-I-
Day 4 –
Individual in Giftedness
DEPENDENT ON THE HEAD (Romans
12:3-5)
3For through the grace given to me I say to every man
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. 4For just as we have many members in one body and all the
members do not have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one
body in Christ and individually members one of another.
Christ Leads the Church as a Body
The Importance of Each Member. Who directs the body?
Individual members? No, to accomplish its purpose, the Head must direct. The
church is an organism, not an organization, a living body fulfilling the
purpose of the whole. Each member is important, but no single member or cluster
of members should focus on its own needs to the exclusion of the whole.
Each member is a related part of the larger
whole. As a body, members are interdependent on one another but individual in
our contributions. We all depend on Christ as the Head of the church.
In writing about the church being “members of
one another” in
today’s reading at the top of the page, Paul penned this section of Romans
immediately after the passage on knowing and doing God’s will. Romans 12:1-2 is
about sacrificially giving our bodies as a spiritual service. That sacrifice is
contrary to the thinking and conformity of the world.
We are all members of the Body of Christ. Later in the
course (Weeks 4-6), we will revisit how we as individuals in the church work together,
using our differences for the good of the whole. Today’s devotional is about
how these differences complete each other, not compete with each other.
FBC Killeen seeks members to complement one another, using their
talents to work together to make the entire Body of Christ stronger. “The eye
cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’ or again the head to the feet, ‘I
have no need of you,’” (1 Corinthians 12:21). Every member of the body is interdependent with
others.
INTERDEPENDENT ON THE MEMBERS
(Romans 12:6-8)
6
And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let
each exercise them accordingly; if prophecy, according to the proportion of his
faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his
teaching; 8 or he who
exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with
diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Fred Somebody, Thomas Everybody, Pete Anybody and Joe Nobody
were neighbors. All four belonged to the same church, but you would not have
enjoyed worshipping with them.
Everybody went fishing on Sundays or stayed home to rest.
Anybody wanted to worship but was afraid Somebody wouldn’t speak to him. Guess
who went to church -- Nobody. Really, Nobody was the only decent one of the
four. Nobody did the visitation. Nobody served as greeter. Nobody worked on the
church building. Once they needed a Sunday School teacher. Everybody thought
Anybody would do it, and Anybody thought Somebody would do it. And you know who
did it? That’s right -- Nobody!
It happened that a new neighbor moved into the area.
Everybody thought Somebody should try to win him to Christ. Anybody could have
made an effort. You probably know who finally won him -- Nobody!
The
Purpose of the Entire Body.
In your physical body, there is no part of your body which
functions alone. If one part of your body hurts, the other members feel it. If a
part of your body wanted to function on its own, it could not because the very
purpose of each member is to serve the whole body, cooperatively working with
other members.
A foot does not function because it is pleasant to be inside
a shoe -- it goes inside a shoe because it is a foot. God gifts each of us to
serve in some capacity.
Get your Bible and read today’s passage of Romans 12 in
context. In
verses 3-5, Paul states that we should not think too highly of ourselves but
rather willingly be interdependent on one another, accept one another, and use
our spiritual gifts to serve and build up one another.
It is no accident that the passage on individual
gifts is sandwiched between encouragements for humility (12:3) and loving
service (12:9-21). As a body, we must overcome the world’s evil with God’s
goodness flowing through us.
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