Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Guest (Male): The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse. A thousand-gallon tank that is half full appears infinitely superior to the half-pint jar that is overflowing. But if the Bible teaches anything, it is that God is more delighted by the half-pint that is overflowing than He is by the thousand-gallon tank that is half full of its own doings.

When any person becomes enamored of his own capacity, he becomes useless to God. He forgets the foundation principle that our gifts differ according to the grace that is given to us.

God's Word is for our benefit, to teach, rebuke, correct, and train, equipped by Him in every way to do the work God has for us to do. God's Word is all the Christian needs to grow in grace and do good deeds.

Guest (Male): Over a half a century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, saw the need to spread God’s Word beyond the hearing of his local congregation. He started the radio outreach which has become known as Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible. The application of God’s Word as taught by Dr. Barnhouse is as relevant today as when he first taught over the radio airwaves decades ago.

The message we’ll be featuring on today’s edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled Diversity of Gifts. Children love to wake up on Christmas morning to see a diverse assortment of gifts under the tree ready to open and enjoy. It has pleased our Heavenly Father to give us, His children, diversity of spiritual gifts in order to build up and strengthen the body of Christ.

What are these diverse spiritual gifts? And how can we learn to identify and exercise them for our mutual benefit and edification? The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is Romans chapter 12 and verse 6. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled Diversity of Gifts.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto Thee, our Father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. Each day we are reminded of our own nothingness, but each day Thou dost give us to know afresh Thine own infinite power and majesty. How we praise Thee for Thy love and Thy care over us. Speak to each listening heart in this hour, and may Thy Word go forth in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, so that our faith may not stand in the wisdom of men, but in Thy power, oh God. This we ask in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today in our study of Romans 12, we come in the sixth verse to the text that begins, "Having gifts differing according to the grace that is given us." We remember that we’ve been speaking about the church as a body. Now, in a body, different gifts are given to different members. The leg has the gift of muscles to carry the body about. The eye has the gift of sight to see where the body is to be carried. The foot cannot see, the eye cannot bear our weight. So it is in the body of believers. The Lord has saved us and called us and given to each a particular gift with which to serve Him.

There are two ways of looking at the visible church today. It’s possible to count the number of new church buildings, the number of people who attend meetings, the number who make decisions or join churches. These statistics seem to show power and progress. But look beneath the surface and see if God’s description of the church at Laodicea does not apply to many churches today: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."

Now, if the church is to grow spiritually, there must be coordination of all who believe. There must be clear recognition that we do not have all that the Lord wants us to have until we receive what He gives us through every other believer. The minister needs something spiritual from the members to whom he ministers. He cannot grow into fullness of power if his heart is not open to see the wonder of the workings of grace in even the last and lowest of those who have trusted in Christ.

In a town with a dozen churches, there may be some meeting in one particular building who assert that they are sufficient unto themselves. This is not true. And they are the poorer because they do not reach out to every believer in Christ in their vicinity. For each and every member of the true church has something to contribute to the spiritual growth of all. In the hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, we sing, "Like a mighty army moves the church of God." There is much truth in this when it is understood against the background of our text.

In an army, many men perform many different duties. The man who carries the rifle must be backed up by the interworking of the whole army. In order for one GI to land on the Normandy beachhead in the Second World War, he had to be supported by artillery, naval, and air units. These in turn were supported by those whose duty it was to provide food, ammunition, and fuel.

The man below decks in the engine room of a tanker knew that he was helping to keep the tanker moving so that the oil and gas on board might be delivered ashore, where truckers would deliver it to a forward position. And there, the planes that landed on the first landing strips could be fueled and thus continue to blaze the path for the infantry. We forget at times that this is how the church of Jesus Christ interlocks. Each believer is given some gift by God. Each is put into a particular place to perform a particular task for Christ. Each is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The important thing is for each of us to be so yielded to the Lord that we know that we are empowered by Him and that we are to do that which lies before us, showing forth His grace. Back in the Old Testament book of the Chronicles, there are long lists of names that might seem of no value to some readers. But as I read these lists, I see flashes of light that show with great clarity the blessing of God in the heart of an individual. There are lists of kings, but there are also lists of porters who carried burdens, of watchers who guarded the city.

There is mention of the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen and the potters and those that dwelt among plants and hedges. Furthermore, the Bible says of these, "There they dwelt with the king for his work." Now, all these are gifts that differ according to the grace that is given. Nor are we to say that it was more important to be king than it was to be a potter or the one who dwelt among plants and hedges. When the Lord comes again and gives to every man according to his work, the true proportions of faithfulness will be seen.

We’re prone to judge by the capacity of the vessels instead of by the percentage of yieldedness to the Lord. Let us think of each man in terms of capacity. There are great and gifted leaders who may be described in terms of a thousand-gallon capacity. These are comparatively few and far between. Then there are those who have the hundred-gallon capacity. There are more of these. There are still more with 10 and 5-gallon capacities, multitudes more of the single-gallon size, and finally, the greater multitude that must be measured in terms of quarts and pints and even gills.

Judged by worldly standards, the great capacities seem to have all the breaks. Honor comes their way. They are seen, known, praised, rewarded. They have the larger portions of this world’s goods. But as God sees them, there may be very great lacks. A thousand-gallon tank that is half full appears infinitely superior to the half-pint jar that is overflowing. But if the Bible teaches anything, it is that God is more delighted by the half-pint that is overflowing than He is by the thousand-gallon tank that is half full of its own doings.

When any person becomes enamored of his own capacity, he becomes useless to God. He forgets the foundation principle that our gifts differ according to the grace that is given to us. In the non-spiritual realm, as in the spiritual, every gift and grace that any individual has and any success that may come to any man is given directly to him by God. Even to atheists, God gives their power to say, "I don’t believe in God."

They said it with breath that God gave them, but having emptied their lungs by saying it once, they cannot say it the second time without inhaling God’s good air. Jesus Christ said, "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." The Holy Spirit through James said, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow cast by turning."

It’s interesting to note this verse in the Greek, where there are two different words used for gift. The first describes the act of giving and the second, the thing that is given. The combination of the two words means that everything that any man is able to do or to have comes from God. Nothing of any worth originates within the human heart. All things that are wrong in human society come from hearts which believe that it is possible for man to originate something of value or give something of value apart from Jesus Christ.

Every good impulse of giving and every good thing that is given comes from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else is a substitute, comes from an inferior source, and is incapable of producing spiritual, lasting results. Now, if this is true in the whole of human society, it is even more true within the body of believers in Christ. All gifts come to us through grace. And the gifts differ according to the grace that is given to each. We grow in the measure that we receive from all other believers.

When I examine my own spiritual life, I recognize elements received from many different sources. From my parents first of all, and from my older sister. From the many Bible teachers I heard as a boy—James M. Gray, Scofield, Torrey, Gaebelein, and a host of others. How much I have received from saints of the past whose works I have read. How much I have received from close associates who worked with me as elders and deacons in the church of which I’m pastor.

I have gained much from church trustees who never have testified in public with words, perhaps, but whose lives showed their interest in the house of God. I have known men who were just as much interested in the cleanliness of the church carpet and the functioning of the church plumbing as they were in their own homes. And this strengthened me in Christ. I have been drawn closer to God by the devotion of secretaries and stenographers and by people in humble places who live their lives to the glory of God, doing with all their might what their hands find to do.

It would be impossible to recount all that I have gained from my contacts with other ministers, younger ministers, ministers of little churches. I remember one man who heard over the radio that I was going to hold a Bible conference in a certain city. He came a hundred miles from his small town and smaller church. He hung on every word and talked with me about certain Bible problems. His Bible was worn almost to pieces. And as he talked, I sensed the great burden that he had for the 60 or 80 souls in his congregation.

Many a time, I’ve asked the Lord to bless that man. Probably I preach to more people on one Sunday than he will preach to in his whole life. But in the day when the last shall be first and the first shall be last, he may well stand higher than I. He will never know how the grace of God ministered through him to me. Yes, he will know in the last day. I remember a meeting in which I had preached in strong terms, warning my hearers against the smugness of their lives, telling them that Christians were too often self-satisfied and unloving.

A woman came to me leading a little girl about four years old. She was greatly burdened. She said, "Oh, everything you have said has cut so deep. I want to do more for the Lord and I want to be more for the Lord. But I have four children, one older than this one and two smaller. It takes all of my time doing for them and..." I interrupted her. "Dear child," I said to the mother, "you are not answerable to me. The Lord will lead and guide you. Your first duty is to your husband. Your second duty is to these four children. And then your third duty is to your church and your witness to those around you."

In the service that day, I had ministered to her heart, but she ministered to me as I saw the life and work of God in her and her eager desire to be for Christ in the place that she was in that little family. Now, it should be noted carefully that the gifts spoken of here in our text are not to be confused with the original gift of the Holy Spirit. When we are saved, the Lord sends the Holy Spirit to us and He abides within us. He is God’s great gift to us for our own instruction, power, and enrichment.

But in addition to the gift of the Holy Spirit are individual gifts which are offered to each believer, not for his own profit, but for the benefit of other believers. Earlier in this paragraph in Romans 12, we read that God has given to each believer the measure of faith. Now we are told that we have gifts that differ according to the grace that is given to us. Are we not to learn from this that we must use the faith given to us after we’re saved in order to grow in grace and to develop these further gifts that the Lord is ready to bestow upon each believer?

Perhaps we can find in this the meaning of the command in 1 Corinthians 12: "Covet earnestly the best gifts." Now, put these three texts together. God has given to each believer the measure of faith. We have gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. And we are to covet earnestly the best gifts. If we are true believers, we have become so by the gift of saving faith imparted to us when we were quickened by the Holy Spirit. If we are true believers, we are temples of the Holy Spirit and He is dwelling in each of us.

But it does not necessarily follow that every believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit is the recipient of a subsequent gift to be exercised within the body of Christ. It does follow, however, that if we are without a gift, it’s because we have not been willing for the Lord to give it to us. We’re quite sure that some believers have received gifts that were above and beyond their natural capacities. In fact, Christ did not found His church by means of intellectual giants, but by means of humble, unlearned men, who when filled with the spirit, were irresistible in the hands of God.

In this manner, all the glory goes to God and none of it rests with men. It’s when we consider our text in this light that we understand its connection with the preceding verse: that no believer is to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. There are many gifts in the body of Christ and God has not given them all to any believer. Therefore, it behooves us to be humble. A man must use whatever gifts are given to him, but he must realize that he cannot have them all.

Nor can it be said that any one gift is more important than another. Can it be said that an eye is more important than an ear? Or that a foot is more important than a hand? Each is supreme in its own field and each must work for all the others. Thus it is in the body of Christ. Dr. Griffith Thomas has written: "As the vine has many branches and the body many members, so the Christian church is made up of a large number of individual members, each with his own gift intended to be exercised in its proper place and way. Our duty, therefore, is to note our province and stay there. To recognize our limitations and work accordingly. Usefulness is never increased by going beyond our proper sphere."

Three great thoughts are thus emphasized or at least suggested in these words: unity, diversity, and harmony. And it’s only when all three are realized and blended that the church of Christ can live its true life and do its proper work. We may vary the old phrase and say that in the church of Christ, there is a place for everyone and everyone in his place. And the more thoroughly we face this twofold truth, the more effectively will the work of the church be done.

The trouble is that there’s far too little of this recognition of different gifts and different spheres in the one body of Christ. What good work is there which is not in more or less continual danger of suffering or even being abandoned because fellow Christians, zealous fellow Christians, will plainly and it must be willfully yield to the ambition to be first? Will not be content to be second or third. Will not do the unobtrusive work. Will think, "How can I shine?" rather than, "How can I serve?"

All of this should greatly emphasize the heart-searching truth that the supreme need of the church of Jesus Christ is to return to the New Testament teaching of complete reliance upon the Holy Spirit in the midst of His church, guiding, directing, and empowering as He wills. Even when we can say that the church is most orthodox in its doctrine, we must also say that the church lacks the full power of the Holy Spirit. The organized church today is not run as it was in the days of the New Testament. Men go through the routine of ecclesiastical discipline and say that they have chosen a calling.

Even on the mission field, the zeal of young converts is often stifled by missionaries who curb their spontaneous desire to make the truth known. We could learn much from the mission field if we would look deeply at this same problem. Where we have tried to curb the native converts, we have brought on a struggle between them and the missionary for the dominant position in the church.

Roland Allen says of this: "The immediate result is that missionaries find it more and more difficult to attract the more intelligent and capable young men to prepare in our institutions for Christian work. From all sides, we hear the complaint that the ablest men hesitate to put themselves or their children under our training for this purpose. From all sides, we hear that where we have had training institutions the longest, there the zeal of the church for the propagation of the gospel is weakest. There the complaints that we do not give the natives sufficient authority are bitterest. And there the tendency for the church to become self-centered is most marked."

Now, all of this shows that we have failed to recognize the central authority of the Holy Spirit. Thus, both at home and abroad, we have concentrated on strengthening organizations, all the while grieving the Holy Spirit in ourselves and so quenching Him in others that He has allowed us to continue in our fancied strength, which is indeed terrible weakness. To solve the problem, we must bow low before Him and acknowledge our sin. Then the Holy Spirit will speak within us once more. Then shall He manifest Himself in great power. Then shall the church know the glorious strength of her youth. Power does not come in any other way.

And our God and Father, we pray Thee that Thou shalt turn our hearts back to the realization of this great truth. And as Thou hast given many gifts to multitudes of believers so that they may work towards Christ, that their gifts may interlock and that we may know Thee better in knowing each other better, each taking his own lowly place and giving all the glory to Thee. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our savior the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Guest (Male): When God’s people exercise our spiritual gifts and minister to one another, we manifest authentic Christian love, build up and strengthen the church, and press on toward spiritual maturity. You have been listening to Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible. We hope you’ve benefited from today’s message, Diversity of Gifts. To listen to additional teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at AllianceNet.org.

An audio copy of today’s teaching is available by calling us toll-free, 1-800-488-1888. Today’s message again is entitled Diversity of Gifts, or simply request message number R12-14. We’d also like to send you a free copy of our booklet entitled Anxiety and Depression. So many people, even Christians, become overwhelmed by life’s problems and difficulties and fall into a pit of anxiety and depression.

This free booklet will help you confront emotional distress with glorious gospel truth. Jesus is able and willing to lift you from the depths of despair into the assurance of His love and a life of spiritual peace. Are you struggling to find emotional and mental health and wholeness? Ask for your free copy of Anxiety and Depression when you call or write.

Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is a radio ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We exist to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of Reformation theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide contemporary Christian teaching which will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place.

The Alliance also produces the radio broadcast, The Bible Study Hour, featuring the teachings of the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice, and Every Last Word, featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. For a full list of radio stations carrying our programs, visit our website at AllianceNet.org. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible comes to you through the generous gifts of listeners like you.

If you have benefited from the broadcast and would like it to continue, prayerfully consider a donation to help us stay on the air. For more information or to make a contribution to help further our work, contact us by calling toll-free, 1-800-488-1888. That’s 1-800-488-1888. Write to us at Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Box 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103.

Visit us online at AllianceNet.org. Be sure to ask for a free resource catalog featuring books, audio teachings, commentaries, booklets, videos, and a wealth of other materials from outstanding reformed teachers and theologians, including Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, Martin Lloyd-Jones, and Philip Graham Ryken. Thank you for listening. Join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.

The Bible has a commanding Word to do God’s saving work on earth. It draws our souls from death to life and rescues us from needless strife. Amazing gift, on us bestowed, the life-imparting Word of God.