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I filled speak, filled with messages from thee. I pray that we might be encouraged.
Father, you know, every heart here, every burden, every struggle, I just pray there's something to encourage everyone down here today. And the neighbor Lords of Christ, we pray, Amen. Amen.
Romans chapter 12 and verse 4.
For as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office.
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.
I mean then yes, different according to the grace is given to us.
Whether prophecy? Let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith.
Simplicity.
Either ruleeth with diligence, either showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Let love be without dissimulations, and before that which is evil cleaved to that which is good.
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Be kind the affection 1 to another with brotherly love and honor referring one another.
Not slothful in business.
Bourbon and spirit serving the Lord.
Rejoicing in hope.
Patient in tribulation.
Bless them which persecute you, Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Be of the same mind, one toward another.
Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.
Be not wise in your own conceits.
Recompense to no man, evil for evil.
Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men.
Yearly below.
Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place on the wrath.
What is written? Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore of thine enemy hunger feed him. If he thirst, give him drink before. In so doing thou shalt heap holds a fire on his head.
Before we go on, just to clarify something that was brought up in conversation between the meetings in connection with the world, and we spoke a great deal of not being conformed to the world and so on. Yet it might be helpful just to say that there is a way that we can use the things of this world in a proper way. There's a way to use the unrighteous mammon in a way that is for God's glory and for the furtherance of the truth.
And for instance, just to bring it right home in a practical way, none of us came to these meetings in a horse and buggy. We were thankful for a comfortable vehicle that we could drive in. I suppose most of us in the, uh, last day or two have in one way or another availed ourselves of the technology that is, uh, around us. And so there is a way that we can use these things, uh, that is for God's glory and as I say, for the blessing of others.
We're not isolationist.
We, uh, we, we, we don't want to stand out as being different in that way. We need to live in a way in our society that, uh, is a good testimony so we can be used of the Lord. And so it might be helpful for some others to make a comment or two without belaboring it Be nice to go on, but I just say again, we can use the things of this world in a proper way without being conformed to the world.
There's times when the world is used in the sense of a system of things where man establishes himself without God.
You have that begun in Cain when he went out of the presence of the Lord and built a city.
It was a system of things that was begun there, and that's the world we're talking about here, isn't it?
There are things in the world that we use, like you say.
And that's why in I think it's First Corinthians 7, it says using the world but not abusing it. And so we can take up those things. We're thankful for this facility this afternoon and com the comforts of it. That's using it but not abusing it.
Soberly, but to think soberly.
According as God has dared to every man the measure of faith.
You were just talking about the convenience that we have.
Says one word and we drive a car. It's very important.
You might all we all know.
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If we do that, we can survive. We can't even do it. We're not allowed to do it and we won't be able to.
Because we have to know what cars to drive and what.
To buy and we have to go to school to learn how to drive it and we have to know all the facilities that go with it.
You have to know the traffic loss. We have to know how to get along in traffic and all these things.
That all applies to our walk with the Lord.
First of all, we have to know the Lord, not just to know that we are Christians. We have to personally know the Lord as our Savior, and we know how to approach the Lord and we know have to know how to pray. We now have to know what to pray, and we have to know what the Scripture says.
We can't just say it while we are Christians. We are born in a Christian home. We grew up in a Christian family. So we don't be safe. We are certainly going to be safe, but what about having personal?
Contact with the Lord Jesus.
That is the first thing that we have to know.
And then we have to learn what's in the Scripture, where we find his words, where they are, and how to apply them.
And all these things all all that pertains to be.
Acting soberly, it tells us everything, what we do, how to dress, how to behave.
How to be patient?
And how to?
Sustained temptations, as we have it in James.
The Epistle of James riding the first chapter we read that.
And he tells us all about it.
So we have to know many things and.
We have to make our up our minds that we want to do it.
To make up our minds.
Called to another world, brother to a higher scene of glory. And it's so easy in the world we're passing through to.
To lose our perspective, our proper perspective. We're not called to this world. We're passing through it. And like you say, we have to obey the laws of it, but we're not part of it.
We're passing on to a new world.
In verses one and two, we have the mercy of God involved as we had in the last reading meeting. Something new is introduced to us here in verse 3, and that's the grace of God and that sets the contrast to what is before.
The apostle Paul says in verse 3, before he gets into verse four and on he says, The grace given unto me I wanna.
For us to turn to where he comments on that more in First Corinthians chapter 15.
To illuminate a little bit where he's what he has to say here in this chapter.
In First Corinthians chapter 15.
He says in verse 10.
But by the grace of God, I am what I am.
And His grace which was bestowed upon me, He's going to talk in verses 4 and beyond of the grace of God bestowed upon the brethren. But here he's talking about his purse, his own life. The grace of God which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all that is the apostles.
Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me, and so on.
In our chapter, he's saying now we're going to talk about the grace of God and what the grace of God gives to each one of us in order to serve him. And this is something new.
This grace of God acting in them was not something that had been part of their lives before their salvation.
They had been those who had walked according to the course of the world, according to the pattern that we had briefly in Romans chapter one, where their bodies and their minds were being used according to the will of man in contrast to the will of God.
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But here he's saying, now I want to talk to you about something that God, that your believers has given you in grace to use for himself.
That is, and then he goes on in the verse that follows in the end of the verse, according as God has dealt to every man.
Uh, the measure of faith.
Every single believer in this room has, by the grace of God, been given something.
To use for himself for more than one thing.
But there's a danger connected with it immediately and that.
It's as easy to have pride as it is to breathe.
It's, it's, it's just as easy to be proud, I think, as it is to breathe. It's just so natural to the human heart. And oh, I have something that's different than you, brother, sister.
And it sets me apart from you a little bit because I have it and you don't.
And so I think high thoughts about myself.
And what is that? We take the work of the grace of God in US and take the credit for it and think well of ourselves. And the very first, I think most say, book of the Bible that was ever written is the book of Job.
And the whole of the book of Job takes up this high minded problem that is so natural to man before God almost gives us anything else from himself. And that is the fact that God in grace had made Job something above his fellows in the matter of righteousness.
And Job took the credit for it.
And God had to teach him that the source of what he was was in God himself that in grace had given it to him.
And the apostle Paul is one that labored more than any other. But we, uh, also thank God that he learned the truth of grace and could say in truth, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And as a consequence, he didn't take the personal credit for it, but he said it's the work of God. And so we're gonna see things that God has given us to do.
In these verses for and on.
But at the same time, there is a needs be in every one of us.
The only.
The only safe place.
Not to be proud. There's one place we know where we'll not be proud, and that's in the presence of God.
And so it's, uh, I appreciate a brother in Michigan many years ago when people were gonna tell him a dirty joke at work. I've always remembered this statement. He responded to them, He said, men, I live in the presence of God.
And everyone of us needs to live in the presence of God in the way that keeps humility in or pride in check and brings a humbleness to the soul. Otherwise we haven't, are not. We're gonna misuse these things that God has entrusted to us to use for himself, because we will be.
Tendency have the tendency to be high minded about them no matter what they are.
One body of Christ and.
Each one of us, brethren, has something to do in the body of Christ.
And what will hinder our usefulness?
Is thinking highly of ourselves.
Lord help us, we all got it and I think it's best to admit it and to confess it to the Lord and let Him help us in dealing with this. I often think of that verse we often quote in first John One where it says we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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We don't know how to do the clean up job sometimes, brother, but when we can admit it in the presence of the Lord and confess it to Him, He can operate in US and I think that's important.
Gives God his rightful place, and so if we take credit or become proud, we're really robbing God of some of his place. I believe that's why it's so obnoxious.
But how? How wonderful to take Grace, on the other hand, humbly.
But not, not feebly, not in weakness. But uh, grace isn't receiving something and grace isn't weakness, but along with it comes the faith to use the gift. And so we, we can be bold and zealous in whatever little thing the Lord may have given us.
The grace of God, who appreciates in their soul the, the, uh, the GR, the grace of God. Because grace does not tough us up and grace does not.
Allow us or teach us to live for ourselves. We're gonna give ourselves as a living sacrifice. We're gonna be a blessing to the people of God. We must learn grace. We must have an appreciation in our souls of grace and grace. As has already been said, it leaves no room for pride or self.
And it's interesting that in the verses we began with in verse four and five, where he brings in very briefly here. And I think it's perhaps the only time in Romans, at least it's the first time and perhaps the only time he brings in the body of Christ because it's particularly individual in Romans. But he brings it in because I think of that verse in Proverbs that says only by pride cometh contention. And if we seek to fulfill the little function that God has given us as members of the body.
And we do it with pride or self esteem. It's not going to be effective. We're going to grate on one another. It's not gonna be for the Lord's glory and it's not going to be for the blessing of the people of God.
We are unique, everyone of us are unique, and as members of the body of Christ, we have a little function. We have a place to fulfill in the body that no one else can fill quite as well as you can and quite as well as I can. But that oughtn't to puff us up. As Don said, we are. If we have a real sense of grace, the uniqueness that we have been given in the body of Christ is really going to humble us and cause us to fulfill that little function.
For the Lord's glory and for the blessing of the Saints, So as he says here.
In verse 4, where we started, for us, we have many members in one body and all the members have not the same office. It's really the thought of function.
We think of this in a natural sense. Every member of our body has a unique function.
I didn't see anybody here walk into meeting on their hands.
No, our hands are for other things. They're for grasping, for holding. We walked in on our feet. I know if we lose a member, another member can take over and we can get through life, but not as well as with that member that we we have lost or is no longer functioning. And so God has given us this illustration of the body and every person in this room.
This afternoon who knows the Lord Jesus Christ is a member of the body of Christ and as such you have a little office, a little function to fulfill what he's given you is not what he's given me. He's given each of us a little service and we're not to do I service as men pleasers, but unto the Lord. We're not to covet another service or want to to do that. It says in Galatians, let every man prove his own work.
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And then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. So how wonderful. We are unique. We've all been given a little service but has been stressed. And I think it's very important. It needs to be done with the appreciation our in our souls of the grace of God and that faith that has been imparted to us as a gift.
Verses that the Lord Jesus himself says to the Pharisees in Matthew 12.
Verse 35.
A good man, out of the good treasure of their heart, bringeth forth good things.
And an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
That I say unto you.
That every idle word that man shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Or by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy word thou shalt be condemned.
It also says here the other aspect of it, not to be high minded, but then it goes on in connection with it and says to be wise or sober as God had dwelt to every man. The measure of I want to comment on the expression the measure of faith and also in verse 6.
Gifts differing according to the grace that has been given to us.
Grace comes from the heart of God without obligation. He's not obligated in any way.
Grace flows freely from him according to his own choice, and he has in grace in these things and other things not he doesn't do it equally.
He doesn't do it the same.
He does it according to his own sovereign right and will.
As to blessing, yes, there's equality and blessing. God couldn't bless anyone of us more than He has.
And his heart wouldn't let him bless us, anyone of us less.
Then he's blessed someone else in spiritual things.
Uh, but when it comes to the activities of life and grace, there's measures to it. It's not the same, even in the same type of gift, it's not the same measure. And so he says be to each of us. You need to be sober. You need to be wise. Because if I may speak generally, there's some of us in this room that go beyond the measure of our gift.
Or the gift of the grace that God has given to us. There are some of us in this room.
That are hindering the work of God because we're not using that which God has given to us and we're all ten. We all tend to go to the wrong extreme and not be sober about it. We sometimes have been given a certain measure and we go beyond that measure.
And we're not wise.
And others feel the loss because of it. Equally, and perhaps more commonly, not so publicly noticeable but equally enfeebling to the working of the body, is when God has given us something and we're not using it.
And as a consequence, the whole body is made more feeble because of our failure to be wise.
And not using what God has given to us. That's what Timothy had, that tendency as a timid person, Paul exhorts him strongly to make use of the gift of the grace of God that was in him so that the Saints would receive, the body of Christ would receive.
What God intended through Timothy for them to receive.
And so each one of us needs to be.
Wise before God to use the gift of grace expressed here in these different activities according as the measure which has been given to us and uh, in just one more comment in verse 7 the.
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I don't think it's very clear in the King James, and I'm gonna read it in the Darby translation.
Umm.
Starting in verse 6.
Whether prophecy, let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith. That's the different measure. Not everyone receives the same measure or service. And then he says, let us occupy ourselves in service. Or he that teaches in teaching, or he that exhorts in exhortation. What does it mean? He's saying if God's given you exhortation, do it, be exercise, be doing it. If you're to teach, teach.
If you were to prophecy, prophecy and if you don't?
Then you're not.
Acting according to the measure of what's been given to you, to you. And you're not acting wisely if you're not actively engaged in that part. Your function in the body of Christ, do it.
Be occupied in it.
And I think it can help us all somewhat in some situations, even though it's not a complete answer. There was a sister in the assembly where I grew up known to some in this room and love if she knew her.
Her name was Miss Patridge. Catherine Patridge. Uh, she was a miss all her life, by choice.
But Catherine?
Used to tell us this, she said.
I said to the Lord, Lord, what is my gift?
And she said, I kept asking the Lord, what's my gift? And she said, you know, the Lord kept saying to me, children.
No, Lord, that's not a gift. What's my gift? And she said the only answer I got from the Lord was children.
And so she started to occupy herself with children.
And I will say in my whole lifetime, the most gifted evangelist to children was that woman. I have never known in my lifetime, a more gifted evangelist with children than Catherine Patridge, and she was amazing.
In her capacity to speak to children and I think sometimes the Lord will help us in the question. What is my gift to be more asking the question, Lord, what will thou have me to do?
And if the Lord gives us something to do, he will give us. If that's the call of the Lord to do, he will give us the gift to fulfill it, because he will never ask us to do anything that he doesn't fit us to do. And so I think rather than sometimes saying, Lord, what's my gift?
A better question is, Lord, what will thou have me to do?
And I just add two that if we do that and whatsoever thy hand find us to do, do with all our might, then I believe there's a responsibility to, on the part of others to recognize and encourage the gift, particularly in a young person. It's interesting with Timothy, whom Don mentioned that there were two, uh, there, there was a recognition of his gift from two different directions. The elders in the assembly recognized the gift.
Because it there was a laying hands on of hands of the Presbyterian, the elders who had recognized a certain gift in the Apostle Paul and Paul himself as an individual recognized that Timothy had a gift and he encouraged him, encouraged him to stir up or to use that gift for the Lord's glory and the blessing of the Saints. And I think it's something for those of us who are older, perhaps when we see in a younger brother or sister.
Some gift or ability to encourage that. We never want to flatter. We never want to encourage someone to go beyond the measure of what God has given them.
But there is always in scripture room for encouragement. I just want to turn to Colossians as well for an example of what's been said.
Don mentioned how that often the there's weakness or a lack amongst the Saints of God, the body of Christ, because there are those who don't use their gift or use it to its potential. And I think you have a little example of it in the end of Colossians.
Colossians chapter 4 and verse 17.
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And say to our kippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received of the Lord, that thou fulfill it. Again, Paul recognized that the Lord had given a little ministry, a little service. We're not told what it was. You know, our Tipus is a brother in Christ. In the early church. We're not told a lot about or what his ministry or service really was. Maybe it was something that wasn't so public.
But Paul recognized or saw that Archipus was holding back and not fulfilling the little function that God had given him in the assembly at Colossi. And Paul felt that the Saints at Colossae were suffering a laugh because of it. And he encouraged him to stir that up then to fulfill that ministry that, uh, that he was given. And so we need those exhortations, don't we? And as I've had opportunity to visit amongst my brethren a little bit, I sometimes.
Felt saddened to see that there are those in the little assembly, little assemblies here and there who aren't fulfilled.
Their ministry that the Lord has given them, perhaps not carrying out that little service and the Saints suffer a lot because of it, but we need to be exercised. What Lord, what I think what Don said is very good Lord, what wilt thou give me to do? And if there really is exercise, young person and those of us who are older too, we all need it. If there really is exercise before the Lord, He wants to show us He has something for us to do. We often quote that verse and I think it applies in this context.
In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and he shall direct thy paths. He has something for each of us to do in the as members of the body of Christ. And if we acknowledge him in all our ways, we have that real desire to put ourselves on the altar of sacrifice like we spoke of this morning, Then He wants to show us. He'll make it clear. And He has equipped you to do whatever little ministry it is, whatever little service, as we've been saying.
He's equipped you in a way that is you're better equipped than any other member of the body of Christ.
Member Brother Chuck Hendricks has asked that question, how to know what gift we may have, and his answer was somewhat the same. He used those words that Mary said at the wedding feast of Cana.
Remember, she told the servants, Whatsoever He says unto you, do it. And so the Lord lays on your heart a burden in a particular area.
They members of the body of times don't know what their gift is, but if he lays something on your heart, do it and in time it will be evident that perhaps there is a gift in the book of the Acts. The only one who is called an evangelist.
Is Philip, but that is in chapter 21.
In chapter eight of the book of the Acts, Philip goes down to Samaria and preaches the Gospel and is greatly used in blessing, and in the end of that chapter he preaches to the Ethiopian eunuch who gets saved.
But he's not called an evangelist. There wasn't only until the 21St chapter that he's called an evangelist. So his gift is something that is developed over the course of time. But I think what you say too, that it's important to discern and recognize when there is gift and encourage it. And I think that's what it means in First Timothy 4, when Paul was speaking to Timothy, he says.
Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee.
By prophecy. Now God is the one who gives the gifts. But when it says by prophecy, I think perhaps maybe Paul or maybe some other brother discerned that Timothy had a specific gift and told them.
And encouraged him in that. That's the way I understand that. I'm not sure that I understand it rightly, but I that's the way I understand it.
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The ability that He's given us. And so if you put something in front of us, then we do it. And as you say, Bob, in time I believe it'll become very evident where our gift lies and what the Lord would have us to do.
The only thing I would mention, and it's not particularly part of this chapter, but.
Perhaps it's good to mention it in these last days.
Very often because of the ruined, that is the outwardly ruined condition of the church.
All of the gifts that perhaps.
God intended to be available to us are not immediately available.
And because of the divided state of God's people, the body doesn't function the way God originally intended it.
And we had to do it. And I suppose there is that in these last days, isn't there, that sometimes we end up having something in front of us that maybe we aren't equipped for. Timothy was told to do the work of an evangelist.
There are different thoughts on that scripture. For my own heart, I tend to think that perhaps it was something of an effort and not perhaps his exact gift. But he was told to do it because in a day when things were starting to break up.
Is that correct? Yes, and I think that's why it's in the second epistle, isn't it, Dell, where he's told to do the work of an evangelist. In the first epistle, the House of God is in order and things are going along very well. But in the second epistle, where you have the breakdown of everything and other weakness and ruin in the testimony, he's told to do the work of an evangelist. And I agree with you that because it's in that context.
That I don't believe that Timothy was an evangelist per SE, but he could fill in. I've often told the story, too, of my father. My father was not a cook in any sense of the word, but I remember when we were children, my mother took I'll and she had to go into the hospital and have a gallbladder operation. And in those days it was quite, a, quite an operation. And I suppose she was in the hospital for 10 days or a couple of weeks. And my father, who loved his children, donned an apron.
And I think we ate charred grilled cheese. Seemed like we ate charred grilled cheese.
Twice a day for two weeks. I know that's an exaggeration, but I remember crying on the phone to my mother in the hospital because we weren't getting the meals that we had had at her good hand. But as I've looked back of that, I thought of what you've just said. My father loved his children. It wasn't his particular gift or ability to cook, but he provided for us till my mother was back at the helm and he was very glad to take off the apron and step out of the kitchen.
And we're gonna go back if the Lord leaves us here, the little assemblies where there's perhaps not much outward manifested gift, but we can carry on. Isn't it wonderful that the the function and administration of the local assembly isn't dependent on gift? If it was, there might be many get little assemblies would feel they had to close down. But it is dependent on the Lord being there, the Lord being in the midst, the Spirit of God. His word hasn't changed and he's able brethren, if we're exercised.
To, uh, use us, uh, in ever so feeble away and, uh, we need to be, as we've been saying, very exercised about it.
Three, it speaks about the measure of faith, and then at the end of verse six as well, the proportion of faith is talking about using the gifts according to the measure of faith. I notice in Ephesians chapter 4.
And Speaking of giving the risen Christ, giving gifts, it says according to the measure of the gift of Christ, I think that is each, each, uh, member has a different measure and that's why.
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We should not be comparing ourselves amongst ourselves. God has given you a gift and I compare myself with you, you Jim. I'm not wise. Scripture says that he's given us each in a different measure and according to that measure we need to function. But it's interesting this in Romans 12 where it says according to the measure of faith. And to me that shows brethren, that a gift.
In faith we need not just say that I have a gift and so that God's gonna use me. No, I have to do that in dependence on the Lord constantly. Because if there's any measure of self-sufficiency rather than the blessing, all comes from above. It doesn't come from us, it comes from the head in heaven.
And so he gives measures of faith to each one, and according to that measure we use what God has given us.
We've already had the thought of doing it, being active. If God has given us that to do, we need to be doing it. But we can see from verse 8, there's a manner in which it's to be done as well. There's not only the activity itself, but there's the way in which that work is carried out, that service that God has given us.
A measure of faith and gift to do so, he says in verse 8.
He that giveth let him do it with simplicity.
Maybe the Lord has made you a giver.
Well then, he says to you, be at it, but do it simply.
Umm, the then goes on to say, uh, rule it or take the lead or, umm, do it diligently, not just when you feel like it. Be diligent, stick at it. Not just lead with this one, but not that one because they're a little bit harder case to be LED or something like that. But do it diligently maybe. And this is almost to me.
Surprising one, but.
In the end of the verse he says, well if your gift is showing mercy.
Do it cheerfully.
Do it cheerfully.
Think about that, that there there is this service in the body of Christ.
Of some that God has given the special capacity to show mercy. And then he says, but there's a way to do it.
Do it cheerfully.
Not condescendingly.
Not as better than.
You know, there's such a tendency, and when mercy is shown to not with God, but with us, when we think we're showing mercy to somebody, there can be very easily a rather condescending, slightly superior position in our hearts, even though it isn't necessarily expressed, umm, that well, brother, I'm gonna be merciful to you or something like that, but.
With cheerfulness. And so we need to also be wise before God and whatever He's given us to do.
To recognize that there is a manner in which it's to be done that expresses the way in which God does things.
We mentioned earlier little outline of the chapter and, uh, just to go back for a moment, we mentioned how that in the 1St 5 verses, we have practice that is consistent with the rel our relationship to God and to one another. Then in verses 6 to 2867 and eight, we have different forms of service, but it's interesting because we've been talking about gift and ability and certainly everyone of us have been given.
Gifts and ability that needs to be. We need to be exercised as to what it is and then it needs to be developed.
But it's interesting and I think significant that gift is not brought up until the sixth verse. Because I would like to suggest that in the 1St 5 verses it's not so much a question of ability or gift as it is of availability. Because if we're going to know what our gift and ability is and develop it and use it effectively, we have to be available first. You know, a person will never.
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Be trained in a job.
If they don't show up for work, if a person might be hired or might be recognized by a company that they have an ability and so they are interviewed and they're hired, but they're never going to function properly within that business or corporation or have their ability developed if they don't show up, if they're not available. And so I believe it's important, first of all, for us to make ourselves available to say, Lord, here I am.
As Paul said, as Saul of Tarsus said when he was saved on the Damascus Rd.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And what did the Lord say to him? It'll be showed you. I'll show you what I have you. I have a service for you, Paul, and I'll show you because you've made yourself AB available, because there is a willingness on your part. Now I'm going to show you. I'm gonna raise you up and I'm going to use you for the blessing of souls. And I believe that's where it really starts with us is to first of all, be available.
Offering ourselves of a as a living sacrifice. Do we really get up in the morning and offer ourselves in that way?
You know, I don't believe we need to get up in the morning and pray for opportunities to serve the Lord as much as we need to get up and pray that we would be available to avail ourselves of the opportunities as they present themselves. Abraham's servant said, I being in the way the Lord led me, he was there. He was in the way, he was available, and the Lord used him in connection with getting a bride for Abraham's son Isaac. And if you and I get up in the morning and say, Lord, I'm available.
I want, I want to know what you have for me today. Use me today, whatever it is, big or small. Then the Lord is going to come in and show us the way and use us. So let's be available first of all, that he might show us the what what those that ministry is that he has for us. If we're not available, we'll never know.
From verse 9 to the end of the chapter, it's not gift anymore. It's something that every single one of us is being exhorted. So we want to make sure that we recognize that none of us, if you will, are exempt from the exhortations that follow when we get to verse 9.
Umm, and it says in the King James, let love be without dissimulation. Or Mr. Darby translates that love, love be unfamed.
Unfeigned. In other words, don't fake it.
Don't fake it. Love has to be real and the love that's here is God's love is later on. The more natural side of it in verse 10 is it says with brotherly love. It also brings that out.
But umm, love is what God is, and when he has given you the life of Christ.
He's produced, made you a vessel in which he can.
Deposit.
Or flow into you his love with the intention that it flow out from you to others. And so everyone of us really is a vessel of the love of God. He's the true and only source of divine love. Uh, we have the capacity to have it in US and to show it to others because we've received it from God. But we're not to fake it. We're not to pretend.
And if we're not, if there's something in our own personal life that is hindering the inflow of the love of God, it can't flow out, and our tendency will be to fake it, to pretend and show outwardly what is not the true state of our relationship to God.
But unfeigned love is that which shows or should be the transparency.
Of what God is in himself, flowing into us, to be seen in US and flowing out to others. But if there's something in our lives that's not judged, then God is grieved by that. And the channel of the flow will be stopped up. And then we will be put in that position of pretending something that's not at that moment actively true in US. And brethren, that can go with gift as well. That's not only limited to let love be unfeigned, but.
00:55:10
Sometimes.
When our own fellowship with God is not what it should be, but we think we're or we're in a position to continue to do something for God that we have a responsibility and are doing and we keep trying to do it. It's not going to flow as it should and it's not going to be prospered of God. And so if I don't walk with God in fellowship, if I could put it this way.
I'm harming the body of Christ.
By my own state of soul.
And that's a solemn thing.
Each one of us here has the capacity to harm.
To put in an unhealthy condition the body of Christ by our own state, because none of us can live above our own state of soul.
And so if there's something in this room and one of us or all of us or some of us that's not according to God, that's going on, instead of serving the body of Christ, we are like an infection. We're we're something that's harming the work of the body of Christ, even though outwardly it doesn't show.
Many of the diseases of the body. Many of the problems in a body.
Go on for a good while without it being seen externally.
And oftentimes in the human body, when it comes to the external, it's a pretty serious matter.
By the time it shows itself in some outward way, so it's not to discourage, but it's to make us be sober, that we seek to be in fellowship with God in our daily personal lives so that the body of Christ can be healthy.
Like just to go back and then if I hope alright to that expression in verse eight, he that ruleth with diligence.
I noticed Mr. Garvey's translation. Is he that lead at?
With diligence and the thought of leadership.
And it's interesting to me this is not the.
Body of Christ looked at in its universal aspect.
Here, as Jim mentioned in Individual Responsibility.
And so. But there are those who God puts amongst his people to lead. Peter was a definite leader.
He failed even in that, but he was a leader. When he said I go out fishing, there were those that were going to go right along with him.
And so there is a sense of leadership.
Here, and I think it's important to see that.
And to recognize it too. But what has impressed me and really spoken to my soul is what the Lord Jesus said. He says I am among you as one that service. And to me the most effective leaders are those that you don't even let you know they're leading. They're serving in such a way.
That they're really leading.
Another aspect about verse 9, Two things brought out in that verse and in their essence, their love, divine love and holiness.
God is light and God is love, and the very first two things that the exhortation to us is, is has to do with the very nature of God himself.
Is the very nature of God himself. God is light and God is love, and His expression of Himself is light and holiness is holiness. Is a delight in what is good, and an aboriginal what is evil.
And that's what you have in this ninth verse. For that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.
01:00:04
That's really a description of what Holiness is and.
God's first exhortation to us all, in a general way, is I want you to express.
What I am?
You're my child.
And as my child, I want you to express me.
The very responsibility of the church as a whole in the world was to be the Lord Jesus Christ. God's testimony to the world when he lived here had returned to glory and the church, His body, was left in the world to express what God is to man.
And so the first failure of it, thou has left thy first love is you're not displaying to the world what I am anymore. And I'm loved. It's really the sense of the force of what the message to them was. And if you don't?
Express what I am in Ephesians 5. Ye are the light of the world, and if you don't express what I am to the world, you cannot be a testimony for me.
And so here the exhortation to everyone of us is God is love and God is light, and we are to be that without faking it, not to pretend.
To be something that isn't a reflection of what God is in US.
Just in connection with those two statements in verse 9.
Which is evil. And then he says cleave to that which is good.
Perhaps let's go to Second Timothy for a moment, because I think there's something very instructive in connection with.
If the with effective service for Christ, we've talked a great deal about exercising our gift and ability and service and ministry for Christ and so on.
But there are two things in Second Timothy that qualify a man and make him.
Effective in every good work, not just some good work, but every good work. The 1St is in chapter 2, and it goes along with the uh, statement of where that which is evil. And just notice in the second chapter, verse 21. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
Now, in the context of this chapter, what makes a man or a woman?
Servant of God, a believer effective to every good work is separation from evil. There must be a clean vessel. As we said this morning, be clean that they're the vessels of the Lord. There must be practical sanctification and that daily cleansing that's needed in our lives if we're going to be prepared under every good work. But that's only part of it. That's only the 1St part.
Then he said says in our verse back in Romans cleaved about which is good.
And notice in the third chapter something else that is needful. Read verse 16 and 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished under all good works. So there has to be not only an abhorrence and a separation from that which is evil.
But then there has to be a going on in the truth, a love for the truth, a reading of the Scriptures, a taking it in so it will have its practical effect, so that we understand doctrine and instruction and correction and teaching and so on. And when we take in the truth, enjoy it then and walk in it, then we are going to be prepared, not just under some good work, but under every good work. So there's the negative side of it. That's the putting away of evil in our life, abstaining, abhorring that which is evil.
But then there's the positive side too, cleaving to that which is good, a love for the truth of God. And those two things, brethren, are then going to make us effective servants of the Lord in whatever little ministry He's given us.
01:05:04
As the saying goes, we let ourselves off the hook too easy. And I speak as a young person who is in a social media with so much around and I think of those verses, the end of at the end of Romans chapter one, it talks about all these evils and all these things that are that are wrong and that we would all agree are wrong and that wouldn't agree that we should not do. But the last verse in Romans one says knowing the judgment of God.
That they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only that do the same.
But have pleasure in them that do it. And I was thinking if I watch a movie where there's inappropriate, if there's sexual images, if there's just bad words, just bad language, bad lifestyle, I'm what I'm doing is I'm enjoying those things and I am basically approving of that lifestyle. I just think of it of all the movies and like these TV shows, the Oscars, the Grammys, these things that are glorifying these people. And I was thinking if I watch this, if I take pleasure in it, I might not be doing what they're doing, but I'm basically approving.
By by by watching it or by listening to that music. And that's why I think.
Why we have weakness among us. Speaking of myself, because if I fill my mind with these things on Sunday morning, I won't come with my cup full. I won't come with something to share when it comes time to encourage one another. If I fill my mind with this, I'll say filth, there's nothing. What's the word of God says? I won't come. Ready to share? Ready to encourage.
What he really was saying is don't let me get used to sin, don't let me get desensitized. And it is so easy as you say.
Hard to stand even in the checkout line at the counter anymore without seeing something to defile and desensitize us. We drive down the highway, turn on the computer, as you say, but how do we, how do we maintain that sense of holiness in our souls? It's the word of God, isn't it? It's cleaving to that which is good. It's taking up this book and reading it every day, getting into the Lord's presence. Don't.
Let us get used to sin. I think that's a good word.
Proverbs 8 and verse 13.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
Pride and urgency and the evil way and the forward mouth do I hate.
What is forward? We don't use that word very often.
Its meaning is stubbornly disobedient or contrary.
Gifts are mentioned in three different or developed in three different places in the New Testament. Here is the first one, and it's in connection with God.
In the 2nd and 1St Corinthians chapter 12, it's in connection with the Holy Spirit and in Ephesians 4 it's in connection with Christ. Our time is almost stopped. So I'm not gonna comment about the other two, but this one, uh, when it's going back again to where it says to pro in verse two to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The carrying out of these things that are brought before us here.
Is the expression of the perfect will of God in the day of grace.
And some of these exhortations are in line with, not the day of God's coming judgment and government.
But at the present time God is not yet recompensing man for His evil. He is giving place in an outward way to wrath and vengeance. That day is coming. But.
Our collective responsibility that God has fitted us for by these things.
Is to express his perfect will at the present time in the day of grace and the way he's acting in the world at this time. And so we need to act in this according to the Spirit of God as he is presently working and these exhortations are guiding us into.
Walk that is in keeping with the heart of God for this time in which we live.
01:10:06
We sing 22 in the appendix.
22 in the appendix.
The one who perfectly expressed thee on this earth.
Now we thank Thee for this time that we've had over thy word here this afternoon.
And Lord, we pray for each of us here today that.
That it all has for us to do. We may do it. So we ask this and give thanks in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.