Grace to Be, Faith to Do

The Summit of Our Salvation

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

May 4, 2025

Grace to Be, Faith to Do

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Rom. 12.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

PRAY

With the vast mercies given to us through Jesus Christ in view, we are to live for God rather than the world, being transformed by the Holy Spirit as we behold Jesus. As our minds are renewed, we are able to discern God’s good and perfect will in general and for our lives specifically. And we see in the next verses that a big part of that will for our lives is being who God called us to be and doing what God called us to do.

1. Grace to be who God made us to be

³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Rom. 12:3

Every amusement park has a funhouse in it filled with mirrors that twist and distort a person’s image: this one making them look three feet tall and wide as a house, the next one making them look ten feet tall and pencil thin. One mirror is waved in such a way that our head looks massive and our body tiny, and another distorts us to look like our body is huge and our heads are squished.

We would never want to assess our appearance or improve our appearance based on these mirrors because they don’t reflect reality, they distort reality. God’s will is that we know who we are. Not thinking too highly of ourselves (we see ourselves as ten feet tall) or thinking too lowly of ourselves (we feel three feet tall). Think of yourself with sober judgment. Know who you are. Be self-aware.

God in His grace has made you who you are. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:10, by the grace of God I am what I am. That’s true for you and me as well. Paul doesn’t say, by the grace of God I do what I do, he says I am what I am.

Seeing our identity in view of God’s mercy means we are dearly loved children of God. The Spirit within us cries “Abba, Father!” Abba is an intimate term that is equivalent to our Dad. We have peace with God – we aren’t in conflict with God anymore because of all that Jesus did. We have been forgiven of our sins – we aren’t condemned anymore. These are the big things we need to keep in view when we think of who we are – not our looks, not our athletic ability, not our personality make-up. These all are a part of who we are, but our identity is rooted in what Christ has made us by grace. In view of God’s mercy. In view of God’s grace.

Sober judgement means having a healthy dose of self-awareness. Ironically a healthy self-awareness doesn’t begin by focusing on ourselves. It begins by focusing on Jesus. 2 Cor 3 tells us that who we are is transformed as we behold Jesus. Unhealthy things happen when we overfocus on ourselves. Sin makes us see ourselves through a funhouse mirror. Pride makes us look bigger and better than we are. False shame makes us look less worthy of love than we are.

Healthy self-awareness means we know our limitations. And we have a pretty good idea of our strengths. We don’t inflate, we don’t deflate. We can laugh at ourselves – we don’t take ourselves too seriously. At the same time, we give respect and expect respect. We don’t need to wear a mask to hide who we are but we also don’t feel the need to be the center of attention all the time.

This isn’t an instant thing – it’s a lifelong process. The Holy Spirit works on us and in us as we behold the beauty of our Lord Jesus. But here’s the thing: being transformed doesn’t mean the obliteration of who we are. As the Spirit makes us more like Jesus, He’s also making us more like us…the us God created us to be. God loves who you are.

Janice has a refurbishing business called Refreshed. She refinishes old, beat-up, sometimes outdated furniture and is able to transform it into something really beautiful. It’s a process: she strips and sands it, if there are outdated swirly things on it she cuts them off, stains or paints it, cleans the old hardware or puts new hardware on it and the finished product is unrecognizable. But here’s the thing: structurally it’s the same dresser, table, or chair that it was. Same wood, same design, same workmanship. It’s the same thing, only different, only better.

The gospel is God’s heavenly refinishing, refurbishing, and refreshing work on us. He’s transforming us, but we will still be us. Only the us God created us to be.

God’s grace made us who we are and (to coin an overused phrase) is making us the best version of ourselves. God gives us grace to be who God created us to be. And God gives us…

2. Faith to do what God created us to do

Sometimes we put an artificial wall between who we are and what we do. We are more than what we do, but God created each of us with specific gifts and talents that we are meant to use to serve God with.

Paul uses the physical body as a metaphor of our different functions:

⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Romans 12:4-8 NIV

I’m gonna get really deep and really profound here but try and follow me: God made us different from each other. We have different personalities for sure. That goes to who we are. But Paul points out we have different gifts. Some here are hands, some here are eyes. Some are feet, some are ears.

When I was in middle school on Long Island, every now and then a fight would break out. Once I got into a fight at our bus stop with a kid named Joe Rullo. As we began to go into our boxing stances, he took a swing and punched me in the eye. I like to say I hit him in the fist with my eye. Things went dark for a moment as I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, he was lying flat on the ground! He slipped! I jumped on him and pretty soon our fight was over – no one seriously hurt. But typically the fist makes a better boxing weapon than the eye does.

The point is be who God created you to be and do what God created you to do. Paul lists a few, but the list is much longer: It might be to serve others, it might be to teach, it might be to encourage, or it might be to generously give to God’s work. If God’s made you a leader or put you in a leadership position do it diligently not half-heartedly. If God has given you a love to show mercy – God bless you! But don’t be a grumpy gill about it – do it cheerfully!

In fact, the Psalms tell us to serve the Lord with gladness! God loves a cheerful attitude as we serve Him. God loves a cheerful giver! God loves a cheerful encourager! Peter encourages elders to shepherd God’s flock eagerly – not for money but for their good and God’s glory.

The spiritual gifts God gives us – which may or may not correlate with our natural gifts – aren’t primarily for us. They’re for the church. They’re given to build others up. I realize some may not really know what gifts God has given them. God has shaped us by grace but He also has given us a measure of faith. We can grow that faith (or shrink that faith) but we’ve been given a measure of faith that is essential as we serve God with our gift(s).

• Believe in the power of small

Jesus said that one who gives a cup of water to one of his prophets in his name will receive a prophet’s reward. It’s not hard to give a cup of water, it doesn’t take amazing skill or charisma – “here’s your water!” A cup of water to the thirsty is an act of mercy and God loves mercy.

It’s not the size, it’s the motive of the gift that counts to God. Jesus once watched the offering being taken at the temple and the wealthy were putting in large amounts of money. Back then they couldn’t give online so they put actual coins in the coffers, and some of them had such big gifts that the clank the coins made as they hit the offering basket filled the room. Then the widow came and put two little coins in – plink, plink. But her gift resounded in heaven because she gave the little she had out of love for God.

Twice a day I drive a bus picking up kids and dropping them off. I can’t preach, I can’t pray with them, but I can wish them a good morning as I pick them up and have a great day as I drop them off. If God has given you the gift of encouragement, never underestimate the power of an encouraging word. There’s a shortage of encouragement these days.

• Trust God to develop your gift as you use what you have

A couple years ago I got a call from a friend who was out of state and found out his apartment complex was resealing the parking lot and he needed to move his car so they could reseal where it was parked. But when I went to start the car, the battery had gone dead from not being used. That’s what happens when we don’t do what God created us to do. Our gifts can stagnate.

But we can trust God to grow and develop our gift as we step out and do what God has called us, created us, and gifted us to do.

Let’s remember where we started: in view of God’s mercy. You don’t need to perform to get God to love you – He already loves you more than you know! You don’t need to do to be acceptable to God – Jesus has already done everything needed to make you acceptable to God.

God’s grace has made you who you are and you are valuable in His sight, and God’s grace has gifted you to be a unique blessing to His people and to unchurched people. Step out in faith and use that gift even if it’s just in small ways now and watch how He grows your faith and your fruitfulness in His kingdom.

With the hopeful expectation that one day we will hear Jesus say, “well done, good and faithful servant.” We are servants. We do service in Jesus’ name.