During the past several weeks, God has impressed upon me the wonder and the joy of Christian community. Lots of good things have been happening in the life of this congregation. I know I can’t put it all together in one complete picture, but I’d like to just remind us that God is doing a remarkable thing right here among us.
1. How is it that in a culture in which differences between individuals often seem to get in the way of cooperation, that here in this congregation people of various ages, ethnic backgrounds, economic levels, and political leanings can enjoy meeting, worshiping, and working together?
2. How is it that in a culture in which many people show signs of selfishness, independence and self-centeredness, that here at Elm Street we see people coming together to accomplish a common mission that seeks to study, follow and share the Word of God, sending kids to camp, taking doorknob bags into the neighborhood, and gathering regularly around the Bible to learn how to live?
3. How is it that in a society in which children often bully each other, pick on each other, and treat each other rudely, that here at this church we see kids who enjoy playing with each other, who visit each other’s homes, and learn the skills of mime to minister to others?
4. How is it that in a culture in which people are becoming more and more isolated and afraid to reach out to one another, that here when we gather we see people trusting each other, listening to concerns, praying for each other, and even humbly washing each other’s feet?
5. How is it that in a society in which it seems that people have forgotten the skills of interpersonal relationships, that here we see people eagerly greeting each other, respecting each other, relating to each other nonviolently, learning from each other, and even forgiving one another?
It doesn’t happen automatically; it takes effort, but I find it a remarkable picture in a world that is being blown apart by violence on the one hand, and a world that is falling apart because of apathy and unconcern on the other. How is it possible for a small body of God’s people to live with hope in a dark world with so much going wrong around us?
When I was a child, I enjoyed the worksheets and coloring books that had numbers in them and dots to connect. You all have one in your bulletin today (numbered outline of the church building). I’d begin by trying to find number 1 and then trying to follow the sequence to the highest number. The picture only became clear after all the dots had been connected. If I missed one, the picture wouldn’t be complete. What I have just described about our congregation is something like that. And today, using the book of Romans, I want to connect some of the dots so we understand what God is trying to do.
During the weeks leading up to Easter our sermons came from the book of Romans. Today we are ready to begin the last part of this long, deep theological book. As usual, when Paul wrote letters to churches, he begins Romans with lofty, spiritual concepts and understandings, and then at the end gets to the practical, everyday actions expected of God’s people as they live in their church community. The last five chapters in Romans describe how beliefs translate into behavior. And Romans 12:1,2 serve as the transition verses between them.
The foundation of Paul’s faith and ours, of course, is Jesus. And in explaining what God has done through Jesus, Paul uses a lot of important words, words such as faith, grace, salvation, sin, etc., And we need to understand these ideas in order to grasp all that God has done and is doing. But we also need to pay attention to words that connect those ideas and we have an important one in 12:1, the word THEREFORE. If we pay attention to that word, it will help us connect what Paul is going to say with what he has already said. As someone has said, “When you see the word therefore, you need to find out what it is there for.” And so that is where we will start.
Romans 12:1 says, “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.”
What does Paul want to connect with his appeal? He wants to introduce us to the next five chapters about the way members of the Roman church should live and he seems to be saying that we need to go back in order to go forward. A moment ago I asked how it is possible for a congregation like ours to exist in the kind of world we live in. How far back in the book of Romans do we need to go to understand the answer? We might start by looking at what Paul has written just before Chapter 12 and we see immediately the wonderful words at the end of Chapter 11.
He writes these words after he has wrestled for three chapters with the difficult issue of how the Jews fit in the plan of God. On the one hand, God sent his Son Jesus as a Jew to the Jews, but they rejected him. So what will happen? After struggling with the problem, it is as though Paul throws his hands in the air and says, “I can’t figure it out. God’s ways are beyond me.” And he quotes from Job and from Isaiah and ends with an Amen! (11:33-36).
So, when Paul urges us in 12:1 to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, is this what he means, that God is so great, so magnificent, that all we can do is to offer our lives to him? That’s an important part of what he wants us to understand, but if we look closely, we see that the dots go beyond that.
We don’t have time for lots of detail, but let me just say that the word therefore in Romans 12:1 serves as the hinge between these last 5 chapters of Romans and all of the first 11 chapters. The first 11 chapters outline the way God has shown his love to us and because God has shown his love to us, we as members of the Christian community, the church, Christ’s body, will show our love toward each other. That is what Paul is getting at. Paul had never been to Rome, but he wants these little churches in Rome, and there are probably several of them, to recognize that everyone comes to God through faith and that under God’s love and grace everyone stands equal before God. Therefore, no differences dare separate Jews and Gentiles or any members of the little house churches scattered around the city. Love among God’s people must be thoroughly inclusive. We don’t dare put long time members in the back of our sanctuary and expect new members to sit in front. We don’t dare ask children to stand through the sermon and adults to sit. We don’t dare separate this body of believers by color of hair, type of occupation, or physical ability. We are one body, young and old, rich and poor, male and female, and we all stand on equal footing before God. And because God loves us, we love each other. And that is the way God has ordered it.
So how do we get from God’s provision to the church’s mission? How do we get from sin’s separation to God’s salvation? How do we get from human disunity to divine community? And the key is to connect all of the dots, and especially those here at the turning point in Chapter 12.
There are three dots that we need to connect in order to understand where Paul has been and where he is going.
The first dot is to recognize God’s mercy, compassion, and kindness and to respond with a gift or a sacrifice. When we lived in Japan, we had to learn the real meaning of gratitude. When someone did something for us, saying thank you was not enough. We were expected to respond with some kind of gift. And so gift giving has become a big business in Japan. People are always buying gifts for others who have done something for them. When our daughter was born, our missionary friends told us that we should give a gift to the doctor to express our thanks for delivering a healthy baby. We had no idea what to get, so they suggested we give him some cheese since that was still a luxury for many people. And we did. As I recall we gave him a whole wheel of cheese, several pounds. He may still be eating it!
Paul is saying we should respond to God’s generosity with gratitude. In the old days, that would have meant offering an animal sacrifice to God. But, since Jesus has made the supreme sacrifice, we are not to bring a dead animal as a sacrifice, but we are to bring a living sacrifice. And that sacrifice is ourselves! “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice,” he says. What other response would be proper?
So the reason that you can see a congregation of people eager and willing to serve God today is that these people have dedicated themselves to God. I like the story of the little girl who, during the offering, stood up and motioned to the usher to lower the offering plate, so he lowered it a foot or so. She motioned him to lower it some more. Still not enough. Finally, he put it on the floor and the little girl stepped into the offering plate, ready to give herself. That is what the church is, people who have put themselves into the offering plate in gratitude for what God has done for them. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.”
The second dot asks us to reject the values of this world as a pattern for our lives. “Do not be conformed to this world,” verse 2 says. When J. B. Phillips translated this verse, he said, “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.” The question is, where do you take your cues from? What are the principles that guide your life? When God told Lot to leave the city of Sodom, he told Lot’s wife not to look back. Why was that? He didn’t want her to look back and let the desire of the things she was leaving take over her life. Did she obey? No. She looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. (One little boy said that his mom looked back once while she was driving and turned into a telephone pole.)
We could spend the rest of the morning talking about those values and attitudes that try to make us like the world around us. Our culture places a high value on wealth, physical pleasure, and gratifying our desires. A drug user told us the other day that his body craves drugs and it is hard to resist. And it is even harder when other drug users come around and try to persuade him to join them in the habit. That desire often overcomes his common sense and he succumbs. Drug users sometimes want money for drugs so badly that they steal. Some people want earthly possessions so badly they go a store and shop lift.
A person without God in his life wants his own way. But the child of God prays, “Your will be done.” The child of God doesn’t live just to satisfy himself, he lives for the glory of God. As Christians, there are some things we deliberately reject because we have presented our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. “Do not be conformed to this world.”
The third dot is to be “transformed by the renewing of your minds,” also in verse 2. The idea here is not just to give yourself to God, not just to reject those patterns that are not what God wants, but to give yourself to God so fully that God will be able to mold you into the mind of Christ so that Christ’s goals are your goals, what he loves you will love, what displeases him displeases you.
We can find story after story of people whose lives have been transformed by the gospel and their minds renewed. Back in the 1700s, John Woolman was so concerned about justice in society and the way slaves were exploited that he refused to wear dyed cloth because the dye depended on slave labor. It is more complicated today, but some stores sell clothes made by children in other parts of the world in what are called sweat factories. They are forced to work for pennies a day. Should we buy such clothes?
Some of you know the story of Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, who became a self-made millionaire at 29 years of age. But as his business prospered his health, integrity, and marriage suffered. This crisis caused him to re-examine his life and as a result he reconciled with his wife and renewed his commitment to Christ. The two of them took a drastic step. They sold everything and gave it to the poor and started over. They went to Koinonia Farm operated by Clarence Jordan in Americus, Georgia. Together they began a program of providing housing for people in poverty. Fuller and his wife moved to Africa in 1973 to test out this housing plan. It worked there and he concluded that God wanted him to try it in the U.S., so he established Habitat for Humanity. Fuller says that he operates on the economics of Jesus based on Exodus 22:25 which says that a creditor should not charge interest to someone who is poor. Fuller says, “I see life as both a gift and a responsibility. My responsibility is to use what God has given me to help his people in need.”
Conclusion
God won’t likely ask you to do what Millard Fuller did. God won’t likely ask you to live as John Woolman did. But, if you have not responded to God with the surrender of your life, God invites you to do that. If you have not turned your back on the values of this world, God invites you to do that. If your mind has not been renewed and transformed, God invites you to let him do that.
When you have connected those dots, then not only will you understand the picture God wants to draw, but you will be a part of it.
Benediction. Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to stranger.
Bless those who persecute you. Live in harmony with one another. If it is possible so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Resources:
Profile: Millard Fuller: http://lawrencehabitat.org/Library/MillardBio.pdf
Marva Dawn. The Hilarity of Community
J.C. Wenger, A Lay Guide to Romans
