Romans - Lesson 12B

• Let’s move to the next “ring” in Paul’s priority for our sanctification 
  
  

  • Last week we began studying Paul’s bull’s eye of pursuing personal righteousness in our relationships 

  • So from the standpoint of God’s judgment, we are already 100% righteous by faith alone

  • When we believe in Jesus we receive His righteousness by faith, which is a perfect righteousness

  • Our righteousness before God is obtained solely by our faith in Christ

  • Remember we’re talking about our righteousness lived out before people, not our standing before God

  • But the question remains, how closely do our lives reflect Christ’s righteousness?

    • Are we righteous in our thoughts and actions and in the way we conduct our relationships?

    • Does our thinking and behavior comport with the perfect standard that Christ set for us?

  • Of course, the answer to that last question is no – since none of us will live a perfectly sinless life, given the sin nature of our flesh

    • But that doesn’t mean a Christian should concede to the inevitability of our sin or turn a blind eye to it

    • While we may not be able to live sinlessly, by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit we can get close

    • As someone once observed, Christians aren’t sinless but we should sin less

  • Over the centuries, many Christian men and women have made the pursuit of godliness their life’s priority 

    • Some have succeeded in conforming their lives so closely to Christ’s example that the world saw them as blameless

    • Their lives became such testimonies to godliness that whatever sin remained in them was barely noticeable

  • If this sounds like an impossible goal to you, then perhaps you haven’t given enough attention to the task Paul outlined in vs.1-2

    • Paul said our life goal should be to make ourselves a living sacrifice for the needs of serving Christ and His glory  

    • We make this sacrifice daily by rejecting the world’s priorities and seeking the mind of Christ

    • We renew our thinking through God’s word and allow that new thinking to generate new righteous behaviors

    • Our new behaviors demonstrate to the world what God’s will is concerning what is good and perfect

• This is the starting point for our pursuit of sanctification, and it makes the rest of the journey possible

  • We all begin by working on our personal righteousness in our relationship with God

    • If we don’t pursue righteousness in our relationship with God, our fellowship with Him will suffer

    • We will feel distant from Him, not because He moved away from us but because we moved away from Him

    • Our prayer life will evaporate, our interest in God’s word will wane, and our resistance to Satan’s schemes will weaken

  • We will become weak spiritually, our sin nature will reassert itself, and as a result we’ll have little spiritual strength to tackle the outer rings

    • As Jesus spoke

John 7:37  Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

• The spiritual strength the Spirit brings to our spirit becomes the source for us to bless others in the name of Christ

• But if we are not pursuing personal righteousness under the Spirit’s guidance, then how can we instruct or encourage others?

• That’s the principle underlying this entire system represented by the bull’s eye

  • The strength we gain in one ring becomes the means to bless the next ring

  • Which is why we can’t “skip” a ring 

  • We can’t ignore our personal relationship with God and expect to prosper in our relationships within the church

  • And we can’t neglect our relationships in the body of Christ and expect to be a powerful witness for Christ in the world

• So with that understanding, let’s press on into the second ring, our relationships within the body of Christ beginning in v.3

Rom. 12:3 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.
Rom. 12:4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
Rom. 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Rom. 12:6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
Rom. 12:7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;
Rom. 12:8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

• Paul begins his teaching on relationships in the body of Christ with a lesson on spiritual gifts

  • He says that by the grace given to him by the Lord, Paul now instructs the body of Christ on how to maintain a proper perspective of self

    • Paul says we should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought

    • Notice Paul didn’t say we shouldn’t think highly of ourselves at all

    • Nor did he say that everyone in the body of Christ is equal 

  • Instead, Paul instructs each person in the church to appreciate his or her degree of importance in the body

    • So avoid false humility and self-importance

    • Some members of the body are called by God to play more important roles in the body than others

    • But these differences are entirely spiritual, not personal

    • So they cannot become the basis for valuing one member more than another

  • Notice Paul began his command saying “by the grace given to me”

    • In other words, Paul is following his own command even as he instructs the church in v.3

    • Paul is saying that by God’s grace he was made an apostle, and as an apostle he had authority to give these instructions to the church

    • And therefore, this is the same standard by which we also may consider our own importance in the body

• God has assigned a degree of His grace to each believer so we might assume an  appropriate position of authority and service in the body

  • To some, God has assigned greater grace to assume greater positions of authority or service, like an apostle

    • To others, God has assigned lessor positions of authority or service

    • Nevertheless, no member of the body is more or less important to the body – nor is anyone expendable

    • Paul is calling for us to respect God’s decision concerning our assignment within the body and serve Him in that place

    • And to be content with God’s choice for our sake

  • Paul calls such thinking sound judgment, in contrast to thinking too highly of ourselves

    • We think too highly of ourselves when we presume to take a place in the body other than that which God has assigned to us

    • Pride generally drives us to seek for something greater than we ought to have or to be jealous of another’s place in the body

    • But pursuing sanctifying relationships in the body of Christ depends on each of us serving contently in our assigned place

• So how do we know what our assigned part is within the body of Christ? 

  • Paul says that our place and prominence in the body is determined by the “measure of faith” God has allotted to us

    • The term “measure of faith” is a bit deceiving in English

    • It suggests that the degree of our personal faith in God determines our place in the body

    • Which if this were true would mean we could aspire to higher roles as our faith grows 

    • But that thinking contradicts Paul’s central point, which was to not think too highly of ourselves 

  • In reality, Paul wasn’t referring about our personal faith in God; he’s speaking in a euphemism

    • In Greek, the phrase “measure of faith” could be translated as the “poetic meter of faith”

    • So we could say God has allotted to each of us a measure of a larger artistic work

    • Like playing an instrument in a symphony or a stanza of an epic poem

    • God has allotted each of us a certain place in His production

    • And if we all play our parts properly, we produce beautiful music or poetry

  • Notice in v.4 Paul reminds us that each part in the production has a purpose and value all its own

    • We are members of a single body called the Church, the body of Christ

    • And we are called to operate as a whole, like an orchestra or like the individual members of a human body

    • You may feel like your big toe isn’t very important to your body, but try walking without it (you can’t)

  • Likewise, if an orchestra is going to produce a sound pleasing to the director, each instrument must play its part properly

    • The woodwinds can’t become jealous of the strings and try to play their part or vice versa

    • If they did, the orchestra would deteriorate into a cacophony of noise 

  • So each of us must play the part we’ve been assigned by God within the body

    • We cannot think too highly of ourselves by assuming roles we haven’t been assigned

    • Nor should we think too lowly of ourselves by neglecting the role we have been given

    • We should serve humbly in the station God assigns to us

• In v.6 Paul explains what he means by a “measure of faith” 

  • Specifically, Paul is talking about the spiritual gift we received from God when we came to faith

    • He says we have gifts that differ according to the grace God has given us and we must operate within the body accordingly

    • Simply put, the spiritual gift we received from God determines our role and place within the body of Christ

  • From here Paul moves into giving a brief list of spiritual gifts and how they should be used in the body

    • Before we look at the list, we need to spend a moment to consider the topic of spiritual gifts in general 

    • This list is one of three such lists Paul gives the church across his letters

    • The other two lists come in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians

  • All three lists were written by Paul, and yet all three lists vary slightly from one another in the gifts included

    • Therefore we know Paul never intended each list to be definite on its own, because he mentioned other gifts in other letters

    • Some have combined these three lists to arrive at a single definitive inventory of spiritual gifts

    • But I don’t believe that’s how Paul wanted us to use his lists

• When you consider the surrounding context in each letter, it’s clear that Paul listed a few gifts as examples in each case

  • Paul gave examples of spiritual gifts in each letter to support his overall argument in that letter

    • Since the context of each letter was slightly different, the corresponding list of gifts was also different

    • In Ephesians, Paul explained the ultimate purpose for spiritual gifts in the body of Christ which is to encourage unity

    • In 1 Corinthians, Paul explained the proper regulation of spiritual gifts operating in the corporate gathering so they are edifying

    • And here in Romans, Paul is explaining relative importance of different spiritual gifts when serving others in the body 

  • So Paul gave us three different lists of spiritual gifts as examples in support of three different points 

    • No single list is a definitive inventory of all possible spiritual gifts 

    • And therefore combining all three lists won’t arrive at such an inventory either

    • For all we know the actual list of spiritual gifts God appoints within the church may be infinite

• So as we look at his list here in Romans 12, let’s understand it in its context

  • Paul’s explaining how we should serve in the body based on how we’ve been gifted (so that we don’t think too highly of ourselves)

    • Paul begins his example list with the gift of prophecy

    • Notice Paul assigns a descriptor to each gift to emphasize how we must embrace our assigned role wholeheartedly  

    • For the one with the gift of prophecy, he should use it according to the proportion of his faith

  • The gift of prophecy is the gift of speaking the revelation of God; something unknowable apart from that revelation 

    • All scripture is the result of a gift of prophecy

    • In Paul’s day the gift of prophecy was still at work authoring the New Testament through the apostles

    • After the final apostles died, the canon closed and no scripture was authored thereafter

  • So many believe this spiritual gift has met its intended purpose and therefore it has ceased to be available in the body of Christ

    • Others believe that a lessor form of prophecy, of foretelling future events or revealing special revelation from God (apart from scripture), continues to operate within the body

    • My personal view is that all prophecy ended with the closing of the canon, and therefore this particular spiritual gift has ceased to operate in the body

    • But regardless of your view of prophecy today, we know in Paul’s day the gift was still operating in the Church

    • Which is why he writes thus

• And to those who have this gift, Paul says they should use it in proportion to his faith: which means according to how God leads the prophet 

  • Some prophets received greater revelation (or “faith” as Paul calls it) from God, while other prophets received less

    • So a prophet in the church was to stick to prophesying and to do it as the Lord directs

    • The prophet didn’t need to always have a “word from the Lord” in order to bless the congregation

    • They just needed to prophesy according to the Lord’s leading

  • Likewise, we all serve the Lord best by serving His people with the gift He’s given us

    • So if God gifts you with a gift of service, you serve Christ best by serving

    • If you have the gift of teaching, you serve God best in teaching others

    • If an exhortation gift, then exhort others

    • If a giving gift, then give generously

    • Etc. 

• So our place and role in the body is determined by our spiritual gift, not by our preference or by a specific opportunity or need in the body

  • There are a lot of things we could do to serve Christ, but there is only one service we should focus on

    • And that area of focus will always be tied to our spiritual gift

    • It is the best way we can serve God

  • In my case, I’ve been gifted by God to teach His word, so I teach His word to exclusion of virtually anything else I could do to serve the body

    • I’m not excluded from working in other capacities on occasion, but I should not seek for permanent stations outside my assigned role

    • For example, if I pursued a service or mercy role instead, I would be thinking more highly of myself than I ought

    • I’m assuming I can please God by serving in ways I prefer rather than submitting to His calling and gifting 

• Remember, when you serve in your spiritual gift, you serve with the greatest strength and joy and will obtain the most spiritual fruit

  • This only makes sense, of course

    • A spiritual gift is a God-given supernatural ability

    • It’s an ability to do spiritual things we couldn’t do on our own, so that as we bear fruit, God will receive the glory

  • So if we spend our time working outside our area of gifting, we won’t accomplish the work God intended and our results will be far less fruitful

    • If you’ve ever sat in a Bible study led by someone who wasn’t gifted to teach the Bible, you know how painful the experience can be

    • That kind of situation is an example of someone thinking too highly of himself 

  • Even a pastor can get this wrong

    • A pastor who assumes a teaching role over the congregation when the Lord hadn’t given him that spiritual gift won’t edify the body

    • A pastor must be able to teach, but that doesn’t mean his spiritual gifting is teaching

    • And if not, he should not think too highly of himself by assigning himself a teaching role over the body 

    • He isn’t using sound judgment to assess his place in the body

• Paul’s teaching on serving in our gift leaves us with three important principles that guide our relationships in the body of Christ

  • The first principle – and probably the most important – is we are not permitted to live as “islands” isolated from other Christians

    • Paul’s instructions anticipate that we are joining ourselves to a body of believers

    • Spiritually speaking, we do not exist apart from the rest of the Body of Christ 

    • So neither should we try to live that way in practice

    • Hebrews warns us against “forsaking the gathering together” for this reason, because we weaken our own walk and the walk of others

  • Secondly, our participation in the body must take the form of service in some capacity

    • Each of us has an assigned role within the body, as Paul said, based on a gifting God gave us

    • The very presence of a spiritual gift presumes we will direct our energies toward serving the body of Christ

    • So we have a responsibility to live up to that responsibility, both to Christ and to our fellows brothers and sisters

  • After all, don’t we have assigned roles in our homes or work place or on sports teams?

    • And don’t you feel an obligation to fulfill our role? 

    • Doesn’t it bother you when a teammate or family member or coworker fails to live up to their responsibilities? 

    • Then shouldn’t we strive even harder to play our assigned part in the body of Christ? 

• Finally, we must adopt and maintain an attitude of humility in all our relationships in the body of Christ

  • Firstly because we know that our place in the body was assigned to us by God and therefore it isn’t a reflection of personal merit

    • Therefore, we have no reason to assign ourselves greater value compared to anyone else

    • How can we assume we are inherently more important than another believer when we were all assigned our place by God?

  • And secondly, because when we achieve good results, we understand it was due entirely to the Lord working through us by our spiritual gifting

    • Therefore, we have no basis for crediting ourselves for any spiritual achievements

    • All glory belongs to the Lord

• So all relationships in the body of Christ must be built on a foundation of a commitment to the body and to serving in humility in our assigned place

  • From these three principles, we move into a series of exhortations that guide the nature of our relationships in the body

    • The passage is only five verses but it contains 13 commands for how we live with one another in the body

    • And the list is quite convicting

Rom. 12:9  Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
Rom. 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
Rom. 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
Rom. 12:12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
Rom. 12:13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

• The list of exhortations begins with love, of course

  • As you probably could guess, the Greek word for love is agape, which means self-sacrificial love

    • We say that biblical love is a verb, not a noun

    • Which means Christian love is an action, not a feeling, and the action is making sacrifices for the sake of others

    • Just as Jesus lay down His life for us, which was the ultimate display of love 

  • Paul is asking the church to maintain a self-sacrificial attitude

    • Thinking of others before ourself

    • Letting someone else have the better seat in church

    • Letting someone else have the last donut

    • Taking out the trash without waiting to be asked, etc.

  • But Paul adds an important caveat to this command: we must love without hypocrisy

    • Hypocrisy is portraying ourselves in a way that is not in keeping with reality

    • It means seeking to gain credit for selflessness without actually making the required sacrifice

    • Like volunteering for service projects, but never showing up

    • Promising to support missionaries financially, but never writing a check

    • Assuring sick members of the congregation we will pray for them, but never following through

• That’s hypocritical love, which is no love at all

  • It’s self-serving and it’s corrosive to the unity of the body

    • Paul’s bull’s-eye chart teaches that we can’t prosper in an outer ring if we haven’t done the hard work required by the inner rings

    • So we won’t show the world the love of Christ (which is a self-sacrificial love) if we haven’t disciplined ourselves to show selflessness to our own brothers and sisters in the body of Christ

  • I’ve never met a successful evangelist who wasn’t also a selfless servant to the body of Christ

    • Conversely, the worst ambassadors for Christ are usually those Christians who have a self-serving hypocritical attitude in the body of Christ 

    • If we can’t adopt a loving sacrificial attitude among our spiritual family, how will we show that kind of love to strangers?

• Next Paul says we must abhor what is evil while clinging to what is good

  • The Greek verb translated “abhor” appears only here in the New Testament

    • It’s a particularly strong word for “hate”

    • And the Greek word for “cling” literally means “to be glued”

    • So we are to hate evil the way God does, and we are to be affixed  to what is good

  • Knowing Paul is teaching how we should live in the body of Christ,  these instructions should be relatively easy commands to follow

    • After all, the Church community should share in these goals and encourage us in these convictions (if not, seek a new church)

    • On the other hand, we know the world will mock these convictions and tempt us to go against them

    • The world calls evil good and good evil, so these instructions become much harder to follow outside the safety of the body

  • Therefore if we cannot resist evil things while surrounded by likeminded believers, how can we resist when we are in the world?

    • And if we choose a church community that doesn’t obey these commands, we won’t have the support we need to resist temptation ourselves

    • We must practice resisting evil in a safe place so that we will have the strength to carry it out under more trying circumstances

• Paul’s next couplet says be devoted to one another like brothers and sisters, but to give preference to one another in honor

  • The first half of Paul’s command, being devoted to one another, is easy to understand

    • He says be devoted in love, and this time Paul uses a different Greek word for love: philadelphia or brotherly love

    • Paul wants us to recognize that our true brothers and sisters are the believers in the church

  • So as the saying goes, blood is thicker than water

    • You should favor family relationships over other friendships

    • But in this case, we’re not talking about a physical bond of blood but a spiritual bond of faith in Jesus Christ

    • That spiritual bond is far greater than any physical bond

  • Because in a day to come, your body will die and any blood bond between you and your physical relatives will be dissolved

    • The definition of earthly brothers and sisters is someone whose body originated from your mother’s body

    • So literally speaking, the moment your body dies you no longer have earthly brothers and sisters

    • Once your physical body is gone, all you will have left is the spirit

  • In that moment, the only relationship you will still have will be your spiritual relationship with Christ

    • And in eternity, you will be surrounded by others who share that same spiritual relationship with Christ

    • Therefore, Paul asks us to see with eyes for eternity now

  • We must recognize that our spiritual brothers and sisters in the Church are truly the only real brothers and sisters we have

    • We can still honor and enjoy our family relationships too

    • But those earthly relationships must come second to our spiritual relationships in the church

• Practically speaking, this means that when my relationships in the church come into conflict with those outside the church, I must give preference to the church

  • Notice this agrees with the bull’s-eye chart 

    • The inner ring of church relationships takes priority over relationships with unbelieving family members

    • So if our parents are unbelieving, we honor them as scripture expects unless honoring them comes into conflict with the needs of the body

    • Obviously we should seek for ways to accommodate the needs of both, when possible

    • So only when conflict is unavoidable must we choose one over the other, and in those situations the inner ring always wins

  • But Paul gives us an important caveat to this command saying we give preference in honor

    • We should seek to give preference to our brothers and sisters so long as doing so won’t bring dishonor upon the name of Christ

    • We can’t allow our preference for fellow believers to become cause to do something that dishonors Christ

  • So if we are a judge, we can’t permit a miscarriage of justice in our court by showing favor to a Christian defendant

    • Or if we are bookkeeper, we can’t cover up for a fellow Christian’s embezzlement

    • Or if we are a hiring manager, we can’t give preference to a Christian job candidate if the law prohibits such favoritism 

• Next, Paul asks us not to lag behind in diligence, remaining fervent in spirit and serving the Lord

  • All three of these commands relate to our effort and commitment as we serve within the body

    • We could sum up these three commands with three words

    • Effort, desire and purpose

    • We must serve one another with a consistent effort and earnest desire for the ultimate purpose of serving Christ

  • It hurts the entire body when someone lags behind in diligence in serving the needs of the body

    • It’s like having a player on the team who isn’t pulling his weight 

    • Diligence means making effort consistently, which means making commitments you can keep

    • Don’t promise too much or too little but always keep your promises

    • Do your part to serve and support the body

  • And do it in the right spirit, fervently desiring to further the mission of the church

    • Don’t allow yourself to become easily discouraged because you don’t see the results you anticipated

    • Or because you didn’t get the personal recognition you expected

    • You are serving for the right reasons in the right spirit

• Finally, your service is directed toward the Lord, not people or projects

  • If you are serving in church because you admire your pastor, you aren’t serving for the right reasons

    • If you’re serving because the church pays you, you are aren’t serving for the right reasons

    • If you’re serving because you enjoy receiving accolades or the accomplishment of a job well done, you aren’t serving for the right reasons

  • Because ultimately all those reasons will fail you sooner or later

    • Pastors will fail you

    • Churches cut their staff

    • Accolades have a way of turning into complaints

    • And then what will be your reason to serve the church?

  • On the other hand, if your reason for serving is pleasing Christ, then your commitment to serve will never waver

    • Your effort will remain consistent and your attitude will remain fervent 

    • You’ll be unfazed by setbacks and disappointments 

    • That’s the kind of consistency we seek to demonstrate while serving the body

• In v.12 Paul adds rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation and devoted to prayer

  • I love the way Paul connects rejoicing, tribulation and prayer

    • So often our prayer life disappears in times of rejoicing only to re-emerge when trials return

    • But Paul denies this pattern calling upon believers to maintain a commitment to prayer regardless of our circumstances

    • Paul says we are to be devoted to prayer regardless of whether our days are presently filled with joy or difficulty

  • But before we get into prayer, let’s look at the first two commands for a moment beginning with rejoicing in hope

    • Paul says we should rejoice in the hope of our faith in Christ

    • When the Bible speaks of our “hope,” it’s always referring to our expectation that we will be resurrected

  • Resurrection from the dead is the hope of Christianity

    • Resurrection is the promise that death will not be the end of us 

    • That because of our faith in Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection, we likewise will receive eternal life after our body dies

    • Resurrection is at the center of our faith, it’s what our water baptism pictures 

    • There can be no greater hope than resurrection because there is no greater jeopardy than death

  • Paul says we must rejoice over this hope, which means to remain mindful of what our faith is all about

    • We can’t place our hope in things of the earth or in emotional platitudes 

    • We don’t rejoice because Christians are always to be happy or healthy or successful or wealthy

    • Christians are often unhappy, unhealthy, unsuccessful and poor

    • But so long as we remember that we have overcome this world and one day we will receive our reward in a resurrected body, we have reason to rejoice

• Secondly, we are to persevere in tribulation

  • Notice again that Paul didn’t demand that the church pretend to be happy in tribulation

    • Paul was a realist and knew that trials and tribulations bring tears and anguish

    • Paul himself suffered these things at times, according to his own testimony

  • Instead, Paul commands us to persevere in the midst of such things

    • We cannot use life’s troubles as excuse to give up on serving Christ or in gathering with other believers

    • Did a previous church or pastor let you down? Move on and invest again in a new congregation without hesitation

    • Have you faced loss or rejection because you lived your faith? Press on without fear of such things

    • Did church politics or unsupportive leaders or unkind brothers or sisters treat you unfairly? Continue serving Christ

  • The Lord uses difficult times to prompt spiritual growth in His people, and some growth can only happen under difficult circumstances

    • So when tough times come, we must persevere in our walk with Christ and in our relationships in the church

    • Commit to staying the course so you can learn what persevering in adversity teaches

    • Because if we give up when trials come, then we lose the benefits these things were intended to produce

• Finally, regardless of your circumstances, keep praying

  • Be devoted to prayer, Paul says, which means think of your time in prayer the way you think of marriage

    • When someone is devoted to a marriage, they never forget they have a spouse

    • They never get tired of being faithful

    • They don’t treat the relationship as expendable or optional

  • Similarly, when someone is devoted to prayer, they never forget to pray 

    • They don’t grow tired of praying

    • And they don’t see time in prayer as optional

    • Like marriage, it’s part of who they are, not merely something they do

  • If you lack an appreciation of how important prayer is in your walk with Christ, it’s a sign you aren’t praying enough

    • While we all understand the mechanics of praying, you can’t fully appreciate how God uses it in your life until you really devote yourself to it

  • You could compare understanding prayer to understanding how to ride a bike

    • I could explain to someone how to ride a bike, and they would understand the mechanics easily enough

    • But they would have no idea what it’s actually like – much less how to do it properly – until they wrestle with a bike for a while

    • Only then at some point would they get it too

    • Devote time to praying regularly and earnestly for a while and see what you discover about yourself and about God

• Finally, in v.12 Paul connects two acts of mercy asking us to contribute to the needs of the saints and practice hospitality

  • The first command concerns the needs inside the church

    • We are to give money to the needs of the body

    • This is the New Testament obligation for every believer

  • It’s not tithing, technically speaking

    • Tithing is an Old Testament term that comes from the Law and applies only to the Jewish nation

    • A tithe was a specific amount required for specific needs, and there were three distinct tithing requirements in the Law

    • Altogether, Jews gave between 20-30% of their income as tithes

    • Tithes were paid to the temple and they were not optional or flexible

  • None of these rules apply to the Church since we are not under the Law given to Israel

    • The guideline for us is to give to the needs of the saints

    • It’s general and without specific requirement

    • In 1 Corinthians 16 Paul gives a few more guidelines for how a believer should give

  • But for today, there are two main points to note about our giving

    • First, our giving in the church is for the believer

    • We are called to support fellow believers with our giving

  • And more specifically to fund the work of believers who serve God in evangelism, teaching, pastoring, etc. 

    • We also fund the physical needs of believers who are worthy of that support (not all needs should be met by fellow believers though)

    • We may wish to support non-christian charities too, but that support does not meet the requirement to support the needs of believers

• Secondly, the giving details are left completely to the giver to decide based on the leading of the Spirit

  • We may give any amount we desire and to whomever we like

    • There is no biblical requirement to give specifically to an institutional church

    • There is no requirement to give a certain amount or on a certain schedule

  • The test for every believer is whether we are responding to the leading of the Spirit

    • Are we giving what He asks and when He asks?

    • No one may be our judge concerning our giving

• Paul’s final command addresses the needs of unbelievers

  • A believer should maintain a heart of hospitality toward the world

    • Hospitality in Paul’s day looked very different than it does today

    • In Paul’s day, culture demanded that strangers be given accommodation in homes when no alternative was available

  • So when a traveler stopped in your town overnight and was sitting in the town square, someone would invite that person to stay the night

    • To be caught outside at night could be very dangerous

    • So everyone took it upon themselves to be hospitable to strangers

    • To do otherwise would bring great shame upon the town and any who refused to give the stranger a place to stay

  • So the emphasis in this command is on being willing to help strangers, which in this context refers principally to unbelievers

    • We should open our homes or make other accommodations to unbelievers whenever practical 

    • This creates opportunity for the church to fulfill its mission

    • So we give our money to believers and our hospitality to unbelievers 

  • This principle explains why your church leaders advise against giving money to unbelievers who come begging for church benevolence

    • The money the church stewards is for the needs of the saints

    • But the church doors or the doors of church members remain open to providing shelter or food or other types of hospitality to the unbeliever

    • These are meaningful ways of providing care and charity, but they also hold the possibility to establishing opportunity to share the gospel

    • Putting a $20 bill in their pocket won’t win them for Christ and probably accomplishes little more than getting them high for another day 

• I think Paul put this command at the end as a transition into the next ring on our relationships with unbelievers

  • Which is where we go next week…