Checklist to Consecration
I. Introduction
A. Announce passage: Romans 12:1-2
B. Daddy’s got all there is of me!
C. Passage and introduction, then read.
D. A church heavy-laden and burdened
E. Alan E Johnson "the secret that unlocks the unlimited possibilities of
genuine Christian faith in the world."
F. I have an answer!
G. Most people say consecration
H. In the Old Testament it wasn’t until…that God came and dwelt among them
I. In the New Testament Christ is our ultimate example
J. He followed his prayer up with action and made himself subject to death and now we are the temples of the Holy Ghost.
K. We cannot receive the fullness until Christ is Lord.
L. I have four points or checks this morning
II. A Body Continually Sacrificed
A. Sacrifice is unpleasant
B. Why? Why must we give everything? Why do we have to offer a living sacrifice?
C. What is mercy?
D. Romans 9:14-18 Paul is pointing out the God’s mercy is selective, further demonstrating that it is undeserved
E. We see how God’s mercy works in the life of Christ, when he healed the blind men and touched the lepers
F. What is our response to that mercy. Paul gives us a response in verse one
G. In the first and second century church there was a group of people known as the Montanists.
H. They would say, "Do not hope to die in bed…but as Martyrs."
I. They were willing to die for Christ and many today are but are we willing to live for Christ
J. The complete abandonment of our bodies to the service of Christ represents the very core of the Christian life.
K. Romans 6:13
L. Are we willing to offer ourselves as those who have been brought from death to life. Are we willing to simply obey.
M. Are we willing to obey in the little things. Young people I had a problem with this…
N. We need to check ourselves, are we obeying what Christ has already asked us to do.
O. Isaac Watts, When I survey The Wondrous Cross
P. The good is if we do that then…but we still have a choice everyday…but I would much rather
III. Do not conform to this World
A. 1 John 2:15
B. love of the father is not in him, that’s strong stuff
C. What is the world? The values, ideas, practices, and relationships, of the culture at large.
D. It’s the stuff we are bombarded with everyday…to take on it’s fashions, ideas, values, and practices.
E. Paul urges us not to because worldliness can rip our spiritual lives apart.
1. Destroys the influence of the truth (Matt 13)
2. It gives people a false sense of security (Noah)
3. It moulds all your activities and plans
4. It leads us to spiritual apostasy (2 Tim.) Demas
F. James 4:4 - why so harsh? worldliness is dangerous
IV. A life conformed to Christ
A. Day by day are we meeting with him
B. D.L. Moody’s flyleaf in his Bible
C. Psalm 119:165
D. Awesome thought, but the reason we have so many Christians today who are stumbling, so many falling into sin, and so many getting discouraged…
E. The only hope we have against stumbling
V. A mind transformed by the word of God
A. Only hope we have against stumbling
B. Input / Output song
C. Fan of Bible memorization because…I would challenge you guys
D. The Greek word Paul uses for transformed is metamorphosis, same as Christ’s transfiguration…changing from the inside out
E. The glory of the Lord is in our hearts
F. 2 Corinthians 3:18
G. One thing I’ve noticed about the world is they try to change us from the outside in, God wants to change us by his Spirit from the inside out
H. Then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.
I. Alexander the Great Illustration
Good morning! The text I want to look at this morning is found in the book of Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, so if you’d like to it might be helpful to go ahead and turn there in your bibles. As you guys are turning let me just give you a little bit of background as to what Paul has been talking about up to this point. In the previous chapters Paul has discussed things like sanctification, justification, glorification, and in the past three chapters 9-11 Paul has been discussing the mercies of God. More specifically the mercy God has shown sinful man through his Son Jesus Christ. And so this is the background to which Paul starts chapter 12. I’m going to go ahead and read the two verses, I’m reading out of the new international version: "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. 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."
Today, perhaps more than ever before, there are Christians in every state, in every city, and in every church who will tell you that they just don’t feel that peace that is promised in the bible. Christian after Christian who can’t find the joy that is supposed to overflow within us. Christians who aren’t living in the wondrous victory of the cross. And
because they’re not feeling that peace, finding that joy, and living in that victory we have become a church that is heavy-laden and burdened with the cares and worries of the world. Paul opens up the 12th chapter of his epistle to the Romans with a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith, an answer, I believe, to a church in just such a position. Alan E. Johnson calls these two verses "the secret that unlocks the unlimited possibilities of genuine Christian life in then world," and he is completely right. Paul makes the
appeal for the supreme sacrifice of complete devotion to God. And that is the same appeal that I would like to make to you this morning. This morning if you are tired of carrying around the burdens and worries of this world then I have an answer for you. An answer from a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The word that most authors use to describe the subject of the 12th chapter of Romans is consecration. Now consecration is just a theological term that means giving one’s self wholly to God. M.H. Martin defined consecration like this, "Consecration is handing God a blank sheet to fill in with your name signed at the bottom." In the Old Testament it wasn’t until after the tabernacle and all of its trappings were consecrated to God, and
Aaron and his sons were consecrated into the priesthood. That God came and dwelt among them. In the New Testament our ultimate example of consecration would be Jesus Christ himself, because he lived his entire life wholly given over to God. In the garden he prayed, "Not my will, but your will." Because Christ prayed that prayer, because he didn’t just stop at the prayer but followed those words up with action, because he made himself subject to death even death upon a cross, our bodies are now the temples of the Holy Ghost. We can now have the privilege of God living inside of us. But we will not
receive the fullness of those blessings I mentioned before, that joy, that peace, and that victory until we allow Christ to sit on the throne of our lives.
Now that is a hard pill to swallow, but never the less it’s true. Now this morning as we take a look at Paul’s words here in the first two verses of chapter 12, I’ve got three steps. Three things that I believe are kind of the stepping stones to consecration. If you have something to write with and write on it might be helpful to jot these down. Now I have in no way mastered these myself, but they are extremely helpful as kind of checklist to
consecration if you will.
Verse one reads like this, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of Gods mercy, to offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship." The first step towards consecration is this, a body continually sacrificed. A body continually sacrificed. Most of the time just that word sacrifice makes me cringe. In my selfish human nature the thought of having to give something up isn’t pleasant and when it is myself I have to give well that can be kind of scary. But that is just the sacrifice that Paul urges us to make, and the sacrifice that God requires us to give. A good question at this point would be why? Why do we have to give everything? Why must we make ourselves living sacrifices? And the answer is right there in the first verse. Paul tells us to offer this sacrifice in view of God’s mercy. And what great mercy it is. But what is mercy? It’s a word that we like to throw around a lot, we have a lot of songs
about mercy, but I wonder do we really know what it is or fully understand it. After all, how can we make a sacrifice because of mercy if we don’t know what mercy is. Simply put mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. It is God’s compassion on his creation. If we take a look back a couple of chapters to chapter 9 verses 14-18 Paul says something about God’s mercy that is very interesting and very worth taking note of. Paul says this in verse 18, "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden." Paul is pointing out the fact that God’s mercy is selective, further showing that it is undeserved. We have done nothing to merit the mercy of God, he has chosen to shower his mercy on us, and for that reason our lips should never cease to utter his praise. We have some great examples of how God’s mercy works in the life of Christ. Christ’s compassion and mercy show through when he healed the blind men and when he touched the lepers and made them clean. Like us they did nothing to deserve a touch from the Lord but his mercy made them whole. This morning if that mercy has been shown to you, I know God’s mercy has been poured out on me, but if you have
seen that mercy in your life, what is your response to it? The response that the word of God urges us to make is that we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.
In the first and second century church there was a group of people known as the Montanists. The group or the movement or whatever you want to call it had quite a large following. And most of the people involved in Montanism were very passionate, but regardless of their passion they had some doctrinal flaws which got them into a lot of trouble. One problem they had was that they emphasized the Second Coming of Christ so much that people were actually quitting their jobs and just sitting around waiting. Another of their problems was the fact that they relished persecution. One of the things a
Montanist would say is this, "Do not hope to die in bed…but as martyrs." These people were actually walking around trying to find ways to be martyred, they were looking for martyrdom. They were willing to be die for Christ. Whether it meant burning at the stake, or being torn apart by lions, these guys were willing to die. Even today a lot of Christians will tell you that they are willing to die for Christ and that’s great, but are you and I
willing to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. The complete abandonment of our bodies to the service of Christ represents the very core of the Christian life. Romans 6:13 says this, "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." The question we need to ask ourselves here is "Are we offering our bodies to Him as instruments of righteousness." Are we getting on our face before our God in the morning and asking him what he has planned for us today. Are we willing to do whatever God asks, are we willing to simply obey?
Not only in the big things but are we willing to obey God in the little things? Young people I used to have a big problem with this and I still catch myself every once in a while doing it. I was a young person who was willing to go to the mission field for God, but I wasn’t willing to obey my parents. I was willing to go to downtown Roanoke and preach in the streets and hand out tracts, and even go door to door telling people about Jesus, but I wasn’t willing to get up 45 minutes early to spend time with God before I went off to school. Adults and Parents, I don’t even know if I qualify as an adult yet, so I don’t have any personal examples for you, but I hope you get the idea of what I am trying to say. We need to check ourselves, God has given us a great instruction manual, are we living according to it. We are called to offer ourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life, and to offer the parts of our bodies as instruments of righteousness unto God. In view of God’s mercy, we are supposed to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Isaac Watts wrote a hymn called "When I Survey They Wondrous
Cross" and one of the verses says, "Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far to small; love so amazing so devine, demands my soul, my life, my all." The good news is that if we do that, if let Christ sit on the throne of our hearts, if we go to him for our marching orders, than he is the pilot of our life. And our life is in the hands of the one who created us. Now we still have the choice everyday to put ourselves on that throne, and to be the pilot of our own lives. But I myself would rather have my life in the
hands of my creator. Amen.
Ok, check number one was a body continually sacrificed, to find out what the next one is lets check out verse number two. I’m just gonna read the first part of it. It says this "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world…" 1 John 2:15 says this, "Love not the world neither the things in the world, for if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world." If any man loves the world the love of the father is not in him. That’s pretty strong stuff so let’s make sure we know what we’re talking about here. What is the world? Well that world is the values, ideas, practices, and relationships of the culture at large. It is the very stuff that we are bombarded with from the moment we wake up from the moment we go to bed. We have it is shouted at us from the TV, we hear it from the radio, we see it on billboards, we even
hear it from each other. From every side we are urged to give in and be like the world. To take on it’s fashions, it’s values, it’s ideas, and it’s practices. But Paul urges us to not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. Why, worldliness can rip our spiritual life apart. To start with it destroys the influence of the truth. In Matthew 13 Jesus told the parable about the sower and the seed, do you guys remember the application about the
seed that grew among the thorns. It was a man that heard the word but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the word and it became unfruitful. So wordiness destroys the influence of the truth, but it also gives people a false sense of security. If you remember back when Noah built the ark, the people of the world were so busy eating and drinking, so busy and so wrapped up in the things of the world that the flood totally took them by surprise. Christ warned us that if we’re not careful the same thing could happen to us and will happen to so many when he comes again. Also worldliness mould all your activities and plans. When we get caught up I the world we’re not to God for our direction but we’re going to the things of this world for direction. And finally worldliness will lead us to spiritual apostasy, it will turn us away from the lord. In 2 Timothy Paul says that Demas has forsaken him and has left, the reason, he loved this present world. James 4:4 says, "You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that
friendship with the world is enmity with God, whoever then will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." The bible speaks out very strongly against worldliness because it is so dangerous. So if we’re not supposed to be conformed to the world, what are we to conform to. Well this is where the second check comes in, and it’s not what it’s who. The second check is a life conformed to Christ. A life conformed to Christ. And the best way to make sure that day by day our life is being conformed to the image and life of Christ is by making sure that day by day we meet with him. And that means getting on our knees in the morning and talking to God and opening this book and reading his word. D.L. Moody had written in the flyleaf of his Bible these words, "This book will keep me from sin, or sin will keep me from this book." Psalm 119:165 says, "Great peace have they that love your law, and nothing can make them stumble." Nothing can make them stumble, that is just an awesome promise. It’s an awesome thought. But the reason we have so many Christians today who are stumbling, so many Christians who are falling into
sin, and so many Christians who are getting so discouraged in their Christian walk. Maybe because they’re not getting discipled, maybe they’re in churches that don’t preach the word. But more often than not it’s because their carcasses are parked more often in front of a television, or a newspaper, or a magazine, more often they’re than in the presence of the word of God. The only hope that we can have against stumbling is if we are in this book and this book is in us. If you had any questions about how to conform your life to Christ that’s the answer, get into this book. And that leads me right to
the last check.
So far we have a body that is continually sacrificed, a life that is conformed to Christ, and my last check is this a mind transformed by the word. A mind transformed by the word of God. Like I said the only hope that we have against falling is if we are in this word and this word is in us. Because we are constantly being bombarded with all the things of this world, we have all kinds of ungodly trash thrown at us constantly it is so important that we get alone in the morning with this book and clean all of that filth out and get this in. I’m a big fan of Bible memorization and the reason I am is because the Bible says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. I want to do everything that I can to make sure that what is in my heart is the word of God. The greek word that Paul uses for transformed is the same as the word metamorphosis which was the word used to describe Christ’s transfiguration. It literally means changing from the inside out.
The reason that that can happen is that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. The glory of the Lord resides in our hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says this, "But we all, with open faces beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
How awesome to know that the Holy Spirit is working in such a way in our lives if we are allowing Him too. And if we are offering a body that is continually sacrificed, if are not conforming to this world but conforming to Christ, and if we are transforming our minds by the word of God then the last part of verse two will become true in our lives. We will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. It wont be hidden or mysterious, but we will be able to test and prove it and then follow it.
There was a great man who used to walk this earth by the name of Alexander the great. Many of you have probably heard of Alexander. He was a man who conquered all the lands that could be conquered at that point in history and then cried because there were no more lands to conquer. As you can imagine Alexander was in charge of a great army. In Alexander’s army there was one thing that was never tolerated and that was cowardice.
One day while Alexander was holding court a young soldier was brought before him. As the young man was thrown before the seat of the great Alexander the charge was read. "This young man was cought fleeing from the battlefield and found cowering in a cave."
As soon as Alexander heard the charge his entire body tensed and he face filled with anger. For such a charge he could not allow this young man to go free.
The young man shaking at Alexander’s feet now raised his head and looked into the face of this great leader. When Alexander saw the young man his heart gave way and he was more enclied to mercy. Seeing the young man’s youthful face somehow changed Alexander’s attitude.
Alexander stood up and looked down at the young man and asked, "Son, what is your name."
Looking up the young man said with a shaking voice, "Alexander, sir."
Alexander immediately tensed back up, and repeated more forcibly, "Son, I asked you your name."
The young man replied again, his voice still shaking, "My name is Alexander, sir."
Alexander bent down and with anger in his face and force in his words he asked, For the last time, what is your name."
The young man, now petrefied, replied, "Alexander sir, my name is Alexander."
Alexander could take it no longer. He picked the young man up by the lapels and threw him to the ground. He pointed his fist at the young man and said, "Son, change your conduct, or change your name."
