Romans 12:1-8
Getting on the Same Page as God about How to Live Life to its Fullest
Introduction
A. It is not over yet!
B. What is not over yet, your life, if you are hearing me speak right now, your life is not over
C. Why is your life not over? Because of God’s Mercy!
D. WE deserve death, we deserve to have our life ended, but it is not
E. Why? Because of God’s Mercy
F. So what are you going to do with your life?
G. Many people will respond with “I am going to live my life to its fullest”
H. That is not a bad answer in and of itself, but how? How are you going to live life to its fullest
I. Many people have found that Money does not guarantee a full life, drugs do not offer a full life, how can we live life to its fullest
J. Today we are going to see how to live life to its fullest
K. We are going to look at
a. How to live your life
b. What to avoid in your life
c. What to do with your life
I. How to live your life (1)
A. Explanation
1. I like the way that this verse starts off, talking about in view of God’s Mercy
a) Quick review what is Mercy – God not giving us what we deserve
2. WE have to keep God’s Mercy in mind
3. Because of God Mercy we should… and then the verse continues
4. Offer our bodies as living sacrifices.
5. Offer our bodies; that might not mean much to us today as it would have meant to the first readers of Romans, Why?
6. Because today we do not practice animal sacrifices. However back in the time that was written animal sacrifices were common
7. So why does Paul say to offer our bodies? Animal Sacrifices are not a real sacrifice, so we have to give up an animal, do we care that much about animals?
8. But Paul tells us to offer our bodies as sacrifice, not to use the animal, but our bodies, ok now we are getting personal
9. The good news is that Paul said LIVING sacrifice; otherwise we could be in trouble.
10. Why do we offer our bodies as worship? Because of God’s Mercy
11. Worship is our expression of love for God
B. Application
1. How do we do this?
2. This takes a conscious effort.
3. This is not something that comes natural or easy
4. But rather, as a sacrifice
5. You want to know what real worship is?
6. Real Worship is the offering of everyday life to God.
7. That is how to live your life
8. Here is the good news, your life is not over yet
9. I do not care what you have done in the past
10. God does not care what you have done in the past
11. Forget about that, The guy who wrote this book used to persecute Christians all the time, God forgave him
12. But every morning you wake up, you have the opportunity to offer real worship
13. It does not matter about what happened yesterday, it matters what happens today
C. Illustration
1. I have told you before about a guy who I look up to as a Spiritual Mentor, Grandpa Lumis. Grandpa Lumis is 82 or 83 years old. He has the title of Ground Keeper. You would not think of that as an opportunity to serve God.
2. But he does. Every morning at 5 that guy is up. He is up offering his body as a spiritual sacrifice
3. When I was working with him for 2 solid wonderful weeks, I was humiliated. This 80-year-old man out worked me everyday. I was stronger, I was healthier, but he out worked me
4. He did not do this to show me up, he did not do this to impress his bosses at the camp, He works hard for one reason
5. To offer his body as a living Sacrifice to God
6. That’s real worship!
II. What to avoid in your life (2-3)
A. Explanation
1. Verse 2 starts off with telling us not to be conform any longer to the pattern of this world
2. Understand something, this verse in no way is saying that we should live a separated life
3. It is not saying that we should avoid things such as cars, TV, Computers
4. That is not the stuff that we are talking about, we are talking about ideas and thought
5. We live in a society that is suppose to be tolerant. We are suppose to accept everybody’s different believes and different attitudes
6. That is not the case, it is impossible to accept that there are other ways to God other then through Jesus Christ, It is impossible to say that it is ok to live a lifestyle that God tells us not live
7. Now does that mean we are to treat those who are not living according to God’s standard in a mean way, NO!
8. Verse 3 goes on to make sure we do not do those things, how does it do that?
9. It tells us not to think more of our selves, not to compare ourselves to others
10. We are not responsible for how other people live, That is between them an God
11. We are not the judge! God is the judge.
12. Guess what God does not need our help to Judge.
B. Application
1. How should we apply this to our lives?
2. WE are dealing with a double edge sword hear
3. On one side we are not to develop ideas that are contrary to What God teaches us in the Bible
4. On the other side we are not think more of ourselves the we ought
5. One of two things usually happens, one we become so “conformed” to this world that we forget right is right and wrong is wrong, and we begin to weaken our standards
6. Two we get caught up in the “Holy than thou art” legalism, were we begin to compare and judge ourselves to others
7. WE need to avoid both of those in our lives
8. Rather, we need to make sure that we are not conformed to this world and make sure that we are living in accordance to the faith that God has given to us
C. Illustration
1. Getting back to Grandpa Lumis. When I was working with him for those two weeks, it should have been obvious to everybody that he was working harder then I was.
2. Did he ever say, “ohh Dan doesn’t work as hard as I do so I guess I don’t have to work that hard” NO, he kept on going and going
3. Did he ever say, “Dan, you are lazy, you don’t work hard” NO, he kept on going and going
4. This was not about Him verse Me, this was about Him serving God
5. What the other person does, who cares, How are you living your life is what matters
6. Do not get caught up in this world and the worlds standard, and do not get caught up into thinking your more then you are
7. Get caught up in doing your best for God!
III. What to do with your life (4-8)
A. Explanation
1. How can I serve God I am just a ___________
2. I hate that phrase there is no such thing
3. Take a look at verse 4-8
4. God likes variety
5. God also understands that no one person can do it all, I am sure God could have made us in a way were we could do everything, but out of his love for us he designed us in such a way were we have to rely on other people who he also loves in order to accomplish everything in our lives
6. Because God created us different each of us has special gifts and abilities
7. Look at verses 6-8. Sum them up
8. If God given you a gift, USE IT!
9. Take a look at that list, which one do you think is the most important?
10. Is it prophesying, that is important, teaching, that is important, serving, nahh not that important right?
11. WRONG! If God gave you the gift it is important
B. Illustration
1. Let me give a couple of examples of this.
2. Neal Cridge nearly every week after I am done preaching comes up to me and says something along the lines, as “That was a great sermon.” Every time that he says that, I am encouraged. Neal you might think that saying that is not that important, it is! It really helps me. Neal is not doing this just to get his name mentioned in the sermon, Neal does this because God gave him the gift of encouragement and he is using it
3. Rick Roxby. Rick last week called me up and knew that I was studying for my exam and knew that I was nervous about it so Rick was scratching his brain as to what he could to for me and he called me up and said “Whatever I can do let me know” he offered his service. Rick also has been spending time with Barb designing a spreadsheet that Barb can use to be able to record the Church expenses and Income. Why? He did this out of his service. Rick has the gift of service and is using it
C. Application
1. How can we apply this to our lives?
2. Follow me on this one. Why do we go to Church?
3. To worship God, Right? That is a good answer
4. However, we should also be able to say I am going office to day to do what? Worship God
5. I am going to the factory today to worship God
6. I am going to school today to worship God
7. What you do with your life is not as important as Who you are doing it for
8. Whatever you do in life needs to be viewed as your act of worship towards God
9. With that in mind, there are some places were you will be more effective because of your spiritual gifts
10. These are important to discover, now the question is how many are there? I don’t know, Every body differs in opinion as to how many there are, ultimately that is because we are limited in our understanding on how God designed us
11. I have a couple of spiritual gift test that if you ask me I will give to you, but ultimately the best way to discover your spiritual gift is to try something, see if it works for you. You might find out that it is something different that you expected
Conclusion
A. Take a look again at Romans 12:1
B. That should be your goal
C. This is not about you, this is all about God
D. We do not serve god to get something, we serve God because of what He has given us
E. Every day we have the opportunity to serve God
F. To offers ourselves to God
G. It does not matter what you did yesterday it matters what you are doing today
H. Guess what? If you are hearing or reading this today, your life is not finished yet
I. The final chapter has not been written
J. You are not just a hopeless case
K. Your life is not finished yet
L. Today you can make that change
M. You can make the change for living for yourself to living for God
N. To Offering your bodies as living sacrifices to God
O. If God’s Mercy was not there, we would get what we deserve, and that for all of us is death
P. But because of God’s Mercy – God not giving us what we deserve – we have hope
Q. We do not serve God in order to gain Mercy, we serve God because of His mercy
R. (Read Romans 12:1)
S. Make it your goal! Make it your goal today!
