Galatians 3:5
"He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith," Galatians 3:5. If we misinterpret Scripture, we will not function correctly in the Lord's church. The church services will become about man instead of the Lord. Over time the services will be about pleasing men instead of pleasing God. This leads to idolatry. People will worship self. When a church gets here there will be competition in the church. There will be fighting's and feuding's. It will be a terrible environment to be in. Those who are like this will be serving self, not the Lord. Since they are not serving the Lord, they will not serve others. These often will take ownership of the church. For an example of this turn to III John. Notice verses 9-12, "I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doeth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true."
It is a sad day when the church is run by someone like Diotrephes. The sad reality is that there are multitudes of churches that are. These congregations are in a bad place, and are headed in a bad direction. How can a church get here? Weak leadership, compromise of the Scriptures, not being a living sacrifice, and not renewing their minds daily. How does a church get back where they should be, and how does a church guard against getting where the church in III John was at? Let us find these answers in Romans 12.
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God," Romans 12:1-2. These Scriptures are very familiar, but they do not do us any good if we do not put them into practice. For eleven chapters Paul has been giving us doctrine. Theology is deep in Romans. In chapter 12 we are given Scripture regarding how a church should function. The very first thing a church should do is be a living sacrifice and then constantly renew our minds. We die to self every day, so we can live unto the Lord every day. We will not be able to do the Lord's will every day if we are not renewing our minds daily, and we will not renew our minds daily if we are not dying to self daily. We must tell ourselves no, and it is good to get into a habit of doing that. Say no to self and yes to God. Worship Him, not yourself.
For the church to function properly, we must be actively practicing verses 1-2. You and I make up the church. The rest of chapter 12 flows from verses 1 and 2. If a church is not functioning as it should it is because it is not putting verses 1 and 2 into practice. The church at Corinth is a great example. They were not renewing their minds, so they gave into fleshly impulses. "Renewing" in verse 2 is to renew qualitatively. Therefore, a renewing or a renovation which makes a person different than in the past. "Be" is in the present imperative tense and is a command to do something in the future and involves continuous or repeated action. The result is that everyday we are being transformed in mind and heart.
When we are putting these truths into practice, we will be a church that is functioning for the honour and glory of the Lord. We will make much of Christ, not ourselves. We will be serving Christ, and each other. "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith," Romans 12:3. "Think" in this verse means to be of an opinion, to consider. Don't have a high opinion of yourself above than you should. We have a sober opinion, a balanced view, about ourselves when we view ourselves in light of the Scriptures. All whom the Lord has saved were once dead in trespasses and sins. Christ's righteousness was imputed to us. We stand before God with Christ's righteousness, not our own. We are the bride of Christ. He gave His life for us, and He ever lives for us and intercedes for us. He has given us eternal life. He loves us with a love that never waivers. Nothing and no one can separate us from His love. At the moment of salvation we who were in the kingdom of darkness was translated into the Kingdom of Light. We are the adopted children of God and with that comes all the privileges of being a child of God. All of this is the result of God choosing to save us before the foundation of the world. He saves us by His grace through the faith that He gives us. We have nothing to glory in. None of us are better than anyone else. We are all servants of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and we serve Him by serving others.
Everyone whom the Lord saves is given the measure of faith. This is not speaking of saving faith. Saving faith is not given out in measure. Here in verse 3 Paul is writing to those who make up the church; those of us whom the Lord has saved. He has given each saved person a measure of faith. In context, this measure of faith is dealing with spiritual gifts. This is another reason we do not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to because we are who we are by the grace of God. We do not pick our gifts out. The Holy Spirit gives us these gifts by measure. We minister according to the proportion we have been given. None of us have all the gifts. This makes us dependent upon each other to operate as a body should for the glory of God. "Christ had the Spirit given him without measure, John 3:34. But the saints have it by measure; see Ephesians 4:7. Christ, who had gifts without measure, was meek and lowly; and shall we, that are stinted, be proud and self-conceited?" Matthew Henry.
How great it is to know that we are saved. It is also humbling to know that Christ uses us in and through His local church. What are you doing for Jesus Christ? Don't be like the churches at Corinth and Galatia. They were looking to magnify self, not serve the Lord by serving others.
Lord willing, we will pick up in Romans 12:4 next time as we continue looking at our function in the Lord's church. Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
