Need, Not want

Background

Romans was written by the apostle Paul

At the time he wrote this letter, he had not yet visited the church of Rome

In many of Pauls letters he references the other apostles but due to the lack of mention, indicates that it is possible that the church hasnt experienced any direct apostlic ministry.

So in this letter we find Pauls most detailed and comprehensive explanation of the gospel

He describes how we are in sin and deserve God’s judgement

But God is righteouss and we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ Alone

We are made spiritually alive and have eternal life

We are no longer under the law of sin but are heirs with Christ

So God in his soverignty has mercy and elects his children

Romans 9:15 “For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.””

In God’s mercy, it isnt limited to just one group of people.

While God chose the Israelites as his people, his salvation is for both the Jews and the gentiles

And so as we look at todays text, we are looking at the application of this salvation.

Romans 12:1-8 “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. 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. 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. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 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.”

Have you ever started a new project, hobby, or job, and realized that you need help but didnt want to admit it. Help to learn, help to develop the skill, help to learn the tricks of being effective. Maybe you dont have the tools needed to complete the project. We make so many justifying reasons as to why we shouldnt ask for help.

Guys get labled as not wanting to ask for help. They dont want to ask for help for directions, when they are doing house jobs, etc.

I wont say that this is true but I will say that it is true of me. Sometimes I will try to do things on my own.

I remember the first time I changed a door lock and deadbolt. They come with instructions, they tell you what tools you need, but I didnt need that. (I graduated college, surely I can figure this out)

My uncles have been in real estate forever and have always offered their help (but I dont want to bother them)

I dont want to be viewed as incompetant or not manly,

So rather than ask for help, a 5-10min. job became a job that lasted a little over an hour

Spiritual Worship

As we look at our text for today, Paul is immediately telling us that we cant do this thing called Christianity alone.

Because of the salvation that is not of our own doing, because of God’s mercy for us, we are called to live as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

So that is our task.

The task is to live as a living sacrifice

Sacrifice is nothing new. God called for sacrifices in the Old Testament.

These sacrifices signify the repentance and thanksgiving of the people their trust in God.

We know that this sacrifice was specific, it was the first fruits, and the animal sacrificed was to be without blemish.

Sacrifices werent required to just to make it hard on the people

Sacrifice wasnt about losing something

Sacrifice was about an expression of worship to God

The sacrifice exemplified the heart of the people.

Was their heart in the right place to give their best to God?

Was their heart in the right place to not withold from God?

Was their heart in the right place to truly repent?

Their heart carried over into the kinds of sacrifice that they presented

We, as believers and followers of Christ, are to live our life as a living sacrifice, that is holy and acceptable to God.

God has a standard for us. He wants all of us.

Our entire life should be completely devoted to him.

The Israelites worshiped outwardly through sacrifice

We know that Jesus came to become the ultimate, final, and perfect blood sacrifice

And now that the final blood sacrifice was given, we dont worship with physical sacrifice but a sacrifice of our life fully devoted to the holiness of God.

What does it mean for God to be Holy?

God being Holy is perfect, God being holy is worthy of all praise, God being Holy brings himself glory

Contrary to what we believe, God’s highest priority is not to serve and love us

Rather, God’s highest priority is to bring himself glory

He is glorified by creating us, He is glorified when he loves us, He is glorified when he has mercy on us

God being omnipotent cannot go against himself and since He is God, his entire power cannot contridict his nature

There is nothing or no one higher than God and so He must recieve all the glory

Pastor Paul Washer states - “What does it mean for you to be holy? When you recognize Gods value as God recognizes his value”

God should be our highest priority, Glorifying God should be the reason that we live!

The word holy itself means to be set apart, to be consecrated to God

He has made a way for us to be brought to Him

We are to live Holy because He is Holy!

Do we understand that because of Gods love, because of God’s mercy for us, because he has set us apart, the only logical response is a life fully devoted to Him!

Renewal of Mind to God’s Will

One of the reasons it so hard to live a life fully devoted to him is the pressures of the world

Think about all the pressures you have had in your life to “fit in”

How much of how you dressed, looked, or acted, was influenced by culture or your friends?

We naturally want to fit in, to be cool, and we did not want to be different because different was uncool or weird

I remember buying American Eagle collard shirts and I wouldnt buy one unless it had the AE logo on it.

I was going to show everyone that I was cool or with the in-crowd

I gave up wearing boots in middle school although I loved them

As Christians, we feel pressure daily to fit in with culture, to be cool with the world

And if we do not conform we will be looked upon as weird or less than

And so sometimes we try to justify our actions to appear as cool, to appear to be with it,

We try justifying having one foot in the world and one foot in Christianity

And we say things like “I need to be able to relate”, “to love I have to be a part of the crowd”

One of the main reasons for the watered down, or false gospel that is being fed today is because of the pressure to conform.

There is a difference between conforming and seeking,

we are seeking to reach the lost and so changes will be made in order to make the childrens area more inviting

Conforming 2 ways - 1. compromise scripture - For example - is that the world believes we are born good and are generally good people who do good things

And so to conform, some have fallen into the trap of leaving out sin from the gospel.

Rather than teach Romans chapters 1-11, lets just start with chapter 4

When we look at Romans Paul starts with sin and shows how we are born in sin, we inherantly are not good,

This is important to the gospel to understand the need for Jesus!

We not only need Jesus as Savior but we need to repent and submit to Him as Lord

And so we can’t compromise the gospel by leaving out scripture or watering it down

We will not dilute the gospel to conform to the world, we are to live holy!

2. Another way to conform is to flat out disregard scripture

Today, drunkeness is cool. It has always been cool. It is nothing new

Sexual immorality is cool. It has always been cool. It is nothing new

As believers, we are not to conform to this coolness. Drinking is permissable, and sex between a man his wife is permissible.

But as a believer you should no longer be ok with drunkeness and sexual immorality. If you try to justify it or continue to live in it unrepentant, you are conforming.

Paul isnt calling us here to compromise or disregard scripture, rather he is telling us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds

From the moment you are regenerated and become a believer you are to live for Christ and renew your mind

This is why repentance is so important to the gospel

You repent which means you make a change - no more will I live this way

I submit to God and to his son in whom I will follow

I will learn what I must do, how I ought to live, and till the day I die, I will be transformed to make my sole purpose to glorify God and grow closer to Him.

Our conversion to Christianity isn’t purely logical

When a person is presented with the gospel and it makes sense and the Holy Spirit is working within you

Then the gospel takes root in your heart and your compelled to say yes to Jesus

While this may start with head knowledge it ends with heart knowledge

There is a difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge

You can have all the head knowledge in the world but if it doesnt move and take root into your heart, you will see very little change in your life that is acceptable to God.

It isnt until the head knowledge becomes heart knowledge that living as a sacrifice becomes easier, it becomes easier not to conform, and it is easier to be transformed.

Heres the thing, It always starts with your mind

It always starts with the mind reading scripture, with the mind processing, and the discipline to stay focused and pay attention when reading, or listening to the word of God.

As your mind is renewed, with the help of the Holy Spirit, it spills over into the heart and takes root

This is God’s will for you.

The question always comes up “What is God’s will for me?”

God’s will is for you to continuously be sanctified. That is to incrementally grow in your walk in Him. To draw closer and closer to Him.

Because when you live for him, when your mind is renewed, when your head knowledge takes root in your heart, all of your decisions will become easier to make.

When you have a dilema, it will be easier to discern what solution is pleasing to God. Which decision brings glory to God.

What is acceptable and perfect to God becomes clear.

One person not enough

Last week pastor Colby gave an analogy of all of us being on Team Jesus.

He said that on this team, there is no MVP.

No one on team Jesus is like Michael Jordan.

He is 100% right.

To be honest, I sat there and I was like yeaaaah but, I still want to be Michael Jordan.

Like if I’m on this team, I want the last shot down by 1.

If I’m on team Jesus I want to be the one God uses to bring people to say yes to Jesus.

Planting seeds is cool, I dont being a seed planter - but man if I had a choice I want to be the harvester!

I dont mind being the ball hog Kobe Bryant, Lord use me to bring thousands to you!

I do not believe the desire is bad. I hope all of you desire to be the instrument God uses to bring someone to Christ.

What tends to happen is that we overestimate ourself or our ability

Romans 12:3 “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.”

As believers we should know our gifts and abilities. We should also know our weaknesses and what we need help with

This verse is telling us to simply look at ourselves and evaluate ourself realistically

For example - maybe you aspire to be a deacon. Do you meet the biblical qualifications for the office?

Do you have the ability to carry out the functions of that office?

Are you taking a good hard look at yourself and being honest about what you are capable of

Because God has assigned you specific gifts, specific abilities, specific desires in order to serve Him in them

One Body, Differing Gifts

Michael Jordan, as gifted as he was, could not win the game by himself

Michael Jordan Vs. 5 Detroit Pistons, NO ONE WOULD SHOW UP TO WATCH!

Scottie Pippen played a role, Denins Rodman, Steve Kerr

Each man was needed to play their role, to use their abilities together in order to win

And we, as Christians, come together and commune together

Each of us are gifted with abilities that we are to use to further glorify God and serve Him.

Paul gives a list of gifts that are used to accomplish this

This is not every gift, it isnt an exhaustive list, but it is a list that the church of Rome was to use as a template in moving forward

Romans 12:4-8 “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 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.”

Prophecy, Service, Teaching, Exhortation, Giving, Leadership, Acts of Mercy

I’m not going to expound on each of them but I do want to address prophecy as that is usually the one that brings about the most questions.

Most people will look at this and immediately think of prophecy in the way of telling the future.

I do not believe it is used in this sense.

Remember that the Church of Rome hasn’t met Paul or any other apostles yet. Furthermore, it is believed that since they have not been to the church, that the church hasn’t witnessed any of the supernatural gifts.

It would be hard to believe that Paul would list only 1 of the supernatural gifts knowing that they haven’t yet witnessed any of the supernatural gifts.

Prophecy referred to as telling the future was a primary function of the prophets in the OT.

It was a prophecy from God that they were to share to the people

The OT prophets are attributed with a Capital P whereas the NT prohets were attributed with a lower case p

We also find that the primary function of little p prophecy in the NT wasn’t to tell the future, rather to interpret and expound on God’s word.

Paul is telling the preachers of the church that if your gift is to expound and exposit the word of God, then do it.

The last evidence I bring towards this is that the primary roles of a preacher is to exposite or preach the word of God and part of that is to teach and to exhort the people.

When any of the Pastors are up here, we are to have studied at the scripture text in context, line by line and as a whole. We are to preach and shepherd you in the meaning of the text.

Part of that is teaching and exhorting you into some sort of application.

Now, I am not stating that a pracher has to have all 3 of these gifts. Preachers could not be as gifted in the teaching department or the exhortation department - But he must be able to preach the word and shepherd

Again, you may have a couple of these gifts, you may have one, but everyone has a gift

So I want to refer you to the title of the sermon “Need, Not want”

Because we each have differing gifts and abilities, we need to be in community with one another

You can want to be the MVP of the church

You can want to do all that you can for the church

You can want to try to do things on your own

Paul says here that we are one body in Christ, individually members of one another but joined by Christ

1 Corinthians 12:14-26 “For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

We have talked a lot over the last couple of weeks about Gods design, his intent, his plan

God’s intent and his plan after your conversion is that you would draw closer and closer to Him

That you would use your gifts and abilities to help the body of Christ function

Nowhere does He say that you have the capacity to do it on your own

Nowhere does he say that you are to separate from fellow believers and stay separated

We are designed to need one another

Application

What does this mean for us? 4 Application points

We need eachother to help draw closer to God

If we are called to be a living sacrifice and to live a life holy and pleasing, we need brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage us.

We are imperfect and so many times we can feel like we are failing God or that we are the worst of sinners.

Sometimes we can feel like we have hit a wall or that we have plataued in our faith

God uses us to speak to one another and to encourage one another

As humans we need encouragement to help keep pushing us further

Scripture verses, prayer, checking in, etc.

We need eachother to avoid conforming to the world and to renew our minds

If we aren’t to conform to the world and are to renew our mind, we need accountability

We need someone to point out hard things to us.

Sometimes we dont see things that others see

We need to be reading scripture and learning God’s truths

It’s great to have an accountability partner that will not only encourage you but ask how you have grown, what are you learning in your quiet time with God? How has God convicted you?

We need eachother to be honest when we are not honest with ourselves

This is part of accountability but when done in love, is to keep you from potential mistakes

Sometimes we do overestimate ourself

Maybe you are serving a lot and while that is good, other things in your life are suffering

We need each other to speak up and say hey, maybe you need to give something up

Maybe you are being complacent, who has authority in your life to lovingly talk to you

There are 4 people in my life that I have talked to and have given complete authority to ask me any question, to speak into my life, and to challenge me

We need each other to serve where we are not gifted

There are some of you in here that know how to engage others to learn the truths of God

There are some of you in here that just have a willing heart to help anyone in need

There are some of you in here where giving just comes natural

So maybe your like yea thats me or no that isnt me, that is why we need each other.

To fill in the gap and be what we arent

That we may function as one body to glorify Christ and do his work

I promise you that there will be upcoming opportunities for you to serve, to get into a group, to get plugged into what God is doing here at New Day Pasadena

My encouragement is for us to continue to walk together, to grow deeper in our love for one another, and grow deeper in our relationship with Christ. This is a need. We need Christ and we need each other

Maybe you are here today and you have never put your faith and trust in Jesus.