You can just skip their steps and go right to the scripture. Galatians 6. God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So busy exalting Christ he had no time to deface himself or others.
That's where the focus was. 2 Samuel. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Romans.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Romans chapter 12 with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. But to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith, for as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Well, we are starting to get into the section dealing with Christian behavior, and that might sting a lot of you.
Well, that would be a bonus because if that's what it takes to better your Christian service, then welcome it. Paul, a once more quick review, having dealt with salvation in the first eight chapters of Romans, and then dealing with the Jews and Christ and the Gentiles and their relationship with each other in chapters 9 through 11, and now he is going to deal with individual Christian behavior. In verse 12 chapter, he centers his teaching on personal service and conduct. In the next chapter, in regard to the world and moral behavior, and then in 14, interactions in the church.
How we measure up to these things is very important, and that's why we pay attention. So if you hear something, you say, ouch, you know, that got me, then take that to the Lord. Well, we look now at verse 3, Romans 12. For I say, through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Well, he's not preaching theory, and we're glad about that. He's preaching from his own experiences, his relationship with Christ, from his conversion through his apostleship, he was sopping wet with God's mercy and grace on his life. I say that to say he knows what he's talking about when he says, I say through the grace given to me. Yes, grace to work through me, yeah, but also grace first to work in me. Sometimes, many times, God wants to work more in you than through you. This would explain a lot of the mistakes we make as Christians thinking that it's our turn to step forward when maybe we just need to sit a little bit. It's very difficult to wait when we're zealous, when we think we have something to give. Learning how to be led, if it were easy, everyone would do it.
It is difficult, it is painful, but I think it is worth it. He says to everyone who is among you, that's the entire church without exception. That would include the pastors. Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Well, opinion of ourselves ought to match God's opinion.
Well, what might that be? Well, we have a lot of instruction concerning our behavior, but here's a quick verse that I think may button it up very quickly. He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God, Micah 6-8. Well, that could be a challenge, to show mercy to someone we don't like or to someone who we think did us wrong. Bitterness, resentment, those things don't always pop up.
Sometimes they seep in. You know, maybe you have a relationship with someone, any kind of relationship, friendship, whatever, and it doesn't work out. Initially, you may be fine with it, but if you don't watch out, Satan will come along and he will sow seeds of resentment. Then all of a sudden, the person you used to be so friendly with is now your enemy.
You despise them. Happens too often. It shouldn't happen at all. If you're ready for it, you've got a better chance of defending against it, and what a wonderful feeling as a Christian to be able to ride the bike. You know, when you're learning how to ride a bike, and finally they let you go, and you are actually riding alone. Like, I'm doing this.
I got this. Well, we have those kind of experiences in Christ. Look at me, Lord. I'm actually doing it. I'm riding this thing.
And then the Lord says, well, let's put a 750 motor on that bike and see how you do around some of these turns. But to think soberly, a balanced view, without self-loathing, which is, pride is the cause of self-loathing. I hate myself. No, you hate what you're not, or you hate what you've become. But you love yourself, because if you didn't love yourself, you'd love that you were so messed up, just to get back at yourself. But that's not how it works. Self-loathing is very easy to do when you meet the failure and shortcomings, and you just begin to feel like you're the loser of the world. Don't let that happen. It's unnecessary.
It's unfruitful. It will do nothing but drag you down, and it's untrue. Then also, talking about the balance of thinking soberly, not self-loathing, but not self-esteem either.
You don't need either one of them. If you listen to your Bible, you won't need to listen to those so-called Christian psychologists. You can just skip their steps and go right to the scripture, Galatians 6. God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So busy exalting Christ, he had no time to deface himself or others.
That's where the focus was. 2 Samuel, King David went in and sat before Yahweh and said, Who am I, O Lord Yahweh? And what is my house that you have brought me this far? Galatians chapter 2, Paul writing again, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. You don't have time for self-loathing or self-esteem. You don't need it. Balance yourself in the grace of God and stay busy. And if you serve, you're going to take hits that you otherwise would have dodged. But you're not dodging them because you're doing something in the work of the Lord.
You will. You know, when you serve, you get your uniform to serve. But the difference with a Christian is you also get a lightning rod to attract the strikes. As God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Well, Christians have faith, but how much? There's a measure that goes with it.
Well, how much of the measure am I using? All have something to contribute because God has given to each one a measure of faith. Self-centeredness will hide it. Things like envy will rob it from you. If you wait to get all that you want, to be all that you want to be, you're not going to be effective.
You're going to be ineffective as a matter of fact. Faith and reason, they function together. When you try to separate faith from reason or reason from faith, your Christian service will be a poor Christian service as unnecessary. Strike the balance. It takes, you know, we talk about boldly going before the throne of God. I love that. God lets us boldly come. It doesn't mean rudely. A lot of reverence with that. But I can come in.
I don't have to check with the secretary or the receptionist. Door is always open for me. But am I willing to boldly serve? Well, we're going to take hits because I know it's, you know, we get caught up in family things and work things. We're competitors in learning how to balance them. It takes effort. It doesn't happen automatically. And it takes cooperation.
I hope to come back to that in a little bit. Verse 4. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. Well, now he's talking about interdependability, which a lot of people have a problem with. We do depend on each other, like it or not. If you're on a one-lane highway, traffic going opposite ways, you're depending on the other person to stay in their lane. Maybe just stay home.
That would be preferred. So there's the mystical body of Christ. That is the universal church and the assembly together. That's this crazy body of Christ. I don't mean crazy in the negative.
I mean crazy in the, boy, this is like off the chart. It's nothing like this. If we only have the universal church, then we have lost our strength and are disassembled. So yesterday, someone came up to speak with me, someone I had never met before, a Christian. And they were present when I had spoke some scripture. And they pointed out a verse that they loved, and they recited it to me. This is the universal body of Christ. It was like we grew up together.
It was an instant camaraderie and a very, I'm sorry I had to break the conversation off, because he wouldn't let me get a word in. No, that's not true. That's the universal body of Christ, and it is sweet when you come across it. But then there's the local church, the local body of Christ, where the knife fighting goes on. The close contact with things that, again, we could otherwise escape. So this, if this local assembly does not assemble, it is unconnected.
Like building materials that are on site, but nobody's putting them where they go. If we only have the local assembly, then we are lonely. We're limited, weak, and dying. We need both.
We have to have both. We do not want to be a disassembled believer, a scattered flock. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 17, For we, though many, are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that bread. We are joined together. We are connected. And it is in our best interest to find a rhythm.
It's not appealing to us or anyone else to be out of rhythm as a body. Church splits are just terrible. You know, you wish you could just never see them happen. And when they happen, somebody's been up to no good to get to that level anyway. My take on it.
And as always, say it with me, you're right, pastor. But all the members do not have the same function. Well, equal in value, different in assignment. Nothing tricky about that. You can't win a baseball game if your entire team is made of second baseman.
You got to have it. I hate to use this word in this climate of ignorance. Diversity, but not their kind. And they're not getting that word.
They do that. They steal words. Remember when gay used to be a bonus in the paycheck? I'm gay.
I'm happy and gay. Now, it's perverted. They can't have that word.
I'm going to use it whenever I feel like it. Punks. See that chip on my shoulder?
Anyway, coming back. Well, you know, because we do. We don't like to see evil get away with anything.
And they do get away with a lot. And you younger Christians, you're younger attendees. Hopefully you're Christians. What do you know about how things used to be, how things are, and how things are going to be? Hopefully you have people, men and women, in your life, older than you, that you look up to.
Don't think just because you can now tie your shoes and pick out your own clothes that you have got it under control. There's a lot going on out there, and it takes all of us together. Well, but all the members do not have the same function. The importance of each gift is measured by its contribution, not to the owner, but to the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Now it's unfortunate that he had to say this to Christians who were so envious of one another, they wanted all the gifts.
And he had to straighten them out. 1 Corinthians 12. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all, for the benefit of all. You've got to watch how you use the word profit amongst Christians, phonetically. What kind of profit are you talking about?
Bonus or incredible dude. So, verse 5 now. So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually, members of one another. Well, since all born-again believers are members of Christ, churches are to be more fellowships than memberships. I know, I'm not picking at that. A lot of churches, you know, you've got to, you know, pass tests to become a member.
And I'm not, that's the way they do it. We believe that you're a member when you believe in Christ. That you're part of the body and that's that. So members of Christ, 1 Corinthians 6, 15. Members of his body, Ephesians 5, 30. And members of one another. Guess where that one is? Right here in verse 5.
Christ, Christian, and church, hopefully in rhythm. And when they're not, when they're not working well together, guess who is going to exploit that? The devil. You know, what's the first thing if someone would say, well, I'm moving away, I'm looking for a good church.
Well, stay here then. What's the first thing? How they treat the word of God. That's not the only thing. But without that one, it's not a church. It's a group, a crowd, a mob, whatever, but it's not a church. What makes church, that the word church comes from Lord, curios, the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Words mean something, pulpit. The word church, I cringe when I hear people say it's a campus. It ain't a campus. It should not ever be a campus.
A campus is where you go to hear some professor lecture to you. A church is where the people of God assemble together to learn how to fight better together and individually. And you say, that's old school.
Yes, you got that right. It's connected to the words that we get from our scripture, and it should mean something. You know, some people like to say the minister is here, referring to the pastor. But all Christians are supposed to be ministers. Every single one of us are, the word, a servant. There we are, we are to be zealous servants. Well, anyway, coming back to this, verse 6 now. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophesy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Well, the word there for gifts is where we get our English word, charisma.
And actually, that's what it is in the Greek. Christian strong points. And they're given by God. But they're developed through us. God can give you, gift you, and will gift. But if you don't use it, it won't get developed.
It will wither. And it gets developed through serving. 1 Corinthians 12, 11. But one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one, individually, as he wills. That's what makes him king and lord. That we are subject to his will, his dictates.
We must identify them and develop them, otherwise they wither. And after a while, you say, well, this is who I am. And this is what I'm going to work. I was telling David yesterday, you know, I got to work on my teddy-baredness. And he pretty much danced too late.
I didn't argue because he was driving. Anyway, there's always room to try to do better, to adjust, to critique yourself without hating yourself or puffing yourself up. To find the balance, what Christ is after. What is it that you want? And here he mentions prophecy. Speaking forth inspired truth. That is the short definition for prophecy. A prophet is one to whom God has spoken to before they speak. So Elijah the prophet would not have much to say until God gave him something. That is supposed to be Christianity at work.
We call it being led by the Spirit, being fed by the Spirit, built up in the Spirit. Even repeating inspired truth falls under the category of prophecy. Preaching the word of God is a form of prophecy. It's not all speaking forth versus foretelling.
That's the future. Telling the future. We can't all run around saying, oh, this is what's going to happen tomorrow.
Well, I think you get the point. I don't have to stay on that anymore. We need more forth tellers than foretellers. We do not need new revelations. We need fresh experiences in the existing revelations. Don't get bored with them. When you feel yourself being bored with the Scripture, that might be an indication that you're very knowledgeable of the Scripture. And now you've got to take it to the next level. And to get to that next level, you're going to have to refresh your dependency on the Holy Spirit because you can't do it by yourself. That's been my experience. You know, to know a section of Scripture, you know, let's just say John 3.16.
That could get boring if you know it too well, right? Unless you remain spiritual and understand the depth of what's being said. God loved sinners and acted upon that love even though he didn't have to do anything about it.
And I'm one of those people. And God loves me. And that's hard to do when you feel you're being bypassed by God. You feel that others are being promoted and you're being left behind. We have a song, pass me not, O gentle Savior. Savior, went on others thou what calling. Do not pass me by.
Well, we don't want to be passed by. But in those times of development, you may feel unloved by God. It's not true. He loves you very much, all the time. If you are aware of God's love, one thing I've noticed is that it creates its own energy. There's a courage that comes out of that. It's called blessed assurance. And it's hated so much by hell that they invest a lot of energy keeping you hating yourself.
Or not feeling loved. Or putting too much attention onto yourself and not enough on Christ. Well, Christians who refuse false religions, or not refuse, refute, that's the word I want. Christians who refute false religions, the cults, things like that. They're acting in the office of a prophet. Two of my favorites are Dave Hunt and A.W.
Tozier. Those men just had insight that a lot of believers don't have. Not just insight, they were able to articulate what God had given them. Insights that when you read it, you say, why didn't I think of that? Well, because God didn't give it to you, but he gave it to them.
And instead of competing with them, embrace it, learn from it, memorize what you can, apply it. It takes a certain kind of Christian to be patient with the false religions of the world. I mean, that's all garbage. I'm not wasting my time reading that stuff. Well, I don't have to deal too much in those environments. But if I lived in an area where there were a lot of Muslims, and make no mistake, there's nothing peaceful about Islam. Absolutely nothing.
From top to bottom. It's in their Bibles, their version, their books, their Hadith and their Quran. It's in there. Whereas the Christians, we're commanded to love and to forgive. The contrast is stark and it's irreconcilable. And any time you go, oh, this is peaceful, you're being set up. And their goal is to take over the world. You wait until the Mahdi gets here. He's going to take over everybody.
He's going to force you to get a little upset at this. But if I lived in these areas, because of getting away, because Europe is so incredibly dumb with how they do business, they're waking up now, but it might be too late. If I lived in these places, then I would study up on those materials a little bit more, because I would have to engage them. But my ministry is to preach the Word, to teach the Bible. And that's what I focus on.
What you and the Holy Spirit do with that after that is up to you. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.
We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again, or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross-Reference Radio.
