Studying His Word and His Works

Listen to the study here: Romans 12:3-8

Read here: Romans 12

Review

• Calvin on the theme of Romans: “Man’s only righteousness is the mercy of God in Christ, when it is offered by the Gospel and received by faith.” Romans 1:17 and elsewhere.
• IMPORTANT: Paul wrote the letter to the saints (1:7), and the letter is about the gospel, which is a reminder we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily. 
• Luther: Simul iustus et peccator = At the same time, righteous and a sinner! Romans 3:23-25
• In Ch. 1-3 Paul shows us our unrighteousness, and God’s wrath against that, and then switches to Christ’s righteousness as our covering, the propitiation of our sins (Romans 3:25) as the final sacrifice for sin, fulfilling the promise to Abraham, who had faith before any works
• Faith being “counted” or “credited to our account” as righteousness is mentioned 11 times in Chapter 4! If “none are righteous” as Paul wrote in Romans 3:10, then this saving faith must be a gift from God.
• Ch. 5, We now have peace with God, access to God, and hope, because of what Christ did for us while we were weak(v. 6), sinners (v. 8), and enemies (v. 10). Christ did this “at the right time,” (v. 6), connecting Christ’s work on the cross and God’s plan of redemption to real history (not just a myth or legend).
• Atonement(5:6-11): Jesus satisfying God’s wrath for us through His sacrificial death on the cross.
• Ch. 5 and 6 describe federalism, this idea of one man making a difference, for righteousness (Jesus) or wickedness (Adam). 
• Ch 6 ended with lots of words pointing to the new road we are now on with Christ, the sanctification road.
  • Service is the key word, “slaves” used 8 times
  • “Present yourselves”(5), “Leads to”(5)
• Sproul: “our regeneration, our rebirth was the work of one Person, God. It was not a joint venture; but from the moment we take our first breath of regenerated spiritual life, it  becomes a joint effort.” the work of one Person is what salvation is about. The joint venture is what sanctification is about. Ch.6 ends and we continue into Ch.7 describing what this “sanctification road” looks like to walk down. We were on the sin road that leads to death, but now we are on the grace road that leads to eternal life.
• Chapter 8 is describing the assurance we have as Christians in salvation. Deus pro nobis – God for us. It is a reminder of God’s sovereignty over our salvation, and God’s infinite wisdom, in the creation, fall, redemption plan he has for not just us, but the whole world. Ultimately, God, not us, foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies and glorifies. There are many verses (Romans 2:4, John 3:16, etc) that point to God’s patience with everyone, His love for everyone, that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9), so I believe there is some free will in there somewhere, perhaps an ability to answer the call, or not. But, even if we answer the call, it is God who initiated. Even if we are crying out for God, “feeling our way to Him” like Acts 17:27 says, we are only doing this because He has already called. We are MORE THAN CONQUERORS, not on our own of course, but “through Him who loved us” from before time began. 
• Chapter 9 continues on the point of election, which, if you think about it, Paul has been discussing since Romans 1:1 when he said he was “set apart”. Paul continues to hammer the point that it is God’s free will, not ours, that matters most. It’s good to keep in mind the complexity of God, as he is not just electing, but he is doing a bunch of things simultaneously and eternally. He is electing, foreknowing, predestining, calling, justifying, glorifying, answering prayer, “giving them over to a debased mind” (Romans 1:28-32) while also being kind as a means to lead people to repentance (Romans 2:4), showing mercy to some and hardening others (9:18). It’s like God is working on an eternal and therefore infinite scale, but also an instantaneous and therefore infinitesimal scale. Pastor John Macarthur, who went home to Jesus recently, described this as a parallelism, God’s sovereign election running alongside the “whoever believes in Him will have eternal life” of John 3:16. It is Euler’s “every instant,” of God initiating, so the saved are always indebted to Him. And it’s also Paul’s “unceasing anguish” for the lost in 9:2, something we should ask God to give us, too. And something that clearly shows that God predestines us to a team, His team, and we are working with Him to save sinners. He’s just team captain and MVP. He gets all the glory!
  • Also remember that Paul references almost 50 OT verses in Chapter 9 alone. He is retelling Israel’s story in many places to serve as a reminder of God’s sovereign will over nations, but also individuals like Pharoah, Moses, Jacob and Esau, etc. Some want to say election is only about nations, or only individuals, but this is another both/and. 
  • Romans 9:6 is key (I think) to understanding a lot of Ch. 9-11. We need to keep going back to this, that “not all Israel belongs to Israel.” What Paul is getting at here is that true Israel are believers, regardless of nation or ancestry.
• Chapter 10 also discusses election, as well as Macarthur’s “parallelism”, or even the “3 strands are not easily broken” analogy in Ecclesiastes 4:12. That’s more what some of Chapter 10 is describing, because God could just yell the gospel down from heaven if wanted, but he chooses to use us, weak on our own but strong in Him. Ch. 10 describes a deep, personal bond God has with believers. Paul also describes Israel’s history of disobedience, how they did not hear the gospel, but in Ch. 11 again reminds that God preserves a remnant.
• Chapter 11, there is one tree, with branches being broken off and grafted in. One body of covenant believers, and broken branches are those who had the outward signs like circumcision (OT) or baptism (NT) but no belief, no Holy Spirit-given gift of faith, no imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Chapter 11 hints that God works through individuals of course, but also nations, and that He is not done with ethnic Israel. He used Israel’s “stumbling” to lead the gentiles to salvation, and these verses say he will eventually use the gentiles to lead Israel to salvation. Paul also reiterates that salvation is by grace, not works, that God is merciful in spite of man’s disobedience. Paul ends Ch. 11 with what Calvin called “finitum non capax infinitum,” meaning, “the finite cannot grasp the fullness of the infinite.” Stay humble, don’t think you have to figure everything out about God because you can’t! It’s also important to note Paul’s focus in Ch. 11 is to remind that God still has a plan for Israel. The only emphasis Paul makes in Ch. 9-11 is on their salvation, on a mission mindset, which is something Christian churches should refocus on. Getting away from blind political support for Israel, and praying for and getting the gospel to Jew and Gentile in Israel and everywhere. 

Intro

• Key words: one, who(5); members, think (3); faith, grace, given, our, us (2) . There is a clear shift from a focus on Father, Son and Spirit to believers, the faithful members of the invisible church, with a continued emphasis from verse 2 on the mind (think). If Ch. 1-11 is our major premise, then Ch. 12-16 is the concluion.
  • Review of 12:1-2, Recently, we lost another Christian warrior, Dr. Voddie Baucham. Pastor, teacher, founder of a seminary in Africa and USA. He more clearly described than almost anyone alive what Paul meant by “the world” in verse 2. Some versions translate this as “spirit of the age,” and it is something Paul warns us to NOT be conformed to but instead renew your mind in Christ. ONLY as a Christian can you do this, can you turn from the world and present your members to Christ as a living sacrifice. This is only a Holy Spirit driven thing, it is only “in Christ” that we can truly do this. We can do this stuff without Christ, but we don’t see the spiritual ramifications of it, we don’t see a need to put on the full armor of God to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph. 6). Anyways, a great book by Voddie, Fault Lines, is well worth the read and very discerning regarding the “spirit of the age.”
• Verse 3
  • Reflect back on Romans 1-11 for a moment. On God’s infinite wisdom and knowledge and justice, but mercy to us that was not by our works but by grace alone. Paul is thinking about that as he writes by the grace given to me I say… Paul is confident in Christ, not his own writing abilities.
    • In 1 Tim 1:15 he considered himself the “chief of sinners.” These are incredible words that you don’t often hear today.
  • Think with sober judgment. Here, Paul is expanding on what “renewing your mind” looks like (verse 2), with a specific focus on ourselves.
    • Sproul tells a story of an international math test, that included a section on self-esteem. The Koreans did the best on math and lowest on how they felt about their performance. The Americans did the worst on the math and the highest on how they felt about their performance! I would argue that neither of those were better representations of what “sober-mindedness” is supposed to be, for a couple of reasons:
      • 1) these were teenagers, who are some of the least capable, on average, of making sober-minded judgments about themselves.
      • 2) sober-mindedness isn’t about thinking poorly about yourself. We tend to think the Koreans were more “sober-minded,” but being sober-minded is really more about applying the beginning of verse 3, which is drawing conclusions from Ch. 1-11 on who Father, Son and Spirit are. Being sober minded is having a John 3:30 mindset. He must increase, I must decrease. Christ is the head, I am part of the body. Being sober-minded is about verse 1, being a living sacrifice. It’s about going all the way back to verse 1:1, recognizing it was God who set us apart. Everything Paul has talked about so far has pointed to God’s doing, to his infiniteness in everything, in power, in knowledge in eternity. It’s not about self-esteem, or a lack thereof, but about constantly renewing our mind so that we recognize our proper place. 
    • We also can’t be sober-minded if we are excessive in our emotions, if our mind is imbalanced by drugs or alcohol or even certain foods. Our bodies are one constantly humming series of chemical reactions and electron transfers, and we can seriously interfere with body chemistry with what we put in our bodies. Last week we talked about how mind-renewal comes through Bible reading, prayer, and wise counsel. If we put the Bible down, isolate ourselves, and turn to pills or a bottle or a bag of weed or a dozen McDonald’s Big Mac combo meals a day, do we really think that is what Paul means in 12:1 by “present your bodies as a living sacrfiice?” Is that really how we are going to discern what is good and acceptable and perfect? No, that is destruction, that is ugly and false and destructive. What does John 10:10 say? That the thief came to steal, kill and destroy. Sober-mindedness is about realizing we can’t turn from that without Christ, that we have to constantly lean on him, lean into Him, surrender to Him. That it is Christ alone, in us, that allows us to turn from that and present ourselves as living sacrifices. 
    • In my studies on Hawaiian missions, I often marvel at their success. How could they come into a nation, where they totally put the cart before the horse, hardly knowing the language, not knowing if they would even be able to stay, outnumbered by secular foreign interests by 400:1 on any given day. How is what they did sober-minded in any way?! Because they zealously ran after the Big 3: the Bible, prayer, and wise-counsel. These things helped them continually renew their minds and put Christ at the head, to know their proper place, and avoid the fleshly pitfalls of overconfidence or under-confidence. Of course, they were not perfect at this, nobody is, but overall they knew their place.
    • Sproul writes favorably about psychological testing. I think that can be part of the “wise counsel”, but the Holy Spirit in us now, renewing our minds, is an active process. Because of this renewal, we may be a completely different person in a year or two, and our psychological evaluation may be massively different than before. It might help you evaluate who you are right now, but not forever.
  • Measure of faith that GOD HAS ASSIGNED– wait, what? I thought this was “my faith”?! You mean God assigned it to me in a mathematical way? And, what is this about measuring and proportion that continues in verse 6?! God makes us unique and different and not identical? No way!
    • When you look at how God used Voddie Baucham, or John Macarthur, or Charlie Kirk, it is pretty obvious God had a unique calling for each of these men, above and beyond most Christians. Does that mean everyone else has no role, no purpose? That we are just biding our time until death? Of course not. God assigns faith. It’s not exclusively “my faith,” as we like to call it, or to say I place “my faith” in Christ. No, saving faith is a gift, it is from Him. So maybe “using my gift of faith” is a better way to describe saving faith. And through sober judgment we can discern what His will is, how He wants to use us in the body of Christ. We may not have the same platform famous theologians have, or Paul had, or Peter had, etc., but we have the same Holy Spirit, and we need to run hard towards that, regardless of the size of our platform. 
    • Sproul says some churches teach that one Christian is “gifted by the Holy Spirit” while others are not. These verses are saying all believers are gifted in one way or another. 
• Verses 4-5
  • Believers are one body in Christ. These verses attest, once again, to the unity and diversity found in the Trinity. God is Father/Son/Spirit, a holy trinity. God is the perfect example of unity and diversity. EVERYTHING we see around in creation displays this attribute of God (Romans 1:20). White light is composed of an infinite diversity of colors. Electric current has a magnetic field perpendicular to the electric field. Bodies are irreducibly complex, meaning, the different parts need each other and without them, the body dies. Can your body work without a heart? What about blood? What about an immune system? What about mitochondria? If all your mitochondria stopped working, would you stop working? Yes. If part of your body is sick, does it affect other parts? Yes. Church functions the same way, church meaning the body of believers. There is little c church, like your home church, with its body of believers, and big C Church, which is the worldwide body of believers, all connected to the head, which is Christ.
    • God has given us countless examples from creation about how bodies work, or how ecosystems work. How a humpback whale feeds using a bubble net ring, then digests and converts the food into body parts, and the waste returns to the ocean and bacteria decompose it down to chemical compounds and nutrients, which are absorbed by algae for food, who are then consumed by plankton, and then consumed by krill and herring, which are then consumed by humpback whales! An entire system working together, full of built-in checks and balances. Some species called keystone species are more foundational to the ecosystem than others. I could go on and on about this, but instead, just observe, look around. You will see that what Paul is saying here connects back to the “no excuses for not knowing about God” in Romans 1:20. 
    • Every church should have a head and body hierarchy, because that is what the Bible reflects. We do fight to maintain that at my current church. Elder run, with an obvious lead pastor, preaching verse by verse through the Bible. If you are searching for a church, search for a church like this, where it is as clear as possible the emphasis is on teaching God’s word, first and foremost. A place where leadership matters, with Christ at the head.
    • Here is more thought on the idea that if the body is sick it effects everyone. Don’t freak out about this. If something happens to you, a major sin, an illness, physical or mental, don’t freak out and think “oh no, I’m bringing the whole body down!” Well, maybe you should freak out a little bit haha, but immediately turn TO Christ, turn TO the body, not away. This is the normal and natural and true function of the church body, to be impacted when one member is sick, AND to be part of the healing process. Go back to Romans 3, ALL have sinned, NONE are righteous. It’s Christ alone imputing his righteousness to us. We are a work in progress, and the church body, if functioning properly is there to assist in that mind renewal process. 
• Verses 6-8
  • Gifts are according to the grace given to us. These gifts were given to us. They are not something we always had. Paul was really smart and was well-read. A zealous Jew. But, before Jesus saved him, he was using that knowledge for the wrong reasons. The Holy Spirit alone transformed Paul’s abilities into something good. The Holy Spirit turned Paul’s knowledge of Scripture into a gift instead of a weapon against the church. Let’s go through the gifts listed here:
    • Prophecy (v. 6): All of this section is making it clear that God uses believers in different ways and everyone has a role, no matter how big or small according to our manmade standards. With prophecy, this is where sober-mindedness comes in, on how much you trust His word and know Him, and how much “confidence in Christ” you have.
      • There are different interpretations of what an apostle or prophet is today, but I would generally agree with Sproul that apostles were those chosen by Christ during his ministry on earth, and also Paul. 
      • Sproul distinguishes old and new testament prophets. An OT prophet was called to interpret God’s direct word, which became Scripture. A NT prophet was one gifted in interpreting and expositing God’s written word, which is the primary task of the preacher. Think about how in Romans, Paul is constantly referencing the OT, constantly interpreting God’s word and expounding it in light of what Christ has done. The modern preacher is also a prophet in the sense that he follows a similar pattern. The modern preacher is interpreting what NT authors were interpreting about the OT! So, when you look for a church, look for a pastor, or preacher, who clearly trusts God’s word, and that trust is visible in the way he preaches, the way he interacts with others, how his family treats him, etc.
        • Sproul: “Preachers are to interpret the Word of God and expound it to the people.” 
      • Schreiner has a different take: “Prophecy was spontaneous and directed to specific situations, while teaching was a more settled gift and required study and effort in order to understand and explain the tradition.” Schreiner thinks prophecy should not always be equated with preaching or teaching. He believes like Sproul that “those who prophesy must not deviate from apostolic doctrine,” from what we read in the NT in other words.
        • The part about prophesying in proportion to our faith means not to go outside the faith given by God. Schreiner writes that one reason we might err is “perhaps to impress others with [our] charismatic ability.” This is a very difficult thing for Christians to evaluate, whether or not someone is indeed prophesying in a correct proportion. A lot of verse 2 “testing and discernment” is required here.
      • So, Schreiner leaves the door open for prophecy meaning more than just Scripture interpretation, things like divine insight into a particular situation, speaking to unbelievers, or foretelling the future. 
      • Either way, Sproul’s more “this is what the preacher does and it’s about interpreting Scripture” or Schreiner’s more open interpretation that this is for more than just preachers, they would both agree that whatever “prophecy” means, it should be tested by the church (1 Cor 14:29), and should not deviate from Scripture. I Cor 14:3 says prophesying should have an upbuilding, bringing encouragement and consolation. 
      • We could be overthinking some of this too. For example, if we read Galatians 1:8-9, that those who preach a different gospel, like a false gospel they received from someone not associated with Paul or from an angel (Satan acts like an angel sometimes (2 Cor 11:4), let that person or angel or demon be accursed. So, we read that, and then hear about a guy that heard a different gospel from an “angel of light” named Moroni. And this angel told this guy so much stuff that wasn’t in the Bible that he had to write a different book, as if writing a book made this new gospel “true” or something. So, how do you discern if it is true or not? The Bible. How does this make you a prophet? Because if you know God’s word well, and compare it to this new gospel (I’m talking about Mormonism by the way), you can predict the end game for people who reject the true gospel for the false one. 
    • Service (v. 7), or ministry, is something to use in our serving. This reminds me of Euclid’s axioms, these “no duh” kinds of statements that are the foundation of geometry. Like axiom 4, “things which match each other are equal to each other.” No duh! Likewise here, if you have the gift of service, then serve. No duh!
      • Sproul connects this directly to the office of deacon in the church.
      • So, the first two things here are specific offices in the church, the preacher (elder) and the deacon. The priest and the king you might say. Sproul mentions King Uzziah, who reigned as king of Israel for 52 years (2 Kings 15:1-7, 2 Chr. 26). He did great until the end, when he decided he wanted to be both priest and king (same thing Paao did in Hawaii and brought his fake god system, overthrown in 1819). Uzziah was struck with leprosy and died in disgrace, woah! The moral is he did not stay in his lane, and did not heed the axiom of “serve with your serving gift I gave you.”
        • Sproul mentions how this occurs time and again in churches everywhere, the servant wanting to be preacher all of a sudden, which is usually what happens but sometimes vice versa. But, remember the “by testing” of verse 2. God has a role for you, and for deacon and elder. Part of either role is getting married and having children, which is clearly a process that involves constant “renewing of mind” and being transformed. It is not static in any way, shape or form. Young men, do you want to see what all of this is referring to? One answer is to get married and have kids and stay faithful and see where God leads you. 
        • Also, don’t be jealous of other people’s gifts, like King Uzziah was. Don’t be some power hog, an “I must be all of these gifts” kind of weirdo. That is sin. And that’s why Paul refers to the church as a body, individual members gifted in unique ways.
          • Another thing is don’t overemphasize your own gift and act like others’ gifts don’t matter. God assigns measures of faith (v.3), the gifts are given to us (v. 6). This is not us, it is Christ in us! Remember that in humility and sober-mindedness.
        • The second we are shown what our roles are, the second our human nature side kicks in and corrupts it. We start thinking of our giftings as better than others, or we have a self-esteem issue or a jealousy issue. Or we set up some kind of corporate ladder-style process where one starts by stacking chairs and works their way up to preacher.  
      • Teaching (v. 7), an elder-type position. May not be preacher also but could. May not be elder either, it is a gift. If you love to learn about God and share that knowledge with others, that is a part of body of Christ and should be done regardless of whether there is one or 1,000 in the class. As believers, we are all called to make disciples. We should all be iron sharpening, growing strong in faith, building each other up in our knowledge and understanding of the Word.
        • Schreiner believes teaching here is to understand and interpret the Bible in light of tradition, in “we do these things because of…” kind of idea. Why we aren’t Catholic, in other words, or why we do communion and baptism. 
      • Exhorting (v. 8), also an elder-type position, usually connected to the preacher. It is interesting that this is distinct from a teacher, but Schreiner says there is a lot of overlap, and that exhorting is a more pastoral role or role of a father maybe to “stir up the brethren to do good and unbelievers to accept the faith.” He also says “Teaching concentrates more on the context of tradition, while exhorting summons others to actions and stirs them from lethargy.” 
      • Generosity (v. 8), if you have this gift, Paul is saying don’t be stingy with it, use it liberally. 2 Cor 9:7 says God loves a cheerful giver, which should be all of us, but some are gifted by the Holy Spirit for more. 
      • Leadership (v. 8), do it with zeal. It is similar to exhorting, but ultimately the one people look to for decisions. So don’t lead reluctantly. And it may not be in every situation that you need to lead. Husbands are designed by God to  be the head of the household, so once you get married and have kids, “leadership” will mean something different than it does now. There is a way, a direction you will want to take things. So read the Word, pray, seek wise counsel, make a decision and lead with zeal. 
      • Mercy (v. 8). Do acts of mercy, but with cheerfulness.
        • With God, you have two outcomes, receive His justice or His mercy. This is ultimately His will, Him choosing us for mercy, or not. Him adopting us as sons and daughters, or not.
          • As Christians, as leaders, there are times when we don’t want to grant mercy, at all, to a child, a spouse, a student, a co-worker. All we want is justice, even though we’ve been given infinite mercy at Christ’s expense. 
        • We are to seek to bond to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to strive for true unity and diversity in one fully functioning body. Of course, justice is needed at times, but mercy is usually needed more.
          • Sproul: We are to like one another for Christ’s sake. Haha!
• Up next, Romans 12:9-21