Puzzle Principles

Do you believe that you have a critical role to play in the body of Christ? It's true.

Here's Steven Davey. Before the world began, God knew what this church, in this generation, in this city, on this acreage, at this time, would need. And He knew it needed you. And He chose you, and He gifted you, according to His divine design, so that you bring to the puzzle that peace that helps us demonstrate the picture of God's grace. When God saved you, He uniquely equipped and gifted you.

What He did was give you a gift so that you can play an important part in the body of Christ. All of us fit together, much like a puzzle. In fact, we're only complete when every part is in its place.

What's your part? Have you found your place in God's puzzle called the church? Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Steven returns to his series entitled Divine Design. This series and today's message will help you find where you fit in the body of Christ. Want to know more?

Keep listening, because here's Steven. You know, it is true, isn't it, that one of the great discoveries of life is the discovery of what truly matters in life? In fact, if you haven't caught on to the fact that you happen to be on planet Earth by divine design, if you think maybe you're here to just get through school, if you're here to just get a job, a good one, and pay the bills, and maybe get married, and maybe have children, and put your kids through college, and then save enough for retirement so you can collect seashells and play games, you know, really, then life is all about you, isn't it?

It all revolves around you. And all the while, Madison Avenue bombards us, supports us, encourages us, telling us there are ever-increasing things we ought to have to really live. Television and radio and news and media advocate a message of individualism that life revolves around my needs and my wants and my desires and my world. And our peers, they don't really help much.

They define life by what they drive in or live in or where they vacation to or how much they've tucked in the bank. Even though when our world gets a little bit of that stuff or maybe a lot of it, they realize it doesn't matter. There are still missing pieces. There's still emptiness. Well, I invite you to go back with me to the puzzle table for further instruction on how to put it together and what really matters in Romans chapter 12. In our last session, we barely opened the box to look at the pieces. Instead, we began by looking at the process of what it takes to put a puzzle together, this puzzle called life, especially as it relates to the New Testament church.

And it didn't take us very long to discover a divine design, not only for the church, but for our personal lives as well. And I want to say this before we start again. It doesn't have anything to do with what you have or what you drive or how much you make or what you wear or where you live.

It has everything to do with who you are. And even beyond that, it has everything to do with what God has already given you that he wants you to give away. Romans chapter 12. Let's retrace our steps for a few moments in verse three. Paul informs us that we can't discover our fit in the family without a radical change in our thinking called humility.

Look at verse three. For through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. But to think so as to have sound thinking, you could render it as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. In other words, don't carry around the attitude of superiority that will destroy the peace that God wants you to play in the puzzle. You can't think that you're the only or the best or the better piece.

So you must approach with this principle of humility. I found it interesting. I uncovered in my study an article originally published in the Chicago Tribune relaying the story of something that's happening in Germany with one particular orchestra. They're in the process, these violinists, of suing for a pay raise to exceed the raise given to those other members who play other instruments. The reason why these 16 violinists have determined that they play more notes per concert than their colleagues, and they deserve to be paid more. Isn't that the height of individualism? The director of the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn, Germany, argued that they shouldn't be paid more since everyone understands that even if you play more notes than somebody else, every note is needed to play the music the composer created. Isn't that a classic illustration of individualism, of this attitude that I matter most and all that matters is me? Some trombonist is going to reach in real far in front of him to whack him in the head.

I can imagine camaraderie is gone. And no doubt this orchestra is going to have difficulty playing with the composer's original design and passion. So likewise in the church, nobody is more important than anybody else. So we're not to keep track of notes.

We simply follow the conductor. We surrender to the designer. Now there are some other principles Paul wants to warn us about them. He wants us to understand before we look at individual puzzle pieces. I want to give you three more found in the next three verses. Let me give you the principle and then we'll look at the text.

Number one, we must not only have this attitude of humility, but we must maintain the principle of unity. Look at verse four in Romans Chapter 12. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function. So we who are many are one body in Christ. You could circle the phrase one body. It appears twice. God never repeats himself because he's at a loss for words.

He intends to emphasize this. You are one body. Now there are two ways, two planes upon which we consider this truth. The church universal. No matter what continent you may live on.

No matter what generation you live in. During this grand dispensation of grace that is now some 2000 years old. We are one body. We are one church universal.

One bride of Christ. But then there is also the local plane of the local church. Also fashioned by Christ and held accountable by the chief shepherd to operate in submission to his word. To effectively reach out into the world.

It is unique. Each individual church in its own personality and its own opportunity. God does some things for this assembly. He calls us to do some things.

He may not call another to do. You might ransack Revelation Chapters 2 and 3 to discover the truth about the uniqueness of individual local churches. And the individual personality that is demonstrated by the individual church. And they are called each individually to seize opportunities.

God sort of drops in their laps. We are all though to pursue purity. And we are all to defend the faith. And we are all to serve Christ in our particular world.

At all costs. We are to maintain the principle of unity in the local church. And Paul will stress this truth by the way over and over again in the New Testament.

He writes to the Colossian believers as those who have been chosen by God put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bearing with one another. That literally means putting up with one another. Forgiving each other.

Whoever has a complaint against anyone. Just as the Lord forgave you so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love.

Here it is. Which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you are called, I've paraphrased, in one puzzle. To the Ephesian church Paul wrote, I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling by which you have been called with all humility and gentleness.

With patience. Showing tolerance for one another and love. Being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. The writer of Hebrews challenged the church to place their unity in truth as a high premium.

He writes in Hebrews 10 24. Let us consider how to provoke one another. And you say, yes, stop right there. That's me. I can do that. You know, I've got the spiritual gift of provocation.

No, you didn't finish. Consider how to provoke one another unto love and good works. How? When? Where? By not forsaking your own assembling together, which is the habit of some. In other words, in the first century church, there are already believers begging off the assembly.

Where are they? We don't know. Don't do that. We all contribute more than we could ever calculate by simply gathering. And in the assembly, we practice unity. None of us are exempt from making a contribution.

We all bring to this campus and into this assembly. And we should the fruit of the spirit. I read one author who wrote with somewhat mischievous humor. He said, some people have a joy that is so deep it never rises to the surface. You know, that person's deep when they show up. It might mean they're just ornery.

Some things need to bubble up to the surface. When we assemble, we provoke one another and the love and good works in the assembly. Spiritual gifts are ways of bringing the joy and blessing and unity of the body. Spiritual gifts are not toys then that we're going to discover we're to play around with. They are not personal treasures that we keep, we hoard. They're not things we battle with.

They're not weapons. They're tools whereby we build one another up in the faith. I want to admit something here with you. I want us to admit it together.

It's just us here. The truth is we are naturally divisive, aren't we? We easily separate. We tend to that. We find it more easy to criticize. We like to gossip.

We don't find it easy to give people the benefit of the doubt. Frankly, apart from the work of Jesus Christ in our midst, we would never stay together ever or for very long. No church, no local assembly would ever last without the work of God.

Unity is like fine china. It's beautiful but fragile. That's why Paul issues this challenge as he begins to address the local assembly and us as we do our part, as pieces of the puzzle to maintain an attitude of humility and the principle of unity. Let me give you another thought. We are to strengthen the principle of family. Now, you might think I'm going to go in one direction and I'm probably not going in the direction you think I'm going.

So stay with me. It might even be a little troubling to you. I find it interesting that even though the apostle has already stressed the fact that we are one body in Christ and we probably could all check that box. He says something else that is even more challenging and it's easy to miss. It's in the latter part of verse five.

Let's start at the beginning. So we who are many are one body in Christ and that is in addition to that individually members one of another. That's easy to miss, probably because it's harder to accept. I mean, it's one thing for me to say that I belong to Jesus Christ. It's another thing for me to say I belong to you.

Right. It's one thing for us to tell each other what we're related to God. It's another thing to say we're related to one another to buy into the vocabulary of the New Testament church that calls us brothers and sisters in the faith.

But that's exactly what Paul means. You ask the average Christian for their list of priorities and they'll rattle them off. God, family, career. And then they look at you as if they've just nailed it.

The bolder I get, I just ask them, which family are you talking about? I mean, you said God and then family and then career. What's missing? The Book of Ephesians. Paul clearly teaches the responsibility and priority of the nuclear family, the immediate family, the husband and wife, reflecting the truth of Christ's love for his church. Children honoring and obeying their parents and all of the glorifying of the God. But here in the Book of Romans, Paul is teaching the priority of the spiritual family, the living church with equal passion, serving one another, building one another up, edifying and instructing and challenging and encouraging one another in the faith. So then when you take the fuller picture, you have in Ephesians the priority of our biological relationship. In Romans, you have the priority of our spiritual relationship. Has it ever occurred to you that the spiritual will outlive the biological?

Are we even on the list? When you leave this planet as the bride of Christ, your husband will be Jesus Christ. He's already told us that he's prepared a room, Monet. He's prepared an apartment at the father's house.

That's what they did. You brought your bride home and dad built onto the house. Our bridegroom, the son of God, has prepared this place for us.

Consider this. The husband you have on earth then will not be your husband for eternity. Isn't that a relief? Anybody want to say amen to that? Not all the women said.

We got one over here. We're all related by faith in the bridegroom. We just don't think of it that way, do we? So it shouldn't surprise us that the Apostle Paul actually tells us to relate to one another as if, listen, we are biologically related. Listen to what he told Timothy. Treat the older men in the assembly as if they were your fathers. Treat the younger men in the assembly as if they were your brothers.

Treat the older women as if they were your mothers. And with all purity, treat the younger women in your assembly as if they were your sisters. Wouldn't that revolutionize the way we act in church?

To literally think about the fact that the one beside you and behind you as you filter out are related to you. Wouldn't that change the way we would view that younger man in the faith who has questions? Wouldn't it change the way we respond with honor to the older men? Or with kindness, treat the older women? Or as Paul said, with purity, treat the younger women?

Wouldn't that change the way you'd listen to the older ones and treat the younger ones? This is the picture on the puzzle box. This is what it looks like. We are to pursue the principle of unity and we are to strengthen the principle of family. It's more than a cliche, it's the truth.

Let me give you a third one. Paul challenges us in this text to allow for the principle of diversity. Oh, that's where it really gets challenging. I mean, if the first principle or the second one was hard to swallow, this is not going to go down without a lot of sugar. Kind of like the way I drink my coffee. I've got to radically change the taste of it before I like it. So I pour in the sugar and the extra cream and it's dessert in a cup.

That's when I'll drink coffee. Well, the taste of diversity is probably too strong for the average Christian. Paul writes in verse six, we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. It's another way of saying we're all wired differently and we all contribute differently. We naturally hang around people who like what we like, who interpret the news the way we interpret the news, who vote the way we vote, who celebrate over the things we celebrate.

Right. And then we come to church and we have the idea that we leave our differences at the door. I'm not talking about doctrinal diversity, by the way. If you're new here, you might think I am saying that if you've been around Hawaii, you know that is anathema. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about practical diversity of nuance and personality and wiring and tastes.

We don't check them at the door. We have the mistaken belief that a church, an assembly is where everybody looks alike and talks alike and goes to the same places and reads the same books and likes the same kind of music and chooses all the same venues of education and vacation. The average church today would say that if you've got all of that under one roof, you've got unity. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a vast difference between unity and uniformity. Uniformity forbids diversity. Unity, as we'll discover as we work our way through this paragraph, allows for the principle of diversity.

And again, I'm not talking about doctrine. I'm talking about function and wiring and personality. God considers us so unique. He gave each one of us a different thumbprint.

There isn't another one like yours on the planet. He took that much time to create an original. He doesn't make us like General Motors makes Buicks. He just kind of stamps them and maybe adds a thing here too, a gadget or a gizmo.

He doesn't do that. In fact, then for us to wish to be somebody else is to actually discredit the wisdom of God, who is the one that put you together, who wired you, who crafted you. If you're a Buick, then be a Buick. There's room in the garage for everybody. Notice how Paul puts it in the last part of verse four. All the members do not have the same function. It's another way of saying everybody doesn't get excited about the same thing.

Everybody doesn't have the same passion. Everybody doesn't see the same thing when they show up here with different functions. Verse six, again, we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.

Now, don't misunderstand. Paul is not saying that some have more grace than others. What Paul means here is that it's because of God's grace that everyone has.

We have differing gifts, differing functions. God sovereignly bestowed on you and me the equipment we needed to advance his cause on planet Earth. In fact, it's interesting to discover in the New Testament that all three members of the Godhead were involved in equipping you. In Romans Chapter 12, it's God, which is a reference to God the Father. In Ephesians 4, it tells us that Jesus Christ gave the gifts. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, we're told it's the Holy Spirit who gives the gifts. They all in perfect divine design gave you what you had.

Peter wrote it this way. As each one of you has received a special gift, you received it. We'll learn in another discussion you received it at conversion. When the Holy Spirit came into your life, you received it. He gave you what he wanted to give you. You didn't even choose it.

You just received it. Peter says, so use it in serving one another as stewards of the grace of God. Shouldn't it stagger our minds that God knew from eternity past that you would not only become a member of the body, but how you would contribute to the body?

Let me make it even more personal than that. Before the world began, God knew what this church in this generation, in this city, on this acreage at this time would need. And he knew it needed you. And he chose you and he gifted you according to his divine design so that you bring to the puzzle that peace that helps us demonstrate the picture of God's grace. Let me tell you one story that perfectly illustrates the diversity and the attitude of joy.

I found this. This was written by Brad Estep from St. Petersburg, Florida. He told the story of Jamie Scott, who tried out for the play at his elementary school. Oh, man, his heart, this article said, was so set on being one of the characters in the play. But his mother knew better. She knew better. He wasn't the most outgoing student in elementary school.

He was sometimes reserved and quiet. On the day the parts were chosen and handed out, Jamie's mother took along one of his friends when she went to pick him up just in case he was crushed by the disappointment that she expected him to feel. When she pulled up, the kids were letting out of school and Jamie saw her and ran over to his mother.

He rushed over to her car, his eyes shining with excitement. And he said to her, guess what, mom? I have been chosen to clap. And to cheer.

Isn't that great? I have been chosen to clap. That's my role. Oh, that we would find similar joy in what God has chosen for us to do.

Why? Because before you ever discover the character you are to play, the role you are to fulfill, it's as if Paul wants us all to know, every one of us, that we can all do that. We could all clap. We can all cheer one another along. We are all members of one another.

And that really matters. In order for us to have that kind of perspective to take place, to sink in, to take root around here in this family, we have to allow for the principle of diversity. We have to reinforce the principle of family. We have to pursue the principle of unity. This is all part of God's divine design for the living, breathing, serving, acting, reaching, diversified yet unified Church of Jesus Christ, thus revealing to our world this picture.

This lesson was called Puzzle Pieces. It comes from Stephen's series called Divine Design. We'll continue through this series in the days ahead.

For now, we have a gift for you. At some point, this age of the Church will end and the Church will be raptured. Questions abound regarding the future event that theologians have called the Great Tribulation.

You've likely wondered some of the same things. Will it last for three and one half years or seven years? Is it figurative or literal? Will Christians suffer through it or is the rapture real? People can speculate and form all kinds of opinions about future events.

But speculation and opinion is not what you're looking for. You want the truth from God's Word. Stephen has taught extensively on future events from the book of Revelation. We have a resource from that series that we want to send you as our gift. In this booklet, Stephen explores the Tribulation from Scripture. He lays out the most biblically consistent and logical answers to help you understand this coming period.

This is a free resource called The Coming Tribulation. All you need to do is complete a simple form and we'll send it to your inbox right away. Visit wisdomonline.org right now.

There's a link right on the page that will direct you. Again, visit wisdomonline.org for information. I'm excited to be able to tell you about something pretty new here at Wisdom International. We've rolled out new technology that allows our website to be experienced in multiple languages. We're going to be working over the next several months to upload more of our foreign language content. We have a little bit there already and we want to offer all nine of our current languages. And the exciting thing is that this technology will work with every language on earth. So, as God enables us to develop more languages, we'll be able to present those to a global audience.

Visit wisdomonline.org to see what I'm talking about. In addition to equipping you with these daily Bible lessons, we also have a magazine that we publish. Stephen deals with a different topic each month and helps you better understand what the Bible says and how it applies directly to your life. For example, some past topics have included such things as how to forge friendships. What can we know about angels, demons and the spirit world? How can we have a biblically based marriage?

What is church discipline all about and church restoration and how should it be used? And much more. The magazine also has a daily devotional guide that you can use to remain rooted and grounded in God's word every day. We've heard from dozens of readers who've told us how much they appreciate these devotions.

They're written by Stephen's son, Seth. Beginning in February, we've expanded the magazine to give more room to the daily devotionals. They will help you remain grounded in God's word every day. We call the magazine Heart to Heart. This is a resource that we developed for two reasons. We use it to show our appreciation to all of our wisdom partners. We also send three issues of Heart to Heart magazine as a gift to everyone who asks. We'd like to send it to you if you haven't seen it yet. You can sign up for it on our website. Go to wisdomonline.org forward slash magazine. That's wisdomonline.org forward slash magazine. Do that today, then join us next time for more wisdom for the heart. .