(by Dave, 15 min)
Scripture
Romans 12:3-8
Humble Service in the Body of Christ
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Sober judgement
Paul begins his section on service in the body of Christ humbly: “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you …”. God alone has made Paul worthy to give counsel despite his past opposition to Christianity, and he humbly recognizes this first. From this attitude of humility, the evangelist presents his first instruction to believers about service. We are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought.
The word-by-word translation of verse three from Greek expresses ought this way: “what is right to think”. If there is an accurate or right way to think about yourself, then there is an inaccurate or wrong way to think about yourself. Think rightly, Paul says, and you will not have an inflated image of yourself. Think wrongly and you will. We are to discern the difference between right and wrong thinking by using sober judgment in our self-assessments.
Again, the word-by-word translation of sober judgement from Greek is helpful: “But set your mind to be right minded”. The statement implies truth exists independently of you or me by which we can make accurate self-assessments. We are to set our mind on those true things in order to make sober judgments about ourselves.
For example, suppose a woman believes she is a fabulous speaker for Christ because she is very eloquent. She thinks highly of herself as an orator. Most of us would find no problem with this thinking. It is true that she excels in speaking beyond what most other people can do. This is an accurate self-assessment, but lacks sober judgment because it is not informed by the full truth. The full truth is that God granted her the gift of eloquent speaking. Moreover, she is no more valuable to God than the woman by the well in whom Jesus invested his precious ministry time on earth. Both women are valued by God, and both were used in precise ways to further the kingdom.
Consequently, the orator should not think too highly of herself because the truth is that she, like Paul, is a fallen sinner saved only by grace. She is being used for a unique purpose that is of no greater or lesser value than the one God has assigned her. Paul is saying a right-minded person, one of sober judgement, will be aware of these truths and be accurate in their self-assessments.
Perhaps in this context it’s not surprising that Paul appends his instruction for sober judgment: “think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you”. Faith is how we can find the truth needed to make sober judgments and accurate self-assessments. Without faith, the orator is not inclined to think of herself as a fallen servant whose gifts came from God. She would indeed be at risk of thinking too highly of herself.
Part by part
Paul’s body metaphor insightfully illustrates these principles. We are of equal value to God because each of us plays a vital role in the success of the kingdom. The gifts of our pretend orator above would probably fall into the category of teaching Paul describes in verse seven. However, how would she compare to someone whose gifts were to give encouragement?
Imagine the orator gives a beautiful sermon and congregants leave the church shaking her hand as they go telling her how deeply they were touched by her eloquent depiction of God’s wisdom. Back inside the sanctuary is a woman who heard the prayer request from a desperate man whose wife was just diagnosed with cancer. She stays back and approaches the man giving him a shoulder to cry on and the loving support of someone who cares deeply.
Who is likely to think more highly of themselves? Paul’s body metaphor helps us understand that both the orator and the woman who stayed in the sanctuary are of equal importance to God and to the kingdom of heaven for both are playing the role God gave them with enthusiastic joy. The metaphor brings into sharp relief the fact that humans constantly elevate one gift over another ignoring the very right-minded thinking Paul encourages.
We all know that a fully functioning body requires all of its parts, yet most would rather lose both pinky toes than our eyes. But when it’s time to walk, the person missing his toes will have trouble balancing and those coveted eyes may find themselves hurtling toward the ground. Paul says sober judgment will recognize that to God there is no difference between toes and eyes (oraters or caregivers) because He desires a Christian body that is at full capacity.
God’s gifts
It seems the logical next thing to do with this passage is explore the different gifts Paul describes (e.g. prophesying, serving, teaching, etc.). I thought it might be interesting to consider the passage in a different way. While using faith to inform a sober judgment about yourself is essential to a fully functioning body of Christ, the principles of God depicted in Paul’s instructions work even if they are applied by the faithless.
Today, I would like to tell you a story about my father, a good man of no faith. I hope a bit of his life story will testify that this is God’s world, and His principles work to serve the kingdom even when the person serving has no faith. If this is so with the faithless, how much more will it be true for believers who take Paul’s counsel to heart?
Dave’s Dad
My father took me to work one day when I was 16 because we were going to the DMV for me to take the drivers exam. Because he started work before they opened, I was to sit in his office doing homework until it was time to leave.
This was the first time I saw my father at work. I knew he was in finance and dressed in suits every day but had no real idea what he did. We strolled into the building where his company was and there was an elevator man running the elevator (imagine that!). Dad and the man said good morning to each other by name. They exchanged some pleasantries as we rode up to the floor where his office was located.
As Dad walked across the space of his business multiple people were formally saying good morning to him from their desks. He responded to all before opening the door to an enormous office. Inside was a large desk covered with neatly arranged folders. There were additional tables and shelves along the walls on which were many more folders, again all neatly organized. There was a good-sized meeting table, and Dad set me up there.
The next hour I watched as he picked up the folders on his desk and started to read. His phone rang repetitively, and I listened as he gave instructions to people. I learned that Dad was Senior Vice President. Later I learned the company gave loans to new businesses and Dad made the final decisions about what companies would get a loan. He also managed the company’s outstanding accounts to ensure everybody was paying on their loans. The latter function involved him getting his company’s money back through repossessions and such when a business failed or when the owners of the business tried to abscond with the loan.
That day was eye-opening for me. First, I was not ready for the driver’s test because I flunked. Secondly, my father was a bigwig. The way people said hello to him was downright differential and the things he was talking about on the telephone had lots of dollars associated with them.
Dad left the company when a squabble among the owners resulted in him being asked to approve reports to the Board of Directors that were misleading. Being a virtuous man, he refused. I remember how hard the decision was for him because he wasn’t fired. On the contrary, when he turned in his resignation letter his boss tried hard to persuade him to stay. After he passed away some of the people with whom Dad worked let our family know how loved and respected he was by everyone at the company.
From the perspective of success in our world, it didn’t go well for my father after this. He tried a few commensurate jobs, but they just didn’t suit. He wound up working for a local messenger service. I remember our conversations as he reflected on how far he had fallen. From Senior VP to messenger boy he would muse, the heartache clearly visible on his face. For a while he was despondent but he needed to pay the bills, so messenger service it was.
In those days there was no Internet and paper checks at branch banks had to be transported to a central processing location. Dad was assigned to serve these banks requiring him to return to the branches regularly. It didn’t take long for him to strike up relationships with the personnel at each of these bank branches. He would joke with the people and ask them about their lives until they, very much like the people at his old company, began to love and respect him. He would tell me some of their stories when we talked on the weekends.
My father did this work until he retired. The people on his route became his work family. He liked seeing these people and missed them when he could no longer work. All of this from doing the very basic job of carrying a bag of checks from one location to another.
Paul and my Dad
It seems to me that Dad’s working life testifies to the truth of Paul’s counsel to believers in Rome. My father had the gift of encouragement Paul mentions. Lost on me at the time of our office visit was the way everybody said hello to him. Through my ignorant eyes, I believed these greetings were just a sign of respect to a Senior VP. But after hearing from the folks with whom he worked after his passing, I knew that was only part of the truth. They respected and cared about him because his hellos and conversations with them were not perfunctory politeness. They were genuine greetings swapped between two people who cared about each other.
After he passed, one man who worked under Dad called my brother to tell him how much my father meant to him. Partly he admired Dad’s uncompromising morals, but mostly he was grateful. He said that Dad taught him how to be in finance and encouraged him through the difficult learning times. This didn’t surprise me in the least. Although like all fathers (including me) he had his flaws, when you spoke to Dad he listened. His focus, questions, and interest were exclusively on you.
I remember when my wife was writing a book many people congratulated her and wished the book success. My father wanted to know everything about how she did it. Why did she write the book? How did she fit it into her schedule? Who was going to use the book? What was the process like when you wrote it? At the end of listening intently to her answers, he would tell her what a remarkable woman she was for being able to do this and how successful he knew the book would be. My father had the gift of encouragement.
When Dad lamented falling from Senior VP to delivery boy, he was wrong-minded. He violated Paul’s first instruction to not think more highly of himself than he ought. Dad’s despondency after leaving the finance company was the cost of this violation because it was based on a loss of status. A loss he was unable to fill with his messenger service job. Consequently, it was a loss he never quite got over.
Had Dad been familiar with the Scriptures, Paul’s second instruction to use sober judgment in self-assessment would have eased this loss. Had my father been a man of faith, he would’ve known that his worth is not set by his job but by his value to God. Maybe a new perspective would’ve emerged as he assessed his life. One that revealed he had the gift of encouragement and served God by using it no matter his environment. Therefore, all that he did was valued by God, valued by the people he served, and made his corner of the world a better place.
I particularly wanted to tell you my father’s story because he had one of Paul’s gifts and used it relentlessly. It made a difference to my wife when she was writing her book. It made a difference to the elevator man and all the people who exchanged hellos with my father. It made a difference in the life of the man who called my brother, and it made a difference to me. Many times I was on the receiving end of Dad’s attention and encouragement as I told him about the vicissitudes of my work life. I left those conversations feeling his encouragement and confidence in me, and I miss that to this day. In brief, the gifts Paul talks about make an enormous difference in the world when we choose to use them. This is true even if the person who uses them has no faith at all.
But if they do have faith, then they are able to make sober judgments about themselves based on the right and wrongs that come from their faith. The outcome of these judgments is to know yourself well, and more importantly, to know that God has a purpose for you. A person of sober judgment and faith knows that it matters not what you do for a living in the human world. What matters is your service to God, the one who has redeemed you and values you as much as any other believer. Paul correctly identifies that a believer who can do this can use their gifts to serve God and should do so enthusiastically. If my father who had no faith had an impact on others by using God’s gift to him, just imagine how much more a person of faith could effectively use their gifts.
Introspection
Is there something in your life that perhaps makes you feel inadequate? Do life’s circumstances and/or the negative opinions of others crush your joy? If so, then let Paul’s wisdom and my father’s experiences testify to you that the God of creation made you and you are of great value to Him. He gave you gifts to uniquely serve the kingdom as only you can. Paul counsels you and me to search within for the gifts God gave and to use them. With humility, sober judgment, and faith find your gifts within and put them to work as God intended. My father used his, and all the people he touched at the finance company, in banks when he was doing his messenger service, in my family, and me were bettered because of his presence in the world. Not being a man of faith, I don’t know that he ever recognized this about himself. But you can about yourself.
If you are blessedly already filled with joy and serving God with your gifts, then let your story be an inspiration for others and use your wisdom to constantly add joy to the kingdom. I know from my own experiences that even a toe in the water of the humble service Paul describes will make the joyful more so and the despondent less so. Indeed, all things are better when we focus on serving God.
Thanks so much for reading and may God be with you this and every day of your faith journey,
Dave
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