A Living Sacrifice
Notes
Transcript
God is continuing to work in and among us. Our Bible studies are off to a great start. Our men met this past Wednesday at Chanticleer bakery and it was quite a spectacle. There were 16 of us huddled around a bunch of tables in the middle of the cafe. There was a ruckus all around us with orders and lattes being made, but our presence made an impact on one woman.
At the end of our study a woman came up to approach me and said. I just want to let you know how blessed I am to see this many men studying the word of God together. She said just thinking about it gives me chills. I am so encouraged by what you are doing.
That’s how God works. What a testimony to the grace of God and the power of the gospel.
The Czech philosopher and theologian John Huss was a man who was transformed by the gospel. He was a man of great conviction and fought against the heresy of the Catholic church in the early 1400s.
Hus spoke out against the pope for the selling of indulgences, which people purchased to get time out of purgatory. Hus spoke against this practice and was apprehended by authorities. He was eventually taken in front of the council and asked to recant his views. He replied, "I would not for a chapel of gold retreat from the truth!".
His conviction was grounded in the gospel.
He was asked again to take back what he had said and thus save his own life. Hus declined, stating:
God is my witness that the things charged against me I never preached. In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today.
On 6 July 1415, he was burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church. As he was lit on fire at the stake He could be heard singing Psalms. As he was passing away he was glorifying God singing to His God and King.
People are transformed by the gospel. Some people are called to die a martyrs death, but all Christians are called to be:
A Living Sacrifice
Paul begins the letter the Romans with this powerful statement
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The gospel transforms people. We must live in a way that is consistent with the power of the gospel. Whether in our own personal lives or within the life of the church, we are to be people who are empowered by the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the book of Romans Paul spends 11 chapters building up the doctrine of the Christian. He says this is what you must believe and lays out salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, whereby one is justified and made righteous by the work of Christ on the cross.
As we approach the 12th chapter of Romans we see it opens up with two main points.
A Life Transformed By The Gospel Serves God Sacrificially
A Community Transformed By the Gospel Serves God Sacrificially
This aligns with our core value. God-Glorifying Service. As we talked last week, we expressed that worship is a way of life. We confirmed that God is looking for His people to live a life that is saturated with worship, where they live to His glory. Today we see that each of us is called to worship in a practical way through service . This is where we are
A Living Sacrifice
Many people believe the book of Romans to be the most important book in the Bible. Whether the gospel focus, the clearly communicated doctrine, or the passages that offer so much hope, Romans is a cherished portion of Scripture. Our passage today is one of the highlights of the book. Let’s observe together.
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.
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.
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.
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
PRAY WITH ME.
Before we get started, we really need to back up one verse.
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Paul ends the doctrine section of Romans with a benediction. He ends with praise toward God and goes into all out worship before he gets into the duty of the Christian. Here we see a doxology, or a giving God the Glory approach to context here.
What we do as believers is always tied to not just what we believe, but who we worship. Our duty is to God and our response to proper doctrine should produce worship. Here in our passage worship is specified in a unique way.
This passage echoes the words of the great hymn, When I Survey The Wondrous Cross: It closes,
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
As a response to His great love for us, we should live for Him. Paul now begins this section of the letter, which lays out Christian living. It is important to know that duty is never separated from doctrine. Romans 12:1 is the clearest verse that bridges the two aspects and shows that they are vitally linked together in a life-giving symbiotic relationship.
Let’s explore our passage and see that:
A life transformed by the gospel serves God sacrificially
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.
The apostle Paul petitions his fellow believers with a timely appeal. This is a great urging, an exhortation, a cry. Paul is pleading with the believers in what many people consider to be one of the most important verses in the Bible.
You can hear Paul’s pastoral tone of affection pour through. Brothers and sisters, we worship God, because of His great mercy. In the previous chapters Paul explained the mercy of God in salvation, sanctification, and His sovereignty. Paul carefully and thoroughly examined the plan of redemption and the mercy of God was unfolded in those chapters.
Now Paul asks His hearers to respond to the mercies of God. He asks them to do something difficult. This here is not a command, but an appeal. He is urging them, pleading with them, this is in their best interest. Here are his words of his appeal.
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
In view of God’s mercy. Paul says, it is only reasonable that you offer yourselves to God. [1] Said another way, In the act of redeeming grace, Christ died for you, shouldn’t you live for Him (2X).
This act of living for Him is known as Sacrificial Living, or serving Him. This is God-glorifying service. This can be summarized in one word: commitment.
Paul is pleading with believers to be committed, to the point of sacrifice. This is an all in commitment. For example, if you had bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning, the chicken and the pig had a commitment, but only the pig went all in. Many people are living with chicken-like commitments, but God is requiring sacrifice, true sacrifice, all-in commitment. Are you all-in for Christ?
Offer your body to God. This language here reflects the pattern of sacrifice laid out in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament, there were sacrifices for sin as well as sacrifices of gratitude and praise. Christ has obviously fulfilled the sacrifice for sin once for all (Heb. 9:26; 10:10, 12, 14), and there is nothing that the believer can add to that sacrifice. But living sacrifices of gratitude and praise are the appropriate sacrifices (reasonable, spiritual) sacrifices to be made by those who live only by the mercy of God. These sacrifices are as much the act of worship of the believer today as the sacrifices of dead animals were the act of worship of Old Testament Israelites. [2]
We are no longer called to make a sacrifice, but to be a sacrifice (2x). Your life is to be a living sacrifice, this is spiritual worship. Said in the words of the KJV
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
God wants us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices—daily laying aside our own desires to follow him, putting all our energy and resources at his disposal, and trusting him to guide us (see Hebrews 13:15–16; 1 Peter 2:5). Our new life is a thank-offering to God. Offering our body as a living sacrifice is holy and pleasing to God. This is worship, this is service. All God-glorifying service is worship.
This concept is familiar as we talked about this last week as we learned to Worship Him. However, this also aligns with what we taught about Empowering Discipleship from a couple weeks ago that showed the attitude of a disciple. Here we see this idea fully formed by the apostle Paul as sacrificial living. When one understands the grace and mercy of God offered in the gospel there is but one response, living as a sacrifice.
Paul clarifies, “In light of what God has done, here is how we should live.” The primary theme here is sacrifice—A Life Transformed By The Gospel Serves God Sacrificially. When we live our lives sacrificially we are identifying with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This kind of living is committed living. There is no half-way commitment. We will also know that to serve God is the only reasonable way to respond to His mercy.
However, as one scholar has identified.
Romans Romans 12:1–21: The Gospel Expects Sacrifice
“The problem with living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off the altar!”
We must continue to surrender ourselves to Christ. We must live committed lives. Although we may be committed, there must be some application of that commitment. Here we see the demands of serving God sacrificially.
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.
Here we have two demands to living a life of service. The first is negative, don’t do this, and the second is positive, instead do this.
The first is Do no be conformed to this world. Scripture tells us that this current world is dominated by evil. Galatians 1:4 reminds us that this present age is evil. Elsewhere in Scripture we see the influence of Satan upon the world and that he has power over the world system. Therefore, Do not be conformed to the world.
Let’s say this another way…Do not be shaped into what the evil schemes of the world produces.
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould. J. B. Phillips
Do not be shaped by the world. This is such a strong demand for the commitment of sacrificial living yet many believers want to taste what the world has to offer. People want to experience the world’s music, the world’s fashion, the world’s way of doing things and indulge the appetite for all things worldly.
Have you sampled the worlds goods? Do you long for the flavor the world delivers? Do you want just a little taste. The world is a device of the devil and his influence is used to pull people away from sacrificial living.
Do not be conformed to the world rather be shaped by a biblical worldview. So then second demand, in the positive, is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (2x). It is a new mind that is demanded. It is a total transformation of thinking.
One scholar clarifies.
Romans A. The Exhortation to Personal Sacrifice (12:1–2)
Therefore, our minds must be renewed in knowledge according to the image of God, not the age in which Satan rules.
The word here for transformation is metamorphosis, we use this word in the science world to explain a the change from one form to another. We see this in a tadpole experiencing transformation to a frog. We also see this in a caterpiller being transformed into a butterfly. This same idea is used in the gospel accounts of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ.
Jesus takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain alone and he reveals to them His glorious inner essence where he was transformed before their eyes, there was metamorphosis. He allowed His deity to show through his body, so that His face radiated with the brightness of the sun and His clothing was changed to dazzling white. Jesus was transformed before their eyes.
Here in Romans, we see that transformation of the mind is a demand of commited living, sacrificial living, yet it produces a result that is incredible. We too experience transformation in the mind that produces great change in the life.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Transformation of the mind will lead to conformation to Christ (2x). We will conform to Christ, being shaped from one state of grace to another as we live lives that are transformed by the gospel. This transformation begins in the mind and resonates to the heart and impacts the whole life. Here is the process: mind, heart, life. This change is so radical that it means to live as a new creation.
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.
The last part of the verse shows the effects of our commitment. With genuine commitment, sacrificial living as service to God, A committed life will be able to discern and understand the will of God. That’s because a commited life will be saturated by the Word of God.
In completing the thought here about sacrificial living Paul uses more language of sacrifice suggesting an understanding of what is acceptable to God. We will know what is acceptable and perfect because we will know the will of God.
We will know the will of God because we know the Word of God which has transformed our minds and allows us to live sacrificially in service to Him. God’s order of obedience for His people has always been worship and then service. We have seen that a life transformed by the gospel serves God as a living sacrifice. Now we will see that a community transformed by the gospel serves God sacrificially.
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.
Here we see some characteristics for useful service. The first is humility.
Think of yourself with a humbleness that can only come from a renewed mind. I find it fascinating that in the world, the one which we are not to be conformed to, we see that humility is often perceived as weakness. The polar opposite is true in the eyes of God. Humility is a key characteristic for the Christian. When people live in humbleness they can be used by God in a mighty way.
Paul shows another result of the transformed mind is sober judgement. This means to think of things properly, balanced and with the right motivation and intention. When viewed in our examination of ourselves, it is to recognize we are nothing at all, and it is only by His mercy and grace we can be used to serve Him.
Built upon that understanding we can give an honest assessment and use our measure of faith or our spiritual capacity to carry out our service to God and in the church.
When we are humble and understand our usefulness for service we can employ our measure of faith for Him.
Each of us has been given different gifts according to the grace God has given us and we are each unique. However, collectively in the church we work together for His glory. Here we see A Community Transformed By the Gospel Serves God Sacrificially. Paul gives us details of what the transformed church looks like
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.
The apostle uses one of his favorite illustrations to describe the church. We are called the body of Christ. Here he gives an understanding of how the church works. The church is a body with many parts. Essentially, there are many people who make up the church. They each have their own giftedness and ability to give back to the church.
There are two key aspects for serving God sacrificially as a community, as the body of Christ.
The first key aspect is unity. Twice in these two verses you see the phrase one body. This show that there is a unity between all those who are in the body. Those in the church are all on the same team, better yet, they are part of the same family. When you are in Christ, you are in His body the church and you are adopted into the family of God. There is a unity in the body.
The second key aspect is diversity. There are many members with different functions. We are all part of the same family, the same team, but we have been gifted differently so we serve differently. We still serve sacrificially, yet we do it within our own abilities.
The members work together to make the body work. Here is a critical point: the body doesn’t exist to serve the members, but to serve the Lord. This is not about a holy huddle, but being the hands and feet of our Holy God.
Furthermore, the body is not dependent on one or two of its members to run the show. Every person has his or her part to do. When it is NOT done, the body suffers. However, when everyone uses their gifts in service to God, great things happen.
Unfortunately, many churches suffer from what is known as the 80/20 rule. There are 20% of the people who do 80% of the work in the body. This means that many people are not engaged in serving. This is a big problem, not for the church but for those individuals who don’t serve.
The reason is simply this. When you serve you grow (2x). God has given us the church as an institution for spiritual growth. It’s not just the preaching of the word that grows people, but serving the Lord and applying the truths of Scripture. This is where we see love in action. This is where we see love come alive, this is where we see faith energized by acts of kindness and deeds of mercy.
Think of it this way. Who is the person that learns the most in a Bible study? It’s the teacher? Who’s the person that grows the most in that same Bible study? It should be the teacher who is serving the Lord. When we use our gifts in service to Him we grow. Service is the training ground of the disciple.
If you want to grow in your faith, do something. Serve anywhere. Whether serving your shut-in neighbor by bringing a meal, or loving your senior parents by cutting their grass, serve them, and you will be serving the Lord sacrificially.
Jesus illustrates this point in the parable of the sheep and the goats. Jesus tells of the king who rewards the faithful who says this.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
The faithful ask the question, when did we do all these things to you?
40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
We are serving God when we do these things. However, we must make sure we get it right and that means getting to the matter of the heart.
There are people all over the world who do good things, who do good deeds. Nearly every false system of religion pushes its parishioners to alms or good works, and they do it as a way to earn the approval of their system. There is this idea that if they do enough good deeds they will make their false god happy.
People all over the world bring a feast of a food offering before the statue of a false god made by hands. That statue never eats the food and the food is wasted and it just rots. So is every sacrifice that is given without the right heart motive.
It is only the good works from a born-again Christian that have any truly good value. When your mind is renewed and transformed by the gospel your heart will follow. Your heart will be made new and your works will be of service to God. When the collective of born-again believers works in the body sacrificially God is glorified in the church.
After Jesus finished teaching on the beatitudes and explained characteristics of those who were in the kingdom of God, He said this about those who believe.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Here Jesus is saying, this is the evidence of a life transformed by the gospel. This is what a life that lives sacrificially is all about. It is useful, it is evident and everyone can see. There is a light that radiates from the person who has been changed by the gospel.
Jesus says let your light shine. Which reminds me of my favorite kids song, This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. And when we let our light shine we are glorifying God, we are worshipping God.
Individually, this is just one person shinning a light. However, collectively there is a much bigger difference. I want you to participate with me this morning. If you have your cell phone take it out.
Turn on the flashlight setting. If you are able, please stand up and hold your light high. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Now an individual can shine a light that is useful. But look around how powerful the light is when we all shine our light together.
There is this brilliance of clarity. All can see and there is this radiant brightness. You may put your lights down.
The same thing happens when we all collectively let the light of Christ shine in our hearts in the church. When we are one body one spirit united in Christ and we are using our gifts to serve Him we are putting God on display, we are glorifying God with our service, we are worshiping Him.
The church will have a powerful testimony in the family, in the community and in the world when we serve Him sacrificially and live our lives as a living sacrifice.
Now imagine the church with only 20% of the people letting their light shine. No wonder there is no power in the average church. No wonder people think Christianity is a joke, no wonder the church is in disarray and great trouble. The church is filled with people who have been given gifts and talents and abilities and don’t use them. The church is full of people who are not worshipping him through God-glorifying service. We are called to worship, we are called to serve, we are called to love.
God doesn’t want you to serve because you have to. God wants you to serve because you love Him.
—Tony Evans
We serve because we love him. It’s not an obligation, it is a privilege. It’s also part of God’s design. He desires for us to become more like Christ, and he conforms us to Christlikeness when we serve.
You might be saying. I want to serve, I want to glorify God with my gifts, but I don’t know what they are. That’s ok, the way you find out is to try something. Don’t just stay there, pray there and ask God to show you a way to serve.
Paul goes onto tell us about the diversity of gifts that work in unity for Christ within the body.
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
This passage is started with mercy and is ending in grace and they are two sides of the same coin. Mercy is not getting something you deserve, for all of us that is hell as a consequence for our sin. Paul talked about the mercies of God that Christians experience. God is merciful to save us. God is merciful to justify us by the blood of Christ. God is merciful to sanctify us through the Spirit.
Here, Paul tells of God’s grace given to us in giftedness. This passage closes with some practical gifts of grace.
We must be humble and recognize our partnership in the body of Christ. Only then can our gifts be used effectively, and only then can we appreciate others’ gifts. God gives us gifts so we can build up his church. To use them effectively, we must:
• realize that all gifts and abilities come from God
• understand that not everyone has the same gifts nor all the gifts
• know who we are and what we do best
• dedicate our gifts to God’s service and not to our personal success
• be willing to utilize our gifts wholeheartedly, not holding back anything from God’s service.
In these verses we see grace gifts that are given to us by the Holy Spirit for the building up of the church. This is not an exhaustive list of gifts, but the ones that are employed within the body. Here Paul gives seven gifts we use in the body that fall into two categories, speaking and serving.
Prophesy-The gift of prophesy is often misunderstood. There is a likelihood that when you think of prophesying you think about predicting the future. There is an element in which that is true. However, in most cases it means effectively communicating God’s message. There are many people who fit the biblical definition of prophet, as one who communicates the message that is true to the tenets of the Christian faith. It is only rarely that prophecy in the New Testament has to do with foretelling the future; it usually has to do with forthtelling the word of God. —William Barclay
Service-This is serving in a general way. There are many people here who have the gift of service. They have a strong pull to serve and are asking, How can we help or who can we help? This carries the idea of waiting at a table. Serving is a standard way Christians do work for the glory of God.
Teaching-This is focusing on the person who teaches. This teacher is involved with passing on the truth of the gospel as it has been preserved in the church. If you are passionate about sharing the gospel and teaching the gospel you may be gifted with teaching.
Encouraging-This is someone who comforts and exhorts. This is someone who encourages people to better live the Christian life. This is certainly a mark of a disciple-maker. Has God given you the gift of encouragement? Use your gift sacrificially in the church to the glory of God.
Giving-This is the idea of sharing what you possess with others. This is done with generosity. This kind of person would be a called a cheerful giver.
Leadership-This giftedness is seen in an elder. It’s a gift to lead and develop leaders. God gives leaders to the church who are able to organize and manage.
Mercy-This person extends mercy to others. This means to care for people. This may be seen in ministry of mercy like hospital and nursing home visitation. This gift can also be seen in those who are empathetic during times of grief like loss of loved ones.
All of these gifts are to be used collectively in the church as believers live in community with each other. When this is done to the glory of God…
The Community, the Church Transformed By the Gospel,Will Serve God Sacrificially
The church that serves God sacrificially is made up of individuals who live as a living sacrifice, who have been transformed by the gospel.
Together the collective offers God-glorifying service, which is as verse two says, reasonable worship. So what are some...
Practical Reasons to Serve
1. Serving puts your faith into action (2x).
The apostle Paul advised the Galatian church to express the freedom of faith through service, saying:
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
2. Serving connects you with others (2x). Serving your church connects you with fellow believers, with community. Serving allows you to develop meaningful relationships.
3. Serving cultivates humility and love. You can put others first when you serve, you are acting in compassion when you serve. Humility and love are two attributes that every Christian should desire more of.
4. Serving helps you to conform to Christ. Jesus modeled servant leadership for us, and He wants us to serve. The reason is when we serve we grow. When we serve God is glorified.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
Good works or service is evidence of your changed heart. It is proof of your transformation. We don’t serve because we have to, we serve because we love Him and we want to glorify God with our service.
Today we learned what it means to be a living sacrifice.
A Life Transformed By The Gospel Serves God Sacrificially
A Community Transformed By the Gospel Serves God Sacrificially
When we serve as the church we burn bright and let our light shine forth for Christ.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
You may not be called to burn at the stake for your faith like John Huss, but you are called to let your light burn bright for the world to see your good works.
May we all live to the glory of God and serve Him sacrificially, as a living sacrifice, wherever he leads us.
Pray with Me.
[1] Boa, K., & Kruidenier, W. (2000). Romans (Vol. 6, p. 362). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] Ibid.