Lesson 27: Gifts of Grace – 12:3-8
 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.

We ended our last lesson with the words that the moment we are saved by Jesus, our mission here on earth changes from all that is temporary – job, home, comfort, recognition, pleasure, money, and everything else in this world – to what is eternal. Our mission is no longer for ourselves, it is to bring others to Him by whatever means He makes possible.

Jesus does not ask us to do this job by ourselves. Our verses today tell us He gives us gifts to make it possible for us to do the job He asks of us. These are called spiritual gifts and are always to be used, as we read in Verse 5, in the “Body” – the Church. Jesus never asks us to go to minister to those around us by ourselves. We are to be part of a local church so those other believers can encourage and pray and help, just as we encourage and pray and help them.


Not everyone in a church will have the same gift – our bodies would look very strange if we were all hands with no ears to hear or tongues to speak or feet to take us where we needed to go. Each local church also needs hands (helpers), feet (those who carry), mouths (those who speak), hearts (those who pray), ears (those who encourage through listening), and every other part of the body.

We are also more than just one thing. Sometimes Jesus will lead us to speak to someone about Him. Then we need to tell others in our church so they can pray with us for that person. Sometimes another person is the one who speaks, and we become the one who prays or encourages. Sometimes we can only be the eyes which see and sometimes shed a tear, and we need to tell another who can speak so they can tell. We are a single body in this church – we live and act as one in Christ to accomplish the mission for which He has placed us into the community where we live.

*Are you a dedicated member of a local church? What is usually your part in this body?