Sunday 04 • 08 • 18

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may discern what is good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. Now, we have many parts in the one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way, we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts. If prophecy, use it according to proportion of one's faith. If service, use it in service. If teaching, in teaching. If exhorting, in exhortation. Giving with generosity. Leading with diligence. Showing mercy with cheerfulness. — Romans 12:1-8

Good evening to everybody. Good evening. I can't say it's good for a brother to be here. I'm excited. Not just excited to stand and talk but excited that God's word is open and He will speak.

First, I want to thank Pastor Jeff and all of the leadership here at CTK for having me. My wife and my son cannot be here. My daughter cannot be here. They express thanks to you all for having me. My wife, she said, "He's happy. He's going to do what he do best, that's bump his gums."

I truly thank God for the experiences I had in my life. All weren't the best but I did have some good ones, and what sticks out in my mind is the fact that I have an opportunity to play both college and some professional basketball. I don't play today. I can't jump over a sheet of paper, but I did have those experiences. And so once I stopped playing, I still enjoyed playing recreationally.

One time, I was back home and I got with some of my old teammates. We went to the gym, we played, and everybody's grunting and everybody's sweating and everybody's still trying to show that they still got it. And so once we finished playing, we're walking out of the gym and one of my teammates said, "Hey, guys. Let's go and do fill in the blank." Well, that fill in the blank was everything that I had turned my back from because the Lord rescued me in the midst of me playing professionally. That's why I stopped.

As we're walking out, I just turned to the guys and said, "Fellas, I can't do that. The Lord has saved me." When I said this, something truly took place in my life and I couldn't go back. I was truly changed, and that brought to mind this song by Walter Hawkins called "Changed."

But when I said that to those guys, first of all, they side-eyed me and they started talking like, "Would you think you're better than us now? Or you can't go and do this with us now?" It wasn't that, brothers. I just can't go back to doing those things because I know if I go back, I'm going to fall off the cliff. I'm going all the way in with what I used to do. Even though they couldn't understand it, they could see that there was transformation in my life.

See, I know what I used to be, but thank God I'm not what I used to be. But what about you? What does transformation look like in your life? What does it look like? Not just in here on a Sunday. What about on your jobs? What does transformation look like? What does transformation look like when you're at home raising kids or engaging with a spouse? What does that look like? What does transformation look like as you engage your next-door neighbor who may not be a believer?

Transformation on vacation. Does your life and my life display fruit that a change is taking place? That the God of this universe, by the power of His Spirit, is conforming me and you into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

About the Apostle Paul

This letter that we have here in Romans was written by the Apostle Paul. And if you know anything about the Apostle Paul, he was gangster. If you read in the Book of Acts, you see he was not Paul—he was Saul of Tarsus, a very educated man who sat at the feet of a rabbi named Gamaliel. Saul of Tarsus knew the book. You couldn't come to him with anything about the book that he would not know. He hated people of the way—as the Book of Acts would say—Christians. So much so that he would stand consenting to the death of Stephen. And even to persecute Christians, he would go and have them arrested and thrown into jail.

Well, around Acts chapter nine, he's on that journey to Damascus. And as he's going to have Christians arrested, the Lord Jesus met him with the divine uppercut, knocked him off of his donkey, and began to speak to him, ultimately rescuing him, reorienting his life. His life was one where he was vehemently against Jesus Christ and anything that had to do with him. Now he was his number one soldier. And so he spent the rest of his life proclaiming the excellencies of Christ and sharing his faith to the ends of the earth.

One thing Paul wanted—he wanted the nutrition of the gospel to saturate the globe, and he would give his life to make sure that people heard this glorious news.

So when we look at the book of Romans, Paul laid out a brilliant theological exposition. If you read it, I encourage you to read it in one sitting. It's beautiful. In chapters one through eight, Paul deals with the problem of righteousness. Now what is he talking about when he means righteousness? This is having a right relationship with God. He starts out by showing Gentiles, "You're jacked up, you're trying to do things on your own. You're sinful. You're dying." Then he goes to the Jews and lets them know, "Now you want to be right with God based on keeping the law. You can't. You're dying." And then he brings everybody into a beautiful bowl and says, "All have sinned. Every single human being has sinned."

And then he goes on beautifully to talk about the faith of Abraham—that he just believed God. So he laid out this beautiful truth: to be right with God is to put faith in the one that has paid the price for our sins. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapters one through eight.

Then in chapters nine through eleven, he seems to turn, but he doesn't. He's still in that same lane. Now he deals with the fact that Jews turned their back or rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. And their rejection opened the door for Gentiles now to be a part of the family of God. But when we look at their rejection, we can't see that rejection as something that God is away from. Because when you read chapters nine, ten, and eleven, you see that God is absolutely sovereign in salvation. That God is not behind the eight ball trying to figure out what he's gonna do, but he's in front orchestrating everything, even when we can't understand it.

And now in chapters twelve through fifteen, Paul deals with how we should live in a world as a result of what Christ has done for us. Now it is here that I begin to think in my mind, even look at my own life, because we have a lot of information in this room. I know of some educated folk. Many of you will put me to shame. But I think it's indicative of Western Christianity or Christianity in America where our Christianity is primarily knowledge based. Like, we don't mind sitting down having a cup of coffee with our legs crossed and pontificating about the hypostatic union, divine election, or end times.

Now don't hear me say that those things are not good. Those things are absolutely amazing. But I think that's where our lives stop—on what we know. But when we look at Scripture, it's not so much knowledge based, but it's obedience based. In other words, what am I supposed to do with what I know?

And so Paul in his letter would lay out beautifully first orthodoxy and then orthopraxy. So not only what I should know, but how I should live in light of what I know. So this evening, we want to look at these verses in chapter twelve in the orthopraxy session of this letter.

And the main point of our time today that I want to bring out is this: the gospel is to be displayed in our lives in real time. The gospel is to be displayed in our lives in real time.

So this must be stated because you and I, if we're honest, we can have difficulty obeying God's word. Let me ask you a question. The sermon you heard last week—did you obey it? Not you, Russell. The sermon you heard last week, did you obey it, Russell? The sermon the week before that, Russell, did you obey it?

See, the God that disciples me would say this: I don't think we need new sermons. I think we need to just go back and obey the last thing we heard. See, if we're honest with ourselves right now, with the amount of information we know, God could drop us in the middle of an area where they have never heard of Jesus and we could literally become seminary professors because of the amount of information we know.

See, it's not simply about having the ability to parse the Greek verbs and speak Hebrew—and I know I can't speak Hebrew, and I took it. But it's just not enough to be able to do that. Those things are great, but what does that look like in my daily life? And this is what Paul brings out.

So as we look at these eight verses, there are two sub points under that main point that I gave that I want us to look at today. The first one is this: transformation must be evident in the life of the believer.

We'll see that in verses one and two. Transformation must be evident in the life of the believer. The second thing I want us to see is this, that humility and service are marks of the believer. Humility and service are marks of the believer. We'll read verses four through five.

Now, before going any further, I want to pause and ask the God of heaven and earth to empower and help each of us as we continue on in this word. So, let's pray.

Father, your word says in Second Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable. Lord, your word is open and when your word is open, that means to me and to us that you are speaking. Your word is alive and active, and I pray by the power of your Spirit, Lord, that you would meet us in this moment. Challenge us, empower us, comfort us, convict us all of what we need so that we would make much of your glorious name in our lives, in the communities you placed us in here in Raleigh, North Carolina. We do bless you and we thank you. It's in Christ's name. Amen.

Transformation Must Be Evident in the Life of the Believer

So let's look at our first point again. Transformation must be evident in the life of the believer. Let's look at verses one and two. Paul says again:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. — Romans 12:1-2

Early on in his letter, Paul wrestled with theology, but he ended this letter with the ethical demands that the gospel places on us. So what God has done must be translated into action in the lives of those who have experienced the salvation that only comes through Jesus Christ.

Now because of what God has done by saving us, by making us right with himself—not based on our own works, but the works of another, the Lord Jesus Christ—Paul called on believers. He says, present your bodies as a sacrifice. Then he describes that sacrifice with three words: living, holy, and pleasing.

As believers, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Now this is contrasted with the dead animal sacrifices that we see in the Old Testament. Paul calls on us not to be like those dead bodies, but to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice now.

Because we are a people who like to give, this is not just talking about giving money or giving of what you have. Paul is saying, God is calling on us to give all of our very beings, the totality of our lives, our plans, and our activities. See, as Christians, we believe that our bodies as well as our souls belong to God. We know that not only my physical body, but my soul, my mind, everything about me belongs to God. This body that we have is the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works. As a matter of fact, Paul would write in another letter that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.

Now during Paul's time, there were a group of people who saw the physical body as something bad and the spirit as something good. But what I love is that Jesus never despised physical bodies. Jesus never despised physical bodies. As a matter of fact, the God of heaven and earth, God the Son, decided to tuck himself in a dirt suit, in skin, come to Earth, and dwell among his people.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. — John 1:14

And when he came to Earth, he lived the life that you and I could never live—perfection, obedience—and he came to pay a price that you and I could not pay. He died for the sins of humanity.

So Paul called on the Romans and us to consider everything that we do daily. We need to pause and think about that. Do we actually stop long enough in our day to think about that God is so near to me that he actually cares about what I'm doing right now? Yes, we're in a building. We have a corporate gathering, so we assume that he's here. But what about when I'm at the gas station? Performing on the job? Living at home with family? Raising kids? Going on vacation? Paul says, this is true worship.

Understanding Worship in Daily Life

Now, it's here that we need to really address this concept of worship. See, we need to stop thinking that I'm going to church to worship. Have any of you said that on Sunday? You look at your spouse or you look at your kids and say, "Well, I'm going to worship"—like worship is out there somewhere. I think we need to change that thinking. I think we need to start thinking like this:

See, I'm going to the office to worship God. I will worship God in the way I conduct this business deal. I will worship God while I'm on vacation. I will worship God as I prepare dinner. See, I will worship God as I raise my kids. I will worship God when someone cuts me off on the interstate and I'm ready to give them a nice four-letter word—that's just me. I will worship him when I get my lawn mower and start cutting my grass.

See, I think Russell, you need to expand the horizon of what you see as God being intimately involved with. There's no area in my life that he does not invade. And I think we need to get away from this idea that we are only worshiping when we sing a song. Yes, we are worshiping when we sing, but is it only through a tune or through a song that I'm singing?

Many of us—and I'm so glad we sing together because we're separated. Yeah, praise God for community. Praise God for the corporate gathering. But it's great for us to sing together. Worship is so much more than a song. It is so much more than a song.

Living a Transformed Life

And it's from here that true worship that Paul turns and he says, do not be conformed to this world. In other words, Paul tells us not to shape our lives according to the pattern of this world. See, our lives must look different. But we are commanded to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are not to be like chameleons that take colors from its surroundings. We ought to be transformed. This is inward change. To conform is outward.

Then finally here, Paul moves on and says, when we are transformed, we are able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. When our lives are reoriented, our worldview changes and we begin to look more like Christ.

And it's here that I love what Paul wrote in Romans 8:29. Often when I'm struggling, often when I know I've been messed up, when I've had to repent of something, I go back to what he said in Romans 8:29 because he says this:

For those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. — Romans 8:29

I thank God that he knew me before the foundation of the world, not based on what I had done or what I would do, but based on his loving kindness to me. For those whom he foreknew, he predestined before I'd done anything. He predetermined that I will be conformed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. He is shaping us to look more like Jesus.

If we don't say nothing else, we need to stop and shout and say, God, thank you. That you are making me look like your Son who is totally acceptable, and because I'm in him, I'm accepted.

See, by offering our bodies to God, we are offering him our minds, our total being. And by living a transformed life, we're able to please God and discover and enjoy his perfect will.

Living as a Picture of Salvation

I can see in here, I don't even know you, but I know there's some people in here who like board games, who like to play. Right? There's one game that I struggle with and that's Scrabble. I struggle. If anybody wants to join me in that, the struggle is real.

So you have this bag with 26 letters that have no rhyme or reason. You pour them out, you choose your letters, and you gotta create a word. And because the English language has so many words, we can't even line up the books that can be spread on this floor to cover every single word. So you have all of this in front of you, but you have to take these letters that seem to have no rhyme or reason and put them together to form and make a word.

See, as Christians, we are to live our lives in a way that our actions come together to form a picture of salvation. The goal of living the Christian life is to arrange one's lifestyle so that it now looks like the existence of one who's been saved by grace.

So what do our lives say to those around us? What do they say? I'm not talking about walking in on your job or going anywhere with the Bible under your arm. When someone says, how are you doing? You say, I'm blessed and highly favored. That's not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to the fact that there is something about your life that exudes the fact that you are in Christ, and when people sniff that aroma, they want some of that.

How are our lives arranged? And it's here that I was reminded of the fact that when God rescued a people from bondage in Egypt and he was about to give them a law, he said, you are a holy nation and a royal priesthood. And then Peter would repeat that in 1 Peter chapter 2 and says to all believers that you are a holy nation and a royal priesthood.

See, our lives are to reflect and tell the truth about who God is in every single thing that we do by living a transformed life.

So finally, humility and service are marks of the believer. Let's look at verses 4 and 5.

Here it says, now as we have many parts in one body and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. The lives that you and I live as believers ought to be lived in the context of community, or we would say church, but also beyond just this gathering, also out in society. This is vitally important for us because when we come together, it is so easy for us to know the differences in other people. Am I right? All of society is like that. We can pick up on the fact that you are different, or you are that shade, or you are Asian, or you are Hispanic, or you're African American or you're white. We quickly pick up on differences. And if people don't do things the way I would do them, we would sit there and say, you're less holy. You something's wrong if you don't do it the way I would do. We focus on differences. But Paul goes here and he says, no. No. No. We are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

See, this is true regardless of the color of our skin, regardless of our economic status, regardless of our gender, regardless of the college that we attended. We are one body in Christ, and we must learn and live side by side, and this takes humility and service. Paul does something beautiful. He compares the church to a human body. And when you look at a human body, the parts of a human body don't talk to the other parts of the body and try to say, "look, I'm better than you." That doesn't happen. But sometimes this can happen within the church, and it shouldn't. The parts of our body, their job is to function in a way that the body is whole. Likewise, as people who are part of the body of Christ, we must come together and function so that there is health within the body. Each part is important no matter how big or small, and each part needs each other.

I know everyone in here has done this. How many of you ever hit your pinky toe on a wall and you got screaming and ready to use all kinds of words? You know that pain. Now I know this is—we're talking about a pinky toe—but if you hit that very small piece of our body, you start limping. Things don't happen right. I know about people who have lost their pinky toe, and they always talk about the fact that, you know what, my gait is not right. I don't walk the same as I did when I had that toe. The thing I'm trying to bring out here is that every single part of the body is important, and it's the same with you and me.

The Story of the Rope Maker

This brought to mind for me a story in Acts chapter nine, around verse 20. We have the story of Paul who has been rescued. He saw that there were some guys trying to kill him. The disciples recognized this, and the Bible says that they lowered him through a hole in the wall so he could escape. This brought to mind that there was a rope used. Then I thought about this: Who was the person that made that rope? We have no idea. That person is not even named. We don't know if it's a man or a woman, but that person was faithful to make that rope so that Paul would ultimately be rescued and you and I would have what we have in the Bible in the New Testament—the epistles. But what if that person was not faithful to make that rope? Nobody knows about a rope maker, but what if they weren't faithful to do it? Maybe Paul is not rescued. Maybe Paul gets killed. And if Paul gets killed, you and I don't have these epistles that he wrote. And if maybe we don't have these epistles that he wrote, you and I maybe wouldn't even have an opportunity to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. What point am I trying to make? Everybody is valuable, and everybody is important. We are one body in Christ.

So in the body working together, one of the things we also need to be aware of is pride. We need to push pride away because it destroys. Paul warns early on in verse three:

Not to think of ourselves more highly than we should think. — Romans 12:3

See, the reason for this is that we are all equal before God. I remember growing up and I would hear those old church mothers say, "At the foot of the cross, the ground is level. Everybody, it doesn't matter who you are." But we could live in a place where people would say, "I'm better than you for whatever reason." I've done it. Many of us have done it where we say we are better than. But when Paul writes, especially in Ephesians chapter two verse one, he goes on to say that everybody was dead in trespasses and sins. As a matter of fact, he says all:

All were dead in trespasses and sins. — Ephesians 2:1

I don't know how many "all" is, but I think all means all.

All were dead in trespasses and sin, and then we were reading it earlier, but then he made us alive. He did something. He initiated. He quickened. And in verse eight and nine of chapter two of Ephesians, we have this beautiful verse that we know:

For you are saved by grace through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is God's gift, not from works so that no one can boast. — Ephesians 2:8-9

There is no reason for us to boast about anything as followers of Christ. If we are gonna boast, we boast about God himself, and that is it. We don't draw attention to ourselves because here's the truth: If he did not come and rescue me, I'm still dead in my trespasses and sins. And if I die, I'm dying separated from God for all of eternity because I don't make enough money to be able to pay my way out of that debt. He did something for me, so I have no reason to boast.

Spiritual Gifts and Their Purpose

Paul goes on to say that every believer has been given a measure of faith to function the way that God intended. Every person in here has been given a gift from God to use it to bless the body of Christ. After he says that we are all one body in Christ and that we should not be prideful, he goes on to list some different gifts. Now the gifts that he lists—this is not an exhaustive list. But Paul wants us to know that these gifts that God gives are for the purpose of serving the community. Therefore, these gifts must be used. And when these gifts are used, the church is built up.

The first one he lists is prophecy. This is inspired utterances of truth that guides the church. I'm not talking about people who want to go out and have a fresh word of prophecy about what's gonna happen in the future. I'm talking about forth telling—explaining what God has placed in his word. Having that ability to make that word come alive. And I do think we need more people with that gift of prophecy to explain forth what God says in his word today.

Then he mentions service. This refers to providing for the needs of the community. Then Paul mentions teaching. This is the message of Christ proclaimed and explained. We really need, and I know you have great apologists and people out there, but we need to be people of the book. We need to be people of the book who are able to explain the meaning of God's word.

Exhorting or encouragement. How many of you know that God has met you in a powerful way when you needed encouragement? Someone had that word of encouragement for you. I know recently, about a year ago, my family needed a word of encouragement, and God surrounded us with people with this gift to be able to speak into our souls when we were hurting. These are gifts that the body needs.

Then he mentions giving. This relates to helping needy members within the church, but I also think with all of these—especially with giving here—this is also for people outside of the church. Why did God give us the resources he has given us? Not for us to have enormous 401(k)s, not for us to say we have 18,000 vacation homes. I think he's given us the resources that he has given us, and all we have to do is look around us and see that what he has given us, he wants to use us as a channel of blessing for those around us, both within the body and without the body.

Leading. The person who leads does so eagerly and with diligence. This person doesn't do it half-heartedly; they do it with enthusiastic joy. Then finally, Paul mentions showing mercy. Those who show mercy are sensitive to the needs of others in the community, particularly those who are suffering in some way.

All of these gifts are not to be used selfishly but to build up the church, and no one has all of the gifts. Often the gift that we have may be what we most enjoy doing, where we feel God's pleasure, or what we are able to do well enough to bless others. We don't need a seminar to discover our gifts. All we need is a church that allows us to use and exercise these gifts to benefit the body of Christ.

I like nice things. I like clothes, and when I go buy clothes, I can look at a trademark on the clothes and know exactly what it is. If it's a Tommy Hilfiger, I already know what that emblem is. Or if it's a Ralph Lauren, I already know what that emblem is. They have trademarks that make them visible and identifiable. You know, based on what professors have, you know what they are.

You know, if you see a policeman, they're in a policeman uniform, you know that they're a policeman or someone who works in the medical field. They are identifiable. See, the gifts that each of us have been given are marks that God has given us for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. You and I, Paul calls ambassadors for Christ.

Second Corinthians 5

We are ambassadors for Christ using the gifts that he has given us for his service. And often, I don't know if this ever happened to you, but when I'm serving in my gifting, there have been times where now as an unbeliever, I'm able to have conversation about who God is, who Jesus is, just based on my serving. And I have to believe that God orchestrated that meeting with that person so that they can have an opportunity to respond to him.

See, when I look at Jesus, this is what he did. He used the very giftings that he had. He came and he did everything that the father told him to do. He was totally obedient. He came and offered himself. He served. And the Bible says that he didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

And as we just celebrated, we know that he went to the cross and he died. Again, as I heard the old deacon say, they put him in a borrowed tomb, but three days later, he got up with all power in his hands. In his death, he put death to death. Now he reigns victorious.

But here is the question for you and I. What are we gonna do while we wait for him to return? What are we gonna do? How are we going to live? Because I think this is what Paul is getting at. Jesus could come back right now and snatch us all out of here. And we would say praise him. We're with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But if he delays, for what purpose? How are we to use the gift that he has given us? How would our lives reflect that we have been transformed by him?

I pray that we will be a people who live intentionally and on purpose for the rest of our days.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Lord God, thank you for your word. Thank you for what you've called us to and I pray my prayer for us, my prayer for myself. I stand at the front of the line is Lord, I'll be one that's obedient. I pray that because we are here, we could also say with Paul, as he said to the Romans, because we've gotten to work, Lord, that there's no more work for us to do in this region. That means we get to work. So, Lord, may this area be richly saturated because of the work of the people in this room. I believe that the globe can be reached starting with the people in this room because you're that kind of God. Thank you so much for this opportunity in Christ's name. Amen.