We have been studying the Letter to the Romans; a letter by God to the Christian Church in Rome 2000 years ago. God of course used the Apostle Paul to write the Letter. We have noted so far that the letter has much to say about the foundations of the Christian faith and there were specific instructions for the Jews and for the Gentiles in the church.
In Romans Chapters 1-2, we learned about the Holiness of God and man’s need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In Romans 3-4, we learned about the reasons for God’s Chosen People, the Israelites.
Romans 5 talks about Christian faith.
Romans 6-8 gives descriptions of Christians.
Romans 9-11 focuses on the Jews in the church but
warns the Gentiles of their arrogance towards Israel.
And so now, we come to the direct practical instructions for all Christians in Romans Chapters 12-16.
Please open your Bibles to Romans Chapter 12. We will look at the first 3 verses this morning in preparation for communion. Only 3 verses, but packed with many fantastic truths! Let us together pray our commitment to God’s Word before reading, shall we….. Romans 12:1-3………
Christians are urged to do something in Romans 12:1-3 and we can note 4 specific things asked. But before speaking about those specific things, let’s discuss the passage in general.
Think about this for a second; when you tell someone
“I urge you”, you have a very good reason for it, right?
And we get the word urgent from the word urge. And so, Christians are asked to do something because there’s a reason for doing so and it should be done as soon as possible! What’s the reason? Verse 1 tells us! Christians are urged to do something in view of God’s mercy! Christians are asked to do something because God is merciful to them! We’ll come back to this point but I think we also need to consider what is said prior to Romans 12. Take a look with me again the end of Romans 11; v33-36…
What can we say about God based on Romans 11:33-36??
God is the Creator of everything and people are the created; and so, God has a right to ask His creation to do whatever He desires. And those who believe in God should know that the right thing to do is to follow what God says! We Christians say we believe in God; are we really following with urgency what He is telling us?
And again, not only because of our belief in an Almighty God should we follow Him, but because of His mercies. And so, what is mercy? The original Greek word for mercy is oiktirmos: heart of compassion; manifestations of pity. How can we say that God is merciful to Christians? How can we say that God has a heart of compassion and takes pity on us?
We are a pitiful people! We have all sinned against our Creator God, we all deserve judgment, but instead God gave us the Savior Jesus Christ to forgive us!
We are all pitiful, but we have a merciful God!
Will you and I listen to this God?
There is one more thing we should note why we should follow what God says. Look again at the end of Rom.12:3…
We are also to consider God’s faithfulness to us! The original Greek word for faith is pistis: the character of one who can be relied on.
How faithful is God to you; can you give me some examples??
Are you and I convinced about following what God says?
God is a Holy, Perfect, Almighty God! God is merciful to us, taking away the judgment that we deserve. And God is faithful; He will always be there for us and He will always complete what He has promised!
Let us then listen to God and follow Him with urgency!
What can we note as the first thing we are urged to do as Christians? Christians are to offer their bodies as living sacrifices for God! What does this mean? God tells us in v1; Christian bodies are to be holy and pleasing to God!
If you are a Christian, you are to have bodies holy and pleasing to God.
I don’t think I have to tell you what you need to work on. I certainly have many areas in my life to make my body more holy and pleasing to God.
Everyday our bodies are attacked by the unholy trinity, which is our own selves, the world, and the devil!
Everyday, my body would say, do what feels good. Everyday the world tells my body how I should look. Everyday the devil tells me, just give in, God doesn’t care what you do with your body?
Does God care? God loves us! God knows who we are and what we need! God exists in Three Persons for us! We have the Holy Trinity to battle the unholy trinity! God the Father is Almighty, loving, merciful, and faithful! God the Son Jesus Christ died for our sins, rose from the grave for us, and is praying right now for us! God the Holy Spirit is living within us Christians in spite of who we are!
Do we really believe in this Triune God? – then let’s live it out! We live, we do things, with our bodies! God’s desire is for Christian bodies to be living and doing things holy and pleasing to Him because He knows best! And because this is God’s desire, let us not forget, God empowers the Christian to be able to live holy and pleasing lives for God. God is faithful and will provide for our needs!
The second thing we are urged to do is connected to the first one. We already noted that the world system is unholy. Therefore, in order to have bodies holy and pleasing to God, 2. Christians must not conform to the pattern of the world! How is this done? Again God tells us; instead of conforming to the pattern of the world, 3. be transformed by the renewing of your mind! Instead of worldly thoughts we are to have godly thoughts! And how are we to have godly thoughts? We must know how God thinks.
And can we know how God thinks? We have God’s Word!
On a daily basis, what goes into our minds more, worldly thoughts or biblical thoughts? How are we going to be transformed if we do not renew our minds with God’s Word? And without the transformation, you know what will happen? We will just go along with the pattern of the world. How much of our lives just seem to go along with the pattern of the world, what we watch, listen to, even dress?
We must evaluate things with a biblical view!
God knows best: if we go along with the pattern of the world, we will not have bodies which are holy and pleasing to God! And of course it starts with truly believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
And look again with me at v3 of Romans 12……..
God is so good; He tells us that everything actually starts with something as simple as our attitude!
What’s our attitude toward God on a daily basis?
Remember our Scripture verse last week from James 4:10?
Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up! Do you desire an uplifting life? Have the right attitude towards God on a daily basis! The opposite of course is also true. God tells us in Romans 11 that if we are arrogant, He will cut us off! James 4:6 – God opposes the proud!
Humble yourself before Jesus Christ!
If there is only one thing you can remember from this message, this is it: God is worthy of our worship every moment of our lives!
You know many Christians today are living like zombies. Christians are to be alive in Christ but many are living life like their dead! The reason of course is that most Christians miss out on the most important thing we are to do: Worship God! Try it! Constantly worship God through Jesus Christ with the presence of the Holy Spirit and you will experience what Romans 12:2b states. Always worship God, then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will. Do you want to know God’s will for your life? Always worship God! We say we worship God, are we really doing it, in every area of our lives? Worship is not about a song or the style of music. Worship is about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit present in our lives!
Worshiping God is a spiritual thing accomplished with body, mind, and attitude! Remember daily W:A-M-B! Don’t be a zombie, be a WAMB!
Every day, start with worshiping God with your attitude!
As often as you can, humble yourself before God in prayer!
Everyday, worship God with your mind by filtering everything through God’s Word. Ask yourself often, “What does God say about that?”
Everyday, worship God with your body! If God does not approve of what we do with our bodies, there will be consequences!
Don’t be a Christian zombie, be a WAMB!
