Responding to Grace in the Personal Service of Worship Romans 12:1 Dan Brooks, Pastor Sunday Morning & Evening, September 2, 2012 Introduction: I ran across an interesting article on the web this week. 101 Important Questions to Ask Yourself is the title. The author included 101 questions. It begins with important questions like: 1. Who are you? 2. What are you passionate about? 3. What are the achievements you are most proud of? 4. What are you most grateful for in life? 5. What are the most important things to you in life? 6. How would you describe yourself? 7. What are your values? What do you represent? What do you want to embody?... 73. Are you living your life to the fullest right now? 74. What is the meaning of life? 75. What is your purpose in life? Why do you exist? What is your mission? This piece of advice intrigues me: I believe questions are a key to self-awareness and personal growth. In my 1-1 coaching sessions, I enable my clients to discover the answers to their goals/questions by asking them the right questions. It d be easy if I just tell my coachees what they should do and what they should not do. But that s not the point. It s about empowering my clients to discover themselves through asking the right guiding questions, catered to their situation and their profiles. The right questions will help them untangle the blockages in them and connect with their inner self. 1 That s very appealing isn t it? Humankind seems to be obsessed with self-discovery. And I actually think for good reason. As a race, humans are extraordinary in capacity and ability. But there is something in us that says, There has to be more to life than simply eating three meals a day, going to school, working a job and taking vacations. Today I want to begin a brief series on our mission as a church. A year ago we spent time looking at various Scriptures that teach us the God of grace is doing a work of grace to create a people of grace who live in a culture of grace. Over the next month I d like to further develop this idea of HBC being a culture of grace, but in the context of our 7 priorities. For those of you who are newer to us, the 7 priorities are simply a way of organizing our mission and purpose. The 7 priorities are worship, prayer, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, mercy and stewardship. One of the things we find as we study the history of civilization running back to Mesopotamia and continuing forward through Egyptian and Chinese Dynasties, Babylonian and Greek Empires, even to this present day is the record of people groups looking for something beyond themselves to explain their existence, to give them purpose and security while they exist and to give hope for what comes beyond this life. In short, every civilization has a god or gods they worship. I. THE MERCIES OF GOD ACCOUNT FOR OUR SALVATION. A. What are the mercies of God? 1. οἰκτιρμῶν: in its passive form, compassion and pity. In its active expression God s mercy is the divine goodness exercised with respect to the miseries of His creatures feeling for them, and making provision for their relief. 2 1 http://personalexcellence.co/blog/101-questions-to-ask-yourself/ 2 A.A. Hodge, quoted by Alan Cairns, Dictionary of Theological Terms, Ambassador-Emerald Intl., 166.
P a g e 2 II. 2. What has God done to relieve our misery, chiefly the misery created by our sins? 3. 1:16 He has exercised His power to save all who believe 4. 2:4 In His kindness led us to repentance 5. 3:25 Through patience and forbearance passed over our sins until Christ sacrificed Himself for us 6. 4:7-8 He forgave our sins completely 7. 5:1 He justified us for Christ s sake so that we actually have peace with God 8. 5:10 He reconciled us to Himself 9. 6:18 He liberated us from the power of sin so that we might serve Him 10. 8:1 He promised that there is no longer a sentence of condemnation but rather the security of a bond of love which can never be broken. 11. Such is the force of God s mercy that we may say with Paul, 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 12. 8:38 39 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. B. On the basis of such mercies Paul writes, I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God C. Point: If God had not exercised His mercy in our salvation, there would be no compelling reason to do what He is about to ask. THE MERCIES OF GOD PRODUCE A PERSONAL SERVICE OF WORSHIP. A. Note that what Paul emphasizes at this point is not what we would characterize as corporate worship, that is the activity of God s people as they assemble in a setting like this. 1. Corporate worship is vital to our faith. 2. But so is another kind of worship. B. Present your bodies a living sacrifice 1. Present: (παραστῆσαι) (aor act inf) something you do 2. Your bodies: (σώματα) not simply our physical bodies, but all that we are 3. Living sacrifice: (θυσίαν ζῶσαν) a. This is not an atoning sacrifice. b. This is a parallel thought to 6:13, 19 c. Ro 6:13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. d. Ro 6:19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. e. F. F. Bruce comments that the sacrifices of the new order do not consist in taking the lives of others, like the ancient animal sacrifices, but in giving one s own. 3 f. God does not want tokens and symbols of your life. He is not satisfied with a piece of your mind or a portion of your heart. g. God wants all of you. God wants you to present to Him all that you are. h. As we present our bodies to God, two chief characteristics of this sacrifice come into view. 4. Holy: (ἁγίαν) set apart, consecrated a. Set apart from what? 1) Set apart from a common purpose to a sacred service. 3 Robert H. Mounce, vol. 27, Romans, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 231.
P a g e 3 2) Set apart from sin and the world system that is opposed to God. b. The ignorance [of the Scriptures] the spiritual anarchy, the growing acceptance of relativism among Christians,... the rise of cohabitation among professing Christians, the increase of worldliness in the church despite growing attendance and Bible reading suggests that the church is becoming indistinct from the world worldly. And more, the failure of its increasing numbers to make a difference in the world shouts of compromise. Indeed, what we see now may be an Indian summer, the last gasp of the warm, sunny days before a long, dark spiritual winter. 4 c. 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind d. Note the practical setting apart in vv. 9-21 1) A holy life abhors what is evil and holds fast to the good 2) A holy life is not slothful, but fervent. 3) A holy life does not curse, but blesses. 4) A holy life is not haughty, but associates with the lowly. 5) A holy life does not avenge self, but makes room for God s wrath. 6) A holy life is not overcome by evil, but overcomes evil with good. 7) Such are the marks of holiness! e. We re born not wanting to be different. We realized early on that looking different from others made us feel uncomfortable. To not have the right pair of shoes or the particular brand of clothing meant you could be made fun of. We called it peer pressure when we were younger, but it never really goes away. f. There is still enormous cultural pressure upon us to conform to the expectations and standards of the world. g. J.C. Ryle: I appeal to any old Christian who keeps their eyes open, and knows what is going on in the Churches. I ask them whether it be not true that nothing damages the cause of religion so much as the world? It is not open sin, or open unbelief, which robs Christ of His professing servants so much as... the love of the world, the fear of the world, the cares of the world, the business of the world, the money of the world, the pleasures of the world, and the desire to remain in with the world. The world is the great rock on which thousands of young people are continually making shipwreck. 5 h. Application: 1) A holy life is not lived out in the bars and clubs of a Christless culture. 2) A holy life does not seek sexual satisfaction or experience outside the bond of marriage. 3) A holy life does not fill its heart and head with Christless movies and reading material and music. 4) A holy life does not abandon God s plan for family, which includes covenant faithfulness to one spouse of the opposite gender. i. Q: What worldliness and sin do you need to repent of this morning? 1) Some of you stayed up just last night and watched movies that Jesus Christ would never view. 2) Some of you have committed sexual sin with a person not your spouse. 3) Some of you delight in being a cultural rebel. You blog and tweet and post the kind of observations or comments that characterize the Christ-less culture you live in rather than a Christ-like spirit. 4 R. Kent Hughes, Set Apart, Crossway (2003), 16. 5 J.C. Ryle, The World, 1878. (http://gracegems.org/ryle/world.htm)
P a g e 4 III. j. God is calling you to present your body as a living sacrifice that is holy. 5. Acceptable: (εὐάρεστον) well-pleasing a. 2 Co 5:9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. b. Eph 5:10 try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. c. A key question for the believer is simply this: Is this well-pleasing to my God? d. How would you know that? 1) Php 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 2) Eph 5:3 5 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. e. Do your music files fit those descriptions? f. Does your television viewing or your web surfing or your movie-going fit those descriptions? g. Can you participate in these activities knowing that the all-seeing eye of God is fixed upon you? h. Can you participate full of faith that if Christ should return while you are in the midst of such an activity that He will be please to find you so engaged? 6. Your service of worship: (λογικὴν λατρείαν) your reasonable religion a. The service of worship that God desires is a holy, acceptable life. b. In light of God s extraordinary mercies, presenting your body as a living sacrifice is the only reasonable service of worship. c. Have you given yourself to God in this way? d. Will you give yourself to God in this way? COMMUNION APPLICATION A. Romans 12:1 is a line of application drawn straight from the Gospel. 1. One of my concerns is that in all the talk of Gospel-centered living, Gospel-centered parenting, Gospel-centered discipleship, Gospel-centered worship, and more, is that there still seems to be a disconnect between what we believe and the way we live. 2. For a follower of Jesus Christ like Paul, the apostle, there are no disconnected points of life from the Gospel He proclaims and believes. 3. All of life is connected to the Gospel of grace. 4. God s mercies mean that we present our lives as living sacrifices to God. 5. Ro 13:11 14 11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. B. A line of meditation straight from the Cross. 1. The Lord s Table presents us with physical reminders of spiritual truths. a. A Cup reminding us of the deep crimson of our Savior s blood shed on the cross. b. Broken Bread reminding us of the body of the Lord Jesus broken through excruciating suffering and agony at the cross. 2. These symbols bring us face to face with the cross.
P a g e 5 IV. a. Nothing makes our hearts tender like thinking about the cross. Nothing gives our lives perspective like the cross. b. Look at the cross, think of the cross, meditate on the cross, and then go and set your affections on the world if you can. I believe that holiness is nowhere learned so well as on Calvary. I believe you cannot look much at the cross without feeling your will sanctified, and your tastes made more spiritual. As the sun gazed upon makes everything else look dark and dim, so does the cross darken the false splendor of this world. As the taste of honey makes all other things seem to have no taste at all, so does the cross seen by faith take all the sweetness out of the pleasures of the world. Keep on, every day, looking firmly at the cross of Christ. (J.C. Ryle) APPLICATION QUESTIONS A. How aware are you of the many ways in which God has shown mercy to you? Take time to rehearse the many kind things he has done in your life in any area of life, whether spiritual, material or otherwise. B. Can you think of areas of temptation where you deliberately yielded yourself to God? Praise God for those and ask for more grace to continue that. C. Are there temptations you've given into? Ask forgiveness and strength to be a living sacrifice. D. How do you feel the allure of the world? In what ways are you drawn to "love the world [and] the things that are in the world" (1Jn 2.15)? E. Do you think of "holy and acceptable" living as primarily a list of Do's and Don't's, or do you pursue holiness in the ways Paul described in Romans 12: exercising your gifts in the body, loving sincerely, pursuing what is good, practicing hospitality, not being haughty, overcoming evil with good, etc?