GETTING ON WITH REAL LIVING (PERSONAL)
Romans 12:1-8
Introduction
Imagine that I owe you a million dollars. Over the years I have come to you for everything that I need. My parents started it, borrowing for my bottles and booties. When it was time to go the grocery, we came to you for money. I sent you the bills for college and graduate school. You paid for the wedding. You paid the hospital bill when our children were born. When I wanted to take friends to eat and to play golf, I came to you for the money. Clothes … furniture … automobile … gas … a nice house. You paid for it all.
Now the bill is big, and it is time to pay. How?
We don’t have to think very long to realize that our debt to God is larger than that. Now, what does God, the giver, expect?
The spiritual act of worship that God expects is that we be a living offering.
• We will not be conformed to “now,” a slippery, silly world (the soap opera life—fantasies, moral decisions that are switched like a change of clothes).
• We will be transformed (with a walking loyalty to Christ; Jesus is rubbing off on me).
• It starts on the inside, with a renewed mind, in the plotting ground.
I. With Sober Judgment I Think About You.
A. I don’t assess you too highly, or too lowly.
B. I see your worth (which there is a tendency to underestimate), your performance (which there is a tendency to overestimate), and your possibilities (which there is a tendency to underestimate).
C. I grasp how you are related to God.
II. With Sober Judgment I Think About Us (The Body).
A. I don’t assess us too highly, or too lowly.
B. We are one body, many members. Each of us has a different function (thank goodness).
C. Each one of us belongs to the others of us. We supply the capacities lacking in the others of us.
D. We have talents to contribute to each other from our natural endowment. We have the ability to develop those. Then, as Christians we have grace-gifts, from the time of our surrender to Christ, when the Holy Spirit came in.
III. With Sober Judgment I Think About Myself for Us.
A. If I am a speaker, I will do that faithfully.
1. My model is the first-century herald, the prince’s friend and announcer. He ran in front of the chariot and told the people what the prince wanted to say.
2. I share God’s message, the best I can; not my message.
B. If I am a helper, I will do that with a servant’s spirit.
1. I will actively employ my gift.
2. I will not do it grudgingly. Then I would lose the power to comfort and encourage.
C. If I am a teacher, I will put the truth in understandable and appealing terms.
D. If I am an encourager, a prize giver, I will not wait to be stimulated by others. That pro-activity is a part of my gift. These “friends” of the church help people run farther, lift more, smile more widely, dig deeper, sleep more soundly, and reach forward with more assurance.
E. If I am an earner-giver, I will do it generously.
F. If I am a leader, I will do it with diligence.
Conclusion
Maybe the spiritual interpretation will be clearer if we picture an energetic and talented basketball team. Some play one position very well. Some can play rather well in more than one place. Some can play with competence wherever they are needed. The aim is a team victory. Play your position, encourage the others, don’t interfere, back the others up, and stretch your zone when needed.
