The last few years my wife has been trying to help me be a bit more cultured. Some of you know my wife Chris has been playing in the Claremont College Concert Orchestra for two seasons, so I’ve been attending quite a few classical concerts lately. Now for me, classical music is 1960s rock, but I’ve been trying to keep and open mind, and I’ve been learning about things like sonatas, concertos, and so forth. Well my first few concerts I didn’t realize that there’s a special etiquette for the audience during classical performances. For instance, I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to applaud in between movements on a musical piece, so my first few concerts I started clapping as soon as the music stopped. It’s a good thing I don’t smoke anymore, because I probably would’ve gotten out my bic lighter and stood cheering for an encore. Well I eventually realized that there was an appropriate way to applaud at a classical concert that’s a little different from the Grateful Dead concerts I used to go to when I was in high school.
I’ve learned that it’s not only important to respond positively, but it’s also important to respond appropriately. This is a basic principle in life, that we need to learn how to respond to things appropriately. This principle applies to the spiritual life as well. There are both appropriate and inappropriate ways to respond to God in our lives. It’s important that we not only learn to respond to God positively but also that we learn to respond appropriately.
Today we return to our series through the New Testament book of Romans that I’ve titled Good News for Our Times. Back in September when we started this series we learned that the theme of Romans is God’s good news about Jesus Christ, and that this good news is relevant for every generation. This good news (or gospel) is God’s announcement about his Son that’s designed for all people everywhere. Chapters 1 through 4 of Romans present us with the good news about God’s integrity. We saw in these chapters that the entire human race has joined together in a mass rebellion God that’s resulted in the human race being alienated from a relationship with God. We also learned that through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, God offers us a way back into a relationship with God. Rather than God compromising his integrity and pretending that our rebellion never really happened, Christ’s death on our behalf satisfies God’s justice, so he can forgive us with integrity. Chapters 5 through 8 of Romans present us with the good news about God’s love. When we respond God’s good news about Jesus with faith, God drenches our lives with his love. This love of God empowers us to live a life free from the dominion of sin and death, a life that serves God freely, a life that’s secure in God’s love. Chapters 9 through 11 presented us with the good news about God’s faithfulness. In these chapters we saw the apostle Paul wrestle with his Jewish kinsmen’s lack of faith in Jesus, and we saw that despite Israel’s lack of faith in Jesus that God is still faithful to keep his promises. We saw that for now God working through the Church to fulfill his promise to bring God’s blessings to all nations of the world. But we also learned that a time will come when God will once again use the nation of Israel to fulfill this promises as well. We saw the need to keep the nation of Israel and the Church distinct in our thoughts, to not see the Church as replacing Israel and to not see the Church as joined into Israel.
Today we return to Romans to begin a new section in chapters 12 through 16, as we look at the good news about God’s community. In these chapters, Paul describes how God’s good news about Jesus that is embodied in the Church. Here we find how we live out the implications of the good news of Jesus in our daily lives with each other. Today we begin this new section by asking what is the appropriate response to God’s mercy? How can we avoid responding to God’s mercy in a way that’s not appropriate to the character of the good news? Today we’re going to look at three stages in an appropriate response to God’s good news about Jesus from Romans 12:1-8.
1. Surrendering Fully (Romans 12:1-2)
Let me just give you the first stage and then we’ll look in detail at the text: We respond to God’s mercy in Christ by first surrendering ourselves fully to God.
Now let’s look at the text together. The word "therefore" in v. 1 connects these verses with what Paul has already said about God’s integrity, God’s love and God’s faithfulness in the first 11 chapters of Romans. You could summarize everything God’s said so far with the phrase "the mercy of God." God’s mercy is his compassionate response to our human condition of rebellion and alienation from God. God’s mercy is what motivated God to send his Son to die for our sins and rise from the grave.
The appropriate response to God’s mercy is to offer our bodies to God as living sacrifices. Verse 1 is filled with sacrificial terminology, with the words "offer," "sacrifice," "holy" and "worship" all coming from the Jewish practice of offering animal sacrifices in the temple. Now it’s important to remember that every religion known in existence at this time practiced some kind of sacrifice. Every religion had its own temple, shrine or holy place to offer sacrifices to the God or gods they worshipped. The Jewish people offered various animal sacrifices in their Jerusalem temple in obedience to the law of Moses. But all the Greek and Roman gods also had their own temples, where worshippers offered sacrifices as well. Offerings of grain and wine were commonly presented as sacrifices to the Roman emperor. Sacrifice was one of the most important parts of every religion in the Roman empire. Yet here were the Christians, with no temple, no shine, no sacrifices of sheep, goats, bulls, wine or grain. Instead of bringing an animal sacrifice or an offering of grain or wine, the follower of Jesus Christ is told to present his or her entire body to God as a sacrifice.
Now the word "body" here isn’t just talking about our physical form, but it’s a way of talking about our entire lives. This is Paul’s way of telling us to give all that we are to God. Not just our skin and bones, but everything that makes us who we are is to be presented to God as a sacrifice, an offering of worship. This sacrifice is living in the sense that it’s not a dead animal or a bottle of wine. It’s holy in the sense that it belongs to God, and it’s pleasing to God because it is the kind of offering God wants.
This, says Paul, is the Christian’s spiritual worship. The word "spiritual" here is better translated "reasonable." In other words, this is the appropriate kind of worship God wants, the kind of worship that makes sense in light of what God in his mercy has accomplished through Jesus Christ. This is appropriate worship, to present our entire lives to God as a living, holy, and pleasing sacrifices.
The result of this act of total surrender to God is an ability to know what God wants us to do. It’s an ability to discern and perform the will of God as we go through the various details of life. So many people want to know God’s will for their lives before they surrender themselves to God because they’re afraid, but the surrender must come first, and only then will we learn day by day what God wants us to do.
Verse 2 tells us that once we surrender ourselves fully to God, we begin to be change. As living sacrifices who now belong to unconditionally to God, we are no longer to be conformed to our culture’s values and ideas. Back in chapter 1 of Romans we learned that every human society exists in a state of rebellion toward God, and because of this, every human culture has values and assumptions that are contrary to God’s will for people. All of us are shaped and molded by these values and ideas simply by living in our culture. These assumptions and values are imbedded in our lives at the deepest level through our families, our teachers, our friends, and the media. But once we belong to God, we’re no longer our own, so God begins the process of transforming us into the image of Jesus.
This transformation occurs at the level of our mind. Now the word Paul uses for "mind" here isn’t so much our intellect (the facts we learn in school) as it’s our worldview, that set of ideas and assumptions that controls how we interpret life. God is shifting our paradigm, changing our worldview, by replacing our culture’s assumptions and values with his own assumptions and values.
Many Christians try to renew their minds themselves. Some do this by trying to change the world system, by bringing society under the values and assumptions of the good news of Jesus Christ. However, we learned in chapter 1 of Romans that every human society is dominated by the power of sin and by values that reflect rebellion against God. There are no exceptions to this prescription we find in Romans 1. Every effort to Christianize a culture has failed, because you can only Christianize Christians. Until Christ comes again, no human culture or society can be Christianized. But that doesn’t stop some people from trying.
Other Christians try to isolate themselves from our culture. These people think that if they avoid all contact with our culture, that they won’t conform to the world anymore but they’ll be transformed. These people go to Christian auto mechanics, shop at Christian stores, read Christian novels, watch Christian television, listen to Christian radio, only go to church meetings, enroll their kids in Christian sport leagues, vacation at Christian theme parks, and so forth. It’s the same strategy the medieval monks attempted in the middle ages tried when they fled to the desert to form monasteries to isolate themselves from society’s corruption. Yet God doesn’t want us to isolate ourselves from our culture. He doesn’t want us to create a safe, Christian cocoon that avoids contact with our culture. In fact, he wants the very opposite: He wants us to be fully engaged with our culture, but to be transformed by God in the midst of that engagement with our culture.
Transformation of our worldview is something God does as we surrender ourselves fully to God. It’s not something we can achieve for ourselves. We’re powerless to stop the process of conforming to the patterns of this age, and we’re incapable of renewing our own minds. But as we surrender ourselves fully to God, the power of God works through us to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves.
What does it look like to be fully surrendered to God? Imagine the single woman in her 30s who earnestly wants to be married, yet the only guy who’s interested isn’t a follower of Jesus like she is. Surrender to God means trusting her marital status to God, believing that if it’s God’s will for her to marry that God will provide a mate that’s compatible. Surrendering fully to God means that a couple retiring might be led to devote their retirement years to serving in cross cultural missions instead of living a life of leisure. Surrendering to God means releasing all that we are--our aspirations, dreams and goals--to God for his purposes.
In light of God’s mercy, this is the only response that makes sense.
2. Evaluating Honestly (Romans 12:3)
So fully surrendering is first stage in the process. We do this every time we gather for worship, when we sing songs of surrender and release, songs that affirm Christ’s Lordship in our lives. We need to do this again and again in our lives because living sacrifices have a tendency to crawl off the altar. This is the only kind of worship that truly pleases God, the only kind that’s fully appropriate.
Now let me give you the second stage: We respond to God’s mercy in Christ by evaluating ourselves honestly from God’s perspective.
That’s what we find in v. 3. The grace God gave Paul was the privilege of being an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul didn’t do anything to earn or qualify for this role, but it was a gift of pure grace coming from a gracious God who gives gifts we don’t deserve. This grace enables Paul to speak with authority to each member of the Roman church, and each member of our congregation as well.
We’re told to not view ourselves more highly than we should, but to evaluate ourselves with sober judgment. This is a tangible, concrete example of where we need to stop conforming to our culture, and be renewed in our mind. Our tendency is to evaluate ourselves by the values and assumptions of our culture. Our culture tells us that we are what we own, so we spend thousands of dollars trying to collect as much stuff as possible because we’ve come to think that what we have defines our value and significance. Our culture tells us that we are only as valuable as we are good looking, so we become obsessed with our looks, with wearing the right clothes with the right labels, having the perfect figure, and so forth. We also all have a tendency to become drunk with our own ego when it comes to our self perception. We tend to view ourselves as more important and more indispensable than we really are. Paul wants to sober us up from such distorted thinking about ourselves. We need our minds renewed in how we evaluate ourselves.
The objective standard that sobers us up from our own ego and our culture’s confused values is "the measure of faith." Now I used to think that "the measure of faith" was my faith in God, that I can have as high a view of my own importance as I have faith to believe But as I’ve studied this phrase, I think "the measure of faith" refers to the content of "the Christian faith." The measure of faith is the truth revealed to us in the Christian faith, the doctrines and principles we have written down for us in the 66 books of the Bible. The Christian faith as its presented in the Bible presents us with an objective standard to sober us up from our ego so we can evaluate ourselves honestly.
What do you evaluate yourself by today? Do you measure your significance by your paycheck? When you get that check and you take it to the bank to deposit, do you gain your sense of value and importance by the total amount the check is worth? If so, you need your mind renewed.
Do you measure your significance on your accomplishments? Maybe you’re in your 20s and you’re on the fast track to success in your field, so you have a tendency to think every next step is a step up. Your moods are directly tied to how fast you’re moving up in your field, how many sales you close or how many degrees you complete.
Maybe you don’t think you have any significance. Perhaps you grew up with people telling you that you were worthless, that you’d never amount to anything. Maybe you’re plagued with self-doubt and insecurity, you wonder why anyone would ever love you. Maybe you fear that if people knew the real you that they’d be repelled. If so, you need your mind renewed.
Only after we first surrender ourselves to God can we then begin to evaluate ourselves honestly in light of God’s perspective. Only then can we move into this second phase of sobering up our thinking to see ourselves in accordance with the Christian faith.
3. Serving Actively (Romans 12:4-8)
Okay, now we’re ready for the third stage in responding to God’s mercy: We respond to God’s mercy in Christ by actively serving in the Christian community.
Let’s look at vv. 4 to 8 together. Paul starts by painting a picture of the Christian community for us. The church is like our own physical bodies. Just as our bodies have lots of different organs and all the organs work together for the health of the body, so also the Christian church is composed of all kinds of different people who each have a unique contribution to make to the overall health of the Christian church. Just as a physical body is only as healthy as each of the members is functioning rightly, a local church is only as healthy as its members are functioning rightly.
Paul lists seven different spiritual gifts here to illustrate what he’s talking about. Now this isn’t an exhaustive list of spiritual gifts, but these are simply seven examples of how the Christian church is diverse. If you want to learn more about spiritual gifts, I highly recommend you enroll in our 301 seminar, "Discovering My Ministry."
Now let me explain a little bit about spiritual gifts, and then we’ll look at each one. The Greek word for grace is the word charis, and the Greek word translated "gifts" in v. 6 is the Greek word charismata. So picture God’s grace as being like white light, that comes directly from God and shines into the Christian community. The church is like a prism, where this pure white grace refracts into specific spiritual gifts give to each member of the congregation. Each gift is a concrete expression of God’s grace. Just as the different colors in a prism are all refracted from the same white light, so also all the spiritual gifts--even though they’re incredibly diverse--all call come from the same grace of God. Now it’s tragic that by the third century of the Christian church every one of these seven gifts became associated with things that only the professional pastors could do. In essence the professional pastors stole the ministry from the congregation, and the congregation was only too happy to move from being participants to spectators. But Paul’s point here is that God gives grace gifts to every, single member of the Christian community without exception. Every member has something to offer, every member has received grace to share with others, whether male or female, old or young, regardless of ethnic origin, social status, or whatever.
Paul starts with the spiritual gift of prophecy. Although some have equated prophecy with preaching, it probably means more than that. Prophecy is simply declaring God’s will in the Church. God sometimes uses the gift of prophecy to make his will known when a church is facing important decisions. Paul says that prophecy is to operate "in agreement with the faith, "which like the word faith in v. 3 probably refers to the Christian faith. In other words, the doctrines of the Christian faith within the Bible provide a testing ground for the gift of prophecy, and prophecy is only to be considered valid if its in accordance with the Christian faith contained in the Bible.
Years ago here at the church one of our staff pastors was Michael, and his wife Suzie had the spiritual gift of prophecy. Long before I went to seminary or became a pastor here at LBF Church, Suzie shared a prophecy with me that I’d one day be on staff here in a pastoral role. She shared that prophecy with me back in 1984, and that prophetic message helped confirm my calling to become the pastor of teaching seven years later. That’s the gift of prophecy.
The gift of serving is simply meeting practical needs in the Church. This is stacking chairs, putting postage on stamps, sweeping up leaves, and so forth. But this is service rendered in the context of the Christian community for the overall health of the church. When I think of service I think of Darrell, who works every week in our usher/greeter ministry. Every Sunday Darrell gets here early, puts up tables in our courtyard, sweeps up the leaves, and gets things ready for the worship service. He makes sure the communion elements are prepared each week as well. I also think of Bob and Lisa, who work each week behind the scenes working the video projector and lighting system. People with the gift of serving are people you rarely see up front but their contribution is vital to the health of the congregation.
Paul also mentions the gift of teaching here. People with the gift of teaching help the Church understand Christian truth. Three weeks ago when Pastor Gary preached I helped out with third graders in children’s ministry. I watched Chris use his gift of teaching to help 15 third graders understand the Bible better. He used magic tricks, stories, and the lesson plan to help these kids understand Christian truth and see ways of applying it to their lives. Nancy, who works with our women’s ministry is also another example of someone with a gift of teaching. She’s wonderful at taking biblical concepts and explaining them in creative ways that help us remember them. In fact, my wife still talks about one object lesson she did years ago about keeping priories straight.
We also find the gift of encouraging in these verses. People with the gift of encouragement--also called the gift of exhortation--excel in motivating people in the church to keep growing spiritually. Last Sunday I sat in on our Adult Bible Fellowship group that meets during the 9:30 service. A member of our church named Steve leads that group, and Steve is a great example of the gift of encouragement. When he gives the lesson he wants you to walk away pumped up to take new steps in your spiritual life so you can keep growing spiritually.
We find the gift of contributing to the needs of others here. Now all of us are supposed to be generous with our resources in the church, but these are people who are especially effective at using their financial resources to further the ministry of the church. These are the two people who last Sunday immediately made out checks for $1,000 each for the little Romanian girl who needs radiation treatment. These are the people who are on the frontlines of our building campaigns.
We also find the gift of leading mentioned here. Like the conductor in an orchestra, leaders move the church forward in fulfilling its mission. These leaders are told to "govern diligently," which is a way of saying, "Keep the vision, stay excited." I think here of our lay elders Mal and Mike, who are people of vision who help us stay on track with our mission. I think of someone like Ruth, who’s led our Mom to Mom ministry the last few years and done a great job of providing leadership to a group of over 50 moms who participate in this support group.
Finally, we find the gift of mercy mentioned here. The gift of mercy is simply providing members of the church with care and comfort during times of need. Now of course this doesn’t mean that the rest of us can be merciless, but it does mean that some Christians are especially gifted in providing this care and comfort. Many of our Stephen’s Ministers have this gift, as they provide people with loving support as they go through painful trials and difficulties in life.
These seven of these gifts function as examples of how each of us can actively serve in the Christian community. Again, if you’re new to thinking about spiritual gifts, you really need to take our 301 seminar. The last time this seminar will be offered before the fall is on June 24, and it’s important that you pre-register.
Every person who considers this church their church ought to have a place of service. In fact, on your Growth Guide I’ve listed several ways you can serve in ministry this summer. Everything from helping with summer children’s ministry to volunteering for our coffee house, from playing on the worship team to being an usher or greeter are great ways to apply the teaching of these verses.
Conclusion
How do we respond appropriately to God’s mercy? First by surrendering ourselves fully to God-as living sacrifices-and then by evaluating ourselves accurately, and finally by serving actively in the church. Surrender fully, evaluate accurately, serve actively. This is the appropriate response to God’s mercy.
What better way to apply this than to enter into a time of worship where we start with offering ourselves up fully to God, allowing him to transform us by renewing our minds and asking him to lead us in the area of service within the body he calls us to.
