July 29, 2018
Triton College offers wood working classes. I’ve tried to sign up but those classes close quickly. Why would I sign up for a wood-working class? Obviously I want to learn more about working with wood. If I signed up for the class in order to learn how to invest money you would think I was very confused. The intended outcome of a wood working class is to become a better wood worker.
So let me ask. Why did you become a follower of Jesus? This is not an easy questions and we would all probably have multiple answers. Perhaps a better question is what is the intended outcome of being a follower of Jesus. We are looking at the fine print of life with Christ. And this morning as we consider Rm.12:1-2 we will see that Christ-like transformation is the intended outcome of our salvation in Christ.
I. THIS TRANSFORMATION INVOLVES RENEWED WORSHIP. Rm.12:1
In v.1 Paul urges believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices to God, and he calls this activity spiritual worship. Why does Paul urge us to do this? The beginning of the verse says “I appeal to you therefore, by the mercies of God.”
In this series of messages I’m preaching about the fine print involved in being a follower of Jesus. Before this I preached a series called, “Transforming Encounters with Jesus.” In those messages I was trying to help us see how wonderful it is to enter into life with Christ. This is what Paul calls the mercies of God. In Rm.1-11 Paul details the mercies of God shown to us through Christ
Let’s think about this. The wonder of the gospel is that with the coming of Jesus into the world, God has made it clearer than ever that life with Him is a gift of his grace through Jesus Christ. In the book of Romans Paul shows that all people, whether Jew or Gentile need Jesus. No matter how religious we might be, no matter how good we might think we are, all of us are guilty of disregard for God and his good commands. All of us have sinned. Even Jews, who are God’s chosen people, and who have received many blessings from God, are in need of Jesus.
In Judaism there was a strong sense that because Jews are God’s chosen people and received the covenants of law and circumcision, that they were immune from judgment. On the basis of their privileged position before God, Jews looked down on Gentiles.
Paul says, “Wait, being Jewish, having the law is great, but it doesn’t guarantee life in the kingdom of God. Rather, the law brings the knowledge of sin. That’s what law does. It defines transgression and prescribes punishment. No one can keep the law. We are all disobedient to the laws of God. In fact, in Rm.4 Paul makes it clear that before the Law of Moses was ever given, Abraham had already entered into life with God on the basis of faith, trust, allegiance to God’s gracious promises. In Rm.5 Paul tells us that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. By faith we are reconciled to God by the death of his son and having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life. Paul says that in Christ we have peace with God. In Christ the love of God is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. In Rm.8 Paul makes it clear that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
This is good news. Life with God is a gift of grace through Jesus. But the gospel is not just about our personal relationship with God. In Romans Paul also alludes to the new heaven and earth and Christ’s rule over the nations. God is establishing his Kingdom through Jesus Christ. When we turn to JC in faith we begin to live in and under his rule, his administration, & his administration doesn’t just extend to individuals who have entered into a personal relationship with him. Rather his administration involves the whole world. God has put all things under his feet and in the fullness of time God will unite all things in heaven and on earth in Jesus in a new heaven and earth. Through Jesus, God is reconciling to himself all things. And so those who have entered into life with Christ are part of his current administration and rule over all the earth. These are amazing realities, mercies from God. Our sins are forgiven. The life of Christ is our life. We have the Holy Spirit and our confidence is in Christ who died, rose from the dead, ascended to the Father and is now reigning over all. And as he reigns over all, he certainly desires to reign in our lives for our good that we might be transformed into his likeness, so that the world may see that Christ is Lord to the glory of God.
So Paul says, “On the basis of all this, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” The word, “spiritual,” has the idea of being rational or reasonable. Our worship of God is based on understanding as we discern what God has done, is doing, and will do for us in Christ.
Paul was writing to the Romans who knew all too well about worship. In the Roman empire you worshiped Caesar. That was the reasonable thing to do if you wanted to keep your life. Paul says, “No. Christ is Lord. We worship God. This is the only reasonable worship for us.” We worship God by surrendering our bodies in service to him day and night. We are to be living sacrifices to God. The idea behind a sacrifice is death. So if we are to be living sacrifices it will involve some kind of death in which we are still alive. I think this is similar to Jesus’ idea of taking up our cross. We die to ourselves and to the selfish, sinful desires and habits embedded in our bodies. Sin always involves the body and dishonors the body and God.
Presenting our bodies as living sacrifices is very important because since we are the body of Christ that is visible to the world, what we do with our bodies reflects on Jesus and his present administration. Every U.S. president has an administration and appoints ambassadors to represent their administration to the world. Well, Jesus Christ has appointed every believer to be his ambassador to the world. We represent the administration of Jesus.
United States ambassadors are expected to moderate their conduct and behavior to positively reflect the United States. The same is true for believers. We must carefully consider our conduct and behavior. If we use our bodies in ways that are a poor reflection on our King, Jesus Christ, then we must make changes. In 1Cor.9:27 Paul says, “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” Forsaking sinful bodily behaviors may be difficult but if we are living sacrifices we will do it. I would encourage us to regularly give our bodies, every part to the Lord. “Lord, I give you my eyes, ears, my mouth, my feet and hands.” In doing this we are seeking to abandon the idols, the sinful, selfish desires and cravings of our bodies that easily ensnare us.
II. THIS TRANSFORMATION INVOLVES RENEWED THINKING. Rm.12:2a
In order for us to be able to present our bodies as living sacrifices, we need to be renewed in our thinking. So Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world.” Okay. But wait a minute. We already are conformed to this world. All of us enter into Christ already conformed to this world. In Rm.6:17 Paul tells us that we were once slaves of sin. In Eph.2:1-3 Paul writes, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” When we turn to Jesus our sins are forgiven and we begin living the life of Christ. But the life of Christ that empowers us is found in our old creation bodies that have been conformed to this world.
In Rm.1, Paul gives a picture of what it means to be conformed to this world. Paul says that even though the world of humanity is aware of God’s existence, it refuses to honor God or give thanks to God. The world prefers to worship anything but God. And so Paul explains that God gave men and women over to the lusts of their hearts. And what we see is that in the world men and women are slaves to their sinful, selfish passions and desires. Listen to the list of sinful activities Paul gives in Rm.1:26-32. Some women abandon natural relations with men and become consumed with passion for other women. Likewise, some men give up relations with women and become consumed with passion for other men. What is more, in the world men and women are filled with unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, and slander. They are haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. All of these behaviors are found woven throughout every dimension of society and every corner of our hearts.
In Gen.4 we read how Cain murdered his brother, Abel. In the world, anger and rage, vengeance and murder flows through every heart. What is more, we are all experts at justifying our anger. Our hurts, our loyalty to family, causes, and political parties justifies our anger. We are conformed to this world far more than we want to admit.
So Paul tells us that we need to be renewed in our minds. What does a renewed mind look like? A renewed mind looks like Jesus. He is our model. If the Church is the body of Christ, Christ is the head of the body. It is his thoughts we want to be thinking.
How do we go about renewing the mind? It is a process. We turn away from old world ways of thinking and intentionally fill our minds with new creation thinking. It is of utmost importance that we fill our heart and mind with the teachings and example of Jesus found in the Gospels and Epistles. We should read and think deeply about them. But how easily we show old creation thinking. We see it in the drive for power and success in the churches of America. We see it in the racism, materialism, and immorality that fills our lives. We see it in the unkind comments posted on social media, even by Christians. We are often driven by old creation thinking.
What steps do you need to take to stop being conformed to this world? What steps do you need to take in order to have your mind renewed with the mind of Christ? What are we waiting for? We need to be renewed in our minds.
III. THIS TRANSFORMATION INVOLVES RENEWED LIVING. Rm.12:2b
Paul goes on to say, “By testing we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” As I look at these 2 verses it strikes me that presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice and having our minds renewed is expressed in behavior that conforms to the will of God. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Generally when we pray that we are thinking in big picture terms. We want to see the kingdom of God come and be fully established. We want to see peace on earth, etc. But believers are already living in the kingdom of God and so we seek to live according to the will of God.
It does not seem to me that Paul is thinking here about what God’s will is for your vocation or who you will marry or what college to attend. Those decisions are important and we surely ought to seek the Lord about those things. But rather Paul is writing about our general way of living in this world. Jesus summed up the law and prophets in 2 commands. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. Well, God’s will is that we live in love, that we love God and love others.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus makes some very clear statements about how those who are in the kingdom of God are to live. When we reflect on his teaching we begin to see that the politics of Jesus are not like the politics of this world. When we reflect on the teachings of Jesus and his life and death we begin to see that Jesus refused to Lord it over people. He refused to take up the sword. He refused to return evil for evil. And he told us to do the same. This world will always find a way to kill God. And we should not be surprised if we experience the same treatment as we live out the will of God in this world.
This is not easy. This is why we must surrender our bodies to the Lord in worship and seek to have our mind renewed. Doing the will of God is something that we learn by trial and error. We will fail often because our conformity to the world is strong. But as we continue seeking to do the will of God we will learn what is good, acceptable and perfect in his sight. In this way our behavior in the world begins to confirm and conform to God’s good will. The more we conform to God’s good will in our living, the greater our impact upon this world will be.
Men and women, everything we long for is found in Jesus Christ, not the world! And yet, how quickly we embrace the world, thinking that it will meet our deepest longings. We are Christians! We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ, and Christ-like transformation is the intended outcome of our salvation in Christ. Amen.
