Romans 12:1-8
“The Most Rad Beauty Pageant Ever!”
By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church, Soddy Daisy, TN www.graceumcsd.org
I was spending some time with our son Ben last summer—having some “guy talk.”
So, of course, we were talking about girls.
Anyhow, Ben has never had trouble attracting girls to himself.
He’s got an amazing personality.
He’s really outgoing and a lot of fun.
And best of all, he’s a genuinely “nice guy.”
Ben’s not a bad looking kid either…
…but, in speaking about a new girlfriend, he said to me: “She is so hot! I always would have thought she was ‘out of my league.’
There’s a lot guys who are better looking than I am, but so many of them are too shy or don’t have a good personality.
Girls are more attracted to personality than looks.”
I think that goes for both guys and girls.
The daughter of a friend of mine recently placed second or third in a local beauty pageant for teen girls.
He said that it was an interesting experience and his daughter felt very good about how she did.
He gave me some of the details about the pageant, and said it had some to do with grades, personality, extra-curricular activities…and, of course—“looks!”
My reply was, “it’s such a shame that ‘looks’ has anything at all to do with it at all!!!”
Think of all the young girls who were not even considered, just because they didn’t fit a certain “body type” mold.
It is my belief that “looks” have nothing to do whatsoever with beauty!!!
And what a relief that is!!!
And from reading the Bible as a whole, and especially the passage we have before us this morning—it is obvious that God is not interested whatsoever about such things like the length of our nose, the color of our hair, whether we are awkward or graceful, heavy or thin, old or young…
Instead, the top placements in the beauty pageant of the Kingdom of God are persons who have offered their bodies as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God…”
This is a “spiritual act of worship.”
This is how we win the “Most Rad Beauty Pageant Ever!!!”
Forget the Ms. America pageant.
Forget the Ms. Universe pageant.
Even forget the Ms. Soddy Daisy pageant.
I want to win the Kingdom of God Beauty Pageant, how about you?!
So how do we go about doing just that?
Well, we enter by accepting God’s grace for us—God’s salvation provided for us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.
We move from their by applying our new-found faith to our daily living—to everything we do!
In verse 2, Paul writes, “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.”
How do we renew our minds?
One way we do this by being persons of the Word.
That means that the Bible we own does not just sit on the coffee table to look pretty.
It is our recipe book for life!
There is nothing more important in our transformation process than the daily study of God’s Word!!!
The way I do it is I use a Bible and a journal.
I set apart time—every day—if possible, to read the Bible.
I may just focus on one verse.
It depends.
Then, I write down what I hear God speaking to me through that passage of Scripture.
How does it apply to my life?
What am I to do about it as a Christian living in the 21st Century?
At last week’s United Methodist Men’s Retreat, one of the speakers spoke about John Wesley’s Three Simple Rules for Living.
They are: “Do no harm.
Do Good.
Stay in Love with God.”
How do you stay in love with God?
One of the most important ways to Stay in Love with God is daily devotion…Scripture, Prayer, and Application of God’s Word to our lives!
This is the only way we will be able to “test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will,” for your life—for my life!
Another very important aspect of God’s beauty pageant is humility.
Paul writes: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment…”
There is nothing less beautiful than someone who is out to impress.
There is nothing less beautiful than self-absorption.
There is nothing that causes more insecurity, and as my son Ben put it, “shyness” than when one is so busy thinking about oneself that they are unable to think of others—to get outside themselves!
God gives us the ultimate model of humility in the person of Jesus Christ.
Although the entire world was made by Him and for Him, Jesus humbled Himself—took the form of a servant—and spent His time…not in the fancy mansions of the rich, but in the sin-filled dungeons of the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the demon-possessed, the poor, the insane.
And He served them with love, compassion, healing and humility.
I’ve gotten into skateboarding recently, and the best thing this has done is it has opened up brand new areas for ministry.
Mary Ellen and I were hanging out in an area off Middle Valley Road where many skateboarders and children gather.
It’s an amazingly poor area.
And when you show up with a skateboard and start riding on the wooden ramp or down the street—the kids just come to you like bees to honey.
They are enamored with skateboarding.
This past week, Mary Ellen and I met a little six year old boy.
And when I say little, I mean he wasn’t much bigger than Mary Ellen.
And when he smiled, I noticed that all his front teeth are silver…
…for some reason…
…he has no real front teeth.
It blows my mind.
How sad.
I know nothing about his parents, they were no where to be seen, but from the encounters I had with some other adults in the neighborhood—it is a possibility that problems with drugs and alcohol play a part of the situation with the adults in that area.
I asked the boy where he goes to church.
“We don’t go to no church,” he replied.
I’m going to start visiting that neighborhood on a regular basis.
I want to build some relationships with those folks.
Maybe we can bring some of them into God’s Beauty Pageant!
Paul writes in our passage of Scripture for this morning: “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
This Christianity stuff is first and foremost not about us!
It is about the entire body or church community!
It is about reaching the world for Jesus Christ!
Some churches are going through what is coined, “the worship wars.”
Folks within the body are arguing and complaining about the style of worship…
…whether or not all the songs should be sung from the hymnal…
…or whether some should be allowed to be put on the screen.
Some will not put up with anything but organ music, while others relate best to God when singing along with guitars and drums.
Whatever our personal preference for music styles or whatever it is…those personal preferences should be the last thing on our minds.
Because church is not about us—it’s about the whole body!!!
And it’s about reaching the lost for Christ!
When we can get beyond our own little nit-picking selves, and instead, focus on the needs of others—we are placing well in God’s beauty contest.
Paul writes, “We have different gifts according to the grace given us.”
Then Paul names some possible gifts: Prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging others, contributing to the needs of others, leadership, showing mercy.
What are your gifts that are for the well-being, not just of yourself, but the gifts God has bestowed upon you which actually belong to the whole Body of Christ?
Are you using those gifts?
We are one body in Christ.
And we belong to each other.
Are we using and sharing what rightly belongs to everyone—our gifts?
Paul states that our gifts come to us by the grace of God!
As Christians, we are called to “offer” our entire bodies—our entire selves as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is,” our “spiritual act of worship.”
Americans spend millions of dollars trying to make their bodies beautiful, and if not beautiful, at least presentable.
Diet foods, body building equipment and weight loss programs abound.
And while these things are not bad in themselves—we really shouldn’t be engaging in them to look “beautiful” but because of health reasons.
Some people are literally “obsessed” with body image.
And this obsession has ruined many lives.
It’s idol worship, really.
And if our bodies are idols, they are not presentable, no matter how lovely they may be.
But if they are dedicated to God—they are not only presentable—but beautiful!!!
I can think of no beauty pageant more wonderful than that!
