How Can I Help? - PART 1

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Many times, many people have talked about or read this verse here:

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

There’s a big word there. It is

Therefore

ON SLIDE - For that reason, as a result, consequently.

And ‘therefore’ is paul’s way of saying, ‘I just taught you something. Now because of what I just taught you, you should do this.’

And I think if we skip the ‘therefore’, we’re tempted to misinterpret what Paul is talking about here.

always heard this verse taught as ‘avoid bad things’, and there’s truth there. But is that all?

Talking about his fellow Israelites, Paul says:

Romans 10:2–3 NIV

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

so basically, they meant well, but the had a bad start. They didn’t know the right things.

And this is an admirable goal! And it’s one we all should have - to be righteous. But the question is HOW.

Romans 10:9–13 NIV

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Paul goes to great effort to push this main idea. And you have to remember - this is in contrast to the jewish way of doing it, a righteousness earned by legalistic adherence to the law.

Paul is saying there’s two ingredients:

Believe in your Heart, and Declare with Your Mouth

And really, if we want to understand the bible, these both tie back to the heart.

Pharisees mad about Jesus’ disciples not following their rules, not washing before they ate.

Matthew 15:17–20 NIV

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Jesus calls the pharisees on this. In fact, he points out a scenario they had approved (CORBAN) that allowed someone to not have to follow the word of God for the sake of respecting their own traditions.

SIDEBAR - About our hearts:

If it’s coming out of your mouth, it’s in your heart.

James taught on this:

James 3:10–11 NIV

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

If it’s NOT coming out of your mouth - is it really in your heart?

BUT BACK TO THE MAIN TOPIC:

The real place God looks is in our hearts, and knowing this should affect everything we do.

God looks right past every single thing we do, and he looks right at the heart, and he says, ‘How is THAT still doing?’

he knows we try, he knows we fail and we mean well

but we don’t understand well enough that all of our efforts don’t even scratch the debt that God paid for us on the cross

So we stand before God purely based on his mercy ,and he’s laser focused on our hearts - making sure we are fresh water, rather than saltwater

So, THEREFORE:

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Paul spends almost the rest of Romans talking about what it means to be a living sacrifice, and how NOT be conformed to the pattern of this world.

Paul’s literally asking people to give themselves up.

And here’s a hint - it’s not the just the easy things.

It’s easy to say ‘I’m a Christian and so I don’t murder’. I mean, that’s fine and all, but is murder really that hard for you to resist?

The first step of being healthy spiritually is personal heart change -

and it’s not a one-time thing. It takes time. After all, Paul’s writing this word to people who have already given their hearts to Christ.

I think Paul tries to really nail down the heart-change pieces that the people trying with their hearts to serve God will face.

And why did I call this series ‘How can I help?’. Because they almost ALL tie back to ‘how do we treat other people?’

and we’ll go over these more in depth in later messages, but here’s a few quick snapshots.

Tell me if these sound relatable.

Romans 12:3 NIV

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Sober judgment is a bit of a scary term!

Romans 12:10 NIV

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

how many times have we thought that we make progress by standing up and saying ‘you have to do this for me, i deserve to be honored here!’

Romans 14:1 NIV

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.

I feel like ‘quarrelling over disputable matters’ is the business motto for Facebook nowadays

Romans 14:13 NIV

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

This is a tough one. Because we think we’re right and we mean it really well. But paul says, go beyond not even passing judgment - try not to do anything that may even trip somebody else up in what they’re trying to do for Christ. That’s tough.

I’ve been on a big kick lately about just getting right back to the bible. And I truly, truly believe that building a healthy and helpful church involves just that - getting right back to the basics.

If you want to study along with us, please read

ROMANS 12-15

and ask yourself the question: ‘how can I apply what i read this week?’