Once a year in
Let me assure you of
one thing. By the end of the day, all of those animals are dead. They’re dead
sacrifices. (You’ll be glad to know that I resisted the temptation to do a
rendition of Monty Python’s “dead parrot sketch” at this point.) They’re dead
sacrifices. In fact a sacrifice is pretty much dead by definition, but Paul
writes to the church in Rome and urges them to do something a little strange, “to
offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.”
This week we’re starting a new series on spiritual gifts. Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking at some of the different ways in which God gifts people, not just to do different things, but to be different things.
We’ll be looking at the main places in the New Testament where it talks about gifts; 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, 1 Peter 4, Ephesians 4 and Romans 12, and you can read those passages yourselves over the next few weeks.
This morning we’re going to be starting in Romans 12, but we won’t get onto the actual stuff about gifts until next week because there’s some important ground work that we need to lay before we go there.
Romans 12:1 is a pivot point in Paul’s
letter to the Romans. Paul had a particular way of writing letters. He would
introduce himself, greet the church he was writing to, usually he would then
thank God for them and tell them how he was praying for them, after that he
would write about various theological issues, then he would start giving
practical application of what he had just said. He’d lay out what it meant to the
lives of the people in
Romans 12:1 is the beginning of that
practical section in this letter. Paul has just spent 11 chapters explaining
the message that he preaches and how it applies to everybody, Jew and non-Jew
alike. Now, having dealt with all that, he turns to practical matters of what
the gospel means in their lives. He moves from arguing a point to encouraging people
to live differently…Therefore, I urge
you, brothers (and sisters), in view of God’s mercy,
[I was talking with
However, when it comes
to understanding the Bible, there is a rule that I learned years ago which will
always serve you well. That rule is, “When you come to a “therefore,” ask, what
is the “therefore,” there for?”
Therefore, I urge you, brothers (and sisters), in view of God’s
mercy,
A “therefore” looks
backwards to what has been said before and connects it to what comes after. For
instance, “Marilyn had the car for much of this week, therefore I had to
come to the office on my bike.” One event, Marilyn having the car, had
the effect that I had to ride my bike into work this week.
That’s exactly what
Paul is doing here in Romans. One event, the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ, has an expected effect in the lives of those who have
chosen to follow him as Lord. Everything that Paul goes on to say from here to
the end of Romans is a logical result of what he has just said in the first 11
chapters.
Those of you who watch
“House” will know Greg House’s mantra, “Everyone lies.” Paul would agree with
him. In fact Paul makes it broader. He says everyone doesn’t just lie. Lying is
just a narrow aspect of the much broader fact that everyone sins. That’s what Rom
1–3 is about. Everybody sins, even the religious folks. Everybody chooses to
serve themselves rather than serve God and others, and that’s sin.
Then Paul goes on to
say in Romans 3-5 that God has dealt with our sin in Jesus’ death and
resurrection. We still live in tension, having to deal with temptation and
struggles; he talks about that in Rom 6–8. Then, in Rom 9-11 he deals with what
for him was the painful reality that most of his fellow Jews had rejected the
gospel.
Then we get to Romans
12:1 and Paul says that because of all this, because we are sinners, yet God
has mercifully sent his Son to die on the cross for us to cleanse us from our
sin, because of that mercy of God, therefore we should learn to live
differently.
And the way he
expresses that call to live differently is by calling the Romans, and us, “to
offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.”
That may be strange
language for us. I mean, when was the last time anybody here witnessed a
sacrifice? But, for the people Paul was writing to, sacrifice was something
everybody understood. If they were Gentiles (non-Jews) then there were temples
in every city where people offered sacrifices to a whole slew of gods and
goddesses. If they were Jews, they had over a thousand years of history behind
then, of sacrifices being offered according to the Old Testament system.
There were two main
types of sacrifice in the Old Testament. One type dealt with sin, either the
sin of individuals or the sin of the whole nation, by having an animal die
instead of the person making the offering. Sin sacrifices, or sin offerings,
were totally destroyed in the process of offering them. Leviticus refers to
them as “whole burnt offerings” because the whole thing was burned up.
The other kind of
sacrifice was a form of worship. Part of the offering was destroyed but the
rest was eaten as a fellowship meal with God as an act of worship.
When Jesus died on the
cross he became our sin offering. Because he died, we don’t have to offer a
sacrifice for our sins any more, Jesus already did that; he died for us as our
true sacrifice.
But we are
called to make ourselves the other kind of sacrifice, a sacrifice of worship,
what Paul calls a living sacrifice.
At this point you’re
probably wondering what in the world this has to do with spiritual gifts. Well,
the answer is that what we do with our bodies is important. Paul says that
since God has been so merciful to us we should offer our bodies as
living sacrifices. Not just our souls or our spirits, but our bodies. That
means offering our feet to go places for God, our hands to do things for God,
our tongues to say things for God.
A wise Christian
leader by the name of William Temple once said that “Christianity is the most
materialistic of all religions.” What he meant was that, for Christians, serving
God is not just a “spiritual” activity. It isn’t just about doing certain religious
rites at certain times on certain days. According to the Bible God cares about
every aspect of who we are, what we do with our bodies as well as our souls.
If you asked the
average person what counted as spiritual activities you’d probably get answers
like; going to church, or meditating, or practicing yoga - stuff like that. [In
Vancouver there’s a situation developing where the city is telling a downtown church
that they can meet for worship services and all that, but if they want to serve
food to the poor or provide shelter through the Out Of The Cold programme they
have to get a social services permit from the city because that isn’t
“spiritual.”]
But Jesus told us that
we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
That means that what we do with our physical strength is also, or can also be, an
act of worship. Brian moving people in and out of apartments earlier this week
was an act of worship. Sheila, Helen, Laurie and the ladies from the Korean
church serving a meal on Tuesdays is an act of worship. So is teaching a class
at KidsChurch or visiting someone who’s a shut-in.
“offer your bodies as
living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of
worship.”
Some translations say “this
is your spiritual act of worship,” but others read something like, “this is
your reasonable service,” “the reasonable thing for you to do.” And, once I
grasp just how much God loves me and just how much he has given to win me back
to himself, even to the point of giving up his Son in my place. Once I get a
hold of that idea, then the most reasonable thing I can do is to lay down my
life as an offering of service back to God. It’s the only sensible thing to do,
the only reasonable response.
Christians don’t do
good works to earn their way into heaven. Nothing I do or don’t do can make a
bit of difference in my eternal destiny. The only thing that makes a difference
is whether or not I accept God’s offer of mercy in Jesus. Once I do that my
life should change. Not because I’m trying to earn brownie points with God, but
out of gratitude for what God has already done in my life.
But it isn’t
automatic. That’s why Paul then goes on to tell the Romans, 2 Do not conform any
longer to the pattern of this world… I love the way J.B. Phillips translates this,
“Don’t let the world squeeze you
into its mould.”
We all know what
that’s like, being squeezed into a mould by others. And it’s not just about
wearing the right clothes or saying the right things when you’re in high
school. It’s about what you value, what’s important to you. Who gets to decide
who you are? You? Your friends? The advertisers who tell you that you
have to have this or that, or look this way or that way, if you want to be
successful? The government?
The reality is that, unless we choose otherwise, we will all be shaped
by other people. The big squeeze
is on. The world, the culture around us, is seeking to squeeze us into its
mould. For some of you, who have only recently begun to follow Jesus, this is
right in your face. You’ve spent the last 20, 30, 40, whatever, years being
shaped by a particular set of values, a particular set of friends. Some of those
values might line up with what Jesus calls us to, but others don’t. Values like
“look out for number one,” or “I don’t get mad, I get even,” or even “just do
it” really don’t fit in God’s kingdom. You might have been shaped by those
forces for years, and now God is calling you to change, to resist the big
squeeze.
For others, we’ve been
following Jesus for so long that we can almost fool ourselves into believing
we’re immune to the world’s influences. But the reality is that we often behave
no differently from the people around us. A lot of the time, we’re just as
shaped by the world as anybody else.
That’s why the answer
to the big squeeze is the same whether you’ve been walking with Jesus for 50
years or 5 days, “be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.”
We’re still talking about offering our bodies as living sacrifices here.
But our bodies do what our minds tell them to do. So the path to offering our
bodies, our lives, up to God has to lead through our minds.
“be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Have you ever watched a nature show and seen a caterpillar spin a cocoon
around itself then emerge as a butterfly? The scientific term for that process,
changing from a caterpillar to a butterfly, is a Greek word, “metamorphosis.”
And that’s the word Paul uses here when he says “be transformed.” God is in the
process of changing all of us from caterpillars, that have been shaped by the
world’s values, into butterflies that are shaped by the values of God’s kingdom.
He does that through the renewing of our minds, and we need to cooperate
with him if it’s going to work. That’s because one of the major ways that God
renews our minds is through the Holy Spirit applying the Word of God to our
hearts.
Here’s how it works. I read the Bible on a regular basis. That gives the
Holy Spirit something to work with in my life. He brings things back to my
memory that I’ve read. He uses those things to help me make better choices, and
those choices, over time, shape my character. Gradually, I’m transformed by the
renewing of my mind.
Edna was telling me last week about how, just a few years ago, the Bible
was all gobble-de-gook to her. But as she has read it regularly and allowed the
Holy Spirit to apply it to her life, it has made more and more sense to her,
and God has changed her life through it. She is being transformed by the
renewing of her mind.
And the end result of
all this, of allowing the Holy Spirit to use God’s word to transform us from worldly
caterpillars into godly butterflies, of serving God with our whole lives,
including our bodies, is that then we are …able to
test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
People are always
asking what God’s will is for them. Usually when they ask that question they
mean; whom should I marry, what career should I pursue, what are my spiritual
gifts, what is my ministry, things like that; the big questions. People want to
know God’s will for their lives and they want to know it now.
According to Romans
12, the way to find God’s will is offer ourselves in service to him, and to
cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the renewing of our minds, so that we are
transformed. That happens in the little things of daily life. Choosing to do
the loving thing rather than the selfish thing. Choosing to say something that
lifts someone up, rather than puts them down. Choosing to serve someone else,
rather than serve myself.
These are the little
decisions of life that form our character under the direction of the Holy
Spirit. 2 Cor 3:18 says, 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect
the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. And as we are gradually changed into his
likeness it becomes easier to know his will for us.
Also, as we cooperate
with the Holy Spirit we find that he not only changes our character, he goes on
to release gifts in our lives to bless those around us. He can do that because
he’s shaping our character in such a way that he can trust us not to use those
gifts selfishly. (But that’s next week’s sermon.)
1.
Christianity
is not just about “spiritual” stuff. It’s about what we do every day with our
tongue, our hands, our feet, our bodies.
2.
There is a
“big squeeze” on to try and force all of us into the mould of the culture around
us.
3.
The way to
resist the “big squeeze” is to allow the Holy Spirit to apply the Word of God
(the Bible) to our lives so that we are transformed.