August 16, 2009Romans 12:1-8If we went out and hired some Madison Avenue ad agencies to help us attract people to First Presbyterian Church and to the Christian life, they obviously would emphasize the positive and fulfilling aspects we have here.
They would speak of Christianity as a way to wholeness and happiness in life. I certainly want to preach and share about the blessings of faith in Jesus Christ and being a member of the family of God. Grace and mercy, love and joy, healing and peace are all realities to be experienced in the Christian life. But we in the West (in the American church) have gotten use to hearing and seeing only the winsome side in much of the sales pitch for the church. So there can be a shock when we meet the Lord and he says not, “Come to Christ and all your troubles will melt away,” but, “If anyone would come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me” (Matthew 16). And Paul writes in Romans 12, “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Every-day life in Christ has its challenges. Living in this world as a follower of Jesus is not easy. There are many blessings along the way, yes, but it is not easy. The word Paul uses for body is not the one meaning the physical material that makes up the body or the one meaning our form or shape. He uses a word that means the whole person, one’s personality, one’s individuality along with our thoughts, feelings, experiences and actions. So complete is this “living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is true worship,” writes Paul. And together, we are the body (same word), the body of Christ. Together, we express the personality, the thoughts, feelings, experiences and actions of our Savior. What an amazing, exciting, challenging call and claim on our lives this is. So, what does an every-day life in Christ look like? I. Deny Your Self First of all, Jesus said, “Deny your self.” Paul said, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.” This self-denial should not be as difficult as it sounds. If you are a Christian, you have already turned your back on any attempt to please God through your own human abilities and efforts. Instead, you have accepted by faith what God has done in Christ for your salvation. We cannot save ourselves, so we have stopped trying. To deny the self is to die to our own efforts. The every-day Christian life is a matter of just continuing in the way we started. At the same time, this self-denial is not as easy as it sounds either. Augustine who lived around 400 A.D. put it this way. “The new will that had begun in me – and made me want to be free to worship and enjoy you, God, the only certain joy – was not yet strong enough to overpower the old will that had become tough with age. So there were now two wills battling it out inside me.” 20th century theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote this. Let’s face it. “We’re surrounded by a world that says No to nothing. Everything is judged by bigness and by success. To be told that in the Christian life there’s to be this strong negative aspect of saying No to things and No to self, must seem hard. Psalm 1 suggests, “Blessed are those who delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on his law day and night.” Paul writes in Romans 12, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” As we allow God’s word to shape our lives, our minds, our actions every day, to deny self is merely letting God be God in your life today. II. Take Up Your Cross Then Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Again, that doesn’t sound like something I naturally want to do, “to offer my self as a living sacrifice,” as Paul suggests. Life has its set of problems and challenges. But Jesus does not mean the stoic endurance of any of these inescapable hardships; things like sickness, dealing with an alcoholic spouse, hitting a stretch of financial need, having a job in an unfriendly environment. Sales people have quotas. Performers have rehearsals. The therapist can’t escape one depressed soul after another. The preacher is never free of sermon preparation. The military person can’t escape the hassle of red tape. The truck driver hits traffic, bad weather, or monotonous miles. But this isn’t what Jesus meant. To take up your cross is to offer yourself for the sake of others. Tied closely to denying the self, taking up the cross is a continuous, repeated approach to every-day life that says, “What does God have for me today? With whom am I to share my life today? What needs are there that I have the time, love and attention to meet? How will I let the gifts and fruit of the Spirit work through me? How will I be a “living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God?” In his little book Written in Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had already conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor. “Would you give your blood to Mary?” the doctor asked. Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, “Sure, for my sister.” Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room – Mary pale and thin; Johnny robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny’s smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube. With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. “Doctor, when do I die?” Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated before he agreed to donate his blood. He’d thought that giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. Fortunately, Johnny didn’t have to die to save his sister. Each of us, however (all of us human beings), has a condition more serious than Mary’s. It required Jesus to give not only his blood, but his life. And we are charged, as those saved, redeemed, healed by the blood of Jesus Christ, to share the saving message of our Lord with others, not matter the cost. III. Follow Christ Then Jesus said, “Follow me.” Paul writes in Romans 12, “In Christ we form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” And he says, therefore, use your gifts. Follow Christ in this way. Eugene Peterson rendered it this way. “If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.” When we use our God-given gifts we give up trying to run our own lives and what seemed so precious and utterly indispensable to us. Then we suddenly find the true joy of being a Christian. Paul said it in Ephesians 2. “It is by grace we have been saved through faith, not by works.” But also, “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Joyful Christians have found a satisfaction in whatever God gives them. The Lord knows its best for us to say No to anything that might keep us from the richness of that blessing. Conclusion So, let’s go out and hire a Madison Avenue type ad agency to help promote First Presbyterian Church and the Christian faith as service, submission, and sacrifice. After all, Jesus used love, service and grace to shape his disciples into people who eventually revolutionized their world. His way of developing the every-day Christian life has worked in every generation including ours. With Psalm 1 and Romans 12 along with many passages from the word of God, we can gather in close and see how the Spirit of Jesus can be replicated in our lives and in the church. Let us pray together. |
