Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Romans

Romans 12-16 Introduction

Intro: Has this ever happened to you? You are sitting at a stop light and as you look out the side window  at the car next to you, you sense you are moving backward and because you don't want to hit the car stopped behind you, you press even harder on the brake. Only to find that it was not you who was moving but the car next to you.

     You see, when our point of reference moves, we often cannot tell whether we are moving or it is moving. The only way to tell for sure is to find some fixed point that we know is not moving and measure our situation in light of it.

     We can only truly evaluate and judge things by reference to some fixed or objective standard and when the standard is moving, or changing we loose proper perspective. Evaluating w/o a fixed point of reference or with a changing reference point is called relativism.

     Here is something for you engineers and math majors out there. In plane geometry the sum of the angles of a triangle is  always what? (180 degrees) and the sum of the angles of a rectangle is always what? (360 degrees)

     This is a basic truth of Euclidean geometry. Yet, that always true? There are alternate geometries being developed that say no. Because the sum of the angles of a triangle may be more or less than 180 degrees IF the triangle is on a curved surface, the same is true for the rectangle. Plane geometry dealt with flat surfaces but we know that flat surfaces are not the only kind of surfaces.

     You may be asking, 'what does this have to do with our Christian walk and Romans 12. Well, the belief that so much in life is relative has carried over from the sciences, to ethics, to how we treat one another and to what is right and wrong. Relativism is everywhere in our lives...'It all depends' is one of our favorite phrases.  There is a confusion among people today about what is right and wrong because relativism says that there is no absolute right or wrong. What is right for one person may not be right for another or what is right at one time in a given situation may not be right the next time this same situation presents itself.

     And this does have an impact on what we believe and how we act as Christians In the 1960's an Episcopalian minister Joseph Fletcher wrote  that nothing is absolutely right at all times, except love and the only  rule with no exception is 'always do the most loving thing'. Based on this Fletcher said that nothing is inherently right or wrong. In any given situation right is the most loving course of action. Thus anything can be potentially right, depending upon the situation. Murder, adultery, euthanasia, assisted suicides, lying are all right if they are the most loving thing we can do.

     There is religious relativism as well. Have you heard this? ' all religions are the same when it really comes down to it' or  'all religions are equally true and are just alternate routes to the same god.' Another theology in many churches today  is that it really doesn't matter what you believe in, doctrinally, it is the experience, how you feel that is important. Belief and truth are relative to how you feel.

     Come on pastor, evangelical, born again believers, don't hold to that garbage. Really? George Barna conducted a poll on the religious beliefs of Americans and published the results. One of the statements made in the poll was  'There is no such thing as absolute truth; different people can define truth in conflicting ways and still be correct.' The people were asked to reply with 'agree strongly', 'agree somewhat', disagree somewhat' 'disagree strongly' or 'don't know'.

    Among professing evangelical, born again believers 23% strongly agreed, 30% agreed somewhat. 53% of those who say they are born again, church going, evangelicals agreed somewhat or strongly that truth is relative.

    Is it any wonder that some of the Christian faiths very public leaders have fallen into moral and ethical sin.
 That many of our churches have experienced financial scandals. That believers in Jesus Christ treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ shabbily; not talking to or avoiding someone, gossiping about them, trying to make them look bad, holding back the resources of our time, talent and treasure because someone may or may not have done something we didn't like.  And we  justify this poor behavior and pettiness by saying, 'you're not me, it's different for me, you don't know what it is like.

     Folks, the church is not being transformed by the renewing of it's mind, but is being pressed into the mold of the world.  And we are not exempt here at CBC.

EXP:  But, I am here to tell you this morning that not everything is relative.
          There is a fixed standard to measure and evaluate what's right and wrong, what's orthodox and what's heresy.
          There is a standard, an objective measure,  something outside of human opinion.
          There is a plumb line by which we can measure and evaluate our lives before God and our relationship to others.

     The plum line is the holy, infallible, inerrant Living Word of our Living God.

      The problem with the unsaved world AND the problem with born again Christians who believe there are few if any absolutes,  is their reference point. As society changes, it changes.

     The problem with Believers who are falling head long into sin, is their lack of a fixed reference point.

     The problem with born again believers who can not get along with other born again believers and who treat them badly is their lack of a solid, consistent, fixed point of reference that tells them how to act as the people of God.

 Turn to Eph. 4:14-16

     Christians refuse to look at the fixed reference point that God has already provided in His Word and as a result have stunted, sinful lives.  Churches fall apart because they are not being held together by that which every joint provides because each part is not working properly, nor are they working together resulting in little or no growth in the body as a whole.

 No fixed reference point: no growth,
 No fixed reference point, little or no absolutes
 No fixed reference point, and the church body becomes divided and goes nowhere fast.

Background: I want to take a look at where we are heading in Rom. 12-16 by first establishing our fixed point of reference which will be Romans 1-11. Because w/o this fixed point of reference, the challenges of Romans 12-16 will be impossible to meet.

     Romans 12 and following is God setting right what national Israel had made wrong. National Israel became self-absorbed. Instead of being a priest to the nations, a holy people, striving to tell all of the One True God , they became like all the other nations...nationally and individually self centered.

     Keeping the one True God to themselves, Caring for their needs and looking to their own paths of righteousness.
 The church today has made, in principal, the same mistake by being more of a 'sanctuary from the world' rather than a 'sanctuary for the world'.

     The Anglican Archbishop William Tennent once said ' The Church is the only society which exists for the benefit of it's non members'.  Is that true? Or are we primarily here for our own benefit.  When I hear of pettiness, hatred and selfishness among people in the church , I wonder.

     You see, the church today, made up of true believers in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile is to do the work National Israel refused to do. Be Priests to the world. Bring the truth of God to those who will hear. National Israel failed...the church today is failing as well. But it doesn't have to.

     Romans 12-16 is God reversing what we saw in Rom. 1 where the bodies and minds of mankind were sinful and depraved and God gave them over. (remember?) In Rom. 12 ff Paul tells us how the Believers body and mind are to be holy and righteous, committed to worship, abounding in good works, experiencing oneness in Christ and sharing the Gospel to the world. That we are to give over our bodies and minds to God.

     Romans 12-16 is God saying, 'I have made you my people by faith and I will now show you how to live as my people by faith and it will be different than what you see around you in the world.'

 If you want to know how to live a fruitful Christian life,
 if you want to grow up in your faith,
 if you want to be right in your relationships with others,
 if you want to see the church held together by that which YOU can supply as you walk in faith,
 if you want to see the Church of God grow in grace and holiness,
 set your reference on that which is from above, set your reference on God's unchanging Word.

 Make the previous 11 chapters of this letter your fixed point of reference. Where Paul has proven that it was God who has brought your from sinner to saint,   from hell to heaven,
 from not being the people of God to being the true people of God
 and it is God who will reveal Himself and His will to you so that you can live as the people of God.

     Your  fixed point of reference is the faithfulness of God, and the truth of His Word. If you hold onto that, you will not waver in your faith, you will not be confused as to how to be right with God or how to get along with your brothers and sisters in Christ. You have a plumb line that is straight and sure. Never take your eyes off it.

Conclusion: I had fully intended to get into the text this morning but the Holy Spirit had other plans. As I was preparing this message my mind kept coming back to where Paul ended in chapter 11:36.

     Before we can go forward to live and apply the challenges Paul will present about the Christian life in Romans 12 ff, and believe me what is coming will be a challenge to each of you no matter where you are in your Christian walk. We must be certain of our point of reference.

 God is our fixed, never changing point of reference.

 His Word is our plumb line of truth whereby we evaluate our beliefs and behaviors.

 And in all things may God be given the glory.