quantity of something. If
the latter is correct, the thought would be that God gives a varying amount of
faith to different Christians, and, being a divine apportionment, this will
keep us humble. However, if measure
means a standard by which to measure ourselves, then this is the same for all
Christians, namely saving faith in Christ crucified or the gospel of the cross.
Indeed only Christ Himself in whom God’s judgment and mercy are revealed can
enable us to measure ourselves soberly. If God’s gospel is the first measure by
which we should evaluate ourselves, the second is God’s gifts. In order to
enforce this, Paul draws an analogy between the human body and the Christian
community. As one body, each member belongs to all the others. That is, we are
dependent on one another, and the one-anotherness of the Christian fellowship
is enhanced by the diversity of our gifts. This metaphor of the human body,
which Paul develops in different ways in different letters, enables him here to
hold together the unity of the church, the plurality of the members and the
variety of their gifts. The recognition that God is the giver of the gifts is
indispensable if we are to form a sober estimate of ourselves.
Serve Through Giftedness: Romans
12:6-8.
[6] Having gifts that differ according to the
grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; [7] if service, in our serving; the one who
teaches, in his teaching; [8] 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. [ESV]
[6-8] We have different gifts, Paul
continues, according to the grace given
to us. Just as God’s grace had made Paul an apostle [3], so His grace
bestows different gifts on other members of Christ’s body. Paul proceeds to
give his readers a sample of seven gifts, which he urges them to exercise
conscientiously for the common good. He divides them into two categories, which
might be called speaking gifts (prophesying, teaching and encouraging) and
service gifts (serving, contribution, leading and showing mercy). The first
gift Paul mentions here is prophecy,
that is, speaking under divine inspiration. In Ephesians 2:20 apostles and
prophets are bracketed as the foundation on which the church is built. In this Ephesians’
verse prophets are likely to be the biblical prophets, including those New
Testament authors who were prophets as well as apostles, such as Paul and John.
In two other lists of gifts [1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11], however, prophets are
placed in a secondary position to the apostles, suggesting that there was a
lesser prophetic gift, subsidiary to that of the biblical prophets. Words
spoken by such prophets were to be weighed and tested [1 Cor. 14:29; 1 Thess.
5:19ff; 1 John 4:1], whereas the apostles were to be believed and obeyed, and
no sifting process was deemed appropriate or necessary in their case. Another
difference seems to have been that prophets spoke to a local situation, whereas
the authority of the apostles was universal. The point of distinction was that
the inspiration of the apostles was abiding, whereas the inspiration of the
prophets was occasional and transient. It is in the light of these differences
that we should understand the regulation which Paul here places on the exercise
of the prophetic gift: in proportion to
our faith. Some think that this is a subjective restriction, namely that
the prophet should speak only so long as he is sure of his inspiration; he must
not add any words of his own. But it is more likely to be an objective
restriction. In this case we should note that faith has the definite article in
the Greek, and we should translate the phrase ‘in agreement with the faith’.
That is, the prophet is to make sure that his message does not in any way
contradict the Christian faith. The remaining six gifts are more ordinary. Serving is the generic word for a wide
variety of ministries. So whatever ministry gift people have been given, they
should concentrate on using it. Similarly, teachers should cultivate their
teaching gift and develop their teaching ministry. This is arguably the most
urgently needed gift in the worldwide church today, as hundreds of thousands of
converts are pressing into the churches, but there are few teachers to nurture
them in the faith. Four more gifts are included in verse 8. The word translated
exhorts is a verb with a wide
spectrum of meanings, ranging from encouraging and exhorting to comforting,
conciliating or consoling. This gift may be exercised from a pulpit or
platform, or through writing, but more often it is used behind the scenes in
encouraging someone, or in offering friendship to the lonely and giving fresh
courage to those who have lost heart. Next, personal giving is to be done in generosity or without grudging, with
sincerity, without ulterior motives. To show mercy is to care for anybody who
is in need or in distress. Moreover, mercy is not to be shown reluctantly or
patronizingly, but cheerfully.
Serve with Godly Attitudes: Romans
12:9-16.
[9] Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold
fast to what is good. [10] Love one
another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. [11] Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in
spirit, serve the Lord. [12] Rejoice in
hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. [13] Contribute to the needs of the saints and
seek to show hospitality. [14] Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. [15] Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with
those who weep. [16] Live in harmony
with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be
wise in your own sight. [ESV]
[9-16] So
far in Romans all references to agape have been to the love of God –
demonstrated on the cross [5:8], poured into our hearts [5:5] and doggedly
refusing to let us go [8:35,39]. But now Paul focuses on agape as the essence
of Christian discipleship. Romans 12-15 are a sustained exhortation to let love
govern and shape all our relationships. Soon Paul will write about love for our
enemies [12:17-21], but first he portrays it pervading the Christian community
[12:9-16]. This is clear from his use of the words one another (three times in verses 10 and 16), brotherly affection [10] and the
saints [13]. Paul’s recipe for love seems to have twelve components. (1) Sincerity.
Love must be sincere or genuine. The word translated genuine means without hypocrisy. In Greek times, the hypocrite was
a play actor. But the church must not turn itself into a stage. For love is not
theatre; it belongs to the real world. Indeed love and hypocrisy exclude one
another. (2) Discernment. Abhor
what is evil; hold fast to what is good. It may seem strange that the
exhortation to love is followed immediately by a command to hate. But we should
not be surprised. For love is not the blind sentiment it is traditionally said
to be. On the contrary, it is discerning. It is so passionately devoted to the
beloved object that it hates every evil which is incompatible with his or her
highest welfare. Love’s hatred of evil expresses an aversion, an abhorrence,
while love’s clinging to what is good expresses a sticking or bonding as if
with glue. (3) Affection. Love one another with brotherly affection.
Brotherly affection originally applied to blood relationships in the human
family, but Paul reapplies them to the tender, warm affection which should unite
the members of the family of God. (4) Honor. Outdo one another in showing honor. This is the second one another exhortation in the same
verse. Love in the Christian family is to express itself in mutual honor as
well as in mutual affection. We are to accord to each other the highest
possible honor. (5) Enthusiasm. Do
not be slothful in zeal. Religious enthusiasm is often despised as
fanatical. But Paul has something different in mind when he bids the Romans not
to be lazy in zeal, for zeal is fine so long as it is according to knowledge
[10:2]. In telling the Romans to be
fervent in spirit, Paul is almost certainly referring to the Holy Spirit
and not to the human spirit, in light of the parallel to Lord in the following
clause. The additional clause (serve the
Lord) may well be meant as a control or check in what might otherwise be
interpreted as an invitation to unbridled enthusiasm. Practical commitment to
the Lord Jesus, as slave to master, will keep zeal rooted in reality. (6) Patience.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation,
be constant in prayer. At the heart of this triplet is the reference to
hope, namely our confident Christian expectation of the Lord’s return and the
glory to follow. It is to us the source of abiding joy. But it also calls for
patience, as meanwhile we endure tribulation and persevere in prayer. (7) Generosity.
Contribute to the needs of the saints.
The verb ‘share’ or ‘contribute’ can mean either to share in people’s needs and
sufferings, or to share our resources with them. One is reminded of the
fellowship in the early Jerusalem church, whose chief expression was that its
members had everything in common in the sense that they shared their
possessions with those more needy than themselves. (8) Hospitality. Seek to show hospitality. If generosity
is shown to the needy, hospitality is shown to visitors. Hospitality was
especially important in those days, since inns were few and far between, and
those that existed were often unsafe or unsavory places. It was essential,
therefore, for Christian people to open their homes to travelers, and in
particular for local church leaders to do so. In fact, Paul did not urge the
Romans to practice hospitality, but rather to seek it. (9) Good will. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do
not curse them. Although our persecutors are outside the Christian
community, and this verse anticipates verses 17-21, yet the call to bless them
is a necessary challenge to Christian love. Blessing and cursing are opposites,
wishing people respectively good or ill, health or harm. There is no better way
to express our positive wishes for our enemies’ welfare than to turn them into
prayer and into action on their behalf. (10) Sympathy. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with
those who weep. Love never stands aloof from other people’s joys or pains.
Love identifies with them, sings with them and suffers with them. Love enters
deeply into their experiences and their emotions, their laughter and their
tears, and feels solidarity with them, whatever their mood. (11) Harmony.
Live in harmony with one another.
Once again we note the fundamental place occupied by our mind. Since Christians
have a renewed mind, it should also be a common mind, sharing the same basic
convictions and concerns. Without this common mind we cannot live or work
together in harmony. (12) Humility. Do
not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Few kinds of pride are worse than snobbery. Snobs are obsessed with questions
of status, with the stratification of society into upper and lower classes, or
its division into distinctions of tribe and caste, and so with the company they
keep. They forget that Jesus fraternized freely and naturally with social
rejects, and calls His followers to do the same with equal freedom and naturalness.
What a comprehensive picture of Christian love Paul gives us. Love is sincere,
discerning, affectionate and respectful. It is both enthusiastic and patient.
It is marked by both harmony and humility. Christian churches would be happier
communities if we all loved one another like that.
Questions for
Discussion:
1. How are we to think
with sober judgment about ourselves? What measure do we use in order to
determine how well we are thinking? Ask God to enable you to honestly measure
yourself according to this standard.
2. How does Paul use the
metaphor of the human body to describe the different gifts God gives His
Church? Note Paul’s emphasis in 12:6-8 on the use of our gifts. In effect, Paul
is saying that if God gives us a particular gift then it is our responsibility
to use that gift for the benefit of His Church. Ask God to enable you to use
your gift(s) to His Glory.
3. What are the ingredients
in Paul’s recipe of genuine love in 12:9-16? Measure yourself according to this
standard of genuine love. What are your strengths? Your weaknesses? Ask God to
enable you to grow in the exercise of genuine love in your Christian walk.
References:
The Epistle to
the Romans, Douglas Moo,
Eerdmans.
Romans, Thomas Schreiner, ECNT, Baker.
Romans, John Stott, Inter Varsity.