Welcome to Burnet Bible Church. This week, Pastor Hopkins takes a break from a series on the book of Romans to take a look at the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Romans once again the 12th chapter And as you're turning The hymn that we sang earlier Jesus lover of my soul Wow So much in this hymn Jesus lover of my soul let me to thy bosom fly while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is nigh. Hide me, O my savior, hide, till the storm of life is past.
Safe into the haven, God. O receive my soul at last. There's just so much comfort in this hymn. Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on thee. Leave, ah, leave me not alone, still support and comfort me, all my trust on thee is stayed.
All my help from thee I bring, cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal the sick, lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness.
False and full of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. Plentiest grace with thee is found. Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams abound, make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art, freely let me take of thee. Spring thou up within my heart, rise to all eternity. How do men write hymns like that? If you would let's stand and read once again Romans chapter 12 Verses 3 through 8 the word of the Lord. Let's read For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly According as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith For as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office So we being many our one body in Christ and every one members one of another having been gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry let us wait on our ministering or he that teaches on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation or he that giveth let him do it with simplicity he that rule with diligence and he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Let's pray. Father, as we open your word once again, oh God, your holy word, which is a light for our feet, a guide for our path, the only light for our feet, the only true guide for our path, we ask again, God, that you would give the Spirit, Lord, to open the understanding of our hearts and illuminate the text before us, and bring glory to your name as we are conformed more into the blessed image of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray these things, amen. Let's be seated. In our opening text this afternoon in Romans chapter 12 and verse three, the apostle Paul is leading into the subject of spiritual gifts, and he writes, for I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly.
Paul, as I said, is leading into the subject of spiritual gifts. And we've been looking at the gifts of the Spirit now for a couple of weeks, both the gifts of the Spirit that have ceased in the church, as well as those spiritual gifts that continue in the church. And I spent a great deal of time differentiating between these and showing that the gifts of, for instance, of tongues and of prophecy and miracles have ceased in the church since the death of the last apostle. But we've also looked briefly at the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the text before us that have continued in the church since the apostolic era, and which will continue in the church until the coming of Christ. And I've printed out a page with these spiritual gifts listed, some from our text before us, Romans chapter 12, others from 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and also Ephesians 4, and we're only going to be able to cover a couple of these in detail But I want everyone to notice look at the text before us.
I want everyone to notice how Paul begins verse 3 of our text this afternoon with the word for He begins with the word for and that's because what the apostle is leading into is connected to what he's just been talking about. So he says for, making the connection between what he's just been talking about and into the subject he is about to begin talking about, which is spiritual gifts. As Romans 12 opens, Paul is urging the saints at Rome to give themselves holy to God. The four is making the connection between verses one and two, and now he's saying four in light of what I've just said. In light of the mercies of God, he has just told them, in light of the mercies of God shown you, present your bodies as living sacrifices to God, holy and acceptable to God.
He's about to talk about spiritual gifts given to the members of the body of Christ, but first he says, present your bodies a living sacrifice. In light of the mercies of God and all that he's done for you through Christ's sacrifice, now you live as a sacrifice. Now you live as a sacrifice. In consideration of all you've been freely given through the sacrifice of God's son, now you live as a sacrifice. In light of all that you have through Christ's sacrifice, the forgiveness of sins, justification in the sight of God, eternal life, the eternal salvation of your souls, considering the mercies of God, being a recipient of the grace and mercies of God and gratitude towards God, now give yourselves holy to God and present your bodies, that is your whole self, a living sacrifice to God.
Because that's your logical response. Considering all that God's done for you, it's only logical that you would now give yourself holy to God. That's the logical response. That's your reasonable service. That's my reasonable service.
That's true spiritual worship. We quote Dr. Sproul often, and I'll quote him here, what could be more logical or reasonable than offering our whole selves to God In light of what he's done for us To offer our whole selves to God in thanksgiving and praise and worship and adoration He says with the Saints behind the altar And I think what he means there is along with those who have gone on before us and presented themselves holy to God as living sacrifices unto martyrdom, even unto death for Christ who died for us. John MacArthur comments here, in light of all the spiritual riches believers enjoy, solely as the fruit of God's mercies, It logically follows that they owe God their highest form of service, close quote. We may call this Sunday gathering our worship service, But the whole of the Christian life is worship and service to God.
Christ gave himself for us to redeem us and we are to give ourselves holy to him as living sacrifices in gratefulness and spiritual service and response. And this, I believe, lays the ground for the exercise of all spiritual gifts. And so it's where Paul begins. A note in my Reformation Heritage Bible Commentary says God gave spiritual gifts to empower his people to serve. Rather than waiting with anxiety until we know what our spiritual gifts are, God calls us to give ourselves to the life of a servant of God.
You see what he's saying? We're coming into spiritual gifts. We're about to talk about these. Yes, we need to identify our spiritual gifts. Yes, we need to come to know what our gifts are and then develop them, seek to develop them.
But first, before you even get there, we need to give ourselves to the life of a servant of God, cheerfully and fervently caring for each other." And as we pick up with verse three, Paul writes, "'For I say, through the grace given unto me to every man, it's every every person, that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly." So he's launching into the spiritual gifts here. He's telling us, he's giving us a grounding and a foundation that we need to, in response to the mercies of God shown us give us ourselves holy to God, is living sacrifices. And then he says, now here's a word of caution. Here's an exhortation. Don't esteem yourselves too highly.
And it's a call to a sober self estimation. It is a call to a sober opinion, to adopt a sober opinion of ourselves and our gifts, our spiritual gifts. Matthew Henry comments here, quote, pride is a sin that is bred in the bone of every one of us, close quote. We need to have a modest opinion of ourselves and our own abilities. Esteeming ourselves soberly is the first step as we seek to identify our spiritual gifts and how we may use the gifts that God has given us for the benefit of his church and for his glory.
Our tendency, however, Our tendency, though we may not voice it at any time, is to think of ourselves and our particular gift or gifts as superior to those of our other brothers and sisters in Christ. That's the tendency. And it's like the Apostle Paul's kind of cutting it off at the pass. What is your estimation of yourself, your opinion of yourself, And your gifts, your particular spiritual gifts, in comparison to others, because that's the problem, we make these comparisons. We shouldn't be doing that.
But we do, and Our tendency is to think of ourselves and our particular gifts as superior to our brothers and sisters in Christ in the church. It's pride. It's based in pride. Paul warns against this. He says, I'm talking to every man that's among you Remember Paul washer's famous sermon.
I don't know what you're applauding for. I'm talking about you the apostle Paul saying that here I'm talking to every man that's among you, every person that is among you, men, women, children, I'm talking to all of you, Paul, saying not to think of himself more highly than he should. We all need more humility. Paul says in Galatians chapter six and verse three, if a man think himself to be something, when he's nothing, he deceives himself. We need to have a sober opinion of ourselves.
Many times in raising our children, Sandra and I would quote Proverbs 27, two, "'Let another praise you and not your own mouth.'" But of course, many times we don't dare say openly with our mouths what we think in our hearts. Our problem is that we tend to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. In Philippians chapter two, Paul says, quote, in lowliness of mind, Let each esteem other better than themselves. You're better than me. I can learn from you.
I need your spiritual giftings. If we have the same spiritual gift, I see, brother, sister, how yours excels mine. Lowliness of mind is a virtue. Humility is a virtue. A sober opinion of ourselves and our particular gift or gifts is what we need.
You know, Paul was dealing with the church at Corinth. Not here in Romans, but he dealt with the church at Corinth. Lot of problems in this church. The church at Corinth was coming apart at the seams because they had all these people, they had a lot of problems, but one of the problems was that they had all these people thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think of themselves. It was a big problem.
And they were also, they were elevating themselves and their gifts above others in the church They esteemed themselves and their gifts better than others rather than the other way around And not only that they acted as though they could get along without the other members in the body and their gifts. And Paul, in the words of John Calvin, beats down their pride. No person in the body is self-sufficient No one has been given all the gifts The gifts of God are so distributed that each has a limited portion and everyone imparts to all. That's Calvin, end quote. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul tells the Corinthian church, look, The eye can't say to the hand, I don't need you.
How silly is that? Neither can the head say to the feet, I don't need you. A body has many parts and every part needed for the body to function as it was designed and healthily. And every part needs every other part in the body. With regards to our physical bodies, just think, the hands can't do what they are designed to do without the feet carrying them to where they need to go.
And the feet can't go where they need to go unless they have the eyes to see the way. Every part needs every other part for the body to function as it was designed to function. Same way with the body of Christ. Same way with the body of Christ. In our last session I said, we need each other.
I need you, you need me, We all need each other, and we all need each other's gifts. There's no lone rangers in the body of Christ. We are the members of one body, Jesus' body, And we don't all have the same office or place in the body And we don't all perform the same function in the body, but we all have our part in the body and are needed For the body to function as it was designed. And so Paul says then, having then different gifts given to us by God, that is according to the grace of God given to every one of us who believes, let us humbly use the gifts God has given us for the good of the whole body. The first gift Paul mentions is prophecy.
The Greek word here translated prophecy means to speak forth. To speak forth. And you might say, but I thought you said the gift of prophecy has ceased. Yes, predictive prophecy, revelatory prophecy, ceased after the death of the last apostle. But what continues is prophecy as the gift continues in the church, which is the gift of opening and explaining the scriptures, in the words of John Gill.
Having, quote, the right understanding and interpretation or interpreting of the scriptures, in the words of Calvin. Prophecy at this day in the Christian church, writes Calvin, has to do with quote, the right understanding of the scriptures and the peculiar faculty of explaining it, close quote. Again, I'll quote Dr. Sproul, quote, today It is the preacher who fulfills the task of interpreting and expositing the word of God. What continues to this day from the role of the first century prophet is interpreting the word of God and expounding it to the people, close quote.
In other words, Sproul is saying, the interpretation and exposition of the word of God is the gift that continues today in the church from the role, out of the role of the first century prophets, the gift of predictive prophecy or revelatory prophecy having ceased. This is what continues. MacArthur comments here, quote, in its non-revelatory sense, not revealing new words from God, the word prophecy simply identifies the skill of a public proclamation of the word of God, end quote. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14 in verse 18, Paul, in dealing with the then fading and soon deceased gift of tongues says this to the church at Corinth. He says, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
And he wasn't being smug. He was just putting things in their proper perspective. He was saying, this gift that you all elevate so highly, which at that time was continuing in the church, the gift of tongues, I do more than all of you. That's what he's saying. But I'd rather speak five words in a known tongue, Paul said.
I'd rather speak five words in a known tongue for the edification of the hearers, then 10, 000 words in a tongue that no one can understand. Prophesying or preaching does just that. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, three, it edifies, it exhorts, and it comforts. And a few verses later in verse 12 it says, for as much as you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may excel to the edifying of the church. That's the purpose for the spiritual gifts, to build up the body of Christ, to edify the body of Christ.
Paul was encouraging the Corinthian church members to seek the more profitable gift of prophesy, that is, the gift of explaining and expounding the word of God so that the church might be edified and built up in the faith of Christ. Here's where your focus needs to be, he said. Not on all these showy, flashy gifts. And though he wasn't forbidding to speak in tongues, he was exhorting the church not to continue elevating the spectacular gifts which were still in use of the church at that time, but which gifts, as I said in our last session, are not even mentioned after 1 Corinthians in any of the following pastoral letters of Paul to the churches and to individuals after that. And gifts, by the way, that faded and ceased altogether after the death of the last apostle.
In Paul's pastoral letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4.2, the apostle doesn't even mention the gifts of prophetic prediction or revelation, tongues or miracles, which have now long ceased, but he charges Timothy before God. 2 Timothy 4.2, he charges him before God. This epistle being written after 1 Corinthians, No more mention of the spectacular, right? He charges him before God preached the word Here's what you need to be doing Timothy preach the word Preach the word be ready and prepared in season out of season at all times to reprove and and rebuke and exhort using the Word of God preach the Word of God and and Reprove give proof of error rebuke where it's necessary exhort encourage with all longsuffering, with great patience and with doctrine, with the truth of God's word. And so the gift of preaching continues today.
Now, in our Baptist confession, you've read these words I'm sure before, Eric's has spoken on these before. It says, although, and this is when it talks about the church, it says, although it be incumbent upon bishops or pastors of the churches to be instant in preaching the word by way of office It's required of our office yet the work of preaching the word is not so peculiarly confined to them but that others that are also gifted and fitted by the Holy Spirit for it and approved and called by the church may and ought to perform it, end quote. And that's what we believe in this church. And we pray for it. There's churches that think if a preacher rises up in this congregation, that's competition.
No, we want him to rise up. We want to see God give the gift of preaching and teaching the word of God, and exhortation. I believe I see this gift in several of the men in this congregation. If you believe that you've been gifted in the interpretation and exposition of the word of God, ask God to give you the grace to develop it. Just pray to God, Lord, I think I'm gifted in this area, I don't want to be proud, but I think I'm gifted in this area, please give me, Lord, grace to develop it and opportunities to use it for your glory.
And by all means, let Eric and I know, because we'd be happy to pray for you, with you. But then Paul writes in verse seven, or ministry, and we're only going to get through this one this afternoon, or ministry, let us wait on our ministering. The Greek word used here, as I said in our last session, comes from the same Greek word translated deacon and deaconess in the New Testament, and it has to do with service. It's also translated service. The office of deacon was established in the book of Acts Where men were appointed to serve the physical needs of the church?
So that the apostles and the elders of the church would be freed up to pray and preach and teach the Word of God and serve the spiritual needs of the church. That's how the office originated. The deacons then began to handle like the finances of the church and began to care for those in need within the church and take the burdens off of the elders of the church, the pastors of the church, the apostles at that time for anything that had to do with physical things so that they could be freed up to minister spiritual things. And so they began to minister, we read in the book of Acts, to widows in the church, widows in the church, and orphans, and the sick, and the poor. And So every deacon must be gifted with a servant's heart.
But serving others in the church is not only the responsibility of deacons And even those especially gifted with a servant's heart and they have the gift But every Christian is called to serve their brothers and sisters in Christ You remember last week where I said, you know, when you look at these gifts You understand some people are especially gifted with this gift or that gift, but every Christian, every Christian has a measure of each of these gifts. We all have some wisdom, we all have some discernment. We better have. We all have some ability to understand and expound the word of God and clarify the scriptures. We all have some level of these abilities, okay?
Every Christian is called in the same way to serve their brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul says in Galatians 5, 13, by love, serve one another. Serve one another. And Jesus said the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. Jesus' whole life was a life of service.
And we're to follow in his footsteps and minister to the body of Christ and care for and serve the members of his body because they are the members of his body. Some in the church are particularly gifted with a servant's heart and though it's true that when one member suffers, the whole body suffers, we understand that, this person that is gifted spiritually in this area tends to go deeper. You notice that? You know who they are among you. They tend to go deeper and deeper still.
And so deep is their concern for you that you get the feeling that if they could, they would swap places with you When you're in your greatest need I know a man who was in the hospital once and was visited by a fellow church member Who told him that he would gladly swap places with him for a few days if he only could. And I believe he meant it. Do you have a heart for those who are sick or suffering? Do you have a heart for fatherless or motherless children? For widows?
For the poor For those who are in need you have a heart for them It's God giving you a special Sensitivity to the needs of others in the church, where you feel it with them and desire so much to be able to give some relief, provide some level of relief. Maybe God has especially gifted you in the area of service, ministry. There are many in this very church you could be a special blessing to. But of course you must all count the cost of service or ministry because it involves getting involved with the lives of people. People may come to rely on you.
And it's an inconvenient thing. You're going to be inconvenienced a lot. You're going to be maybe asked to get up and go out and leave behind your comforts many times. You're going to be putting yourself through things that others may not be willing to put themselves through. It involves going to where the pain is in the church.
And seeking out those in need, not just waiting for them to surface. And it involves having to alter our schedule in order to do these things. And I said seek them out. It involves seeking out those in need. Because you realize many who are in situations of great need never come to anyone for help.
They just suffer in silence. Silence can be deafening. Maybe you're just the person someone in the church needs to take a special interest in their situation. When I was sick last year, so many helped. It was such a blessing to me.
Just such a blessing. Everyone in this congregation was such a blessing. I don't know if anyone knows about this, but one day I was at my house, it was when I was just starting to get back on my feet again, and I got a call, and the voice on the other end of the line said, I'm heading your way, Steve. I'm about 45 minutes away, and I've been praying for you, and I want to come to your house and give you something, give you a gift. And it was particularly difficult for me because I knew that this brother was sicker than I was.
In fact, when he pulled in the driveway, I had to walk out to him because he was so sick that he couldn't get out of his vehicle. Precious souls that have the gift of service and ministry. In 1 Corinthians 16, 15, so we're about to close here, there's this family. There's this family that Paul mentions briefly, the Stephanas family. How many ever heard of the Stephanos family?
I don't know if anyone, very many people remember reading about them, but you know, typically these are the kinds of people you don't hear too much about. Because they're the behind the scenes servants. They're behind the scenes servants. They're on the front lines of ministry, but they're not on the front page. And they like it that way, because they're humble people.
And they don't want any attention given to them. But the apostle Paul pauses in the middle of this list of exhortations in 1 Corinthians 16 to put in a sentence or two about them, the Stephanos family. And Paul kind of pauses mid-sentence and tells his readers that they were the first converts to Christ in Achaea, or Achaea, and that this family, the household, or the house of Stephanas, had devoted themselves to the service of the Lord's people. It was important enough in the apostles' mind to include that little bit of information. A whole family devoted to ministering to the other people in the church.
That was their ministry. That was their deal. The KJV uses the word addicted. They were addicted to ministering. Maybe that could be your family ministry.
Serving others in the church. Seeking them out. Serving others in the church. Maybe just behind the scenes, like the Stephonus family. Maybe some of you are already doing that and no one knows about it.
Behind the scenes servants to the church. Never getting the recognition that you'll one day get in heaven. But if that's where your gift lies, seeking out the needs of others in the church and the family of God and ministering to them and serving them, go for it. Of course, there's many ways to serve, right? Many show up here, and they did this this afternoon again.
They show up here at the church each Sunday early to serve the rest of us by setting everything up, and when we leave, they tear it all down. We just enjoy the comforts of that. It's a real blessing, and it's a much needed ministry to the whole body. Others do things with the electronics and all these things, these behind the scenes things. It's a big help.
The church appreciates you. I think it was Eric that was talking about what a blessing it's been over the years when young mothers who have little children and would have a young lady in the church come up and say, hey, can I help you? How was your baby? And offer help to them. Blessing.
You know, you really, you seek God. You say, Lord, I feel like this is my heart It's where I'm at. I just want to serve God. I just want to serve Show me where God will show you He'll give you a place But I just wonder if this gift of serving the ministering others in the church might not be something God is tugging on a lot of hearts about right now. Maybe you're the one, maybe you're the entire family that God wants to use to seek out the suffering and the needy among God's children to meet their needs for his glory.
And in gratitude for all that he's done for you through his son. Let's pray. Father, we, we think of your son, we think of Christ. Putting on the garment of a common servant and taking the position of a common servant, and getting down on his knees on the floor and washing feet. And we're humbled, God, and we see that Christ suffered for us, had died for us, paid the penalty for our sins, reconciled us to you, God, as the perfect servant, suffering servant.
And we Thank you for our Lord Jesus. And we ask that you