Romans 12

Upwards on onwards

“UP”

Intro/setup:

So ch 12 takes a turn! We are starting to get into more application. Application though based on the solid doctrine of 1-11!

Text

++Romans 12:1–2 “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.”

Prayer

Story: Wig lady etc… Worship stories

Transition: But this text isn’t talking about worship singing. Even though singing is absolutely a part of worship. Paul describes worship here as giving our whole lives to Him! Then I see a progression when we offer our lives to Him everything goes up from there.. We change, find transformation as well as find ourselves in the best place. The center of God’s will.

I thought of the movie Up. How many of you like that movie? It’s a movie about an old man Carl Fredrickson and his wife Ellie. It’s a bitter sweet movie about the dream they had since they were kids about moving to Paradise Falls, inspired by Angel Falls in Venezuela. Ellie ends up passing away, but as old as Carl is he still finds a way to get there! I want you to get to the perfect place God has for you. I really do. It starts with:

offer up

— Paul is making an appeal.. He’s urging, he’s compelling us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice

— What’s the motivation he provides to do so? MERCY

— Paul is referencing the first 11 chapters or all that has been written before..

— That from the early chapters we see that we have all fallen short of God’s standards and worthy of wrath..

— Mercy is not receiving the punishment we deserve.

— in 9-11 Paul speaks about the mercy that Jews are receiving by God’s continuing to be long suffering with them.. And the mercy that gentiles received on account of the Jewish people..

— All this mercy demands a response! I like the NIV which states “in view of God’s mercy…”

— Now, as a person who loves worship music, I wouldn’t mind if Paul was talking about just music. BUT, Paul isn’t talking about just singing, though that is certainly part of our worship.

— But worship he is talking about here is giving our LIVES to GOD.

— The kind of worship Paul is talking about is a response to MERCY. Worship is a response.

— Being on worship teams I can tell you it was called the drama dept for a reason!!

— I say that as a musician artist type! We aren’t the laid back take things as you go people.. unless you’re a bass player. There’s a temptation to be really sensitive, to worry about what people thought.. And then things could kind of blow up fast! That’s because God made worshippers especially musicians singers responsive.. That’s what makes them good!

— We are all responsive. When we see the glory of God revealed in scripture. When God shows something amazing to you in scripture. Or, like this hymn by sir Isaac Watts.. As a pastor in England during the 1700s the songs were dead.. He wrote a bunch of hymns that were more personal and engaging.. This one was written to sing along with Communion:

VERSE 1

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride

VERSE 3

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

VERSE 4

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

— Like he says, when we get it.. The mercy of God, He gets everything!

— So lets looks at this a little closer, Paul is saying to offer up your bodies.. What does that mean?

— Paul is referring to the sacrificial system of the OT. Where people would bring the req animals to be sacrificed..

— But, we know that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross for us!

— We can’t add any more to what Jesus has done, Hebrews 10:10 “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

— But that doesn’t do away with worship! Now in this new reality, what does worship look like?

— If the sacrifice has already been made and we receive His payment by faith now what?

— We offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. We respond to His mercy by giving our whole self to Him!

— ++1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

— All of who I am. All of my desires. My physical body, my mind, my everything is His!

— And what Paul follow that up with, and I think the NKJ helps here is “this is your reasonable service” So giving your life to God is reasonable..

— The original word for what is translated as reasonable in the greek is “logical”

— It makes sense! God gave His life for me. I am now His. I now on a daily basis say, “God, I submit my plans to you, I submit this day to you! I give you my everything!!”

2. level up

— Maybe someone today is wondering when you are going to change. Or maybe more honestly, you are wondering when your spouse is going to change!

— I think the flow here is on purpose. I think we all have those areas in our lives “God when am I going to stop being that way” we keep running into these walls. Maybe it’s not a sin issue at least in an obvious way. Maybe we need change with our emotional responses to life. We can’t seem to find freedom from anxiety or depression!

— We start with worship.

— Hebrews 10:5–7 “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ””

— Jesus didn’t need transformation. We did! But the process started with His obedience and heart of worship to the Father.. Then, He laid His life down on the cross providing the means by which we can be transformed!

— I like the saying, come to God as you are. Come and receive mercy. Come and trust Him enough to write Him a blank check with your life! Come with your mess. Come with your addictions. Offer your life!

— When Samuel was just a young boy he came to the temple not knowing anything.. But his mom GAVE him to the LORD. I guess the choice of worship was started with his mom! But he begins to hear his voice called..

1 Samuel 3:9–10 “Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.””

— God completely transformed Israel through the prophet Samuel, but it started with worship..

— So let’s look a little closer at this text. Romans 12:2 “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.”

— There is a form that the world has a “pattern”. A way of doing life.. And the most natural thing in the world for us, or the default mode for us is to be “squeezed” into that pattern..

— It’s not always perceived the ways of the world. It’s incredibly pervasive. It’s all around us. It’s kind of like mold! It gets in places and affects us even when we don’t realize it.

— Our phones, social media, various forms of entertainment, news, left or right leaning..

— There’s things are fads that seem “new”. For example, there’s these new ways of looking at marriage and sexuality. But they aren’t new just repackaged! Sexual sin has been around since the beginning.

— Don’t be pressed into the mold of the world, but be TRANSFORMED..

— The original greek for Transformed is metamorphoō we get the word metamorphosis.

— The idea here with transformation is like growing up into whole new stages..

— egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult butterfly..

— So how do you mature and see the transformation? THE RENEWAL OF YOUR MIND

— The mind here is not strictly thinking. In Eastern thought (which is what the Jewish worldview is) mind comprises of both your thinking logic etc as well as your heart or your emotion.

— We talked last week about having a soft surrendered heart!

—++ Colossians 3:1–2 “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

—++ Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

—++ Psalm 1:1–2 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

— AS your thinking changes, as your desires change.. You renew your mind, slowly and surely the change and transformation will take place!

3. move up

— Finally, we have this concept of going to the right places!

— We want to be in the center of God’s will! The target for our lives, the place we want to “live”!

— “discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.. “

— Look at those adjectives for God’s will— good, acceptable, perfect.

— That is where “Carl Fredrickson” wanted be in that perfect place near a waterfall..

— We understand this intuitively that God’s will is the best place for our lives.

— Maybe you have lived in a place that is not God’s will and found that is not a great place to be.

— You took that job, you bought that car or that house, or moved in with that person you weren’t married to. Yeah, that wasn’t great!

— Now as a Christ follower, you want to remain or move towards His perfect will for you life!

— Now, we can know generally what God’s perfect will for our lives from the BIBLE

— Ok, what about the specific will of God for our lives? For one thing, God will never lead you to something that contradicts His Word or general will for our lives. He won’t tell you “yeah it’s ok to take a couple of bucks from your work account” or “Yeah, go for it, divorce your spouse— marry this person instead”

— It says in scripture++ Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

— I was about to buy something the other day. I just had a “check in my heart”. You might here that term from time to time.

— It could be that God wants me to buy another product, none at all, or He wants me to buy that thing but at a later time..

— I think as you walk with Jesus “His sheep know His voice” and when you love being in His presence and you begin to go toward something that’s not in His will you feel it would hurt the relationship on some level.. You don’t want that!!

Closing: I want for you and for me to move up, level up, and to offer up. I think the order Paul made on purpose. Some of us have been in a place where we have lived outside of the will of God for so long it almost feels normal. And we don’t even know how to get back on track. Maybe we feel like we’ve been stuck in the larvae stage of our Christian walk for far too long. We haven’t been progressing! I want to encourage all of us today to trust the LORD. Abraham offered Isaac to God in Faith and he was blessed. You want to live a blessed life? Give it to Jesus! Jesus says in Matthew 16:25 “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Whatever is given to the Lord in faith will be blessed! Maybe start there. Offer your life to Jesus with nothing held back. Trust Him. He will change you. He will lead you to the right place!