Scripture: Romans 12:1-8
I have a new take on this message and what it means to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” When you make an offering, the offering on the altar does not receive 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. 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 sinners and think thereby that they are being Christian, can nevertheless remain as self-centered as ever. Thus, they conform to the overall pattern of the self-centered world and are blind to the fact that they are not really transformed or renewed to be more like Christ.
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 many of the Pharisees had a sin problem. Jesus called it hypocrisy. But what motivates a hypocrite? Self-protection. What I mean by that is that by being hypocrites people are acting to make an impression on you. Their hearts are really different from what they’re trying to show you on the outside.
One of Jesus’ examples that he gave on this subject was the way the Pharisees gave their offerings with the big announcement and fanfare. They wanted everybody to think they were very generous because they gave big gifts! And that’s not a pure motivation. That’s giving to get something. They were willing to pay big money so that people would think they were great. And to top it off, they didn’t really give sacrificially. They gave out of their great wealth. It was a stark contrast to the pure widow who gave her all in just two mites.
Hypocrites are actually hiding their true selves from the world. So perhaps you can now agree with me that while their symptom was audacious giving to make a big impression, their basic problem can be identified as the self-centered pattern of this world. Sometimes it’s self-aggrandizement, like the Pharisees. But these days it’s usually self-centered, self-protection. 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.” Otherish is 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 that at the heart of God’s will is this, not just that we behave well, but this: “That the whole world be saved.” God is not willing that any should perish 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.”
In Romans 12:3 Paul says, “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.
Next, what is worship? When you ask people to define worship most would probably think of going to church on Sunday, singing and praying and listening to the Word of God. Some would add that their personal quiet time is also worship. These things are true. But the Bible’s definition of worship is much broader even than that. We just read it. “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
Now that raises a question. What does that kind of worship look like? Let’s start with this. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” If you do those things obediently and joyfully because of all that God has already done for you, that’s worship! But that’s still kind of abstract, what does it look like to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength? Well, it starts in the heart.
Try to imagine it this way. You are standing on the gallows. The noose is around your neck. Further, you know that this sentence is justified, you are undeniably guilty and ought to die for your crimes. The executioner is standing by the lever that will open the trap door. Suddenly Jesus runs up the steps of the platform and offers to take your place. How do you react as he removes the noose from around your neck and places it around his own, gently hugs you and uses that embrace to move you off the trap door, swinging you around so that now he is standing there, in your place?
Are you just glad to get away from the gallows as fast as you can, or would you stand there and argue something like this, “No, not you Jesus! You are innocent! I am guilty. I should die for my sins.”
Jesus would say back to you. “It’s okay. Let me do this for you because I love you. You can’t survive this death. But trust me, I can. All I ask is that you live the rest of the life I am giving you in a way that honors me.” Have you received the life that Jesus gives through his death in your place? Are you truly grateful for so great a salvation? Then you must feel that you love God with all your heart, for He saved you from death, forgave your sins, and gave you eternal life!
Scripture says that we love him because he first loved us. n we see and understand that Christ on the cross is God demonstrating his great love for us, by dying there so that we get to escape the death penalty for our sins, we should be deeply moved with gratitude, love and adoration for the God who would do such a thing. Yes, this is emotional! How can your heart refuse to be moved by such love? But then we can ask again, what will living that life of gratitude look like? You may feel that love with all your heart, but then, how are you going to act on it? What does a life that honors God look like? First of all, whatever it looks like, a life that honors God is a life that is a picture of worship. To worship is to honor with devotion. So once again we are back to church services in which you can share your gifts that express your love and devotion to God. But that’s not all. Jesus clearly tells us in his Word about other things that worship and honor him.
Surely you will remember this passage in Luke 7:41-48. Jesus is speaking to a self-righteous Pharisee named Simon and he says, "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other only fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
But even if we acknowledge that our debt was huge and Jesus paid it all so that we now love Jesus enough to bow before him and kiss his feet, we do not have his body here for us to serve and love in that way, so what do we do to show our love? Surely you have also heard these verses in Matt. 25:34-35, 40
Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
That’s how we show our love for Jesus, by devoting our lives to loving and serving His people. And the emphasis there would be on his people, not just the ones we like. I take you to Luke 6:32-36. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Even in Isaiah in the Old Testament this kind of loving God was being taught. Isa. 58:6-7 says, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
Do you see how obeying Jesus’ teaching and giving and loving the way Jesus gives and loves honors Him? It is because it is being like Him! It is not just doing what he tells us to do. It is being like Him! Are you beginning to see what offering your bodies as living sacrifices looks like?
Now take a moment and examine your own life. How much of that kind of loving service and embodied worship is characteristic of the way you live? What would other people say about whether or not your life is evidence of God’s love? If you would give yourself a low grade, don’t despair. God still loves you! I just pray that he is using this message to produce in you a greater longing to love him more or better, so that you begin to pray like this, “Lord, I really do love you because you love me and forgave my sins. What I can do to express my gratitude? Show me Lord.”
And we must pray, for in our day and age it is not always easy to see the ones that we could otherishly give our lives to for the love of God. It is my prayer that as I learn about this community called Lake City, God will show us ways to love our neighbors joyfully and generously so that we bless them, with God’s love and with the gospel message. And that is meant for everybody, not just the people we hope will come to our church once day. For example, volunteering at an adult day care center for special needs people would bless your socks off! Love those people and let them love you and you will be richly blessed, by our father in heaven who would say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” And Jesus would tell you, “You did that to me.”
And you know what would be a double blessing? That would be to find a ministry that is so healing to the community that even the unchurched people want to help out! Then unbelievers would be working with and hanging around with us believers and guess what. We would learn about each other and what makes us tick. And they might find out that they are being led into a relationship with Jesus that would save their souls. And guess what else, some people who think they’re Christians but are actually trying to save themselves by their own good works might figure out that that’s hypocritical, and they might repent and get saved too! How great would that be!
God understands that the kind of life to which he calls us is not natural. We are by nature selfish. God calls us to express his otherish love. But that can only happen supernaturally, as we are filled by the Spirit and transformed into creatures who are in this world but not of it any longer. That is why we have verse two of our passage. God knows that we can not worship him truly in our own strength or in our merely human nature. Indeed, don’t you remember that Jesus told the woman at the well that the true worshipers will worship Him in spirit and in truth?
So here is our hope. We are commanded, “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.” How is that going to happen? You can’t transform yourself. You can only be transformed by God’s power at work in your soul to renew your mind. There is much that God may do without our bidding, as he poured out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the disciples were surprised to find themselves speaking in other languages, a thing they never expected or asked for. God just gave them that gift and power for that moment.
But what did they do before the Spirit came? They made themselves available. They obeyed Jesus’ command to pray and wait in the city until the power came. Jesus didn’t tell them what would happen when that power came. He didn’t tell them what to do after that power came. Jesus knew that all they had to do was worship God, wait in prayer, earnestly seek his face with joyful expectation that he would come and do something. Then when the Spirit came the disciples were just moved by that Spirit to do something they had never done before! And would never have been able to do without the Spirit.
It is the same with us today. We will be transformed into true worshippers of God, who offer our whole bodies as living sacrifices, when we seek God’s face, wait and pray with joyful expectation that when God is ready he will come and change us into people who worship him with our entire lives! I know I want that! I long for God’s power to move me more fully than I have yet known. I long for God’s power to move us more fully than we have yet known. The only way the ministry of this congregation can even hope to survive is if we are God’s people, fully relying on God, fully committed to making ourselves available for his Spirit to do his work in us in his time.
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. That is our best response to God’s gift to us! That is the gift of giving.
Oh yes, that’s my sermon title. If you saw that in the bulletin I bet you thought I was going to talk about money. Did you notice I haven’t said much about money? That’s because I believe you will do the right thing with money when your heart is in the right place with God. You won’t have to be convinced to “be generous because you can’t out give God.” You will just want to be as generous as you can. You will not want to be limited to a merely tithing ten percent, because you will want to be as generous as you can with everything you care for as the steward of God’s resources. There is real, good teaching and wisdom about handling money in God honoring ways and we can get to that later.
But now I will end with a brief reflection on the story of the feeding of the 5,000, First, God was going to do a miracle, but what he said was, “You feed them.” Then he provided the resources so his disciples could hand out the food. Second, he didn’t produce this out of thin air, he asked his disciples to give what they had. That is what he worked with, as meager as it was. If we give him what we have it is enough for him to work with. And third, the twelve basketsful left over represent the overabundance of god’s provision and a wonderful opportunity for his disciples to go through whatever city they got to next and give the rest away to whoever they met. What fun that would have been! That’s how doing our ministry should feel to us!!! The ability to give like Jesus gave is a wonderful gift from God. That is the gift of giving! Amen.
I have a new take on this message and what it means to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” When you make an offering, the offering on the altar does not receive 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. 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 sinners and think thereby that they are being Christian, can nevertheless remain as self-centered as ever. Thus, they conform to the overall pattern of the self-centered world and are blind to the fact that they are not really transformed or renewed to be more like Christ.
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 many of the Pharisees had a sin problem. Jesus called it hypocrisy. But what motivates a hypocrite? Self-protection. What I mean by that is that by being hypocrites people are acting to make an impression on you. Their hearts are really different from what they’re trying to show you on the outside.
One of Jesus’ examples that he gave on this subject was the way the Pharisees gave their offerings with the big announcement and fanfare. They wanted everybody to think they were very generous because they gave big gifts! And that’s not a pure motivation. That’s giving to get something. They were willing to pay big money so that people would think they were great. And to top it off, they didn’t really give sacrificially. They gave out of their great wealth. It was a stark contrast to the pure widow who gave her all in just two mites.
Hypocrites are actually hiding their true selves from the world. So perhaps you can now agree with me that while their symptom was audacious giving to make a big impression, their basic problem can be identified as the self-centered pattern of this world. Sometimes it’s self-aggrandizement, like the Pharisees. But these days it’s usually self-centered, self-protection. 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.” Otherish is 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 that at the heart of God’s will is this, not just that we behave well, but this: “That the whole world be saved.” God is not willing that any should perish 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.”
In Romans 12:3 Paul says, “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.
Next, what is worship? When you ask people to define worship most would probably think of going to church on Sunday, singing and praying and listening to the Word of God. Some would add that their personal quiet time is also worship. These things are true. But the Bible’s definition of worship is much broader even than that. We just read it. “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
Now that raises a question. What does that kind of worship look like? Let’s start with this. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” If you do those things obediently and joyfully because of all that God has already done for you, that’s worship! But that’s still kind of abstract, what does it look like to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength? Well, it starts in the heart.
Try to imagine it this way. You are standing on the gallows. The noose is around your neck. Further, you know that this sentence is justified, you are undeniably guilty and ought to die for your crimes. The executioner is standing by the lever that will open the trap door. Suddenly Jesus runs up the steps of the platform and offers to take your place. How do you react as he removes the noose from around your neck and places it around his own, gently hugs you and uses that embrace to move you off the trap door, swinging you around so that now he is standing there, in your place?
Are you just glad to get away from the gallows as fast as you can, or would you stand there and argue something like this, “No, not you Jesus! You are innocent! I am guilty. I should die for my sins.”
Jesus would say back to you. “It’s okay. Let me do this for you because I love you. You can’t survive this death. But trust me, I can. All I ask is that you live the rest of the life I am giving you in a way that honors me.” Have you received the life that Jesus gives through his death in your place? Are you truly grateful for so great a salvation? Then you must feel that you love God with all your heart, for He saved you from death, forgave your sins, and gave you eternal life!
Scripture says that we love him because he first loved us. n we see and understand that Christ on the cross is God demonstrating his great love for us, by dying there so that we get to escape the death penalty for our sins, we should be deeply moved with gratitude, love and adoration for the God who would do such a thing. Yes, this is emotional! How can your heart refuse to be moved by such love? But then we can ask again, what will living that life of gratitude look like? You may feel that love with all your heart, but then, how are you going to act on it? What does a life that honors God look like? First of all, whatever it looks like, a life that honors God is a life that is a picture of worship. To worship is to honor with devotion. So once again we are back to church services in which you can share your gifts that express your love and devotion to God. But that’s not all. Jesus clearly tells us in his Word about other things that worship and honor him.
Surely you will remember this passage in Luke 7:41-48. Jesus is speaking to a self-righteous Pharisee named Simon and he says, "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other only fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
But even if we acknowledge that our debt was huge and Jesus paid it all so that we now love Jesus enough to bow before him and kiss his feet, we do not have his body here for us to serve and love in that way, so what do we do to show our love? Surely you have also heard these verses in Matt. 25:34-35, 40
Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
That’s how we show our love for Jesus, by devoting our lives to loving and serving His people. And the emphasis there would be on his people, not just the ones we like. I take you to Luke 6:32-36. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Even in Isaiah in the Old Testament this kind of loving God was being taught. Isa. 58:6-7 says, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
Do you see how obeying Jesus’ teaching and giving and loving the way Jesus gives and loves honors Him? It is because it is being like Him! It is not just doing what he tells us to do. It is being like Him! Are you beginning to see what offering your bodies as living sacrifices looks like?
Now take a moment and examine your own life. How much of that kind of loving service and embodied worship is characteristic of the way you live? What would other people say about whether or not your life is evidence of God’s love? If you would give yourself a low grade, don’t despair. God still loves you! I just pray that he is using this message to produce in you a greater longing to love him more or better, so that you begin to pray like this, “Lord, I really do love you because you love me and forgave my sins. What I can do to express my gratitude? Show me Lord.”
And we must pray, for in our day and age it is not always easy to see the ones that we could otherishly give our lives to for the love of God. It is my prayer that as I learn about this community called Lake City, God will show us ways to love our neighbors joyfully and generously so that we bless them, with God’s love and with the gospel message. And that is meant for everybody, not just the people we hope will come to our church once day. For example, volunteering at an adult day care center for special needs people would bless your socks off! Love those people and let them love you and you will be richly blessed, by our father in heaven who would say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” And Jesus would tell you, “You did that to me.”
And you know what would be a double blessing? That would be to find a ministry that is so healing to the community that even the unchurched people want to help out! Then unbelievers would be working with and hanging around with us believers and guess what. We would learn about each other and what makes us tick. And they might find out that they are being led into a relationship with Jesus that would save their souls. And guess what else, some people who think they’re Christians but are actually trying to save themselves by their own good works might figure out that that’s hypocritical, and they might repent and get saved too! How great would that be!
God understands that the kind of life to which he calls us is not natural. We are by nature selfish. God calls us to express his otherish love. But that can only happen supernaturally, as we are filled by the Spirit and transformed into creatures who are in this world but not of it any longer. That is why we have verse two of our passage. God knows that we can not worship him truly in our own strength or in our merely human nature. Indeed, don’t you remember that Jesus told the woman at the well that the true worshipers will worship Him in spirit and in truth?
So here is our hope. We are commanded, “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.” How is that going to happen? You can’t transform yourself. You can only be transformed by God’s power at work in your soul to renew your mind. There is much that God may do without our bidding, as he poured out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the disciples were surprised to find themselves speaking in other languages, a thing they never expected or asked for. God just gave them that gift and power for that moment.
But what did they do before the Spirit came? They made themselves available. They obeyed Jesus’ command to pray and wait in the city until the power came. Jesus didn’t tell them what would happen when that power came. He didn’t tell them what to do after that power came. Jesus knew that all they had to do was worship God, wait in prayer, earnestly seek his face with joyful expectation that he would come and do something. Then when the Spirit came the disciples were just moved by that Spirit to do something they had never done before! And would never have been able to do without the Spirit.
It is the same with us today. We will be transformed into true worshippers of God, who offer our whole bodies as living sacrifices, when we seek God’s face, wait and pray with joyful expectation that when God is ready he will come and change us into people who worship him with our entire lives! I know I want that! I long for God’s power to move me more fully than I have yet known. I long for God’s power to move us more fully than we have yet known. The only way the ministry of this congregation can even hope to survive is if we are God’s people, fully relying on God, fully committed to making ourselves available for his Spirit to do his work in us in his time.
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. That is our best response to God’s gift to us! That is the gift of giving.
Oh yes, that’s my sermon title. If you saw that in the bulletin I bet you thought I was going to talk about money. Did you notice I haven’t said much about money? That’s because I believe you will do the right thing with money when your heart is in the right place with God. You won’t have to be convinced to “be generous because you can’t out give God.” You will just want to be as generous as you can. You will not want to be limited to a merely tithing ten percent, because you will want to be as generous as you can with everything you care for as the steward of God’s resources. There is real, good teaching and wisdom about handling money in God honoring ways and we can get to that later.
But now I will end with a brief reflection on the story of the feeding of the 5,000, First, God was going to do a miracle, but what he said was, “You feed them.” Then he provided the resources so his disciples could hand out the food. Second, he didn’t produce this out of thin air, he asked his disciples to give what they had. That is what he worked with, as meager as it was. If we give him what we have it is enough for him to work with. And third, the twelve basketsful left over represent the overabundance of god’s provision and a wonderful opportunity for his disciples to go through whatever city they got to next and give the rest away to whoever they met. What fun that would have been! That’s how doing our ministry should feel to us!!! The ability to give like Jesus gave is a wonderful gift from God. That is the gift of giving! Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment