Becoming A Living Sacrifice Series

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

ENGAGE

There is an old story of a chicken and a pig, who lived with a really wonderful farmer. They decided to do something nice for him and were talking about what to do. The chicken finally said, “let’s make him a nice breakfast of ham and eggs.” The pig replied, “for you that’s a contribution, for me that’s a total commitment.”

TENSION

So the question I want to ask you this morning is this: When it comes to your relationship with Jesus, are you a chicken or a pig? Are you committed only to the point that you’re willing to make a contribution or are you “all in” to the point that you’re willing to sacrifice your own life? That is the question that we’ll be pondering together this morning.

TRUTH

Today, we return to our study of the book of Romans. We began this study back in 2014 and with the exception of 2017, when we spent the entire year in the Old Testament, we’ve been tackling a portion of that important book in the fall each year since then. We last left off in January of this year at the end of chapter 11.

If you’re familiar with Paul’s letters, you probably know that those letters can usually be broken down into two distinct sections. There is a section on doctrine and a section that we might call “practical living”. Most of us, if we’re honest, probably prefer that “practical living” part of the letters. I find that in general most people are a lot more interested in that than they are in doctrine. But the fact is that we need both.

When I lived in Albuquerque and was working as a CPA, one of my clients was Public Service Company of New Mexico, so I spent a lot of time working in their offices. During that time, they decided to build a new building next to their existing one. And as I watched that construction, I began to wonder if they were ever going to get that building built because it took them forever to just work on the foundation before they could even start on the building itself. But I also know that since I spent so much time working in and around that building once it was finished, that I was thankful that they had started with a proper foundation.

Paul understood that principle when he wrote his letters. He knew that sound doctrine was a necessary foundation for godly living. Just leaping into the practical living section without first building the proper doctrinal foundation might have seemed more attractive on the surface, but without that foundation it could not stand on its own.

In the book of Romans, the passage that we are studying this morning – Romans 12:1-2 – is the transition between those two sections of Paul’s letter to the churches in Rome. For eleven chapters Paul has been building the solid doctrinal foundation that is needed and now he is going to reveal how that doctrine ought to impact the way that we live our daily lives.

We’re going to be in Romans until we start our Christmas series, so you may want to go ahead and bookmark it. You’ll find it in the New Testament right after the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the book of Acts. If you get to 1 Corinthians you’ve gone too far.

Let’s read the first two verses of chapter 12 out loud together.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

(Romans 12:1–2 ESV)

Before we get into some of the details here, let me point out a couple important fundamentals here.

First I want you to note the word “therefore”. As we often say, whenever you run into that word, you need to determine “what it is there for”. It’s a connecting word that points back to what precedes. In this case it’s definitely pointing back to the end of chapter 11, especially the last four verses. You can follow along as I read them.