The Romance of Romans-Part 87

Romans Chapter 12 cont'd

By the spiritual authority that God has vested in me, I challenge every person among you, not to think more highly of yourself than you should. We all need to receive "reality checks." God has given to all of us a sphere of life and ministry in which to function for which we also have been given the corresponding necessary amount of faith. Our physical body is one and yet it has many members, each having a different function. So the body of Christ is one and we, each of us, are one of its many members. But even though we have various roles to play, we are organically joined both to him and to one...Since we have different gifts, let us excel in using what we specifically have been given: if prophecy, then prophesy within the boundaries of genuine faith; if service, then serve in a way that you can do it graciously; if teaching, then teach in the areas in which you have true authority; if exhortation, then exhort according to your spiritual passion; if giving, then give from your heart without second guessing; if leadership, then lead with excellence; if showing mercy, then do it with the joy of the Lord.

Comments:

The third "reformational point" that I see standing out in this chapter is what I would call "A More Humble Ministry". An interesting way of studying the epistles of Paul is to dig into the background of the cultures of the cities and regions to whom he wrote and notice that the errors he sought to correct in the churches were a result of the cultures "baptizing" the church communities with their embedded evils. He labored to empower the followers of Jesus to stand against the sinful elements of these cultural tides.

Our culture at large has become deeply affected and oriented around "celebrity". We are bombarded with both head on and subliminal messages from every quarter that if we are to possess and achieve real meaning, significance and value, then we must strive to become noticed by many. And...there are all kinds of powerful tools available to us to assist us in "puffing" and "projecting" and "managing" our image. Still, most of us fail to garner this kind of attention and therefore kowtow to live under a satanic lie that we are living insignificant lives. This then makes us vulnerable to finding some possible way to "hook up" with someone or some group that is "significant"...or...we simply resign ourselves to the fate that we must embrace our "boring existence". That's when we become vulnerable to the plethora of the cultural "medications" that are available to dull our aching hearts.

The apostle would challenge us to embrace a radically different view of our lives and how we are to "be" and "do" in this world. We can live truly "significant" lives without seeking or achieving "celebrity". It begins by firmly rejecting the demonic lose-lose paradigm of life described above. On one hand, we must come to a point where we don't give a rip about how many people notice us or hear our voice. We must become oriented around living for the "audience of One"...and leave the degree of our impact on others in his capable hands. Simultaneously, we must not submit to a "false modesty" about what God has called and gifted us to offer to others. Neither should we absolutely avoid utilizing the tools available to us to offer our gifts to the people and world about us.

Humility is not about looking down on ourselves or pretending that we are less gifted, capable, experienced, intelligent or discerning than we are. Humility is realism...not posing. C. S. Lewis said that humility is grounded simply in standing next to something infinitely larger and higher than we are and noticing the difference.