The Foundation for Spiritual Service 09-17-23

The speaker shares a personal experience about being on a cruise and receiving detailed instructions on what to do in case of an emergency. He relates this to Romans 12:3-8, where Paul gives instructions on how to live out our faith. The speaker emphasizes that presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice is a response to God's grace and the work of Christ. He explains that faith is a gift from God and should grow over time. He encourages believers to mature in their faith and be able to explain and describe their relationship with Christ. I invite you now to turn with me to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter number 12. Not too long ago, I say not too long ago, but I was talking with somebody this morning and I made this statement. The older I get, what I think is not too long ago turned into weeks and months and years ago, and I'm looking back and thinking, well, that was just yesterday. Not too long ago, Sarah and I had the privilege of going on a cruise. And so we load the boat. We get our luggage into our room and they tell us as we're loading at some point, hey, at X time, you need to come and report to this section which is on the lower deck on the outside at the railing. And on the side of the wall, they had these numbers. And so you show up to that spot and what they do is you're right in front of the lifeboat. Right? And you're standing there looking and you're with a crowd of people of, I don't know, 50 or more. And you're looking at this lifeboat and you're thinking, some of us ain't going to fit. But you're looking at this lifeboat. Here this guy is and they're giving you this instruction. If you hear this alarm, this sound, at any point during the cruise, you are to report to this area where you will then begin to board onto the lifeboat. And you will file in in this way and you will sit in this spot and you will do this. And they give you all of these detailed instructions about what to do in case of an emergency. They are giving you the why, the what, and the how to safely navigate any kind of situation or circumstance that may arise while you're on this cruise. Now, the hope is that you'll never have to use that, right? You don't want to find yourself in that spot in reality. But they want you to be prepared. And what we see here in Romans 12, verses 3-8, is Paul giving us the how of the why and the what that he has previously told us. And so Paul gives us the why. Why are we to present our bodies as a living sacrifice? Because of God's wrath. And because of God's wrath, more importantly, being satisfied in the work of Christ. That God's wrath will not be poured out on us because it was poured out on Jesus on the cross. That's what Romans 1-11 is all about is that we are guilty and we fall short of the glory of God, but Christ. Romans 1-11, I could part there all morning. And if we would truly understand the blessing and the benefit and the power of what Christ did on the cross for us today, then I should have a thousand amens just in this small group this morning. Paul gives us the why. God's wrath, but Christ. Then God gives us the what. Because of the why, therefore, you present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. So the why, the what. This morning, we're going to look at the how. How does that play out in our lives? How do we do that? How do we really press into that and live out our faith? That's the language that I often use that if we are true Christians, then we will live out our faith. Maybe this question has been asked within our Monday night small group on prayer as we talk about the importance of prayer and what prayer should look like. The question arose a couple of times. But how do we do that? And in the moments, we have to sit back and be like, that's the million dollar question, isn't it? How do we become a person of prayer? How do we pray effectually? How do we pray fervently? How do we pray those things? And so as I'm talking this morning, as Paul leads us, how do we live out our faith? How do we present our bodies as a living sacrifice? How? Well, Paul is gracious enough to give us the answer to that question in verses 3-8. And so I've entitled this morning's message The Foundation for Spiritual Service. The first foundation of spiritual service is this. The gift of faith. Let's read together, first of all, Romans 12 beginning in verse 3. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we, being many, are one body in Christ. But individually members of one another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. He who teaches in teaching. He who exhorts in exhortation. He who gives with liberality. He who leads with diligence. He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. The foundation for spiritual service is, first of all, the gift of faith. And we see that in verse 3. For I say, through the grace given to me. Now we need to understand that faith is a gift. Faith is given. Scripture tells us that no man comes to the Father unless he is drawn. We don't choose God. God chooses us. He chooses us, as I've said many times before, not on any merit of our own, not on any thing that we can look at and say, well, this is why He chose me, because I'm this and I'm that and I'm great and I'm wonderful and I'm amazing. No, He chooses us based on the foreknowledge of those who will respond to His grace. He says faith is given in verse 3, a measure of it. A measure of faith. What that means is He gives to everyone enough faith to respond to His love and His mercy in the Gospel. He gives everyone a measure of faith. You see, before Christ, we are enemies of God. Before Christ, the things of God are foolishness to those who don't believe. So many of us say, well, no, I knew God. I've known God since my birth. No, you didn't. You might have known about God. You might have been taught that He existed. You may have even been taught Scripture. You may have even been taught what He did. You may have been taught all of that. And what we call our head knowledge. I know all of that. You might have known about Him, but not known Him. Not known Him in an intimate manner. Not known Him as Father. Not known Him as Lord. Not known Him as Savior. You see, you can know all the facts about Him and still die and go to hell. Because the things of God are foolishness to those who don't believe. There comes a moment in time, there comes a moment in everyone's life. Everyone's life. Not just those that respond favorably, but even those that reject Him. There comes a moment in time in their life where God has shown His love, shown His grace, shown His mercy, and gave them enough faith to respond to that. And they have to make a choice in that moment. I accept it or I reject it. But He has given everyone a measure of faith to be able to respond favorably to the Gospel. But He's given us free will to either choose to accept it or reject it. He's given everyone a measure of faith. Verse 6 talks about a proportion of faith. Having lent gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Again, there's that idea. It's given to us. Let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. What does that mean? That means our faith should grow. The faith that you have at the beginning, the measure of faith that you were giving to be able to respond to the Gospel should not remain that way. It should not remain there. I remember seeing a video that talked about a kindergarten level faith. And it showed this grown adult dressed in a suit carrying a briefcase. And it shows him getting ready and he's leaving his house and he's going to his car to get to his car. And there he is. I mean, he looks like a businessman, very successful, and he's all put together. And then all of a sudden, he walks into a kindergarten class and sits down. And he's a student in that class. And of course, the idea is this, that a grown man still being in kindergarten years later is ridiculous. Beloved, a Christian who has acknowledged Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior still having a kindergarten level faith is ridiculous. We need to mature in our faith. We need to have a proportion of faith as we experience God in His Word. As we experience God in our life. As we experience God in our relationship. As we mature in our faith, then we should be able to describe and explain and dive into that relationship with Christ a little bit deeper than we were when we first got saved. It's getting tough, isn't it? Because what we want is, well, give me baby Jesus. Give me that Savior that was born of a virgin. Give me that Savior that is easy. But don't give me the Savior and the Lord that is going to cost me something. Don't give me the Lord that tells me how I should live. Don't give me the Lord that gives me parameters for my life. Just give me the baby Jesus. He says, I've given you faith. I've given you a measure of faith to believe, but I've given you a portion of faith according to your maturity. And here's the thing, we should not be the same a year from now that we are today. Whether you've been saved for a week, a year, a decade, or a century, your faith should always be growing. The Bible talks about how many of the believers in their time were still drinking the milk when they should be eating meat. Well, I know Jesus. Yeah, He died for my sins. Great. What has He done in your life since then? How is He maturing you? How is He growing you? What do you understand about Him more today than you did last week, last year, last decade? Is it His love? Is it His faithfulness? Is it His provision or His protection? If we believe that God is working always around us, then we should always be learning, always seeing, always maturing in our faith. And we should be able to explain and describe that in proportion to that. Let me tell you what Jesus did for my sins. Listen, beloved, if I got up here every Sunday morning and I talked about January 2002 and how Jesus sent a preacher to make the statement, it's better to walk down the aisle twice than to go to hell once. And all I could explain to you was how in that moment, God spoke to me and said, you know what? I've done that. I need to get this settled. I need to make sure. I need to know that I know that I know that I've been saved. And if all I can tell you about that is that He spoke to me and I came down and I surrendered to Him and He saved my soul, yes, that's a praiseworthy moment. But if that's all I've got to say about Him, and I can't tell you that since then, I've seen Him provide for me financially. Since then, I've seen Him give me peace that passes understanding. That since then, He has comforted me in a time of trouble. That since then, He has been my refuge and my rock and my strong tower. That since then, He has given me wisdom and understanding. That since then, He has called me into a life of teaching Sunday school and leading youth and now passion. That since then, He walks with me and He talks with me. If I can't tell you how I've experienced Jesus now, then I am forsaken my relationship with Him. Beloved, we have to be maturing in our faith or we are falling short and we are doing this lost and dying world no good. Why do they think we're a country club? Because so many of us come and do this. Amen. Amen. Amen. And then we set our faith on that pew and leave it there to pick it up next Sunday. Our faith is not just for us. Your faith was not given to you as a soft pillow to fall back on. Your faith is a gift for you to know where you stand in the presence of a holy God, but your faith is a gift to take with you and say, let me show you what He's done. Faith is given to us. It's a gift for us. It's a gift through us. A measure of it. A proportion of it. Faith is given, but faith is sobering. He goes on down. He says in verse 3, "...through the grace given to Me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. That word sober does not only mean that just means I can't get drunk. No. That word soberly carries with it this idea of having right thinking. Having right thinking. You see, our faith shows us truth. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. How many of you realized this morning and recognized that there's a lot of lies floating around out there in the culture? There's a lot of false teachings. There's a lot of things that may have a morsel of truth, but in the end, are not full truth. And if it's not full truth, guess what it is? It's a lie. We live in a culture that says, you know what? This side of the room, you can have your truth. That's right. That's good for you. And that's fine. You've got your truth. This portion of the room, you know what? You may believe a little bit different than them, but that's your truth. And that's okay too. And you just believe what you want to, and it's fine, and all roads lead to the same place. And you know what? This portion of the room, you can be the exact opposite of that portion over there, but guess what? That's your truth, and that's okay too. And you can even have... Listen, and there is no amount of divisions within that belief system that they would say, that's not true. Because we live in a culture that says, you can't tell somebody that they're not right. Listen, do you know your teachers and your school systems are trained not to tell students when they're wrong? They can't tell students, no, that's not right. They have to think of a positive way. Well, what's a better way to do that? The right way. That's the way. That's wrong. And I'm not saying you have to be harsh on it, but if they're wrong, what's wrong in saying, I'm sorry, that's not right. That's wrong, and here's why it's wrong. Two plus two does not equal five. That's wrong. Let's do it right. We live in a culture where you can't tell somebody that. Well, I hope you and I are bold enough to say if you believe anything other than what the Scripture says, it's wrong. It's wrong. Now the great thing about Scripture is not only does it tell us we're wrong, but here's how to be right. If you believe you can get to Heaven any other way than faith in Jesus, you're wrong. But the good news is, you can be made right because of what Christ did on the cross. We can be made right. And He says we have to get right thinking. We have to put it in its right place. We have to understand soberly, right thinking, what the truth is. So faith says, you know what? I know the truth. And I know the truth because the faith that was given to me in a measure and a portion. Right thinking, but also clear thinking. To understand our place in that realm. It's not true because I believe it. It's not true because I'm up here every Sunday morning telling you it's true. Listen, it doesn't matter how strongly I believe something. That doesn't make it true. I can believe with all of my might that calamari is delicious. Man, I love some calamari. Some fried calamari. You dip it in that sauce, man, that stuff. Oh, that's one of the best things that you've ever placed in your mouth. It's delicious. I can believe that passionately. Hey, we've done this actually. Sushi, right? I love sushi. I think it's delicious. I really do. And we decided one time that we were going to take the youth out to get some sushi. Right? Oh, you've got to try this. It's got to be delicious, man. You're going to love it. We talked it up. We promoted it. We pushed it. We believe it with all our hearts so much so that I've eaten it twice in one day. Lunch and dinner. I love it. The faces of those youths, they didn't believe the same way I believe. Here's the difference. That's my opinion. My opinion is right for me. But truth doesn't change whether I believe it or not. And so we have to understand that. There's a difference between truth and opinions. Your opinion is you can live any way you want to and you can be made right with God your own way. That's your opinion. Truth says there's only one way to heaven. That's through faith in Christ. Listen, beloved, we have to have right thinking and clear thinking when it comes to our spiritual service. Faith is given. Faith is sobering. Lastly, faith is equalizing. He gives to everyone a measure of faith. He builds it within the experience and life of everyone a proportion of faith. And so as we're looking out across this room, we need to understand that all of us have equal value. Did you notice that section of that verse? It says, "...not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." Now, I don't know about you, but oftentimes I'm guilty of this. Well, if you just believed the way I believe, you'd be alright. Well, if you just drove the way I drove, you'd be okay. These streets would be a better place if everybody drove the way I drove. Well, if you would just read what I read, if you would just act the way I act, if you would think the way I think, if you were a mirror copy of me, then this world would be a better place. You're like, I don't think so. And you would be right. Because we oftentimes, if we're not careful, think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think of ourselves. Because our way is the best way, right? I remember being smacked with this truth when I tried to help one of my kids with their math homework. And I don't know at what point this happened, but at some point they changed the way you do math. They changed it. Now, I'm not here to argue the ins and outs of which way is the best way to do math, but in my pride I want to say the way I do it is best, right? But I tried to help and I showed them the way that I knew to do math. And they're like, that's not right. That's not how you do math. You've got to do this and all these extra steps. And in my mind I'm thinking like two plus two equals four no matter how you get to that thing, right? And so, what we have to understand is that I'm not always right. That I'm not the measurement to which everybody else has to measure themselves from. That I'm not the standard. And we realize that. And I came to this conclusion, hey, you did your math this way and you still got to four. I did it this way and we still got to four. Now, I'm not saying faith-wise. What I'm saying is we're not all the same. As long as we're living for Jesus the Lord and Savior. You might like southern gospel. I might like Christian rap. But as long as it's singing about Jesus, what's it matter? Woo! Got quiet, didn't it? Why? Because oftentimes our preferences are what we think is right. And if you don't measure up to our preferences, then you're wrong. Now, come back to that truth. Opinions or truth? The truth that we have to cling to that Jesus died for everyone. The truth that we have to cling to that anyone and everyone can find forgiveness at the cross. And what that does is when we see each other. Brother Ray, I can look at you and say, you know what? The same faith that it took to save you is the same faith that it took to save me. The same faith that it took to save you is the same faith that it took to save me. Now, we didn't get to the same place the same way, did we? I grew up in a different time. I grew up in a different family. I grew up with a different moral compass than these two men probably did. But what equalizes us is Jesus. Jesus saved us all. We're equal. He says faith is equalizing it. Equal value, but listen, the second point to that is we have to understand that we have a high value. Now, we should look at that verse and think, do not think more highly than you ought to think. Well, I've just got to be lowly. I'm just no good. I'm just nothing. I don't have anything to offer. He says, no, don't think more highly than you ought to think. Not think of yourself highly. Now, we shouldn't think of ourselves highly if I look at what I did. I did this and I did that and I have this and I've earned this and I've got this and God's blessed me with this. And I, I, I, I, I. No, we should think highly of ourselves because God deemed us worthy that He would send His Son to die on the cross for us. And Scripture goes on to say that we are His prized possession. We are His chosen people. We are His royal priesthood. We should think highly of ourselves, not in and of ourselves, but through our faith in Him and what He has made us to be. So we shouldn't put ourselves down and think, well, I don't have anything. No, no. And I'm not going to have the time to hit it this morning, but when we come back together, I'm going to finish this section of Scripture out. You will begin to see how highly you should think of yourself. And hopefully, not think that you're high in and of yourselves. Jesus tells His disciples, apart from Me, you can do nothing. Well, I'm a preacher going on six years now. I'm a full-time pastor of a wonderful church called Kingsgrove Baptist Church. And God looks at me and says, not without Me, you're not. Not without Me, you're not. I'm fully convinced, and I mean this with all my heart, that without Christ, I'd probably be a drunk hooked on some drugs. And I don't mean that flippantly. Because as I look back, that's where my life was headed. As an early 20-something year old living on my own, living in an apartment, I didn't have food in my refrigerator, but you know what I had? I had a case of beer. I didn't have any food in my freezer, but you know what I had? I had some liquor in there. I had a group over at my house every Friday or Saturday night drinking it up, drugging it up. I'm convinced that without Christ, I would be nothing. But in Christ, I'm everything. And that's true of us all. Whether our life was on that road or not, our life could have been on the road of moral goodness. But you know what the Bible says about your life without Christ? That your moral goodness is filthy rags on the side of a holy God. Without Christ, at best, we're filthy rags. Without Christ, at worst, we're enemies of God left for our self-destruction. But in Christ, we're sons and daughters of the King. Joint heirs with Jesus. Cleansed from all unrighteousness. Beloved, that's not my opinion. That's truth. I don't want to leave it there this morning. As you consider that in your life, what road are you on this morning? What path are you following? Are you trusting in your moral goodness? Then you're wrong. Are you trusting in your bank account? Then you're wrong. Are you trusting in your job? Your family? Your possessions? Your social status? Your popularity? Are you trusting in any of that? Beloved, hear me. You are wrong. But there's a way to be made right. That's faith in Jesus. Trusting in Him as Lord and Savior. Allowing Him to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. If you'll do just this, confess your sins, and He'll be faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. You're in here this morning. You realize your life's on the wrong path. You're ready to be put on the right path. You're ready to put your faith and trust in Christ. I encourage you to come down front. I'll meet you right down here. I'd love to pray with you, pray for you, to share with you more about what it means to put faith and trust in Christ for salvation. You're in here this morning. You said, yeah, I truly believe I did that years ago. I've gotten distracted. I've not grown in my faith. I've not matured. I'm still in kindergarten. You need to come. You say, God, forgive me. Help me to walk my faith. Help me to live for You. Help me to mature in my faith. You're in here this morning. You have a loved one, a family member, a friend, a neighbor. They're trusting in all of those things. You need to lay their name out before God. Be with my neighbor. Be with my family. Reveal to them your love, your grace, and your mercy so that they have the opportunity to respond in faith. You need to call their name out before God this morning. You come and lay that name on this altar. If you'd like me to pray with you, pray for you about anything, I'm right here. You come as this altar is open.