THE KING'S BUSINESS
1027
himself than he deserves and each o f us need to be constantly on his guard against thinking o f himself more highly than he ought to think. We must remember that we are only part o f a great body and that God deals to that part o f the body a cer tain “measure o f faith,” for a certain pur pose, that whatever gifts we possess are -all o f God’s grace and while we should be thankful o f them there is never any occa sion to boast o f them. W e should not pos sess them if God in sovereign grace had not bestowed them upon us. • vs. 4-8. "For (add, even) as we have many, members in one body and all (add, the) members have'not the same office: so we, being (who are) many, are ,one body in Christ and every one (severally) members one of another. Having then (And having) gifts differing according to the grace that is (was) given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of (add, our) faith; or ministry, let us wait on (give ourselves to) our ministering (ministry); or he that teacheth, on (to-his) teaching; or he that exhorteth on exhor tation (to his exhorting): he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity (liberality) ; h e . that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth (showeth) mercy, with cheerful ness.” The Church o f Christ composed of all who in this present age are united to the Lord Jesus by a living faith, is a body, not a disorganized mass o f units (cf. Eph. 4:8-16; 1 Cor. 12:12-30). Every believer is united to every other believer and has a duty to'perform according to what gift has been bestowed upon him and what part o f the body he thus becomes; just as the mouth owes it to the other members o f the body to feed it and the feet to carry it where it needs to go, etc., and so on. “ The mouth has no right to live for itself alone and' so none o f us have a right to live for ourselves alone but for the whole body and every member o f it. God decides what particular gift each shall have and what duty we therefore owe to the other mem
bers . o f the body (cf. 1 Cor. 12:4-11). Whatever gift o f grace we possess it is the gift o f God, which is our solemn obli gation to exercise for the profit o f the. other members o f the body. There is a temp tation for the one who by God’s grace has been endowed with some o f the gifts that seem higher gifts to “think more highly” o f himself than he ought, but he should never forget that he has nothing to boast o f or be puffed up over because it is God’s unmerited grace or favor that has given him the higher gift, and, therefore, it is no ground of boasting, but it does lay a heavier responsibility upon him. He should therefore not be high-minded but sober minded over his gift. W e should give our selves whole-heartedly to the exercise o f whatever gift .God in his grace has been pleased to bestow upon us. While we are all members o f the same glorious body, even the most insignificant and useless; member having the same honor (as belong ing to fhe same body) as the most conspic uous and most useful member, all members have not the same gifts nor the. same office to perform (cf. 1 Cor. 12:4-30). Whatever our gift that has been bestowed upon us, whether great or small, whether important or seemingly unimportant, we are under solemn obligations to use that gift not only for Christ but for the benefit o f the other members o f the body o f Christ, that is, all believers. These gifts differ through the sovereign grace o f God (v. 6 ) and it is our part to use whatever gift God in His wisdom has seen fit to bestow. It may be the great gift o f “prophecy,” it may be “ministry” (i.e., serving, especially—in its original sense—serving at table) it may be “teaching” .in a mission Sunday School, it may be “ exhortation” (or, as the word often means, “comforting” people), it may be “giving" (even little contributions); whatever it is we must do it, yes, must give ourselves heartily to it. If it is “giving” it should be done with “liberality” (simplicity, sincerity, singleness o f purpose—to glorify God).
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker