Responding to God's Mercy

Rory Mosley

Romans 12:1-2

May 18, 2008

Last Sunday we finished, not only the section on Israel,

But also the entire theological section to the book of Romans.

Paul concluded that great theological section with a statement on mercy.

Romans 11:32 “For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.”

Mercy has been defined as:

“You not getting what you deserve.”

And to that, we all say, “Thank you God”.

If God were not merciful, you and I would be sunk.

If God were not merciful, hell would be our only option.

If God were not merciful, there would be no church.

We are here today as testimonies of the mercy of God.

Ephesians 2:1-5 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved),”

1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

There is not one single Christian in the world,

Who has not experienced God’s mercy.

AND IT IS ON THAT BASIS THAT PAUL CONTINUES

(1) “Therefore I urge you brethren,

Here Paul moves from instruction to exhortation.

“I urge you brethren”

“urge” there comes from the word PARAKALEO.

It has the meaning of calling alongside in order to help or give aid.

It is a form of the word PARAKLETE,

Which is the name that Jesus gave to the Holy Spirit.

What Paul is doing here is a similar ministry to that of the Holy Spirit.

He is calling you to come alongside of him aid him in what he is doing.

Paul is asking for your help.

Because we have read the end of verse 1,

We know that Paul is asking us to help him worship God.

Paul is asking us to help him Give God the worship that He deserves.

And there are two main things that God deserves.

#1 SACRIFICE

Romans 12:1

Now please notice that Paul says, “I urge you, brethren”.

He is speaking to those who have already been saved.

He is telling true believers what they need to do.

We must sacrifice.

Now certainly that is steeped in Old Testament tradition.

There are many different types of sacrifices in the Old Testament.

1) SIN OFFERING

But that is not what Paul is referring to here.

That was paid for by Jesus.

2) THANK OFFERINGS

Offerings given for gratitude to God.

That sacrifice wasn’t given in order to be forgiven,

That sacrifice was given because they had been forgiven.

So it is with us.

God is not asking for a sacrifice to be forgiven, here Paul is saying

That because of our forgiveness we should offer to God a sacrifice

That stems from the gratitude of our hearts.

And let me show you three attributes of this sacrifice.

1) THE MOTIVATION “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God,”

“by the mercies of God”

Paul wants you to think about how merciful God has been in your life.

He wants you to understand that God deserves something from you.

Gentiles were a wild olive shoot…

I personally was dead in spirit, desiring sin…

BUT GOD WAS MERCIFUL

Because of that, Paul says you and I need to do something.

And think about that for a moment,

Because it is not how we commonly seek to deal with God.

Many times instead of coming to God with gratitude

We only come with a deal to make.

“Oh God, if You will just…then I will”

That is totally backwards.

The motivation for your sacrifice to God

Is what God has already done, not what you want Him to do.

Psalms 56:12-13 “Your vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You. For You have delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living.”

WE OWE WORSHIP TO GOD.

Even if God never does another good thing for you in life, has He not already done enough to deserve your worship for the rest of eternity?

So money is tight…

So your body is sick…

So your job is hard…

So your ministry is difficult…

Well on your worst day,

God forgave your sin by the spilled blood of His only Son,

And if God never does another good thing for you,

You still owe it to Him to worship Him.

ILLUSTRATION:

Job 1:20-21 “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

WHAT DID JOB POSSIBLY HAVE TO WORSHIP ABOUT?

God’s mercy in the past.

Still people only want to worship God

With the hope that God will give them more.

That stinks of a lack of gratitude,

And it stems from bad theology.

Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

The Bible says that God has already given you everything,

Instead of always focusing on what you don’t have,

Start worshiping God for what you do have.

That is the motivation

2) THE OFFERING “to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice”

Here is the sacrifice that Paul is referring to.

“present your bodies”

And please notice that word “present”.

From a Greek word that means “to stand by” or “to appear before”.

In the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) it was

The word that was used for when the priest laid the sacrifice on the altar.

That is what Paul is asking us to do.

He wants us to “present” the offering to God.

DON’T START THINKING

THAT GOD MUST DO SOMETHING TO INITIATE YOUR WORSHIP.

God initiated salvation.

It is our job to initiate worship.

ILLUSTRATION

Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

God is not looking for someone to force into labor,

God is searching for volunteers.

God is looking for that person who is so grateful for salvation,

That they will come to Him and present themselves to Him.

WHAT DOES GOD WANT US TO PRESENT?

“present your bodies”

God has already purchased your soul,

Now He wants you to present your body.

You and I know that we have been justified in God’s sight.

Our soul has been made clean.

BUT WE STILL LIVE IN THE SINFUL FLESH.

God not only wants us to surrender the inner man to Him,

But to surrender the outer man as well.

He wants you to live like a Christian on the outside.

Romans 6:12-14 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

The idea is that you give your whole self to the worship of God.

ILLUSTRATION

Daniel 3:28 “Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.”

Their faith was not just a quiet, internal belief.

They presented their bodies to God.

Matthew 28:17 “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.”

Then look at the disciples lives from that day forward.

Paul outlined it well.

1 Corinthians 4:9-13 “For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.”

These guys didn’t just agree to come to Church occasionally,

They fully surrendered their bodies to the glory of God.

THIS IS WHAT WE OWE TO GOD.

That God not only get control of your soul,

But that He gain control of your body as well.

1 Corinthians 9:27 “but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

Christian you owe it to God to surrender your body to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:20 “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

And to make sure we don’t misunderstand, Paul gets specific.

“present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice”

There are two ways in which God wants you to surrender your body.

“LIVING”

I certainly do not want to minimize the supreme act of dying for Jesus,

But we realize that it only takes a split second to die.

Living for Jesus, is a much higher cost.

(Incidentally, the people who generally die for Him,

Do so because they have been living for Him)

But what Paul wants you to give is a “living…sacrifice”.

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

The word for “witnesses” there is MARTUS,

It is where we get our word for martyr.

Dr. McDow in seminary would then say, “Death doesn’t make a martyr, it only reveals one.”

What God wants is for you to live your life for Him.

Too many of us are too busy living our lives for our own pleasure.

We spend our money on what we want…

We spend our time on what we want to do…

We eat what we want…

Go where we want…

Watch what we want…

Act like we want…

That is precisely what Paul says must change!

Be a “living…sacrifice”

And also be a:

“HOLY SACRIFICE”

The word “holy” there means to be set apart.

Don’t allow yourself to be spent by anyone other than God.

Reserve yourself for God and God alone.

DO YOU SEE THE PICTURE?

Because of the tremendous mercy of God on your life,

You owe it to God to now lay your life upon His altar

And fully surrender your life to live for Him.

We see The Motivation We see the Offering

3) THE BENEFICIARY “acceptable to God”

Give God what He wants to receive,

Not simply what you want to give Him.

How many times we do we make out our budget and then decide how much we want to give God?

How many times do we look at our calendar and see what days we will give to God?

YOU HAVE ALREADY MISSED THE POINT

That is what they did in Malachi’s day.

Malachi 1:13-14 "You also say, ' My, how tiresome it is!' And you disdainfully sniff at it," says the LORD of hosts, "and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?" says the LORD. "But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King," says the LORD of hosts, "and My name is feared among the nations."

You give God what God wants to receive.

Every offering you give to God is a reflection

Of how grateful you are to Him.

The amount of time you devote to Him is a reflection of how grateful you are to Him.

The amount of money you give to Him is a reflection of how grateful you are to Him.

SACRIFICE IS THE BAROMETER OF GRATITUDE!

If you want to see how much you love God,

Go check your day planner and the ledger in your check book.

“acceptable to God”

YOU ALL REMEMBER THE FIRST USE OF THE WORD “WORSHIP”

Genesis 22:5 “Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you."

Isaac wasn’t Abraham’s idea.

If you truly want to honor His mercy,

Then give God what He wants to receive.

“which is your spiritual service of worship”

That word “spiritual” is LOGIKOS

It is where we get our word for logical.

The KJV translates it “reasonable”.

And isn’t that the truth?

If God would give Himself for us, isn’t it only logical

That we would know give ourselves for Him?

If you are truly grateful to God for His mercy:

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

God doesn’t just want you to come and sing songs about the cross.

He wants you to sacrifice your life upon His altar.

Because of mercy, we first SACRIFICE

#2 SURRENDER

Romans 12:2

These are very close, but there is a major difference in the core nature of each.

Sacrifice is active

Surrender is passive.

SACRIFICE speaks of something you must do. (“present your bodies”)

SURRENDER speaks of something you must allow.

But Paul first begins this verse with a negative.

“And do not be conformed to this world”

“be conformed” comes from a Greek word

That speaks of an outward expression that is phony,

Or does not match what is inward.

It carries the idea of wearing a mask.

There are some who aren’t true believers, but who where the mask.

But that is NOT who Paul refers to here.

Here Paul speaks of a true believer who, for whatever reason,

Would seek to blend in with the world.

Remember Peter at his third denial?

Matthew 26:73-75 “A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away." Then he began to curse and swear, "I do not know the man!" And immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, " Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.”

Peter was a believer who put on a mask to look like the world.

That is what Paul says you cannot do.

LISTEN TO ME:

1 Corinthians says that Satan is the god of this world.

We are living in his domain, and the world

Is doing everything it can to conform you to it’s standard.

We received an email this week from the American Family Association.

“P&G has added homosexual lovers to its soap opera “As the World Turns.” The soap opera now includes scenes of homosexuals with passionate open mouth kissing. The motive behind P&G’s push is to desensitize viewers, especially younger viewers, to the homosexual lifestyle. The ultimate goal of homosexual activists is homosexual marriage.” (http://www.afa.net/pg050508.htm)

The key word is “desensitize”

It is Satan’s plan to conform you to his way of thinking.

DON’T LET HIM CONFORM YOU!

“Do not be conformed to this world”

1 Peter 1:14-15 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;”

1 Peter 4:1-5 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

“but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”

“be transformed” is also a Passive Verb,

Meaning it is not something you are to do,

But something that you are to allow.

It translates METAMORPHOO, where we get our word for metamorphosis.

It is the word used of Jesus at the transfiguration.

Matthew 17:2 “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.”

That was the one time while Jesus walked on this earth,

That we were able to see the inside on the outside.

That is precisely what Paul wants you and I to do.

Let the world see the inside on the outside.

Let God transform you.