I want to ask you a question; what does the verse “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29) mean to you? That’s the Authorized King James version. Here it is from the New King James: “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” That one brings a little bit more clarity, but I like the NIrV best “God does not take back his gifts. He does not change his mind about those he has chosen.” What does that mean? We could really take off right here about how that God never changes. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8); “For I am the LORD, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). James 1:17 tells us that with God “there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
As wonderful as these truths are, they’re not the focus of this study. The point I want to bring out about Romans 11:29 is the gifts and calling of God being a sure, stable, unchangeable ordinance from the Almighty God. Ordinance meaning what God has ordained for our lives – the roles we play individually, and collectively. First Corinthians twelve tells us:
- “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased” (1Co 12:12-18).
| “that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another” (1Co 12:25). |
I highlighted verse 25 to make the point that no matter what position in the Body one may be in does not matter—all members of the Body of Christ are just as important as the others! It’s the Head—Christ—Who is exalted above all, and in all, and through all!
In the book of Ephesians Paul talks further of the Body in a manner that depicts our need for each other and these ‘gifts’ we have been made for (to) each other:
- “from whom [Christ] the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Eph 4:16 brackets mine).
Earlier in this chapter, verses 7 and 8, Paul said “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: ‘When He ascended on High, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.’” According to these verses ‘Christ’s gift’ then is considered a grace from God. And, this ‘grace’ knits the Body together according to what it supplies. Let’s compare this with Colossians 2:19 “…holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.” What is the progression here?
- “holding fast to the Head” – this is a vital, unbroken connection to (with) Christ Jesus, Who is the Head of the Body (see also Ephesians 1:22, 4:15, 5:23; Colossians 1:18).
- “from Whom all the Body” – every single person who has called upon the Name of the Lord to be saved (see Romans 10:13).
- “nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments” – this nourishment and knitting together is where the gifting and graces from God come in. One way we could put it is ‘the anointing of God, supplied to an individual member of the Body of Christ, to accomplish their specific task in the Body provides nourishment.’
- “grows with the increase that is from God” – growth, increase, development; these are all depictions of spiritual progression in God.
This “knitting together” we’re speaking of is the unseen element that ‘binds’ us all together as one Body in Christ. That’s why I mentioned “that there should be no schism in the body.” Jesus Himself warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25). This is why the enemy works so hard to establish division between us.
Before Jesus went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins He prayed to the Father: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20-21).
[A couple more ‘seeds’ to throw out there at this point: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35) – “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1Jn 4:8). Since God is love and we are His children, it stands to reason that we are ‘love’ too: “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5b). This is the very action of God that made us new creatures in Christ (2Corin.5:17). So, love is the very foundation of this unseen binding influence – the very thread that runs through the entire Body of Christ!]
Having established that we are ‘love-creatures’ let us continue beyond the whole of the Body unto our individuality. The person that each of us is that makes us unique from each other. Paul said it like this writing to the church at Rome: “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Rom 12:4-5). As mentioned earlier, in his first letter to the Corinthian church Paul wrote: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. For in fact the body is not one member but many. But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased” (1Cor.12:13a, 14, 18). This last part speaks of God’s ordinance we mentioned – the roles we play individually. We could call this our Heavenly assignment (what we are to accomplish, that we will stand in judgment before Him for).
Paul does a little analogy in this twelfth chapter of First Corinthians, talking about the eye comparing itself to the nose or ear; or, the foot comparing itself to a hand—almost in a pouty sense (‘Oh, I’m just useless sense I’m not…’). Now, let me do some Mike Leach paraphrasing, breaking this all down. “If the usher were to say ‘Because I’m not the Pastor, I’m not important’ would they not be important?” “If the Pastor were to say ‘I’m not a Prophet, so I don’t have anything to say to the Body’ would they not have anything to say to the Body?” I think you catch my meaning.
Paul further writes in his Roman epistle: “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us” (12:6a). The ‘grace that is given to us’ is the anointing of God that each and every one of us received from God when we made Jesus the Lord of our lives! That’s why I called this exhortation “He Has Anointed Me!” We all have an anointing from God to do our part in the Body of Christ. Love is the overwhelming characteristic that runs common through us all, but the gifting(s) that we have, individually, is the portion we’ve been given a stewardship over.
Allow me to give a brief testimony along these lines. I’ve known my entire life I was to be some sort of teacher. When I was eight I had an experience with the Lord at the altar of the church we were attending. [That was probably when I initially got Born Again, but my ‘surrender’ to the Lord came much later in my life. Because of the lack of spirituality (maturity) in my home, and the only Truth that that church knew was the New Birth, I fell away from the Lord and plunged deeply into sin!] Immediately after that ‘experience’ I attempted to conduct Bible studies with my dad and sister. The point is I knew there was a gift to teach in (on) me.
I’m sure everyone reading this can relate in some way to that knowing that there is something within – almost a driving something – that compels you to do something in the Kingdom. May I say this to you? We (the Body of Christ collectively) are deficient without YOU, and you operating in your grace (gifting, calling, assignment from God).
Let’s all stop ignoring what we deem as ‘insignificant’ and put our hand to the plow—from preaching Christ to the nations, to taking that cup of cold water to some thirsty soul in the name of a disciple! I would rather err on the side of pressing toward God with a loyal heart, than to miss out on the glory that is to be revealed in our obedience to Him. Pray. Ask the Father what He would have you do. Ask “that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colo. 1:9b-10). Let’s imitate Jesus Who said “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49b). FEAR NOT! [I just heard that!]
