Romans 12: 3 – 5

“For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you; do not think of yourself more highly than you aught, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith (grace) God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others”

In the church, we have many situations of people seeking to promote themselves; not that this is wrong in itself but it becomes wrong when their methods involve pulling down others or keeping other people down. There is much rivalry and competition going on in the church, you hear such statements as “if I where in his position, I would do better than he does” or “I am qualified more than he is to become…”

This was the sin of Moab as a nation. In Is. 15 & 16 we are made to believe Moab was a conceited nation; this means they pulled down others to emphasize their own strength. The result of this behaviour was a curse of drought upon the land of Moab and eventual desolation. The implication of this is that the result of this form of pride was spiritual dryness and spiritual unfruitfulness coupled with abandonment of the group by all who should join.

Is. 16: 5 says:

“In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it – one from the house of David – one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness”

This is the antidote passage in the text. In essence, it has the same message as Rom. 12: 3. Justice is to be fair, that is not to give undue advantage to stronger parties, i.e. not to be patrician, to deal equally with all people irrespective of our prior experience of them or the lack of it; not favouring our friends above strangers. This is a direct contradiction of the fact that favours and opportunities in the church are open on click basis. Some people are favoured above others based on their membership of particular parties, groups, ages, societies or clicks. Frankly, this is a form of occultism.

Righteousness deals with what is right in God’s sight. Positions in the church are often assigned on maturity basis, on basis of academic qualifications and all the likes. This violates the righteousness of God. Solomon – the lastborn – was God’s choice of king after David while Adonijah was the firstborn. Esau was Isaac’s choice of heir but Jacob was God’s choice. There have been many instances in the bible where God’s choice has conflicted with men and whenever men had their way, they suffered spiritual Kwashiorkor.

“He gave them the meat they desired but sent leanness into their souls”.

I believe that if God puts a new convert in charge of a spiritual office, He has both the power and wisdom sufficient to see that the convert succeeds in his task without falling:

“To Him who can keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy”

Paul puts it this way; 2Cor. 3:4 – 6,

“Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God; not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but that our competence comes from God, for He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the spirit; for the letter kills but the spirit gives life”.

Jesus puts it this way; Matt. 23: 37 – 39,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate (abandoned). For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”.

For us to “see” Jesus is to experience revival and that is the outcry of all churches nowadays. However, we cannot experience revival and at the same time practice things that keep it away from us, this is a case of “little foxes that spoil the vine” and if we are to experience God, we must purge ourselves of these.

1Peter 4:10 says,

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering the grace of God in its various forms”

Jesus said; John 15: 12 & 13,

“Love one another as I have loved you. No greater love has a man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”

Else where it says,

“Let every one esteem others greater than himself”

This is the law of love, good will and the promotion of the welfare of others. It is the test of the spirit of God.