Trinity Baptist Church August 10, 2008
Combating Complacency
Determined Devotion
Romans 12:1, 2
Did you hear about the college students who wanted to form a new organization on their campus? They called it the “Apathy Club”? Their “Apathy Club” wasn’t going to be like any other student group. Where most organizations have a purpose or goal -- or some common interest to unify and motivate them -- this club was advertised as “believing in nothing, pursuing nothing.” They simply didn’t care about anything, and they were going to demonstrate their apathy in an organized fashion!
…just one problem….the self-appointed officers of the Apathy Club advertised the first meeting -- and not a single person showed up -- because anybody who might have been interested didn’t care enough to attend.
That’s funny until you realize that there’s an apathy epidemic raging in American Christianity. Apathy. The dictionary says it’s “a lack of feeling or emotion“ -- it’s defined as “passivity and indifference” -- or an “absence of concern or interest.” Apathy has a close cousin -- complacency -- and complacency brings the added component of self-satisfaction.
I want to take three weeks to look at a NT chapter that could be called “God’s prescription for complacency.” We’ll notice as we go through Romans 12 that it speaks to three relationships -- these are relationships which are at the heart of either spiritual complacency or vitality. I’ve long observed that these are areas to which I must pay attention things consistently, every day. That’s because I when I let down -- when I sit back and relax, and don’t apply what’s in Romans 12, the thick fog of complacency becomes my experience as a believer.
Of the three relationships we’ll think about, the first is the most critical: it’s your relationship with God -- that’s where we begin today. The nature of that relationship determines all the rest. If it’s a vibrant committed one, like you see described in verses 1 and 2, the rest can follow. If not, then, the rest just falls by the wayside.
The second is your role and relating in the Body of Christ. Romans 12 informs us,
your response and serving in the Body become both a yardstick and a determiner of your spiritual temperature. The third relationship is with people generally -- Paul talks in the last part of the chapter about our acting and reacting with people every day. The challenge for us in that realm is to be just as radical as what’s described in verses 1 and 2.
That’s because, it’s in dealing with people that we can see whether we’re more like the world or more like Christ.
So, today, we’ll start with verses 1 and 2. They’re familiar to most of you. Let me read them again. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Let me make some general Observations. First:
Determined commitment is the only appropriate response to God’s grace.
Romans reveals what makes Christianity absolutely unique -- it’s grace and faith. Paul urges Christians to a commitment based on the reality that God is full of mercy and grace -- the truths Romans describes in detail.
In the early chapters of Romans, you can read God’s powerful indictment of humanity‘s sin. Chapters 1-3 insist that it doesn’t matter whether you are Jew or a Gentile, religious or secular, humanly good or humanly evil -- we read there God declares all men guilty and unacceptable to Him because of our sin. As you understand the nature of your sin, God gives you understanding of grace and mercy.
Beginning in chapter 3 Paul reveals God’s magnificent plan -- to take man’s sin and apply it to His Son -- so He could take the righteousness of His Son and apply it to every person who comes to Him in faith. Romans 5:1 says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Three chapters later, 8:1 tells us, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
If you make the commitment urged in verse 1, it won’t win you God’s favor. The Truth is, if you belong to Christ, you already have God’s full favor. This commitment is only proper expression for God’s grace in your life.
A second observation: Commitment embraces both an initial decision and daily decisions.
People have used verses 1 to call people to re-dedicate their lives to Christ. And that’s not a bad thing. But those appeals often communicate that it’s only every few months or years that we need to make a re-dedication like that. That command verb in verse 1 translated to present says this is something like the commitment you make when you get married. There is a once-for-all final decision -- but then, every day, that one-time decision is to be lived out in day-by-day decisions that flow out of the initial one.
So verse 1 stresses an initial life-altering dedication. Then verse two emphasizes there will be ongoing choices which mirror that one. Third,
Knowing God’s specific will requires giving Him your life.
Again, verse 2 -- do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
Much of the time we sort of want God to submit His plan for ratification. God doesn’t do things that way. The principle here is dedication before direction. God steers your life when you begin to live commitment and obedience. It’s something like the principle Jesus gave His followers when He said, don’t cast your pearls before swine -- that meant don’t waste revelation on people who have no interest. God follows that same principle. He reveal His directed will to committed people. Fourth,
Worship is commitment -- to God and to serve Him.
Verse 1 told us this is your spiritual service of worship. Other versions say, this is your reasonable worship. It’s really the only kind of worship that makes sense. Paul’s saying, here’s your foundational form of worship. We talk about worship, the sad thing is, we even argue about “worship” these days. Usually we mean a portion of what we do when we get together on Sunday. We need to realize that worship neither starts nor stops in a building. You are worshipping or not worshipping all week long, depending on what you do with your body and your life.
Is your life His? Is your body His -- to use right where you are everyday -- at work, in your home, with your family? God says, worship is allowing Me to use you -- it’s allowing Me to be the dynamic working through your body and life wherever you are. This is worship -- the only kind that makes sense. Fifth observation:
Giving yourself to God entails sacrifice.
OT people expressed their worship and devotion to God by means of sacrifices. Their sacrifices were animals and other objects brought to the altar and laid there. Those sacrifices cost them something -- and then they were given up -- part or all of the sacrifice was burned up. When you read present your body a living sacrifice that’s a reminder of the sacrificial system. Obviously, your sacrifice is going to be different. God asks yours to be a living sacrifice. That’s a little like the husband who told his wife, “I love you enough to die for you!“ She said, “that’s nice honey, but could you just help me out with the kids and the chores?“
See, when you offer God a living sacrifice, it doesn’t stop with the one-time kind -- it’s not emotional prayer and singing when we pledge to love Him with all our hearts. It’s not a little money in the plate or a short gig teaching Sunday School.
It means consistently saying yes to the Father and “no” to yourself. Servants don’t choose the ways and agendas where they will serve. The final observation:
Commitment engages all of life.
Paul was writing to Romans influence by Greek thinking. In that world, like ours, there was a huge need to stress presenting the body as a living and holy instruments to God. The Greeks thought that the mind or spirit were good -- but that the body was totally evil. So to them it would have been of no use to God. They’d have little concern about doing good or evil with their bodies. The NT tells us that it’s not the physical body which was depraved, it was our old nature. So, Paul says, this life of commitment is going to take in all you are -- your body, your mind -- all of you becomes Christ’s.
Now let’s talk more about what that means in these first two verses. Then we’ll consider the action each of us needs to take. The most important term in these verses is the term present. Present your bodies. Paul says,
Respond: Entrust your whole self to God. (12:1)
That word present is the same one Paul used back in chapter 6 where he said, you can present the different parts of your body to either -- sin or to righteousness. Every faculty and body part we have, can literally be offered up -- to one or the other. The urgent plea in verse 1 is, if God has shown you His mercy and grace, then make this offering of your body to Him.
Like OT people brought their lamb, or their dove -- some grain or fine flour or oil -- they would come and surrender it -- sacrifice meant surrendering its use and its value and giving it over
to God as a means of worshiping Him.
The clear point is, God wants you -- all of you -- there’s to be nothing held back which you will still own or direct. He wants to take His rightful preeminent role in your life; He’s asking that you literally lay yourself out before Him, like on an alter and then let Him do with you as He pleases.
In verse 2, there are two Lifestyle implications from that offering. First,
1. No longer allow yourself to be shaped by your culture. (12:2)
Paul says, stop being conformed by and to the world around you. That verb indicates this is going to be a regular issue in our lives. Over and over the world has done a number on us -- it will continue -- so the need -- day by day -- is guard, think, stay alert, realize there are forces at work which specifically and concretely will work to sway your thinking and cause your behavior to be mostly reflect your culture. Your attitudes and actions, your purchases and pursuits, your thinking about yourself and others, and of course, your view of God -- all of it becomes much like the world around you.
1 John 2 informs us, that everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. (2:15, 16) You need to know that, if your intent is to pursue Jesus Christ, you’re in a hostile environment. That environment -- the world -- has a plan for your life. The foundation of that plan is your conformity -- meaning you will reflect the values, standards and beliefs around you.
Let me illustrate how crucial it is that your life daily reflects the essential commitment we’ve talked about here.
Let’s say, next January, it is cold and snowing in Lincoln; I get a brilliant idea and I say to my wonderful wife: “come April, I’ll take you to visit our offspring in warm South Carolina!” She says, “Great” so I plan it that way. I decide we’ll rent a car and we’ll drive to the South -- that way we can see part of the country and have a leisurely time together on the way down and back. We’ll take maybe 3 days down, three days back and a week or 8 days with the kids. Two weeks total…
So, I’ve made a commitment. The time comes and off we drive. We get to Kansas City -- just 4 hours away -- and …since we used to live in KC, we’ve got plenty of friends there. I say, “my love let’s stop in and see the Parkers and the Marshalls and the Ross’s” and so on and so forth. Well, that short stopover turns into two days -- finally, we pull ourselves away and we’re on the road again. But the same thing happens in St. Louis. Got friends there we haven‘t seen in a decade -- we might as well take time….and we do. Finally 6 or 7 days after leaving Lincoln, we find ourselves entering Tennessee. That’s when I think to myself, “You know, I’ve never seen Elvis’ place, so we’ll stop there. Graceland calls!!“ Then, a day or so later, on a whim, I figure, “we might as well look in on friends who used to attend Trinity, Bob and Mary -- they‘re down there somewhere in Georgia -- it‘s not really on the way, but we may never get down there again!!”
After enjoying the Parks’ hospitality, I think, Georgia’s just a few hours from Florida -- and I say, “my love, you remember that little old roof top restaurant overlooking the bay in Ft. Myers -- what was it called, the Beached Whale?” You know how good their scallops were!! Why don’t we just….?”
We’re 2 weeks into a 2 week trip; this trip and this destination I committed to -- the destination I told her we’d reach, so we could see the kids -- but what happened? The urgings, the decisions, other people -- and my commitment is history. Why? Because I let things squeeze me -- and I didn’t renew that commitment daily, in line with what I’d promised. It wasn’t the initial commitment that was wrong or weak, it was the follow-through!
So spiritually, it’s the everyday decisions, the inputs and entertainment, the interests and involvements and hobbies and jobs and habits and agendas and… here a little, there a little…..and suddenly we’re miles way from the commitment we made to the God Who lavished us with His grace. Do not allow yourself to continue being shaped by the world around you.
Then the opposite:
2. Consistently be transformed through restoring your mind. (12:2)
Like the first one in verse 2, this is also what’s called a passive verb. That means, allow yourself to be acted upon by outside forces. Both involved change -- and here’s a spiritual secret -- we’re all changing in one direction or the other -- but the need of the hour is not the change the world wants to foist on us, it’s the change God bring to all of life when He’s King and reigning over us.
The NT describes transformation as the lifelong process through which God takes us to conform us more and more and more to the image of God’s own Son. The target -- if you are a believer -- is to take on more and more of Christ’s character and agenda and behavior. We’ll see that throughout chapter 12.
Paul lays in our hands the key to the transformation process. By the renewing of your mind. Because we’re people rescued from the world, transferred out of one realm and into another, there’s a process of restoration and reshaping and renewal that’s necessary. That word mind, describes your intellect, your emotions and your will. This is the control room and center of your new self since you trusted Christ.
What’s it mean to renew your mind? It’s to constantly keep a fresh, vital understanding of and a desire for, God’s will. If your thoughts get distracted by temptation, sin, even legalism and religion -- your mind get‘s recaptured and focused back on the refuse pumped out by the world -- it gets debilitated and spiritual vitality is sapped. Understand this: The battle for your mind is the key to spiritual passion and vitality.
Here’s where you have to choose a conscious, constant, deliberate process of getting Scripture into your mind and heart. That’s the prime source and tool God’s Spirit will use to permeate your mind and steer your thinking toward Truth and righteousness.
There’s an overflow from the commitment and the two implications: Verse 2 says, you will discover that God’s will is good for you, it pleases Him and it is complete in every way.
Steps I will take
Would you bow before the God of mercy and grace and let Him probe your life?
It’s decision time. Maybe you’ve never comprehended God’s mercy and grace. You’re still functioning with a little religion and trying to figure out how to please Him or press back this or that sin. Can I encourage you to read and re-read Romans 1-8? Would you read those Truths and meditate on them, and come to terms with what God has done in Jesus Christ for you? If you need help in that, just ask me or someone here for some help.
It could be you’ve been a card-carrying member of the “Apathy Club” of Western Christianity. Somewhere back there, you bought into the theory that you could both follow Jesus Christ and your own urges simultaneously. If I asked you how that’s working for you, you’d have to admit, “not very well.” Hear again what God’s Word says, “I urge you -- because of the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. This is your reasonable act of worship. And stop being just like the world; instead let God’s Word transform your mind and heart; then you’ll find out what God’s will is -- it’s good for you, it pleases Him, and it’s complete in every way.
