WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.080 If you turn to Romans chapter 12, if you have a Bible or it might come up on the screens 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:16.199 as well, Romans chapter 12, and this is the second week we're looking at verses 6 to 8. 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:20.359 We looked at it last week and we're going to look at it again this week. 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:22.240 And so I'm just going to read it again. 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:26.640 It's part of a series we've been doing in the summer just on this chapter alone, Romans 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:28.640 chapter 12. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:34.439 And we have these words in verse 6, having gifts that differ according to the grace given 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:39.240 to us, let us use them if prophecy and proportion to our faith. 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:43.920 If service in our serving, the one who teaches and is teaching, the one who exhorts in his 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:49.640 exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.359 acts of mercy with cheerfulness. 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:57.200 Okay, to the people who were here last week, and I just say, I wonder what your memory is 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:01.640 like, I wonder if you can remember anything that I said from last week, probably not, 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:05.960 that's okay, I'm sure some of it might come back to you. 00:01:05.960 --> 00:01:12.439 And if you weren't here last week, then this will all be fresh and you'll not hear someone 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:17.240 repeating themselves as they did after preaching on it last week. 00:01:17.240 --> 00:01:23.159 But I hope that each time we meet together that it's important that we pray about it 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:29.280 and we pray that we get encouraged and built up and that we grow in our faith as we look 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:33.759 at God's Word and as we think about God's Word for our lives. 00:01:33.759 --> 00:01:38.560 So last week, very briefly, I'll just skim over the points that we looked at last week 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:44.199 because we looked at these verses about spiritual gifts in the church, gifts that God gives us 00:01:44.199 --> 00:01:46.159 in a kind of more general way. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:52.039 We spoke about the generosity of God who gives these gifts, including our salvation, including 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:56.400 the fact that it's not something we earn, we can't make ourselves right with God that 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:01.640 He gifts it to us, it's something we can ask for and He will take us and redeem us and 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:02.640 give us new life. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:07.120 So the generosity of God, the gift giver, not just in salvation but in the gifts we 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.840 need for life. 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:13.280 We saw that every Christian has spiritual gifts, every one of us. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:19.600 Everyone is the gift of grace and all of us have different gifts that God gifts us, sometimes 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:26.439 uniquely when we become Christians, sometimes it's just a higher intensification as it were 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:30.799 of natural talents that we already have. 00:02:30.799 --> 00:02:34.599 The gifts are there to serve and to be served. 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:37.759 The gifts are there for us to serve one another. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:43.359 They're not for getting big heads and being self-important, they're about serving other 00:02:43.359 --> 00:02:46.840 people and serving other people in the church family. 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:50.719 And that we are to be people who are willing to be served by others with their gifts. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:57.759 We're not to be proud and standoffish and, you know, I can't be bothered with others. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:02.039 It's a case of being willing, as Louise was talking about, that we all need one another 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:05.640 and we all need that reality of support and strength and encouragement, whatever it might 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:07.140 be. 00:03:07.140 --> 00:03:13.439 And basically we saw that these spiritual gifts split roughly into two groups, word, 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:20.520 gifts, speaking, teaching, all that kind of stuff, and work gifts. 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:24.800 Word and work is what I call the speaking gifts or serving gifts. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:32.199 And the two are, they do the fusing together at one level, but as a general context that's 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:33.280 what we have. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:35.520 So that's a very quick summary of last week. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:39.240 We're just going to look at this chapter a little bit more, this section a little bit 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:41.240 more today. 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:46.040 First of all, can you remember also that this letter that Paul writes under the inspiration 00:03:46.040 --> 00:03:51.760 of God was to a great wee church in Rome, the capital city of the empire. 00:03:51.760 --> 00:03:57.560 So remember it was written to a real church, a great little church, and it was full of 00:03:57.560 --> 00:03:58.560 real people. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:02.920 Right at the beginning of the New Testament, people who had become Christians in the city 00:04:02.920 --> 00:04:07.719 of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:12.719 We had a great wee church in Edinburgh, in the capital of Scotland. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:17.920 And this living word of God, this inspired message of God is still as relevant and still 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:19.160 as important. 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:20.160 Ordinary people. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:22.079 Ordinary people heard it then. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:23.079 Ordinary people hear it now. 00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:26.480 It's not for special people, it's not for weird people, it's just for people who have 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:28.199 come to faith in Jesus. 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:33.120 In Rome, 2,000 years ago, and now in Edinburgh as a church family ourselves. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:39.800 The message is just the same for us, and it's for real people who were going into real situations 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:41.439 in real life. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:48.720 Nothing theoretical, nothing just unimportant or insignificant. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:53.800 And remember if you've been here throughout the series, I've said it every single week, 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:55.680 so you'll be tired of me saying it. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:01.600 But the first 11 chapters of Rome, the letter that Paul writes to the church is all about 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:05.120 deep, meaningful theology, truth about God. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:10.840 It's about who we are, about God being our Creator, about us rebelling against God, and 00:05:10.840 --> 00:05:15.560 about Jesus coming and saving us, and about real theological truth. 00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:21.240 And then from chapter 12, he says, therefore, let's live out our lives because of what God 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:22.240 has done. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:27.840 So the truth affects how we live, and that is no different then from it is now. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:33.879 And he's applying that truth to our hearts and to our lives in these sections. 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:39.560 And remember all of that, first 11, if I asked you a question, you wouldn't answer because 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:41.839 it's a Scottish Presbyterian church. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:47.799 But if I threw out the question about what's the summary of the first 11 chapters, you 00:05:47.799 --> 00:05:52.679 would all reply shouting back if you've been here over the weeks, God's mercy. 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:58.759 Because that's what it's all about, chapter 12 begins that way, in the light of God's 00:05:58.759 --> 00:05:59.759 mercy. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:04.160 That's the summary of all the theology, of all the truth that is written in the Bible. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:05.920 It's God's incredible mercy. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:11.120 It's incredible love for us, even though we didn't deserve it and we often turn our backs 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:13.280 in it and we stick our fingers up at God. 00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:16.000 It's His incredible mercy. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.480 And I don't want you to forget that because I don't want myself to forget that, that it's 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:24.840 not ordinary, it's not unremarkable. 00:06:24.840 --> 00:06:28.360 It's not just to shrug our shoulders at that. 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:33.520 The love of Jesus Christ, the mercy of God is at the heart of everything we know about 00:06:33.520 --> 00:06:36.080 the living God and Jesus Christ. 00:06:36.080 --> 00:06:44.319 And we want to plead with Jesus on a daily basis to move this truth that we know from 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:46.800 our heads into our hearts. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:48.560 That's what we desperately need. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:57.399 This truth that is about God's incredible love for us, moving from a theological reality 00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:05.199 into a personal life-transforming reality, because He wants us to be new people from 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:10.600 the inside out as we take His love and grace and apply it into our own hearts. 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:14.399 That's why God gave us the truth. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:15.399 God's mercy is... 00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:16.899 That's what's revealed. 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:21.199 His mercy of everything in all the battles, in all the struggles, in all the darkness, 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:24.839 in all the difficulties, in all the questions, in all the doubts, in all the fears. 00:07:24.839 --> 00:07:30.079 He wants us to know that His truth reveals His great mercy and His great mercy is what 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:35.479 transforms our hearts into being people who love Him and love one another. 00:07:35.479 --> 00:07:38.239 And that's really what this section about the gifts is all about. 00:07:38.239 --> 00:07:40.879 So I'm going to take a look again briefly at the gifts. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:45.079 And can I say in the first place that these gifts are listed, there are seven gifts listed 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:48.639 here, spiritual gifts are listed here. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:53.959 They reflect characteristics that should be in every one of us as Christians. 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:57.039 If we are a Christian here today, if you're not a Christian here today, I'm delighted 00:07:57.039 --> 00:07:58.039 you're here. 00:07:58.039 --> 00:07:59.159 It's excellent that you're here. 00:07:59.159 --> 00:08:03.959 And I hope that the love of God and the truth of God's mercy and grace will be something 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:07.560 that will challenge and touch your heart today. 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:13.360 And that somehow you'll think, well, I didn't really expect this, but God obviously had 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:18.240 me here for a reason, and that you'll be touched by His love and grace in some way that maybe 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:20.319 I can't explain. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:26.960 But for us, if we're Christians, then these gifts should reflect characteristics that 00:08:26.960 --> 00:08:29.720 are in every believer. 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:34.800 Every person in Christ as the Holy Spirit living in their hearts, we're made alive by the Holy 00:08:34.800 --> 00:08:36.000 Spirit. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:41.960 And we're all commanded to... and we all have these gifts in our lives. 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.800 We're commanded to show these characteristics. 00:08:45.800 --> 00:08:51.160 We should all desire to and should indeed prophesy. 00:08:51.160 --> 00:08:53.360 I'll explain that one in a minute. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:54.879 We all serve. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:56.160 We all teach. 00:08:56.160 --> 00:09:00.920 We all encourage one another. 00:09:00.920 --> 00:09:02.840 We contribute to the needs of one another. 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:03.840 We all lead. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:04.920 We all show mercy. 00:09:04.920 --> 00:09:07.639 These are the seven gifts that are listed here. 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:10.400 We all do these things. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:14.120 You know, it's not that you can look at this and say, oh, okay, I don't have the gift of 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:15.120 showing mercy. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:17.240 I'll just be a merciless swine. 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:19.639 It's not like that, is it? 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:22.279 It's not that some of us can show mercy and others can't. 00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:23.720 We're all required to show mercy. 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:26.199 Right throughout God's Word, we're required to show mercy. 00:09:26.199 --> 00:09:29.199 We're all required to contribute to the needs. 00:09:29.199 --> 00:09:33.079 We're all required, and we all do teach one another, and we all serve one another. 00:09:33.079 --> 00:09:36.559 So these gifts are characteristics of us all. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:45.679 But some of us have these gifts very specifically in a more heightened and in a more gifted 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.039 way from God. 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:54.519 We have specific gifts and abilities that maybe are natural gifts, but the Holy Spirit 00:09:54.519 --> 00:10:00.439 comes in and heightens them specifically as we are called. 00:10:00.439 --> 00:10:04.759 You know, it's a bit like in life, we all sing. 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:07.919 But not all of us can get up the front and sing because we don't necessarily all of the 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.840 specific gift of being able to do that. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:17.840 We can all to a greater degree maybe run a little bit, run for a bus. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:22.919 But not all of us can break world records of running. 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:28.159 I think we can all draw a stickman if we're asked to, just draw a stickman. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:33.200 But not all of us can bring a canvas to life in a life-changing way for people who look 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:34.200 at it. 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:35.200 So you see the difference? 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:42.400 That we can all do these things, and we're all called as Christians to do these specific 00:10:42.400 --> 00:10:43.480 characteristics. 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:48.720 But some people have these characteristics in a more gifted way, in a more special way 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:51.440 that is used by God in the church. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:56.320 And that is really what we're looking at today. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:02.240 The gifts are listed here, seven gifts, and I would say they're split into word and work 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:10.159 and I think that helps us maybe to understand speaking or serving, however you want to designate 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:11.159 it. 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:18.080 So the word gifts here are prophecy and teaching and encouraging, which are listed in these 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:19.080 two verses. 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:21.799 And the word works, the word... 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:29.159 Sorry, the work gifts, sorry, are serving, contributing, leading, showing mercy. 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:31.879 So there's seven split three and four ways, roughly. 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:35.200 And some of them are self-explanatory, I'm not going to spend much time on some of them. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:42.039 But I want to spend a little bit of time on prophecy, because there's been lots written 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:48.799 about prophecy, if your gift, let's use them, if in prophecy, in proportion to our faith. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:54.639 Now obviously there's a lot of disagreement about what it means, prophecy here. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:59.879 But what I would argue is that it's not the same as the prophetic office, like the Old 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:07.399 Testament prophets and even the New Testament apostles who had prophetic gifting, who they 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:13.639 breathed out, they breathed out God's word by the Holy Spirit's inspiration and gave 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:18.960 us infallible truth, truth that has become what we call the Bible, what has become God's 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:23.159 revelation, God's word to us. 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:28.759 So that's completed, that finish when the Bible was completed and the Bible that we 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.840 have and that the church has recognized is that. 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:37.639 So that in terms of prophecy, there's no new prophetic word from God that is infallible 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:38.639 for the whole church. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:42.159 You know, there's no gospel according to Archie anymore. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:46.679 You know, there's no new message given that could be added to the Bible, because the Bible 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:47.679 is complete. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:53.279 And we have the message from beginning to end, and we have the picture of creation, fall, 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:54.919 redemption, glorification. 00:12:54.919 --> 00:13:02.759 And it's all there for us, and that is no longer a role and a gift, a spiritual gift 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:03.759 for anyone. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:09.360 Now, there may have been a slightly different role in the New Testament among the New Testament 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:14.360 church before the, what we call the canon of Scripture was completed in terms of prophecy. 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:22.599 But for us today, I think the role of prophecy as it's spoken of here is more akin to sometimes 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:26.920 preaching, but I think it's more than that. 00:13:26.920 --> 00:13:33.360 But we see that, and we looked at it when we were looking at 1 John last semester, that 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:39.879 the early New Testament churches were plagued by false prophets by people who came and spoke 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:46.080 a message that was different from the apostolic truth, infallible truth that was given through 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:48.240 the apostles. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:55.080 Whatever in the New Testament is the message given to test the message of the apostles. 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:57.480 It was declared it was given. 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:00.200 It was to be accepted as God's word. 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:06.080 But very often the apostles spoke about testing the spirits, testing those who came and preached, 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:10.560 whether they were preaching in line with what had been revealed. 00:14:10.560 --> 00:14:13.879 And so already there was that clear distinction. 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:19.039 Just as the spirits was in the context of false prophecy in 1 John 4, we looked at that. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:24.639 But this is something that is to be done in proportion, it says, in proportion to our 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:25.639 faith. 00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:29.480 That could be translated according to the measure of the faith. 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:39.840 So we take it, we reveal God's word, we speak about God in a prophetic way. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:46.240 And the Bible is the measure, the faith that is spoken of is given the definite article, 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:47.759 the faith that has already been revealed. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:49.040 So it's to be in line with that. 00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:54.080 So it's to be in line with God's already revealed truth. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:58.560 So what really does it mean for us today here in St. Louis or in Scotland in the 21st century 00:14:58.560 --> 00:15:00.160 and in any Christian church? 00:15:00.160 --> 00:15:05.400 Well, I would argue that it's the gift of taking God's word and applying it in a spirit 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:11.279 anointed way to a particular situation, maybe a spiritual insight. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.799 And certainly that should include what preaching does. 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:14.919 Preaching should do that. 00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:18.399 It's not exclusively what preaching is, but it certainly should do that. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:21.519 It might be speaking a God-given warning. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:29.159 It might be something that's been given in a dream that the person feels under God's 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:33.319 spirit and God's grace is relevant for another person and is significant and important to 00:15:33.319 --> 00:15:34.559 be shared. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:39.839 It could be applying Scripture in a miraculous way to a person's life where you might say, 00:15:39.839 --> 00:15:44.959 well, look, God brought you very, very powerfully to my mind when I was reading this verse. 00:15:44.959 --> 00:15:48.159 I think He means it especially for you today. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:54.319 I don't know your situation and it may be that person specifically needed that message 00:15:54.319 --> 00:15:56.039 from the living God. 00:15:56.039 --> 00:16:03.799 And there's that recognition that it's taking God's word or taking God's truth and moving 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:10.679 our spiritual relationship with God beyond mere intellectual or propositional truth and 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:12.879 recognizing that we're in a relationship. 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:17.159 And that sometimes He speaks to us in a way that's good not just for us, but as we share 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:22.599 it with other people and we see the importance of that. 00:16:22.599 --> 00:16:23.799 And I think we should all be doing that. 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:26.919 I think we should all be speaking truth in one another's lives. 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:33.539 But I think there's a spec… some people have a special gift of being able to very powerfully 00:16:33.539 --> 00:16:40.719 apply God's word and apply God's truth or be given a message from God specifically for 00:16:40.719 --> 00:16:46.519 someone never that would contradict the Bible's revelation and never something that would be 00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:52.639 divisive or be separatist but would be for the building up and encouraging of other people. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:59.879 Now, I think that's why I read from 1 Corinthians 14, 13 and 14 because it's speaking about 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:01.399 gifts, isn't it? 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:08.960 And he talks there about pursue love, the great chapter, which is… he's speaking 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:15.720 about gifts to the early church in Corinth, but I will show you the most excellent way 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:18.879 and that is the way of truth. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:25.160 But then he goes in verse 14, but pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:28.440 especially the gift of prophecy. 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:35.440 And I think therefore if it's something that Paul is encouraging the whole church to seek, 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:42.160 it's about the ability to take God's word and recognizing the vital truth of God's 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:47.160 word that we live it and share it together as believers. 00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:48.880 Strange, isn't it? 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.040 Sometimes as believers it's the last thing we talk about together. 00:17:51.040 --> 00:17:53.240 It's the last thing we think about together. 00:17:53.240 --> 00:17:58.320 Well, we get a church over, that's great, and then we can talk about anything else. 00:17:58.320 --> 00:18:03.279 And we talk about our lives and we talk about everything but we don't share either our 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:08.040 experiences or the truth of God's word together. 00:18:08.040 --> 00:18:10.120 And that's very important that we do that. 00:18:10.120 --> 00:18:12.800 So that's what I think prophecy primarily is about. 00:18:12.800 --> 00:18:14.800 And then he goes on to speak about teaching. 00:18:14.800 --> 00:18:16.680 That's fairly clear, isn't it? 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:19.600 It's making God's truth clear and understandable. 00:18:19.600 --> 00:18:23.120 Some people have got a really great gift at doing that. 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:24.880 That may be different from preaching. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:25.880 Absolutely. 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:27.920 It might include preaching sometimes. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:34.920 But some people are brilliant at one-to-one teaching about God and about the truth one-to-one 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:42.320 or in small groups or with children or with their peers or with people who are not Christians. 00:18:42.320 --> 00:18:43.799 They're great at sharing it. 00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:51.399 Not everyone is the same, but some have this really special gift of teaching that they use 00:18:51.399 --> 00:18:56.440 for the good of the church, for the good of the Christian family to teach more about the 00:18:56.440 --> 00:18:59.039 person and the nature of Jesus. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:05.440 And I think that kind of links in with encouragement or exhortation as it's spoken of here. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.159 It's that whole ability. 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:15.080 Louise has got that gift because the word that we have here for exhortation or encouragement 00:19:15.080 --> 00:19:18.000 is not just a slap in the back, oh, come on, keep it going. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.279 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all right, you'll get there in the end. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:27.720 It's more about counsel, counseling, building up people in the faith, sharing the promises 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.680 of God, pointing them to Jesus. 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:33.120 Again, it's something we can all do. 00:19:33.120 --> 00:19:36.160 But some people have got a great gift about it. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:39.800 On the other side, it's so easy to complain, isn't it? 00:19:39.800 --> 00:19:41.920 So easy to moan at one another. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:46.400 It's so easy to knock each other down. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:54.279 We do struggle a lot as Christians not to edge God off the throne and put ourselves back 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:55.279 on there. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:56.279 We like it. 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:57.640 We like being on the throne. 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:00.600 We like being the judge of everyone else. 00:20:00.600 --> 00:20:01.600 We love that. 00:20:01.600 --> 00:20:02.600 It's easier. 00:20:02.600 --> 00:20:04.000 Makes us feel good about ourselves. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.880 We judge other people who we think are worse than us. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:13.960 But we're called to be encouragers and counselors who point people to Jesus who's on the throne 00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:18.559 and recognize His rightful place to be there. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:21.720 So we look to prophecy and teaching and exhortation. 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:23.119 That's the kind of word gifts. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.799 Then the other four are just serving gifts. 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:27.440 Well, one of them is called serving. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:30.359 And it's an incomplete list. 00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:37.959 It's just a general, sometimes a general word given for what we do and serving is one of 00:20:37.959 --> 00:20:38.959 them. 00:20:38.959 --> 00:20:41.359 Just covers a variety of ways that we help. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:46.279 It's the idea of a practical gift, using these gifts to God's glory. 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:51.439 Whether it's working in the church office or DIY work or helping practically where people 00:20:51.439 --> 00:20:53.240 are in need. 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:55.039 Your brothers and sisters who are in need. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:57.399 It's a simple formula. 00:20:57.400 --> 00:21:03.400 It's just having the ability of looking out and saying, well, I can help and I'd love 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:06.519 to. 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:12.720 And those who serve it, they're the behind the scenes giants of the church. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:15.680 The giants are not on the platform. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:17.000 Never. 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:18.560 The giants are never the ones that are well known. 00:21:18.560 --> 00:21:25.160 The giants of the church are always the servants, the behind the scene giants who serve not 00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:30.680 for praise, not for glory, not for popularity, not for position or anything like that, but 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:35.279 who give quietly in service to God. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:38.680 And it would include contributing to the needs of others. 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:43.519 That's specifically with a financial support. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:44.880 Those who are gifted financially. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:50.040 Now we're all called to give from what we have to the living God because it all comes 00:21:50.040 --> 00:21:51.759 from Him anyway. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:57.000 But this is specifically those who maybe are gifted in ways. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:00.480 We would never, the ways we was talking about the church plants, we would never have been 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:05.599 able to build these church plants practically, administratively, humanly speaking without 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:11.160 the generosity of people who gave, who are the gift of being able to contribute to the 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:15.480 needs of others and who did so wisely. 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:17.799 And there's leadership that's mentioned here. 00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:26.119 It's the ability, I think in Christ, to have people who will follow you as a leader because 00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:31.759 you lead with a servant heart, because you're able to share vision and you're able to delegate 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:34.079 and you don't care about controlling everything. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:35.680 You don't want to control everything. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:42.759 You want to leave it up to God to do that, who are forgiven and are forgiven leadership. 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:47.920 And then the last one there is showing mercy, that's the gift of working with those who 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:53.039 maybe have the deepest needs in our church community and beyond. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:57.960 Those are vulnerable, those are emotionally broken, they isolated sometimes the socially 00:22:57.960 --> 00:23:04.079 awkward, the sick, the dying, those with physical or medical conditions that make them dependent, 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:09.960 that we serve and show mercy and show love to such. 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:13.360 So these are some of the gifts that are mentioned here. 00:23:13.360 --> 00:23:19.840 Some of you will have them specifically in a unique way in relation to your character. 00:23:19.840 --> 00:23:23.920 Some of them we can ask for more, we can ask for these gifts if we need them and if the 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:25.640 church needs them. 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:31.079 But we're all called to show these characteristics to one degree or another in our Christian lives 00:23:31.079 --> 00:23:32.079 and that's a challenge. 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:35.440 And I'm finishing just with this. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:43.840 How do we live together as a Christian community in the church family using these gifts? 00:23:43.840 --> 00:23:51.160 Because it can't stress enough the importance of these gifts being taught about in the context 00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:57.240 of a church family, there's a small church plant in Rome and all the letters were written 00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:00.960 to small church plants in the New Testament. 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:05.600 And it's what we mentioned last week that all the gifts are given not for ourselves, 00:24:05.600 --> 00:24:12.400 not for our aggrandizement, not to be big shots, but in order to serve one another. 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.160 Because that's the model of Jesus Himself. 00:24:15.160 --> 00:24:21.200 As we are Spirit dependent, we live our lives willing to, in thankfulness and prayer and 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:23.480 dependence, serve one another. 00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:32.759 So what do we see about these characteristics because some of them have got ways that are 00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:36.039 expressed about how to serve them. 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:41.319 And we recognize that in terms of prophecy and proportion to the faith, in other words 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:50.960 it's to be obedient to the Word that's revealed, then it speaks about giving, doing it generously. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:58.840 And it's one who leads with zeal or with diligence, and then one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. 00:24:58.840 --> 00:25:04.720 So there are four amazing ways to live our Christian lives together and individually. 00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:07.200 In obedience with generosity, with zeal and with cheerfulness. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:08.880 Isn't that great? 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:14.880 The great that we are giving the way that we're to serve as a people together and how 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:15.880 we live our lives. 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:18.720 So it's in obedience to the revealed truth. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:23.759 So we're not to go against what God reveals, against His mercy and against His grace. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:24.759 And that's a challenge, isn't it? 00:25:24.759 --> 00:25:26.759 It's a challenge for us today. 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:30.600 But we're to do so generously. 00:25:30.600 --> 00:25:36.079 We're to serve with whatever gifts God has given us, I think, generously and not grudgingly. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:42.039 Oh, well, I better drag Him a feat in service because maybe Jesus will accept me. 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:43.039 It's not about that. 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:45.480 It's not about being accepted. 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:48.079 We're already accepted because of what He's done. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:49.079 It's out of gratitude. 00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:57.559 So there should be generosity, not for self-promotion, not for a name, but in a sacrificially generous, 00:25:57.559 --> 00:26:01.799 open-handed, open-hearted way. 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:10.759 But also zealously, as we're told in terms of leadership, diligently as giving our best. 00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:15.519 It's not a case we live our lives and then if we've got one percent of energy left at 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:19.279 the end of the week, well, that's what we'll give to the Lord. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:22.160 It's not as an afterthought we serve Him. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.200 It's a priority. 00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:30.960 It's zealously, diligently giving our best, whether it's in leadership as it's applied 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:32.839 here or in any other gift. 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:39.240 We're to do it with that diligence and zeal at home or at work, whether you're working 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:44.039 in an office or whether you're working in the church or whether you're unemployed or 00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:48.920 whether you're at home, whatever it is that you're to do what you do, whether it's gainfully 00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:53.279 employed or serving in different ways, it applies to us all that we're to have that 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:55.159 diligence in service. 00:26:55.159 --> 00:27:01.519 And last thing, beautifully is doing it cheerfully, acts of mercy with cheerfulness. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:02.519 You know, if you're in deep... 00:27:02.519 --> 00:27:08.599 If you're a person who's in deep need of the mercy of someone else, particularly vulnerable 00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:18.159 or particularly struggling, and it might be just on an odd occasion, and it might be more 00:27:18.159 --> 00:27:23.240 regularly in your life, you don't need morose help. 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:28.719 You don't need someone to come who's a misery guts and say, I'm here to help you. 00:27:28.719 --> 00:27:30.519 You don't want that. 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:32.799 You don't want help that's miserable. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:37.919 You want cheerful help, cheerful serving, merciful, you know. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:43.320 You don't want to see, you don't want to show mercy with a growl. 00:27:43.320 --> 00:27:48.560 That's kind of not mercy, is it? 00:27:48.560 --> 00:27:55.519 In the use of our gifts, in the use of who we are, in our mercy, we're to do it cheerfully, 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:58.840 not grudgingly with our heart in the right place. 00:27:58.840 --> 00:28:07.200 And all of these descriptions of how we serve relate to our hearts. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:09.559 They all relate to our motives. 00:28:09.559 --> 00:28:12.360 They relate to what's important to us. 00:28:12.360 --> 00:28:18.640 And as Christ is important to us, and why can I say that? 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:25.279 Because these characteristics of serving reflect the life of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:29.160 We can know that that is how He served. 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:32.960 That He served in obedience to His Father. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:37.319 That He served generously of His time and of His energy and of His efforts. 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:40.319 That He did it diligently with zeal, with passion. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:42.319 And He did it cheerfully. 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:45.880 Do you think of Jesus as a glum, miserable character? 00:28:45.880 --> 00:28:49.400 I say, well, it doesn't say in the Bible that Jesus laughed. 00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:51.400 Well, big deal. 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:54.480 You know, of course He laughed. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:56.480 Of course He celebrated. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:58.240 Of course He did what He did cheerfully. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:01.000 He didn't do it in a morose way. 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:05.359 He did it because He was the Son of God who was coming to be a redeemer. 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:07.720 He did it because He was wanting to do it. 00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:11.680 He did it because He said, not my will but yours be done. 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:13.960 And it reflects the person of Jesus Christ. 00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:17.119 And we look to Christ and we say, Lord, You did this. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:18.680 And You did it for me. 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:22.000 You did it by going all the way to the cross for me. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:25.440 Please help me to show these gifts. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:30.559 And help me to use the gifts that You give me in this way, in the kingdom. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:33.599 And through prayer, let's be strengthened. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:40.240 And not just strengthened ourselves but strengthened for one another and helped to strengthen other 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:42.599 people, building one another up. 00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:46.359 And make that be our desire and our will. 00:29:46.359 --> 00:29:52.879 And I think if it was increasingly, and it is increasingly, in the great words of Louis 00:29:52.879 --> 00:29:55.559 Armstrong, what a wonderful world this would be. 00:29:55.559 --> 00:30:01.960 And if you want to see a picture of that, look at Romans 16, the last chapter of this 00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:02.960 book. 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:09.399 It gives you a great picture of a wee church in the big capital city of the empire and 00:30:09.399 --> 00:30:14.399 how they served one another with God's gifts, women and men together serving. 00:30:14.399 --> 00:30:16.079 And Paul names them all. 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:17.079 And it's beautiful. 00:30:17.079 --> 00:30:18.559 Read it if you have time. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:19.559 The last chapter. 00:30:19.559 --> 00:30:20.559 Let's pray. 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:27.799 Father God, we pray that we would see who You are, we would understand who You are, 00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:36.119 that we would come to know You as Savior and Lord because there is no other hope for us. 00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:39.960 There's no other way. 00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:48.559 Forgive us when we crawl back onto the throne and when we demand that others serve us in 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:55.000 with our wrong attitude and help us to be servants and serve with the gifts You've given 00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:56.000 us. 00:30:56.000 --> 00:31:01.480 And no, when we do that, when we go out, as Paul says here, use them. 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:02.919 Use our gifts. 00:31:02.919 --> 00:31:11.319 And when we do, we find that we too will be more open to being served, to being dependent 00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:12.319 and to growing. 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:25.480 And that loving, serving, sacrificial, cheerful, zealous, and obedient people may be a beautiful 00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:30.720 witness to a world that needs to see that. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:37.839 And people who are our friends and family members, maybe who are not Christians, who 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:45.759 seek what they see in us and seek the salvation that Jesus gifts freely to any who come to 00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:50.159 Him and cry out for His salvation. 00:31:50.159 --> 00:31:53.720 May we experience that more and more, we ask in Jesus' precious name. 00:31:53.720 --> 00:32:09.799 Amen.