Being a Living Sacrifice
Based on Romans 12:1-8
Delivered
on August 27, 2017 at CCH
Hymns: Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart, Open My Eyes
That I My See, Take My Life and Let It Be
Romans 12:1-8
12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the
mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of
God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.
12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you
not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with
sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the
members have the same function,
12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually we are members one of another.
12:6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given
to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;
12:7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;
12:8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity;
the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Good morning, I am Darci Strutt McQuiston, one of the Lay
Servants of the United Methodist Church up on the hill. It is my privilege to
be here this morning.
I’m going to take the reading from Romans in reverse
order. The lessons I’ve pulled out of
this reading are to:
Accept who you are
Listen for God’s will
Respond with your whole self
Accept who you are
Humans are competitive animals. We want to know our place in our tribe. We give out ribbons for first, second, and
third to cross the finish line or be judged as superior. Our pay scales reflect how we value the
talents of others.
God doesn’t see it that way.
Each of us has a unique gift or talent that helps us fulfill our unique
purpose, and that is combined with the gifts and talents of others to create
the whole. We aren’t meant to be solo
stars. We are meant to be in community.
12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you
not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with
sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the
members have the same function,
12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually we are members one of another.
Paul reminds us not to be prideful, but I believe it’s also
important not to think you are of no value.
You are not ‘better than’ or ‘less than’ – you are who God created you
to be. God does not have pay
scales.
1 Corinthians 12:14-19 details what Paul means when he says
we are one body in Christ.
“Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not
a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being
part of the body. And if the ear should
say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for
that reason stop being part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If
the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has placed the parts in the
body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the
body be?”
As I was thinking about that it made me smile at how we put
the number zero at a high level of importance when we celebrate birthdays. A birthday with a zero behind it is a big
deal. Should the number three feel bad,
or less important? The thought made me
laugh. Of course not! We need them all.
12:6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given
to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;
12:7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;
12:8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity;
the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
We have gifts and talents given to us by the grace of
God. We have a reason for being
here. We are best ready to serve God
when we accept who we are.
Listen for God’s will
The world would love to control how you use your
talents. Money makes the world go
around. The marketplace isn’t concerned
about you making money but it is quite focused on getting you to spend it. The world will always have one more thing for
you to buy or do that isn’t in line necessarily with God’s will.
1 Timothy 6:10-11 gives us a warning
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some
people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves
with many griefs. But you, man of God,
flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance
and gentleness.
That is the message Paul is giving in verse 2.
12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of
God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The will of God for us equates to our reason for being here. He graced us with talents to further his
kingdom. We need to get our job
description from God, not the world. Mark
Twain said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you were
born, and the day you find out why."
We find that “why” for God when we stop listening to the pull
of the world and focus instead on the guidance from scripture and the Holy
Spirit within us. To follow Christ means
your thoughts are transformed. The world
focus is temporary and more often driven by fear. God’s will takes an eternal view and is based
on love.
Respond with your whole self
Now we get back to where the Apostle Paul started in today’s
reading; to live out our purpose for God.
Paul advises us to give our all.
So much so, that it is like a sacrifice that is burnt upon the alter,
yet one that keeps that level of devotion while continuing to live..
12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the
mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Paul’s appeal isn’t that we give part of our time and ability
as we feel like it. It is much more than
being involved in church work. It is a
call for full commitment. My favorite
quote that explains the difference is from the tennis player Martina
Navratilova, “The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and
eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.” A burnt offering is committed.
Here’s what I hope you take away from this scripture.
Accept and embrace who you are. You are loved and valued by God, and have
been graced with talents that will make a difference to the work of his church.
You are not better than anyone else or
less than anyone else. We are each God’s
favorite. We need each other but you
have a part to play. We are one body
with many members.
Take time to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit so you
can use those talents wisely. There is a
reason we are together here on the planet together. Find your own “why”. Consider that the work God has is for us as a
community of believers. If you feel a
nudging that you know you can’t do by yourself, know you are not called to do
it by yourself. Listen to that inner
voice that speaks for God.
Lastly, we are who we are by the grace of God. Our act of worship is to be faithful with the
gifts we have been given. D.L. Moody
said, “The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the
altar.” That’s where God’s grace comes
in yet again. We will metaphorically
“crawl off the altar” over and over.
When we notice we have turned away, we can seek forgiveness, and return
to faithful service.
Thank you for being here today. I needed this message, and just maybe you did
too. May God be with us as we continue
this journey of faith together.
Amen.
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