Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
November 10, 2019
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: We have all been given "grace" in the form of a "capacity to function for the sake of the Body" that we stand under as "humble" executors of that "grace", but there are many challenges.
Introduction: As we have seen, every believer is summoned into the presence of God to make a presentation of his/her whole self to God without known reservations. In view of the larger picture of God's intentions in "grace", this is the actual beginning of our
function as disciples. In
Mark 3:14, coupled to Mark
1:16-20, we have Mark's presentation of the same basic thesis off of which Paul is now working: there is a period of time when the "assigned" are to be "with Jesus" (so that they might learn the content of the faith), and then there comes the period when those who have been "with" Him will be given their particular part in the "function" of "following Him" (so that the "faith" might become known).
Because of this "logic", Paul spent eleven chapters of his letter to the Romans making sure that there was a solid presentation of the truths of "the faith", and, having done that, turned in the twelfth chapter to the particular issues involved in "function".
The first "issue" involved in "function" concerns an "attitude". We looked into this in the three studies prior to this one. We saw that the root issue is "Grace" and the main "problem" is the believer's penchant to discard that "Grace" and turn his/her "actions" into a self-produced basis for self-exaltation.
To counter that "problem" Paul insists upon keeping "Grace" front and center so that no one begins to "think" foolishly. To do that, the "thinking" has to begin with the fact of God's fundamental dominion over the entire process by dispersing "faith" in various "measures" with the result that we all fulfill our particular destiny as His "Grace-objects". Then, with that beginning, we must also "think" in terms of "the necessities of creation reality": each member of the bodies of men/women are delegated by God to a particular function for the over-all performance of the body. The "delegation" of a "member" to a certain function is not up to any form of "volunteerism": the Spirit of God "divides to every man ... as He will" (1 Corinthians 12:11) as we are told in a similar manner in Mark 3:13 where Jesus "called those whom He wanted". That the "gifts/functions" are not up to us, but up to Him, is illustrated in Matthew 20:20-23 with an associated illustration of what losing sight of "Grace" does within the body in Matthew 20:24.
This evening we are going to pursue the beginning of Paul's instruction as to how we are to respond to this "Grace" of which we have received.
- I. Immediately Paul Acknowledges That There Will Be "Problems" That Are To Be Met By Proper Thinking.
- A. That there will be problems is indicated by Paul's "continuative conjunction" (Logos Morphology) as the second word in the Greek text of 12:6 ("de"; many times the "conjunction" that ties thoughts together is not at the very beginning of the words of the next thought).
- 1. There are three basic "continuative conjunctions: "kai", its opposite "alla", and the in-between "de".
- 2. In 12:6, Paul's choice is "de" because of the problematic issue of wrong thinking in 12:3.
- B. That there is a real solution is indicated by Paul's constant references to "Grace".
- 1. It is by "Grace" that he writes what he writes (12:3).
- 2. Paul's "by Grace through Faith" theology makes "Grace" the root of the requisite "Faith" involved (12:3).
- 3. Paul's identification of the particular functional places we have in the Body of Christ is that they are "Grace-gifts" (charismata; 12:6).
- C. Because the careless ignorance of believers and their individual penchants for "status by reason of performance", this "Grace" thesis is repeated by Peter in 1Peter 4:10 and following.
- 1. In that text, Peter makes the Spirit-distributed "grace-gift" the issue of every believer's "stewardship" under Paul's insistence that the issue regarding stewardship is "being found faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).
- a. This strongly implies that even the "Judgment Seat of Christ" experience of each one of us will be under the umbrella of "stewardship faithfulness to our Grace-given function in the Body".
- b. And, there is another strong implication associated with the first: we will be revealed to have been "found faithful" because of Jesus' own discipling processes through our lives if we move from Romans 1-11 into 12-16.
- 1) The previously mentioned text of Matthew 20:20-23 is "qualified" by Matthew 19:28.
- 2) The "if" is a real issue: Judas, one of the "hearers" of Matthew 19:28 obviously did not remain in the "believing" with which he began, and Luke 19:40 clearly indicates that "if" the people refuse fidelity, God's program will not be "unhinged" [Note also 1 Corinthians 15:2 as a most basic issue of "salvation" by "Grace"].
- 2. It is clear from Paul's words in this context that "believers" can, and some will, go into "wrong thinking" and not be brought out of it except by extreme discipline that sometimes results, not in correction, but in death (1 Corinthians 11:30-32), and, this, not as a denial of the basic facts of God's distribution of "measures" of faith.
- II. Then He Emphasizes His "Gifts by Grace" Thesis.
- A. We actually possess "grace-gifts".
- B. These "grace-gifts" are "according to the standard of body-member Grace".
- 1. They are rooted in "Grace", whether of great measure or small.
- 2. They are "varied" according to the measure of faith that moves us along.
- C. Our response is identified "verb-less-ly" in 12:6-8 as a matter of "faith" (as a cessation of resistance to God's voice).
