Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Romans

Romans 12:1-2

Intro: The membership of the Moscow Baptist church is about 5,600, the average attendance 6,000, and the participation level almost 100 percent. The pastor of that church said 'the Russian Christians are zealous for their faith, and that they have no four-wheel Christians."  He coined this phrase to describe people who ride to church for their baptism, for the Easter morning service, for the Christmas program, and for their funeral.

     Sad to say, a large percentage of people in this country who profess to believe in Jesus are little more than "four-wheel Christians."  How about you?

 Is your church attendance irregular?
 Do you tend to be a passive observer rather than an active participant in the worship service?
 Is the time you give to church ministry the time you have left over from all your important activities through the day?
 Do you hear about ministry activities or even fellowship opportunities and say, no one will miss me if I don't come?
 When the time comes to put your tithe and offerings in the collection plate, is this the first time you think about what to give?

ILL: George Sweeting, former president of Moody Bible College once said ' When we come to the end of life, the question will be 'How much have you given?' not 'How much have you gotten?'    That really IS the question.

EXP: You see, Romans 12-16 is about giving, it's all about giving. Giving to God AND to one another.

     Many pastors avoid preaching on Romans 9-11 because of the doctrinal difficulties they perceive exists.  Personally, I would much rather preach on the difficult doctrinal passages than on what is coming up in Romans 12-16.

       This is, for many pastors one of the most challenging aspects of ministry.

 It is not sharing the Gospel with someone who doesn't believe.
 It is not knocking on doors, inviting strangers to church.
 It is not standing on a street corner handing our tracts.
 It's challenging Born Again Christians to walk worthy of their calling in Jesus Christ.

     Most church going Christians think that they are OK and don't want to be told differently. My job as a pastor is not to make you comfortable in your Christianity but to challenge you to be consistent in your character. Paul is saying the same thing.

Background: (Rom. 12:1a)

     Paul has proven in the past 11 chapters that God has been faithful to His covenant with His people. He is now urging God's covenant people to be faithful in their relationship with God and with each other. He tells us that our faithfulness will be dependent on God's mercies. (more on that later)  Faithfulness is God's will for the people of God. (more on that later) Being and acting like the people of God involves a radical change in the way we live and think.

I. God's will for our bodies (Rom. 12:1b)
Read: Rom. 12:1b

     Faithfulness as God's people is first and foremost displayed in a life completely committed to God. Everything one has and does is to be dedicated to the worship and service of God.  Within this one verse there are five very important words which speak of the nature of our faithfulness to God.

    A. Sacrifice
         Our faithfulness to God is to be shown through a life of sacrifice. We don't like that word do we? Sacrifice. 'To give up' doesn't sound very desirable does it? Well how about 'to give over'? A sacrifice would then be the willing transfer of something we have to God, with the emphasis on willing.

    B. Living
         A condition placed on our sacrifice is that it be living. It is not to be dead...like the left overs of our time, talent and treasure that we usually  give to God. The OT sacrifice was for sin and required a dead animal be given to God. NT sacrifices are for Praise and requires a life alive, fruitful, vibrant and changing, always moving in the direction of......

    C. Holy
         Holiness is the other condition of our sacrifice. And another quality we don't take seriously as Christians today because we believe we can never fully achieve it so we don't try. We decide what level of holiness we can do..and struggle to hold our own. But we have forgotten that God never accepts partial holiness, not in the animals that He required for sacrifice (they had to be w/o blemish or fault) and certainly not in His people.

         1 Peter 1:16 God commands His people to be holy for He is holy. While it is true we are 'positionally' holy before God by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we must strive, by the mercies of God, to be holy 'practically', holy in our everyday lives as well. Understand, holiness is not some mystical state of unattainable perfection. It is a life centered on God. It is the combination of a right attitude of devotion to God and the consequent right conduct. Paul will tell us what this looks like in the following chapters of Romans.

    D. Acceptable
         A life of sacrifice, willingly transferred over to God, that is  alive unto Christ and where holiness is desired above all else will be acceptable to God. This is the kind of life God's chosen people are called to live.

    E. Worship
         A life offered to God that is living and holy, is a life of true worship. Paul is saying that based on all that God has done and will continue to do, our life as His people, when lived in devotion to Him, will be a life of worship. And a life lived permeated by the right worship of God will  not only prove that the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect, it will make your day to day interaction with other believers honoring to God as well.

Before The Offering
     As we enter into another opportunity to offer sacrifices to God, let's forget about what is always said 'and Lord accept this small portion of what you have given to us.' Instead, ask God to speak to your heart about the abundance He has given to you and how He wants you to respond by transferring over to Him what is His due. By and through His mercies, He will care for you.  The question will be, 'How much have you given? ' What will be your answer?

Before Communion
     Someone once said: God want's our bodies as living sacrifices, not corpses. But today corpses are often what God gets. Lifeless bodies unwilling to be used as instruments of righteousness by God. Unwilling to offer any praise.  Devoid of fruit. And passionless. Why? Because of the cost.

ILL:  The Rev. Robert Ard, president of the Black Leadership Council, explains the difference between involvement and commitment:  "When you look at a plate of ham and eggs, you know the chicken was involved. But the pig was committed."

 As we enter into a time of communion , I want you to consider your personal commitment to the Lord...not your involvement in  ministry, but think about your life of sacrifice to God. Looking to Jesus Christ who is our example of perfect and total sacrifice as He gave all he had, his whole life on the cross for our life of sin.

II. God's will for our minds (Rom. 12:2)

     'I surrender all'. Have you? Do you want to? How do you do it if you want to? Paul gives us 4 steps in these verses  on how to  live as the People of God.We already examined the First: making the choice to live our lives as an offering, a sacrifice of praise to God. Wholly devoted to glorifying God in our bodies.

    A. Conformity to the world
         Second, we make the choice not to allow the world to continue to squeeze us into it's mold. It has, it is and will continue to do so unless we do something about it. The painful truth is that conformity  to the world is common to many of us to such a greater extent than we are willing to admit. We see it in our selfishness, greed, anger, bitterness, division, pride, deceitfulness, pettiness I could go on. Paul is saying make the decision that you will no longer live like everyone else, you will not act like everyone else, you will be different than everyone else, because you are the People of God! Walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

    B. Be transformed
         Third, Paul challenges us to be transformed. You have heard this before that the word in the Greek is the same word we get metamorphosis.

ILL: The caterpillar miraculously turns into a butterfly.

     In the same way believers miraculously change into what we truly are, inside, in our hearts, we are the people of God, holy unto the Lord.

NOTE: This change is a passive one in the Greek. The change will be done to you by the Holy Spirit as you first offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God, Second, make the choice not to allow the world to continue to squeeze you into it's mold, Third as you allow yourself, like the clay in the potters hand to be transformed into what you already are, the People of God
and Finally, this change will take place as you begin to

    C. Renew your mind
ILL: The mind is a garden that could be cultivated to produce the  harvest that we desire.
   The mind is a workshop where the important decisions of life and eternity are made.
   The mind is an armory where we forge the weapons for our victory or our destruction.
   The mind is a battlefield where all the decisive battles of life are won or lost.
                        Who or what is winning the war of your mind?

     Renewing your mind simply means to think differently, to have a different world view, to think and dwell as Paul has already told us, on spiritual things, things that will have an impact on eternity, things that will draw you nearer to the heart of God.
This is done by seeking the presence of JC in your daily life, by daily meditating on His Word, by being around other Believers and seeing and hearing JC in their lives.

    D. So that you might prove the will of God.
         When Believers begin to think and act like the people of God that they really are, they will prove to the world that God's will is good, acceptable and perfect. ( I said we would get to this) God's will is not mysterious or hidden or hard to find. God's will is that the people of God do that which ethnic Israel was unwilling to do....Be the people of God to the world around them.

ILL: Andrew Murray once said ' The secret of true obedience is the clear and close personal relationship to God.  All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to his abiding fellowship. It is God's holy presence consciously abiding with us that keeps us from disobeying Him.  I must consciously include the Lord in every thought, activity, and conversation until the habit is established.'

     What kind of habits are you perpetuating? Are you consciously including the Lord is every thought, activity and conversation until that habit is established?

Conclusion
 Granted, this is a long journey, one certain to try our very souls...but one with the promise of God that
 He will never leave us nor forsake us,
 that we are secure in Him.
 AND that we have the mercies of God to help us through. (See I said I would get to this as well)

 The Greek word  dia is translated in verse 1 as 'by'. But it can also be translated as 'through' or 'by the way of''.  I prefer these. Paul has spent 11 chapters proving to us our utter dependence on God for everything, is he now going to tell us that we can do all that I have discussed this morning, on our own?  NO! Paul is consistent in his teaching. We live as the People of God through the mercies of God which are new every morning and which are sufficient to do all that He has asked us to do.

     You make choices everyday. to live for Christ, to allow the Holy Spirit to move in your life, to commit to changing your mind about what you do and how you think.  OR You just do nothing. You don't make any real choices about righteous living, service to God or intimacy and passion for God. And when you don't make any decisions towards holiness, you have made a decision toward worldliness.

 In what areas of your life do you need to think differently?
 In what areas of your life are you conforming to the worlds standards of thought and behavior?
 In what ways are you offering to God only a partial sacrifice or one that is tainted and tarnished by the stain of habitual, willful
  sin?

 Paul challenges us, born again believers... Be wholly committed to God and live as the People of God.