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Life at the Next Level
Finding the More You Were Created for
Jeff Jones, Senior Pastor
January 14~/16, 2005
Romans 12:1 (p.
803)
Good morning!
I’m glad you are here today, and that I’m here too.
I was in Vegas last week speaking at a pastor’s conference, and I’m happy to be here again.
And didn’t Jack do a great job last week!
In our series, /The More you Were Created For/, we are looking today at worship—that you and I were created to worship God, to live life with God at the center.
That is the only way life is designed to work.
Yet, that is not natural.
We live in a very me-focused world.
Think about it.
Up until a few hundred years ago, we as humans were convinced that the earth was the center of the universe and every planet and the sun revolved around it.
Then this guy Copernicus started asking questions like, “If that’s true, then why do we have seasons?”
He made some observations and concluded that the earth and planets revolved around the sun.
People kind of laughed old Copernicus into obscurity and then Galileo shows up about fifty years later and observes the same thing.
By that time, people were just annoyed with the suggestion that we aren’t the center of the universe, and they put Galileo in prison, threatened to kill him, and threw him out of the church.
Evidently people wanted to see themselves as the center of the universe, but not much has changed.
We do too.
In fact, I started imagining what it would be like if I were the center of the universe and think it would be a great world.
Just one example: Instead of our four food groups, we’d only have three: white chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate.
And the surgeon general would mandate about 8 liters of Diet Coke a day.
That would be a nice world.
Though I’m not the center of the universe, I can sometimes act like that.
But in the Purpose Driven Life Series we went through last year, the most important thing we came out of that with was the realization, “It’s not about you.”
Go ahead and say that to the person next to you.
Fun, isn’t it.
Bur realize they said it to you, too.
We can easily live like that it is about us and live life with ourselves at the center, but if we do we will never find the more we are created for.
When Jesus came, he was very clear…that the only way we can find life is to give it away, that we don’t gain by grasping but giving.
Jesus modeled a way of life that was not me-centric but god-centric.
The only way you and I can thrive in life is recognize that it is not about us, but about God and his glory.
The purpose of our lives is far greater than personal fulfillment, our own peace of mind, or even our own happiness.
If you and I want to know why we are here, we can’t look within, we have to look up—at the one who created us.
We are created for God, for his glory, and life only makes sense with God at the center.
The self-centered life doesn’t work and never has.
You and I were created to worship God, but what does that mean?
How do we live life that is God-centric, that brings glory to him?
Today as we are talking about worship, we aren’t talking so much about a worship service.
We are talking about a life of worship, that we can look back at the end and see that we lived a life of eternal significance with Christ at the center.
To find the answer, we are going to look today primarily at one verse, Romans 12:1, to challenge us with what a life of worship is all about.
Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to the 12th chapter of the New Testament book of Romans.
It’s not that far beyond Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.
There is a lot packed into this one verse, so let’s unpack it.
What does a life of worship look like?
* A response to God’s character
Worship is a response to who God is and what he has done for us.
The passages says right at the beginning, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy…” In view of what God has done for us, what else can we do than live our lives for him?
When you and I think about what God has done for us, how can we do anything different than give our lives to him?
It’s like that hymn that we sing, /It Is Well with My Soul/.
When I was young and heard that line, “My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought.”
I used to think, “Huh.
That’s a weird thing to say in church.
My sin, oh the bliss of that thought…man those were some fun times.”
But that’s not what he is saying; the hymn goes on to say, “my sin, not in part but the whole, was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.
It is well, it is well with my soul.”
The hymn writer was blown away that God would just forgive him of everything.
/ /
Think about your own life, what God has done, what he has forgiven.
Think about your life before you knew him.
Before I was a Christian, I was quite the profligate.
I was one bad dude, and I did a lot of things that looking back I’m not proud of at all now.
It may have seemed normal then, but it was some really bad stuff.
My life was full of debauchery…I don’t even know what that means, but it sounds really bad—and it was.
I had made a wreck out of my life.
But then, when I was six years old, I gave my life to Christ, and all that changed!
A wonderful thing.
How could I do anything less than give everything to God! Okay, so I couldn’t have gotten into too much trouble in my first five years of life—and I’m glad for that.
I’m glad God saved me early, and that in my early years I made the decision to live for him.
It spared me a lot of pain.
Yet, I also have friends who became Christians later in life, and what I envy in them is their passion for Christ.
They know what they’ve done, and they can’t get over the fact that God just forgave them.
Jesus said, “He who has been forgiven much loves much.”
He is saying that those who have lived life and made some mistakes and receive forgiveness can’t help but love Jesus intensely.
Some of you have a story that you aren’t fully proud of—actually all of us do.
But be encouraged.
You have the capacity for even greater passion for Christ because you know what forgiveness is all about.
Go with that, and live for God.
Show us what passion for Christ looks like.
And all of us have been forgiven when we didn’t deserve it, so what else could we do than give all we are to God.
* Total Devotion
Our verse tells us to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices,” using the imagery of an Old Testament offering or sacrifice.
In the Old Testament, they brought an animal like a lamb to sacrifice it on the altar.
Now, think of that event from the perspective of the worshiper.
It was certainly a sacrifice for them.
They are giving up one of their sheep, which is a big deal.
After all, it was one of their animals that they were giving up and most people weren’t very wealthy.
But he doesn’t say we are like the worshiper who is giving up one of his sheep.
He says we are the sheep.
We are to present not something we have that is valuable but we are to offer up ourselves on the altar.
Now, that raises the stakes.
He says we are to sacrifice as much as the sheep.
What does the sheep sacrifice?
Everything!
It’s not like the sheep who was sacrificed made a contribution.
They didn’t say, “Let’s see.
Here’s some wool you might could use.
And if you really want it, here’s one of my hoofs.
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