“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…” (Romans 12:6a, ESV)

In their book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey speak of the apostle Paul’s analogy in 1 Corinthians 12 “where he compares the church of Christ to the human body.”[1] Dr. Brand says, “that inspired analogy takes on even more meaning to me because of the expanded vistas allowed by the invention of microscopes.”[2] And because of this he can take Paul’s analogy one step further: “The body is one unit, though all its cells are many, they form one body…But in fact God has arranged the cells in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If all cells were the same, where would the body be? As it is, there are many cells, but one body.”[3]

Dr. Brand concludes, “That analogy conveys a more precise meaning to me because though a hand or foot or ear cannot have life separate from the body, a cell does have that potential. It can be part of the body as a loyalist, or it can cling to its own life. Some cells do choose to live in the body, sharing its benefits while maintaining complete independence – they become parasites or cancer cells.”[4]

As a church we’ve been walking through Romans 12 seeing how it is that we are to be living sacrifices as we grow to maturity in Christ. It is in this chapter that Paul shows us the outflow of understanding the gospel – what it looks like in everyday life.

Last week we looked at verses 4-8 seeing that we are to serve as we have been designed to serve and in verse 6 Paul says that as believers we have all been given a gift, so “let us use them”! This means that as living sacrifices we do not simply exist to please ourselves and to go along for the ride. It means that as living sacrifices we must become servants. We all become ministers even as the apostle Peter tells us in his first letter, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9, ESV).

Even as we look at our Saviour, He did not come to be served, but to serve (Mk. 10:45), and He humbled Himself taking on the form of a servant even to the point of death on a cross on our behalf (Phil. 2:1-11). Jesus did not simply tell us to serve, but modeled it for us and He loved us so much that He laid down His very life for us. So, now as we follow Him we are to use the gifts He has given us not merely for our own enjoyment, but for the glory of God and for the good of all people. He has given us gifts, let us use them.

[1] Brand & Yancey, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, 31.

[2] Ibid, 31-32.

[3] Ibid, 32.

[4] Ibid.