Recap and Background

Welcome to the beginning of Series 4. Paul’s starting point in the book of Romans was to explain the Christian gospel in chapters 1 to 4, in Series 1 of this teaching. Then in Series 2, Paul taught the church how to live the Christian life effectively, how to not fall into legalism, how to use the power of the Holy Spirit that had been given to them in order to guide and strengthen their Christian living. In Series 3, Paul addresses a very important question for the Early Church: where do the Jews fit in to the purposes of God? This was very important because in the Roman church, and in the whole Church of the New Testament, the question of where the Jews fitted in was a big problem because it was so obvious that most Jews had rejected Christ. Why should we be interested in the Jewish people and their heritage if they have rejected the Messiah when he came? Paul was very worried that this was going to be the case in Rome itself where there was tension between the Jewish and Gentile groups within the church. Paul points out that God has always made a distinction between the ethnic group of Jewish people and the spiritually chosen group within them. Paul calls that spiritually chosen group who believe wholly in God at different stages of Jewish history ‘the remnant’ - chosen by grace. Paul explained that even in his time there was a Jewish remnant. The Early Church was originally Jewish - the apostles, all the people in the Jerusalem church and many others. So there was a remnant of Jews which showed that God had not finished with the Jewish people. Paul even pointed out that he himself was a Jew and the fact that he was leading the mission to the Gentiles showed that God was still working amongst the Jewish people.

Then in chapter 11, Paul used an incredible image to describe the situation that was taking place then - a story of an olive tree. The olive tree is a representation of the nation of Israel and the branches represent the Jewish people but Paul pointed out that at the time when the gospel came, the Jews who didn’t believe in the gospel were like branches of the tree which had been broken off and thrown away. Meanwhile other branches from wild olive trees had been grafted in, representing the Gentiles coming into the people of God. In the last episode, to bring this story to conclusion and to bring us to our text today, Paul explains what he considered was a mystery - something previously hidden but made known to Paul. He had a revelation from God concerning what was going to happen to the Jewish people in the future. Most of them had rejected Christ in his day but he looked ahead prophetically, and because he was an apostle he was given prophetic insights into the future which become authoritative for us because they are written down in the New Testament, the Word of God. His prediction appears in Romans 11: 25 – 27. I repeat it here to give us the context of where Paul’s teaching at the beginning of Romans 12.

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written ‘The deliverer will come from Zion, he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins’.”

Romans 11:25-27, NIV

He points out that at that time Israel had hardened itself against the gospel and the Gentiles were coming in in large numbers into the Kingdom, and in this process when the Gentile numbers have built up and become very large, then there will be a large number of Jews who join the Church; and he describes this as ‘all Israel will be saved’ meaning there will be Jewish people from all parts of the Jewish community who find Jesus as the Messiah. This was a remarkable teaching and this is the first time in the New Testament that we have a clear statement of this teaching. There are many Jews finding salvation in this century and in the last century. There has been a rise of Jewish salvation in the last 100 years. It has been a remarkable process - the beginning of the fulfilment of this prophecy. I am privileged to know Jewish people who have miraculously found salvation in Jesus Christ. I think of a friend who lives in Israel but grew up in the United States of America. I visited him in Israel some years ago and he told me his story, how he grew up not knowing anything about Jesus in his Jewish home in North America but as a student, he heard the gospel and suddenly believed in Jesus and now he is serving God wholeheartedly and witnessing for Christ in the land of Israel. This is an amazing thing that is happening in our day. Paul ended that story in chapter 11 and that ends Series 3.

God’s Mercy to Gentiles

Now, in Series 4, Paul is preparing the way for giving practical teaching to the church about many things that are important for them to deal with in their immediate situation but he starts with some well used words from Romans 12: 1 - 3 and that is the text for this episode - a short text packed with meaning.

“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 minds. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12;1-3, NIV

Paul starts with an important word “Therefore.” He is referring back to everything we have just spoken about in Series 3, the way that God has been merciful to the Gentiles and how the Gentiles are coming into the Church in large numbers wherever the gospel is preached - mercy to the Gentiles but also mercy to the Jewish people. There is hope for them - an opportunity now and a promise for the future. As he is speaking largely to a Gentile audience, when he uses the word “Therefore”, he is talking about God’s grace to them, ‘in view of God’s mercy’.

I want to pause for a moment to talk about God’s mercy to us. Paul’s understanding of the gospel is that we don’t deserve salvation: we can’t earn salvation; we can’t work out salvation on our own; we can’t deal with the power of sin operating within us all on our own. We need the active intervention of God which we saw in Romans 9 and particularly in Romans 10 - that in order for us to respond to God he first must reveal himself to us. There must be a predestined purpose of God initiating something, some revelation to us in order to believe and that is God’s mercy that is described here. In God’s mercy he has reached you with the gospel. It is an amazing thing to think about. We can’t take the gospel for granted, he has been merciful to us. He was merciful to the Christians in Rome who had had the opportunity to believe in Christ; he had reached out to them and they had taken their responsibility and responded.

Our Response to God’s Mercy

Because God has been merciful to us, we then need to make a response. God’s grace comes to us at a tremendous price, the price of Jesus’ death on the cross - immense suffering, immense love on the part of Jesus Christ - so that we can be saved. Paul says the only appropriate response is to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. ‘To offer your body’ is to offer your whole life, every dimension of your being rightly belongs to God if you have been saved and been the one who has received his mercy. He is encouraging wholehearted commitment to God and wholehearted thankfulness for the fact that God’s mercy has reached us. I am very thankful that that happened to me when I was aged 15 and still at school. The gospel was preached to me by a pastor who was focusing on evangelizing in schools. He came to our school and preached the gospel and he explained it to me personally when I asked him some questions. I remember him with gratitude. A year ago he died and I saw the story of his life, the obituary of his life, in a local newspaper in the city where he lived in the United Kingdom. I saw his face again, I haven’t seen him for 35 to 40 years, and I thank God for this man who preached the gospel to me and thank God for the mercy that came to me that time.

Paul says, as a result of that thankfulness give your whole life, your whole body to God. It is easy in countries with established churches and Christian communities, to turn up at church because of family tradition, local culture, or because of obligation to your teachers at school, or because people might give you some benefits in business because they are in the church community and you need to be seen there. Paul doesn’t want us to be motivated by that, he wants us to be motivated by the mercy of God through the gospel coming to us and we give our whole lives.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19 - 20.

“Do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.”

We belong to God, all of us, our whole lives belong to him, and so we need to give our lives to him. Sometimes that means real change in the way that we live. I remember a friend who became a Christian and his background was one of violence and gang warfare. He was a very strong man and he always used physical force to get his own way. When he became a Christian he made a commitment that he would never use violence again whenever he was involved in difficulty, or in conflict with other people. He gave his body, literally his strength, to God to be used for a different purpose.

Living Sacrifices

‘as living sacrifices’. We are the living sacrifice - this is our true and proper worship. One of the things that demonstrates our sacrifice to God is what we do with our material possessions. It is one of the most important aspects of being a living sacrifice: your material possessions, your animals, your smallholding, and your money - the money in your bank account, the savings, and the possessions in your house. God wants to touch our hearts in such a way that we regularly give to the work of God. I was taught this as a young Christian and by the age of 18 I had been taught that regular giving was really important. I had very little money at that time, I was a student, but I remember being taught that even with a little money you have to give generously, even if the amounts are very small, and make sacrificial giving part of your Christian discipleship.

Change of Behaviour and Thinking

Paul goes on to say “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” When you become a Christian you quickly realize that your thinking has been shaped by other factors other than the gospel. It might for example be tribalism, or nationalism, or materialism - thinking that the material world is what really matters. Materialism is a good example. We can still believe that material success and wealth are the most important things in life even if we profess to be Christians. But that is not the case and that is not what Paul believed nor what Jesus taught. He taught that God would provide for us as we serve him and that we should hold lightly to the material things that we have; that we should not invest too much value in them and be willing to share them with other people.

‘Be transformed by the renewing of your mind’. This is another vital part of the change that takes place in Christians in how we actually think; and one of the best ways to renew your mind is to saturate your thinking in the Bible itself. The most effective way of changing your thinking is by reading and studying the Bible. I wonder whether you read the Bible regularly. It is amazing how many people who attend churches don’t read the Bible regularly and don’t know the Bible very well. My recommendation is that we read whole books of the Bible, in sections. For example, here we have the book of Romans that we are studying. A good way of using this book is to read it, maybe a chapter or half a chapter at a time, and go through the book giving yourself time to reflect and think about what you have read and pray about it on each occasion. It is amazing how effective reading the Bible regularly is to build up our Christian life. If you have never done that before, the best place to start is in the Gospels. Take one of the Gospels and read it through slowly day by day. Take time every day to read a section. Maybe you read it in a paper copy of the Bible, maybe you have it as an electronic app on your phone, or maybe you listen to the audio of the Bible, and you are not reading – you are listening. That is a really good thing to do as well. But give yourself plenty of time with the actual text of the Bible and so you will find your thinking will be changed, your mind will be renewed, your ways of thinking will be challenged.

Knowing God’s Will

“Then you’ll be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will”.

Paul now is focusing on the individual. You have received the gospel, you are thankful for the gospel, you know it is based on mercy, you understand the gospel, you want to give your life for Christ, and this is the time when you will be able to begin to work out what is God’s will for you. What should I be doing with my life at this time? That is a very important question and the answers vary enormously between us. Sometimes most of what we do is very obvious: the things we have to do in the home, bringing up children, with our work and our jobs. But God wants to speak to each one of us, and that is my real prayer and desire for you listening to this episode that you will begin to think more clearly about what God has called you to do as an individual specifically. You will be able to test and approve God’s will, his good, pleasing and perfect will. The wonderful thing about God is, he is our father and he has a plan for everybody. He has literally got things for you to do in your life that are for you only and probably nobody else can do the things that he has called you to do. That is what Paul has in mind. ‘You will be able to test and approve what God’s will is’. You have the Holy Spirit within you. You will find that God begins to lead you to feel concerned about certain people or situations, or work, or ministries, or outreach, or some burden, or responsibility in your family context and maybe he wants to develop you in having a role in your local church. Whatever it is, this is a great place to think about what we are called to do as individuals and sometimes as families. Paul believes that the Holy Spirit can teach in each one of us individually the things that we ought to focus on.

Last week I was talking to a friend who used to be a member of my church more than 30 years ago. As a young adult, he and his wife heard the Holy Spirit say to them very clearly that they should dedicate themselves to living in some of the poorest neighbourhoods in our country. They moved to one of the major cities in the United Kingdom and decided to go to one of the most deprived urban areas and to buy a house and to live there and that this would be their primary place of Christian witness for the foreseeable future, perhaps indeed for the whole of their lives. They have been there about 20 years and I was talking to him about that last week. He knew where he should be and he made a sacrificial decision to go from one place to another, to get to this poor community. He had tested and proved what God’s will was for him and for his wife and for their children.

Paul has in mind in this passage that sense of us being able to work out what God has called us to do. In the next passage, in the next episode, there is a key to working out what God has called you to do and that key is this: What has he gifted you for? What gifts do you have, what capabilities do you have? What spiritual gifts do you have? What things do other people see in you? If you have those gifts and capabilities, Paul says, use them and see what happens. But that is for the next episode.

Summits

We have reached in this passage, Romans 12: 1 – 3, the sixth and final high point, or summit, of the book of Romans. I have mentioned them as we have gone along. The first one was the small statement of the gospel in Romans 1: 16 - 17; the second one was the larger statement of the gospel in Romans 3: 21 - 26; the third one was in Romans 5: 1 – 22, where Paul stated the truth of justification by faith; and the fourth one was his statement about new life in the Holy Spirit, Romans 8: 1 – 2; and the fifth summit was the wonderful statement “All Israel will be saved” which we discussed in the last episode; and the final one is here in Romans 12: 1 – 2, disciples as living sacrifices.

Reflections

In our final reflections in this episode, let me say that if we remember how much God has been merciful to us that will give us the best possible motivation to be his servants.

My second reflection is start thinking what God has called you specifically to do in your life at this time and take that thought into our study in the next episode, Series 4 Episode 2, where Paul deals practically with some of these issues in more detail.