It is time for us to embark on our second week of digging together. Are you excited? I hope so! Studying and digging into God's word is an act of obedience and worship in itself. Reading God's word shows Him that you love Him, that you want to learn more about Him, and by doing so it gives God an opportunity to reveal Himself to you more. When you first begin reading your bible and meditating on the word, you will find that many other things are competing for your attention. It is easy to give up studying after a few days because you "don't have time" or are "tired at the end of the day." But I beseech you to not give up, push through the fatigue and make time. Know that you are battling not only against your own flesh but also the principalities of darkness that do not want you getting near God. Fight against that. If your enemy doesn't want you reading the bible, then you know that is exactly what you should be doing!
Ok, that being said, let's put it into action!
By now you have sat through service and heard Pastor Erik teach about being a living sacrifice. If you do not remember the scripture he referenced in his sermon it was Romans 12:1-2. You may want to open your bible and reread that scripture in the quiet of your own house where your friends are not around to distract you. Think about what Pastor Erik said. The hardest part about a living sacrifice is that the sacrifice always wants to get up and walk away. (Kind of like you wanting to give up on reading and studying your bible!) The thing God called us to do is to constantly lay ourselves down on the altar everyday. Everyday you have to resacrifice yourself and consider the things you will need to do in your life to make yourself a holy sacrifice. There should be a noticeable difference between the way you carry yourself and live your life compared to someone who doesn't know God. Your life should be pleasing to God and set apart for him. What things do you have in your life that are not pleasing to God? Think about that and pray about that before we start our reading today. Tell God that you want to live a life set apart for Him.
Now lets read Romans 12:4-8. During this week we will dig further into Romans 12 and see the instructions that the bible gives us for living a life transformed and set apart.
Have you finished reading the passages yet? Yes? Good! Let's begin!
Romans 12:4-5
(Because we are going over a smaller portion of text this week I will copy down the verses before I make my commentary. I am using the NKJV, so your version may be slightly different, the meaning, however, will be the same.)
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, and individually members of one another.
Now let me walk you through this verse in case you didn't understand it. Here you must think about your own body. Look down at yourself right now. You probably see your arms, your legs, your feet if you are sitting at a desk or table, and your toes. You do not see your own eyes, mouth, nose, ears, unless you are looking in a mirror. Think about all the parts you have that make up your one body. Do you realize how amazing you are? Each part of your body has its own function. Your heart pumps the blood throughout your body, your lungs help you to breathe, your eyes help you to see. Each part of your body makes up the whole of what is "you" and yet each part does its own thing. Now that you have thought about your own body, lets go back to the verse. Just like our bodies, we who are in Christ (meaning those who have accepted the free gift of salvation) make up the whole body of Christ. We are the representatives for Christ on this Earth. Everywhere we go unbelievers should see Christ through us. But just as we are altogether the body of Christ we also have our own functions. That means that you have a function in Christ. Just like a part of a natural body, there is something that you were created to do for the body.
Romans 12:6-8
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophesy, 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.
So in these passages we see that we all have gifts that were given to us and that we should use them as part of the body of Christ. The first example is the gift of prophesy. Prophesy is a spiritual gift in which the Holy Spirit reveals to a person what is happening in the lives of others or what will happen in the lives of others. There were many prophets in the old testament that would hear from God or have dreams that would be messages to others about the things to come. This is a gift I would love to have! But I don't have it. It is important to see here that prophesy should be used in proportion to your faith.
The second example is ministry. This would be the act of serving others or being a minister, like Pastor Erik.
The third is teaching. That is me! The teacher. And I am called to use my gift of teaching to act in the body of Christ. I should use my gift to help further the kingdom, to act as Christ would if he were still walking on Earth today.
Exhortation. What is that? It is giving encouragement and motivating others. I bet there are a lot of you out there with that gift! That is a gift that you can use to be the hands of Christ at your school. You can encourage your friends who are going through a difficult situation. Maybe you know someone whose parents are getting divorced, or had a recent death in the family. You can use your gift to remind them of God's love for them and your love for them. You can encourage them and uplift them through simple acts of kindness and love, maybe just a friendly text and a movie night at your house. The possibilities are endless. If this is your gift, use it!
Giving. Some people have a true gift of giving. They are able to give continuously of themselves and their finances with a cheerful heart. If this is you the passage says for you to give liberally. This means freely. You may be wondering if you have this gift. I told you earlier that I am a teacher. I always can tell which student in my classroom has the gift of giving. They always want to give me things and will all year long. These students are children, so its not like they are giving me a million dollars, but they will give me their old toys, old pins, they will color pictures for me, draw pictures for me, and give me old projects they have made. If this sounds like you then you know you have a gift of giving! Give to further the kingdom. Give to be an example of Christ to those around you. If you know of someone that needs something that you have, give it to them! Of course, don't give away expensive things without consulting your parents! But ask your parents and then give what you feel the Lord has given you to give.
Leading. How many of you are natural born leaders? The passage here says to lead with diligence, which means to lead carefully, heedfully, thoughtfully. If you are in a position at your school where you know the other kids will follow whatever you do, then you know you have been given the gift of leadership! Use it to bring glory to God. Instead of leading others into making mistakes or doing something that you know is displeasing to God, be a positive example. If you begin talking about going to church and reading your bible in front of your friends, you could actually lead others unto Christ's path for their lives! This is very exciting!
Mercy. This is the ability to be kind and forgiving under circumstances that perhaps others would not be able. Some of you have an amazing gift of mercy because you are known as the friend that will always be there. You are slow to be angry with your friends and family and you enjoy keeping peace in your relationships. That is a gift! Use it for the glory of God and do it with cheerfulness. Do not just be kind because that is what you are called to do but do it happily. You will do mighty things for God if you can daily show mercy to those around you and do it in His name.
So now that we have looked at these passages in Romans you should have a better idea of what you can do to transform your life daily. Remember, as Pastor Erik said tonight, we are called to be a living sacrifice, set apart for Him. How can you begin doing that? Look at the spiritual gifts outlined here. Which one do you have? Once you have identified it begin using it this week for the glory of God. As you do this you will be giving your life over as a sacrifice for the good of God's kingdom. Isn't that wonderful??
I don't know about you, but I am excited to use my gift this week! Take a moment to pray about your gift and that God will open doors for you to use your gift this week. Then delibrately use that gift this week!
Until tomorrow--God bless!
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