Romans 12 April 3, 2018 Dan Baker

Transcription

1 Romans 12 April 3, 2018 Dan Baker Paul ends chapter 11 (**Romans 11:33-36) with an overwhelmed sense of the goodness and greatness of God. It is a doxology concluding a masterful treatise on the mercies of God. Romans gives a lot more attention to doctrinal studies than any other of Paul s writings. Chapters 1-11 are doctrinal. Chapters are concerned with practical implications of all that he has written so far. Chapter 12 begins with Paul giving his readers an impassioned plea to follow Christ with their whole heart. This is now the practical part of the book where we see what the Christian life is to look like. There are many parallels between much of this passage (Romans 12:3-13:14) and the sermon on the mount found in Matthew 5-7. Paul calls this the law of Christ in Galatians 6:2. But, it is important to note that becoming a Christian is not about taking on a new set of rules. The first two verses set the stage for the practical exhortations to follow. We notice that Paul first encourages them to be worshipful in verses 1 & 2, then to be merciful in the following verses. First, we are to worship our God because of His great mercy towards us. Then, and only then, we are to extend that mercy to others. Worship comes first. Then mercy. 1. Romans 12:1 a. I urge you i. This is a passionate plea, of ultimate importance. It also has a diplomatic feel in the language. Paul knew his audience. ii. All this doctrine is of no value if you don t get this part! iii. Take the next step! b. By the mercies of God i. Because of all God has done for you! ii. This is the motivation behind all Paul is about to say about the Christian life. iii. Because God has been merciful to you (9:15-18) iv. List the mercies of God already learned in this Romans study 1

2 c. Present your bodies i. Where have you seen this phrase in Romans? (**6:13) ii. The word present is a word used to give a sacrifice. iii. The Christian life is not just about your heart. iv. Not a sacrifice for sin v. God s not looking for the perfect body 1. Example of Christ **Isaiah 53:2-3 vi. **Phil. 1:20 Christ exalted in my body 1. Make Jesus look good in your body 2. Sufferings, self-denial 3. Value Jesus above everything else vii. **1 Cor. 6:19-20 Glorify God in your body 1. You are not your own. You belong to someone else. viii. Our bodies have a purpose to be merciful. True beauty comes from a person who is loving, kind, merciful. d. Living Sacrifice i. Whatever touched the altar was deemed holy; holy unto the Lord. Once the lamb touches the altar, no going back it s for God via the priest. That s the picture for us! Once touched, we belong to Him! ii. The word living is emphasized in the Greek. This sacrifice is living! Not dead! We are living, holy and acceptable to God. iii. A change from the old covenant dead sacrifices iv. Not at all necessarily sacrificing yourself to die as a martyr v. While you are alive, we live for Jesus with our bodies vi. Compare 1 Peter 2 1. **2:5 Living stones being built up to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 2. 2:10 You have received mercy 2

3 3. **2:9 you have an identity so that you may proclaim His excellencies why, He has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 4. 2:11-12 What this living sacrifice looks like. And, what it results in as they observe your good deeds may they glorify God in heaven... e. Holy i. Romans 6:13 Instruments for righteousness ii. **Phil. 4:18 Gifts from the Philippians were a fragrant offering this is a sacrifice. iii. Hebrews 13:15-16 fruit of our lips, sacrifice of praise. Doing good, such sacrifices are pleasing to God f. Acceptable to God i. This is your spiritual or reasonable worship. This is it! 1. Spiritual as opposed to physical sacrifices that were offered by the Jews. 2. Reasonable do the only thing that makes sense in light of God s mercies 3. The word understanding may also be used here. Ie. This makes sense when we truly understand the gospel. 4. This offering of our bodies to God is the true act of worshiping. 5. Our corporate worship is useless if it is not accompanied by the worship Paul describes here. ii. What does acceptable to God add to the word holy? 1. God is made explicit. It is about God. It is about glorifying Him in our bodies. Compare Romans 11:36 it is all about God! Holiness is acceptable to God. Pleasing Him is the motivation for holiness and showing mercy. 3

4 2. Romans 12:2 a. Do not be conformed to this world (or age) i. How does this fit with Paul s desire to to become all things to all men? **1 Cor. 9:22 ii. Indigenous vs. Pilgrim Two Biblical impulses 1. Indigenous the gospel needs to have a voice in every culture of the world. It must make sense to every people group. 2. Pilgrim the gospel sets lose people from their culture, criticizes the culture, and turns Christ followers into pilgrims, aliens and strangers in their own culture. 3. One can be excessive one way or the other iii. Biblical tensions have you seen any other tensions in the book of Romans? 1. Sovereignty of God/Free will of man 2. Can we always resolve tensions in the Bible? iv. **John 17: In the world (indigenous), but not of the world (pilgrim). 2. Keep them from the evil one keep them from the lies of Satan that would lead them from the truth. v. Both separation and participation 1. 2 Cor. 6:17 be separate 2. 1 Cor. 5:9-11 associate with immoral people of this world. But, not with immoral people who call themselves brothers. Church discipline principle. 3. Adaptation and Confrontation a. **1 Thes. 4:11-12 behave properly towards outsiders. Properly what is appropriate for the culture. b. **Eph. 5:11 Do not participate in unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them 4

5 4. Example of Christ a. Matt. 9:10 he dined with tax collectors and sinners. b. The incarnation in the world! c. He confronted the sin of the religious rulers of the day. 5. Example of Daniel when taken to Babylon. a. Daniel 1:7 New names in Babylon b. Daniel 1:8 Daniel decided not to eat the food that had been sacrificed to idols c. **Daniel 1:17 Daniel and his friends excelled in every field of study in this foreign land. 6. John Piper s Conclusions: Yes, confrontation of the world! But also missionary adaptation. Yes, separation! But also cultural participation. No, not of the world! But yes, in the world. No, not conformed to this world! But yes, becoming all things to all people that we might save some. Yes, we are indigenous! But we are also strangers, pilgrims! vi. Do not be conformed implies that we have the power to resist. We don t have to be controlled by the evil systems and lies of this world. 1. The pressures to conform are always present 2. The Spirit of God is also always present 3. This imperative is in the present sense indicating that the Christian is being affected by the world. It is an ongoing battle. 4. But now, in Christ, we are to yield to another pressure, and that is to follow the Spirit of God. b. But, be transformed i. Transformed same word as transfigured Matt. 17:1-2 ii. Being transformed in this life is just a taste of what is to come, just as Christ was revealing to his disciples what He would be like after the resurrection. 5

6 iii. Already/Not Yet Our transformation now is just the beginning! Some day we will be fully transformed into His image. iv. Transformation is not about keeping a list! It is something spiritual. Paul did not give them the list of the Spirit. He gave them the the fruit of the Spirit. c. By the renewal of your minds i. We have fallen minds that need renewal ii. Does education fix it? Education is good, but it doesn t get to the heart of the matter. iii. **Eph. 4:23 Renewed in the spirit of your mind. 1. Your mindset your viewpoint, world view, etc. 2. Our minds being brought around to the way God sees things. 3. **Eph. 4:17-18 It is our hardness of heart that deceives our minds to believe the things of this world. 4. How does our heart become hardened? Hebrews 3:7-8, 15, 4:7 Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Every time we reject what the Spirit of God is saying to us, we harden our hearts and become more and more callused. iv. We need renewal. The word for renewal is used in just one other place in the New Testament **Titus 3:5 1. Renewal is done by the Holy Spirit. 2. This transformation happens when be behold the glory of the Lord **2Cor. 3:18 3. The Spirit works in two ways to renew our minds a. From the outside-in exposing us to Christ-exalting truth about the gospel and all He has done for us. (2 Cor. 4:4) b. **Ezekiel 36:26 - From the inside-out, humbling and softening the hard heart to receive the truth of the gospel. 6

7 c. But, we must pursue Christ-exalting truth and we must pray for truth-embracing humility. d. The outcome of this renewed mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. i. This is knowing the will of God and heartedly approving of it! When you are overwhelmingly convinced of what God s will is, you will like it! There is nothing better than being in the will of God. ii. Two wills of God in the Bible: 1. The Sovereign Will of God it will come to pass no matter what. 2. The Revealed Will of God what God reveals as the right way to live when this is disobeyed it does not come to pass. 3. In Romans 12:2 Paul is talking about the Revealed Will of God. He is not saying Get your mind renewed so that you will know what is going to happen tomorrow. This is not a crystal ball situation. He is saying, Look for what God would have you to do. Look for how we are to present our bodies as instruments of righteousness in this world. 3. Romans 12:3-8 a. Now, with your renewed mind, do not think more highly of yourself than you should. b. Have sound judgement the opposite of this is pride. All that we have is from God. It is not of our own doing. c. Through the grace given Paul is saying that these are not his own words, but the words of the Lord that were given to him. i. Verse 6 uses the same phrase for every believer reading this we have all received a measure of grace. 7

8 ii. In this Paul equates himself with everyone else. All these gifts are from God. iii. All that we have is from God therefore pride is out of the picture. One can never say that they have more faith than another, because even faith is a gift from God. **1 Cor. 4:7 d. We differ in our gifts as parts of a body, not as contestants in a game. i. We were created to serve each other as a body that takes care of itself. ii. We are all part of each other. e. Exercise your gifts accordingly i. Prophecy not everybody agrees on what this gift is about! 1. Old testament prophecy was primary forth-telling, not foretelling. 2. The gift of prophecy today different opinions: a. Having the same authority as scripture b. Spirit guided words for encouragement or exhortation that are fallible and not on the same level as scripture. c. Preaching d. The gift is no longer in affect since the canon of scripture is closed. 3. **1 Cor. 13:1-2 Using prophecy according to the proportion of your faith means to use it to love and build up each other in faith to the glory of God. a. If there is no love in the use of our gifts, they are of no value. ii. Use of our gifts 1. What is most important is not that we use our gifts, but how we use our gifts. 8

9 a. Lavish generosity in our giving. b. Passion and zeal in our leadership. c. Cheerfulness and joy in our mercy. 4. Romans 12:9-21 What this life of mercy looks like. You can put this phrase in front of each of these admonitions: I appeal to you therefore by the mercies of God... a. 12:9 Love without hypocrisy what you see is what you get. Don t put on a show. Be real and love each other. Show each other the mercy that God has shown you. b. 12:9 Abhor evil, cling to the good not connected to the previous statement. Does not mean to overlook evil in a fellow Christian. A mind that is renewed will abhor evil which seeks to destroy rather than build up. c. 12:10 Growing affection and Honor - Be family for each other. Our actions are not without emotion. Honor each other, especially those that are weak. i. **1 Cor. 12:22-25 Those that are weak need to by honored even more than those that are strong. ii. Phil. 2:3 regard each other as more important than yourself iii. Matt. 25:40 Christ indicates that He is somehow present in the life of those that are weak. To the extent you did it to the least of these, you did it to Me. d. 12:11 Not lagging behind, fervent in spirit i. We live in a culture of apathy float, drift, sit mindless in front of the TV, have small dreams for the weekend. ii. Stir up zeal for God in your life! iii. Fervent comes from the Greek word for boil. Be passionate in your spirit for the Lord. iv. What are some cultural wrongs that you are passionate about today? e. 12:11 Serving the Lord i. A reminder that this is what it is about. Your zeal needs to be about serving the Lord, not showing others how passionate you are! 9

10 f. 12:12a Rejoicing in Hope i. **Hebrews 6:11 a confident expectation of good things to come. ii. **Hebrews 12:2 Hope causes joy for the joy set before Him. g. 12:12b persevering in tribulation i. Tribulation is something that everyone experiences. ii. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Take heart persevere, because Christ has carried our sin, bore the curse, given us His righteousness, conquered death and opened the door to heaven. He has overcome! We can take heart. iii. God is the source of our perseverance **Romans 15:5. h. 12:12c Devoted to prayer. Therefore, in the face of tribulation we must be devoted to prayer. God is our source of all we need! i. 12:13 Contributing, showing hospitality i. Taking care of those in need. **Acts 4:34-35 the early church took care of their own. ii. **Eph. 4:28 Don t work to have, but work to have to give. iii. Hospitality literally the love of strangers. iv. **Matt. 10:40 When we receive others for the sake of Christ, we receive God. v. Security in being generous and hospitable Because God promises to be our all-sufficient treasure, we can be generous and hospitable. We are secure! j. 12:14, Bless those who persecute you... Paul says the same thing in all these verses. i. 12:14 don t curse those who persecute you ii. 12:17 don t return evil for evil iii. 12:19 do not avenge yourselves iv. 12:21 don t be overcome by evil v. 12:14 bless those who persecute you 10

11 vi. 12:18 live peaceably with all vii. 12:20 give food and drink to your enemy viii. 12:21 overcome evil with good ix. And Christ said the same thing: **Matthew 5:44. This is The Law of Christ. x. Take note that it doesn t just say not to retaliate. That would be much easier. Blessing our enemies takes faith in God and His mercies. k. 12:15 what does this verse have to do with persecution? i. rejoice with those who triumph in suffering, and weep with those whose suffering makes them weep. l. 12:16 Paul attacks pride which is the thing that will keep us from fulfilling the law of Christ i. If we are prideful, we will not bless those who persecute us. We will want vengeance. We deserve it. It s our right. ii. Associate with the lowly, or Give yourselves to humble tasks - the opposite of pride. There is a sense of being drawn to this, of being moved in the spirit. m. 12:17...in the sight of all men i. Not people pleasers. We are to please the Lord. ii. But such actions will be seen by the world as morally right and will glorify God. n. 12:18 be at peace with all, as much as possible! i. We may do all the right things with the right motivations, but that does not guarantee peace with everyone. ii. The world that crucified Christ does not always want the peace that He offers. 11

12 o. 12:19 - Key line: leave room for the wrath of God. Wrath can be simply God allowing the offenders sin to be the consequence. We re called to not preempt what God is working to do that is always superior to our ideas & preferences of justice. p. 12:20 Heap burning coals upon his head quote from Proverbs 25:21. i. Some have thought that doing this will bring on or contribute to your enemy s punishment. ii. Some believe that this is actually a blessing, and not punishment at all. iii. But most church fathers and commentators since that time see this as burning pangs of shame and contrition. Blessing your enemy will result in feelings of shame which may turn them to the Lord, or they will harden their hearts and not allowing change to take place. q. 12:21 Overcome evil with good. This is a great concluding verse for this section! A great reminder of how we as Christians are to respond to evil in this world. TABLE TALK: 1. Come up with a key word for each of the verses you are given. 2. Discuss personal examples or insights related to the verses. Table #1 12:9-10 Table #2 12:11-12 Table #3 12:13 Table #4 12:14,17,19,20,21 Table #5 12:15-16 Table #6 12:18 12