全祭 Complete Offering 1/1/17 羅馬書 Romans 12:1-2 INTRODUCTION

全祭 Complete Offering 1/1/17 羅馬書 Romans 12:1-2 INTRODUCTION Today is the first day of 2017. More than likely people have a New Year s resolution in their plan. A common one would be to exercise more. Perhaps some people feel guilty for eating a little too much over the holidays, and they stay inactive and indoor most of them because of the weather. Therefore, it is not unusual to see a lot TV commercials for exercise equipment or fitness centers during this time of the year. This particular health club in the photo has an escalator at the entrance to make sure that customers can conserve their energy for their workout. A study in 2014 found that only 45 % of the U.S. population usually made New Year s resolution. Close to 60 % of them had at least some infrequent success in achieving their goals. For those who did not have any success they should still feel good that they made an effort to try. What about you? Do you have any resolution for the New Year? It may be spending more time with family, learning a new skill or spending less time on WeChat. While all those plans are good, I wonder if brothers and sisters have a spiritual resolution in mind. It could be investing more time in reading the Bible and prayer, having family devotion, attending church meeting regularly or serving in a new ministry. If there is one common theme for those goals it would be pursuing to be more like Christ. Our new church theme for this year is Renew Our Mind, Imitate Christ. It is based on Romans 12:2. The Elders proposed this theme to encourage brothers and sisters to learn from our Lord and to put knowledge into daily practice. The message today is based on Romans chapter 12, and in particular the first two verses. In the passage the apostle Paul told us that we should offer our whole being to serve the Lord. EXPLANATION 1. 以合宜的行動服事主 Serve the Lord with Proper Actions First, Paul encouraged us to serve the Lord with proper actions. Let us read verse 1 again: 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. We can easily see the use of ritual terminology like sacrifice and worship in this verse. Paul began the verse with the conjunction therefore. The foundation for Paul to make a conclusion is what he said in the previous 11 chapters of the book. Paul spent much length to deliberate how God s righteous requirement on the mankind was satisfied. Jews and Gentiles alike are born sinners. God provided a way of salvation for us all, that we can be justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Not only did God save us, He continues to preserve us in this life till the day we meet Him. Because of what God has done for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross, Paul said therefore we have to commit ourselves to Him. Paul s plea to offer ourselves to God was based on God s mercy. This response is not only a return of favor. Naturally, since God loved us first we should love Him back by serving Him. However, in our Christian life we should continue to rely on God s mercy as a driving force for our service to Him. Paul urged us to present our bodies as a sacrifice to the Lord. Obviously, he was not asking us to commit suicide because the sacrifice God asks for is a living one. It is not a one-time deal or an 1

as-need service. Instead, it is a continuous and life-long yielding process. Sadly, many people see their relationship with God as a weekend leisure activity. There is a Catholic church not far from where my family lives. On Easter and Christmas Sundays there will be a lot of people going to the church services there. So my family has to take a different route to come to our church to avoid the traffic jam. Someone coined the term CEO Christians to describe the phenomenon. In this case CEO stands for Christian and Easter Only Christians. God does not ask for CEO Christians or even weekend Christians. He requires us to offer ourselves in a 24-7 relationship with Him. God does not only ask for a living sacrifice He also demands a holy sacrifice. In the Bible the notion of holiness emphasizes that something or someone is set apart for God s use. In the Old Testament sacrificial system the priests and all the utensils had to go through a cleansing procedure. Besides, the animals chosen as sacrifice had to be without defect. The offering ritual could only be done at the altar God designated. All these separation processes reflect God s holiness. When Jesus saves us we are being set apart for God s purposes. We should reflect God s holiness no matter where God puts us. In addition to a living and holy sacrifice, God asks for a sacrifice that is pleasing to Him. When the Old Testament priests offered animals to God the pleasant smell from the burning pleased Him. When Moses gave the Israelites instructions on the burnt offering he said in Leviticus 1:9 - The priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. Those meat lovers among us know how good BBQ smells on a grill! As we offer ourselves to serve God we should ask if what we do pleases Him. Are we giving our best to Him? No, I am not only asking about money offering. When you serve in the church are you giving your best? By the same token, whether in school, at work or at home, are you giving your best? I am a frugal person by nature. If something can be done with $ 10 I will see if there may be an $ 8 alternative. Sometimes when I observe the way our coworkers spend money on church ministries I cannot help but think if saving money, rather than serving our Lord and His people becomes the top priority. Don t get me wrong. I fully trust our coworkers and appreciate that they strive to be good stewards of the resources God has given us. However, there should be a balance between saving money and giving our best to God. When we serve God the way that pleases Him, Paul told us that we are presenting our spiritual act of worship to Him. The phrase spiritual act of worship can also be rendered reasonable service. It points to the significance that the only acceptable service in the eyes of our God is to be done according to His will. If we relate it back to the Old Testament worship system we can understand why Moses gave meticulous details on how to prepare animal offerings, how to build a tabernacle and how to observe the different festivals, etc. God dictated His requirements and there was not much flexibility. It tells us that our God is a perfect God. No matter what duty God calls us to do, as long as we are doing it with a heart to please Him we are performing an act of worship to Him. 2. 以合宜的心態服事主 Serve the Lord with Proper Attitude We should offer our whole being to serve the Lord. Whereas the first verse of the chapter deals with our proper actions the next verse deals with our proper attitude. Romans 12:2 reads: 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. Why is a proper attitude as important as proper actions? We know that sometimes we can do good things out of an improper attitude. We can fake it because we want to please others or we may appear dedicated. Since our God examines both our actions and attitude 2

nothing can fool Him. Therefore, Paul urged us to get our attitude right before God. How to do that? On the negative side he told us not to be conformed to the pattern of this world. The imagery is like a cookie-cutter or the mold of a mooncake. Whatever the shape of the template is so will the final product. Paul was referring to the pattern of this fallen world. The secular world tells us that there is no absolute right or wrong. Whatever people prefer we should not criticize their choices. However, the Bible tells us that beyond the standards of this world there is God s universal, timeless and absolute standard. In God s eyes right is right and wrong is wrong. There is no gray area. We should not be conformed to the pattern of this world, rather, we should be transformed by renewing our mind. From the Greek word for transform we get the biological term metamorphosis, which describes the process through which a caterpillar changes to a butterfly. When a person becomes a Christian he has to go through a transformation process in his mind. No one is a born-christian, not even children who have Christian parents. Therefore, our mind has to transition from the state of a sinner to a Christian. Receiving Christ is just a starting point in our Christian life. We have to continue to grow toward maturity. Using Paul s terminology here, we have to keep transforming our mind to be like Christ s. In the book of Hebrews the author contrasted the mind of an immature Christian versus a mature one. He said in Hebrews 5:14 that: But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Maturity in Christ is evident in the display of godly attitude. He is able to discern good from evil from God s perspective. That is exactly what Paul continued to say in Romans 12:2. When we are transformed to have a Christ-like attitude we will be able to test and approve the good, pleasing and perfect will of God. Test and approve as appeared in the NIV Bible is one word in the Greek text, which can be rendered as validate. The idea is to examine everything through God s lenses to see if it is up to God s standard. It is like before a product can leave a factory and be shipped to the stores it has to pass the quality control step to see if it has all the necessary qualities and functions. The will of God set for us, as Paul told us here are good, pleasing and perfect. Those are the three important criteria for us to validate if something pleases God. In this world there may be things that are good-looking but may not useful. There may be things that are pleasing to our hearts but do not have a long-lasting value. While people may be striving to perfection nothing except God is perfect. 3. 一些應用 Some Applications We should offer our whole being to serve the Lord. We should serve our Lord with proper actions and proper attitude. How does that play out in daily life? From verse 3 to 21 Paul gave us three examples of how to apply these truths as we interact others. We serve the Lord by serving people. The first two examples deal with serving our brothers and sisters, and the third one has to do with serving non-believers. A. 藉恩賜合一服事 Exercise Gifts in Unity (vv. 3-8) First, we have to exercise our gifts in unity. By spiritual gifts they are the God-given abilities for Christians to serve in the church. In verses 6-8 Paul instructed us the proper actions we need to take as we exercise our gifts: 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach, 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is 3

showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. The general principle is the same we should use whatever gift God has given to each of us to serve others. Every gift in this list should be selfexplanatory, except for the gift of prophesying. This gift can mean foretelling about a future event, as in the Old Testament prophets. On a wider scope the gift of prophesying can also refer to the gift of preaching. It is when God inspires a person through the Bible to proclaim a message to strengthen, encourage and comfort believers. Paul told us that we have to exercise our gifts in unity. How to main unity in the church? In verse 3 Paul shared with us the proper attitude we need to have: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. On the one hand we should not take pride in ourselves when we look at spiritual gifts, as if we were superior to others who have different gifts. There may be some gifts that are more prominent. But every gift is from God for the purpose of building up His church. On the other hand we should use our gifts according to the faith God gives us. When we exercise our gifts our confidence does not lie in ourselves but in God. B. 和信徒彼此相愛 Bind Believers in Love (vv. 9-13) Besides exercising our spiritual gifts in unity Paul also told us that we have to bind believers together in love. In verse 13 Paul indicated the proper actions as we show our love to others: Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Sharing resources is a tangible expression of love. A familiar passage to many Christians to elaborate the truth is in 1 John 3:17-18 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. Besides sharing our possessions Paul also encouraged us to practice hospitality. Some of you may remember in the Bible Abraham and Lot treated strangers with hospitality. During Paul s days itinerant evangelists had to rely on Christians who opened their doors to receive them. There are many ways we can share our love with others. Some brothers and sisters pick people up to and from the church. When someone is in the hospital because of sickness or childbirth we share food items with them. As we show our love to others we have to do so with a proper attitude. Paul said in verses 9-10 that: 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. True love has to be sincere. Besides that Paul told us to hate evil and love what is good. As humans we play partiality. Not so with God. He hates sins but loves sinners. We should be thankful for that, otherwise we will all be condemned. Moreover, we have to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. It means that we have to show mutual and Christianly love to each other. Also, we have to show honor to one another by being quick to recognize people s accomplishment. It should be done in the context of showing genuine love. Therefore, such compliment should be given out of love, rather than flattering. C. 與外人和睦相處 Treat Non-believers in Harmony (vv. 14-21) Paul told us that within the Christian community we have to exercise our spiritual gifts in unity and to bind each other in love. What about the people outside of our church door? Paul continues to exhort us that we have to treat non-believers in harmony. In the last section of the chapter Paul emphasized how we should treat people even when they are against our faith. Paul said in verses 17-18: 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of 4

everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. The general instruction Paul gave us was to love our enemies and not to retaliate for their attack. The reminder of as far as it depends on you is quite interesting. While we cannot control how others may treat us, we can and should still choose to react with kindness for the ultimately goal of maintaining harmony. Then Paul also said in verse 19: Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. To take revenge is to take justice in one s own hand. Paul told us that we should rather let God be the judge. We trust that eventually He will protect the innocent and condemn the sinner. We should do good to those who are against us. That is our proper actions. What about our attitude? Paul encouraged us in verse 14: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. When we are being mistreated it is our natural instinct to respond with a curse, rather directly or behind people s back. For people with noble character they may choose to ignore the offense. Here Paul encouraged us with a third alternative that pleases God - we return offense with a blessing. In doing so we will be like Paul s concluding remark in verse 21: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The picture here is to claim victory over one s enemy. If we choose to retaliate and curse those who are against us then we are defeated by evil. However, if we resort to do good and bless our enemies then we will conquer evil by doing good. CONCLUSION In this passage Paul urged us to offer our whole being to serve the Lord. We should serve God with proper actions and proper attitude. What is your New Year s resolution? No matter what your plan is I pray that our resolution will include a continual transformation of our mind. I saw somewhere that people made word play as we migrated from 2016 to 2017. The Chinese pronunciation for 16 sounds like all the way and that for 17 mimics togetherness. May that be our constant reminder God has been watching over us all the way in 2016; let us pursue to renew our mind and imitate Christ together in the New Year! 5