“Conform in Godliness”

Scripture: Romans 12:1-8


Today we begin a new series on living the Christian Life. Since I haven’t convened our Worship Committee for several months now, and since I had finished a couple of series that we had jointly worked up, this one was a personal inspiration. I had been looking at Diane’s Worship Planner, which is based on the Common Lectionary, and Romans 12 was one of the passages that it was recommending.

So I started reading through the last few chapters of Paul’s Letter to the Romans again, and much of it was his advice to the Church on how to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. The church in Rome was largely Jewish in nature, but there were a fairly significant number of Gentile believers, too. And their lives in faith were anything but easy.

Rome’s hatred and distrust of Judaism, and within it, the Christian faith, continued to grow and fester, and within 20 years of this letter, the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, and Christianity would be forced to break from Judaism and become a separate faith expression.

It would be a time of persecution and general violence, and Christians, especially in Rome and its empire, needed to know what distinguished them from the rest of the world. Sound familiar? I thought so, too, because the Church of every age needs to be reminded of just who and whose they are. These next seven weeks, I pray, will help us in our letting the fullness of Christ’s truth become our distinction over the world and its fruitless ways.

Read Romans 12:1-2

Paul’s first two points in this section of his letter are about what true worship and discerning the will of God is all about. These are a couple of deep topics, and he simplifies them into two verses.
In verse 1, he tells us what “true and proper worship” involves. Simply put, which is not exactly Paul’s forte, it is the surrender and living sacrifice of our human lives. This doesn’t mean that we cut ourselves off from the rest of humanity, but rather that we are to turn away from earthly standards and worldly ways, and let Almighty God guide our lives. The apostle wants us to know that worship of our Lord doesn’t involve some good work or action, or even regular attendance at church on Sunday mornings, but rather a total change in our attitude toward what is right and good. We can no longer make that distinction through our own wisdom and desires - it can only come by learning what God’s desires and ways are all about. It is no longer a life that looks to that which makes sense to us; it is no longer about our redefining what God is about and for; it is no longer about our telling the Lord what he should do and how he should treat us and others. “True and proper worship” is about our repenting of all that used to be our life, and beginning to do what is right in God’s eyes, giving him the glory and bringing joy to the life that he is for us.

Verse 2 continues in this theme, with a discussion on our finding God’s will for our lives, and the first sentence lays it all out. Simply, without the Lord in our lives, we are the world’s. We live in a worldly way, we act in a worldly way, we even think as the world tells us to. But Paul is telling us that we have to let all of that go if we are ever to know God’s will for our lives. He says that we need to be “transformed”. Transformation is not a shallow adjustment, or some simple change in outward appearance. It is a change in heart, mind, soul, purpose, direction. It is about trusting in the Lord’s way as the only way. It’s about finally admitting that those things that we had always thought were truth, were nothing more than the world’s lies and foibles, and that the only absolute truth resides in the Lord and his word.

There’s an old saying, that if we don’t know who we are, then the world will tell us who we must be. The world’s mold awaits everyone who doesn’t stand with Jesus. It is only through surrender of the ways of earth, and being transformed in the love of our Almighty God and Savior, that we will ever discover what his will and way are for our life. Of course, you may have already realized that the world will not go quietly or gently when we strive to live a Godly and Righteous life, but by confession of our sin, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can begin living a worshipful life, in and of the will of our only true God.

Read Romans 12:3-5

As I previously mentioned, short and simple were never the apostle Paul’s strong suit! So he begins to detail what this “transformed” life must look like, and what is the first issue he addresses? Humility. “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” I have little doubt that Paul was remembering his own former life, in which he was an arrogant, self-centered, self-righteous Pharisee, and how his meeting Jesus on that road to Damascus changed everything, especially his attitude regarding his own self-importance. He now gives credit for everything he does and accomplishes to the Lord and his infinite grace; it is no longer about him, but rather about the goodness of God that has brought him so far from those bygone days. And he testifies to the Church in Rome, as well as the entire world, that this is his focus now, and that it can, and should, be theirs, too.

He tells his brothers and sisters in Rome that they must use “sober judgment” in their life. Live your life in Godly wisdom, not the human kind; let yourself live in a disciplined way, in a way that reflects the work of God in your life, not in a way that pats yourself on the back for all of your great accomplishments. Think Humility!

And the third thing in the statement is “in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” First, faith is not ours except as a gift from our loving and gracious Lord – a gift that comes to us when we give our lives to Jesus Christ. Second, God doesn’t just dump grace in our laps on the day we give our lives to him. We could never handle it! So faith grows within us as our trust in Christ grows greater; and as our understanding of Jesus’ teaching becomes more and more of an integral part of our life; and as our obedience leads us deeper and deeper into the divine grace of Almighty God. Do we all gain the same depth of faith? No – at least not at the same time - but the same faith is available to each and every person if we grow and prepare for living the faith that God has created for us.

And why? To become ready to receive even more gifts from the Spirit. These next several verses are reflective of his first letter to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12) – where he describes the Body of Christ, the Church, in terms related to the human body. Our own different members – hands, feet, ears, eyes, hearts, lungs, minds – all have different strengths and different purposes, and are used to support us and enable us in different ways and at different times. But by using each and every one of these “members”, sometimes separately, but nearly always in union with others, they are strengthened to serve us in new and greater ways. And of course, if they aren’t used, they will slowly atrophy and waste away.

And as with faith, it all centers on our relationship with Jesus Christ as the Head of our lives, for he alone is the reason, the unity and the truth for the Church.

Read Romans 12:6-8

And what does the Lord have in store for all of the “members” of his Church?
Why would the Holy Spirit need, or even want people, with unique strengths and abilities?
Actually, why doesn’t God just do it right the first time, and avoid having to put up with our messing it all up?
The truth is that the Lord wants us to be active disciples, and not just “hangers on”! He certainly could do it all by himself, but he wants us to be part and parcel of his ministry to the people of earth, and through an active and obedient faith, we come to understand what God’s way is all about. But Satan continues to mess with our lives, and his greatest pleasure comes when he gets us to side-step from the Lord’s way and begin taking life out of context – out of the divine context, and into the world’s. So we have scripture, which leads us to the list that Paul offers.

In this passage, he lifts up seven gifts that we may be blessed with, to use to lead others into the Lord’s glory – prophesy, serving, teaching, encouragement, giving, leading and mercy. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 also has a list, as does Ephesians 4:11-13 and other passages. These gifts are spiritually given, and they aren’t always through our recognized strengths – more times than not, the strengths that the gifts reinforce may have been unknown, unused, even ignored by us for most of this life. In my case, I had denied the gift of pastoral ministry for many years, because, if the truth be known, my general nature is introversion. Why would God ever think I could be a pastor? He must have made a mistake!
Why would I think that? The reason may very well be that it is not second nature for me – I’m not always comfortable in this position, and I am constantly having to look to the Lord for guidance, for the right words, for compassion, and for love of others while they continue to live in their sinfulness. And maybe that’s the point – I can’t do it on my own, but it can be done with the Lord’s help (Matthew 11:28-30).

Of course, these gifts aren’t for us to use for our own prestige or advancement. Their only purpose is to bring glory to our Triune God and to show others the way into that glory. And the effectiveness of these gifts will only grow to fulfillment when you and I surrender our own plans and desires, and allow our great Lord and Savior to re-shape us, re-mold us, re-conform us in his image, just as he had always intended us to be. And that will be the greatest gift we shall ever receive.

Praise the Lord for his love and blessed perseverance!