Giving Our Bodies for God's Purposes
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Last week Don talked about how God has a plan for your life. I want to talk on something similar today, sort-of continuing on from that topic, more on “how” do we live out that plan. Is it possible for us to screw it up? How can we be confident in our decisions? As we think about God’s plan, it can be hard if we reach a fork in the road. We make many decisions every day. But what about the big ones. should I marry this person, should I switch jobs, should I buy this house, how can I be used in the ministry? Now there’s probably many more “big decisions” you can think of, these are just random ones that came to mind. If you’re like me, though, sometimes you may get a little stressed and anxious about these “big decisions”, just hoping God would reveal exactly what I am to do. Now praying for guidance and wisdom on a decision is certainly a good thing. But we do it in trust to the lord, we do not have to know his secret will to move on with a decision.
[ Prayer ]
So how we do move on with big decisions and not mess up God’s plan? Well, you can’t mess up his plan, where he suddenly has to adjust what he had for his secret will. Can you imagine if God didn’t know what we were going to do and he had to react to everything we did, there’d be a a “red alert!” sounding in heaven every second. He knows exactly what we are going to do. And everything happens to bring him glory, sometimes it may be confusing how it’ll end up that way, but as talked about last week and even the week before when Larry talked about Israel and their disobedience and what God took them through, everything went according to his plan.
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to give him advice?
And who has given him so much
that he needs to pay it back?
For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.
Now, the way to move forward in confidence with big decisions and not knowing God’s secret will, is to evaluate God’s “revealed will”. His revealed will is what is given to us in the Word of God. In Deuteronomy we hear about his secret and revealed will.
“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.
Every question to life about how to live is found in His living Word. There’s a lot about finances, material possessions, right man to look for, right woman to look for, right relationship to have with friends, with family, the list goes on and on. It is our guide. What we’ll be talking in more detail on is the area of “how to be used for ministry”. Because as a Christian that’s a very big part of our life. Knowing Christ, spreading His Word and living for Him is what we are to do. And it’s an ongoing thing.
Let’s read Romans 12 verses 1 through 2.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
We want to be used in a way that’s pleasing to God, don’t need to know his secret will, the first step after coming to Christ is to separate ourselves from the behaviors that the world encourages. The behaviors that the Bible, God’s revealed will, says not to do. And this a choice that we each need to make. Paul is not commanding them here, he “Pleads” in other translations, he “Urges” them. It’s a choice of the heart.
The verbiage here in verse 1 is a little harder to grasp the significance in our culture, let our bodies be a “living and holy sacrifice”. When we think of sacrifice we probably think of the giving of resources or maybe volunteering our time. The readers of Paul’s time would have been thinking of actual sacrifices, the rituals the Jews would have performed where they brought their own animal and then they would kill it as a sacrifice to the Lord. It’s a bit more intense and involves more commitment. Obviously this is not referring to bringing any harm to our bodies, but it’s the depth of what Paul is going for, this is ultimate commitment. Give yourself all to God.
Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
Our body is important in how it is used. And it is not our own anymore.
Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never!
Scripture also talks about how Christ dwells in us when we abide in him. I like how Paul puts it:
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
The body is very important, and how we use it is a reflection of our heart and the renewing of our mind in Christ. God created every detail about you, and we’re all unique, given different abilities. And every one of us belong to God. And we will be used to bring Him glory.
We, believers in Christ, have been justified by the grace of God through faith and now the Holy Spirit is continually working through us in the process of sanctification, as you read the Word of God and grow closer to him that renewing of the mind will continue on. And then what’s here at the end of verse 2?
“Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Don’t need a magic ball, just know His Word, grow in Christ, move forward and trust his sovereign plan.
When we give ourselves all to God, it doesn’t mean you have to spend every waking hour volunteering your time or at the church. It’s what Paul is getting at in the second verse, turn away from the world, and grow your love and relationship with the Lord. Christ is your foundation and he’ll guide you on the right path. There’s two roads, one to heaven, one to hell, one is narrow, one is wide. There’s no “super spiritual” road, where because of someone’s works God exalts them above everyone else. There’s following Christ or not.
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
and desperately wicked.
Who really knows how bad it is?
Mankind is wicked. When there’s a changed heart, and you see good fruit, that’s glory to God. And when we as believers say alright God, I want to be used by you to minister to others. The willing heart is all you need. He’ll open the right doors, you don’t need to know the secret will.
We can make our plans,
but the Lord determines our steps.
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
and a light for my path.
When we walk with the Lord we don’t need future prediction, we walk in confidence because of our Faith in the Lord. His Word is our guide, He determines our steps.
There’s a variety of different ways the Lord can use us in ministry. And Paul gives us some practical examples in 12:4-8. But Let’s just start by reading verse 3.
Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
This verse is focused on humility and lays out the standard by which we can measure ourselves for ministry. These are two major points for any type of ministry, you have to be humble and you must have Faith. Paul was used as an Apostle for God, but he didn’t lord himself over people because of that. He gave all credit to God, claiming because of his Grace, he has the authority he does. In the King James Version the first part of this verse reads:
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think;”
Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.
Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.
We don’t deserve any of God’s blessings, everything is given by grace, even the work that we do for Him. If you ever think to yourself “it seems like it would be hard to be prideful in an area of life where you’re doing God’s work”, just remember the pharisees. In verse 3 when it says “Don’t think you are better than you really are”, the Greek verb that Paul used there is the only time that verb is used in the entire New Testament. Commentators say that Paul is making a powerful exhortation to humility. Pride can always sneak up on us, even when we’re doing God’s work.
Pride goes before destruction,
and haughtiness before a fall.
We must always remember to be humble. Give God the glory continually for however he is using you.
The second part of that verse when Paul gives faith as the way to measure ourselves. He’s talking to all the Romans, not just a select group with gifts that we may perceive as “more holy”, that is not the case. We all are a part of the body and no one is greater than another. We all work for the glory of God and the gifts we are given are His choice. And Paul says, everyone's ability to use their gifts is to be measured by their faith. Not, the gifts they were given were by the measure of their faith, but their ability to use the gifts they were given. There’s a big difference there. The other way would exalt one gift over the other, or mean that there’s a faith you must achieve before receiving a gift. That’s not the case. God chooses our gifts, and we can use our gifts according to our faith.
Let’s read Romans 12:4-8
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
These are practical examples of how God can use you in the body of believers. The message about us being one body and Christ being the head of it is all over scripture. And these examples Paul gives, he writes similarly in his other letters. He writes about it in 1 Corinthians, Ephesians and Colossians as well.
There are a couple things to pick up on in these examples and other areas Paul talks about how we can be used, first of all there’s no ladder you have to climb. And there’s no specific location that a ministry happens, we gather here to learn more about God and fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ, but we move as the body of Christ in the world when we leave this place. As Paul puts it here, your ministry is how you live, showing kindness to others, providing leadership, serving people, encouraging others, teaching others, giving generously. Whatever your gift is, he basically says do it with zeal. Don’t let Satan diminish your function within the body by listening to his lies and saying you’re insignificant. That is an insult to God and his sovereign plan. He creatively designed you. And he gave you specific gifts. And the gifts will be used to nourish and grow the body. It doesn’t have to be complex and we don’t have to see 10 steps ahead and worry we might mess up God’s plan.
As we look at the examples we may think to ourselves what gifts we believe God gave us, and may think “how can I do them even better”, for that, go right back to verse 3, the capability for which we can exercise our God given gifts are measured by our faith. We are completely dependent on God to do His work.
Grow closer to God by studying His revealed will in his Word and give up your bodies as living and holy sacrifices to God.