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Romans Lesson 22 (2008)

THE SPIRITUAL ACT OF OUR WORSHIP

Romans 12:1-8
Key Verse: 12:1-2a

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

The main content of the first 11 chapters of Romans is theological and deals mainly with the way of God’s salvation. The main content of the remaining chapters of Romans, 12-16, is practical, with various instructions for Christian living in this fallen world with regard to our relationships with God, with ourselves, with our neighbors, with other members of the church, and with the government.

One of the key words in Romans chapters 1-11 is “mercy (God’s mercy).” Many years ago when I lived in Chicago, I was pulled over by a police officer for a traffic violation. I made a turn at the red signal. Actually, in Chicago, you are allowed to make a right turn at the red light as long as you stop before making the turn. I guess I didn’t stop because I was in a hurry. As the officer reached the car, I realized that I had left my license at home. “Oh, no! What am I going to do?” When the officer asked for my license, I told him, “I am sorry. I left it at home.” Then he looked at me and my wife sitting right next to me, and my two boys and my mother in the rear seats. To make the matters worse, my two boys didn’t have their seat-belts on. I was in real trouble. The officer said, “Sir, I can give you three tickets, one for making a moving violation, one for driving without a license, and one for not putting seatbelts on your kids. But I will let you go this time because you cannot afford too many tickets. Be careful to drive back home safe.” He was a cool cop. Through this event, I felt God’s great mercy on me. We are blessed as God’s children simply because we are shown God’s mercy. If God were not merciful to us, we would have remained in eternal condemnation. But in his great mercy, God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and rise from the dead, so that his salvation can be available for anyone who believes (Chapters 1-8). Throughout history, God chose his remnants among the Jews and the Gentiles, who were saved by faith in each generation. (Chapters 9-11) Once we were not God’s people, but now we are the people of God, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. (1 Pet 2:10)

But how easy it is for us to forget God’ mercy upon our lives! We often think and act as if we had not been shown God’s mercy. Our thoughts, words and behaviors often do not reflect God’s grace upon our lives, instead they reveal our hidden pride, selfishness, unthankfulness and self-righteousness before God. In fact, many of us act Christian in the church, but not at home, at work or anywhere in the world. As a result, we often see that God’s name is blasphemed among us and especially before non-believers. Why is it so? It’s because many of us are saved but remain unchanged. Here, Apostle Paul has something very serious to say to us. What Paul is urging us to do in today’s passage is to honor God as God in every aspect of our lives, which is our spiritual act of worship. How can we honor God as God in our practical lives in this fallen world?

First, we should always remember God’s mercy and give thanks to Him. In Luke 17:11-19, we read an episode about ten lepers who had been healed by Jesus. At that time, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him and shouted at a distance, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Jesus had mercy on them. However, instead of telling them, “Be healed “, Jesus commanded them to go and show themselves to the priests. And as they went, all of them were cleansed. Yet, only one of them came back, praising God, and gave thanks to Jesus. Jesus was surprised and said, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” We often act like the nine ungrateful lepers by failing to remember God’s mercy and failing to give thanks to God. It is our fallen human nature that we tend to remember bad things and not to remember good things. But when we fail to remember God’s mercy and give thanks to him, we fall into a spiritual delusion that God is not with us, like the Israelites in the wilderness. We even become virtual atheists. The phrase, “in view of God’s mercy”, reminds us that we should always remember God’s mercy and give thanks to Him as of first importance. Thanksgiving is the first step of our spiritual act of worship.

Second, we should honor God by offering our bodies as living sacrifices. Look at verse 1 again. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” What does “spiritual act of worship” mean? According to other Bible translations, “spiritual act of worship” can mean “reasonable, rational or intelligent act of worship.” Or in view of traditional Jewish ceremonial and ritual worship, “spiritual act of worship” can mean “the worship offered by our minds and hearts.”

However, it’s also interesting to note that Paul didn’t say that we should offer ourselves or offer our hearts as living sacrifices. Instead, he said that we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Why did Paul say that we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices? Obviously, he didn’t mean that we should offer our bodies in place of sheep or goats. He meant that our life should be set apart for God and fully dedicated to his service. It definitely indicates as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:16, that our bodies are God’s temples, and that God’s Spirit lives in us. At that time, due to the influence of certain Greek Philosophy, which taught that our bodies are evil, many believers treated their bodies at random. Some believers even indulged in sexual immorality. But Paul believed that we Christians should honor God through our bodies. He said in Romans 6:13, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instrument of wickedness, … and offer the parts of your body to him as instrument of righteousness.” Here, our bodies refer to our physical bodies: mouth, nose, hands, arms, feet, eyes, ears. Our talents, our life, our energy are also included.

Apostle Paul said in 1 Cor 10:31, that whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we should do it all for the glory of God. How can we eat food for the glory of God? Drinking water doesn’t seem like glorifying God much. What about sleeping? Can we glorify by sleeping? What about driving, babysitting, cooking, listening to music, playing music, exercising, watching TV or studying? Well, almost everyone does those things, not just Christians. But what Paul seems to be concerned about here is our ultimate purpose and motive in our day-to-day lives. We have a choice. We can either indulge in a self-seeking lifestyle or honor God as God. We know that our body is weak and vulnerable to temptation. Unless we positively offer the parts of our body as instruments of righteousness, we tend to offer them as instruments of sin and evil. We should honor God as God through our bodies because our bodies are God’s temple, in which the Spirit of God dwells. That’s our spiritual act of worship.

The third spiritual act of worship is being transformed by the renewing of our minds. (2) Look at verse 2. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but 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.” The word “conform” in Greek (suschematizo) means in modern terms to imitate, follow or copy. Although all people may want to be unique, many blindly follow the pattern of this world in the way they dress, the way they think, talk and act. When Paul said that we should not conform to the pattern of this world, he did not necessarily mean that we should be old-fashioned, out-dated, anti-social or anti-cultural. In 13:11, Paul said “and do this, understanding the present time” meaning that Christians should also understand the contemporary world and society they live in. (13:11)

So “Do not to conform any longer to the pattern of this world” more likely means not to follow worldly values and standards as opposed to God’s values and standards. How easy it is for us to blindly follow the pattern of this world, without carefully examining it. For example, we cannot deny that living in this world, most of us have been influenced by its materialistic and ungodly values and relativistic moral standards. We just don’t realize it because it happens little by little, like a drop of black ink dripping in a bathtub full of water. At the beginning, you cannot see the difference. But when you begin to see the difference, it may already be too late. It’s hard not to become conformists of the pattern of this world unless we intentionally do something about it.

What can we do about it? Verse 2b says, “But 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.” Here, we learn that we can either remain as conformers of this world or become transformers of Christ by renewing of our mind. The word “transformation” in Greek is “metamorphosis” , which indicates a change of outward appearance, like larvae turn into butterflies and like tadpoles into frogs. However, when Paul said that we should be transformed, he meant a fundamental transformation of character and conduct and into the image of Jesus Christ.

Paul said “to be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” meaning that the renewal of our mind is the integral part of our transformation. As we learned in Romans chapter 8:5-6, how we think and what we think are very crucial parts of our transformation. However, we know that it’s impossible to change our character, our old habits, especially bad habits, and our mentality. When we try to change ourselves, we find ourselves unchanged even after many months and years of struggle, and we are discouraged. We give up and become fatalistic about our future spiritual life. Yet, the Bible says that the gospel is about becoming a new creation by the power of God, our transformation from our old character, old habits and mentality into Christ-like character, values and mentality.

Of course, Paul didn’t say, “change yourself.” Instead, he said, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We also know that we can be transformed only by the power of God’s words and the power of the Holy Spirit. (1 Peter 1:23-25) Yet, Paul didn’t say “be transformed by the power of God’s words and by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Instead, he said, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We must admit that transformation is easy at all. It does not happen in a day. Transformation is a lifelong process. It does not happen automatically after becoming a Christian. We need to struggle spiritually. That’s why Jesus said to his followers, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:23) In what Jesus said here, we find a clue of how we can be transformed into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the way of the cross. These days, there is an impression that Christianity has become like an entertainment business. Many believers want to be entertained and feel comfortable. Discipline is not welcomed. But if there is no spiritual discipline, there is no real transformation. We need to discipline ourselves.

Recently, I started to exercise regularly at YMCA at least 3 times a week. My initial purpose was to lose weight and to improve my health. I did cardiovascular exercise and tried to lift weights. When I went to the weight-lifting room, I felt embarrassed because other guys had no problem for lifting 200-300 lbs, while I had to struggle to lift 20-30 lbs. I wanted to quit. But I decided to discipline myself and increase muscle power little by little. Now, I, after 10 months of exercising, can lift 90-100 lbs. Soon, I will be able to lift 150-200 lbs and beyond.

Likewise, even though transformation is the work of God in us, unless we discipline ourselves, it does not happen to us automatically in a day. We need spiritual discipline. That’s why Paul said to his spiritual son, Timothy, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” This is what we mean by “Jesus’ discipleship.” Apostle Paul didn’t just encourage others to discipline themselves. He was a living example of a disciple of Jesus Christ, struggling hard to imitate Jesus by putting himself under God’s training to the very end of his life on earth. He said in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” Spiritual discipline is not a popular subject. However, we should not grow weary in our spiritual struggle to be like Jesus. We need to continue to run the race while we discipline ourselves like spiritual Olympians to win the prize prepared for us in heaven. In the end, when Jesus comes again, we will be transformed completely according to what God has planned for each of us.

Fourth, we need to have a honest evaluation of ourselves before God. (3-8) Look at verse 3. “For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Socrates said, “Know yourself.” This can be very dangerous to some people, because if they really know who they are, most of them will be really discouraged, despair and even think that life is not worth living. But what Socrates meant was that an unexamined life is not worth living. However, according to Paul, as believers in Christ, we also need to have a honest evaluation of ourselves before God, based on God’s grace. Humility is not just lower ourselves before people. It is to know and accept our real self according to the proportion of God’s grace. Saint Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Everything we have is God’s grace. Many people, even some believers, think that life is not fair mainly because they compare themselves with others and reject God’s sovereignty. However, we must know and acknowledge that each of our lives is divinely designed by God’s providence, so that God’s glory may be fully revealed in and through us. When we accept God’s sovereignty, we don’t need to compare ourselves with others. Our life is unique and awesome because of God’s grace. But if we don’t accept God’s grace, we cannot even start to live our lives honestly and sincerely. We become a slave to victim-mentality, low self-esteem and selfish-ambition. That’s not what God wants from His beloved children. We don’t need to try to exalt or lower ourselves before people when we have a proper self-esteem in God. As Paul said in Ephesians 2:10, we are God’s masterpieces, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

In verses 4-8, Paul says that each of us must also acknowledge our unique gift in the body of Christ. Look at verses 4-5. “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” In verses 6-8, seven gifts are mentioned, 1) the gift of prophecy, 2) the gift of serving, 3) the gift of teaching, 3) the gift of encouragement, 4) the gift of contribution, 5) the gift of generosity, 6) the gift of leadership and 7) the gift of showing mercy. The word “gift” in Greek is “charisma.” There are many other gifts of the Holy Spirit, mentioned in other parts of the New Testament, such as the gift of tongue speaking, the gift of healing, the gift of miracles, the gift of discernment (1 Cor 12). I also believer that there is the gift of music. Some gifts are very popular. But some are very unpopular., such as the gift of celibacy, (like Saint Paul, Mother Teresa, Missionary Sarah Barry), the gift of voluntary poverty, (like St. Francis of Assisi), the gift of martyrdom, (like Stephen), the gift of cleaning up others’ mess and mistakes, and the gift of intentional silence. These are all indispensable gifts of God for building the body of Christ. However, we know that not everyone has the same gift, and not one person has all gifts. We are interdependent and need each other. We are not to boast of our gifts or to envy others’ gifts. Instead, we should acknowledge God’s gift in each of us and respect God’s gifts in others and offer our gifts to God in serving the body of Christ.

We often pray that this crazy world may be changed. We also pray that others may be changed. But before we pray for others to be changed, we need to pray that we ourselves might be changed first. We have been shown mercy so that we may be saved and continue to offer our bodies to God as living sacrifices and be transformed into the image of our Lord Jesus. Praise God our Father who has shown His great mercy to us. May the Lord help us to train ourselves to be godly until we are completely transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Read our key verse, verses 1 and 2a. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not confirm any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”