Sacrificial and Generous Living and Giving

Listen link: http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw

Reading: Romans 12:1-8

This message is actually a very good next step after the heartfelt worship message from Oct. 25. Sacrificial and generous living and giving can be called embodied worship. What we do with our time and talents and finances is really the best expression of worship because if worship is only what we say and sing on Sundays then all we are doing is paying lip service to God and that can’t be called worship if it is not backed up with our sincere behavior. God doesn’t like lip service. I quote Isaiah 29:13, The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”

I know that none of us want to be insincere in our worship. All of us want to be faithful in stewardship. The problem comes in what we typically think is good enough compared to what God may actually ask of us if we could only hear him. So what we need here is some encouragement and motivation as well as reassurance that breaks through our concerns and possibly doubts.

To begin with then, I want to share with you this story that comes from the persecuted church. This happened in Czechoslovakia. Brother Zavarsky had had enough. The frustration was too much. He complained, “All my time is spent in slave labor! Ten hours a day in this prison I weave baskets, which the Communists sell for good money. Why did I study so much to be a pastor? Those miserable ones in the service of the Communists have high positions now. They preach, they advise, the feed the flock. And I suffer.”

“Why do you complain?” said another Christian at the prison. “God doesn’t need your sermons or your good theology. The puppets of Communism do this work. But they cannot share the sufferings of the Savior: This is the main promise that one should give at ordination. Did you never preach about enduring sorrows for Christ? Thank God he has given you the opportunity to fulfill what is the most valuable part of any sermon.”

Chastened, Zavarsky no longer complained about being in prison or the long days of labor. After leaving prison, Zavarsky could not continue his work as a pastor because his imprisonment had left him very ill. But visitors to his bedside did not find a beaten and ruined man. They saw a man whose face shone for the Savior. He confessed his life had not been stolen from him. He gave it up willingly to help Jesus carry his cross. This is similar to Paul’s attitude when he said, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”

What could cause people to willingly take a loss on a business deal so that they can give generously? What will cause people to leave their Christian homeland for ministry in a pagan foreign nation? What will cause someone to die rather than give in to temptation? It is extreme commitment to the person of Jesus Christ. They see an opportunity for spiritual gain in every personal loss. They are willing to take a hit to their wallet, schedule, plans, comforts and conveniences in order to advance the Kingdom of God. How do you express your extreme devotion? Do others think you’re crazy for the level of your commitment? “Losing it” for Jesus means Heaven’s gain.¹

I know that is rather extreme in the details. But not in the principles. Our commitment to God is not likely to be tested in a prison anytime soon. But in actuality, our commitment is tested in every decision we make. In almost every decision we make the choice can come down to, am I doing this for me, or for someone else out of love for them, or for God because I really owe him everything anyway.

Here’s a small example, randomly plucked off the top of my head. The next time you buy a pillowcase, or really anything else that you can find on the shelf of your favorite store, will you be shopping because you need one, you have been thinking about it for a while and now is the time to go and get it? Or is it more likely that you were just walking by, saw one you liked and thought to yourself, “I want that”? Which one of those ways of shopping is more likely to be classified as good stewardship, or even as worship? Now, God doesn’t want us to sweat the small stuff. I know a lady who was so careful about this that she was constantly changing her mind. She told me about something she bought, a small little thing. Then she felt guilty because maybe it was not the Lord’s will and so she returned it. And she was frequently going back and forth in things like that. But God doesn’t want us to sweat the small stuff. However, I am sure he wants us to be thoughtful. This is all the more important to remember when we are making more important decisions like what do you want to spend the rest of your life on?

So I have another story for you. I heard about a military officer, serving his country who was offered a promotion that would have netted him another $40,000/year in income. But he turned it down to keep doing what he was already doing. His reasoning included this stewardship principle, “Never make a career move just for the money, because if it’s just for the money you are worshipping an idol.” And even if you are retired and I cannot be talking about career choices, you still have a “rest-of-your-life” to spend on something. What would God want you to do with that?

So, this last one. On my way home from Minneapolis I waited at the airport with a pastor and his wife. I asked Mrs. Pastor about her faith journey. She told me that she was raised in a good Christian home. Her dad was a pastor and she was a good girl, never really rebelled and grew up involved in church and ministry. But along about high school she began to realize the nature of her need for grace.

It was hard at first to even think of herself as a sinner in need of grace because she didn’t commit any of the sins you usually think of as part of a sinful life style. She had to ask God about it and as she listened for his answer this is what grew in her heart. God was saying, “Sin for you is in being happy doing what you want and doing what you think is good, without ever asking me to tell you what I want you to do. The sin you are involved in is that of not doing what I would call you to do.”

So she asked God’s forgiveness for her failure to hear and obey God’s call to sacrificial Christian service, just like Jonah, but with gratitude that it didn’t require that she end up in the belly of a whale before she caught on to what God was up to. She received God’s grace and mercy in a new and fresh way that revived her spirit and changed her outlook on life.

This new outlook on life is born out of the realization of all that Christ has done for us on the cross, and a deepening awareness of our need of his grace. Full of gratitude and overwhelmed by the enormous, lavish love of God we are moved to want to serve. We are called to discipleship and or responsibility is to learn as much as we can as fast as we can and put it into practice as completely as we can. Faith in Jesus is not just about deciding to believe in him. It is about responding to his love.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper 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.

When you make an offering, the offering on the altar does not receive the blessing. It IS the blessing. The offering is not for itself. It is for another. Just as Christ offered himself for our sakes to save us, so we are asked to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, but not for ourselves, rather our offering blesses those who have not yet been saved by the message of grace.

So when the passage speaks of “true and proper worship,” I think we need to realize that the phrase doesn’t really refer much to what happens on Sunday mornings in our church services. Surely we do want to worship the Lord in our church services, and there are proper offerings we bring on Sunday morning. And there is much to celebrate as God reveals his plan and we see him at work among us. But we must also realize that when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices in the way that blesses others, then it is all about what we do in relationships with other people around us, especially those who are not yet saved. And since what we do for the least of these is done unto the Lord, then surely such offerings are a worthy act of worship.

Next we take up the phrase, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.” I now believe it may surprise us to realize that it is not about particular behaviors of sins that we can point at and say, “Don’t do that.” Specific sins are not the pattern. They are manifestations of the pattern. The pattern of this world, into which all sins fit, is simply to be self-centered. So here is what might shock you. Even people who commit none of the obvious sins they see in other sinners, ARE sinners too. Like the pastor's wife that I mentioned earlier many people think that they are being Christian because they don’t commit great sins. But as long as they are still self-centered and not listening to obey God’s call they conform to the overall pattern and are blind to the fact that they are not really transformed or renewed.

It is like the Pharisees. They were the most religious people. They were closest of all to the revealed word of God. They studied the Bible. But perhaps you will agree with Jesus that Pharisees had a sin problem. Jesus called it hypocrisy. But what motivates a hypocrite? Self-protection. Self-protection is self-centered. So perhaps you can also agree with me that their basic problem can be identified as the self-centered pattern of this world.

The opposite view, that would be the result of the renewing of our minds, would be to become other centered. To amplify that point, I like to use the phrase “otherish love.” That’s a word I made up. Otherish is the true opposite of selfish because selfless still has self in it, just a little less. Otherish love cares about the people around us and therefore offers itself as a living sacrifice, to bless them. Otherish love is a godly love. It comes from God and enters us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts. As we welcome that and become more otherish in our attitudes and actions, we will be more aware of and more clear about what the will of God really is. As it says, “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” And we know at that at the heart of God’s will is this, not just that we behave well, but this: “That the whole world be saved.” So your evangelistic efforts are crucial. Your true and proper worship is evangelistic.

Finally, what does it mean that we serve a risen Lord? He is risen from the dead! That means he has conquered death and that means we can conquer death through him. With no fear of death we can live a risky life! That means we don’t have to stay safe in our comfort zones. We can reach out with a sacrificial, otherish love for others. We can offer ourselves as living sacrifices without fear of getting “burned.”

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Every believer is called to be a worker! Therefore everyone is important to the work. Each one should work according to his own ability with thanksgiving for the gifts God has given. No one should compare himself to others and think less of himself or more of himself just because his work is different from the work of others. The important thing is to do the work you can do.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

So, I say to each of us, if you are already serving the Lord, having heard from him and answered to his call, we praise God for you with great thanksgiving. We want to celebrate that by hearing your testimony. You story will encourage others to live out their stories. If you are not doing much or don’t know what God would ask you to do as the ministry part of your life, we want to encourage you! We who know you will also know what you would be good at, and we can help you hear God’s call. I say to all of us, let’s grow in this! Let’s bless the world in which we live through our expressions of sacrificial and generous living and giving.

¹Extreme Devotion, The Voice of the Martyrs, p. 344; 2001.