All In: Sacrifice in Serving
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Intro
Intro
Consumers spent more than $130 billion on gift cards per year, according to advisory company CEB TowerGroup, but it said roughly $1 billion went unspent.
A Radical Reorientation
A Radical Reorientation
Our worship is a response to God’s mercy.
Our worship is a response to God’s mercy.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Worship is when we give ourselves to something or someone. It is making much of something, putting our attention on that thing. We put on display how much it is worth to us.
Paul is saying out proper response to God’s mercy, as he has shared in the preceding chapters, is Worship Him.
We WORSHIP God specifically in this passage by presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.
We should NEVER read this passage as a suggestion, and many of us do, whether we realize it or not.
Paul uses strong words and images here intentionally.
“I plead with you…” it is our obligation, but it is a necessary obligation for us to ACT, choose, walk as He is calling us to walk.
“living sacrifice...” Paul is pointing to the image of the sacrificial system of the OT. They showed God’s worth (worshipped Him) by sacrificing animals and giving Him the best of their resources.
“IS your spiritual worship”- your proper response/posture before God is WORSHIP through sacrifice.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
In view of God’s acts of mercy it is entirely fitting that we commit ourselves without reservation to him. –Robert Mounce
“Therefore brothers” is indicating a transition as with last weeks passage.
Our worship is a radical reorientation of life.
Our worship is a radical reorientation of life.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Paul is saying “because of ‘the mercies of God’, all that I just went over about who God is, what He has done, and who you are because of it, do these things and think this way...”
Worshiping God is not compatible with conforming to the accepted ways of our culture.
Who you are because of what Christ has done is the source and power of what we do, how we live, and the way we think.
Paul is saying that if you are “ALL In” for Jesus then your life should look different than those who are not.
Worshiping God mean we sacrifice our wants, desires, identities, and purposes for His,
What we live for, why we live, and the source of our hope and joy should be different because of our faith in and worship of God.
Our decisions and our
Worship of God will lead to transformation and renewing of our minds as we grow to understand God’s will and what is most pleasing to Him and most satisfying to us.
Rather, worship of God will lead to transformation and renewing of your mind as we grow to understand God’s will and what is most pleasing to Him and most satisfying to us.
Our worship takes the focus off ourselves
Our worship takes the focus off ourselves
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
How is our life radically reoriented? We think less of ourselves.
We shed off the tendency toward pride that is so common to man.
Pride is the root of sin in our lives- when we think our needs, desires, and preferences are the most important. When we are our own central focus.
Pride drives...
Pride infects the local church as we:
Greed, as we think about the ways we can use our money for ourselves.
Focus more on what we get than what we give. (Children’s ministry, youth ministry, getting attention or recognition, …)
Desire to be entertained. (the music was good/bad, my kids didn’t have fun, we don’t do enough _________)
Just want to check a box. (I showed up, now on to other things.)
Church involvement has no lasting effect on your life outside of a 1-2 hours a week.
If we worship God our attention cannot be on what we get, but what we give.
The consumerism of our church culture is rooted in pride, as church becomes less about God and God’s family and more about me and how I’m served.
It can’t be on
Our worship leads us to sacrifice the ME for WE.
Our worship leads us to sacrifice the ME for WE.
But that is contradictory to the biblical understanding of the Church.
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,
rm 12 4 5
rm 12 4
4
When we truly worship God our pride shrinks and our attention is taken off ourselves.
The act of worship, according to Paul, is sacrifice of self.
It is literally saying “I will give up the things I want, the preferences I have, and the agendas I am pushing in order to preserve our unity.”
This doesn’t mean we don’t speak up in a business meeting, or call out a brother or sister in sin.
But rather, our focus is not on what we can get out of things, but on maintaining our unity in Christ Jesus.
We are the body of Christ, it is who we are, and our activity flows from that identity.
Because we are “one body in Christ” we become “members one of another”
Worship of God frees us to serve others as we see how we are connected to one another.
This is one of those “Identity before activity” things.
We are the body of Christ, it is who we are, and our activity flows from that identity.
Because we are “one body in Christ” we become “members one of another”
This doesn’t mean we don’t speak up in a business meeting, or call out a brother or sister in sin.
But rather, our focus is not on what we can get out of things, but on
Our worship activates us for sacrificial service.
Our worship activates us for sacrificial service.
rm 12
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
When our lives are reordered by our worship of God we are radically reoriented.
Thinking less about our wants and needs and more about others.
Then our radical reorientation takes shape in sacrificial service as we are given gifts that allow us to serve.
are given gifts that allow us to serve Him and serve others.
Our gifts are different and given out of God’s grace not our ability or propensity.
This
We have a tendency to think highly or lowly of ourselves because of something we are given by God to do.
The reality is the gift you have been given to serve God was given to you by Him. There is no room for boasting or for pouting.
Your gifts are not for your benefit, but for the benefit of others
1 cor 12
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Our gifts ARE given for the “common good”- the good of building up the body of Christ and growing the fame of Christ Jesus.
Our worship of God is clearly seen in our willingness to sacrificially serve others.
Our worship of God is clearly seen in our willingness to sacrificially serve others.
1) We don’t use them at all.
1) We don’t use them at all.
2) We use them for selfish gain.
2) We use them for selfish gain.
3) We devalue the behind the scenes for the upfront.
3) We devalue the behind the scenes for the upfront.
We
Are you In?
Are you In?
Are you in to giving yourselves to God fully and completely?
Are you in to pouring yourselves our to serve others with the Gifts God has given you?
Are you in to seeking to serve the common good of EHBC?
Are you in to living in community with one another, seeking ways to love on serve one another.
Areas we need your help:
Nursery
Children’s ministry