Key Verse: I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1 Romans 12:1 2 is one of the best-known passages in the Bible and deservedly so, for we find here a succinct description of the essence of the believer s response to God s grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our response is rooted in God s grace. The NIV s God s mercy conceals the fact that the Greek word for mercy is in the plural ( mercies ). Paul is reminding us of the many displays of God s mercy he has touched on in chapters 1 11. In view of probably modifies urge ; Paul exhorts us in light of the manifold mercy of God. Our obedience is the product of what God has done in our lives, not something we can manufacture on our own. The command to offer ourselves to God reminds us of Romans 6, where Paul used this same verb (paristemi) to express the basic response of believers to God s grace to us in Christ (see Romans 6:13, 16, 19). Indeed, all of Romans 12:1 15:13 is an explication of this basic demand in chapter 6. As new covenant Christians, we no longer offer animal sacrifices; we now offer ourselves as living sacrifices. Living perhaps has a theological meaning: We offer ourselves as people who have been brought from death to life (see Romans 6:13). This may, however, be reading more into the word than we should. Paul probably wants us simply to contrast ourselves with the dead animal sacrifices of the Old Testament (see also John 6:51). But God demands sacrifices that are holy, that is, apart from profane matters and dedicated to his service. This offering of ourselves to God constitutes, Paul concludes, our spiritual act of worship. Spiritual translates a word (logikos) over which there is much debate, as the varied renderings in English translations suggest: spiritual (NIV; NRSV; NASB); reasonable (KJV); true (TEV); offered by mind and heart (REB); intelligent (Phillips). But when the background is considered, we think informed or understanding is the best single equivalent in English. We give ourselves to God as his sacrifices when we understand his grace and its place in our lives. We offer 1 P a g e
ourselves not ignorantly, like animals brought to slaughter, but intelligently and willingly. This is the worship that pleases God. 1 Read Romans 6:13, 16, 19. The word body in the NIV translation refers to our being or whole self. How should we respond to our key verse in light of these verses in Romans? Read John 6:51. What are some practical ways to eat living bread? Note: The NIV Life Application Bible states To eat living bread means to accept Christ into our lives and become united with him. We are united with him in two ways: (1) by believing in his death (the sacrifice of his flesh) and resurrection and (2) by devoting ourselves to living as he requires, depending on his teaching for guidance and trusting in the Holy Spirit for power. The article above states: We give ourselves to God as his sacrifices when we understand his grace and its place in our lives. We offer ourselves not ignorantly, like animals brought to slaughter, but intelligently and willingly. Reflect on God s grace in your life. How can you offer yourself intelligently and willingly today? The key idea for this week is I dedicate my life to God s purposes. Although we touched on grace back in Chapter 3 (Salvation). Total Surrender puts grace into action. Once we realize that God s grace has been given to us, we want to live a life to God s fullest calling (Going On to Perfection or Sanctification). This leads us to a life of Faith and Good Works, Mission and Service, as well as Nurture and the Mission of the Church. Read the article below to see how these all fit together. 1 Based on NIV Application Commentary. https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/nivacsample/rom.12.1-rom.12.2 2 P a g e
Distinctive Wesleyan Emphases 2 Although Wesley shared with many other Christians a belief in grace, justification, assurance, and sanctification, he combined them in a powerful manner to create distinctive emphases for living the full Christian life. The Evangelical United Brethren tradition, particularly as expressed by Phillip William Otterbein from a Reformed background, gave similar distinctive emphases. Grace pervades our understanding of Christian faith and life. By grace we mean the undeserved, unmerited, and loving action of God in human existence through the ever-present Holy Spirit. While the grace of God is undivided, it precedes salvation as "prevenient grace," continues in "justifying grace," and is brought to fruition in "sanctifying grace." We assert that God's grace is manifest in all creation even though suffering, violence, and evil are everywhere present. The goodness of creation is fulfilled in human beings, who are called to covenant partnership with God. God has endowed us with dignity and freedom and has summoned us to responsibility for our lives and the life of the world. In God's self-revelation, Jesus Christ, we see the splendor of our true humanity. Even our sin, with its destructive consequences for all creation, does not alter God's intention for us holiness and happiness of heart. Nor does it diminish our accountability for the way we live. Despite our brokenness, we remain creatures brought into being by a just and merciful God. The restoration of God's image in our lives requires divine grace to renew our fallen nature. Prevenient Grace We acknowledge God's prevenient grace, the divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses. This grace prompts our first wish to please God, our first glimmer of understanding concerning God's will, and our "first slight transient conviction" of having sinned against God. 2 http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/distinctive-wesleyan-emphases1 3 P a g e
God's grace also awakens in us an earnest longing for deliverance from sin and death and moves us toward repentance and faith. Justification and Assurance We believe God reaches out to the repentant believer in justifying grace with accepting and pardoning love. Wesleyan theology stresses that a decisive change in the human heart can and does occur under the prompting of grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In justification we are, through faith, forgiven our sin and restored to God's favor. This righting of relationships by God through Christ calls forth our faith and trust as we experience regeneration, by which we are made new creatures in Christ. This process of justification and new birth is often referred to as conversion. Such a change may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. It marks a new beginning, yet it is part of an ongoing process. Christian experience as personal transformation always expresses itself as faith working by love. Our Wesleyan theology also embraces the scriptural promise that we can expect to receive assurance of our present salvation as the Spirit "bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Sanctification and Perfection We hold that the wonder of God's acceptance and pardon does not end God's saving work, which continues to nurture our growth in grace. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to increase in the knowledge and love of God and in love for our neighbor. New birth is the first step in this process of sanctification. Sanctifying grace draws us toward the gift of Christian perfection, which Wesley described as a heart "habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor" and as "having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked." This gracious gift of God's power and love, the hope and expectation of the faithful, is neither warranted by our efforts nor limited by our frailties. Faith and Good Works We see God's grace and human activity working together in the relationship of faith and good works. God's grace calls forth human response and discipline. 4 P a g e
Faith is the only response essential for salvation. However, the General Rules remind us that salvation evidences itself in good works. For Wesley, even repentance should be accompanied by "fruits meet for repentance," or works of piety and mercy. Both faith and good works belong within an all-encompassing theology of grace, since they stem from God's gracious love "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." Mission and Service We insist that personal salvation always involves Christian mission and service to the world. By joining heart and hand, we assert that personal religion, evangelical witness, and Christian social action are reciprocal and mutually reinforcing. Scriptural holiness entails more than personal piety; love of God is always linked with love of neighbor, a passion for justice and renewal in the life of the world. The General Rules represent one traditional expression of the intrinsic relationship between Christian life and thought as understood within the Wesleyan tradition. Theology is the servant of piety, which in turn is the ground of social conscience and the impetus for social action and global interaction, always in the empowering context of the reign of God. Nurture and Mission of the Church Finally, we emphasize the nurturing and serving function of Christian fellowship in the Church. The personal experience of faith is nourished by the worshiping community. For Wesley there is no religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness. The communal forms of faith in the Wesleyan tradition not only promote personal growth; they also equip and mobilize us for mission and service to the world. The outreach of the church springs from the working of the Spirit. As United Methodists, we respond to that working through a connectional polity based upon mutual responsiveness and accountability. Connectional ties bind us together in faith and service in our global witness, enabling faith to become active in love and intensifying our desire for peace and justice in the world. From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2012. Copyright 2012 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission. 5 P a g e
How does God s saving work continue to nurture our growth in grace? John Wesley described Christian perfection as as a heart "habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor" and as "having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked." Can a person attain Christian perfection without love of neighbor? Why or why not? How does Faith and Works, Mission and Service, and Nurture and Mission of the Church interplay with Christian perfection (e.g., sanctification)? When The Methodist Church and The Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968 to become The United Methodist Church, we adopted the Confession of Faith of The Evangelical Brethren Church as part of our faith statement. A portion of that statement on Sanctification and Christian Perfection is shown below. Confession of Faith of The Evangelical Brethren Church 3 Article XI Sanctification and Christian Perfection We believe sanctification is the work of God's grace through the Word and the Spirit, by which those who have been born again are cleansed from sin in their thoughts, words and acts, and are enabled to live in accordance with God's will, and to strive for holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Entire sanctification is a state of perfect love, righteousness and true holiness which every regenerate believer may obtain by being delivered from the power of sin, by loving God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by loving one's neighbor 3 http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/confession-of-faith 6 P a g e
as one's self. Through faith in Jesus Christ this gracious gift may be received in this life both gradually and instantaneously, and should be sought earnestly by every child of God. We believe this experience does not deliver us from the infirmities, ignorance, and mistakes common to man, nor from the possibilities of further sin. The Christian must continue on guard against spiritual pride and seek to gain victory over every temptation to sin. He must respond wholly to the will of God so that sin will lose its power over him; and the world, the flesh, and the devil are put under his feet. Thus he rules over these enemies with watchfulness through the power of the Holy Spirit. From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church 2012. Copyright 2012 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission. In our continued growth as a Christian, how do we guard against spiritual pride? What are some practical ways to gain victory over temptation to sin? 7 P a g e
Going On to Perfection 4 The way to Christian Perfection is best understood as one of repentance as believers turn their backs on the sinful nature that yet remains in the heart. Works suitable for repentance, beyond universal obedience (that is, keeping all the commandments, watching, denying ourselves at every opportunity, taking up our cross daily, and being increasingly aware of the presence of God), include works of piety (such as the instituted means of grace: prayer, reading the Bible, receiving the Lord s Supper, fasting, and Christian conference 5 ). Beyond this, works of mercy are also a suitable means of grace; examples include feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, entertaining the stranger, visiting those who are in prison or the sick, and instructing the uninformed. We may add to these counsels the wisdom suggested by reason and good judgment such that believers now avoid whatever weakens their sense of God or impairs the tenderness of their conscience on the way to perfect love. How do Going On to Perfection and Total Surrender relate to one another? How do works of piety and works of mercy help us in our quest of Total Surrender? 4 The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV), Abingdon Press, Nashville (page 1488). Wesleyan Core Term: Going On to Perfection 5 Christian conference - the distinctive way that Methodists gather together to talk about their relationship with God in order to grow in love for God and neighbor. Defined in the following article: Bishops told holy conferencing key to revival http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/bishopstold-holy-conferencing-key-to-revival 8 P a g e
Mind of Christ 6 Wesley desired for Christ to be understood as the common Head of all believers, as God is the common Father and as all drink from one Spirit. The fruit of this recognition is that all are unified into one. Every pastor and teacher has struggled with a lack of unity, maturity, and humility in the body of Christ. Although Paul is filled with joy concerning the body at Philippi, he struggles with those around him who preach Christ out of envy and rivalry instead of goodwill (Philippians 1:15). To solve this issue, he encourages all to allow the mind of Christ to be in their minds (Philippians 2:5). This mind does not remain individually focused by is othercentered, striving for unity. Our rigid mind-sets need the softness of Christ s mind. Our confident minds need Christ s humility to leave behind what is unnecessary so that we will serve others. This transformed mind, in Christ, confesses Jesus as Lord. Read Philippians 2:1-11. If we look to the interests of others (verse 4), how does that help us strive for unity? Read Romans 12:3. If this verse is considered the definition of humility, how does this help us apply the mind of Christ to real life situations? 6 The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV), Abingdon Press, Nashville (page 1488). Wesleyan Core Term: Going On to Perfection 9 P a g e
Completely 7 Among The Thirsty from the album Completely (Single) I'm feeling so small Standing here weeping As I'm coming clean Of the secrets I'm keeping I've caused so much pain To the ones I love the most And I'm falling apart As I carry my heart to Your throne I am completely surrendering Finally giving You everything You're my redeemer, I run to the cross Because You are more than enough Lord complete me Cause I'm Yours completely I'm letting go There's nothing I own The treasures I held Just weighed down my soul And there's nothing left Inside of me But a longing for You And a longing to be the man that You need I am completely surrendering Finally giving You everything You're my redeemer, I run to the cross Because You are more than enough Lord complete me Cause I'm Yours completely I let Your gifts take the place of you 7 Publishing: 2014 We Are Younger We Are Faster (ASCAP) Brentwood Benson Publishing (ASCAP) / Kiss The Muse Music (ASCAP). Writer(s): Ryan Squitieri/ Stephanie Lewis 10 P a g e
But You pulled up my selfishness from it's roots I am a broken and fragile me But I'm where You want me to be I am completely surrendering Finally giving You everything You're my redeemer, I run to the cross Because You are more than enough Lord complete me Cause I'm Yours completely Lord complete me Cause I'm Yours completely Why must we completely surrender? The songwriters state Lord complete me / Cause I m Yours completely. Is this a one-time act or something that must be done on a continual basis? 11 P a g e