Gifts in the Church

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 603 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Spiritual gifts have been a matter of controversy in the church since the beginning of Christianity. How quickly the body of Christ forgets the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in the distribution of the gifts. From this error arises all manner of sin and abuse of gifts given by God. In sermon on Romans 12:3–5 titled “Gifts in the Church,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses two particular follies the church falls into when it forgets the sovereignty of the Spirit and the diversity of the gifts. On the one hand, he says, the Christian thinks more highly of themselves than they ought. Following the apostle Paul, he demonstrates how the Scriptures teach humility and particularly the most profound demonstrations of humility in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s call for the church to think is key as this connects with his previous teaching on the renewal of the mind. On the other hand, Christians can underestimate the importance of any gift. There are two equal dangers, warns Dr. Lloyd-Jones, to overestimate a gift, becoming puffed up, or to despise another gift and thus denigrate the Spirit’s work. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches on the gifts in the church, a topic in which Christians consistently need clarity and direction.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I would like to call your attention this evening to the words found in Paul's Epistle to the Romans in Chapter 12,
0:07.9	reading verses 3, 4 and 5.
0:12.0	For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you,
0:18.3	not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly,
0:25.1	according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members
0:32.1	in one body and all members have not the same office, So we being many are one body in Christ
0:39.9	and everyone
0:41.6	members one of another.
0:46.6	Now, you will remember that last Friday night
0:49.7	we gave a kind of general analysis
0:51.5	of the contents of this chapter from verse 3 to the end of the chapter.
0:58.8	The apostle deals here with two great matters, the Christian, first of all, in the life of the church,
1:07.6	verses 3 to 8. And then, from there on verse 9 to the end of the chapter, the
1:14.0	Christian in his relationship to other people, both inside the church and outside. Now, we are
1:20.2	dealing with this first section. And here we really have an account of the Christian exercising
1:27.1	his gifts in the church, not merely the Christian in the church. Not of the Christian exercising his gifts in the church.
1:30.3	Not merely the Christian in the church, but the Christian in particular exercising his gifts
1:38.3	in the realm of the church.
1:41.3	Now, as we've already indicated, the apostle takes up this matter here, as he does
1:47.4	elsewhere, as we've just seen in reading the 12th chapter of the first epistle to the
1:51.6	Corinthians, and as he does in other places also, the apostle takes this up because
1:57.4	difficulties that are risen, obviously, with regard to this question of the exercising
	...

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