The Measures of God Rom. 12:3 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
This sermon on the measures of God concerns four things that God measures in the body of Christ. The body of Christ is made up of all saved believers in Christ. So, these are not the members of your church unless they have been saved and put into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
In this lesson we will see that God measures the size of the body of Christ, the grace given to every member in the body of Christ, the faith given to each member in the body, and the supply of every part of the body. The measures of God are:
The measure of the body – Eph 4:13 says, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Remember that those of us who are saved are the body of Christ. The measure of that body, then, is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We, individually, are being conformed to the image of Christ [Rom 8:29]; and we, corporately, are being conformed to the fullness of Christ.
This is very important to remember when you are pursuing a “program” to grow the body of Christ. You may get a lot of professions of faith, you may get a lot of decisions and you may get a lot of church growth, but if these folks are not being added to the body of Christ, then “you ain’t getiin’ nothin’.” God doesn’t count them in your pew or on your roll; he counts them in his Son’s body. It may very well be that, since you and God are using a different measure for the body, you are working contrary to God. I mean, in a construction job, if one man is measuring in centimeters and the other is measuring in inches, they are going to end up working against each other.
The remedy for this is to sow the seed and water and leave the increase to God [1 Cor 3:6-7]. Quit trying to build God’s body according to your measure. This way God can work through you to build up the “perfect man,” [Eph 4:13]
The measure of faith – Rom 12:3 – the body of Christ is made up of many different members. And these members don’t all have the same office. So, God measures faith to you for your specific office in the body of Christ. However, your measure of faith doesn’t make you better than someone to whom God may have measured less faith or worse than someone to whom God has measured more faith. Your measure of faith matches your function in the body. The measure of faith given to a missionary in a dark and seemingly closed country may be much greater than the faith given to a faithful businessman in a church that supports that missionary. The missionary is not better than the businessman if they are both doing what God called them to do, even though it takes more faith to be the missionary than it does to be the businessman. God measures to each exactly what he needs.
The measure of grace – Eph 4:7 says, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Grace is the supply of God’s supernatural power given to you to accomplish “the vocation wherewith ye are called,” [Eph 4:1]. God’s grace mitigates your weakness so that you can do things for God’s glory that are obviously beyond your power. So, God measures his grace to you in accordance with your specific need. Some of the things that require grace are listed in Eph 4:2-3.
The body of Christ is absolutely the most powerful organism on earth. The way to diminish its power is to divide the body. You know that the body of Christ is fragmented and splintered because of doctrinal and personal divisions among the members of the body. The simplest explanation for this fragmentation is that the members have not relied upon the grace of God to work and stay together in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace. Instead, they have relied upon their personal opinions, their popular interpretations, their denominational divisions, their fund raising tactics and money making schemes and their feigned love of the brethren
The measure of every part – Eph 4:16 speaks of the increase of the body. It increases “according to the effectual working in the measure of every part.” In the body “every joint supplieth.” That is just like your natural body. When all parts of your body function perfectly, you are in perfect health. When some part of your body is not functioning perfectly, then your body is adversely affected and you are not perfectly healthy.
Just like your lab work and vitals that have ideal measures, God has ideal measures for how each part of his body is supposed to be working to keep the body of Christ healthy. Are you living up to your measure? If God wants you to be a Sunday school teacher and you would rather be an internet blogger, you are not living up to God’s measure; you’re living up to your own. If God has called you to preach but you would rather run a business and give, you are not doing your part and the body is suffering ill health as a result. And on and on this illustration can go.
Conclusion: The measure of the body, the measure of faith, the measure of grace and the measure of every part are all measures of God. Thus men are not the judge of whether each member of the body is living up to its measure, God is. Ask God to show you whether you are doing all with your faith, grace and part that you are supposed to be doing in the body of Christ.