SG Leader Invest Fall 2023

Introduction

A General Thanks

I want to begin by thanking you, not only for taking the time to be here tonight, but more importantly thank you for serving so faithfully in the role of SG Leader. The Small Group Leader role at Park, is both one the most challenging roles I can think of, for a few reasons. I’ll share those reasons, but as I do, I’d say that it is these exact reasons that make the Small Group Leader role so sweet. As Small Group Leaders, what are the core things you’re after.

1 Very Different People: You’re trying to form this sweet community of folks, people who genuinely love each other and pray for each other, do life together. But of the course the challenge with this—that you all know—is that people are all over the place. Some in our groups are very mature, others are brand new believers, probably some at least don’t actually have real saving faith

2 Not Theologically Trained:

3 But… You have the Holy Spirit. You have the Word of God. That makes you very powerful, and equipped.

EXAMINING THE TEXT OF ROMANS 12:1-2

The heart of tonight is to equip you with the tools you need to really use the curriculum we’ve put together well. The verse I want us to linger for a moment tonight is Romans 12:1-2, a very well known passage, but one that I’d like to guide our time tonight. It’s reads,

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I. CHRISTIAN LEADERS MUST MODEL THE GOSPEL BEFORE THEY TEACH THE GOSPEL

Look at how this section begins. Paul appeals to the Romans that they might “present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” What does that mean? Under the Old Testament, sacrificese were being offered every day on altars. These sacrifices of animals, whose life would be given to satisfy God. Christ has come, the final sacrifice of blood has been offered, but that does not mean that there is no sacrifice left for us to make. Our lives, from what we do in Church on a Sunday, to what we do at work on a Monday, and at home throughout the week, is our sacrifice. FF Bruce said,

“The sacrifices of the new order do not consist in taking the lives of others, like the ancient animal sacrifices, but in giving one’s own.” — FF Bruce

A Examining the Text

This is remarkable language. The Christian gives their life away, in order that we might find life.

Holy & Acceptable: And then he clarifes using two words. He says that our lifestyles ought to be “holy and acceptable.” Holy means set apart. The Christian is a person has so had their life changed by Christ, so impacted by the Gospel, Jesus death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins, that they are now a peculiar breed of human. They love holiness. Holiness is defined as following God’s law. We know his rules. We cherish his rules. We hold each other accountable to his rules. And our lives are found acceptable in his eyes as we increasingly follow the path that he has designed.

By the Mercies of God: Please don’t miss the little phrase that begins this whole section. “By the mercies of God.” Growth in Christ, comes by the mercies of God. See, Paul is assuming that you have read Romans 1-11 by the time you get to this section. And so when he says, “by the mercies of God,” he assumes that you understand the depths of what Christ has done to rescue your soul. He assumes that you have felt the depth of your own wickedness before a holy God, not just in word or intellectual recognition, but deep down in your gut, you have felt the misery of your condition outside of Christ.

Romans 1:28–32 ESV

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

That was you, and it is you if not for the mercies of God!

B Test Yourself

And so I want to take a moment and just minister to you tonight. Let me remind you, your success as a Small Group Leader is completely dependent on your own walk with Jesus. Your Small Groups need an overflow of the Gospel pouring out of your life. And so invite to scan your own heart for a moment. Here are three ways you can know if you are presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice.

Daily Seeking God’s Strength: Are you daily drawing strength from God through study of God’s Word and reflection on the heart of God, and meditation in the Scriptures. The image I have in my mind, forgive me, is of a child in womb connected to its mother through an umbilical cord. If that umbilical cord gets severed, the child cannot survive. We too, have this feeding tube with God, where fills us. Many Christians, even leaders, fail to nourish themselves on the nourishment God provides. Are you daily feeding on God’s strength.

Aware of Weakness: A second small way you can know if your life is a living sacrifice. Are you keenly aware of your shortcomings and your tendencies towards specific sins. It’s one thing to know, I’m not a perfect person, I need to confess my sins as well. It’s another to increasingly see your sins for what they are. To increasingly over your life, love God iwth such majesty and fervor, that you can’t help but be aware of your shortcomings, hate them, give them over to God.

An Increasing Sensitivity to Unholiness Around You: A third way. Do you have an increasing sensitivity to unholiness around you. It says we are to be holy. But as you grow in holiness, you see unholiness around you, and it burns you, because you unholiness is breaking of God’s law.

Increasing Humility Towards Others in Their Weaknesses: That leads to the fourth. Do you have an increasing humility and gentleness with others who are not as far along their journey of faith as you are. If you really understand that this is all the mercies of God in your life. That Christian growth an overflow of the mercies of God. When you see another brother in their weakness, you hold the line, their firmness, but there is overwhelming humility, because you genuinely understand the gospel. But by the grace of God.

Conclude: So, before we move on. This is me caring for you, our Small Group Leaders. Is your life a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. It may that as you think about it right now, there are some areas that may have been blind spots, that the Lord is asking you to pay attention to. Nobody does this perfectly. We are all works in progress. But, Christian leaders when they discover areas that that need attention, they give it attention, for the glory of God.

II. CHRISTIAN LEADERS GUIDE OTHERS TOWARDS HONEST ENCOUNTERS WITH THE LIVING WORD

In this section, I’m shifting a bit and I’m moving more towards equipping you to lead your Small Groups faithfully. Paul then follows up to these ideas with two commands, one positive and one negative. And these two commands from Paul, I think, are at the center of Small Group Leadership.

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

A Two Commands:

Do Not Be Conformed: The negative command is, “Do not be conformed to this world.” That means don’t allow the ideas and the influences and thoughts of the secular world around you to define you. Don’t allow your life to look like everybody else around you. Don’t allow your relationships to look like everyone else around you. Your life needs to be saturated in the love of Christ, not saturated in filth of culture around you. As Small Group Leaders, one of the things you’re aiming at is to create a space where a group can honestly wrestle with the different areas of their unique lives to answer the question, “Am I conformed to this world?” And so the questions we ask are aimed at trying to reveal. This is what is meant in Hebrews 4:12,

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

As we study the Word together, we want the Word to have that piercing effect. We cannot be afraid to let the Word speak plainly, to disrupt people a bit.

Be Transformed by the Renewal of Your Mind: Secondly, the positive command. “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” That phrase is fascinating. Be transformed is talking about the heart and the life and the being of a person. Its the same root word that we get our English Metamorphasis. Be changed. How? By the renewal of your mind. One of my favorite theologians, a man named Cornelius Van Til used to say that we are looking to create head on collisions between the ideas of the world and the ideas of God. What he meant by that was that he wanted the standard of the Word of God to be seen in all of its clarity against the ideas of the world.

Culture: We are in a remarkable season of world history where our precious saints in our small groups are being bombarded by secular ideaology constantly. And they’re struggling with it. The tempted at every corner to water down their faith in God and His Word, to soften the blow by conforming to the world. We are living out Isaiah 5:20

We are in a season where we living out the words of Isaiah.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

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In our Small Groups, this is also what we’re aiming to do. We want minds to interact with God’s Word in a way that brings about life change, new holiness, sanctification.

B How Do We Do This

Here, I transition to talking about the SG Material, and walking through each section and how to use it.