Romans 12:1-8
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
I don’t know how many of you have ever watched one of the seemingly dozens of TV shows that are built around talent competitions; “American Idol”, “X-Factor”, “America’s Got Talent”, etc., etc., etc.
I’ve watched enough of them to notice that some people seem to have a clear sense of their own talent and ability while others don’t seem to have a very accurate view of themselves at all. Sometimes that comes in the form of a person who doesn’t realize how talented they really are; sometimes it comes in the form of a person who thinks they have talent but really don’t. The first kind of person seems shocked when the judges tell them they performed well; the second kind of person seems shocked when the judges tell them they can’t sing!
I think Paul is saying the same thing can happen in a spiritual sense.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
I think Paul is saying, “Think of yourself the way God thinks of you.” This is actually a quite liberating thing to consider. Most of us tend to think of ourselves in relation to other people. We relentlessly compare ourselves to others; or we spend our lives trying to measure up to some standard or expectation instilled in us by family or culture.
Paul is saying that there is only one standard we need to concern ourselves with: What does God think of us?
Interestingly, I have rarely encountered people who, spiritually speaking, “think more highly of themselves than they ought.” Now certainly some of us who tend to overrate ourselves in some area or another and we are all vulnerable to the sin of pride. But far more often than not I hear things like, “Well, I’m just not very good at ___________ (fill in the blank; teaching, leading, serving, singing, speaking in public, etc., etc., etc.); there are just so many others more gifted than I am.”
I think many, many Christians believe that Jesus died for their sins, that they are saved by the power of the gospel, but that it kind of stopped there. They don’t believe they are particularly gifted and, as a result, they actually think “more lowly of themselves than they ought.”
Jesus didn’t go to the cross and rise again from the dead just so we can experience his grace through the forgiveness of sin and be saved! Of course, that is the gospel, but it is not all of the gospel!
In his grace he gives not only the gift of salvation, but the gift of his own Holy Spirit as well. And when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts he also brings gifts, abilities and passions that Jesus wants us to use to make the gospel visible and tangible to others.
Jesus saves us, but he doesn’t just save us for ourselves! I fear some of us have settled for a truncated gospel that fails to see the richness of what God has accomplished in and through Christ! Jesus has also saved us for others; for new relationships; for participation in his body (the Church); for sharing in the great commission of taking the good news to the world; for participating in his ministry of reconciliation; and ultimately for ruling together with Christ in his eternal kingdom!
In his book, “Gospel Deeps” Jared Wilson writes:
He makes us not serfs in the kingdom, but brothers and sisters of the King, princes and princesses under his Lordship….But we aren’t just any kind of royalty, we are royal priests. We’re made ambassadors for Christ, go-betweens charged by God to bring the ministry of reconciliation to the lost, commissioned to make disciples of all nations (in “Gospel Deeps” by Jared Wilson).
So while we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought; neither are we to think less of who and what Christ has made us!
Ask Jesus to allow you to see yourself as he sees you!
Pastor Brian Coffey
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