The Choices We Make 1/13/19 Romans 12:1-3 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Intro: Have you ever asked yourself this question? I wonder where I m going to end up? I have discovered that if you do not get on a different road, you are going to end up where that road will take you. I guess this time of year lends itself to asking that question; after all this is when people make New Year resolutions. They don t like the road they are on and want to change direction. That is simple enough to do, as long as you get on a different road then you were on last year. The first step is to decide what direction you should go. What do I have to do to change course? If only there was an instruction manual for life. If only there was a way to guarantee my success, that would be great. Well, there is a manual for life, it s called the Bible. In it is God s blueprint for life and success. God has given us instructions and promises to guide us through this world. Don t be foolish and think you do not need to read the instructions. Failure to do so could be life threatening and hazardous to your health. Each day presents us with opportunities to make choices; choices that will determine where we are going and how we will get there. When we follow the instructions the choices that we make will be a blessing and minimize the ones that create a burden. We have the opportunity with our choices to build up and not tear down and be encouraged rather than depressed. Every decision you make has a response, a result, an impact on you and those around you. With that in mind you 1
would think we would spend more time and effort in considering the choices we make. When we understand that our choices determine our joy and blessing, you would think we would pay close attention to them. So many times, we act without considering what God has to say or the possible consequences, the cost, and difficulty our choice will produce. As a result, we have failed to realize the blessings God has to offer, because our blessings are tied directly to our obedience. We all live much of life superficially simply responding to what life presents rather than controlling what we accept. None of us are here by chance. We have a purpose, a calling beyond our self, a unique responsibility to decide and act in a way that helps others and honors God. Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both. Tryon Edwards C. S. Lewis said that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you that chooses into something a little different from what it was before. Sometimes when you must choose between two things, you waver and hesitate: shall our siding be vinyl or aluminum? Should we heat with oil or gas? But in other cases, the choice is clear, and the decision is made without hesitation. You aren't plagued with indecision about leaving work to tend to your child who suddenly falls very ill. Learn from your dog: drop a raw hamburger and his favorite toy on the floor in front of him and see if he has any difficulty deciding what to do! Are your priorities that clear to you? Are spiritual things as important to you as food is to your dog? Do you react to spiritual things the way your dog reacts to the sound of the can opener? T.S. Paul is challenging his readers to respond to everything he has written by committing their lives to the Lord. This commitment is more than a passing 2
feeling. This is a lifetime commitment to live for God everyday based on His instruction manuel. I. The Offer Rom 12:1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service 1. I have found that people are more inclined to present their mind (belief in God) than their bodies to God. The problem with this position is simple; if you truly commit your mind to God your body will have to follow, if it doesn t than obviously you have not committed your mind. 2. The fact is people generally do not live out what they say they believe about God. We know in our head that we should honor God with our lives but fail to do it on a level that is acceptable to the Lord. God has called us to love one another, yet we fail on a large scale to be loving and kind. We are more inclined to be critical of others, slow to forgive, and angry. We have lost the desire to edify, forgive and be kind. We tend to focus the things we don t like rather than having a thankful spirit for all the blessings God has granted. God has commanded us to be thankful in everything, because He is in charge of our lives and failing to be thankful means we don t like what He is doing. Sir Alexander Fleming, upon introducing his newly discovered drug, penicillin, warned against taking too little of it. An under dose, he said would permit germs to remain in the system thereby allowing one to build up an immunity to the drug. These immune germs could be "passed on to other individuals so that the thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatments may be responsible for the death of another" if not himself as well. 3
Something like this carelessness takes place in the spiritual realm where masses of people seem to be playing with religion - taking in just enough of it to become immune to the real thing. Many people attend just enough religious services to temporarily quiet their conscience; they attend just enough weddings, funerals, and special observances to keep them from longing for a genuine and thorough encounter with God who is so absent from their commitment. They have just enough religion to make them immune to the real thing. 3. Many of us have just enough religion to make us feel like we are ok, it is the other person who needs changing. Only in reality we are immune from real commitment to the things of God and fail to be what God desires. Author Ken Blanchard has said, "There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses - only results." 4. For many there is an interest but that falls far short of commitment. 5. The church today has embraced an attitude that says, Church is there when I need it. There is a general sense that the church is obsolete, not able to deal with the pressure of society today. Many come to church focused on the programs and fail to look for or hear from God. As a result the church is not seen as a priority but an option among many. 6. How strange to think that we can set the standards of behavior and expect God to accept it. 7. We justify our behavior as though God would accept whatever we decide to give Him. T.S. To offer yourself to the Lord requires a change in thinking concerning who is in charge, and a change of thinking will result in a change of behavior. 4
The Bible warns us about the world system and the danger it is to the believer. We need to be aware of the system and identify exactly what the system promotes. The World system is committed to at least four major objectives, which can be summarized in four words: fortune, fame, power, pleasure. God s instruction manual clearly addresses each of these areas so that we can know how to respond to them 1. First and foremost: Fortune, money. The world system is driven by money; it feeds on materialism. God says, Seek not to be rich. 2. Second: Fame. That is another word for popularity. Fame is the longing to be known, to be somebody in someone else eyes. God says to honor Him then we will receive honor. 3. Third: Power. This is having influence, maintaining control over individuals or groups or companies or whatever. It is the desire to manipulate and maneuver others to do something for one's own benefit. God says that the powers that be are there by His design and we are to submit to God and one another. 4. Fourth: Pleasure. At its basic level, pleasure has to do with fulfilling one's sensual desires. It's the same mindset that's behind the slogan: "If it feels good, do it." God says we need to learn to control our bodies and bring them into submission to His standards. 5. We are told not to be conformed. Conforming is a process that involves molding, and shaping something into a different pattern or design. God wants to mold us into the image of Christ; Satan wants to use the world system (which is his design) to mold you into something that will distort and ultimately destroy you. 5
6. The world system uses three forces; tradition, philosophy, and society to accomplish the molding and shaping that will oppose what God wants to do your life. God says that if we want the truth seek it in the Bible. 7. Identifying this process is critical to dealing with it. If we do not understand what we are experiencing everyday it is easy to go along and passively be changed by the forces working against us. French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!" Goodness is always rooted in a relationship and commitment to God. The world does not understand goodness in its purest form. Ps 53:3 3 Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. T.S. The rejection of the world system will have a dramatic impact. III. The Transformation but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 1. Controlling our minds is the key issue. Your mind will be molded and shaped by what you allow to enter it, what it focuses on and what it embraces. 6
2. As we meditate on the Scriptures the Holy Spirit works on our heart and mind to set before us a path to follow. Remember the path you chose will determine your destination. The thoughts of your mind control the steps you take, the actions you commit and the responses you give; as a man thinks so is he. In other words your thoughts determine your actions. 3. You will clearly be a different person than you were before your commitment to offer yourself as a living sacrifice Holy and acceptable unto the Lord. The motor home has allowed us to put all the conveniences of home on wheels. A camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now he can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a satellite dish attached on top. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. We buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet we deck it out with the same furnishings as in our living room. Thus nothing really changes. We may drive to a new place, set ourselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we've only carried along our old setting. The adventure of new life in Christ begins when the comfortable patterns of the old life are left behind. David Roher Turning a sinner into a saint is something that only God can do. Only God can take us from being worthless to make us worthy of heaven itself. You see, God can do what even the farmer in the parable could not do. The farmer cannot turn a weed into wheat, but God can turn a sinner into a saint. IV. The Result that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 7
1. You will see things as God does. 2. You will be led in the direction to go and what action to take as you go through life. 3. Your life will be a testimony to the truth of God s Word as it reflects in you. Today's idols are more in the self than on the shelf. Goudzwaard's three basic Biblical rules: 1. Every person is serving god(s) in his life. 2. Every person is transformed into an image of his god. 3. Mankind creates and forms a structure of society in its own image. That for which I would give anything and accept nothing in exchange is the most important thing in my life. Whatever that is, is my god (cf. Isa. 44:6-20). J. McMath Conclusion: Let me end where I started: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service The benefits far out way the struggle. E. Marsh has enumerated some of God's blessings: An acceptance that can never be questioned. (Ephesians 1:6). An inheritance that can never be lost (I Peter 1:3-5). A deliverance that can never be excelled (2 Corinthians l:10). A grace that can never be limited (2 Corinthians 12:9). A hope that can never be disappointed. (Hebrews 6:18, 19). A bounty that can never be withdrawn. (I Colossians 3:21-23). 8
A joy that need never be diminished (John 15:11). A nearness to God that can never be reversed (Ephesians 2:13). A peace that can never be disturbed (John 14:27). A righteousness that can never be tarnished (2 Corinthians 5:21). A salvation that can never be canceled (Hebrews 5:9). F.E. Marsh 9