Sermon Tone Analysis

*Welcome:*

* *

*Call to Worship: Psalm 115:1-3*

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us

but to your name be the glory,

because of your love and faithfulness.

2 Why do the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

3 Our God is in heaven;

he does whatever pleases him.

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*Greeting:* Brothers and sisters, our help is in the name of the Lord _Amen

Grace and peace be to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ

Amen

*Singing*

*Confession - Apostles Creed*

*Prayer:*

Father God, we come before you in humility and in thanks.

Thank you Lord that you have gathered us here this morning.

Thank you that you have given as the will to seek your presence in all that we do in our worship and in our day to day lives in this world.

Forgive us Lord when we believe we can deal with life without you.

As we now unite Lord to serve you, to worship you, let us reach out to you and to each other, and as we do, give us sincere hearts Father God.

*Singing – Let’ sing and worship our Lord, BoW 103 (Praise my Soul)*

*Offering*

*Pastoral Prayer and offertory prayer (                                   )*

*Reading** (Romans **11:33** – 12:2  (                                     )*

*Singing – BoW 432 (A New Commandment) *

* *

*Sermon*

*Our text is the first two verses of Romans 12…* \\  

 

*Brothers and sisters* in our Lord Jesus, I want to start by saying something that may be considered controversial: I want to say that I find it difficult to be a good Christian.

And sometimes I look around me, and think, I must be missing something about what it means to be a Christian, because it seems to me, many people take Christianity in their stride.

They don’t seem to find it difficult at all

            – they certainly don’t display any conflict in their lives, as Christians living in a          secular world.

And they do it so well, that when you see them in the week, you won’t be able to tell they are Christians; and when you see them on Sundays at Church, you would not believe they are anything but Christians.

But, how can this be?

I think there is much that is and always will be in conflict here.

For example, some Christians will find it difficult to explain to their children that they don’t want them to participate in sport on Sundays, because Sundays has been put aside as a day of meeting with and encouraging and being encouraged by fellow Christians.

Some might find it difficult to admit that they have not been seeking the Lord’s will in their daily business, but have gone ahead and made deals that would enrich them, even though they had to be …shall we say in a rather tense relationship with honesty.

They might find it difficult … but if they are Christians, and the Holy Spirit is acting in their lives …they will surely rather face that difficulty than live a life of ignorant bliss or denial of what it is that the Lord asks of us!

 

Do you find it difficult at times to be a Christian?

I’m not saying it will be difficult all the time – on the contrary, for the largest part it remains the most wonderful life there is

            – but surely you agree that sometimes we are faced with choices

                        that turn into a clash between our worldliness…and our being believers

 – followers of our Lord Jesus, as we say!

And those are difficult choices.

The examples I used earlier are a case in point!

In fact, they are so difficult, that we are scarcely able to make the right choices under those circumstances without the grace of the Lord and the outworking of the Spirit

            …so please, do not mistake what I have said so far as sitting in judgment on anyone.

When we choose right under difficult situations, it is not that we are so good, but it is by the grace of God that we choose for Jesus then …and for that matter, it is by His grace alone every other time that we do, too.

But the truth is, we don’t always choose for Him.

And when we don’t …well, do you agree brothers and sisters, we have become really good at justifying our worldly choices.

We have indeed become good and are getting better and better at… living life in the secular world.

And it is not surprising, really, that we’re so good at it

                                     *– after all, we practice it every day…*

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But how much do we practice at being good Christians?

We who claim to be Christians, set apart by God for God’s glory?

And why is that?

Why don’t we practice at being good Christians even nearly as often as we practice being great at the worldly things?

Can it be that we have forgotten *the wonderful reason* why we should…

            This, really is where Paul is headed in this section of Romans…

In fact, Paul in our text, in the very first word of verse 1 of Chapter 12, reminds us why:

            *In gratefulness!* because of *everything that God has done for us!*

That’s why!

Not *so that* we might get ourselves into heaven!

As if that was possible!

That is not why we try to live our lives according to God’s will.

No! That part has already been achieved for us by Jesus!

But by living our lives according to God’s will, we endorse our claims of being different, God’s children, and we offer our humble thanks for that which we could never have achieved ourselves – to be right with God!

Therefore!

*Therefore*…Paul says in 12:1

            Why?

…*therefore!*

What is Paul referring to by that “therefore”?

Paul says the “therefore” is this:

            it is all the blessings of salvation that are ours in Christ, as he has just so          painstakingly built them up in the preceding chapters of Romans!   

 

Let’s take a look at just a few:

            -in Christ we are (already) justified by faith *(4:1f)* – Therefore you should live           your lives holy before the Lord!

            -in Christ we have been made righteous *(5:12f)* – therefore!

-in Christ we are dead to sin and raised to new life *(6:1f)*

            -in Christ we are set free from sin and misery and *are able* to follow the Spirit           *(7:1f)*

            -in Christ there is no condemnation *(8:1f)*

            -in Christ we are daughters~/sons and heirs of God (8:12f)

            -in Christ we have a glorious future hope (8:18f)

            -in Christ our prayers are heard (8:26f)

            -in Christ God works everything for our ultimate good (8:28)

            -in Christ no charges are laid against us (8:33)

            -in Christ nothing can separate us from God's love (8:38f) \\                         *Therefore!*

Because of "God's mercy," Paul is saying…

            "Therefore … I urge you, brothers and sisters, to do something from your side, too – not for the sake of your salvation – that has already been secured,

            but, to show you are seriously thankful and understand the price Jesus paid for all       of  the “therefore” reasons to come to pass!"

And then Paul continues to explain what it is we should be doing to express this gratitude and understanding.

And when we look at what Paul asks, it becomes clear that we can not be Christians,

            fully committed,

and at the same time be fully committed to whatever it is that the secular world entices us into.

We are ~/~/~/~/or we are not Christians – that is the starting point – and every other decision we make should be determined by where we stand on this …

            but there is no half and half!

And then Paul gets serious…Paul in our text says: you should, for a start, do two things, No holds barred, no excuses… he says…do these two things …

* *

*“I urge you** …” Paul says.

He doesn’t pleasantly suggest, or kindly asks, he says…I urge you!*

 

Lets look at the two things…

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*Firstly, you are to offer your bodies as living sacrifices *

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*And secondly, do not be conformed to the /pattern of this world/, but transformed by the renewing of your mind.*