Romans 12:3-5 - Your Delusions of Grandeur

3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
***

Thinking Too Highly of Yourself

***

V. 3 - “For through the grace given to me” - Paul is not speaking on his own.Jesus also said He only spoke what the Father told Him to say, (See: John 8:28, 12:49) Paul was called by Jesus to preach and teach the gospel - to train leaders and other believers in the Good News. God chose Paul, despite his history of persecuting Christians, to be His messenger and missionary to the Gentiles.

“not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think” - Interesting statement considering how proud Paul was of his heritage! (See: Phil 3:4-6; Gal. 1:13-2:21). However, no matter the pride he felt, Paul called it all garbage compared to knowing Christ as Messiah and Savior. (See: Phil 3:8)

“think so as to have sound judgment” - Take a realistic view of yourself - probably the hardest thing for a human to do. Christ died for you - not because you are such a wonderful person, not because of your many and varied accomplishments. God’s mercy, His love, is the reason you are saved. You did not earn it. Timothy Keller wrote in his devotional book "The Songs of Jesus", "He doen't love because we are lovely but in order to make us so, by grace."

V. 4 - “we have many members in one body” - This is a lead-in to a new topic: how the church operates. Not the ecclesiastical hierarchy, but how God has set up the church to meet the needs of the members. The church is populated by people. (Well, duh!) “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) One of the key words, “everyone”, implies people, lots of people. The offer goes to all people. Unfortunately, not all respond to Jesus with belief and worship. People of from all nations and races are welcome - many members.

“the members do not have the same function” - We are not turned in to automatons when we are saved. The Holy Spirit enters us, but does not overwhelm. Our personalities remain intact. Our skills remain ours to be used for Jesus.

V. 5 - “so we, who are many, are one body in Christ” - There are many local churches worshiping Christ, but these form one church, the bride of Christ.

***