The Mind of Worship - Ministry
The Mind and Heart of Worship • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
Renewing our mind
Renewing our mind
Starting in verse 3, Paul begins to unpack this concept of true and proper worship, which he’s outlined in verses 1 - 2. What does this whole-life worship (heart, soul, mind, strength) look like?
We’ve already noticed that the worship Paul is talking about here is the collective worship-service of God’s new covenant people. And, in answering the question of what that true/spiritual and proper/reasonable service looks like, it seems to me that Paul draws attention to two aspects of service:
the service of God’s people towards one another (which we’ll call ministry); and
the service of God’s people towards outsiders (which we’ll call mission).
In both sphere’s of activity (in ministry and in mission) transformation is required. The actions and behaviours that Paul instructs in Romans 12 won’t even be desirable to us, let alone be achievable by us, unless we are constantly being transformed by the renewing of our mind. Remember the sequence:
mind discerning
heart delighting
body/whole life doing
So, in these short introductory talks, we’re going to start where Paul starts - with the mind. Then, in our group discussions we’ll move on to consider the affections of the heart and the sort of actions which should characterise the worship life of God’s people.
Even in this list of instructions, Paul makes provision for the mind; he provides rationality for his instructions. He enables us to understand how the sort of worship-service he’s instructing is proper/reasonable.
And he leads us into this with his customary use of the word γάρ (gar - for). Whenever you find a ‘for’ in Paul’s writing, look for a reason or purpose - the apostle wants us to be rational (to use our minds) and to be reasonable (to follow the argument).
So, let’s follow the ‘fors’ - there are two of them in verses 3 and 4.
Sober judgment
Sober judgment
Romans 12:3 is a verse jam-packed with mind activity. Verse 3 is a word play on the Greek word φρονέω (phroneo - to think) - Paul repeats it 4 times, helping us to see what the renewed mind thinks, as it prepares the heart for ministry.
He says, “Don't think of yourself with high-minded thinking; no, think of yourself with sober thinking (or sound judgment)”. It's all about the mind in verse 3.
We know what high-mindedness is, don’t we? The mind that is self-oriented, self-pre-occupied, self-obsessed. The renewed mind isn’t any of those things.
But what is meant by sober judgment/thinking? Paul helps us to understand what he means by the next phrase - “in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
The answer to haughty thinking is not to think little of ourselves, rather it’s to think of ourselves very little. I say that because the answer to haughty thinking is faith, and the object of faith is Christ. So, to think soberly in accordance with our faith, is to be pre-occupied with Christ.
Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) Live Peaceably with All, If Possible
The Christian alternative to thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to is faith—that is, turning away from self to Christ. Thinking much and thinking highly of Christ.
There is a worldly version of humility, which seeks to think more about others than about itself. That is not how the renewed mind works. The renewed mind is completely consumed by faith in Christ. And only the mind that is truly occupied with Christ can love and honour and serve the needs of others without seeking to magnify itself in the process. It is wholly motivated by the glory of Christ. So, we’re to think in accordance with faith.
And lest there be any opportunity for the flesh to glory in the matter of our having faith in Christ, Paul rules that out. He adds that even the faith we have was measured out to each of us by God. So, there’s no room for boasting, even in the matter of our turning in faith to Christ!
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Paul then helps us to rationalise this sober-mindedness even better by giving us two more reasons for it, introduced by the ‘for’ of Romans 12:4:
the first relates to our place in the body of Christ; and
the second relates to our spiritual gifts.
Each member belongs to all the others
Each member belongs to all the others
The first ground Paul gives us (Rom 12:4-5) is that we are body parts, that is we’re just a small part of the body through which God will be served, worshipped and glorified.
This brings us back to the point we observed in our introduction - that the true and proper worship God desires is the offering of a corporate ‘life’.
There’s a play on words with verse 1 in that, as we offer our bodies to God, yielding the parts of our bodies to him as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:13), we see that we ourselves are, in fact, parts of the body of Christ through which God has designed to be worshipped (in churches of God - which are to be local replicas of the body of Christ in a town or city).
Paul’s point is very simple. And I know you’re itching to go to 1 Corinthians 12 where he makes this point in greater detail. I think there are three strands to his logic:
The body has many parts. I don’t know whether Paul was thinking in terms of organs (though he mentions some of them - ears and mouth - in 1 Corinthians 12) but, today, science tells us that the body has 78 organs. Many parts!
Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
The parts have different functions. Organs themselves, we are told, are complex organisations of tissues, cells and organelles that work together to do a particular job. They have a particular function.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
The body is one and lives only because each part fulfils its function towards the others. In the human body, organs are grouped into organ systems (like the circulatory or digestive system), groups of organs which work together to perform a wider function. But just like the organs, the organ systems must also co-operate to keep the body running (e.g. the respiratory and circulatory systems work closely to deliver oxygen to and expel carbon dioxide from the body).
As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
Interdependence is the word that, perhaps, best summarises the sober judgment that Paul encourages in these verses. The little expression at the end of verse 5 that captures this thought of interdependence is translated (fairly literally) in the ESV “individually members one of another”; the NIV gives the sense as “each member belongs to all the others”. There’s so much in this!
God has so arranged us in Christ that:
my ability to function depends on you; and
your ability to function depends on me; and
the function of the whole body is dependent on each of us.
So the eye can’t look at the hand and think, “I don’t need you”. But, equally, the ear can’t look at the eye and think, “because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to this body.” The parts of the body must share the same concern for each other (1 Cor. 12:25). That’s what it means to belong to the body.
We could spend so much longer on this, and in 1 Corinthians 12, but I hope you can see how the body metaphor starts to renew our mind leading to sober judgment.
And that’s before mentioning the fact that it is God who arranges the parts of the body (1 Cor. 12:18). He’s the one who puts the body together to form a unified whole (1 Cor. 12:24), which leads us to Paul’s second reason for sober-mindedness: gifts and grace.
Different gifts according to the grace given to each
Different gifts according to the grace given to each
The second ground the Paul gives us (Rom 12:6) is that we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.
What is the grace given to each of us? I believe it corresponds to ‘function’ in verse 4 - this is the particular work that God has assigned to each one of us.
In verse 3, Paul refers to his own work as “the grace given me”, which is confirmed in Romans 15:15-16 as the work of a “minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles” and as the “priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God” to the Gentiles.
So this work actually embraces both ministry and mission. And Paul calls it grace. It’s the good work which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10). So, we didn’t choose our work; we were assigned it and called to it by God, as a demonstration of his grace.
And then God equips us for the work he’s called us to. That’s where spiritual gifts come in. And to each one of us, spiritual gifts have been given - again, this is grace! Gifts are given, not worked for or chosen by us.
And the gifts have been distributed “according to the grace given to each of us”. What that means is that your gifts are perfectly suited to your grace.
God has shaped you by and in accordance with his grace! That’s what it means to be God’s workmanship. He has equipped you adequately for the particular task he has assigned you. God has shaped you for a unique ministry to the body of Christ and a unique witness the world - a unique tribute to God in heaven.
But that means that:
your spiritual gift is by grace;
your unique sphere of service is by grace; and
even the effect your service, which is the result of your faith, is by grace since even your faith is by grace.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Oh the mercy of our God, whose gifts and call (Paul says in Rom 11:29) are irrevocable!
May our minds be renewed, even now, as we contemplate God’s mercy in placing us in Christ and his grace in calling us to ministry and in gifting us for that ministry.
And may our hearts be transformed to discern and delight in that ministry that with our whole bodies we might serve one another - utilising our God-given gifts in accordance with our God-given grace.