In View of God's Mercy

Romans 12:1-2New International Version (NIV)

A Living Sacrifice

12 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. 2 Do not conform 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.

I know it may seem a little strange, but I have decided to take a little different approach to Advent this year.  I will still sprinkle in the birth story and the reminder that Christ will come again.  I made the decision to tackle Romans 12 during the Advent season in the hope that it gives us direction, both as a church and individually, in the upcoming year.  I say this as a reminder of our calling in Christ.  Every Advent we are reminded of the hope, peace, joy and love found in the baby Jesus.  And every so often a reminder of who we are called to be within the realm of that hope, peace, joy and love is also required.  That is why Romans 12 will be our focus this Advent Season although our primary focus will be, and always should be, Christ.  

Our scripture this morning is short.  Yet, there is an incredible amount of theology within it. Paul starts out by urging us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.  And we are to do so in view of God’s mercy.  That is the key phrase: in view of God’s mercy.  When we better understand what the actions of Christ really mean to our eternal soul.  And not just our eternal soul, but what that means in the daily walk we are fortunate enough to call this life.  I know there is pain.  There is heartache.  In fact, I have the unfortunate duty to memorialize a soul gone before his time on Thursday.  It is one of the hardest things I have to do to this point in my life.  How do I help a family to see God’s hope, peace, joy and love in light of the tragedy they faced last week?  Believe it or not, this is where Paul’s words actually make the most sense.  It may be difficult, dang near impossible, but placed inside the view of God’s mercy we at least have a chance to better understand.  We may not receive the answers we demand but at the very least there is a chance for hope, a possibility for peace, perhaps the eventual chance for joy again, and an opportunity to see the love of God through those who help the family heal.  But it only possible, even in the slightest, within the view of God’s mercy.

While offering our bodies as a living sacrifice in view of God’s mercy we find our true and proper worship.  We often view our time within the walls of a church building our worship but this scripture expands that view.  While churches are a place of worship, it is where we come to worship with others seeking to find the love, grace and will of God and to figure out how those things apply to the individual’s life.  But our worship is so much greater than what occurs on Sunday morning.  Every word, every action, and as much as we hate to admit it, every thought is our worship or lack thereof.  It can seem a little overwhelming as I talked about last week, but that is our calling, that is our true and proper worship.  William Barclay has a brilliant quote on the matter, “True worship is the offering to God of one's body, and all that one does every day with it. Real worship is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, and a ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is the offering of everyday life to him, not something transacted in a church, but something which sees the whole world as the temple of the living God.”  In view of God’s mercy, giving our absolute all for the kingdom of God is our true and proper worship.  

So why do we do this?  Why do we give our all to God?  We already have eternal life.  We already have God’s forgiveness.  So why relentlessly pursue God?  The answer is more than your salvation.  It is the salvation of your neighbor, of a loved one, or a complete stranger.  “Do not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  The transformation of your mind is found through the relentless pursuit of Christ.  This takes a radical change.  A change that is more complex than the saying of a few phrases.  A change that goes beyond liturgy, tradition, ritual and theology.  While those things are important, God is beyond them.  God may in fact be found in all those things but they cannot stand alone to demonstrate the hope, peace, joy and love of God.  In view of God’s mercy, it is your duty and responsibility of the utmost importance to actively demonstrate them in all that you do.  This radical change takes place in the essence of who you are.  For example, as we age, so does our outward appearance continues to change.  As I keep climbing through my lower thirties, I keep getting more and more ear hair.  It’s gross.  I know.  It is part of the continual change of my outward appearance and I don’t like it.  As gross and ugly as the continual growth of my ear hair is, sin and malice and spiritually immaturity is that ear hair to my relationship with God.  Unless I do something radical to remove this nasty ear hair, it will continue to come back.  As will sin on our soul.  That is why Paul is calling us to such a radical change.  In view of God’s mercy, we are called to shift our focus, to make our lives completely and udderly focused on making Christ the center of who we are.

We may never fully accomplish this task, however.  But that shouldn’t stop us from trying.  The more we make Christ the center of who we are, the more we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will.  Right now, in this exact moment, I can tell you the will of God.  The secret to life if you will.  I can offer it to you.  I can tell you exactly what God wants.  When Christ becomes the center of life then we can present real worship, which is the offering of every moment, every action, every thought, every word to God.  That’s it.  It is that simple.  That is His will for you.  All He wants is all that you have.  Christ gave every single one of us all he had on that cross.  He gave everything he had to God through his thoughts, actions, and words.  You may not be called to die for God like Christ did but you are in fact called to live like Christ did for God.  Today, we lit the candle of hope and it is my hope that you see the areas where you may not have given all that you have to God and choose to do something about it in view of God’s mercy.  That is my hope for you and that is my hope for this church.