ALL CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEB GRACED-GRAFTED-and GIFTED
Text: Romans, Chapter 12
Introduction.
Try, if you will, to picture the following two scenes in the life of a “typical” family.
A father is talking with his daughter—a senior in high school—who is concerned about the next day’s event. The daughter says, “I’m nervous about tomorrow, because I’m taking the SAT Test for college.”
She knows how important the test score is when applying to the best colleges, and she knows the effect it will have on her future. The father replies, “Well, just do the best you can, but you know I expect my daughter to score a perfect 1600 on the test!”
The following day, the man’s son comes into his father’s office at work and says, “Dad, great news! I made the team!”
The father looks up from his work and says to the son, “Good, Son. But are you going to be the star?”
When I was coaching in high school, I found it difficult to coach my own son. Many great athletes started off the son of a Coach—maybe because of the advantage of a player living, literally 24/7, with his coach.
Now, of course, Steve wanted to be a great player; however, sometimes your physical assets (size and quickness) determine how good you actually can be.
Steve had slow feet, and even though his brain and the effort he put forth said, “I need to be over there”, his feet didn’t carry him quick enough. He was a good player, but his slow feet kept him from being a great player.
· Was it a case of not working hard enough? No, Steve worked hard.
· Was it because he was not committed enough? No, Steve was very committed.
· The reason Steve wasn’t a great player was that he was not blessed with the physical assets to enable him to be a great basketball player.
As a coach—and as a father—I never wanted him to think that his worth as a human to his mother and I was based on how many points he could score in a basketball game. Whether he became a starter—a star—or a great basketball player didn’t determine his value as a human being.
How does God look at us? What if He graded us strictly on an achievement level? God commended His love toward us while we were yet sinners. We were not doing very well at all at that time—but God loved us. God felt that saving us was worth the death of His Son on the cross at Calvary.
We were worth something to Him even then—but it sure wasn’t based on achievement! God does ask us for our best effort; and, as Paul told the Christians in Thessalonica,
1st Thessalonians 2:11-12
---11---“…just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a Father would his own children;
---12---So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
“Saving Private Ryan”.
The movie Saving Private Ryan was on television last week. It’s a movie about the D-Day invasion during World War II. After the invasion, 8 soldiers are sent out in enemy territory to save one private. They were sent to bring Private Ryan back to safety, because all of his brothers had been killed in combat. He was the sole surviving son, and the Army wanted to send him back to his mother—alive.
As the story unfolds, the soldiers argue about the morality of risking all their lives to save one man. In one scene, one of the soldiers said, “Well, he better be a brain surgeon or something!”
He wasn’t—but all 8 men lost their lives saving Private Ryan.
The movie closes with Private Ryan going back to a cemetery in Europe where all eight men were buried. Ryan was now an old man, and all of his family followed him to the cemetery and to each grave. As the movie ends, Ryan is standing at the last grave remembering the events and, as he does, he starts crying. Looking at the grave, and old and gray Ryan pleads—“Please, tell me that I have been a good man!”
It was terribly important to him that he had lived a worthy life after eight brave men had sacrificed their lives for him! He didn’t want their sacrifice to have been in vain—he needed to know he had been worthy.
Romans, Chapter 12.
This morning, we come to Chapter 12 in our journey through Paul’s letter to the Romans. This is one of my favorite chapters of the Bible, because, as a Christian, if I ever get to wondering— “Who am I?”, or “What is expected of me?”, or “How should I be living my life?”—I can come to this chapter of Romans and it answers those questions for me and for all Christians.
If you have you Bible, please turn with me to Romans, Chapter 12 and let’s see what Paul has to say to us this morning.
Romans 12:1-2
---1---“I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
---2---And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Paul says, “I urge you…”, or, “I beseech you by the MERCIES of God…”. Paul has told us all throughout the book of Romans about the MERCY of God. God has extended to each of us His GRACE. We have been graced.
Graced.
God has extended to us the opportunity for a new life in Christ Jesus. Our value does not depend upon our position or upon our power—it depends upon the person of Jesus Christ. Paul says that God has graced us—then he tells us how we are expected to respond to God’s grace. He tells us to present our bodies as a “living and holy sacrifice”.
Now, what does Paul mean by a “living sacrifice”? This idea of a living sacrifice must have been quite a novel idea to the Jews of that day. Jews had previously only offered dead sacrifices to God.
Remember, under the Law of Moses, people would bring an animal to the priest and the priest would kill it and offer it as a sacrifice to God for their sins of that year. This sacrifice would stand with God for one year. God never forgave their sins, but He chose to forget them for one year.
This changed forever when Jesus Christ came as a perfect and final sacrifice, for all sin. Jesus was the final substitute for our sins, and there was no longer any need for a dead sacrifice. That’s why, In Romans, chapter 8, Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus!”
Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, God gave us eternal life. And when we obey the gospel of Christ, Paul tells us we give our life back to God as a living sacrifice.
I guess the question that comes to mind is this:
· Are we offering a “living” and holy sacrifice to God, or are we still offering a “dead” sacrifice?
· Are we only offering a “partial” sacrifice?
· Are we doing things because we think if we do them, we’ll gain something?
We should do things because of the love in our heart—not because we’re duty-bound or legally obligated.
How do we learn to grow into that living and holy sacrifice? Paul says, “…not to be conformed to this world, but that we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind.”
How do we make this metamorphosis, and that is the Greek word for transformed. How do we make this mental transition? Paul says it begins in the mind. Maybe, if we can remember the condition of our past···lost in sin···—and where we are now···in the body of Christ···it might help us live this life of abundance.
Jesus said, “I come to give you life, more abundantly.” Paul say it begins in the mind. We must make a choice. Maybe if we remember…..
The famous Russian novelist, Feyador Dovstevsky, told of the events of his life. He told about when he was arrested by the Czar of Russia and was sentenced to die. The Czar was known for playing bizarre psychological tricks on people he felt had rebelled against him.
In Dostevsky’s case, the Czar had him marched out in front of a firing squad and blindfolded. This was one of the Czar’s favorite tricks and he’d done it to many others as well. Dostevsky related that the Czar had this done to him on several occasions.
When he stood blindfolded in front of the firing squad, he would hear the triggers click, then the guns fire….but no bullet hit him. Either the guns fired blanks or they fired over his head. However, he said that going through the process of preparing to die—each time believing he would die—had a transforming effect on him.
He talked about waking up each morning with the full assurance that this would be his last day of life. Each meal was his last…and it tasted so good—every breath of air he took was precious to him—every face he saw, he studied with great intensity.
Suddenly, every experience was etched in his mind!
Each time he was marched through the courtyard, into the heat of the sun, he was able to appreciate the sun so much. He said, “I was seeing the world in a way I had never seen it before. I was fully alive for the first time in my life!”
If we remember what it’s like to be dead in sin, maybe we will be more able to feel how great it is to be alive in Christ, and we will gladly and willingly present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.
This means more than being involved—it means TOTALITY. There’s a difference between involvement and commitment. One person described it by telling us to look at our breakfast plate. When we see eggs and bacon on that plate, you know that the chicken was involved, BUT the pig was committed!
Grafted.
Not only has God graced us with a new life in Christ Jesus, but when we obey the gospel, we are grafted into the body of Christ—the Church. The Church is Christ’s living body, and we become part of a living organism—not a lifeless, dead organization.
Many fruit trees today are grown from grafts, and the reason why is because of the superiority of the fruit. When a branch from a high-yielding variety is grafted into the root-stock of a particularly hardy variety, the resultant fruit tree become the best of both worlds.
The trees are grafted together and the branches become a living part of a hardy tree, which produces a high-yield fruit. When God grafts us into the body of Christ, we become a part of a hardy, living organism that is designed to produce! In Romans, chapter 12, Paul says we are “all one body in Christ…”
Romans 12:3-5
---3---“…for through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
---4---For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
---5---So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
I believe that there are 3 implications of this Truth. The first, according to Paul, is we are grafted and we become one body and that each of us has different work to do. The way the Church becomes a healthy, thriving, and spiritually growing organism is when we—each of us—take the responsibility for doing the work we have the ability to do.
We should understand that we have different roles because He has given us different gifts. Now, some of our gifts are different from the miraculous gifts given to some Christians in the 1st century. That’s because our needs are different!
We have the complete revelation from God in the form of the Bible, which is God’s inspired word. We don’t need direct revelation or miraculous gifts to confirm the Truth. God has always given us the tools to accomplish what He expects from us.
When Paul told the Church in Ephesus to “put on the full armor of God”, we can assume that God has provided the armor. God has given us gifts, or abilities, to accomplish His work today. The question is not, “Are the tools provided?” The question is, “Will we use them?”
Gifted.
In Romans 12:6-8, Paul writes…
---6---“And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly; if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
---7---If service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;
---8---Or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with all diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
We should understand that we can have different gifts or roles, but that does not imply any sort of ranking or importance. There is no hierarchy. The foot is not ranked higher than the ear, and the ear is not ranked more important than the leg. We should thank God for our diversity!
When we are grafted together,
· The fruit belongs to the branch—
· The branch belongs to the trunk—
· And the trunk belongs to the root.
In verse 5, Paul says, “We belong together—we belong to each other.”
We are grafted into the body of Christ and are important to the working of the body—and we will all need each other. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 12:17-21—
---17---“If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
---18---But now God has placed the members, each of them, in the body, just as He desired.
---19---And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
---20---But now there are many members, but one body.
---21---And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again, the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’.”
We are needed. I need you and you need me. We need each other. We are all part of the body of Christ.
Now, if we have been graced, we are to offer our bodies as a “living and holy sacrifice”—and we have been grafted into the body of Christ—and we have been gifted with the tools and abilities to serve God effectively, then what kind of people are we?
What are the things we should be doing daily as a “living sacrifice”?
Paul answers this question for all Christians in Romans 12:9-21 (NASV).
---9---“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
---10---Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
---11---not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
---12---rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
---13---contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
---14---Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
---15---Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
---16---Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
---17---Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
---18---If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
---19---Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.
---20---‘BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.’
---21---Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Invitation.
