This
is the last Sunday in our fall sermon series on ‘Why Church’ and we’re
reflecting on our relationship to God and each other as the body of Jesus. Romans
12 seems like a good passage to end the series on as it calls us to live out
our faith with each other and not for ourselves. Romans 12 begins the final
part of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, the first part of the letter
reflects on how sin impacts our lives and how we deserve God’s wrath; there’s
no making excuses for our sin. Paul then moves onto God’s faithfulness and how
our salvation is found through Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross and how we
are now dead to our sin and alive in Jesus. Paul ends this part of his letter
with one of the most magnificent statements in the Bible, Romans 8:38–39, “For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
After
a brief digression on Paul’s prayer that the Jews will come to accept Jesus as
the Messiah, Paul moves into how we’re to live in response to God’s amazing
grace and Jesus’ selfless sacrifice for us. Paul calls us to respond by being a
living sacrifice ourselves as our response of worship. I appreciate how the New
Living Translation puts it, Romans 12:1–2, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead
with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let
them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is
truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this
world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you
think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and
pleasing and perfect.” The offering has to be your
best, without defect, and the only way we can offer ourselves to God as a
living holy sacrifice is to first be purified, and the only way that happens is
through Jesus. It’s a pretty big thing to commit to!
It's
important to read this as Paul intends; the living sacrifice is you plural, a ‘you
all.’ This is a message to us together, a message that calls us to be one
together, to unity in Jesus, an echo back to Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of
Gethsemane just before he carried our sin to the cross. Church is ‘we’,
not ‘me’, this is why we need church. This is a corporate call to the
entire church to sacrifice itself to God’s purposes and will, to offer all that
we do for Jesus, as his body as our worship. It’s lived out, both as church
together, and in our individual lives in the community each week as members of
the church. Everything we do, whether at home, at school or work, at play or
service in the community, is always done as a member of Jesus’ body.
Worship
changes us; it helps us see the world with different eyes, eyes focused on
seeing the Holy Spirit at work around us so we can say “thank you,” and
“wow” and join in. Worship reminds us that we belong to God and we’re to
live how Jesus calls us to live, to shape our lives around his will, not our
own. This takes humility, a realization that the world does not revolve around
us, that we are here to serve and not to be served. Paul calls us to “not think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but to
think of ourselves with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has
distributed to each of us.” Living with humility in a culture with shows
like American Idol and America’s Got Talent where parents and friends allow
their children and friends embarrass and humiliate themselves in front of
millions of people because they’ve never been brave and kind enough to tell
them how horrible they really are. True encouragement is to help them discover
the gifts they actually have rather than the gifts they want to have just because
it puts them in the spotlight.
In
the church, it’s not about me, it’s about us. “For
just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all
have the same function, so in Church we, though many, form one body, and each
member belongs to all the others.” When we ask the question, ‘why
church,’ one of the answers is because we belong to each other; they have a
right to expect our presence and the gifts we bring to the family. We don’t
exist on our own, we belong to each other. In the western world, this is almost
heresy, it teaches we belong to ourselves. We place the individual over the
group. But Jesus and the Bible come out of an eastern world view where the
group and family come first. Jesus is our example, he doesn’t stand on his
rights as God, he comes to earth as a human and offers himself as a sacrifice
for us. Our identity comes from our relationship in Jesus. This
is Philippians 2 kind of living, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united
with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit,
if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being
like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value
others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to
the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the
same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
As
we mentioned last week, there’s so much anger and division today about things like
politics, vaccines, and vaccine passports because we are conditioned to think
our rights and comfort come first. Our acts of worship help us to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds, not conforming
to the pattern of this world.” How we think, live, and understand the
world, is shaped by the Holy Spirit. The Christian faith is other focused, as
God is. Jesus commands us to “love God with everything
you have and are, love your neighbour as yourself,” and because you love
God and neighbour, go and make disciples. In
times of division and conflict, the church can show the world a different way,
a better healthier way based on coming together in humility, finding ways to
unity instead of division, encouraging and building each other up as the body
of Christ together. Can you imagine a world where everyone is focused on
blessing the other person first? This is kingdom of heaven living.
Paul
goes on, “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.” Each of these
gifts is given in order to bless others and build them up in a spirit of grace.
Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 4, “So Christ
himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and
teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ
may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the
Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.”
Peter echoes this in 1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you should use whatever gift you
have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its
various forms.” Peter calls
us to use our gifts for each other so that those who are watching the
church will praise God for how we live and use our gifts, 1 Peter 2:12 “Live such good lives among the pagans that,
though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify
God on the day he visits us.”
The church is a wonderful training ground for discovering our gifts, trying different kinds of
serving, learning from both failing and succeeding, being mentored into
learning new skills, mentoring others, finding out what interests you and what
doesn’t. Being an elder and reading sermons, helping out in the Thunder Bay
Community Center were all training grounds for me to experience the call of
ministry, while others who served with me discovered gifts for working with
kids, for mentoring others, or doing home repairs and cooking.
Why Church? It’s a place where we meet God, live life with others, are mentored and we can mentor
others; it’s a place to find belonging and hope, it’s family with all its
blessings, warts, and joys, a place where the Holy Spirit shapes and forms us. It
gives our community an imperfect and yet beautiful picture of what the kingdom
of heaven is like.
No comments:
Post a Comment