"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 your self with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."
Romans 12:3

From this point on in the letter to the Romans the Apostle Paul gives practical instruction as to how the Christian should live in the church and in the world. Paul has prepared the ground for living of a godly and Christian life by saying we need to give ourself wholly to God as a living sacrifice as the only reasonable thing to do in the light of all that God has done and given to us in Christ for our salvation. He has also spoken in an overall way by telling us that to achieve the life which is a living sacrifice we need to realise the life that is within us in Christ by being transformed by the renewing of our mind. Without that renewing of our minds we shall not be able to approve the good, pleasing and perfect will of God. In other words we shall not be able to approve the instructions for life Paul is now going to innumerate, and neither will we be able to carry them out.

It is very easy for us to pass over these instructions for holy living, but it is important that we should adorn the doctrine of our Lord Jesus by the way we live. In Christ we have become God's dear children, and the honour of God and his family will be upheld or let down by the way Christians behave, and live their lives, and relate to society.

Paul commences with one aspect in Christian living which is really at the heart of troubles within the fellowship of the church, and at the heart of much unhappiness and depression in the individual life of a Christian. This aspect is the tendency of most, if not all, to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.

This tendency takes different forms. In some it takes the form of thinking we are able to do much more for God than we are at present finding we are allowed. We feel that our gifts are not recognised, and that the fellowship we belong to would benefit so much more if we were allowed more prominence in one way or another. In some cases it is a sense of grievance that we are not given the attention that we deserve, and we are upset because we seem to be neglected. In some cases it is the sense that what we do is not being recognised and appreciated, and that we deserve to have our contribution to the fellowship more recognised. These are just some of the ways this sense of our own importance shows itself, and the way we desire to be important is revealed. The bottom line is that of the root cause of this trouble which is pride, which is a failing and sin which few people can say they lack. The trouble is that when this failing is allowed to grow and fester, it is a cause of much personal unhappiness and discontent, and also of much disruption to the fellowship of the family of God. Pride does more to deface the image of God in the church and in an individual perhaps than any other failing. It is no wonder that Paul speaks of this problem first of all as he gets down to the practicalities of living the Christian life to the glory of God.

When we search the Scriptures the call to all of us to be humble will be found to be a recurring theme. We are told that God blesses the humble and brings down the proud. We are told that if we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, he will exalt us in his time. Humility in fact is conforming to the image of Christ for he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross. One of the ways to mortify pride is to contemplate Jesus in his acceptance of being humbled. He went as low as is possible when he took our nature upon him, then our sin upon him, then accepting God's displeasure for our sin in our place, and being accounted the greatest of sinners. No other more deserved the highest honour than Christ, yet he humbled himself. We should so also.

Paul seeks to tell us how we should overcome this tendency to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, and so think about ourselves with sober, or right, judgement. He says "in accordance with the measure of faith God has given to you."

Here is a truth and concept which needs serious consideration, meditation and thoughtful prayer. What does it mean "in accordance with the measure of faith that has been given us." When we do stop and think I believe we have to say that this is a concept which is hard to understand, not only in the statement itself, but also in how it is relevant in the context of being able to think of ourselves soberly.

Paul at least has been able to face this issue squarely and find himself in a position to be able to instruct others. He speaks of the grace of God given him to discern this. In this we can understand two things. The first is that he had been troubled by this problem of thinking to highly of himself, for he speaks of the grace of God being poured out, that is God dealing with him in love of unmerited favour which he does not deserve because of his sin of pride. In the second place, when Paul speaks of the grace of God given him, he is telling us that God has given him understanding concerning this problem and so is able by God's grace to speak about it and press it upon us as our teacher.

How can we reach an understanding of this phrase "in accordance with the measure of faith that has been given us." When we have such a difficulty in understanding it is good to break the sentence up into its separate parts, see what these parts are telling us, and in such understanding the whole will become illuminated in our minds.

So first of all let us notice that Paul commends faith as the means to control our pride, and to think soberly concerning ourselves. We would naturally think that we need grace to help us overcome our pride, but the apostle commends faith, and tells us to consider faith.

When we realise that faith is what we need it leads us to look at the goodness of God in our lives, our salvation, and our blessings, and our fellowship with God, and our walk with God, and when we do we begin to be overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God to us, and of the blessings he has showered upon us, and the patience and long-suffering he has shown toward us. When we do this we will be overwhelmed by the wonder of the privileges and blessings he has showered upon us, and so be content. We shall also begin to dwell on the important thing of pleasing our Lord and heavenly Father, and think less about our image before the fellowship, the church, and the world.

Then we need to fix our minds on the fact that faith is a gift. Most of the time we think of faith as something we exercise, and this is not wrong for we do have to exercise faith, that is to believe. But we must not forget that faith is impossible to us except the gift of faith is given. We need to remember that faith is supernatural, and it is in the hands of God to give it how he wills according to his sovereign purpose.

Then we need to look closely at the word 'measure'. Paul says that we must think soberly according to the measure of faith that has been given us. What does this suggest to our minds? Surely it speaks of amount and quantity. We speak of measuring a quantity of flour or sugar, we can have a large measure of flour, or we can have a smaller measure of flour. One measure is greater than another.

In connection with faith this is a most startling concept. Have we realised that the gift of faith is given more to some than to others. When I have read the life of George Muller who was led by God to open orphanages in Bristol, and how he trusted God for all that this task involved, and relied on no one else except God, I am amazed at his faith. Here is faith that indeed can move mountains. I have then castigated myself for my lack of faith, and sought to work up faith and exercise faith by my own effort, and have then condemned myself for my lack of faith, and sought to repent for my lack of faith. Here in our text Paul says a liberating word. He speaks of the measure of faith. Paul is telling us that faith is given by God by measure. He is telling us that to some he gives the gift in great measure, but to some he gives a much smaller measure. The one who has a smaller measure is not required to emulate the one with the larger measure, but rather to live in accordance with the measure of faith that has been given.

Why God gives faith according to measure, so that some people have great faith, and some have little faith, I have no answer, but in the wisdom of God it is so. But having said this I can hear you saying 'what about those passages in the Gospels where God rebukes people for having little faith. (Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8) My answer to this is that we have all been given the gift of faith. We would not have been able to believe in Jesus unto salvation if this were not so. Also the gift of faith is given to us to use whatever measure has been given us, and as far as our own life is concerned and our walk with God, and our struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil, we are meant to exercise this faith whatever the measure we have received, and in the using of the gift of faith we find that faith getting stronger, and we are able to be stronger in our confidence in God for our living and for our future, and for our confidence of God's protection and help in time of need. Further to this I see from experience that the measure of faith is increased as we use it in our personal life, so our confidence in God is increased. All this is true, but in the place we have been given in the body of Christ, God has given faith by measure according to the position he has purposed for us to fulfil in his body.

Some function in the body needs greater faith, others lesser faith. Paul comes to this analogy of the body representing the whole membership of the faithful who believe in Jesus in the next verses, but for our understanding here concerning the measure of faith, we must understand that God gives all his saved ones a place in the fellowship of the faithful. To some he gives a place and usefulness that requires greater resources, and therefore greater faith, than others. What we need to remember is that no place of usefulness in the church is more important than another. Some seem to be up front with a place of importance, but this does not mean that they have a place in the fellowship which is more important than the ones who may be hardly noticed. In God's overall purpose for his church every person, however insignificant in the perception of others, is of equal importance, and their contribution is given equal glory as those which are perceived as greater.