A Life Transformed by Mercy

Pray

Bibles

We come now in our Romans series to Romans chapter 12.

Chapter 12 is a turning point in Paul’s letter.

For the first eleven chapters,

Paul has been building the theological foundation of the gospel.

But now, beginning in chapter 12,

his emphasis turns toward how those truths should transform the way we live.

Pastor Rick often says that Orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy.

or to put it more simply,

Right Beliefs lead to right living.

You see thoughts have consequences. What we believe about God,

ourselves,

and the world around us is going to help form what we value

and what we value will effect how we behave.

That is why I believe Paul has organized His letter the way He has.

In verse 1, we see the word “therefore.”

And what have I always told you when we see the word therefore?

whenever you see the word “therefore,” always check to see what it is there for.

And this is important because if we jump straight into the commands of chapter 12,

we can completely misunderstand Christianity. We may begin thinking that we must live this way so God will love us,

that if we serve enough or sacrifice enough,

perhaps God will accept us into His family.

this is how the world views relationships is it not?

We have all likely seen this kind of story in movies or television.

A talented young athlete has a father who keeps pushing him further and further in the sport.

He keeps practicing,

competing,

and pushing himself,

but not for the joy of the game.

He is doing it to earn the favor and love of his father.

And I fear that too many people view their relationship with God in the same way,

as something transactional.

But I hope that as we have gone through chapters 1 through 11,

you have seen that the gospel leaves no room for this.

So before we begin looking at verse 1,

let us quickly remember what we have learned in the first eleven chapters.

In chapters 1 through 3, we saw that we are all guilty before a holy and righteous God.

None is righteous.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We cannot save ourselves.

But in chapters 3 through 5,

we saw that God made a way for sinners to stand righteous before Him,

not by our own righteousness,

but by the righteousness of Christ received through faith.

Then in chapters 6 through 8,

we saw that God gives us new life.

We are no longer dead in our sins but alive in Christ,

no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness.

And in chapters 9 through 11,

we saw that all of this rests on the mercy and faithfulness of God.

By His sovereign plan,

even we Gentiles have been brought into the family of God.

And then Paul says, “Therefore.”

Now that we have seen the great mercy of God,

what should that do to the way we live?

That is what we will look at this morning as well as the coming few weeks .

For this morning, We will do this in three parts.

I. God’s Mercy Creates a Surrendered Life Romans 12:1

II. God’s Mercy Creates a Transformed Mind Romans 12:2–3

III. God’s Mercy Creates a Grace-Filled Body Romans 12:4–8

I. God’s Mercy Creates a Surrendered Life

Romans 12:1 ESV

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.

Paul begins by saying,

“I appeal to you,”

Paul is urging us to respond well to the mercy we have received.

He has spent eleven chapters showing us how our sin separates us from God,

And

because of His great love and mercy,

He has given us new life in Christ.

So He is now urging us to see that our only proper response should be to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Our mouths,

our hands,

our time,

our relationships,

and our decisions must all be placed at at the altar for the Glory of God.

Paul calls this a living sacrifice.

The sacrifice we bring is not a bull or a ram whose blood is shed and whose life is taken. Those sacrifices pointed forward to Christ and found their fulfillment in His death.

Romans 6 says that we are now dead to sin and alive to God. Therefore, the life God has given us becomes the life we offer back to Him.

A living sacrifice says,

“God, everything I am belongs to You.”

Paul then says this sacrifice is to be holy and acceptable to God. To be holy means to be set apart for Him.

God is not merely asking us to give Him a little more of our time.

Bible study,

prayer,

and gathering with the church are important,

but Paul is not telling us simply to add more religious activities to our calendars.

I don’t think any of us would ever directly say this or admit this,

but I fear that too often we divide our lives to where we have our personal life we have our work life and then we have a Jesus life. And I think often when people hear messages like this one in their they begin to think OK I need to just simply add more Christian things to my schedule so that it has field with more Jesus time. We begin to think very practical and think of the specific Christian things we can do like prayer Bible study service and yes,

all of those are marks of a healthy fruitful Christian,

but simply adding more task to your day is not what Paul is saying here.

We are not to divide our lives into God’s time,

personal time,

Family time

and work time.

Every part of our lives is to be set apart for Him.

that is as Paul put’s it, our spiritual worship.

“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

When you’re eating your meal,

do you see it as an act of worship to the God provided this food for you?

Do you see it as God’s designed way to give you the energy to serve Him?

When you’re at work,

Are you just miserable or do you see that he has given you work to do on this earth and through this work we are to do it to the glory of God that we are to do it as an act of worship to God?

When you lay down at night and when you get up in the morning,

do you see that God has ordained that we ought to have rest and that this rest is a blessing from God.

When the Temptations come, do we give in to them or do you say…

“ my life my,

my everything,

is freely offered to God,

and I will not profane this sacrifice by giving in to sinful temptation!”

So let us not walk away from today’s text thinking I need to add more God time to my calendar,

but instead walk away thinking

“how can I Worship God in every aspect of my life?”

But lest we begin to think of this passage through legalistic terms of mere outward behavior,

Paul shows us in verse two that this outward sacrifice of our lives,

everything that we do,

comes first by the renewing of our mind,

which leads us to our second point:

II. God’s Mercy Creates a Renewed Mind

There is a lot here, so we will organize this point into three sub-points.

A) A renewed mind is not shaped by the world.

B) A renewed mind is shaped by the Word.

C) A renewed mind sees ourselves through God’s grace.

A) A renewed mind is not shaped by the world.

We see in verse two that Paul is telling us to not be conformed to this world.

A Christian must not allow the world around us to shape the way we think and live.

And guys,

if you think that the world around you is not shaping you,

then you need to wake up and stop being so nieve.

It is foolish to think that we can walk through this world,

watching it’s media,

listening to it’s music,

watching it’s news,

all with their own values and cultures and not be shaped by it.

If we are not intentional about what goes into our mind,

we will be shaped by this world.

and this is hard, even for me, because so much of the media we consume are just not edifying or Glorying to God at all.

So be intentional on what your letting into your minds.

The world is constantly trying to form us according to it’s own values.

what success looks like,

where identity comes from,

what will make us happy,

and even what is right and wrong.

So The question is not, “Am I being shaped?”

The question is, “Who is the one shaping me?”

Ask yourself:

Are your values coming from God’s truth or from the culture around you?

But how do we make sure that our minds are not shaped by the world?

We first must see that our minds are shaped by the Word.

Paul tells us at the end of verse two:

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

He tells us not only what we must avoid, but he also tells us what God must do in us.

He tells us that if we are going to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, having our minds not shaped by the world, then we must first have a renewed mind shaped by the word.

B) A renewed mind is shaped by the Word.

His Word corrects the lies that our culture tells us.

His Word teaches us what is good and pleasing to Him.

When the world tells us that a white lie to save face is acceptable, God’s word tells us otherwise.

When the world tells us (???)

diahonring to parents..

Homosexuality is good and should be celebrated….

That the ultimate authority of society rests on that individual, or even the state,…..

But even with His Word to shape us,

I am afraid that many of us are more like thermometers than thermostats.

A thermometer simply reflects the environment around it.

But a thermostat follows a standard instead of simply being controlled by the environment.

A thermostat is set to whatever the master sets it to, and then the temperature follows.

We are not called to simply reflect the world around us.

We are called to be shaped by the truth of God.

So how do we do this?

We do this through fellowship with God through growing closer to God.

We do this,

largely by allowing his word,

his holy timeless and perfect word in scripture,

transform our mind and transform our hearts.

When you come to church to hear the reading of the word and the teaching of the word,

are you praying that the spirit make these truth real and reveals the reality of this world to you?

Are you reading memorizing and meditating on Scripture daily?

Cause it’s only when our minds begin to be renewed,

when we’re able to see the world through the lens of God that we begin to see ourselves and light of God’s grace.

C. A renewed mind sees ourselves through God’s grace.

Paul explains this at the end of verse two and into verse three:

Romans 12:2–3 ESV

…. that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

The first evidence of a renewed mind is that we begin to see ourselves correctly.

The world distorts how we see ourselves.

Either towards pride,

or towards insecurity.

towards thinking

“I am more important than others.”

or thinking

“I have nothing valuable to offer.”

But God gives us a better way to think.

He says:

Think soberly.

See yourself accurately according to God’s grace.

Everything I have,

every ability

and every opportunity,

comes from God.

I need God,

I need His Words,

and I need His people.

Do you see yourself As one who is highly favored,

created in the image of God,

and

a temple of the One Most High?

This is important because when we begin to have an accurate view of our we can then have an accurate view of how we are to interact in the body of God’s people.

Once we understand that everything we have comes from grace,

we can begin to use those gifts to serve the body of Christ.

That leads us to our final point.

III. God’s Mercy Creates a Grace-Filled Body

Romans 12:4–5 ESV

4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Verse 4 begins with the word “for”,

showing he is connecting this teaching to the previous verses.

Paul is explaining why we must think soberly about ourselves.

None of us is the whole body.

We are each one member among many,

and we do not all have the same function.

As we approach the World Cup final,

imagine that every player on Argentina’s team decided he wanted to play the same attacking role as Messi. No one wanted to defend,

and no one wanted to play goalkeeper. Even if every player were talented,

the team could not function properly. A team needs different players performing different roles.

Paul says the same principle is true of the church.

Though we are many, we are one body in Christ.

We are not one because we share the same background or abilities.

We are one because we all belong to Christ.

because Christ has joined us to Himself,

Verse 5 shows us that He has also joined us to one another.

Christianity is not made up of independent people who happen to attend the same meeting each week.

We belong to one another.

This means I cannot say,

“I do not need (say names of people there)

because I am only one part of the body.

But I also should not say,

“The other members do not need me,”

because God has given the members different functions.

I do not wish to shame anyone here,

but if you have been coming to Hutong and are not serving the body in some way, I have to ask why not?

Do you not know that you are a part of this Body and when you are not serving according to your giftings, you are depriving the Church of the Grace God has given you.

The email has a QR code you can scan to tell us what areas you wish to serve in. But that is just a start. Don’t wait on us to plan a way for you to serve. Look for needs in your community and fill those needs for the Glory of God.

Paul continues:

Romans 12:6 ESV

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them….

The different functions in verse 4 lead to the different gifts in verse 6.

Paul does not expect every Christian to serve in the same way.

Our gifts differ according to the grace God has given us.

The word translated “gifts” is charismata,

which comes from charis,

the word for grace.

These gifts are not achievements that we can boast about.

They are expressions of God’s grace given to us for use within the Body.

That is why Paul gives a simple command here in verse 6.

“Let us use them.”

Paul then gives several examples in verses 7-8.

prophecy,

service,

teaching,

exhortation,

giving,

leadership,

and mercy.

he gives other lists elsewhere in other letters.

I wish we had time this morning to go in to each one of these but Paul’s point is…

Whatever form of service God’s grace has given you, faithfully use it.

But not only does He say use these gifts,

but he says how to use them.

Those who give should give generously.

Those who lead should lead diligently.

Those who show mercy should do it cheerfully.

No matter how we serve,

We should serve in a way that reflects the grace we have received.

So ask yourself:

Am I faithfully functioning as a member of Christ’s body,

or am I only present when the body gathers?

Conclusion

As we come now to a close,

I know that this was a packed Sermon with quite a lot of teachings.

It admittedly should have been two different sermons.

So I want to make sure that the important teachings and applications did not get missed.

We are to surrender ourselves to Christ as living sacrifices,

meaning all that we are,

all that we do,

all that we think,

our whole selves should be fully at all times given over for the Glory of God.

But to do this,

we must first have our minds Transformed by the Mercy of God.

We must actively seek to have how we view ourselves and the way we interpret the world around us be rooted in the Word of God and not the culture around us.

And third we must serve the body of christ fully according to the giftings God has given us.

With this in mind, let us now go into groups and pray to God for the Grace to obtain these things.

Prayer Points

Pray that we would surrender every part of our lives to God as living sacrifices for His glory.

Pray that God would renew our minds through His Word and keep us from being shaped by the values of the world.

Pray that we would see ourselves with sober judgment, free from both pride and insecurity, remembering that everything we have comes from God’s grace.

Pray that each of us would recognize and faithfully use our gifts to serve and strengthen the body of Christ.