Being the Church #40

Romans 12 is one of those places where Paul really hits hard on how we do church:

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he 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 the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

As with any other instruction concerning the Church, the starting point is this: humility. We are not to in any way think we are more important than anyone else in the Church. What we are to do is do our part with everything we have. This involves us changing our thinking from "me" to "we."  This chapter begins with that memorable exhortation about the "renewing of the mind", the transformation of the way we think. Thinking affects action, both in what we do and the intensity with which we do it. Our mindset needs to be that God put us here together to do something, and we're going to do it with all we've got.