Romans 12:1-8            Why Spiritual Gifts?                                 Oct 12, 2008

        We are in the third week of our sermon series on Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts.  We had a great Bible Study last Sunday night with everyone saying how much they gained.  We will continue that study tonight.   But some of you may be wondering, “Why are we spending eight weeks talking about spiritual gifts?  Why do I need to know about spiritual gifts?”  Well let me answer that this morning.  You need to know about spiritual gifts if you 1. You want Jesus to be your lord and you want to please him and follow him in the best way possible.  2. You want your church to be a healthy and growing fellowship of people showing God’s love in your community.  You see, many Christians and many churches think that they are doing just fine.   In reality, most Christians in America are not doing just fine.  And the reality is that most churches in America are not doing just fine.   We are not reaching our God’s most important goal for us.  What is the church’s most important goal?  To grow people to become more like the character of Jesus Christ so that their lives are pleasing to a Holy God.  

      Look at today’s scripture in Romans 12.  “I urge you brothers and sisters that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable to God….Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed…so that you may do what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God.”   Now that is a mouthful.  What does it all mean?  The Bible instructs us to give ourselves to God.  Not give ourselves to this world, but give ourselves to God so that we can do his good and pleasing and perfect will.  Let me ask you seriously.  Is that your desire?  Is it the desire of your heart to live your life so that it is within the good and pleasing and perfect will of God?   Listen, you always want to be the best you can be at what you love.  If you are into golf, then you want to be the best you can be. If you love to cook, you want to be a good cook.   If you are into fishing, you want to catch the biggest and the most fish you can catch.  I mean, you invest in it.  You buy better rods and reels.  You get a better boat.  You spend more time on the lake.  You talk to other fisherman, read magazines, watch TV shows.  I was fishing once with a friend and we were not having much luck.  Finally, I commented, “Well. It does not matter.  I mostly come fishing just to relax.”  And my friend responded, “I come fishing to catch fish.”   We all have things we love and we want to do well at it.  There is nothing wrong with that.  But let me ask you—Do you love God?  If you have been born again, become a follower of Jesus, and if you love God then you will want to do the good and pleasing and perfect will of God.   Romans 12:1-2 calls us to consecration and sanctification.  It is a calling to give ourselves to God so that we can live in God’s perfect will. 

     Now I believe many of you do long for the life found in Roman 12:1-2.   You have prayed on many occasions that you could give yourself more to God.  You have prayed that you could have the strength to do God’s will.  You have longed to enter more fully into the victorious life of faith which is promised by Jesus.  At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered this prayer: "Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen."  I know that is the prayer for many of you.  And yet many of us have struggled to make this a reality.  What are we to do?

     Look at the next verse.  That is always a good idea.  Look at the next verses.   Romans 12:3 says, “I urge every one of you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment each according to the measure of faith given by God.”   Paul is telling us that if we want to present ourselves to do the perfect will of God then we should not think too much of ourselves but to think clearly about ourselves to see the measure of faith God has given to each of us.  The Phillips translation of the Bible says to “try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities.”   You see, there are two steps in beginning to do the will of God.   First, we are not too think too much of ourselves.  We are not so much on our own and cannot do so much on our own.  But secondly, we are to think clearly, to evaluate soberly, to determine sanely just what is the measure, the amount of faith which has been given to us by God and what we can do with faith in God.     

        Now look at verses 4-6….. Each of us is unique and each of us has been gifted with different measures of faith.  The body has many parts and each part has its own function and gift.  And we who are the Body of Christ also have different functions and gifts.  And verse six says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.”  What does all this mean?  

      Listen closely to what we have found in these passages.  We are to give ourselves to God so that we can do God’s perfect will in our lives. (Romans 12:1-2)  We do this not by our own power, thinking too much of ourselves.  (Romans 12:3)  No.  We do this by discovering clearly what measure of faith God has given to us.  (Romans 12:3) We are all unique and different.  The Body of Christ has many parts.  (Romans 12:4-5)  We are to discover what gifts we have and then use them to do God’s perfect will. (Romans 12:6)  Are you with me to this point?

       So many Christians have longed to carry out Romans 12:1-2 and to give themselves fully to God, to be transformed, and to do the perfect will of God for their lives.  But the interpretive key to unlocking this passage is in the next verses.  To do God’s perfect will for my life, I need to discover the gifts God has given to me.  I need to use the gifts God has given to me.  Only then will I live God’s will for my life.

        Now this opens up an amazing door for many people.  God’s perfect will for my life is not the same as God’s perfect will for your life.  Sure, the Bible has general teachings for us all.  We are all commanded not to murder, steal, or commit adultery.  But if I want to live in God’s daily guidance for my life then I need more than general rules.  I need to give myself to God, discover God’s gifts in my life, and then use those gifts to do God’s will.   So why are we spending eight weeks to learn about our spiritual gifts?  Why do we want you to attend this six week study on Sunday nights?  Why do we want every member in this church to take a Spiritual Gifts survey test later this fall?  Because we want to help you think soberly, more clearly about the measure of faith that God has given to each of you.  Because as you better know who you are in God, then you will better know what you are to do in God.  

       So many Christians want to serve God.  They want to do what God would have them do.  The best way to do God’s will is to discover your gifts given to you by God.   Discover who you were made to become.  Amen.