06-26-11 A Measure of Faith

We return to our study of the book of Romans this morning.

And we return, too, to the second principle given to us by Paul

governing effective life within the Church,

the Body of Christ.

If you are new to our study

it will help you to know

that Paul wrote his letter to the Roman Christians

to give them the answers

to four questions.

1. Why was it necessary for Christ to come to earth?

2. What does it mean for a person to live with God on the basis of faith in Christ?

3. What happens to the Nation of Israel in light of God’s creation of the Church?

4. And then, finally, in chapters 12 through 16,

he offers us the 6 principles that govern

life within the Church.

We have looked at the first of those 6,

given to us in Romans 12:1-2,

in which Paul describes for us

the heart of the daily battle facing every Christian

and how to find victory in that battle.

We are called to bring our mistrained physical bodies

under the leadership of the new hearts

God has already created within us,

and we are to accomplish that

through what Paul calls “the renewing of the mind”.

Then, in 12:3-21, he moves on to the second principle,

the correct use of spiritual gifts within the family of God.

And as soon as I said “spiritual gifts”

each of you yanked open your mental file cabinet,

grabbed that file labeled “spiritual gifts”

and opened it up to see what you already know about this topic.

Some of you just found a few random

and unrelated notes in your file,

things you’ve picked up here and there along the way.

A few of you may have found nothing at all in your “spiritual gifts” file.

And some of you found volumes of material,

much of it heavily marked and underlined,

some of it with bold notes of “WARNING!”,

and “VERY IMPORTANT!”,

and “CAUTION!” sprinkled throughout the contents.

And, I’m guessing here, of course,

but I think it very likely

that those of you who found your “spiritual gifts” file crammed full of material

are now responding one of two ways

to my announcement of this topic.

Either you are thinking, “Oh NO! I really don’t want to go back into this whole thing again.”,

or you are eagerly wondering

whether or not I will “get it right”,

which means, of course,

whether or not what I say

will agree with what’s already in your file.

I must admit that I went back and checked my own file as well

and found that way back in 1990

I took two and a half months

to teach these 19 verses.

It made me realize how much my own thinking

and especially my own understanding

of what’s really important

has changed during the past 20+ years.

What I am seeing in this passage now

is so different from what I saw back then.

What I taught back then wasn’t wrong.

But I do think I lost the central truth of what Paul was saying

under a whole lot of detail.

Let’s move into the passage

and I’ll show you what I mean.

Paul begins in Romans 12:3-5

with the central truth he wants us to grasp,

not just about gifts,

but about everything else he has to say concerning the church

in the remaining 4 chapters of Romans.

He says,

ROM 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to every man 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.

ROM 12:4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,

ROM 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Now, we’ll look more closely at what’s going on there in just a few minutes,

but I want to begin

with a broader observation.

Immediately after reminding us in 12:1-2

of the personal body battle we all face,

the very next thing Paul does

as he prepares us for life within the Body of Christ,

is to boldly affirm our individual uniqueness

and our diversity.

From the very beginning

he wants us to clearly understand

that true Christianity

and man-made religious systems

share NOTHING in common.

One of the pillar principles

of all false religious systems is conformity.

The impact of man-made religion is easy to spot,

because, where it exists,

it isn’t long before everyone looks the same,

and talks the same,

and conforms to the same external facade.

Even topics that, by their very nature,

are designed to celebrate our diversity,

get twisted into tools of conformity

in the hands of religion.

Every person must have exactly the same gift,

and they will not be accepted and approved until they do.

And the demonstration of those gifts

must fit into a narrow,

predetermined band of expression,

in which everyone comes out looking

and sounding just like everyone else.

But, when our God starts talking with us

about His design for life within His family,

the first thing He celebrates

is the one thing that gives us

such eternal value to Him -

our absolute individual uniqueness and diversity.

When God drew you to Himself

He wasn’t seeking “one more convert”.

He was seeking you.

He wanted an eternal friendship with you,

a friendship unlike any other

He has ever had before.

It is your uniqueness

that gives you such remarkable value to God.

And it is that same uniqueness

that gives you such tremendous value to the Body of Christ.

And it is no accident

that God begins His comments to us

about life within the church

by His affirming and celebrating our diversity.

For, just as it is our uniqueness

that gives us our value to God,

so it is our uniqueness

that gives us our value to the family of God.

We each bring our own special contribution

to the life and health of our fellow Christians.

Now, Paul begins his comments about the gifts

by arming us against the three great lies

that fight against healthy living in the family of God.

He says,

And the 3 lies we face are these:

1. I am more important to the body than other Christians.

2. I am less important to the body than other Christians.

3. I have nothing of value to offer my fellow believers.

He begins by directing his comments

to those who have believed the first lie.

For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think...

And, before I go any farther here,

I want to clarify something

that we can sometimes so easily miss

in our understanding of spiritual gifts.

Spiritual gifts are not gifts that God gives to us,

they are gifts that God gives through us.

It’s a little bit like what happened

when you were in 4^th grade

and you got an invitation to your best friend’s birthday party.

The first thing you did

was to go home and tell your mom

that you needed to get your friend

a really neat present.

And she went out and found that present

and gave it to you.

But she gave it to you

so that you could then give it to your friend.

When the gifts are functioning as God designed

we become the means by which

God gives to those around us

things they need for their health,

and growth,

and enjoyment in their walk with God.

But there is a trap we can easily fall into

when we begin to discover

that the Spirit of God is working through us.

We can easily begin to believe

that we are deserving of special recognition

because of what God has chosen to do through us.

I believe those who are equipped by God

for public speaking ministries

are especially vulnerable to this lie.

I was in my early 20's

when I first began to realize

that God had chosen to equip me

with the ability to teach His Word.

I’ve shared with you in the past

my vivid memory of the first time

the Spirit taught through me.

I was in Trinidad,

teaching Second Thessalonians

and half way through the talk

I suddenly realized that the people listening to me

were not just being polite,

they were actually being fed by what I was saying.

It was a remarkable realization for me.

But, if we are not careful,

and in fact, unless we consciously fight against it,

we can easily begin taking credit

for what God has chosen to do through us.

We can start thinking

there is something special about us,

something that motivated God to chose us and use us as He has chosen to do.

And because of the tremendous destructiveness of this lie

Paul’s first words to the church as a whole

are words of warning to be on guard.

For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think...

Unfortunately the church world is cluttered

with men and women

who are busy taking credit

for the gifts God has given them.

They build little kingdoms,

and gather devoted followers

who perpetuate the lie

that their leader is special and unique in all the world.

And as long as I’ve strayed into this,

I’ll give you three danger signs

that have helped me recognize

those who have believed this lie.

1. Does the person draw you to God

or to him or herself?

Do you come away impressed with how great their God is

or how great they are?

2. Do they leave you with the impression

that they have some unique access to the power and the reality of God,

and you must go through them

to get what God has to offer?

3. Do they want your money?

All of those are danger signs

of those who are taking credit

for what God is doing through them.

I think it’s interesting that,

when Paul was giving Timothy

the requirements for those who are qualified for positions of church leadership,

one of the things he said was,

1TI 3:6 and not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

And then, in the second part of this 3^rd verse of Romans 12

Paul addresses the next two lies.

He says that we are...not to think more highly of (ourselves) than (we) ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Just as there are those within the body

who believe they are deserving of special recognition,

so there are many who believe

they are deserving of no recognition.

They see themselves as having nothing of value to offer their fellow Christians.

And this is just as destructive a lie

as is the belief that we are special.

The key phrase in this 3^rd verse

is that last one in the sentence -

... as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

And to understand what’s happening here

we need to look at it first in our relationship with ourselves

and then in our relationship with one another.

And let’s start in our relationship with ourselves.

I know of no better way to say this

than for me simply to state it -

God shares with each person who comes to Him

a part of Himself

that He has never shared with anyone else before.

Paul calls it “a measure of faith”.

What that means

is that God has given you insights into Himself

that you alone possess,

insights that have equipped you

to trust Him,

to hear His voice,

and to follow Him in unique ways.

Let me state it a little differently.

The Holy Spirit has given you

the ability to express the reality of God

in ways that no one else can do.

Now I know what we tend to do with this.

We tend to believe

that our measure of faith -

our understanding of God

and His expression of Himself through us-

doesn’t matter near as much

as what He’s doing through others.

We can even begin to think

that the value and effectiveness

of His life through us

has something to do with

IQ,

or personality,

or communication skills,

or creative abilities,

or education,

or physical appearance,

or maybe even our level of affluence.

But it’s simply not true.

We are by nature self-doubters,

convinced that what we have to offer,

what we have to say,

or the impact of our life on those around us

is far less significant

than what others have to offer.

Sometimes it’s easier for us to see this

when we look at it from the other side.

I want you to ask yourself a question.

I’d like you to think of the person in your life

who has had the most profound positive impact for good

of anyone who’s ever touched your life.

Now, did they have that impact on you

because of their IQ?

Because of their physical appearance?

Because of their money?

Because of their education?

Why did they impact you so profoundly?

Well, probably it was because they loved you.

And at the very least

it was because God was able to express Himself through them to you

in a way that made it easier for you to reach out to your God and trust Him.

And my point is simply this -

you can,

and very likely are doing exactly the same thing in the life of someone around you.

God has given you your own unique measure of faith,

you own unique ability to reflect the reality of God in your world,

however large or limited that world is.

That measure of faith is the heart of His gift to you.

Don’t deny it.

Don’t apologize for it.

Don’t try to twist it around until it looks like someone else.

Just thank your Lord for your unique walk with Him

and for the people He will place around you

who will be touched by that uniqueness.

And then I want to add one final comment

about the way this measure of faith

plays out in our relationships with those around us.

And I hope very much

that God will give you ears to hear

what I’m about to say.

We have just heard Paul tell us

that God has given to each Christian,

to EVERY Christian

a measure of faith.

In other words,

God seeks to give you unique treasures

through every fellow believer He has placed into your life.

Start listening for what God is seeking to give you

through those He has placed next to you.

There is a filtering system in the minds of each of us

that has the potential to deprive us

of a tremendous amount of wealth

our God is seeking to give us.

It is a filtering system

just below the conscious level

that tells us who is worth listening to

and who is not.

Their age,

their sex,

their social position,

their race,

their physical appearance,

all of these and many other factors

may be a part of our mental filter,

telling us who is worth listening to

and who is not,

who has the ability to give us something of value,

and who does not.

I would like to conclude this morning

by encouraging you

to reevaluate that filtering system in your life.

It is very likely robbing you

of some very precious gifts

your God wants to give you.

I don’t know whose voice you’ve filtered out.

It might be the voice of your wife.

It might be the voice of your husband,

or your children,

or your parents,

or that fellow at work

who just drives you crazy.

If they are Christians

they, too, possess a measure of faith,

and with it the ability to share with you

aspects of your God

you could never have seen on your own.

Well, we didn’t make it as far as I’d planned,

but I still think we may be able to finish up Paul’s comments on gifts next week.