LIVING SACRIFICES NEW FALL SERIES :: LIVING GRACE ROMANS 12-16
INTRO ROMANS CHAPTERS 12 THRU 16 CHALLENGE: Read all 5 chapters this week, even multiple times Write down 7 instructions to better obey 7 character qualities to better exhibit The Family Motto by Dave Simmons in Dad, The Family Coach Sacrificial action is at the core of love. The Bible tells us that God is love, and that He loves this world full of people so much that He took sacrificial action!
ROMANS 12:1-2 A LOVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ROMANS 12:1 Love begins with God s action: Because of all He has done for you. Our review of Romans will tell us what God has done for us
ROMANS REVIEW THE PROBLEM :: MANKIND HAS SINNED AGAINST GOD! For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God s glorious standard. ROMANS 3:23! Because of sin there is no one who is right with God by physical birth. No one is righteous, not even one. ROMANS 3:10
ROMANS REVIEW GOD S LOVE IN SACRIFICIAL ACTION For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. ROMANS 3:25 Jesus Christ is God s payment for the world s sin, including mine and yours. A person is made right with God by believing in the sacrificed life of Jesus Christ.
ROMANS REVIEW Romans taught us how blessed we are to have faith in Jesus Christ! FAITH BRINGS JOY! Therefore, since we have been made right in God s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God s glory. ROMANS 5:1-2
ROMANS REVIEW Faith in Jesus Christ brings NEW LIFE! Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. ROMANS 6:12-13 Notice, we were dead (not just sick) but now we have life instead, and the response is to give ourselves completely to God!
ROMANS REVIEW So, let s not forget what God has done for us who believe in His Son Jesus Christ. He has given us New Life, New Freedom and Focus, and New Power to live for Him!
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow not even the powers of hell can separate us from God s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. ROMANS 8:38-39
A LOVE RELATIONSHIP And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ROMANS 12:1
SACRIFICIAL ACTION Let them (believers bodies) be a living and holy sacrifice. ROMANS 12:1 1. Loving God back also looks like sacrificial love. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.! 2. Notice, we aren t being called to make sacrifices for God, rather we are called to be living sacrifices.
God was served in the Old Testament by sacrifices of property owned by the believer, but he is served in the New Testament by the sacrifice of the believer himself or herself. Paul does not tell believers to make a sacrifice, but to be a sacrifice. God is not asking the believer to dedicate his gifts, abilities, ideas, creativity, or any such thing. He is asking the believer to sacrifice himself. Boa, K., & Kruidenier, W. (2000). ROMANS