Let's turn back to Romans 12. I have entitled this message,
Your Spiritual Act of Worship. I borrowed that title from the
New International Version's translation of Romans chapter 12. where that
last phrase, your reasonable service, is translated your spiritual
act of worship. Now Romans 12 is the response
of true worship. Now let me repeat that. Romans
chapter 12 is the response of true worship. This is the difference
between giving assent to some facts and believing with the
heart. And there's all the difference
in the world. Now what inspired this message
as I was reading through the book of Romans and I was reading
Romans 12 and I was struck by the last phrase of verse 8 while
I was reading this. He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Cheerfulness. A prompt joyousness. You do so not begrudgingly, not
because it's your duty, but with joy. He that showeth mercy with
cheerfulness. And I thought, how beautiful. Isn't that beautiful? To show
mercy with cheerfulness and it made me want to look at this
chapter a lot more closely. Now I've preached from this chapter
in the last two years, but I'm going to preach from it again.
I believe Romans chapter 12 is one of the most important chapters
in the Bible. It tells us what our response
to the gospel is to be. And notice what he says in verse
one, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God. He does not say, I command you. He doesn't say, I instruct you.
He says, I beseech you. And he doesn't say, I beseech
you with gain behind it. So you'll be advantaged or so
you won't suffer loss. He merely says, I beseech you
by the mercies of God. Now, what do the mercies of God
mean to me? What do the mercies of God mean
to you? Now, in Romans chapters 1 through
11, he set forth clearly the mercies of God. His saving mercies. He brought forth the great mercies
of justification by grace. Of divine election by grace. When I think of the mercies of
God, I love to think of those glorious doctrines concerning
His mercy. But I thought of this when I think about the mercies
of God, me personally. First, His mercies are sovereign
mercies. You know what that means? That means if He's given you
mercy, He determined to give you mercy before the time began. He picked you out. He selected
you. He passed by others and chose
you. Sovereign mercies. Isn't that
amazing to be chosen by God? That God would choose me before
time began, where He'd say regarding me, before I formed thee in the
belly, I Wow. And His mercies are saving
mercies. His mercy isn't an offer. If
He has mercy on you, He saves you. You're saved by His grace. You're justified by His grace. You're redeemed. You're saved. Sovereign and saving. Now, when
I think of His mercies in this sense, gave His Son for me. He gave His only begotten Son
for me. He gave. The love between the Father and
the Son, and He gave Him. He gave Him for what? He gave
Him to die as the sinner's substitute. And when I think of the What
pain, I don't even know how to say this, I wish I did, but what
pain it caused the father to pour his wrath upon his son. I don't understand that, neither
do you. But he gave his son, that the son of God willingly
took upon my sin and bore the awful load of God's wrath for
me. Out of love to his father, out
of love to me. The father told him to do it
and he did it. And He did it because He loved me. He knew
me. The saving mercies of God. That's the argument Paul uses.
I beseech you by the mercies of God. The sovereign saving
mercies of God where He, the Lord Jesus Christ, would willingly
leave the presence of His Father and become flesh. and bear the
awful load and guilt and shame and disgrace of my sin, and have
the awful stroke of his father's justice come down on him, oh,
the saving mercies of God. When I think of him being put
in the tomb and laying there for three days, who knows what
happened during that time? Nobody does. We can speculate
and it's useless. But when he was raised from the
dead, he was raised for our justification. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And he has made himself known to me. He knows me and he has
caused me to know him. Oh, to know the gospel. Amazing love! How can it be that
thou, my God, would die for me? I beseech you by the mercies,
the sovereign mercies and the saving mercies of God. I don't threaten you. I don't
command you. I don't instruct you. I beseech
you. Not holding out fear of punishment
or loss or a hope of gain. But the mercies of God in Christ
Jesus, Jeremiah said, it's of the Lord's mercies that were
not consumed because his compassions fail not. Great is thy faithfulness. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
isn't it a precious thing to be brothers and sisters in Christ?
What a precious gift of grace. I beseech you, brethren. I'm
Paul's brother. I'm the little brother of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's my elder brother. He's that
one who sticketh closer than a brother. He's the brother born
for adversity. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies. You present. You don't tell him
what you'd like for him to do, or you don't tell him what you'll
do. You present yourself. Here am
I. If it's to be a sweet sweeper,
street sweeper, here am I. If it's to rule an empire, Here
am I, it doesn't matter. You present yourself to Him. I love when the Lord said, whom
shall I send and who will go for us? We have both the idea
of Him drafting somebody and somebody volunteering. Whom shall
I send and who will go for us? Then Isaiah said, here am I,
send me. We're to present ourselves, not
tell him what to do. We present ourselves. Love so
amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. And we're
to present our bodies more than my mind, my whole body, mind,
and soul, head, hands, and feet. We're to present our bodies a
living sacrifice. A living sacrifice. Now, this sacrifice is not for
sin. That's already been offered up. Where the remission of these
is, by what our Lord Jesus did on the cross, where the remission
of these is, there's no more offering for sin. And oh, I hope
I wouldn't dare try to offer up an offering for sin after
His supreme sacrifice. What an insult to the Lord Jesus
Christ. I wouldn't dare offer up an offering
for sin. No, that offering was made up
once for all, and it was accepted by the Father. But I offer myself to Him. Not much to me, I realize, but
I offer myself. Lord, here am I. Now, death is involved in sacrifice. We're called upon to crucify
the flesh with the affections and the lusts, to take up our
cross, deny ourselves, and to follow him, to die to self. Self is my biggest problem. All the time. Self-righteousness. Self-centeredness. Selfishness. Self. And I'm called upon to
die to self. Paul said, I die daily. Death is involved in sacrifice
and cost is involved in sacrifice. David said, I'll not offer to
God that which cost me nothing. Death is involved. and cost is
involved. Now he says, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy. Holy to God. You see, it's the
holy nature that does this. It's the new nature that does
this. Your old nature doesn't do this. But your new nature does,
even now. And it's a holy nature. Birthed
by the Holy Spirit. holy, acceptable, well-pleasing
unto God, which is your reasonable service, which is your spiritual
act of worship, presenting your bodies a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God. Now this is worship. And you
know, isn't anything else completely unreasonable? Don't you love
the way he calls this your reasonable service? Anything short of this
is completely unreasonable. Verse two. And be not conformed to this
world, embracing its values, embracing its philosophy, embracing
its ways, embracing its religion, its evil religion. Be not conformed
to this world. Keep yourself unspotted from
the world, but be transformed, the scripture says, by the renewing
of your mind. Now, what is the renewing of
your mind? Well, it's having the mind of Christ. Every believer
has the mind of Christ. Paul said we have the mind of
Christ. And the renewing of my mind is
continually seeing that He is all. That I'm nothing, and that
He's all, and I'm complete in Him. That's the renewing of your
mind. It's looking once again to the
Lord Jesus Christ the way you first looked to Him. It's continually
looking to Him the way you first looked to Him. The renewing of
your mind. Be not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you
may prove or approve What is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God where you say from your heart, not my will,
but thine be done. And that's the very desire of
your heart, the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Preacher
came to visit a dear believing lady who was dying and she was
suffering and she was in pain. And he looked at her and he said,
well, what do you want? Do you want to live or do you
want to die? And she said, I want the Lord's will to be done. And
he said, well, I know that, but if you had your will, what would
you want? She said, well, I'd want the
Lord's will to be done. That good and that acceptable
and that perfect will of God. And the first thing that he says
and mentions in us approving of that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God is having a proper view of yourself. But
what he says in verse three, for I say through the grace given
unto me. And I, one of the things I was
thinking about Paul writing this 12th chapter of Romans, you know,
men haven't changed. They really haven't. I mean,
technology has changed. I got an iPhone this week. I
really did. I mean, did you ever dream I'd
do something like that? I got an iPhone and I've texted. I
got the kind where you can talk to it and technology. I'm trying
to keep up with the changes. I'm real proud of myself. But
I haven't changed. Men don't change. Same problems. And Paul the man, by the Holy
Spirit, is expressing The same problems then that we have now.
He's dealing with them. Men haven't changed, God hadn't
changed. Now let's go on reading, verse three. For I say through
the grace given unto me to every man that's among you, here's
the first thing he says when he talks about proving that good
and perfect and acceptable will of God. He says, don't think
of yourself more highly than you ought to think. That's the
first thing he says. Don't think of yourself more
highly than you ought to think. All sin, all conflict, all trouble begins
right here. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. Now, when we have too high
an opinion of ourself, you know what else we have? We have too
low opinion of God. And too low opinion of others. The first thing he says is, don't
think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but
be sober-minded, sound-minded. Understand this when you think
about yourself. In and of myself, I'm nothing but sin. And I am
what I am by the grace of God. Whatever it is I am, I am by
the grace of God. It's by the grace of God that
I know I'm a sinner. I'm so thankful for that revelation. You know,
the Lord makes it. The Lord makes it to where I
can't look anywhere but Christ. He makes me aware that I have
nothing else to look to. We just sang that song where
Wesley said, false and full of sin I am. And every believer
experiences that in their own experience as far as the way
they feel about themselves. I'm made to know that the only
righteousness I have is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is no other righteousness. I'm thankful that the Lord's
taught me that. I'm thankful that the Lord keeps me there.
I don't have anywhere else to look. Don't have anywhere else
to go. I'm a preacher of the gospel.
What a privilege. God has called me to preach the
gospel. What a blessed privilege. He
really has called me this. What a grace. By the grace of
God, I am what I am. God has made me to know his gospel. It's by the grace of God, I know
his gospel. I mean, I am what I am. Think
soberly. Think right thoughts of yourself.
I am what I am. by the grace of God. Don't think
of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think
soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure
of faith. Whatever faith you have, He gave
you. Don't you know that? Whatever measure of faith you have. The
Lord Jesus Christ had faith without measure. He believed God perfectly.
You and I have a measure of faith. But whatever measure we have,
it's what God has given us. He's giving me a measure of faith,
and what I'm going to do, I'm going to say, Lord, increase it. Increase it. Give me more
faith. Increase my faith. The disciples
asked that, and you and I ought to be asking the same thing.
Lord, increase my faith. Verse four, for as we have many
members in one body, Now, I got hands, I got feet,
I got fingers, I got toes, I got legs, I got arms, I got a neck,
I got a head, I got ears, I got eyes, I got a nose. I have many
members, but it's just this one body. And every part of my body
is important to me. Very important. It's part of
my body. And so is the body of Christ. The church is the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Many members, but one body. For as we have many members in
one body, and all the members have not the same office or function,
so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one member
is one of another. Now, if I want to prove the good
and acceptable and perfect will of God, here's what I'm going
to remember. I'm a member of the one body. And you're a member
of the one body, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when
our Lord said, inasmuch as you did it to the least of these,
my brethren, you've done it to me. He wasn't speaking typically.
He was speaking literally. God's people are the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And how I treat you is how I
treat Jesus Christ Himself. And how you treat me is how you
treat Jesus Christ Himself. That'll make us careful, won't
it? To always realize that we're members of His body. And that helps us to understand
and appreciate one another. And this is part of that good
and perfect and acceptable will of God. Having then, verse six,
gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Now here he talks about the gifts
of the church. Now, let me tell you this. All this charismatic emphasis
on gifts, it's foolishness, and it's false, and it's phony. I
want to say that very clearly. These gifts are not practice. People do not speak in tongues.
It's phony. People do not heal. It's phony. Only with the laying on of the
apostles' hands could these gifts been transferred. And when the
apostles died, the gifts ceased. but these gifts are still in
operation. Let's look at them. Verse six,
having then gifts differing according to the grace that's given to
us, whether prophecy, preaching, setting forth the truth, let
us prophesy according to the proportion or analogy of faith.
If you're gifted to preach, and I'm gifted to preach, I better
preach the faith. I better preach according to
the word of God, according to the proportion of faith. Or ministry. Here's a gift to be a servant. Ministry. You know, he that's
greatest, let him be your minister. If you want to be great in the
kingdom of God, do you have an ambition for that? To be great
in the kingdom of God? All you have to do to be great
in the kingdom of God is to be a servant, to be a minister. He that gifteth ministry, let
him wait on his ministry. He that teacheth, on teaching. What a gift it is to be able
to teach, to be able to tell what the scripture means. That
Ethiopian eunuch right here reading Isaiah 53, he didn't have a clue
as to what it meant. Philip comes up to him, he said,
do you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I except
some man should God be. Wouldn't you have loved to heard
Philip preach Christ to him from Isaiah 53? The great chapter
on the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
could have gone into all the Old Testament types, teaching
the truth. If your gift is teaching, give
yourself to teaching. Verse 8. He that exhorteth on
exhortation. That means encourage. Encourage. What a gift that is for someone
to be an encouragement, rather than a grief. An encouragement. He that exhorts or encourages
on exhortation. He that giveth, what a blessing
it is to give. The Lord said, it's more blessed
to give than to receive. Give my money, give my time,
give myself. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity, singleness of motive, and generosity. He that
ruleth, he that has a place of leadership, diligence, with zeal,
with passion. He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness, a promptness and a joy in doing
so. He that showeth mercy, what a
blessing it is to show mercy. Don't you want to be a merciful
man or woman? Oh, I want that to be my attribute. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. I want to be a merciful person.
I don't want to be some hard nose. I want to be merciful and
gracious. And I want to do so cheerfully.
Isn't that beautiful? You know, the gospel is so beautiful. Verse 9. Let love be Without
hypocrisy. Let it be sincere. Let it be
real. Let it be without acting. Abhor
that which is evil. And cleave to that which is good. Hate what's evil and be glued
to that which is good. Verse 10. Be, and this is part
of this good and perfect and acceptable will of God, be kindly
affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring
one another. Now this is worship. This is
worship. In brotherly love, loving one
another fervently. In honor, preferring one another.
Showing deference to your brother. Deferring. Yielding to the opinions
and wishes of others. Now that is worship. Verse 11. Not slothful in business. A lot of businessmen have taken
this to give themselves to really making money. That has nothing
to do with what it means. It means not lacking in zeal. Oh, don't be lukewarm. Don't
be complacent. Regarding the gospel, oh, may
we be enabled by the grace of God to be white-hot, fervent,
and zealous. We serve the Lord Christ, and
apathy and indifference is so ugly. Verse 12, rejoicing in
hope. Now this is part of God's will. Rejoicing in hope. I hope to
stand before God accepted, and I rejoice in that. I rejoice
in the righteousness of my Lord being mine. And knowing that
I'm going to stand before God and he's going to look at me
and say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, because
if Christ did well, I did too. Thus it becometh us, he said
to John the Baptist, to fulfill all righteousness. When he fulfilled
all righteousness, I did too. And what a hope that is. And
I rejoice. It makes me happy. It makes me
happy. Rejoicing in hope, patient in
tribulation. Patient in trouble, knowing who
sent it, and seeking to persevere through it, knowing he sent it
for my good and his glory. Continuing instant in prayer. Continue instant in prayer. That's
God's will. For you and I to continue knocking
on the door of mercy. Continue asking. Verse 13, distributing
to the necessity of saints. Give to the needs. Given to hospitality,
and I just learned this week, that means pursuing hospitality. Not just having an aptness for
it, but pursuing it. Pursuing being a friend. Pursue
having new friends. Pursue keeping your old friends. Pursue hospitality. That's the
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Verse 14, bless
them which persecute you. Bless, ask the Lord's blessing
on them and don't curse them. As hard as it is to be persecuted,
mistreated, ostracized, slandered, bless them and curse not. That
is worship. That is the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. Verse 15, rejoice with them that
do rejoice and weep with them that weep. Now if me and you
are one, if we're members of the same body, if you're promoted,
you know who else is promoted? I am. If you're blessed, you
know who else is blessed? I am. If you mourn and if you
weep and if you're hurt, you know who else mourns and weeps
and hurts? I do. We're members of the same
body. Rejoice with them that do rejoice
and weep with them that weep. You know, I'm afraid that sometimes
it's easier to weep with them that weep than it is to rejoice
with them that rejoice. May God give us the grace to
do them both equally, rejoicing with those who rejoice. Verse
16, Be of the same mind one toward another, view with grace, highly
esteem, have the same purpose, striving together for the faith
of the gospel. Be of the same mind one toward
another, Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low
estate." Don't be impressed with high things. Remember what the
Lord said, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination
in the sight of God. That's what the Lord said. Don't
you be impressed with high things. What's high anyway when you know
He who is highest? Does anything this world considers
high, is it high? No, mine not high things, but
condescend to men of low estate. Now that doesn't mean I'm going
to condescend to buddy up with you. That doesn't mean that at
all. That's pride. If I condescend, that's foolishness. You know that. What that means
is be contented with mean things. Be contented to dwell with the
lowly. Who are the lowly? The lowly
are his people. The lowly are those who look
at Christ as high and themselves as low. You be content to dwell
with the lowly. And be not wise in your own conceits. Don't be conceited and pretentious. That is so contrary to the grace
of God. It's God's will. for me and you
to not be wise in our own conceits. Verse 17, recompense to no man
evil for evil. Don't pay anybody back. Provide
things honest in the sight of all men. You make sure you live
in a way of honesty before this world. You glorify your Lord
in the way you live, the way you conduct yourself. Pay your
bills. Pay your bills. Do what you're supposed to do.
Live honestly before all men, in the sight of all men. And
be a peacemaker. Verse 18. If it be possible. It's not always possible. But
if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably
with all men, believers and unbelievers alike. Now that is God's good,
perfect, and acceptable will for me and you. And this is true
worship. Dearly beloved, verse 19. Avenge
not yourselves, don't pay anybody back, but rather give place unto
wrath. For it's written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith
the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. That's your enemy. If he thirst,
give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome. Be not defeated
of evil, but overcome evil. Defeat evil with good. Now that is my reasonable service. That is my spiritual worship. And this is that good and perfect
and acceptable will of God. This is God's will for me right
here, Romans chapter 12. This is God's will for you. And
this is the true response to the mercies of God. May you and I, even right now,
present our bodies at everything we are, a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. Let's pray.