Lesson 27 – Romans Chapter 12:4-12
The last time we met, we were talking about being a living sacrifice unto the Lord, and that as Christians, we are to live differently when compared to the ways of the world. By God transforming the minds of willing Christians, we are then reminded to take a good look within ourselves, to make sure we check our ego’s at the door before serving God.
Rom. 12:4-5
“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.”
“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” (NLT)
…Brother Hammer was appointed to preside over the Master Tool Convention. Brother Screwdriver objected, saying, “Brother Hammer, you’re too noisy to preside over this meeting. You’re always driving home your point, and always nailing people. I call for your resignation immediately.” Brother Hammer responded, “Well, what about you, Brother Screwdriver? All you ever do is spin around in circles.” “That may be true,” said Brother Screwdriver, “but at least I’m not like Brother Plane. His work is so surface, so shallow. What right does he have to even be here?” “If you’re going to kick me out,” protested Brother Plane, “What about Brother Ruler? He thinks he’s always right, measuring everyone else by his standard.” “Well, if you’re going to come down on me,” argued Brother Ruler, “what about brother Pliers? He needs to get a grip!” “At least I don’t rub people the wrong way,” said Brother Pliers, staring at Brother Sandpaper. Just then, the Master Craftsman walked in. And, as He used each tool at just the perfect time, He created an object of great beauty.
Just like there are no two snowflakes alike, there aren’t any Christians that are exactly the same. When Christians used by God come together, great kingdom things can happen.
Paul is using the metaphor of the human body to describe Christ’s Church. As the human body comes together with many members, so does the body of Christ, meaning Christ’s Church. The church is a unified body of believers under the headship of Jesus Christ, the members all have different functions within the church. The problem the church runs into is not all the different members always get along.
I Cor. 12:12-13
“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.”
The church is comprised of many facets, meaning that within the church there are all kinds of different people with different levels of maturity, along with different gifts from God.
Rom. 12:6a
“In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.”
Gifts: (charisma)… is Grace or gifts assigning extraordinary powers, distinguishing certain Christians and enabling them to serve the church of Christ, the function of which is due to the power of divine grace operating on their souls by the Holy Spirit.
You might say, “God has given me a gift, but I don’t see myself as being extraordinary.” When it comes down to it, anything that comes from God is extraordinary! It really is amazing if you look around within your church and see all the different gifts God has given each one of us, and with these gifts, God uses them to build His kingdom.
God can place within our hearts the desire to teach, the desire to give, the desire to pray, the desire to serve, and the list goes on. When we act on those desires, and we are truly committed to His glory in the use of our gifts, positive outcomes will result—the body of Christ will be edified and God will be glorified.
I Cor. 12:4-11
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
Know this, that whatever gift God has given you, it is to be used and developed for His kingdom and for His glory.
I Peter 4:10
“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
Peter is saying, use your gift, don’t waste it or misuse it, but use it.
Rom. 12:6b-8
“If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering;
he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
If prophecy, let us prophesy…
Prophesy… is used here in a general sense for all types of gifts that involve speaking God’s word. So, in the context of this word, I can say that I am a prophet of God. I divide God’s word and bring it to you. Can I tell you the future? Well, if you’re a born-again believer, I can tell you that your “future” will be in the very presence of God for all eternity.
Ministry… means “service” which is in contrast to all the speaking gifts.
I Peter 4:11
“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles (a brief utterance) of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
The Scriptures list five speaking gifts: prophecy, teaching, encouragement, the word of wisdom, and the word of knowledge.
Here, Paul lists seven gifts for us: prophecy, ministry (service), teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and the person who shows mercy.
It’s good for us to read these because it reminds us of what God gives to people, and perhaps, as a reminder of a gift we haven’t used. The important thing to take away from this is that whatever gift we have been given, we should use it to the best of our ability as the Spirit leads.
An interesting gift is the gift of exhortation. Here are some descriptive words for exhortation; persuasive discourse, a stirring address, instructive, advisory, peacemaking, powerful verbal expressions used by a speaker to encourage or discourage some action.
I think this was very much a gift that Paul had as he could encourage and rebuke you all at the same time.
People with this Gift…
• Come to the side of those who are weak in spirit to strengthen them.
• Challenge or confront others to trust and hope in the promises of God.
• Urge others to action by applying Biblical truth.
• Offers advice, an outline for a solution, or a program for progress.
• Motivates others to grow in faith and their walk with God.
• Project an attitude of love, worship, and faith in God all for the betterment of the body.
Acts 14:21-22
“After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Paul and Barnabas had the gift of exhortation.
If you have the gift of exhortation, use it greatly for the kingdom of God.
Rom. 12:9
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”
Here in verse 9, Paul is giving us three personal guidelines to supernatural living. The first one is…
Let love be without hypocrisy… Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Paul says to love others without being a hypocrite, and we all should know how Jesus feels about hypocrites.
Love… in this verse is the Greek word agapē. Agapē love centers on the needs of others. In its truest form, agapē love will pay whatever personal price is necessary to meet those needs. Showing the love of Christ should be paramount in our walk as Christians. Love all started with God…
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
If we were to look up the definition of love, God’s name should be there, for He is the source of all love. Love appears over 360 times in the Bible. Because of the hundreds of references to love in the Bible, it is certainly the most extraordinary book of love in the whole world.
I John 4:7-11
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Agapē love conveys God’s will to His children about their attitude toward one another. Love for one another was a proof to the world of true discipleship.
John 13:34
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
When Jesus spoke these words, His intention was that we would take His command to heart and never treat it lightly. I suppose the danger of not taking this command seriously comes with a familiarity with God’s word, meaning, that we read it, understand it, but never fully live it. This is why Paul says straight out to us; Let love be without hypocrisy. The lesson for us here is, to honestly go before the Lord and ask Him if we are loving others the way He wants us to.
The second guideline is…
Abhor what is evil… Hate what is wrong. When you think about it, this is the complete opposite of love.
I Cor. 13:4-6
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;”
Did you catch the last part of the verse? Love does not rejoice in iniquity. To rejoice in iniquity would mean that a person would love evil. Evil is the opposite of holiness and therefore the direct opposite of godliness.
Jon Courson has a great comment about evil…
“The Greek rendering of this verse (Abhor what is evil) is: Treat evil as you would a cow pie. But how many of you say, “My kids might get involved with cow pies, so I’m going to keep some cow pies in my room in order that I can study them. It’s my calling as a parent”? that’s absurd. Yet it’s exactly what people are saying when they say, “I gotta know what’s happening on the screen or in magazines. Gotta keep current. No, you don’t. Treat evil like a cow pie… it’s abhorrent, repulsive, and disgusting.”
Psalm 97:10
“You who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.”
Evil is the enemy of God, which also makes it an enemy of love as well. Evil is to be fervently detested, as love is to be fervently sought after. If we genuinely love, then we will genuinely abhor what is evil.
The last guideline in our verse is…
Cling to what is good…
Cling (ko-lah’-o) we get the word “glue” from this. We can say, “if something is good, stick to it like glue.” This goes for us physically, emotionally, and most definitely spiritually. As disciples and servants of Jesus, we are to bind ourselves to what is good… all the things that are essentially right and worthy of our attention. Paul gives us some examples of this in Phil. 4:8-9;
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Evil is of satan, good is from God.
Rom. 12:10
“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;”
“Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” (NLT)
Verse 10 shows us a different word for love… here we have brotherly love [Philadelphia], the love which Christians cherish for each other as brethren. As in verse 9, this genuine affection for one another should be real and not with hypocrisy. We can apply this aspect to every part of our Christian walk, in that all we do, that none of it should have any hypocrisy within it… this just makes godly sense.
Rom. 12:11-13
“Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.”
These three verses point out to us the attitude we should have as believers as we sojourn together with other believers, thus leaving a positive mark within the Body of Christ.
Not lagging in diligence… if you’re going to do something do it with gusto, don’t do anything for the kingdom half-heartedly. Remember, as we serve others, we’re really serving the Lord.
Fervent in spirit…
Acts 18:24-25
“Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.”
Here as an example of fervency, we have Apollos, with his deep knowledge and expressiveness, and having a passionate heart, Luke describes him as fervent in spirit having a soul fired with an eagerness for the things of God.
We would do well to emulate Apollos. But, I believe our champion for fervency is still the apostle Paul.
I Cor. 9:26-27
“So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” (NLT)
Paul basically describes his fervency by stating he has a purpose in every step that he takes. The key for us here might be that we should take our relationship with God very seriously, that everything we do has purpose… remember, we’re to live our lives as a “living sacrifice.” Now, this doesn’t mean we can’t still have fun as Christians, it’s all about having balance. And balance comes with being mature in our faith.
When you come to the end of your life, you’re not going to wish that you had more time for just one more vacation, you’re going to say to yourself, “I wish I had done more for Christ.”
Serving the Lord…
Warren Wiersbe; “Serving Christ usually means satanic opposition and days of discouragement. Paul admonished his readers to maintain their spiritual zeal because they were serving the Lord and not men. When life becomes difficult, the Christian cannot permit his zeal to grow cold.”
Rejoicing in hope…
Luke 10:20
“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
As believers, we know that we are going to spend eternity with Jesus in paradise, but our problem is we get used to that truth, when it should really get us excited when we think about heaven.
Isa. 64:4
“For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!”
John 14:2-3
“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
With all this in mind, yes, we are to rejoice in hope… it shouldn’t be too hard when you think about what’s coming.
Rom. 8:25
“But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
Col. 1:27
“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
So, rejoice in hope, it will carry you through life’s toughest trials.
Patient in tribulation…
Well, here’s two red flags for us, being patient and going through tribulations.
James 5:7
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.”
James give us the timeframe in how long we should be patient, he says, “until the coming of the Lord.” So, let me interpret this for you – it means we are to be patient as long as we have breath.
We have fun talking about being patient and praying for patience, but when we give it some serious thought, being
God was so patient with His people, Israel. He mercifully and repeatedly forgave and did not destroy them.
Psalm 78:38
“But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath;”
Yes patience comes from compassion.
David Mathis (adjunct professor for Bethlehem College) wrote, in “Perfect Patience with the Worst of Sinners” about a common misconception regarding patience: “It is not as though the Father is quick-tempered, while the Son is patient. Rather, the patience we see in the Son is the very patience of His Father.”
II Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Peter tells us that God is patient toward us (in His longsuffering), this tells us that God is being patient by waiting for that very last Gentile to repent and come to Christ.
We should be patient when people do not become Christians.
We should be patient when Christians let us down.
We should be patient with ourselves. If we care about living God’s way, we will sometimes throw up our hands in disappointment at how little progress we’ve made.
Perhaps it’s triggered by us falling into some sin yet again, and as our consciences hurt so much, we may cry out, “I have been a Christian for many years – what’s going on with me? And still I fall into pride, or selfish anger, or greed. Have I learned nothing?” Remember the patience of Jesus and the promise of God to bring to completion the good work He has begun in us.
Psalm 130:5
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.”
Our patience is further tested when we run into life’s problems… the tribulations that come our way. Jesus said in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation.”
We know that in life problems and troubles are going to happen, sometimes we even wonder if they will ever end.
Jesus followed His statement with; “But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” As we endure the battles of life, we know that we’re never alone, God is with us.
Heb. 13:5b
For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
Rom. 5:3-5
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” (NLT)
These words from Paul in chapter 5 are so encouraging. Paul targets the Christian life. Kind of like he’s drawing a big circle around each one of us, pointing out that life truly has it’s ups and downs, but when it’s all said and done, God loves us. He’s always loved us and He’s never going to stop loving us… the end!
We’ll close with this… continuing steadfastly in prayer; or “devoted to prayer.”
Devoted: literally means to be strong toward something, and it also carries the idea of being steadfast and unwavering.
We just looked at being patient through trials and tribulations. So, how many of us “don’t” pray when we hit life’s speed bumps? If anything, when trouble comes, we pray more than ever. With this in mind, now do you understand why God allows us to go through tribulations over and over? Tribulations are never fun, but it keeps us in the throne-room of God continually, and that’s a good thing. God always wants us near to Him… the secret is, grow close to Him in times of peace, and tribulations might happen less and less… just a thought.