Sermon for August 24th, 2014

Romans 12:1-8

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Ministries: Introduction

Back in the days of the French Revolution, three brothers were condemned to be executed by that infamous French device, the Guillotine. The brothers were great Christians, and known to be blessed with the spiritual gifts of Faith, Prophecy, and Helpfulness, respectively.

The first brother to be placed in the guillotine was the brother with the gift of great Faith. When asked if he had any last words, he boldly proclaimed, "I have faith that God will deliver me from this fate." When the executioner pulled the rope...nothing happened. The blade did not come down. Taking this as a miracle from God, the authorities released the first brother.

The second brother, the one with the gift of prophecy, was then brought forth, and placed in the guillotine. When asked if he had any last words, he said, "I predict that God will intervene and thwart your plans to execute me." Sure enough, when the executioner pulled the rope, once again nothing happened, and the blade did not come down. Taking this as a sign from God, the second brother was released.

The third brother, the one with the gift of helpfulness, was then brought forth, and placed in the guillotine, face up, looking right at the suspended blade above him. When he was asked if he had any last words, he paused for a moment, looking up at that blade, then replied in his most helpful voice, "Hey! I think I just found out what the problem is with your guillotine!"

Today we begin an eight-part sermon series focusing on spiritual gifts, spiritual ministries. There are several "lists" of spiritual gifts in different places in the New Testament, and plenty of debate among biblical scholars on which ones really count as "gifts" and which one don't, but we'll be focusing on the seven gifts listed in Romans 12:1-8. They are (in order) prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and compassion.

Like many other contemporary theologians and pastors, I don't necessarily believe that Paul, when he wrote this letter to the Romans, intended for this to be an exhaustive list of all spritual gifts, but rather an example of some--perhaps even the most prominent, or the ones most needed by his audience. I like to think that there are other spiritual gifts that are eqully valid, but just didn't quite make the cut...like the spiritual gift of being able to stay awake all the way through a boring sermon...or the spiritual gift of flipping a hamburger without ever dropping it through the grill...or the spiritual gift of avoiding the pastor when you know he wants to ask you to sign up for something...