Rom 12-Where Body and Soul Meet

| Where Body and Soul Meet! Romans 12:1

January 27, 2008 (ESV) 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.(NIV) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?  PRAY Song – Scripture Memory:For from him & through him & to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. – Rom. 11:36 (NIV) Intro:If someone were to say to you something like: “I want you to be my servant for the rest of your life. I will promise to take care of you and watch over you, but I want you to agree to obey me and serve me from this day on.” How would you react? Can you conceive of a scenario in which you would agree to this? 1. The motive for sacrifice: God’s mercy (briefly…)2. The challenge of sacrifice: Present your bodies as living sacrifices3. The Goal of sacrifice: Worship which is Holy & Pleasing to God 1. The Motive for Sacrifice: God’s Mercy(NIV) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy… Last week’s message…The CRUCIAL base of mercy… - The GospelIn OT times in addition to sacrifices of atonement for forgiveness, there were also thank, or free will offerings, offerings by worshipers who simply wanted to thank God for some great blessing or deliverance… 2. The challenge of Sacrifice: Present your Bodies as Living Sacrifices… to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God….☞ The offer of our bodies:The debate: Does this REALLY mean our BODIES?The GnosticsBoth the inner and the outer self – Divers and gymnasts know that where the head goes, the rest of the body will eventually follow.The place of the body in NT teaching:ü    The Call to Sexual Purity:1 Corinthians 6:15,  18-20 (NIV)15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.Romans 6:12-14 (NIV)12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. ü    The Body Representing Life:Paul speaks of the body in a sense of representing his whole self. He understood the truth that the way we treat our bodies reflects our attitude towards our whole selves.Philippians 1:20-21 (NIV)20I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Sin can control us through our bodies, but it does not need to…Previously, when we looked at chapter 6…Three examples of bodily offering:ü    Our minds: Set a goal to fill our minds with good biblical input for every secular inputü    Our tongues: Set a goal to speak one God-honoring word of encouragement, praise or thankfulness for every critical word or complaintü    Our hands and feet: Set a goal to invest myself in God-centered ministry for every entertainment I enjoy. ☞ Living SacrificesIn Paul’s culture a sacrifice was always an animal that was presented to a priest to be killed.A living sacrifice stands in distinction from the sacrifices of the law, in which the animal offered was put to death. One commentator:The death of the one “Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world,” has swept all dead victims from off the altar of God, to make room for the redeemed themselves as “living sacrifices” to Him who made “Him to be sin for us”; while every outgoing of their grateful hearts in praise, and every act prompted by the love of Christ, is itself a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savor. (Jamieson, R)Living sacrifices implies life, growth, something which is far more than a one-time offering… 3. The Goal of sacrifice: Worship Which is Holy and Pleasing to God… to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.☞ Sacrifice and SurrenderRedemption refers to buying something or someone, the image: a slave market in which we who are sinners are being offered to whomever will bid the highest for us. The world is ready to bid, of course, particularly if we are attractive or in some other way seen as valuable.The World’s Currency:·   Fame·   Wealth·   Power·   Physical comfort and pleasureThe World’s Beatitudes:·    Blessed are the famous, because they are envied.·    Blessed are the rich, for they can have all they want.·    Blessed are the powerful, for they can control others.·    Blessed are the sexually liberated, for they can fully satisfy themselves. |   | The Alternative: The way of sacrifice & surrender…An acknowledgement that the price that was paid for our redemption, obligates us to the One who paid that price…1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV)18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.2 Corinthians 5:15 (NIV) – And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Romans 8:5-9 (NIV) 5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.Romans 12:1 is as bold a call to total commitment as there is anywhere in the sacred writings. It applies equally to all—to the professor, to the preacher, to the pianist, to high schoolers—to everyone! It is for the entire Church. We must put away the medieval thinking that makes a distinction between clergy and laity—the idea that ministers and missionaries should have 100 percent commitment, but the laity is permitted 75 percent, or 30, or … The truth is, all believers are called to be totally committed to Christ. (Hughes, R. K.)The saint realizes that it is God Who engineers circumstances, consequently there is no whine, but a reckless abandon to Jesus. (Chambers, Oswald) ☞ Sacrifice vs. the AlternativeQ: What is the alternative to this type of sacrificial offering of ourselves?Answer: Sin, disobedience, rebellion, apathy…The problem:Satan gives Adam an apple, and takes away Paradise. Therefore in all temptations let us consider not what he offers, but what we shall lose. (Richard Sibbes) ☞ Sacrifice as WorshipThe noun translated worship is latreia, which can mean either service or worship. The plural can even mean duties.What we are talking about here is serving God as an act of worship.If we are worshiping apart from commitment to God, it is false worship. We are deceiving ourselves if we are doing “Christian things” but are not consecrated to Jesus Christ. Sam Shoemaker said it well: “To be a Christian means to give as much of myself as I can to as much of Jesus Christ as I know.” This is why as we grow in the knowledge of his mercy we should be more committed at age 21 than 16, and more so at 35, 45, 60 and 70! (Hughes, R. K.)1 Samuel 15:22 – “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”On the other hand:You will begin to understand the Christian life only when you understand that God does not want your money or your time without yourself. (James Boice)God is not seeking great worship. He is seeking true worshippers—those who worship in Spirit & in truth. (Scotty Smith)Two things we each need to pray for in ourselves are: 1. that we would die to what we think about ourselves and 2. that we would die to what others think about us. (Jack Miller)Test Question: Can I choose to undergo the greatest suffering rather than commit the least sin? Philip Henry ☞ Sacrifice and AcceptabilityOne of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of temperament. We make our temperament and our natural affinities barriers to coming to Jesus. The first thing we realize when we come to Jesus is that He pays no attention whatever to our natural affinities. (Chambers, Oswald)Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.1 John 2:1 – My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ☞ Sacrifice and WitnessThe greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief. (T. S. ELIOT)Beware of worshiping Jesus as the Son of God and professing your faith in him as the Savior of the world, while you blaspheme him by the complete evidence in your daily life that he is powerless to do anything in and through you. (OSWALD CHAMBERS) Summary / ReviewThe CRUCIAL base of mercy… - The gospelThe CHALLENGE of living bodily sacrifice…The reminder of the price that was paid for us and therefore to whom we belong…Romans 12:1 (The Message) So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.  Hebrews 13:15-16 (NIV)15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.   A Truth to Remember: We have been bought by God at the cost of the life-blood of Jesus Christ and are thereby deeply indebted to Him. A Challenge to Consider:Are you willing to rededicate yourself to God this morning, freely offering yourself as a living sacrifice to the praise of His glory? One thing I heard this morning was… |