A Simple Life (Romans 12:1) Part 4

I am preaching for our visitors a series of sermons, based on Romans, Chapter 12, we call them horizontal, sermons that have to do with the daily life of the believer, both in the context of the church and also in the context of general life. Last Sunday we were talking about serving the Lord with that gracious attitude and getting to know each other better. Today I'm going to do a quick summary. Let's go to verse 3:

"I say then, by the grace that is given to me, to each one who is among you that he should not have a higher opinion of himself than he should have, but think of yourself with sanity, according to the measure of faith that God distributed to each one. Because in the way that in a body we have many members but not all the members have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ and all members one of another. So that having different gifts according to the grace that is given to us, if that of prophecy, use it according to the measure of faith; or if of service, in serving; or the one who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; the one who distributes, with liberality, the one who presides, with solicitude; he who shows mercy, with joy.”

That is the word of the Lord to us this morning. Last Sunday, brothers, we talked about how it is developed, how it is served in the context of the church. We saw that Paul says "by the grace that is given to me" recognizing that the gifts he had came from God. We saw that it says that we should not have a higher opinion of ourselves than the one we should have. Let's not see ourselves as taller, more capable, or more gifted than we actually have a right to see ourselves, but rather see ourselves sanely, and that's where we stopped.

How should we see ourselves? In a natural way, in a modest way, seeing ourselves neither higher nor lower than we should see ourselves. We also talked about the importance that this means that we have to know ourselves, we have to know what gifts we have. It is important that we know ourselves, that we ask the Lord for wisdom, discernment, self-knowledge, that we can see ourselves as God sees us, in that wise, honest way. Many of us sometimes disguise our defects, sometimes we don't even know we have them and we blame others, we project our defects onto others so we don't see ourselves exactly as we should see ourselves.

You know, brother, if you don't recognize your flaws those flaws will sooner or later conspire to harm you in your life. It's better to be honest with yourself and admit your mistakes early in life so you're not making the same mistakes all the time.

Honesty with ourselves and with others is a wonderfully healthy thing for everyone. Neuroses come from aspects of our personality that we are not recognizing and that become infected due to a lack of expression and air to breathe.

The other thing that comes out of that text that we said is that we have to accept ourselves as well. We need to accept ourselves. Because? Because many times when we recognize our faults and our faults we can fall into the excess of always seeing ourselves as defective and feeling perpetually guilty. We are sometimes so aware of our failures that we have no peace. So this distorts our way. Some solve that problem by overcompensating and going to the other extreme and trying to cover up that insecurity with great achievements and expensive dresses and swaggering talk and pride because there's some essential insecurity in their personality that won't let them live, and so they want to like putting deodorant on it, talking loudly and pretending a lot, but in reality that insecurity is there.

This is also important because many times, brothers in the context of the church, if God has given you a modest gift, be satisfied with that gift and receive it and thank the Lord for it, but do not envy the gift of the evangelist. There are some people who want to be Benny Hind and they're not happy because God has just given them a local evangelistic ministry and they don't have peace because they can't wear that white suit with that silky tie that Benny Hind wears, so they're continually dissatisfied because they're wanting something. more and the word says: accept yourself as you are.

The other consequence, and we're entering new ground now. The other consequence of this is that our abilities are gifts, they are gifts, charismata is the word in Greek. Acts of grace from the Lord for us who do not really deserve everything we have, how many know that it is by God's grace. I am a pastor by mercy and by the grace of God, not because I earned it, because I am who I am, no, God undeservedly called me to the ministry. You have a gift of singing not because you deserve it but because God gave you when you created it, he gave you vocal cords that sing well. The consequence of this, brothers, is that we must discharge our duties and our gifts with humility and with gratitude to the Lord, how good it is to be grateful for what God has given us. How good it is to know that it is simply by the grace of the Lord and to thank God every day. Every time a singer stands here, or a musician or a worshiper of a conductor, thank the Lord that the Lord allows you to direct and preside over such an important aspect of his church. Every time the usher serves and does something in the house of the Lord, thank God for that because he is playing an important role.

We always have to go back before the Lord and thank God and commit ourselves to do better and better because it is a gift, it is a merciful act on God's part. We have to do it with humility and in subjection to the holy spirit.

There is also a fourth thing, a fourth consequence of this idea of doing things wisely, according to the measure of faith, and it is that it continues here saying in the way that God distributed to each one, it says: "Because of the so that in a body we have many members but not all the members have the same function, so we do. There is an implication here that giving and serving the Lord should always be done with an attitude of recognition that we are doing it in the context of a community. Being many we are one, we are part of a body, an indissoluble, total unit. In the motto of this nation is "et pluribus unum" in Latin. In Latin it means one of many. This nation is a nation of immigrants, a multitude of races and cultures and ethnic groups, and the idea in the motto of this nation is that there is a unity of all of that. That is what the idea behind it is, that there are many gifts that God distributes in the church, many gifts, different types of gifts but they are all part of a whole, of a single purpose, a single organism. And what is the purpose of that body? Advance the Kingdom of God. What does that mean? That the gifts are not supposed to be performed by lone rangers, each one on his two-legged white horse, doing his thing out there and fighting with the others, and each one seeking his own glory, but it must be in unity. Amen, in harmony, as a team, no one looking for their own glory, no one looking to stand out to show off themselves. That's part of "don't think of yourself higher than you should."

Brothers, when we receive a gift and when we perform it in the church we must do it like a basketball player who is in a game with the ball, and he knows that he cannot catch that ball and go straight to try to throw it in the It's not just him, but he's part of a team and if he sees another player nearby who can advance the ball faster, he's not going to think "oh, he's going to take away the glory of throwing the ball", no , he throws it to the other, because the idea is for the team to win. You understand? A good player who is always looking for his own glory is not a good team player. And likewise when we perform our gifts, we have to do it as if we don't want to take the glory, the glory has to be for Christ Jesus, the advance has to be for the Kingdom of God. If you did your thing sit back and let someone else take the glory. You will know in your heart that you contributed in some way to the success. It is so important that we are sure of ourselves, the insecure person cannot do this. Now when one is seated in God you do not need the glory of anyone because you know that the Lord up there registers and He knows where the balance is, and then one can do things without thinking that another took the glory.

That is so important, brothers. One of the problems that I sometimes have as a pastor is when people get used to carrying out a function in the church and have a position, for example, and another person comes along who can perhaps do the same or better, how difficult it is to say, "Little brother, can you open this brother up a little slowly so that....", and they growl and are like a dog that you come to take their bone. Immediately his hair stands up because they feel threatened. "This is my land, I have bled to get it, so you are not going to take it from me." There are other people who say: “Okay pastor, whatever you want, don't worry, I'll go there and depress myself but, amen, glory to God, God knows one day He will let it be known what the truth is about. ... Don't worry, brother, go ahead, go ahead.” They adopt this attitude of slaughtered lamb, but always with the same things, of showing their wound because they feel that this is mine. Brothers, in the Kingdom of God there is nothing that belongs to any of us, everything belongs to the Lord, we are stewards, we are stewards of what God has given us, when it is required to give it, let it go, God has something better for you. The simple and humble person of heart will always have something to do in the Kingdom of God, now the person who has personal secret agendas will always have problems in the Kingdom of God, because the holy spirit will be against him or her. she. That is a truth of the service.

It is so important, brothers, that we carry out our work with humility of heart, with a spirit of service to the Lord, in a context of community, that God circulates us as He wants and when He wants, that what I I have to hold it lightly in my hand because it's not mine anyway, it belongs to the church and it belongs to the Kingdom of the Lord, and that blesses a ministry. The person who acts that way will be prosperous and blessed and that is also true in the family. Man must, although he is the leader of the home by God's declaration, but he must delegate, he must share, he must serve. This that you are the "head of the house", some say with a swollen head "I am the head of the house", but Christ is the head of the church and yet he gave himself in service for her. Christ is a leader who serves.

In the family it is important, at work it is important. The person who has a team spirit will be blessed and prosperous and there will always be people looking for that type of leadership. So let us be leaders, servants in the context of the body. The best leaders are people who know how to live as a team and in this church I always want our leaders to be people who know how to work as a team.

I look for men and women who serve the Lord in a context of humility. I don't care how many gifts you have, and how many skills and how many titles, if you don't have a simple, humble, meek heart, I'm not interested in working a lot with you because in the long run it's going to be a problem. I would like the Lord to allow us that each year more and more we endow ourselves with people who have a spirit of meekness and that the fruit of the holy spirit is evident in everything they do.

What protects our ministry the most, brothers, is the fruit of the holy spirit, it is not speaking a lot in the tongue, nor having a lot of anointing, what protects us from the attacks of the devil is the character of Jesus Christ because against that Satan he does not know what to do. Let us be people who manifest the fruit of the holy spirit always and who work in the context of a body.

Look at some of these gifts. Let's quickly look at some of the qualities and the services, the types of service gifts. By the way let me tell you something, sometimes in the church it has been said that there are 9 gifts. It says 9 gifts: prophecy, miracles, faith, discernment of spirit, tongues, interpretation of tongues, evangelism, etc. There are more than 9 gifts, brothers. Those 9 gifts are very special gifts, very specific, but in reality there are several lists of gifts. That list that is in First Corinthians, 12 is not an exhaustive list, it is simply a representative list but there are many gifts that God distributes and here we also have another list of very similar gifts that are quite diverse. It says:

“...being many, we are one body in Christ and all members one of another. So that having different gifts according to the grace that is given to us, according to the blessing of God that we have received, if that of prophecy, use it according to the measure of faith; What does that mean, the gift of prophecy is a precious gift, prophecy is not just actually predicting the future. Prophesying is not only predicting the future, but it is also declaring a truth from God, a specific message from God for a given moment, for a specific context, it does not have to be predicting the future. The prophet Haggai, for example, prophesies about the need to build the temple that is decaying. He is not prophesying about the future at that moment, he is prophesying yes, about a desire that God has for his temple to be rebuilt, and that is prophesying. Many times preaching can be prophecy. How many brothers often tell me: “Pastor. You hit the nail on the head with a problem I had in my life, and you talked about a specific need, answered a specific question." Well, I was prophesying at the time and didn't even realize it. Many times, in fact, when I stand here in front of the pulpit every morning, I stop with the idea that I am going to prophesy to you the word of the Lord, that God is going to speak his word, I come with certain ideas. , some previous study, notes that I have made, reflection during the week, but I stop here and I want the Lord to assemble all of this in the way that he wants and that the word that He wants to come out for you.

Dare to speak that way in your life and when God puts something in your spirit, speak it out in the name of the Lord. You know this morning when I was sitting there, something came over me, it was a thought, I didn't hear an audible voice, but it was: "today he preaches in English and Spanish." Do you know what motivated me? I'm here preaching this sermon and translating it right there in the spirit of prophecy. Do you know what motivated me to do that? When I went in and saw our North American brother here, accompanying this Honduran sister with her son, who are here visiting the state of Massachusetts for medical attention, and this brother comes from Wooster, because he wants this sister to have an experience with her son of worship in a Hispanic context. This brother does not have to be doing that, but I wanted to honor him by preaching in English to bless his life because that spirit is what blesses the church of Jesus Christ. That is why I am doing what I am doing this morning, because I believe that God has his way of blessing his children and we have to obey those impulses of the spirit. That is the spirit of prophecy. Many times God wants us to do things and a thought comes to us, an impulse comes to us and we say: "No, that's..." and we throw it aside, that's sometimes God wanting you to do something for God. someone, and if you dare to do it in the name of the Lord that has power and you see the blessing that flows when you do things.

It is so important, brothers, that we learn to live in the spirit of prophecy. You have been endowed with a spiritual receiver called the holy spirit that is within you, and God wants to speak to your life and speaks many times to your life, if you are willing to listen. Open your life to God's communications. I ask the Lord: “Father, help me to live my life prophetically, to live each day thinking that at any moment you can send a message and want to use me in some way. I'm going to obey that word, so we have to live as waiting prophets.

If you pay attention God will often speak into your life, but faith is required. That is why the Apostle says "...according to the measure of faith". Because some people don't have enough faith and so God wants to speak through them, and God wants to speak through them, or do something prophetically but they dismiss him, they push him aside because he doesn't feel that it's important, that it really belongs. God. You have to take risks. Many times speaking the word of God requires you to take risks. Making a fool of yourself or saying something out of character, or whatever, but you do it in the name of the Lord anyway, and you'll never be embarrassed, if you do it sensitively. The more you let yourself be used by the spirit, the more the holy spirit wants to use you, but when the spirit speaks to you and you cast aside his word and ignore it, then the spirit is saddened and says "well, I'm going to retire, I'm going to to wait until he or she learns to listen to my voice and obey my impulses.

Prophecy, very important, it's something wonderful, that context of prophecy is beautiful. “... if of prophecy, use it according to the measure of faith; or if of service, in serving”. First of all, I am struck by the fact that in this list of 8 or 9 gifts, Paul puts serving as the second gift, next to prophecy, which would seem something simple, something humble that does not have much meaning, yet Paul puts it in second place.

You'd think Paul would put the gift of service last on the list because it's one of the simplest, yet he puts it second. Because? Brethren, to me, serving is the very essence of Christian leadership. Through each day, throughout our lives there are always opportunities to serve, brothers. There are so many ways that we can enrich the Kingdom of God with small acts of service. Again, what this brother is doing, and excuse me if I'm being too insistent on that, my desire is not to single out anyone in particular, or make him feel bad, but how nice an act of service like that is. For me, that is worth more than even what I am doing here, preaching up here, because that, unless I did not show it, perhaps no one would realize that, but the Lord realizes that.

Brother Jansen brings a brother every Sunday to the 9 o'clock service. That means he has to get up earlier, pick him up from where he lives, bring him here, sometimes take him back to eat at someplace. That is an act of service. It is given every Sunday and that glorifies the Lord. There are people who complain that: "Oh, they are not using me, I can't do anything" and they are looking for the pastor to get them a position. Brothers, look around you there is need. You can serve in so many things by bringing someone to church. How many times do you want to find someone who will go looking for a person, but since that does not have glory, and does not have public recognition, well, people do not want to do it because it requires you to go out, go too far, get out of your comfort zone. And that's why many times we don't serve. There are people you have to visit in hospitals. Serve the Lord! There are people you have to call on the phone, call them and encourage them and bless them. That is service. There are children in our classes who need teachers. Where are the teachers? Let them get upset and stop coming to the service a few Sundays to bless that childhood that the devil is trying to win for himself. That is serving the Lord. To serve is to make yourself uncomfortable so that another may be blessed.

Service. Serving is something simple but it has great glory and sometimes the simple things are the ones that God blesses the most because the great ones already have their reward, simply because they are recognizable. I thank the Lord for the hujieres who serve every day and I thank the Lord for the person who is there in the parking lot doing his job. That is serving. Churches thrive on people who serve.

If you don't know how to serve, you don't serve. If you first do not know how to do things in humility and simplicity and lack of recognition, you cannot be promoted to other greater things, you should not be promoted.

Come good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over little, I will put you over much. That is the dynamic that the servant of God must serve. Serve the Lord in small things and God will promote you to big things. But don't be looking for glory, don't put yourself in front of others, let them take you where they have to take you. Always seek God's blessing in your life. Serve in small things and you will be promoted to greater things.

A third party. "... the one who teaches, in teaching" . I am struck by this, and in the original Greek this idea is still more clearly felt that serving God naturally. Look, if you received a gift of service, then it is useful; if one of teaching, teaches; if one prophesies, he prophesies; if to be in leadership, be a proper leader. What God gave you, play it naturally, play it with ease, play it spontaneously.

Teaching, how important it is to have good teachers in schools, in churches. It is not enough to convert people, you also have to lead them to be people who know the word of God. A church must not only evangelize, but also instruct the people of God.

It is important, my brothers, that just as it is important that there are teachers in the church and in each church there is a teaching ministry, it is also important that there are people who submit to teaching, people who are eager to learn. It is so sad that there are many churches, for example in our church for the glory of the Lord, we have 7, 8, 9, 10 classes offered each semester. Now in September the discipleship classes start again, we have a lot of different classes for different levels of teaching. Now people need to come to those classes, that's the other part. If the table is offered, the diners have to come and participate in it. Let it not be like the parable of the king who made a banquet and opened the doors and prepared everything and no one came. How sad that.

Brethren, God wants you not to live your lives rickety in faith. God does not want just Sunday women who come to church and do not know the word of God. Listen to me if you are a new believer, if you are new to the Kingdom of God, God wants you to proceed to maturity. God wants you to develop a desire to study the word of the Lord. You don't have to be a genius. The classes we give are made for any level and we do not require great displays of intellect, just a healthy desire to learn. Even if you don't know how to read or write, don't worry, there is a place for you, but you need to learn and you have to bother. Classes are given from 11 to 12 every Sunday, they will start again in September. You can bother one more hour of your time, give to the Lord and your life and you will be blessed for it. The people who take these classes are blessed and there is a need for both teachers and people who are taught as well. I encourage you in the name of Jesus, when you have the opportunity, study the word of God.

When trials come, when difficulties come, you have the word of the Lord in your heart, that word will keep you like a compass, like a plumb line that will keep you focused, but you need to study, receive the word of the Sir, teaching is important.

When we serve brothers, in the church, when we serve in our family, men, women, if you direct in a factory, in an office or if you work, if you serve in any way, do it in the spirit of Jesus Christ, do it do it with humility, do it with meekness, do it with gratitude, do it with a sense of not deserving that privilege, do it with a sense of service to others and not of serving yourself, and God will bless your ministry. This is simplicity in service.

Simplicity in service. God help us in any area of life to serve him and to serve others with simplicity of heart. Amen

Let's bow our heads, let's ask the Lord. We are going to receive that word actively. Ask the Lord that He allows that in your ministry, in your life of service, whatever it may be, in whatever field you serve, whether it is in the church, if it is in the family, if it is in the community, if it is in the context of a job, that God allows you to do it with simplicity of spirit, as a team worker, as a harmonious person, not with a private agenda, not with a search for glory, not with rebellion, not with a personal agenda but in the spirit of Jesus, knowing that God is watching over you, that his eyes run through the whole earth looking for those with a perfect heart towards him, to show himself powerful in their favor.

Let's serve the Lord, how is my life, how do people see me? They see me as a source of blessing, a person who serves with love, with humility, or they see me as a burden to their lives and when they see me coming they scare me. How do you serve at home? How do you serve in your work? How do you serve your family? How do you serve in the church? If you serve with simplicity, God will bless you, he will prosper you, he will take you to another level of life. Wherever you go, serve the Lord with humility of heart and do things not for men, as those who want to please the eye, but as for God.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Father, for your word this morning. We adore you, we bless you, Lord, we give you all honor and glory, Father. We bless you Lord, exclusively be the honor and be the glory. Not to us the glory, Lord, but to you, Father. Help us to be simple and humble people of heart.

We receive your word Lord in Jesus name.