Scripture: Romans 12:1-8
12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, 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 encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Questions
- How can each person identify what gifts they have been given, are these gifts natural talents or are these something different?
Background
Related Scriptures: Exodus 2:1-10
Origen: In his usual way, the apostle says that he is speaking by the grace which has been given to him and not by the power of human persuasion, nor by philosophy.… There is an enormous difference between speaking by grace and speaking by human cleverness. Many people speak with a smooth voice and a clever style but do not edify their audience. They cannot get anyone to obey them, because they do not practice what they preach. People like that are not speaking by grace, which was given to Paul.
Everyone ought to know what the measure is of the grace which has been given to him, for which he has been prepared by his faith. One person receives grace from God to be wise in the work of charity, or in the service of visiting or toward the needs of the poor, or concerning the care of the sick, or the defense of widows and children, or hospitality. For God has apportioned these to each person according to the measure of his faith. But suppose someone has received grace in order to be wise about one of these things but does not understand the measure of the grace which has been given to him and wants to know more about the wisdom of God, the word of doctrine, the meaning of deeper knowledge, for which he has not received grace. He does not want to learn so much as to teach what he does not know. Because he does not know enough, he wants to know more than he ought to know.
Gennadius of Constantinople: Paul said this in criticism of those brothers who were running after charismatic gifts. God did not give us his gift in order that we should hate each other or that spiritual things should become an excuse for warfare, but so that we should enjoy harmony and friendship and the common salvation of all. None of you has anything by right, but the one who is worthy of the greatest, as well as the one who is worthy of the least of the charismatic gifts, has been given it by God. Knowing this he ought to use it according to the measure of his faith.[1]
Reflection
I think the first key to understanding Paul’s words in this passage is to understand what the purpose(s) of sacrifice were. The trouble is that sacrifices had a wide variety of reasons in the Bible. Considering this we must understand that Paul is making a very general claim and the most general understanding of sacrifices is that they bring us closer to God. So, Paul seems to be telling us to recognize God’s mercy toward us and allow that mercy to motivate us to be the means by which God’s presence is restored to the world. We who have experienced God’s mercy are meant to see ourselves as instruments used to bring God’s presence and sanctity into the world. The concept of a sacrifice was that it extended God’s domain further into this world and in doing so brought peace and harmony to the community of God’s people.
Paul goes on to say that as we live out this purpose God gifts us with various tools to help us. These gifts help us to not live according to the desires and means of the present age. We as a body are given gifts to show generosity. In being generous we combat selfishness in ourselves and promote justice where people have been neglected by injustice. We are given the gift of encouragement to combat the ranting and anger we see in the culture. We are given sincerity to shine where modern society hides and evades. Our gifts are meant to bring God’s presence into this world. An illustration of how this works is the Hebrew midwives in Exodus. They were gifted with courage and a strict moral compass, allowing them to stand up to Pharaoh. These ladies were not special in the sense that they possessed access to gifts that are unavailable to us. They were special because they looked to God for support and stop for what was right and just even when that was dangerous. They brought their world closer to God by defying the evil king who wanted to destroy people he believed to be enemies. These women never openly confronted the king, instead they used their gifts in their own way to make the world around them more like what God desired.
Paul calls us to the same approach. We are meant to look at the world around us and understand where it differs from what God desires– and there are gifts for that. We are called to help the people the rich and powerful of our age have left behind– and there are gifts for that. We are called to encourage one another in our work so that we do not give up– and there are gifts for that. Each of these areas and more are part of bringing God’s reign into the world we inhabit.
How does each one of us find our gifts for the work at hand, it is not through some kind of test or inventory, these tell us what we like or are naturally talented in. Gifts are given to the Church at the time we need them for the work we need to accomplish. God provides them when we live in humility as we continue to look for how we can bring God’s presence more into our reality. Gifts are not simply talents, in fact at times they might be the parts of our lives that we feel the least comfortable about. Gifts are an ability to accomplish a task at hand, and sometimes that means leaning on a weakness so that God can shine. Encouraging others when your life feels out of control, giving when it feels like you do not have enough, helping others learn when you do not feel like a master in the subject. All of these can be gifts in the moment. The key is not that you are good at it, the key is that you are genuinely trying to listen to God and act to make God’s presence in the world more recognizable. It is not about talent it is about humbly trying to be the living sacrifice. It is about recognizing that God’s plan for the world is different from those who often run society and allowing God to work through us. Finding fits is about humbly focusing on God and then being surprised about how God is choosing to work through you. God provides gifts to the church the question is are we making ourselves into the kinds of people who will use them to the fullest.
[1] Gerald Bray, ed., Romans (Revised), Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture 298-299.
Squinting in the Light 
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