The Gospel Life

Intro

If I were to poll this room, I know of question that would probably get a 100% yes answer: “Who wants to live a life that is pleasing to God?” Everyone in this room, I assume, would answer a resounding YES to that question. If you are at church on a Sunday morning when you could be on the golf course or at brunch or still asleep, then I assume you want to live a life that is pleasing to God. I assume that you want to know God’s will for your life and how you can live that life.

Romans 12:1–2 “1 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. 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.”

Let’s pray:

Father, we are so grateful. We are grateful that you’ve brought us here this morning. We’re grateful that you have called us as your own. Lord, there’s so much noise in the world, and quite frankly, it can be overwhelming. You are good. You bring order. And you have a purpose for us. Help us now to understand how you to live the life that you have willed for us. We commit this to you and we submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now, Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your heart, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Here’s the main point that I want you to see: God’s plan for your life is this: He wants you to live a gospel life. God’s purpose for his people is to live what I am calling the gospel life: A life that is changed by gospel mercy and transformed by power of the gospel and living in obedience to the call of the gospel. A life lived for God is a gospel life. A life in God’s will is a gospel life. Today, our passage shows us how to live that gospel life.

I want to show you today that a gospel life is lived on the altar, in the fire, and for God’s glory. Those will be my three points that we get to momentarily.

But first I want you to see the very first phrases of this passage: “I appeal to you therefor, brothers, by the mercies of God...” We need to do some thinking about where Paul has been going. For the last 11 chapters, Paul has been systematically defining and defending the Christian faith and what the gospel means. And chapter 11, he defines God utterly incomprehensible, self-sufficient, and all-wise. And based on this soaring definition of who God is, we can deduce that God is completely praiseworthy and transcendent. He deserves all things, because all things are from him, through him, and to him. Romans 11 can be confusing. It’s hard to understand, but the application is that God’s will and ways in salvation history should not produce defeat or deflation, but should culminate in an overflow of praise. That’s why Paul sings in Romans 11:33–36 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

In other words, Paul spends some time reflecting and meditating on God’s character. That’s what chapters 1-11:32. And it’s deep and theological. And when he contemplates this beautiful, awe-inspiring, saving God, his only response was to break out in an overflow of praise. Doctrine must produce devotion.

And then he launches into Romans 12. This is where his theology puts its clothes on. In fact, Paul tells Titus in Titus 2:10 “not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” Adorning doctrine is when people take the gospel and live it. The gospel life. So Paul is appealing to them, urging them even, to take the theology of the gospel and adorn it with a gospel life. That’s what he means when he says “by the mercies of God.” All of what I’m going to say about this gospel life is only possible by first experiencing the life-saving mercy of God. To sum up all this introductory matter: Paul is saying, “Based on this beautiful gospel of faith in Christ alone for salvation, and from a posture of worship, I’m appealing you to live a gospel life. And here’s what this will look like.”

So my three points of what the gospel life looks like: It’s a life that is only the altar, in the fire, and for God’s glory. Let’s dive in.

On the Altar

The gospel life is first a presentation of a sacrifice. A life on the altar. The gospel life starts on the altar. Look at this first phrase: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Paul is pleading with us to present ourselves in a way that makes us acceptable to him. Now that’s hard to do. God is perfect. God is holy. God is righteous. And now we must come before him in acceptable way? How?

What does he mean by sacrifice? From the beginning God has required of his people a sacrifice. Think about Cain and Abel. God required of them a sacrifice. One was holy and acceptable (Abel’s), and one was not (Cain). Moving forward, after the flood subsided, Noah made a sacrifice in Genesis 8:20-21. Fast forward to Moses’s life, the Law is given to God’s people. And what is the Law? Well, of course, there is a large moral section of the Law. But another section of the law is the sacrificial system, where God guides the people on how to offer holy and acceptable sacrifices. How to present things — animals — that were holy and acceptable. This was how God’s people were to be holy and acceptable. To go to the Temple or the Tabernacle and present a holy and acceptable blood sacrifice for their sins. As the animal gave its life on the altar, a sacrifice was made. The just wrath of God against the sin of the people was satisfied by their faith in him, displayed by their obedience to his sacrificial system.

God required a sacrifice of his people. But then when we look at the life of David, we see a man who is characterized as after God’s own heart. He is someone who God seemed to be pleased with, right? But then David did what humans do: He messed up. Big time. He has his episode with Bathsheba and Uriah, making him guilty of adultery, murder, envy, jealousy, pride, and more. What should he do? Make a sacrifice? Let’s look at Psalm 51 to see David’s response.

Read Psalm 51

Psalm 51 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Look at verse 16: “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.” Woah. Wait: I thought sacrifices delight God? Look a little further: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Okay - now we get it. Here’s where we start understanding the sacrificial system. It’s really not about the act of presenting the animal, though that was important. It was about the people acting in faith in God. In trust of God. And then being obedient to God. David’s sacrifices weren’t acceptable not because his lambs weren’t good enough. David’s sacrifices weren’t acceptable because he was being disobedient. He wasn’t delighting in God and God’s Word.

God delights in us through faith trusting that his ways are higher and better than our ways. God delights in obedience and repentance even more than physical sacrifice. That’s been his way throughout history. Okay so let’ move forward to the New Testament and the coming of Jesus. In John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus comes as the Lamb, perfect in every way. Why Lamb? This is a sacrificial title. Jesus is THE LAMB, who is completely and totally holy and acceptable to God. He was perfectly obedient and laid down his life as a sacrifice. Jesus presented himself to God as a sacrifice for us. He fulfilled the law. And God accepted his sacrifice.

Hebrews says that now there is no more need for animal sacrifice since Jesus acted as both high priest and perfect sacrifice once for all. And now we see in this verse that we are called to present ourselves on the altar of sacrifice. But Paul’s call is different: a living sacrifice. That’s an oxymoron. Sacrifice, up until Romans 12, meant death. Animal sacrifice required death. Jesus’s sacrifice required death. But we’re called to be living sacrifice.

A sacrifice, as we’ve seen, entails giving up something valuable. For the Israelites, they were to give up a lamb. One of their flock. A piece of their livelihood. This was costly. New Testament: Jesus gave his very life. The costliest sacrifice. Now, we are called to be a living sacrifice. This is a call to put everything in your life on the altar in service for God. Everything. Present all of yourself on the altar as a living sacrifice.

This means the public and the private. Your marriage. Your parenting. Your job. Your money. The parts that you want known and the parts that you want to keep secret. Paul says to give everything as a sacrifice to God. What are you holding back? Here’s the thing: God knows everything, right? He already knows everything about you. There’s nothing that you can keep secret from God. So then, in that knowledge, you’re called to submit it all as a sacrifice. Give up your sin to God. Lay it at the feet of Jesus. It will be costly to follow God in this way. That’s why it’s called a sacrifice.

The gospel life is a sacrificial life. The gospel life is a living sacrifice. This is how we live a life of worship. See he defines worship as spiritual there at the end of verse one. And he says that “this” is your spiritual worship or service. Laying down your life on the altar, submitting all that you are to God and his perfect will for your life, is an act of worship or service to God. That means that worship isn’t merely a Sunday service or singing or praying. It’s more than that. To worship God is to fully submit your life in sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable to him. This is a life on the altar. Is yours?

In the Fire

After showing us that the gospel life is a life lived on the altar, Paul shows us that the gospel life is in the fire. Look at the beginning of verse 2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” A gospel life is a life that is formed in the fires of renewal.

Here’s what Paul is saying. We are always being formed. We are like clay, moldable and easily formed. The wrong way to go is conformity to the world. This is the easier road, though. But we have explicit command: Do not be conformed to the world. The Greek word for “conformed” here is a rare one: only mentioned a couple of times in the New Testament. It can mean to assimilate or conform. When Paul mentions this world, he means the sinful world that is fallen. The world that has been corrupted by the power of sin and the devil.

This world is powerful and tempting. Satan uses the power of this world to lure Christians into sin and away from a biblical worldview. And it is easy to conform to it. Why? Because conformity to the world promises fulfillment, popularity, and progress. Right? We see it in commercials all the time.

But all of those are empty promises. The world cannot leave you fulfilled. It will only leave you empty. Conformity to the world may bring you popularity in this life, but it will leave you alone at the end. Conformity to this world may bring you progress in your career and money and fame, but you cannot take those things to the judgment seat of Christ and say, “Look at all my money, Jesus! Look at all my hard work. Look at all my stuff!” Conformity to the world leads to an unbiblical worldview in this life and eternal judgment in the next one.

Paul offers a better way forward, but it is path that will traverse through the fire. Instead of conformity, he says to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Gee, that sounds harder. It is!

Think of a soda can: I can easily conform an aluminum can to the bottom of my shoe by stepping on it a flattening it. I have conformed the can. But only by heating that aluminum can I transform it to the shape where it will be most effective for drinking again. The heating renews the can.

Our life is the same. If we are like clay and God is the potter, we are transformed into something beautiful only by fully submitting to our Potter’s grand design for our life. So how does he do this work of renewing our minds? Because this isn’t just “do more good works and you’ll be transformed!” No, he’s talking about the mind being renewed.

First, his Word is effective and powerful. God’s word does not return void. The main means that God uses to renew our minds in a transformative way is his word. You must be in God’s word regularly to live a transformed life.

Second, his Spirit works. The Holy Spirit works as we encounter God’s word to convict us of sin and poke and prod and mold and make us into the image of Christ. That is the process by which our minds are transformed.

As the Word and Spirit work together over the days and weeks and years and decades of our Christian life, we can say, “I don’t think like I used to. I care more for people. My mind has been transformed in many ways, glory to God.” My mind is being renewed over time as the Spirit works to teach me God’s ways through his word. And this is hard. This takes time. This takes the word of God penetrating our souls and working in ways that sometimes make us uncomfortable. This is the fire of renewal. God heats us up with conviction but in that fire he forms us and molds us and transforms us and renews our mind.

So, where is your mind? Are you being transformed by renewal through God’s word and Spirit? Or have you closed your mind to God? Have you hardened your heart and your mind to the things of God? I would say today: In order to live a gospel life, your mind must be renewed in the fires of God’s work and conviction. Be willing to let God work in your mind as you read your Bible and see how he will bring transformation. Transformation begins with our thoughts and our minds. So a renewed mind will reap a renewed attitude. A renewed attitude will reap renewed actions. The gospel life is on the altar and in the fire.

For God’s Glory

But let’s look finally at the last part of verse 2: A life on the altar and in the fire is for God’s glory. That’s our last point today. A renewed mind leads to the ability to discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. In other words, when your minds are renewed and your life is transformed, you will be able to live for God’s glory. God desires that his people live for his glory. He wants us to live lives that bring glory and honor and praise to his name. This is his will for you. To live a life that is glorifying to him.

How do we come into the knowledge of God’s will? We look at his will revealed in Scripture! Through getting into his word and taking it seriously, we come into a greater knowledge of how God works in the world and in our lives. And then when we go a do those things, those things that are good and acceptable and perfect, we glorify God. This is what Jesus was talking about when he said to let our light so shine before men that they may see your good works and do what? Glorify us? No! Glorify God who is in heaven! When we know the will of God through the renewal of our mind, and we do the will of God, we bring glory to God! When we live on the altar and in the fire, we bring glory to God.

Conclusion

I would love to see everyone in this church live the life that God has for you: The gospel life. I appeal to you, by the mercies of God, to offer yourselves on the altar as a living sacrifice, put your mind in the fire of renewal that is the Word of God, and live for God’s glory. But as a reminder, this is only by the mercies of God.

[Gospel presentation]

Let’s pray