Series 2- The Righteousness of God Revealed (Romans 3:21-5:21) Sermon 1: Justified The Great God Exchange! Sermon 2: Justified Cha-Ching! Your Account is Full! Sermon 3: Justified You re in Right Standing! Sermon 4: Justified God s Gift to You! Where We Have Been? Series 1 - The Wrath of God Revealed (Romans 1:1-3:20) Sermon 1: Introduction to the Book of Romans: No Excuses Sermon 2: God s Wrath against Unrighteousness: Worship and Sex Exchanges Sermon 3: God s Wrath against Self Righteousness: Hypocrisy Sermon 4: God s Wrath against Everybody: Descriptions of Hell Series 3 Pathway to Freedom (Romans 6:1 8:39) Sermon 1: Dead to Sin Sermon 2: Not a Slave to Sin Sermon 3: Not Married to Rules Sermon 4: Determined to be Spirit Led Sermon 5: Spirit Led Living (Adoption) Sermon 6: Believing God is For You! Series 4 Israel, God & You! (Romans 9:1 11:36) Sermon 1: Feel the Tension - Did you Choose God or did God Choose you? Sermon 2: The All Inclusive Gospel Sermon 3: God s not done with Israel Sermon 4: You are Grafted into Israel (Romans 12:1 16) Sermon 1: Tonight I ll be a Living Sacrifice 1
Rom. 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. A. The larger scope of the context is about Paul addressing saved Gentiles in light of unbelieving Jews. This is why he says, Therefore implying what he spoke about in (Romans 9-11). 1. The saved Gentiles (you and me) could be tempted to think of ourselves as being better or more favored than the unbelieving Jews because we have received the gospel of salvation by accepting the Jewish God. This is why Paul says, Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought and to be sober as we consider the measure of faith that God has given us (Paraphrased). 2. Paul is saying to the saved Gentiles who have been grafted into Israel, to always consider God s mercy and to be sober about it in that they have the opportunity to experience salvation because of the measure of faith that God has given to them. This is to be seen in contrast to Israel s heart being hardened by God and their eyes being blinded to Jesus (King of the Jews). 3. Further, because we, as Gentiles, have been grafted into Israel, Paul encourages us to not conform any longer to the pattern of this (Gentile) world. 2
B. The narrow scope of context is about living differently as disciples of Jesus. It deals with radical sacrificial obedience that springs forth from knowing our Spiritual Identity and then renewing our mind in our Spiritual Identity so we do not give in to the trap of our Natural Identity when it comes to living for God. 1. Because our Natural Identity gives us a false sense of security that is wrapped up in what other people think about us. In what they perceive about us. a. It is deeply concerned with what other people think of us in our Position, Appearance, and Wealth. If we feel people are happy with us then we feel good about ourselves. b. Our natural identity leaves us being people pleasers instead of God pleasers. c. When we try to serve God out of our Natural Identity it leaves us short changing God on our obedience to him out of fear of what other people think of us. 2. We see this in King Saul s position as being the first King of Israel. He was instructed by the Lord to utterly destroy everything when it came to wiping out their enemies. This included all people, and their animals (1 Sam. 15) a. In his Natural Identity, Saul gave into the people. He was concerned on what they would think of him. b. This led to him short-changing the Lord on obedience in an effort to offer animal sacrifices. c. The problem was not the sacrifice. The problem was that obedience got shortchanged because Saul was more interested in what other people thought of him. Application: We will never fully serve God when we concern ourselves with our Natural Identity in trying to be the cool Christian. This is what caused Saul to fall away. This is what caused all the disciples in the New Testament to fall away as Jesus was arrested. Yet, Jesus is a restoring God. Spiritually, we are more prompted to obey, when we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God in light of our new Spiritual Identity. 3
I. Offering our Bodies as Living Sacrifices A. Paul commands our hearts and behaviors as believers in how to live differently than the rest of the world in our Spiritual Identity. He spent so much time in Rom. 3-8 emphasizing that we are the righteousness of God in Christ (Rom. 3-5). offer your bodies as (living sacrifices), holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 1. Notice: we are not to offer our spirits as living sacrifices. There is nothing about our spirit man that needs to die. Our spirit has been regenerated and is pure and alive to God. Our spirit man wants to totally live for God. The problem then is not with our spirit, the problem in a spiritual sense is our flesh. 2. Notice the connection our bodies (which is our outward man) our spirit (which is our inward man) 3. What we do with our bodies will affect our spiritual act of worship. Our spirit man craves and desires to be fully given to God. In order to follow the cravings of our spirit man, we must surrender offer our bodies to come into alignment with our inner man. This requires us to become a living sacrifice. 4
B. Being a living sacrifice is ironic because sacrifice implies death as living animals were to be presented before the altar and then would die. The act of sacrifice then includes a one time death. Yet, we are to be living sacrifices. This implies a continual position of being placed on the altar. Living signifies the fact that are bodies are still breathing. Sacrifice signifies that (although we are still breathing physically) we are to kill the old nature of our flesh as a sacrifice. C. As we offer our bodies as living sacrifice it becomes a profound spiritual act of worship that is holy and pleasing to God. 1. Because your body begins to manifest the desire of your spirit man, which wants to be fully wrapped up in the things of God. 2. Yet, as we offer our bodies (in a spiritual sense) to die upon the altar of sacrifice, God is pleased. 3. Jesus taught similar things such as pick up your cross and follow me. This, as well, indicates a dying to self in order for our inner man to totally be abandoned in following God. 5
II. Offering our Bodies as Living Sacrifices Includes Renewing our Mind In order to get to a point where you body is going to submit on a regular basis to the spiritual altar of sacrifice, it will involve renewing your mind in truth. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. A. Without renewing your mind, there is no way your body is going to want to submit to your spirit man on a regular basis. 1. Your body will want to resist and squeal being sacrificed every single time. Your body will fight it the whole way as you walk yourself to the altar of sacrifice. Your body wants to lust, your body wants selfishness, your body feeds off of selfgratification, and greed. 2. Yet, as our mind becomes more and more renewed, our bodies will become more and more trained to walk in obedience and not live in such sharp contrast to our spirit man. B. Not conforming (not being molded) any longer to the pattern of this world s system. 1. This includes our thought processes. a. We are not to conform our thought processes any longer (implying that we have been) to the patterns of this world system. b. The world should not be our teacher in the ways on how to live in a moral sense. If it is then it will lead our bodies into sin. a. For example, the world would say that it s ok to commit sexual acts with people before marriage. That is the world s system. 2. Paul mentioned earlier that we are not to allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies (6:12). 3. We are to be controlled by the Spirit of God who lives within us (8:9). 6
C. Rather we are to be transformed by renewing our mind in what the Word of God says. 1. Renewing our mind, is like detoxing from the junk of this world, while building up our spiritual immune systems of fighting off the things of this world which would contradict God s standards for our life. 2. Transformed - Inwardly, all of us have already been transformed at the point of salvation. This does not change. We say, Yes to Jesus, and spiritually we are transformed (darkness to light/ death to life). Nevertheless, as our minds are renewed in our salvation, we will be transformed in our actions, so our actions spiritually the reality of our inward transformation. 3. The act of sacrificing involves loving God with all of our mind. a. We love God with our mind by standing in our Spiritual Authority in demolishing strongholds of thinking (that keep us barricaded in limited beliefs and bondage (2 Cor. 10:4). b. We love God by taking our thought life captive and forcing it into the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). c. Then, we love God by renewing our mind, which leads to transformation in our actions!!! 7
4. In what ways do we Renew our Minds a. We renew our minds by confessing out loud the truth of who God is: He is Good He is Holy He is Blameless He is Righteous He is Life He is Truth He is Love He is Gentle He is All Powerful etc. b. We renew our minds by confessing out loud the Truth of our Spiritual Identity in who we are in Christ You are holy You are blameless You are lavished with love You are a royal priest hood You are a saint You are redeemed You have been adopted according to His good pleasure and will You are the righteousness of God You are dead to sin and alive to God You are more than a conqueror c. We renew our minds by reflecting on the Scriptures and the promises of God On the Cross On the righteousness, love, and mercy of Jesus In the act of communion d. We renew our minds by singing to the Lord worship songs that emphasize who He is and what He has done and who we are in our Spiritual Identity and what we will do in our Spiritual Identity. 8
e. As we renew our mind, we renew our inward fire that burns for God. We renew our minds by confessing the truth of who God is, who we are, and the standards of righteousness in what His Word says. f. The more we renew our minds, the more transformed we are in our actions. The more transformed we are in our actions, the more we will be able to see clearly God s plans and purposes for our life in how to live for him in the midst of this evil age. 2b Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. 9