Session 1: Our Relationship to God.
Reading: Romans chapter 12 verse 1-3.
• Newspapers contain a number of things - for example ‘Headlines’;
• Here are a few that they would probably have changed.
Ill:
• “Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case”
• “Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge”
• “Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted”
• “Iraqi Head Seeks Arms”
• “New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group”
• “Kids Make Nutritious Snacks “
• “Jamie Oliver Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy”
• “Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half New”
• “Parents told Include your Children When Baking Cookies”
• “Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors”
• “Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead”
• “Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft”
There are of course two ways to read those headlines!
• Which changes their meaning from factual statement;
• To amusing quip.
• Now as well as headlines, newspapers also contain something I hate;
• Crosswords!
Ill:
The book of Romans is very much like a crossword puzzle:
• For a crossword to work you have to work the two dimensions together,
• Both the vertical and the horizontal.
• Nobody can complete a crossword if they only handle one dimension:
• You must do the vertical and horizontal together
In the book of Romans:
• The vertical is Romans chapters 1-11.
• These chapters explain God’s plan of salvation.
• The horizontal is Chapters 12-16.
• These chapters explain how we live out that salvation in the Church & the world.
These chapters (12-16) bring into balance the whole message of the gospel.
• Sadly some people just study the theological side,
• The theory contained in chapters 1-11.
• And they never seem to get into the practical outworking of the gospel
• Chapters 12-16.
Yet these last four chapters of the letter are so important:
• Because they deal with our interrelationships with one another,
• And our mutual responsibility to one another and to the world in which we live.
• If we stop at chapter 11 (the theory):
• We will soon be out of balance, when it comes to walking with God.
Quote:
“It is a healthy goal to ask God to keep you balanced:
Most of us are knower’s, when we need to be both knower’ and doers”
ill:
Story told of a lady whose ambition in life was to visit Mount Sinai:
• She wanted to stand at the top of the mountain & shout out the 10 laws.
• When she told this to a dear old Scottish woman in her fellowship:
• The reply she received back was this:
• “Och! You’d be better off staying at home and putting them into practice!”
Quote:
“It is not the acquisition of truth that sets a person free,
but the application of truth”.
Application of knowledge is important in all areas of life:
Ill:
• In the morning, just reading the ingredients on the side of the cornflakes packet;
• Will not fill you up,
• You have to physically eat the corn flakes.
• No matter how riveting information may be, practical action is always required!
Ill:
• Most of us are here this morning;
• Not because we know all the mechanics of how a car works,
• We are here because we put our limited knowledge into practice,
• We applied the basic practical rules of driving and ‘hey presto!’
Note: The Apostle Paul has NOT spent 11 chapters of this letter:
• Teaching the Christians in Rome how to be smarter sinners,
• Or how to be more informed, more knowledgeable believers.
• He wants his readers to be balanced;
• His purpose is to encourage & instruct them to allow their doctrine to affect their behaviour.
This session I want you to think of Romans chapter 12 as a door.
• Ill: A door may let you into a whole new room of discovery.
• Ill: Contrast between a dark room and a light room or a cold room to a hot room.
• We are moving from one room into another;
• From the room of theory to the room of practice.
• We are moving from what God has done for us (chapters 1-11)
• Into what God wants us to do for him (chapters 12-16).
Ill:
• Decorator by trade;
• I was always taught that on a well-hung door there should be 3 hinges.
The 3 hinges on this door are found in the first 3 verses of chapter 12.
• I’ll tell you what they are and then we will work through them:
• (1). Consecration. verse 1.
• (2). Transformation. verse 2.
• (3). Evaluation. verse 3.
Notice: That in these 3 things there is a transition, change-over.
• Consecration is altogether vertical (upward),
• We are consecrated to God,
• Consecration leads on to an inner transformation (inward),
• That is the result of being in the presence of God.
• When that transformation happens it leads on to a horizontal evaluation (outward).
• Of who we are and how we relate to other Christians.
(Hinge 1). Consecration (verse 1).
• Verse 1: "I urge you".
• Notice this is an urgent plea, and not a proposal,
• He never says: "I have a good suggestion for you" or "Here’s a good idea".
• Consecration is much more than a good idea.
• Look again at how he puts it (verse 1):
• "Therefore, I urge you brothers".
Note: There are 4 major "Therefore’s" in the book of Romans:
(1). CHAPTER 3 VERSE 20: “Therefore” of condemnation – we are all guilty.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
(2). CHAPTER 5 VERSE 1. "Therefore" of Salvation.
“Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ”
(3). CHAPTER 8 VERSE 1. "Therefore" of our security.
• "Therefore" of our security.
• “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.
(4). CHAPTER 12 VS 1. "Therefore" of our walk. (Life-style).
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God”.
Paul says in view of:
• God’s greatness and God’s plan of salvation,
• In view of the security you know and enjoy in Christ,
• In other words:
• Because of all that God has done for you, can you now do something for him?
Question: What does God want us to do?
Answer: Consecrate yourselves.
• Or as verse 1 puts it:
• "Therefore offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God"
Consecration simply means set apart or reserved for God.
ill:
If you are unhappy with your accommodation this weekend:
• You can phone up the Ritz hotel in London and reserve a room there;
• The Prince of Wales suit will only cost you £5,000 a night!
• One place you cannot phone up and book no matter how much cash you might have;
• Is 10 Downing Street.
• 10 Downing Street is not for hire! It has been sanctified,
• That means: ‘Set apart for a special use’.
ill:
• Football: there may be 70,000 plus at the game.
• But one seat has been consecrated for me.
• It’s been consecrated or set apart for you, that is what the word means.
• We are to be those who are reserved for God.
Notice:
• You do not find a day of the week mentioned!
• This is to be more than Sunday and Thursday night.
• There is no age group mentioned.
• Or any let out clause!
• This is for all Christians at all times,
• And this is our spiritual service, our worship, this is what God requires of us.
The emphasis in verse 1:
• Is that we must choose God “I urge you”.
• Each Christian is only as holy as he or she wants to be!
Ill:
• Years ago there was an old holiness preacher who travelled around on horseback,
• Wherever he went he preached on holiness.
• Someone said to him on one occasion,
• “What’s your problem, every time you open up the back you preach on holiness”,
• To which the preacher replied;
• “I don’t have to open up the book to speak on holiness, its there on the cover!”
Notice also the word ‘sacrifice’,
Ill:
Pig & hen story.
• Whenever we read that word we are programmed to think of death:
• You kill something and then you lay it on the alter and it is consumed.
• But here it is a living sacrifice,
• Quote: "Trouble with a living sacrifice is they crawl off the altar".
Ill:
• In the Bible we read about two living sacrifices;
• One in the Old and one in the New,
• Old Testament: Isaac was a living sacrifice and in the New Testament: Jesus Christ.
• Both voluntarily submitted themselves to the Father’s will.
• Isaac (Genesis chapter 18) would have died;
• But God provided a ram to take his place
• Jesus did die but rose again, and today he is in heaven,
• As a living sacrifice, bearing in his body the wounds of the cross.
So the emphasis in verse 1 is Consecration:
• Don’t forget that we must choose God “I urge you”.
• The proof of our choice is not what we say but by what we do – it involves sacrifice.
Ill:
• Living sacrifice it crawls off the altar!
• Need to weekly, daily, hourly keep short accounts with God!
(2). Transformation (vs 2).
“Do not conform 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.”
Ill:
There are two items that measure temperature:
• (1st). A Thermometer
• A thermometer measures temperature i.e. the body
• It is usually used to check whether a person has a fever or not.
• Note: Although it reads the temperature of the body, it cannot change it.
• (2). A Thermostat:
• The second item that is measure temperature is called a Thermostat:
• A thermostat measures the temperature of the house.
• Note: A thermostat also has the ability to change the temperature of the house!
Quote:
“Christians can be classified into two groups:
Thermometer Christians and Thermostat Christians”.
Verse 1 is a reminder that God:
• Is not in the business of simply measuring our spiritual temperature.
• He is in the business of changing it! Regulating it!
• So Paul starts verse 1 by saying; “Therefore”;
• In other words think about what you have just read in chapters 1-11.
• In view of all that God has done for you;
• What will you do for him – how you gonna respond!
• Notice the emphasis is on us:
• “I urge you” – in one sense we set our own spiritual temperature!
Ill:
• During experiments aboard the space shuttle “Columbia,”
• Scientists discovered that there are twenty-six lakes underneath the Sahara desert.
• It’s heartrending to think of the people who are starving and dying of thirst;
• Because these hidden resources have not yet been tapped.
In a similar way,
• There are a number of spiritual resources that lie untapped in our individual lives;
• Because, we’ve simply not gone deep enough in our commitment to God.
• My fear is that we’re missing out on what the Christian life is all about.
• Some of us are settling for something far less than what God intended.
Quote: Clive Staples Lewis (from The Weight of Glory):
’Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
We are far too easily pleased.’
In this verse (number 2):
• Paul talks about three ways in which the as Christians;
• We can enjoy the pleasure of the Lord.
• To be more like Christ will involve using:
• The body, mind and the will that God has given to you.
It starts with a right attitude:
• Verse 2b speaks of: “The renewing of the mind”
• Your mind controls your body, and your will controls your mind.
• If You Change Your Attitude
• God Will Change Your Mind
Quote: Verse 2 in the Phillips translation:
"Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within,
So that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity".
Ill:
• Power Rangers;
• They are just ordinary people.
• But they could transform themselves into martial arts experts.
• At the moment there was a sign of trouble they would say: “It’s morphing time”.
• That’s all good and well for the Power Rangers;
• But for you and me life is not that easy!
So Paul gives us two commands to help us:
(1). Do not be Conformed (vs 2a).
• Conformed means:
• Your outward expression is different from what you really are inwardly.
ill:
• If I turned up this morning dressed in a Gorilla costume (notice any difference!),
• I would be conforming myself to the image of an ape,
• Now obviously I would not be a Gorilla.
• Outwardly I would look like one, but inwardly I would still be human.
God says don’t you be like that:
• Conformed to an image which is false and not you.
• We so easily do that as Christians.
• We do that whenever we wrap ourselves up and around in the things of the world.
• We are conforming.
Ill:
• We enjoy as a family going to the cinema;
• One time it was a bright sunny day outside,
• And we walked into the dark theatre;
• None of us could see a thing, it was almost pitch black (apart from the projection)
• So we waited for the usher to come an show us to our seats;
• Amazingly though within a few minutes of waiting in the dark;
• The darkness seems to lighten off & we were able to see again.
• After a few more minutes we could see without difficulty.
• In fact we could almost see normally.
• Normally” that is, until you walk back outside into the sunlight that almost blinds you!
• As Christians we are in the same predicament.
• If you spend enough time in the world conforming to it,
• Then you shall become so accustomed to it darkness,
• That you think it is normal and conform to its wrong standards and patterns.
The first command in verse 2: “Do not be conformed”:
• Ill: Don’t be like a chameleon which takes its colour from its surroundings
• (i.e. Tartan joke - Nervous breakdown).
The 2nd command: “Be Transformed” (vs 2b):
ill:
• Biscuits are all cut the same way – they are made by being conformed,
• Butterflies however are made by being transformed.
• That’s the Greek word used here;
• We get the word “metamorphosis” from it.
• Most of us remember enough from our school days, our science class:
• To remember what the process of metamorphosis is.
• Metamorphosis is the process by which a caterpillar is turned into a butterfly.
• It a change from the inside out and it is not just a physical change but a change of nature.
• What God wants for us is not outward conformity (all trying to look & be the same).
• But a change inwardly that will produce something beautiful outwardly.
Question: What is that change?
Answer:
• Left to ourselves we live a life dominated by human nature, and desires.
• According to the pattern of this worlds system.
• But in Christ we have a new life,
• "Renewing of our minds" verse 2.
• Now we are to be dominated by Christ.
• He has transformed us, made us new, different, so we are to live his way.
Quote:
• There are three important things about the Greek verb;
• That is translated into our New Testaments as “be transformed.”
(1). IT IS A PRESENT TENSE VERB:
• This means that it something that is to be continuously happening.
• This is not a one off experience that sets us up for life.
• It is not a once for all time action,
• In this verb Paul is describing is a process, a gradual transformation.
Ill:
• A man, after 25 years with one company,
• Was still doing the same old job and drawing the same salary.
• Finally he went to his boss and told him he felt he had been neglected.
• “After all,” he said, “I’ve had a quarter of a century of experience.”
• His boss replied:,
• “You haven’t had a quarter of a century of experience,
• you’ve had one experience for a quarter of a century.”
• Quote: “Every day I get better and better”
• For the Christian it should be: “Every day I get more like Jesus!”
(2). IT IS A PASSIVE VERB.
• Paul is not saying that we should transform ourselves;
• That is impossible – many of us have tried and tried and failed miserably!
• But rather we should yield ourselves so that the Holy Spirit;
• So that he may transform us.
(3). IT IS AN IMPERATIVE.
• This means that this is not just a good suggestion; “Here’s a good idea”
• But a command “Do not conform but be transformed”.
• To be more like Christ involves us using:
• The body, the mind and the will that God has given to you.
• Your mind controls your body, and your will controls your mind.
• If we will change our Attitude, God Will Change our Minds.
So don’t forget the order:
(1). CONSECRATION.
Ill:
• Football shirts are now worn as leisure clothing – see them all the time;
• Football boots however are not! They are still consecrated.
• They are not worn for their comfort or style;
• They only have one special particular use.
• A deliberate choice to reserve yourself for him, that is our spiritual act of worship,
• And in the process of working that through we go through the second stage.
(2). TRANSFORMATION.
Quote Warren Wiersbe:
“If the world controls your mind you are a conformer,
if God controls your mind you are transformed”.
• We see his plan and his arrangement for our lives,
• That plan is to be lived out in the fellowship of other Christians, his church.
So that leads on to verse 3 where Paul says there will be an honest evaluation.
(3). Evaluation.
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you:
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,
But rather think of yourself with sober judgement,
In accordance with the measure of faith God has given you".
• And God willing;
• We will start to look at evaluation at our next session.
Now what I have shared this evening is basic:
• But if we are not right here;
• Then we are not going to be right with the things said in the other two sessions!
Ill:
• Strangest greeting ever was when I spoke at Sholing Baptist Church ladies meeting.
• Lady stamped on the floor, looked me in the eye and said “Good foundations”.
• Apparently the Church had been rebuilt several times over the years;
• But the foundations were the original ones, 100’s of years old.
ILL:
• It is visited each year by thousands of people,
• It is one of the great tourist attractions in the world,
• It stands 179 feet tall and is a work of beauty,
• The problem is the architect built it on 10 feet of foundations.
• The leaning tower of Pisa,
• Is externally impressive but was a disaster waiting to happen!
• And it has only survived to this day,
• Thanks to the knowledge and skill of many different experts.
iLL:
• The Great Wall of China is the only man made structure that can be seen on the moon,
• It is 3,460 kilometres long and was built over a period of 2,000 years.
• It was built so high that nobody could climb over it,
• And so thick that nobody could break it down.
• Yet during the first 100 years of the walls existence,
• China was invaded three times.
• Not once did the enemy break down the wall or climb over it,
• Each time their enemies bribed the gatekeeper and they just marched on through.
