A Simple Life (Romans 12:1) Part 4

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SUMMARY: In Romans 12, the Apostle Paul calls for Christians to have a modest view of themselves, knowing their gifts and limitations, accepting themselves, and discharging their gifts with gratitude and humility. He also emphasizes the importance of exercising gifts in the context of the church, working as a team towards a specific goal, and being secure in God instead of seeking approval from men. These principles are also applicable in the context of the family and leadership. The passage mentions prophesy as a gift, which is not just about foretelling the future but also forth telling God's specific will at a given moment. Christians are called to announce the word of God in the spirit of prophesy, allowing the Holy Spirit to use them as vessels for the blessing of others.

The passage talks about prophesy not just being about predicting the future but also giving the word of God with a special anointing. We should live life prophetically and always be ready to be a channel of God's grace in the world. Service is at the core of Christian leadership and we should be willing to serve in any capacity. Teaching is also important and we should be willing to learn and grow in our knowledge of the word of God. We should do all of these things with humility and a servant spirit.

We’re going to Romans, Chapter 12. We’ve been preaching a serious of sermons on, I call them horizontal sermons, sermons that deal with the daily life of the Christians, both in the context of the church and also in the context of the daily existence in general. We’re going to begin with verse 3:

I don’t know if everybody has their Bible in English but I’ll translate loosely. It says: By the grace that is given to me I say to you, to each one of you who’s among, that you don’t have a higher esteem of yourself than you need to have, but rather to think of yourself with modesty according to the measure of faith that God gave to each, because in the same manner that in our body we have different members, but not all the members have the same function, in that same way, being many we are one body in Jesus Christ and all members one of the others, in such a way that having different gifts according to the grace that is given to us, if we have the gift of prophesy let us use it according to the measure of faith; or if of service, in serving: or if teaching, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who shares with liberality, or with generosity; he who presides with zeal and he who makes acts of mercy or performs acts of mercy, with joy.