Sermon Tone Analysis

!!!!! Biblical Worldview: Romans 12:1-2

!!!!! Penmarvian.

Sunday March 6, 2005.

11:00-11:45 am

2 Cor.

10:1-6

 

! General

The great Christian thinker */Francis Schaeffer/* once wrote that *philosophy*—often *dismissed as irrelevant*—is, in reality, *a powerful engine that drives cultural change.*

*Those in a position to influence * *put their ideas into vehicles* to filter down into *popular culture, including films.*

There, they *influence millions* who *often have no notion of what they’re consuming* along with the car chases, love scenes, and popcorn.

This brings us to recent the *Academy Awards* .

If you watched them, you already know that *the films Hollywood chose to honor *had *little to do with quality* and *everything to do with philosophy and worldview*.

As *Christian film critic Barbara Nicolosi  *it, Hollywood’s choices affirm, once again, “just how very, very sick (these) storytellers have become.”

Five Oscars went to */The Aviator/*, a film that *celebrates billionaire Howard Hughes*, the man who *bedded dozens of starlets*, *made unwelcome advances to many others*, and *ultimately died of syphilis-induced insanity*.

Many of the movies awarded with Oscars are *mediocre*, and they *celebrate degraded values, a secular worldview*.

E*veryone embraces one philosophy or another*—a *worldview* that defines his or her conception of the world, of reality, and of human life.

*These beliefs are woven into movies*—often in *subtle ways that viewers miss*.

We need to *find* *the worldview message in everything we watch, hear and read.*

What is interesting, is that *relatively few North Americans* have a *biblical worldview* – *even among devoutly religious people*.

That’s the conclusion by the latest study of the *Barna** Research Group (BRG*), which suggested that *a large share of the nation’s moral and spiritual challenges is directly attributable to the absence of a biblical worldview*.

Amazingly enough, when tested, few have a consistent Biblical worldview.

For example, you cannot consistently believe in the exclusive claims of Christ and also believe that there is no absolute truth.

\\ *"What is a worldview?*

A worldview comprises one’s collection of presuppositions (assumptions), convictions, and values from which a person tries to understand and make sense out of the world and life.

“A worldview is a conceptual scheme by which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality" \\ -- Ronald Nash, Faith and Reason.

\\ \\ "A worldview is, first of all, an explanation and interpretation of the world, and second, an application of this view to life."

\\ -- W. Gary Phillips & William E. Brown, Making Sense of Your World from a Biblical Viewpoint.

\\ -- from the Introduction in John MacArthur, Gen. Ed., Think Biblically! \\ “Quite simply, it is everything we believe, why we believe it, and how it affects how we live.”

A biblical worldview, then, begins with  "Seeing things the way God sees them."

\\ \\

Ø      *Illustration**: Foundation & Glasses*

\\ It is *not* developed with *worldly wisdom* *but* *wisdom that is from God*.

We must exercise *discernment* and *study to show ourselves approved unto God to* be able to *separate true biblical wisdom from God from that worldly wisdom* which is often costumed and disguised to appear as godly teaching.

Having *concluded eleven chapters* of *profound and stirring teaching about what God has given believers*, *Paul now* *charges those believers with what they need to give God.*

What is interesting about the argument this far in Romans, is that *Paul now shows us what true spiritual victory and fulfillment is.*

The key to spiritual victory and true happiness is *not* *in trying to get all we can from God* *but in* *giving all that we are and have to Him.” *In *Romans 12:1–2*, this *forceful and compassionate exhortation*, *the apostle does not focus* *on what more we need to receive from God* *but on what we are to give Him.* *The key to a productive and satisfying Christian life* *is not in getting more but in giving all.*

* *

We are often told that  victory in the Christian life is to *have more of God* and *to have more /from/ God*—although “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, *[already*] has blessed us with /every spiritual blessing/ in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph.

1:3, emphasis added).

And *in Christ, we already have* “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” so that in Him we “have been made complete” (Col.

2:3, 10*).

Peter said that in the true and saving knowledge of Christ, we have* “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Pet.

1:3).

And *we have the resident truth teacher, the Holy Spirit*, whose anointing, John says, “teaches [us] about all things” (*1 John 2:27*).

In the deepest, eternal sense, therefore, *we *cannot have more of God or from God than we now possess.

It is more than obvious, *however, that most of us do not have* *the fullness of joy that this fullness of blessing should bring.

The joy and satisfaction for which so many Christians are vainly striving* *can be had only by surrendering back to the Lord what He already has given to us, including our inmost being*.

*The first and greatest commandment* is what Jesus said it has always been: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt.

22:37; cf.

Deut.

6:5).

!!!! Bridge

 

*In the present text we discover four elements of presenting ourselves to God as a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice*—*essentially the same four elements found in the first and greatest commandment.*

They are: *offering God our souls*, *our bodies, our minds*, and *our wills*.

 

 

 

1) The Soul Has Been Given to God

I appeal (urge) to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, (12:1/a/)

Appeal or Urge is from /parakaleoµ/, which *has the basic meaning of calling alongside in order to help or give aid.*

It later came to *connote exhorting, admonishing, or encouraging.*

* *

*Paul* is *speaking as a human helper or counselor to his Christian brethren in Rome*.

His admonition is a command that carries the full weight of his apostleship.

It is not optional.

Yet he also wanted to *come alongside those* *brothers* *as a fellow believer*, *to lovingly encourage them to fulfill* *what already was the true inner desire* *and bent* of *their  new hearts*—*to dedicate themselves without reservation to the Lord who had redeemed them*.

*The gentle appeal*[*urge*] that Paul proceeds to give *can only be obeyed by brethren,* by *those who already belong to God’s family.

No other offering is acceptable to God* *unless we have first offered Him our souls*.

*The unregenerate* person cannot give God his body, his mind, or his will*, because He has not given God /himself/*/./

Only the redeemed can present a /living/ sacrifice to God, because *only the redeemed have spiritual /life/*/./

And *only believers are priests* *who can come before God with an offering*.

*Earlier in the epistle *Paul has made clear that “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom.

8:8).

No matter what his personal feelings might be, *the unredeemed person* *cannot** worship God*, cannot *make an acceptable offering* to God, *cannot please *God in any way with any offering.

*That is analogous* to what Paul meant when he said, “And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing” (1 Cor.

13:3).

If a person does not possess the love of God, all of his offerings, no matter how costly, are worthless to Him.

 

*Therefore* *refers back to the glorious doxology* just given in the previous four verses (11:33–36).

It is because “from Him and through  Him and to Him are all things,” that to Him belongs “the glory forever.”

*We can only glorify the *Lord—we can only /want/ to glorify the Lord—if we have been saved *by the mercies of God.* *The mercies of God* of which Paul speaks here *include the many gracious blessings, or grace gifts* (cf.

11:29), that he *has discussed in the first eleven chapters of Romans*.

Perhaps the two most precious *mercies of God* are *His /love/ and His /grace/*/./

*In Christ, we are the* “*beloved of God*” (Rom.

1:7; cf.

Rom.

5:5; Rom.

8:35, Rom.

8:39), and, like the apostle, *we all “have received grace” through Jesus Christ our Lord* (Rom.

1:6–7; Rom.

3:24; Rom.

5:2, Rom.

5:20–21; Rom.

6:15).

*How are The mercies of God shown?

*They are *reflected in His /power/ of salvation *(Rom.

1:16) and in *His great /kindness /toward those He saves* (2:4; 11:22).

His *mercies* in *Christ bring us the /forgiveness/ and /propitiation/ of our sins* (3:25; 4:7–8) and also */freedom/ from them* (6:18; 7:6).

We have received */reconciliation/ with Him* (5:10), */justification/* (2:13; 3:4; etc.) before Him, */conformation/ to His Son* (8:29), */glorification/ *(8:30) *in His very likeness, /eternal life/* (5:21; 6:22–23) in His very presence, and the */resurrection/ of our bodies* (8:11) to serve Him in His everlasting kingdom.

We have received the *mercies* of */divine sonship/ *(8:14–17) and of the */Holy Spirit/*—who personally *indwells us* (Rom.

8:9, 11), who *intercedes for us* (8:26), and through whom “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts” (5:5).

*In Christ* we also have received the *mercies* *of /faith/* (mentioned thirty times in Romans 1–11), */peace/ *(1:7; 2:10; 5:1; 8:6), */hope/* (5:2; 202, 4).

*God’s mercies* include *His shared /righteousness/* (3:21–22; 4:6, 11, 13; 5:17, 19, 21; etc.) and even *His shared /glory/* (Rom.

2:10; 5:2; 8:18; 9:23) *and /honor/* (2:10; cf.

9:21).

And, of course, *the mercies of God* include His sovereign /mercy/ (9:15–16, 18; 11:30–32).

1)    The Soul Has Been Given to God I appeal (urge) to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, (12:1/a/)

2)    The Body Must Be Given to God

ESV to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual (reasonable~/logical service of) worship.

(12:1/b/)

 

*The second and consequent element of presenting ourselves to God* is that of *offering Him our bodies.*

After it is implied that believers have *given their *souls to God through faith in Jesus Christ, they are *specifically called* *to present* their *bodies* to Him as *a living and holy sacrifice.*

In the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament), /paristeµmi/ (*to present*) was often used as a *technical term for a priest’s placing an offering on the altar*.

It *therefore carried the general idea* of *surrendering or yielding up*.

As members of God’s *present “holy priesthood”* (1 Pet.