Rev. David Holwick E We Are Gifted, #5
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 15, 2009
Romans 12:8; Acts 4:34-37
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I. The gift of a big heart.
A. She stooped down low.
I came across an interesting archaeology article on the
internet.
It was about a Renaissance woman and her friends in France.
She had been the daughter of Prince William I of Orange, who
is called the Father of the Netherlands.
In spite of her wealth and position as a Countess, she became
a nun and moved to France.
She sold most of her valuables and bought food and medicine
for the poor.
It was a desperate time in France - the Thirty Years War brought
much death and destruction.
It also brought the plague, which spread like wildfire.
Who would take care of the victims?
The nuns did.
Archaeologists investigated burials in a chapel in a French
church and found all the graves were nuns and monks,
including the Countess.
All of them had died from the plague.
They had cared enough to lay down their lives for others.
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B. Christians have long been known for their caring.
1) By the fourth century, the churches in Rome were feeding
an estimated 20,000 poor people each week.
The church at that time presented to the world a visible
alternative to the prevailing social order.
As Georges Florovsky has written in "Empire and Desert:
Antinomies of Christian History":
Christianity entered human history as a new social order
or, rather, a new social dimension.
From the very beginning, Christianity was not primarily a
"doctrine," but exactly a "community."
The gospel is more than a message of good news of eternal
salvation.
It is also a new way of living with each other, right now.
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2) The caring continues today.
C. The Bible reveals a gift of caring.
1) As a matter of fact, four out of the seven gifts listed in
Romans 12 deal with caring for people.
2) All Christians should care for others.
a) But some do it exceptionally well.
b) If you have this gift, exercise it as much as you can.
II. The gift of encouragement.
A. The meaning of "parakaleo."
1) To call (kaleo) along side of (para) someone.
B. Helping someone where they cannot help themselves.
1) It is applied to the Holy Spirit in John 14:16,
where the Spirit comes alongside us to comfort us.
2) It is also applied to Jesus in 1 John 2:1, where he
comes alongside us to be our advocate.
C. Those who have the gift of encouragement come alongside
those who are hurting and lend them their heart and hand.
III. A guy named Joe.
A. An interesting character in the New Testament is a man named Joe.
1) No one called him that, however - they called him Barnabas.
a) This was a nickname that meant "Son of Encouragement."
b) He is first mentioned as a poster child for the early
church.
2) Turn to Acts 4:32. It gives a summary of what the early
church was like:
a) Everyone was united in heart and mind.
b) Everyone shared what they had.
1> (Some call this "Christian communism").
c) God's power was plainly seen among them.
B. Barnabas stands out as an exemplar.
1) He was someone who sold his property so other needy
Christians could eat.
2) He also acts as a foil for the next characters, Ananias
and Sapphira.
a) These people said they were being just as generous as
Barnabas - but they were lying through their teeth.
b) You might Barnabas illustrates the early church, and
Ananias and Sapphira illustrate the MODERN church.
C. Barnabas appears next in Acts 9:27.
1) There, he brings Paul before the other apostles in
Jerusalem.
2) No one else wanted to touch Paul with a 10-foot pole
because he had such a violent reputation.
3) But Barnabas took Paul under his wing. He literally
"stood beside him.
D. The next interesting episode is in Acts 15:36.
1) His buddy Paul wanted to go on another mission trip.
2) Barnabas was open to this, but he wanted to take Mark
with them as well.
3) Mark was something of a quitter - he had ditched them
on the previous journey, and Paul would have nothing
to do with him.
4) What does Barnabas do? He stands alongside Mark, the
loser.
a) We later find out that Mark became a leader in the
church and the writer of a gospel - and a close
companion to Paul in his old age.
E. If your nickname was based on your character, what would it be?
1) We need more people who can see the best in imperfect people.
2) The kind who take risks so that others can get closer to
God.
3) Perhaps someone has been a Barnabas to you.
a) Could you be a Barnabas to someone else?
IV. Encouraging people in God's Word.
A. Parakaleo also has the meaning of exhortation.
1) The King James favors this translation.
2) To exhort someone is to challenge them to apply the
principles of the Bible to their life.
3) In 1 Timothy 4:13 it is grouped with reading the Bible
and teaching. (The NIV translates it as "preaching")
B. The most encouraging thing you can do is direct people to God.
1) Are You A Courage Giver?
So often when we say, "She is such an encouragement," we
mean, "She makes me feel good."
True biblical encouragement goes much further than that.
It means putting courage into another person.
All of us need people in our lives who will instill courage
so we can walk faithfully with our God.
Kathleen Holkebore suggests looking up the verses that use
PARAKALEO and turn them into questions that focus us.
Acts 14:22
"[They returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,]
strengthening the disciples and encouraging them
to remain true to the faith."
*Do you care about the condition of the faith of those
around you?
(Don't just settle for whether they are saved.)
Hebrews 3:13
"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called
Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's
deceitfulness."
*In your encouraging, are you sensitive to how sin may be
having an impact on them?
Heberws 10:25
"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the
habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and
all the more as you see the Day approaching."
*Do you try to make church a positive experience for others,
so that they will want to come and be built up?
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V. Like encouragement, the gift of mercy involves caring.
A. Mercy here probably isn't forgiveness.
1) My first impression is of the cruel Nazi officer in
the movie "Schindler's List."
He goes on a "nice" streak so that when inmates irritate
him, he touches them on the head and says,
"I forgive you."
It doesn't last long, and soon he just shoots them.
2) This certainly portrays something of the idea of mercy, but
it is not the point here.
3) Here, it has to do with ministering to the sick and needy.
a) The Roman world was filled with such people.
b) So is ours!
B. Some believe the gift of mercy was more of a ministry.
1) Mary Caddigan's parish nursing ministry would be a
classic example.
a) Churches have done this for 2,000 years.
b) Actually, modern hospitals grew out what churches
were doing for the sick.
2) A ministry of mercy can take many forms.
Bill Wilson pastors an inner city church in New York City.
His mission field is a very violent place.
He himself has been stabbed twice as he ministered to the
people of the community surrounding his church.
Once a Puerto Rican woman became involved in the church and
was led to accept Christ as her savior.
After her conversion, she came to Pastor Wilson and said,
"I want to do something to help with the church's ministry."
He asked her what her talents were and she could think of
nothing - she couldn't even speak English - but she did
love children.
So he had her sit on one of the church's buses that went
into neighborhoods and transported kids to church.
Every week she performed her duties.
She would find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on
her lap and whisper over and over the only words she had
learned in English: "I love you. Jesus loves you."
After several months, she became attached to one little boy in
particular.
The boy didn't speak.
He came to Sunday School every week with his sister and sat on
the woman's lap, but he never made a sound.
Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday School and
all the way home, "I love you and Jesus loves you."
One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and
stammered, "I - I - I love you too!"
Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug.
That was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon.
At 6:30 that night he was found dead.
His own mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in
the trash.
"I love you and Jesus loves you."
Those were some of the last words this little boy heard in his
short life - from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who
could barely speak English.
This woman gave her one talent to God and because of that a
little boy who never heard the word "love" in his own home,
experienced and responded to the love of Christ.
What can you give?
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C. Do it cheerfully.
1) Attitude matters.
450 years ago John Calvin said this about today's passage:
"Nothing gives more consolation to the sick or distressed
than the sight of people who are eager and willing to
help them.
But if they see gloominess on the face of those who help
them, they will take it as an insult."
2) Perhaps cheerfulness on the part of caregivers is a sign
they have the divine gift and not just the task.
3) An inward sense of mercy comes easily to those who know the
secret that in these needy and suffering people whom
they are caring for, Christ is himself present.
It gives them one more opportunity to love and thank Him
who can never be loved and thanked enough.
[1]
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] C.E.B. Canfield, "Romans," volume II, page 627. Calvin quote is from
John Calvin, "The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to
the Thessalonians," translated by R. Mackenzie, Edinburgh, 1961,
p. 270.
# 7690 "Are You A Courage Giver?" by Kathleen S. Holkeboer, Discipleship
Journal #113, Sept/Oct 1999.
#17358 "A New Social Order," by Rev. Dr. Jay M. Terbush, from his "The
Significance of the Insignificant;" Rev. Brett Blair's
Illustrations by Email, www.sermonillustrations.com,
June 30, 2002.
#24112 "What Is Your Colt?" by Mark Adams, www.sermoncentral.com
newsletter, November 17, 2008.
#35607 "Caregiving Nuns Wiped Out By Plague," by Jennifer Viegas,
Discovery News, February 6, 2009.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Study notes: commentaries
C.E.B. Canfield, Romans
I. 12:8 - Encouraging is more along the lines of exhortation.
A. Teaching instructs, but exhortation is to help believers live
out their obedience to that instruction.
B. It must be fixed on the gospel and on the circumstances of the
hearers.
II. One who shows mercy.
A. Probably means someone whose special function is to tend the
sick, relieve the poor, or care for the aged or disabled.
1) Confirmed by the words "do it cheerfully."
2) A cheerful disposition may be the sign that such a person
actually has the gift of mercy.
B. Since 12:13 focuses on the needy in the church, the needy here
may go beyond the church's boundaries.
1) All Christians should show mercy; Paul is referring to those
who have been assigned by the church for this.
2) Our of seven gifts in Romans 12, four probably have to do
with practical assistance to those who need help or
sympathy.
a) It was a great task in a church that had little in the
way of physical resources.
b) It is no less great a task for an affluent church.
The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Romans
I. "Encouraging" (v. 8) is the translation of the Greek PARAKLESIS,
which has a variety of meanings.
A. Only the context can indicate whether the most suitable
rendering is "encouragement" or "exhortation" or "comfort."
B. All are closely related.
1) In Acts 15:31 encouragement is certainly the idea conveyed.
2) But in 1 Timothy 4:13 exhortation is clearly involved,
evidently the application of the OT as it was read in
the assembly during worship (cf. Acts 13:15).
3) Assuredly some encouragement could be included, but
exhortation seems to be the dominant meaning.
II. "Contributing to the needs of others" (v. 8) has to do with
spontaneous private benevolence (cf. 1 John 3:17, 18).
A. This is evidently not intended as a repetition of "serving"
(v. 7), and this favors the view that the latter activity
belongs to the public distribution of aid by the church to
its needy.
1) The only doubt concerning this interpretation resides in
the word "generously" (NIV), which is a possible
translation but hardly as likely as "with simplicity"
(KJV) -- that is, with singleness of heart, free of mixed
motives, without regret (over having given so much).
2) That wrong motivation could enter into giving is shown by
the account of the sin of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.
B. "Leadership" (v. 8)...
III. "Showing mercy" does not pertain to the area of forgiveness or
sparing judgment.
A. It has to do with ministering to the sick and needy.
B. This is to be done in a cheerful, spontaneous manner that
will convey blessing rather than engender self-pity.
1) Way renders it freely, "If you come with sympathy to
sorrow, bring God's sunlight in your face" (Arthur
S. Way, LETTERS OF ST. PAUL AND HEBREWS, 1926)
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