Sermon (27-Aug): "What God Desires Of & From Us" Rom 12:1-8
Notes
Transcript
Bible Passage:
1 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.
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.
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[a] 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,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Objective:
The objective of this message is to allow God’s desire for us to become our desire
Introduction:
- One of the greatest moments to happen in Paul’s life was the moment that he was knocked off his horse—when he had an encounter with God
- From that moment, Paul would leave that encounter blind (for 3 days), spend 3 years away, and go on 3 missionary journeys
- Paul would be seasoned in suffering, harrowed, and humbled over the years
- His letter to the Romans would unite both the Jewish Christians and Gentiles in one church and serve as a post-Christ proclamation of the Gospel
- When you look at the letter to the Romans, chs. 1-11 lay down the theology, 12-15 the practical instructions and Paul closes the letter in ch 16 with the benediction
- Our Bodies as a Living Sacrifice (v.1)
- Our Minds Renewed (v.2)
- Our Sober Thinking (v.3)
- Our Devoted God-given gifts and abilities used (v.6)
1) Our Bodies as a Living Sacrifice (v.1)
1 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.
-- God wants all of you!
- The idea and connotation behind “sacrifice” usually isn’t seen in a positive light; we tend to think of losing something
- And, Paul comes along and wants to let us all know that God is not just asking for our physical bodies—God wants the totality of us
-- I tend to think of one of Jesus’ top 2 commandments, “Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength”…that’s all of us! (Mk 12:29-31)
-- I don’t believe that we can complete that offering in and of ourselves but Paul wants us to have the unction/guts to do our part
-- Two terms that aren’t used that often today—consecrationand holiness; consecration meaning “the separation of oneself from things that are unclean, especially anything that would contaminate one’s relationship with a perfect God (think 2 Tim 2:21 21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.
-- In that same vein, holiness is “the condition of being consecrated or dedicated to moral excellence;”
How we dedicate and devote our lives to God should play out in our daily pursuit of holiness
There used to be a big stigma on holiness years ago to where I believe it has influenced church today to shy away from it—we are to progress in our holiness the more that we submit ourselves to God
-- One version (KJV) says, this is our “reasonable service;” in other words, the least that we can offer God
Bottom line: Everything we do--our whole life--is an expression of our devotion to God; that includes what we do with our body as well as our mind
2) Our Minds Renewed
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.
-- God’s desire is to reprogram our thinking!
- I remember a pastor (Pastor Philip Watkins) commenting, “If we can only give God as much as time that we gave the devil, we’d be amazed at God’s power (to deliver and transform us)
- I took it literally being a young Christian around 24 or 25 but as I look back God did exceedingly and abundantly more in way less time
- Even in my trials and errors, God worked miracles in my heart and in my life
- But all in all, it still took me not conforming to the pattern/template of this world; it didn’t mean that I was perfect—my thought was about submission to His Word
- Max Lucado once said this, “God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. ”
-- He wants us to think like Jesus, handle business like Jesus, conduct ourselves like Jesus…live like Jesus
-- We test and approve what God’s will is as we co-operate/cooperate with Him to look like Jesus day by day
3) Our Sober Thinking
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.
-- “Selfie Wrist” Is it a sign of our times or a sign of our culture?
- One of the most interesting stories that I read recently is one about “selfie wrist.”
A woman, who works in digital media promotion, experienced tingling in her fingers and wrist and later discomfort. Later, she experienced a sharp pain in her wrist that would prevent her from working. She was diagnosed with a form of carpal tunnel due to the hyperflexion of the wrist which caused “the nerve to become inflamed and angry.” After, physical therapy the pain subsided. Later, she said, “That is the nature of our generation right now; we’re taking so many selfies these days.” - Denise Dador, “'Selfie Wrist' injuries becoming more common, doctor says,” KABC-TV (12/19/18); Is it a sign of our times or a sign of our culture?
-- Paul hit the right key—not for us to think to lowly of ourselves but also not to think too highly
-- Paul points to two things: thinking soberly (with a moderate estimate of yourself) and in line with your God-given faith
4) Our Devoted God-Given Gifts and Abilities used (v.6)
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
-- God Himself specifically designed you!
“If life is to have meaning, and if God's will is to be done, all of us have to accept who we are and what we are, give it back to God, and thank Him for the way He made us. What I am is God's gift to me; what I do with it is my gift to Him.” - Warren W. Wiersbe
- No two of us are exactly alike; we have similarities, but we are not alike
- God designed us with gifts and abilities to make a kingdom sized impact on our home, church and society (workplace and the world)
CLOSING: All this shows that we are all equally, contributing members destined to fortify God’s Church
-- One Body, Many Parts, Living for One God
- God calls us out individually and separately to transform us to be stronger “members” of the body
- Through the sacrifice of our bodies, the renewing of our minds, sober (sound) thinking, and devoted use of our God-given abilities and gifts; we’ll impact the church and the world
This answers the question of “How should those who have received God’s grace respond in their everyday lives?”
Christianity is not one ideology over against other ideologies. It is a life inspired by the Holy Spirit. Its victories are nothing but victories over itself, not over others. It propagates itself through humility and self-examination, not through triumphs.
- Paul Tournier, The Whole Person in a Broken World. Christianity Today, Vol. 29, no. 18.