LIVING SACRIFICES
Two older women were walking along the shoreline of a lake when a frog came hopping up to them. Creaking with age, one of them slowly bent down and scooped up the frog in her hands. As she stood there gazing at the frog, fascinated by its ugliness, the frog croaked, “Hey, I’m not really a frog. If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful prince who will do anything your heart desires.” Startled, the old woman slipped the frog into her pocket and headed on down the shoreline. For a while the two continued on in silence. “Well?” her friend finally blurted out. “Are you going to kiss it or not?” “No, I guess not,” the first woman replied. “At my age, I think I’ll have more fun with a talking frog.”
Sometimes in life it is easy to settle for second best. Often the older we get the more we get stuck in our ways and become tired of change. God’s will for us is that we would be transformed. As we come and worship Him today that is my prayer, that we leave this place a little different than when we entered. My prayer is that would be transformed this morning.
Today we are concluding our series on Romans - Unashamed, Undeserved and Unstoppable.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 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.
If you like to underline things in your bible then underline that one word OFFER. The Christian life is all about offering ourselves to God. That is at the heart of what worship is all about. It is offering ourselves to God.
Jesus said that the heart of all scripture is the command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” In other words Jesus says if you get nothing else right, make sure you get this! Offering ourselves to God is the reason for our existence. It is our purpose. It is what we were born to do.
The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever -- Westminster Confession of Faith
Paul tells us here WHY we should offer ourselves to God, HOW we should offer ourselves and WHAT happens when we offer ourselves to God.
1. Prompted by Love – in view of God’s mercy
It says here that we are to offer to God “in view of God’s mercies”. Worship is our response to God’s love. This word for "urge" is the Greek word PARAKALEO which means to encourage or call to your side. It can be translated as beg or plead. Paul says, "I beg you, please..." This is the heart of a pastor wanting see God’s children loving Him and giving their lives to Him.
A few weeks ago we talked about the fact that we have Reasons to Rejoice – that we have a great salvation. It says here that we should offer ourselves to God because that is “your spiritual act of worship.” The word in the NIV for "spiritual" is actually LOGIKOS which means reasonable and is where the word logical comes from. Worship makes sense – it is the logical response to God's love.
Why do you come to church? I come to worship. My focus is offering God thanks for everything He has done in my life. That is the focus.
Henry Ward Beecher was one of the great preachers of the 19th Century. He was ill one Sunday, so a substitute pastor walked up to the pulpit as the worship service began. Seeing that Dr. Beecher would not be speaking that day, a number of people got up and headed for the door. The substitute preacher said, "All those who came to worship Dr. Beecher this morning may leave. All those who came to worship the Lord, may stay in their seats." Everyone sat down.
In the years after the Second World War an SIM missionary named Raymond Davis went to Ethiopia to work in the interior with the Wallamo tribe. One of the early converts was a slave by the name of Tigyne. His decision to follow Jesus displeased his master, who refused to allow Tigyne to attend church or study the Bible. He frequently beat and humiliated Tigyne for his faith but it was a price this young Christian was willing to pay. For only twelve dollars he could have bought his freedom, but Tigyne was a slave with no salary so it might as well as have been a million. When Raymond Davis learned that his freedom could be purchased he bought his freedom. Tigyne was now free -- both spiritually and physically.
Soon after this the missionaries were expelled from Ethiopia. Twenty-four years passed before Raymond Davis had a chance to return to Ethiopia. During this quarter of a century Tigyne remained a vivid testimony to the power of freedom. He longed to see Davis again. When he heard that his friend was coming, he went to the mission station every day for weeks to wait. Dates on the calendar or time on the clock had no significance for Tigyne so he came daily to search for Davis.
Finally, Davis arrived, in a car driven by a fellow missionary. When Tigyne saw the vehicle come around the corner, he ran to the window and took Davis's hand and began to kiss it again and again. The driver slowed the car so Tigyne could run beside it. As he ran he yelled to his friends, "Behold! Behold! The one who redeemed me has returned!" Finally the car stopped. Davis got out and Tigyne dropped to his knees, put his arms around his friend's legs, and began to kiss his dusty shoes. Davis reached down to bring him to full height and they stood with their arms around each other and wept.
2. Presented by Living – your spiritual act of worship
Worship involves giving your minds, hearts and lives. A living sacrifice is different to a dead one in that it can choose to get off the altar. Living sacrifices means that day in and day out we choose moment by moment to offer all that we have and are to God.
Worship is focusing our minds (attention) on God. In many religions the idea of worship is to put your mind into neutral, sort of lose your mind to the universe. However, the truth is that God wants us to worship Him thoughtfully. That takes energy. It means not just going through the motions, but really, really thinking about it which isn’t always easy to do.
Worship is giving our hearts (affection) to God. The Bible says God wants to be loved. When was the last time you said, “I love you” to God? This is the underlying focus in the book of Hosea, that God’s desire for us is not that we would simply serve him as master but that we would love Him (call me Ish – husband.)
Hosea 6:6 I don’t want your sacrifices -- I want your love! I don’t want your offerings -- I want you to know me! (MSG)
I’ve been married for a few years now. How about if I walked up to my wife one day and I say, “Honey, here are some flowers for you. And I am giving you these flowers for three reasons: Point No. 1, I am your husband. Point No. 2, it is our anniversary. Point No. 3, husbands are supposed to give their wives flowers on their anniversary. So here.” Wouldn’t she be thrilled? I don’t think so. Why? She wants me to love her passionately. She doesn’t want duty. She wants desire. God doesn’t want your duty. He wants your desire. God doesn’t want – “Oh, okay. I better go worship.” “Oh, I love you, God” [monotone voice]. He doesn’t want ritual and religion and rules and regulations. He wants a relationship. He’s passionate about it! And He says, “I want you to love Me as much as I love you, because I made you and I created you.”
Worship means giving our lives (actions) to God. That means that our focus when we come to worship is not to get but to give.
This church is a family. In any family there is work that needs to get done. In our house we have chores. That means that the kids have to help out around the house. You cannot expect to just live in the house and get all the benefits without contributing. At a family meal, you don’t just get up and leave when the meal is over. You stick around to help clean up the table and wash the dishes.
This is different than if you visit a restaurant. When you go to a restaurant, you have the expectation that all you have to do is pay your check and then you get up and leave. You do not worry about who will clean up your mess. If you go to a hotel you do not have to worry about who will make your bed or take out the garbage. You just pay your bill and then leave.
One of the problems today is that we treat the church like an institution and not like a family. It is like visiting a restaurant. You come in when it’s convenient. You sit there and get fed and if you like the service than maybe you leave a tip in the offering plate and come back next week. You reduce church to a service institution and approach it with a consumer mentality.
Church is not about what you get. It is about what you give.
3. Produces a new Likeness – transformed
This scripture goes on to say “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” When we spend time offering ourselves to God in worship it changes us. It transforms us. As we worship the truth of God’s love and character begins to change the way we think. When you change the way you think you change the way you act – your whole life is transformed.
Ravi Zacharias tells the amazing story of a young Christian in Vietnam. Shortly after Vietnam fell, Hien was imprisoned on accusations of helping the Americans as a translator during the war. His jailers tried to indoctrinate him against democratic ideals and the Christian faith. He was restricted to communist propaganda in French or Vietnamese, and the daily deluge of Marx and Engels began to take its toll. ‘Maybe,’ he thought, ‘I have been lied to. Maybe God does not exist. Maybe the West has deceived me.’ So Hien determined that when he awakened the next day, he would not pray anymore or think of his faith.
The next morning, he was assigned the dreaded chore of cleaning the prison latrines. As he cleaned out a tin can overflowing with toilet paper, his eye caught what seemed to be English printed on one piece of paper. He hurriedly grabbed it, washed it, and after his roommates had retired that night, he retrieved the paper and read the words, ‘Romans, Chapter 8.’
Trembling, he began to read, ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. . . for I am convinced that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Hien wept. He knew His Bible, and knew that there was not a more relevant passage for one on the verge of surrender. He cried out to God, asking forgiveness, for this was to have been the first day that he would not pray. . . . After finding the Scripture, Hien asked the commander if he could clean the latrines regularly, because he discovered that some official was using a Bible as toilet paper. Each day Hien picked up a portion of Scripture, cleaned it off, and added it to his collection of nightly reading. . . . What his tormentors were using for refuse — the Scriptures — could not be more treasured to Hien.” Eventually he was released from prison and fled to Tailand. Today he is a businessman in the United States, a radiant Christian and a living testimony to the power of God’s Word and its transforming power.
To be conformed means to fashion something after. God does not want us to be fashioned after the pattern of the world but after the pattern of heaven. In worship we take our attention off the things around and concentrate on God. In doing so our thoughts are directed from earth to heaven.
To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ -- Richard Foster
The magi carried gifts from afar and came to worship the newborn baby. King Herod said he wanted to worship the baby. Though Herod and the magi uttered the same word, worship, their intentions were different. King Herod did not plan to worship the child. He wanted to be all powerful and he only feigned interest in worshiping the Christ.
If worship does not change us, it has not been worship -- Richard Foster
There is an old story from the days of the early church about the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste.
In around 320 AD during the reign of the Roman Emperor Licinius, there was a group of elite Roman soldiers known as the "Emperor's Wrestlers." They were the strongest and the best, the bravest of the land. They were recruited from the great athletes of the Roman amphitheater. In the great amphitheater they would fight for the emperor. Before each contest they stood before the emperor's throne and would cry out: "We, the wrestlers, are wrestling for you, O Emperor. To win for you the victory and from you, the victor's crown."
When the Roman army was sent to fight in Gaul, no soldiers were braver or more loyal than this band of wrestlers led by their centurion Sempronius. Licinius rejected Constantine’s idea to embrace Christianity and instead dispatched a decree to all his armies that "If there be any among your soldiers who cling to the faith of the Christian, they must die!" The decree was received in the dead of winter. The soldiers were camped on the shore of a frozen inland lake. Sempronius read the emperor's message saying "Are there any among you who cling to the faith of the Christian? If so, let him step forward!" Forty wrestlers instantly stepped forward two paces, respectfully saluted, and stood at attention. Sempronius paused. He had not expected so many, nor such select ones. He gave them until sundown to recant.
Sundown came. Again the question was asked. Again the forty wrestlers stepped forward.
Sempronius pleaded with them long and earnestly without prevailing upon a single man to deny his Lord. Finally he said, "The decree of the emperor must be obeyed, but I am not willing that your comrades should shed your blood. I order you to march out upon the lake of ice, and I shall leave you there to the mercy of the elements." The forty wrestlers were stripped and then, falling into columns of four, marched toward the center of the lake of ice. As they marched they broke into the chant of the arena: "Forty wrestlers, wrestling for you, O Christ, to win for you the victory and from you, the victor's crown!"
Through the night Sempronius stood by his campfire and watched. As he waited through the long night, there came to him fainter and fainter the wrestlers' song. As morning drew near one figure, overcome by exposure, crept quietly toward the fire; in the extremity of his suffering he had renounced his Lord. Faintly but clearly from the darkness came the song: "Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for you, O Christ, to win for you the victory and from you, the victor's crown!"
Sempronius looked at the figure drawing close to the fire. His heart was moved by the dedication and devotion the Christians shared. Perhaps he saw eternal light shining there toward the center of the lake. Who can say? But off came his helmet and clothing, and he sprang upon the ice, crying, "Forty wrestlers, wrestling for you, O Christ, to win for you the victory and from you, the victor's crown!"
