God Measures Out the Gifts

Transcript

GR 2254
10/25/2020
God Measures Out the Gifts
Romans 12:3-6
Gil Rugh

We’re going to go to the book of Romans, chapter 12. Let me just review with you. They put a slide together to give you the overview of what we’ve done in the book of Romans. So let’s put that up. The overview of the opening chapters of Romans. We start out with the introduction. Then we go to the condemnation, the verses on there, 1:18-3:20. Justification, 3:21-5:21, sanctification, chapters 6-8. That’s key because what we’re going to do with chapter 12 is pick up on what he says about the doctrine of sanctification and look at how sanctification is worked out in our lives in different areas. Next area, is what I’ve called clarification. Clarifying how Israel as a nation fits into God’s plan of redemption now that the church has become the focal point. So, we talked about that in 9, 10, and 11. And then we called chapters 12 through chapter 15, verse 13 exhortation. That’s why I say it connects to sanctification. What are we to do? How does this impact areas of our lives? So, Paul will give some of those areas particularly that are an indication. Then the conclusion of the book comes with chapter 15, verse 14 through chapter 16, verse 27. So, it’s rather balanced. Important to keep in mind this is the background. As you look over this you see particularly points 1, 2, and 3 condemnation, justification, sanctification. That’s the foundation for the exhortation beginning in chapter 12. It’s not just telling us how we should conduct ourselves in various areas but that’s founded on a basis. What God’s work of redemption has provided for us and will lead to in different areas of our conduct. So you have that to remind you.

Chapter 12, we looked at verses 1 and 2. We noted it starts out, “Therefore…” because he’s building on what we talked about. God’s mercy calls for a response. So just a little bit of review of those opening verses, those two verses. “Therefore…” God is so merciful in providing His redemption, “…I beseech (urge) you, by the mercies of God...” Those mercies are what we just went over that he covered through those first eleven chapters. The basis of that, we don’t just sit and say, well, that was interesting, but now what do we do?

Secondly, our bodies are to be an offering to God. “…present your bodies…” so what we do with our bodies. We went back to chapter 6. Now we use our bodies and all their parts to serve the Lord, to serve righteousness completely because before we had been using our bodies for the expressing of sinful activities.

Third, what we do with our bodies is an act of worship. Sometimes we get in our minds that worship occurs when we come to this place at a certain time. This is corporate worship as we talk about, but really we need to keep in mind, our activities through the day are part of our worship of God. Passages like Hebrews 13 talk about our lips being sacrifices because what comes out our mouths ought to be honoring to the Lord, those kind of things.

Point four, we’re not to allow ourselves to be molded by the world. Beginning with verse 2, “And do not be conformed to this world...” There is one of the modern paraphrases, “Don’t allow the world to press you into its mold.” That’s important to keep in mind because we are bombarded. In our day we have so much communication going on that the thinking of the world just seems to come in non-stop. It’s not just personal contact with friends or at work or so on but it’s twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If we are not careful the thinking of the world begins to shape our thinking and that will begin to shape our conduct in a negative way.

Point five, we are to be transformed people. Be transformed, not conformed, but transformed from the inside out. There is to be a change brought about in our lives.

Point six, the transformation is accomplished through the making new of our minds. That’s where we start, with our thinking and how we are thinking. That’s why we talked about in our earlier study today and seems we talk about it a lot, but we want to fill our minds with truth. We want a new mind and that’s a process. I have to take in the truth to my mind so it has something to operate on. So that is a growing process. The making new of our mind and then transformation enables us to discern and do the will of God so that we might “…prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

That basically in those two verses is a summary of where he’s going. Now we’ll work that out. Verse 3 will begin with that preposition “for,” so we summarized our conduct. Most of us have probably memorized Romans 12:1-2, but he’s not done. He leads right into specific areas and examples for us to deal with. It is not by any means all encompassing because all of our lives are different. We have different things that come into our lives, but these will be things that he wanted the Romans, their church there to be aware of and they’ll impact us as well, because he’s going to start out with spiritual gifts. This is a crucial area. In the Old Testament God brought His people together as a physical nation, Israel. So they were to be His special people. It was an elect nation even though not every person in Israel was elect. We talked about that in chapters 9, 10, and 11. But the nation was chosen, and they were to interact together. Their worship was intricately tied to all that they did so they were a nation.

Now the Church is not a nation, but we are a people bound together as chosen. Appointed by God, the Church is the Body of Christ. The individual expression is the local church. That becomes crucial because he’s going to talk about the spiritual gifts and how we function together as a body of believers. It is true there is the universal church which comprises all believers from Acts chapter 2 down to the rapture of the church. All believers at this present time, wherever they are in the world are part of the church, the Body of Christ. But the emphasis in the New Testament is on the local church. That is the visible expression of the universal church. I’ve mentioned to you, and I’ve recommended to you, Earl Radmacher’s book, The Nature of the Church. In the back of that he lists all the references to church in the New Testament and you end up with the overwhelming majority of those are references to the local church. What’s Paul doing? He’s writing to the believers in the church at Rome. As the letters, most of them, we have some general epistles. Remember Jesus Christ in His final address to His people in the churches, addresses seven individual churches in Revelation 2 and 3. They are in the same general geographical area, but He addresses each one as an individual entity that is to be functioning pleasing to Him.

So that’s what he’s going to pick up with verse 3 and 4 and the analogy we use, we are not a nation. That’s not what we are. Israel was a physical nation. We are the Body of Christ. That’s the analogy that Paul favors extensively in his letter to First Corinthians, the first letter to the Corinthians. He’s going to use that here and some other places as well. So we begin and pick up with verse 3, “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. 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 of one another.” So, you can see how he’s using the picture of believers brought together, but it’s always God’s plan to put us together in a relationship with others.

In the Old Testament it was the physical people, Israel, brought together as a physical nation. You’re aware of all the instructions given and how they were to relate. Instructions for all areas of their life. Now the picture is of a spiritual relationship. This is manifested in a physical entity, a local church, where we physically meet together and even when we are in other places we do identify with one another as members of the Body. We recognize there are other local churches that are expressions of the Body of Christ, but each one is an entity in and of itself. We’re not going to go into the details of that, but just a meeting of believers does not make a church. Some pick up a misuse of Matthew 18 where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst. They say, well, see we’re a church. He’s talking about the exercising of discipline in a church there and it takes two or three witnesses. And where those two or three believers have gathered and made the decisions in this, then there’s action on that. So, there’s order and structure. We’ve seen that. He appoints elders in every church, the Holy Spirit does; deacons, the gifts will function.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians, just one book ahead, toward the back of your bible but not going backwards. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, just to prepare you for what we’re going into. Paul is writing to the church at Corinth. The church that has issues. Some you are studying it in one of your classes. We have studied it together. He opens up, verse 2. He’s writing, “To the church of God which is in Corinth…” So it is God’s church at Corinth. You see it has a specific identity. He’s not just writing to God’s church in the world, although what he writes here would be applicable to believers wherever we are, but he’s writing to a specific local church. It’s the one at Corinth. It’s comprised of “…those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling…” So they have been set apart by God for Himself. They have been sanctified. When you became a believer in Jesus Christ you are set apart by God for Himself. You comprise the body now, as he’ll say in chapter 12, verse 13 of 1 Corinthians, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” the body of Christ over which Christ is the Head. We are “…saints by calling…” That word sanctify and the word saints come from the same basic Greek word hagios. It means to be set apart. It’s the same word we get the word holy from.

The saints are holy ones. They are to be holy in their conduct, set apart for God. They are joined with other believers in other places who with all in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours, because wherever a believing church is assembled it has the same Lord. Now it would not have the same elders and it would not meet like we would meet regularly. They would meet…maybe they are in another part of the world in another time zone, but we identify with believers wherever they are even though we are connected to a particular local church. Come further down to verse 5 in chapter 1 where he says, “…that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge...” Verse 7, “…so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” You are not lacking in any gift. The gifts are given to a local church and the church at Corinth had all the gifts that they needed to be able to function as the body of Christ in that place. Otherwise it would just be a collection of pieces. I think it’s interesting, we know the church at Corinth, has problems that have to be dealt with. There are issues that Paul has to deal with but they’re not lacking in any gift. So, any of the problems they have aren’t because God hasn’t provided the giftedness and the gifted people for them to function as a body should. Now we talk about the body. He uses something that we can all relate to, this physical body.

In 1 Corinthians he gives the fullest development of that analogy, but you can turn back to Romans chapter 12. That’s the picture we’re going to have. It’s similar to what he started, just touching on in Romans chapter 6. The members of your body, turn them over to righteousness to serve righteousness. The members, the different parts of your body. We use these bodies and their parts and in their entirety now for serving God. And He provides gifts for the body, because we come from different places, different backgrounds. But when God saved us we were put into the body of Christ. Now in the church at Corinth as we just saw, people were put in that church, gifted by God so that church could function as a complete body. Now as he adds, and as people are removed because some died at Corinth, God adjusts. But the body is always as people are there, as they should be, and functioning as they should. We function as He would have us function.

So, when you pick up with verse 3, we read in Romans chapter 12, “For through the grace given to me...” The grace given to Paul was his spiritual gift. That’s what he’s going to talk about. Our gifts are grace gifts. We call them that because the word that has been used in 1 Corinthians later is charismatic, charisma. We bring that word over into English but the word charis is the word grace. So these gifts are a matter of God’s grace. I’m addressing you, and he’s addressing with authority because the grace given to him, gifted him to be an apostle. So, what he is writing is the very word of God for these people. It is something to be taken seriously. That was a unique gift. We’ll talk about the individual gifts at a future study, but that’s his gift. So I am speaking to you by the grace that was given to me.

Come back to Romans chapter 1. This is how he started out. “Paul, a bond-servant (a slave) of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God…” So that goes together. I was called to be an apostle. God set me apart for the ministry of the gospel. He had a unique role to play as an apostle. That was his gift. God set me apart for the ministry of the gospel. He had a unique role to play as an apostle, so that was his gift. It would be used as we will see when we look at the gift, with prophets to help provide the foundation for all churches wherever they would be. So, Paul wasn’t particularly connected to a local church as elders who are later appointed. For example, the elders at the church at Ephesus, their authority and leadership were with that local church. Paul’s leadership spanned all the churches. He’s going to be bringing new revelation from God for those churches and so on. So, he refers to himself there as an apostle.

Down in verse 5 of chapter 1, “…through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles…” A particular area of his ministry was what? Carry the gospel to Gentile people in contrast to the Jews. Peter was an apostle to the Jews. God’s grace for Paul, and you pick that up in Acts 9 when God confronted him on the Damascus road, where Paul experienced God’s saving grace. He’s a chosen vessel of Mine and he carried the gospel to the Gentiles. So, you see his apostleship, Paul didn’t earn it, didn’t work for it. He didn’t and we’re going to see this about the gifts, they are sovereignly bestowed by God. But here he connects grace and his apostleship, and he does it in a number of others. He does it in 1 Corinthians. He does it in Galatians. He does it in Ephesians. But we’re not going to chase all those down now. We’ll talk about the gift of apostleship more in detail.

Come back to chapter 12. Paul is speaking here with authority, God’s authority, and it’s a reminder that God gave it to him. I’m addressing you, “…through the grace given to me I say…” So it carries more weight that just Paul, another believer is saying, I’m speaking in light of the grace God has given me. What he’s giving them is the very word of God. “…I say to everyone among you…” every man among you, used broadly, everyone among you.

What he is saying applies to every believer and naturally as the Spirit of God has preserved this letter it was not just for the church in Rome, but it was for other believers as well, passed down to us. But the point is this applies to everyone among you. This is not just for some of the believers there. “…I say to everyone among you…” all believers in the church at Rome and then of course I said it would be a message beyond that. Very simply, isn’t it interesting where he starts? This picks up what he was just talking about, how you think. Verse 2 of Romans 12, what was it about? “…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the making new of your mind...” And that word mind, to think, that’s what he’s talking about. You have it used four times in this verse. I know it’s hard maybe to pick it up in a translation. “…not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment (thinking)...” We have sound judgment and that’s not a bad translation, but you miss something. If you are reading this in Greek as Paul wrote it, it’s the word think or mind again, so he’s emphasizing the mind because as we talked about, that’s where it starts. I have to have changed thinking.

Look around. What’s going on? People go crazy. We say what are they thinking because we know they’re doing foolish things. Have they stopped and thought? When our kids do something, and they should have known better. Did you stop and think before you did that? So, it’s a common picture that he is using and how we are not to think is more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Isn’t it interesting that, that is where he starts? Well, how else would we think if we just worked through those first eleven chapters being impressed with God’s mercy and God’s grace? How humbling is that? I am a child of God. One who is deserving of an eternal hell and now I belong to him and all my sins have been paid for in full and I am accepted fully as a child of God and my future only gets more glorious. Then he has to tell us, don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. And in spite of that, one commentator and some of what he writes I find helpful, but he finds it necessary to comment on this verse. “Some people really do have too low an opinion of themselves and need to find a proper self-esteem.” Now wait a minute. Where did you read that here? You know sometimes the thinking of the world and we all deal with this where we think we have to moderate a little bit what we say because it’s going to be misunderstood. I can’t keep the unbeliever from being confused. I realize some of what is said can be misunderstood, but I can’t help those people. Why does he feel necessary to say, “Some people really do have too low an opinion of themselves and need to find a proper self-esteem…” when he’s commenting on Romans 12, verse 3? Did you read that in that verse?

Now I say all that God says in light of the authority as an apostle by God’s grace, I say to you, to everyone among you. What about the people that have too low of self-esteem? Paul made a mistake? Because what he says, he’s saying to everyone not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. Well I guess that means everyone. So where did you find these people who do have too low an opinion of themselves. You know where we find that? In worldly thinking. We’ve been through the whole self-esteem movement and we’ve lived with the results of it. Man’s problem is not that he thinks too lowly, too little of himself. He’s arrogant. He’s proud. What were we before we got saved? We would defy the living God and think nothing of it. We would live lives of constant rebellion against Him. I don’t have too little of self-esteem and believers have to be careful. So, if we do you know what will happen? The church will begin to get cracks. That’s what he’s going to talk about. We don’t appreciate what God has done. What it means to have been put into the body of Christ. Now I think I’m better than another believer. I’m more gifted. I’m more important. I don’t get enough recognition. I went to that church, but nobody ever noticed me. Did you go to that church to be noticed or to have your attention directed to God? In little ways it creeps in and we don’t want to have our thinking molded by the world.

“…not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think...” He didn’t say don’t think. The mind is going to be working. “…but to think so as to have sound thinking (judgment)…” if I can put it that way just to get the emphasis on the word think, think, think. Your mind is being renewed. That means your thinking is being changed and one of the ways it has to change, is by God’s grace, I have been lifted from the pit of sin. Exalted to being a child of God. What am I but a sinner saved by grace so don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think so as to have sound judgment. I don’t sit and say, oh, I can’t help. I don’t have anything to contribute. No, that’s not too low a self-esteem. That’s still arrogance because God said He put me in His body and gifted me to do something. I say, oh, I don’t do anything! That church doesn’t need me. I know there are all these people that are better than me. That’s just false humility. That’s just a way to get attention. That’s not biblical. That’s what he’s going to go on to say.

“…but to think so as to have sound judgment, (have sound thinking) as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” I didn’t mention to you Ephesians 5:29. You can jot it down, we’re not going to turn there. The Bible says no man ever hated his own flesh, so that sort of puts to rest any thought about self-esteem. No man ever hated his own flesh. So you know where the thought of self-esteem comes from? It comes from the devil. It comes from the world. It comes from the flesh. Now some Christians don’t have a proper view of what God says they are. No matter what God has done to gift me and use me, it wasn’t for my exaltation. It was for His honor. So this all is a humbling process when we have a biblical view.

“…God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” You’ll see here “each...” He’s delegated and given out a measure of faith. I take it that’s the same thing as the grace given to me. The end of verse 3 he’ll say, “…God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” Verse 6, “…since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us…” The end of verse 6, “…according to the proportion of his faith.” So he goes back with the grace and the faith. And one of the areas that is evident with that is I have the faith to trust God to use me in an area. That’s part of the gift I have. I’m drawn to that area and I have a desire for the area and I just know God can use me there, and perhaps define my gift. We’ll talk about that later when we talk more about the gifts. Defining our gift, I realize this is where I see God using me. I have a confidence that comes from faith that I am functioning here, contributing to the Body, being used of God in the Body, and that’s His grace that has given it to me. That’s my trust in His grace and being used there. “…as God has allotted...” The grace has been given. This is not something you earn. You get the gift when you are born again just like when you are physically born you are born with the parts. You know the parts just don’t come and then a person picks out what they want. So that’s why he uses the analogy of the Body.

Come back to 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, you have this emphasis and what you have, we have it in Romans. We’ll see it’s elaborated and stretched out, if you will, in 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14. There is diversity and there is unity. We appreciate the diversity, but we don’t want to lose sight of the unity. And the unity is not a blob, it is individual parts and that’s the body. This is one body but it has individual parts, but all those parts contribute to the body to be able to function as one unified whole and they have different functions. I can’t pick up this piece of paper with my eye, but I can do it with my fingers. Both are needed. They are needed in a different way, but they don’t work against one another. They are coordinated. I use the eye to see the paper so I can see what to pick up, all this just so natural. God picks these easy illustrations so that we can understand them.

So he says in verse 4, “Now there are varieties of gifts...” You note, there’s the diversity, “…varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.” They are spiritual gifts. They are gifts of the Spirit. One Spirit, variety of gifts. “And there are varieties of ministries, (ways of serving) and the same Lord.” He who directs the serving and the servants. “There are varieties of effects…” different kinds of workings, that word effects is that word workings. “…but the same God who works all things in all persons.” So you see diversity – unity.

Then verse 7, “But to each one is given...” You note the emphasis there and here “each one” appears first to give it the emphasis. Nobody is excluded. There is no such thing as an ungifted believer. There can be ungifted people who attend churches that are made up of believers, but every believer is gifted by God because He put us into the body of Christ. Jump down to verse 13. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” We were spiritually brought into the body of Christ and identified with Him as part of His body. “…and we were all made to drink (partake) of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.” So we have that unity, it’s just one body but just like that baby developing in the womb and God is putting together, as the psalmist said, we don’t understand how the bones are knit together by God in the womb, but that’s God’s doing. So in the spiritual body of Christ, He planned it. This new believer, this new person who has become part of the congregation, who became a believer. Maybe moved to the city and now comes. They’ll have something to contribute. We appreciate that over the years. You see how God moves people around and people come. There’s a person fitting in there as they are doing. That’s what he’s talking about. Verse 7, “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit…” A spiritual gift is a manifestation that the Spirit of God dwells in you and if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn’t belong to Him. How does the Spirit manifest His presence? Well, one of the ways He manifests His presence is He gifts you so you can function as part of the body. So everybody is necessary. And he’ll go on to talk about gifts. We are not talking about that now.

Come to verse 11, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to (here we go again) each one individually just as He wills.” You know it’s not what I want. It doesn’t matter when you become a believer, actually you may not recognize what your gift is, and that is alright. Along the way I did a variety of things. I can be used in a variety of ways. But it became clear over time where I can be most effective, and God will use me in the greatest way. You know I always wanted to be an evangelist. I hoped the Lord would call me to be a pastor, be with the same people week after week. I want to be out there with unbelievers and bringing the gospel to new people. Well, over time, it became clear that’s not what God really gifted me. I want to still share the gospel, but it’s not where He uses me most effectively. So, the Spirit decided. He distributes the gifts according to His will. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always working in complete harmony. And then the analogy, “…just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body…” That’s the way it is with the body of Christ.

Do you see how he does this? We could teach this to children using their physical bodies as an example. So, we should understand this. One part of the body and I have ten fingers. I don’t say well, if I lose three on this hand and two on this hand, I’ll still have five. That’ll be good enough. Well, there may be a disease or an accident that brings that about, but there is a loss to the body. The body functions best and most efficiently when all the parts function as they should in harmony, and Christ is the Head. Where’s the dissension come from? Well, there’s a breakdown. If you have a stroke, I had a mini-stroke one time, years ago. Suddenly, when I’m sitting at my desk, I get up from my chair to go around, and my arm won’t move. I thought, oh, I must have been sitting in my chair crooked and it went to sleep. You know I’m walking around and thud, thud, thud, I can’t do anything. I can move the shoulder, but I can’t do anything. I don’t have any feeling. I can’t move my fingers. Well, you know it wasn’t taking signals. There was no signal going on so it wouldn’t move. So, I needed to go to the emergency room so they could check me out. What’s going on? That part of the body is not functioning in coordination with the other, not taking instructions. Something is wrong. You want to have it fixed. That’s what he’s talking about. Now the Spirit of God is working, directing; so as long as we’re listening to the Spirit, we’re just good to go.

Come down to verse 18, “But now God has placed the members, (here we go again) each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” You see it is God’s choice. This is not the gift I wanted. I want to do something – now wait a minute! God put me there. I will be most effective, and it doesn’t mean I don’t do other things. There are a variety of gifts. We talked about mercy and we all should be showing mercy. It’s a characteristic, we ought to be caring. But there is a gift of mercy. The person with the gift of mercy will have an exceptional ability in this area to contribute to the body in a greater way with his gift. And it will help other members of the body. We aren’t gifted with the gift of mercy, but it will help them at being merciful. People with the gift of mercy will lead the way in that and we’ll talk more about that.

So, you see the sovereignty of God in it and it helps us to realize we have a place of importance. It doesn’t elevate me, it’s humbling. When God saved me He prepared me to fit in a body. Now He’s moved me around to different churches over the years but I can be confident when He moved me to that church it was because there was a place there for me to be used by Him. And that body needed what I could contribute and I needed what they had because I could fit there. I’d be part of the body and that’s what I needed for my growth and they need what I contribute.

Come back to Romans 12. This truth here at the end of verse 3, “…God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” I look at people with differing gifts and think, boy I’ve done some of that. I was glad to be used of the Lord there but it was never my gift. So when you are using your gift there is a certain satisfaction in a biblical sense, a realization of being used of God. What a blessing to me! What a privilege! So verse 4, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function...” Many members in one body. I can’t emphasize enough the place of the local church in the plan of God. That’s God’s plan, the local church. Jesus said He will build His church and I think the local church is the expression of that.

Again I go to the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3. Some of them have problems that have to be fixed, but the fix is not start something else other than a local church there to get the job done. Fix the local church to get the job done. This is God’s plan. Now we think, well, we’ll come up with this organization. Then they think, well, we don’t have to follow all the instructions given to the church because we’re not a church. We’re just doing what the church doesn’t get done, but should get done. I don’t come up with plan B, C, D for God. We do what God has planned. That’s the way it gets done. “…so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” Bound us together. “…since we have gifts that differ…” Why do we have gifts that differ? Because it’s according to the grace given to us. Now if we got these gifts by grace where does arrogance come in? Thinking more highly of myself than I ought to think. There are people who think if they didn’t have me in this church they’d be hurting. Oh really? God would be in trouble, wouldn’t know what to do. Easy, get hurt feelings, why do they get hurt feelings? That God uses me at all is an act of mercy and grace. I may have what seems like the most insignificant gift, but if I use it faithfully I may find my reward is not insignificant at all. We don’t know the overall impact. I don’t know how important some parts of my body are until they don’t function right. All of a sudden they become very important, very quickly. I may have a stroke, a mini-stroke or whatever, and my arm is not functioning. What caused it? A little blood clot? Well, it doesn’t matter, I’ve got lots of blood. I’m not going to worry about a little clot. Ah, I changed my mind. I had a kidney stone. Oh my goodness! Yikes! I’m in the emergency room giving the doctor instructions, more morphine! More morphine! I think we’re done. No, more morphine! I’ll tell you when to stop! It’s just a little stone. It’s nothing. When there is something wrong in the body, the whole body suffers.

“And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us…” Whatever your gift, use it. If it is prophecy, then do according to the proportion of faith. And what we’re going to see, we’re not going into any further details, but God has measured out the gifts. What the gift is and what I say, the degree of the gift. If my gift is a pastor-teacher there may be other pastor-teachers and there are, who have a greater measure of that gift and accomplish more with that gift. Sometimes I sit and think, Lord if you had given me just a little more intellect I could have gotten more done. Lord, if I could just read faster. Then it’s almost like I hear the Lord whispering, laughing loudly in my ear, Gil, your problem is not what I didn’t give you. Your problem is you are not using all that I have given you. It’s not that I can’t do what this person did. Am I doing everything that God has gifted me to do to the fullest? That’s what I have to be concerned about. I’d rather be concerned about what I don’t have. So according to the proportion of faith. We have it according to the grace. God has apportioned it out. We have the measure of faith and we want to be content where God puts us. How blessed I am! I knew a pastor of a large church in another city. Many years ago we were at the same conference. He said to me, Gil why do you stay in Lincoln, Nebraska? I can understand that. He was in a beautiful city which has a beautiful climate and he has his large church. I said, well, I knew him and used his name, I won’t use his name, it’s where God is using me and it’s where I want to be. He said, oh, I just wondered. But you know, he’s been long gone from that church. I get to still be here. I want to be content where the Lord put me.

I prayed long ago, Lord, I don’t even want to be invited anywhere unless You want me to be there because You know how easily I am confused. I want to be content where You put me. And that would be with our gifts. Lord, you put me here. How blessed I am. It keeps me from getting unsettled. It keeps you from getting unsettled. How blessed I am this church needs me! Not because I’m so important, so wonderful, but because God gifted me to be part of this church. Not perfect, but put me here to help it be perfected and of people that are gifted. I’ve said to people sometimes leaving, maybe not for what I consider good biblical reasons, I’ve said, maybe your criticism is right, but are we ever going to strengthen that area that you’re so burdened about if you leave? If everybody leaves because they are unhappy that the particular area they have a burden for is not getting done, what will get done? So we want to appreciate God’s grace in putting us together.

Alright, we’ll move through what he says about the gifts and how they function and what they are. We want to understand it and be able to function harmoniously together. Let’s pray and then I’m going to address some questions.

Thank You, Lord, for Your blessings. Thank You for bringing us together as a family of believers. Lord, thank You for every local church that is made up of Your children, the place You have established to honor You. Lord, we are part of this body and what a blessing! What a blessing it is to share together in one another’s lives, to use our gifts to contribute to it in a way that enables the body to grow and us individually to grow. We pray that will continue. Bless our further discussion. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

***One of the questions I had, had to do with a spiritual gift so let me just address that. Does Scripture teach that women can have the spiritual gift of teaching, not pastor-teacher, to be used in the context of women’s ministries, children’s ministries, and discipleship?

Over the years we have gone back and forth on this gift. I think my thinking has become clearer for myself. I do not think women have the gift of teaching as we are talking about gifts and we’ll talk about gifts. The gifts are given to the body for the functioning of the body. They are overall gifts. Two passages, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 34. It’s Paul talking about spiritual gifts in chapters 12, 13, and 14. He says in verse 34, “…the women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.” So that is consistent with God’s prior revelation that God has different roles for a man and a woman. So when it comes to the church and the development of the body, women are to keep silent when it comes to the teaching, instruction, the exercising of those gifts. “If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper (and you have in the margin, “disgraceful”) for a woman to speak in church.”

Over in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 12, he’s contrasting the roles of men and women. Remember he’s writing, in chapter 3, verse 15, so we may know how to conduct ourselves in the church of the living God which is God’s household, the pillar and support of the truth. And he says for example, in chapter 2, verse 8, “Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. Likewise, I want women to…” this in contrast to the men. That’s why we only use men to lead in public prayer because that’s what he says the men are to do. God has assigned men, and this is where the world keeps pressing in, pressing in, pressing in. You’ve got to change! You’ve got to change! It’s a different day, and some say that was the culture of Paul’s day, but it’s not our culture. You can do away with about anything you don’t like in the Word because it was all written at least 2000 years or more ago in a different culture. But it is God’s Word. “…I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing… Verse 11, “Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.” The church, again as the church functions in the official teaching of the church, this is why we do it throughout our church, we have men as the teachers. “But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet.” The reason? Not a cultural, Adam was created first then Eve. You are all the way back to God’s plan from the creation. It’s not even as a result of the fall. There are some negative things that come in obviously in our roles because of the fall because we act corruptly. But the order was established by God. That’s why we find the world constantly pushing, saying we’ve got to put women in these positions. We’ve got to get women…it is offensive to tell in the world what God says. So, the reason he gives is that her realm is more the home. Now with that I say, can women teach their children at home? It’s just like the gift of mercy or the gift of giving. You may not have the gift of giving, but we all share in giving; but those with the gift will lead the way in that. Oh, we might say, provide an example. Those who have the gift of mercy, as I mentioned earlier. So the various gifts doesn’t mean, oh, I wouldn’t go to the hospital and pray with that person. I don’t have the gift of mercy. I don’t have the gift of evangelism, but I can still do the work of an evangelist. It doesn’t mean a woman couldn’t sit with another woman or a couple women at coffee and talk about the Word and share the Word but men have the responsibility for the official teaching of the Word in the church. And that can become a battle. Quite frankly we’ve had many leave because the women weren’t happy. I’ve had men come and tell me I’m going to leave. My wife is too unsettled. She just is not going to be happy here. I’ve been told quite frankly, my wife is very strong willed. I have to be careful what I say. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Where are we going with this? These go back years, so don’t try or wonder who that was and it’s not everybody that leaves, so don’t read.

But you know what I find? Schools like Dallas Seminary used to be men. Last time I was at Dallas Seminary I felt like I was at Fuller Seminary. Seemed like half the students there were women. You know how they started out? Well, we’re going to allow women now to study these courses that were to prepare men for the pastorate because they may be doing women’s ministries in the church. You know now what they have? Women professors teaching the men how to be pastors, and writing articles in their journal. We open the door. We think, oh well, yeah, that would be a good thing. Well, who said we are to have the women doing the official teaching to women? We have a women’s ministry, but they are geared for ministry to women. There is the men leading the way in the teaching. They establish the doctrine. The women are to be submissive to that and submissive to men’s leadership. So all that, I don’t think the women have a gift of teaching. That doesn’t mean they can’t be teaching with children, but we try to carry the pattern and example down all through our program so even the youngest children see men leading in the roles they have. Women do teaching obviously in the home. Mothers are teachers in a variety of ways and women meet together personally and the more mature women will be teaching in that sense, but not in the sense of the gift is the distinction I would make on that.

I am concerned because it’s the way the training goes. I had one professor who is no longer at an evangelical seminary said, you know the way they work that at the seminary? They got the women, first they let them into the classes, then women are better at language skills often than men, so they started using the women to help the men with Greek and Hebrew and that would get them used to women teaching them, then they spread it out so women could teach and do the other things in little ways. That’s why I say we want to be careful. They say, well, we have to make a point. It is here I saved the article from the particular seminary I mentioned when they put it out in their printed material. I still have it. Why they were going to allow women to be students there. Well, what happens? When the woman comes out and has a master of theology degree or a doctor of theology degree and they come to a church, they’ve been trained more than most of the men. We want to take advantage of her training, so well, it’s not a bad thing. The issue is not whether I think it’s a bad thing, it’s whether God says it’s an acceptable thing. How are we to conduct ourselves in the church? Now be careful. Parachurches say well, we’re not the Church. Wait a minute. I think this is a creation ordinance. Just an aside, you’ve got me off track. It’s your fault. I don’t have your name but you did it. But it’s the order of creation that established this, so I think it permeates society. It’s like marriage. It’s a creation ordinance. It applies to everyone, believer and unbeliever. The order of male and female is established at and by the creation. Adam was first created then Eve. I take it that established the priority of the man in leadership and you find that throughout the Old Testament and the nation God established. How many queens were there in Israel? Most of us could mention Athaliah. Why? Because she’s it and she is one of the most godless people. So the pattern is established. Could women be priests? No. How were family units recognized? By the father. God’s pattern in creation. There is an equality in God’s salvation. There is an equality. It’s on my mind because it’s relentless today and I just saw that a woman was going to be recommended for a position and it’s really great. Because she is a woman who is black and will be the first in that position and we look it, at the positions in our country. Want to know how many women are in these leadership positions? And the church feels the pressure as the world gets more open in its opposition if you’re going to teach this. Equality is the ability to function as you were created to function. The woman was not created to be the man. The man was not created to be the woman. The equality is when each recognizes what God created them to be and function fulfilling the role God gives them from creation. The world looks down on the mother and the home. Oh yeah, they mock it. Yeah, put the woman away in the home. Don’t let her do anything of importance. What’s more important than doing what God says we should do? We’re not to be molded by the world so we want just to be careful of our thinking. It is a relentless push of the world and it will get worse. The world is more closed to hearing what the Bible has to say about that. That’s a reason to reject people. I think the leadership order was established by God and the rejection of it is just another manifestation, but all of that to say the gift of teaching. That’s why I only get one question in. Like Spurgeon said, ‘If they knew what I didn’t say, they’d appreciate me a lot more.’

***I’ve got time for this one. Is the translation “monogenes” in the Gospel of John 1:18, as “only begotten” accurate? If so, what does it mean that Jesus is “the only begotten God”?

In John chapter 1, Jesus was “the only begotten from the Father” in verse 14, “the only begotten God” in verse 18. A discussion on the word only begotten. Only “mono” as we have it, that’s only. We use that, monocycle is a one wheel, but where does “genes” come from? It often was thought it comes from a Greek word gennao which means to begat, so it had to do with being born. I think more accurately it comes from “genes” and it means, to be of a kind. So “monogenes” means really, the only one of a kind. That’s where you get the idea that Jesus is the eternal generation. The theological concept that He was eternally generated by the Father, which I don’t think makes any sense because they were co-equal, co-eternal. So, I think what it really is saying in John 1, He is the only one of His kind. And that fits in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17, where Abraham’s only son was Isaac, his only begotten son. But it wasn’t his only son. It wasn’t even his first son; Ishmael was his first son and then he had other sons. So I think what it really means, He is the only one of His kind. And “the only begotten God” there’s an issue on the text and we don’t have to get into that, but either way, whether you translate it only begotten Son or only begotten God the point is, He is unique. He is the unique, only one of a kind. If you think the Greek text son, huios, ought to be there or He is the only one unique member of the Godhead who became man. That’s what it’s about, “…the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only one of His kind from the Father, full of grace and truth. “ So He is unique, the only one of a kind. The Father did not become flesh. The Holy Spirit did not become flesh. But God the Son became flesh, so there’s some textual discussion there, but whether you go “only begotten God” or “only begotten Son” I think the point is that word “only begotten” means only one of a kind. I think the person here, obviously Greek, because you put the monogenes in the Greek letters. If you look into the Greek dictionaries, the theological dictionary of the New Testament, done by Colin Brown, Balz and Snyder’s three volume Greek dictionary, they’ll do the word monogenes. And the better grammatical commentaries now go that this should be “only one of a kind,” not “only begotten.” It was misidentified. They’ll take you back, I think it was Origen or was it Augustine, I forget. I don’t want to get them mixed up, but who got off track by putting it into Latin I think as “only begotten” and misidentified what the root of the word was. So hope that helps a little bit. He’s unique. He’s the only one of His kind.

***How does God interact with time? Is it accurate to say that He exists in the eternal present?

It’s an interesting discussion. Let me give two references because I won’t have time. If you want to know one who argues, John Feinberg on his book on God. You may if you’re not really into theology. Don’t bother buying it, unless you really like this kind of stuff. He holds that God exists in time. And I think he wins the argument. John Frame, and he writes very coherently, may be easier reading even I think than Feinberg, but he is very reformed. He thinks God lives in eternal present, outside of time. It comes, we’re not going to get into the philosophical concepts of what is time because I’m not capable, but it seems to me and Feinberg argues this, that there is sequence of events. If God exists in the eternal present, it means He is static being, nothing ever changes, everything is always the same before Him. Jesus Christ is dying on the cross two thousand years ago in time because He lives in the eternal present, so everything is present before Him all at once, always. Well, He becomes almost like a machine. You know we have to deal with what there is in Scripture and God talks in the past, the present, and the future. If there is a sequence, but anywhere we get into this, we are dealing with an infinite God. How do I deal with there was never a time when He was not? Well, that’s true regardless of what you do and there will never be a time when He is not. I am everlasting in that I had a beginning, but I will have no end. Well, I can’t imagine. Are we going to then have something different than time? Created beings seem to always have to function within time. Now if God does not function in time as we know it, and theologians talk about the eternal present, what does that mean? Everything was present with God all the time at the same time. I just don’t know how to relate to that. What does that mean? There is no future. So we are in the New Jerusalem living now because everything that ever was or ever will be is presently before God. If that’s the case, I have no way to relate to that. All I could say is maybe it is? But God deals with us in time. When He talks to Israel He talks about what He did with them in their past, what He’s doing now. We say, well, God doesn’t live in that realm. It becomes more philosophical trying to answer answers that we don’t have. That’s where I am, but if you want to delve with it and get the two arguments, read John Feinberg and his book on the doctrine of God, and you’ll get his arguments. I’d start there because he lays out the arguments for the eternal present and why he is against it. Frame would do the same thing but since he holds the wrong view, that God lives in the eternal present, and Feinberg is a dispensationalist. So his overall theology I find more consistent, but I like Frame in spite that he is reformed.

That’s a little bit. I have some more questions but that’ll be something for next time. If you have any you want to elaborate on this or other questions, just submit them. Send them to Jeff on the email, text in, drop them in the mail; and I’d be happy to put them on the list here.

Let’s pray together. Thank You, Lord, for a good day. We’re reminded You have put us together as a body. It’s a privilege to come together even though in these days, Lord, and situations that are not under our control. We can’t all be together at one time, and Lord, certain things make necessary some of the members of our body who stay at home to be more careful. That just reminds us of what a blessing it is when we can all be together. But in these times, thank You, even that these are days we can connect with one another, join together in study, in praying for one another, and ministering to one another. So I pray for the days of the week ahead of us. Lord, we all face different situations, different circumstances. I pray for the body wherever they are, whatever You are taking them through, may it be a time of growing in Your grace so that we together as a body might grow as a greater, brighter testimony for You. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.