Grace Christian Fellowship: Christian Teachings from Romans

Romans 12 "Your Service to God and Man"

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Paul finishes his letter with a challenge. From here to the end Paul is encouraging, exhorting, urging, and beseeching us. He says "I beseech you therefore" Whenever you see a "therefore" in the Bible you need to ask yourself "What is it there for?" God never asks us to do anything without properly equipping us for the job. Before Paul starts to tell us to do anything he gives us eleven chapters full of equipment. He has taught us how God has called us out of sin and provided us with a way of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. He has taught us how nothing can separate us from that love and how God has a great plan that has included us from the very beginning of time. Paul has taught us how we have been included into the line of Abraham and can inherit the promises that were given to Him. He has shown us how Christ gives us the victory over sin. All this before ever telling us to do a thing. This is the "therefore". Because of what God has already done for us there is something that we can respond back to God with. Paul is going to tell us here in chapter 12 what our service should be both to God and to man.

First, Paul tells us what our worship should be like. He tells us what our relationship with God should be like. "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." When the Jews held a worship service they sacrificed an animal to God. But Paul says that our worship should be different. The sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross makes the further sacrifice of an animal unnecessary. But how else are we to worship? Cultures around the world worship gods in many ways. Here in Japan it is common to drop a few coins in a box and shake a bell to wake the god up. But we know that God does not need our money and He is definitely not sleeping! The most reasonable thing we can do to worship God, considering that He has bought us with a price, redeeming us from the Enemy, is to offer Him our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. A living sacrifice means that everything we do is aimed at God. When the animal was put on the altar that animal was no longer a sheep that the farmer was raising for wool or meat, its purpose had changed! Now it was aimed at the Lord. The same thing goes for our lives. If we are a living sacrifice then we are no longer just living for ourselves, we are living for Christ. Do you remember the word that we learned back in the book of Timothy? "Godliness", which means in the Greek to worship well, to let worship continue through your whole life. Many people have the idea that worship is something that we have to do to pay off God. They think that if they go to church once a week that God will be satisfied and they can get on with the rest of life. Many people think that the command to remember the Sabbath and reverence the sanctuary is like paying a tax to God. They think that God, like the government wants His share of our time. People think this way about tithing too. Hereﾕs Godﾕs share and the rest is mine to do what I want with. But if God has bought you with a price and saved you when you really werenﾕt worth saving, if any real value you have is given to you by God, then isnﾕt it reasonable that all of your life truly belongs to Him? Proverbs tells us that if we acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways then He shall direct our paths. This is worshipping well, presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice; to make every action, word, thought an act of worship unto our God.

First was our relationship toward God. Next is our relationship with the world. Paul tells us, "Do not be conformed to this world." The Greek here means do not be "in fashion". I watched Takeshiﾕs Gaijin talk show last Wednesday night. He had a group of high-school girls on the show and they were wearing the latest fashion, with their hair dyed blond, short skirts and loose socks. One man on the show commented that for them to conform with each other feels safe. If they didnﾕt wear that they would not know how to act. We should not be "in fashion" with the world. The world acts the way that it does because like the teen-age girls it does not know how to act. One generation says that you should raise your children one way, and the next generation blames their parents for raising them wrong. The leaders of the world set an example that would be criminal for our children to follow. The trendsetters have lives that are fit only for the tabloids and these are the people that we all want to be like. The world has little more than a herd instinct to offer when it comes to what you should do.

But the Lord offers us something more. We should not be conformed to this world, but be transformed! If your children are boys then you definitely know the meaning of this word. "Transformers" swept the toy world by storm a few years back and every little boy had to have a robot that could change into something else. The Greek word is Metamorphosis. It is to change into something totally different than what we started out to be. We use it to describe the process which a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. The same word is used in the Bible to describe what happened to Jesus on the mountain when Peter and James and John saw Him shining with a bright light. We also are in the process of becoming like Jesus, glorified with the light of Christ. How does this process work? "By the renewing of your mind." Watching those girls on the television we were struck by the limitations of their language. For them to be in fashion means to use a slang that only they and few others can understand. In effect it cuts them off from the rest of the world. Their world was reduced down to what little they understood and their few friends. One girl even called it by her own name "Miyuki World". Actually we are all living in this kind of personal world that we have made for ourselves. Everything we see and hear we run through the filter of our own opinions. If we take one step back from the high school girls their private world seems so childish. But if we could take another step back and look from the outside into our world it would look very small as well. The key to transformation in our lives is to renew our minds. As long as we are stuck with the same old thoughts and opinions we cannot change. So God has given us His word. As we read His word we find out that there is a right way to go. We are not simply a herd animal following the crowd, but God has a specific plan and purpose for my life. If we renew our minds we can, "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." In other words that plan and purpose that God has for my life will be made manifest in my life. Other people will be able to look at me and know that God is at work. I will be a proof to them that God is real.

In the book of Deuteronomy the law was summed up as "Fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes" We learned last week the memory verse from the book of Ecclesiastes, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God and keep His commandments for this is manﾕs all." Jesus answered the question, "What is the greatest commandment" this way, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and `your neighbor as yourself.'" How is Jesusﾕ commandment any different from Mosesﾕ or Solomonﾕs? It is not really different at all in content. What is different is how we keep it. Paul tells us that we can love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, we can present ourselves whole as a living sacrifice, because Christ has made us holy and acceptable to God. We can love our neighbors as ourselves, breaking away from the pattern of this world, because Christ has set us free from the slavery of sin so that our minds can be renewed. Because God has already made it possible, therefore, we can serve God as God designed us to from the very beginning.

Romans 12 "Graced to Grace"

Paul started off the 12th chapter by exhorting us to serve. He said that our reasonable service to God is to give Him the "present" of our bodies, as a living sacrifice. Part of that is keeping ourselves holy to Him, not conformed to the world, but transformed by the Word so that we can be living proof that God is good and His plan is at work in our lives. Paul knew that the key to service is humility. Offering ourselves wholly to God is nothing more than what God deserves, but no sooner do we start than we think that we have done something special. Listen to what Paul says next.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.(Romans 12:3-8)

Paul says donﾕt "over-think" yourself. When I left Oregon to move to Southern California for college I thought for sure that I could get some work in the Christian music industry. I was a big fish in a small pond ( my hometown was more like an fish-bowl.), and had no idea of what the rest of the world was like. Needless to say I did not break into the music business. In fact I never even had a chance. I had so little experience that my best guess was way off from reality. But Paul doesnﾕt say that we should not consider ourselves at all. He just says that we should think soberly. Donﾕt base your self-image on the world around you, or even the Christians around you, you are not a qualified judge. But you canﾕt get by without a self-image. I have met Christians who are working so hard at trying to be humble that you hardly notice that they exist. They are so self-effacing that you canﾕt even remember their names. God wants you to have a self-image, but not one based on comparison, rather one based on what He has given to you. First of all God has given to each one of us a measure of faith. This is really good news. It means that each of us do not have to be Billy Graham or Mother Theresa but only what the Father has given us to do. I am so glad that God did not delegate the responsibility for deciding how much faith each person gets. Only God knows, and only God is qualified to dispense the gift of faith. That means that you donﾕt decide, your pastor doesnﾕt decide, but the Lord in His great wisdom decides the perfect amount of faith for you.

Secondly our self-worth, or "right-thinking" about ourselves is based on the gifts that God has given us in the body of Christ. God has graced each one of us with ways in which we can grace others. In Greek the word for grace is "Charis" and the word for gifts is "Charisma". See how our self-worth is not based on us at all, but on grace? Paul starts off this teaching in verse three by saying "through the grace given to me". It is all grace! Even for one as great as Paul! Each "Charisma" is not something that we work up in ourselves, but is a gift from God. It is not for ourselves but for the body of Christ of which we are just one member. And yet we have the great privilege of being used by God to share His grace with others. This is how we should think about ourselves.

Thirdly, it is important that you use the gifts that God has given to you. You see, the invisible Christians that I mentioned before, trying so hard to be humble are rarely happy Christians. They suffer from very low self-worth because they are not letting God use them to share His grace with others. Listen up to what Paul says about how we should use the gifts. "if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith" A prophet is not just someone who tells the future but especially someone who tells what is on Godﾕs heart. Many times in our church someone stands up during the sharing time and speaks out a word that the Lord has laid on their heart. It is not systematic teaching but a word that needs to be said. However, it takes faith to be a prophet. You see there is a natural barrier to prophecy. While there is a place given to teaching each week, if you want to prophecy you have to so convinced that the Lord has put it on your heart that you stand up and speak it out. This is as it should be. Not every little thing we think of is important enough to share with everyone. But if you find your heart burning so much that you just have to stand up, then probably the Lord is going to use you to share His grace with others.

"Or ministry, let us use it in our ministering" This word ministry simply means service. If your gift is service, then donﾕt feel like you need to stand up in front of everyone and speak out a word from the Lord. If your gift is service, then serve. It will be a grace to everybody else. There are people in our church who are great servers. You know who they are. If I asked them to get up in front they would probably die of embarrassment and leave the church but whenever anything practical needs to be done they are on the job.

"He who teaches, in teaching" Starting to get the idea? Paul says that if God gives you the gift to grace people in one way, then there is no reason why you have to torture yourself trying to be something you are not. "; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Each one of these is a way that God can grace others through us. None of us will be able to excel at all of them, but God promises that He will give us grace to share in one of these areas. Teaching is different from prophecy in that it is explaining the truth. We like to do this systematically through the Bible so that we get the whole counsel of God. Please donﾕt think that the only person who can do this is the pastor. Right now, there are men downstairs teaching the children. Steven teaches on Wednesday night at the Sagamihara Bible study and Gay is going to start up a new Precepts class next week. If your thing is the Bible. If you just love to study and dig out the truth then by all means teach! That is the way in which God will use you to grace others. I know that I am most happy when I have given a good message and someone comes up afterwards and says, "you know I never understood that before, but now it really makes sense".

Exhortation is the gift of "calling from the side". Every Friday night during football season two teams from my high school would take to the field. The boys on the football team would run out to the cheering of the fans. But there was another team that was just as important. The cheerleaders were also a team. They led the fans in encouraging the home team. Their calls from the side held a different meaning for the football team than the orders of the coach. He was calling from above. But the encouragement of their peers many times made the difference between a winning and losing game. When they made a touchdown the cheerleaders were calling out their praises from the side. When they were behind or fumbled the ball they called out comfort encouraging them to persevere. Perhaps you have the gift of "calling from the side", encouraging and comforting others. If so, go for it, and know that both teams are just as important.

Paul adds something to the last three gifts that he mentions. He says that if you have the gift of giving then you should give with liberality. The KJV says, "simplicity". I am very pleased with our church over the last few months. To be honest with you I was very nervous about organizing our tithes. At the beginning of January we asked everyone to mark down their tithes on an envelope and we started to keep records of what was given. The purpose of this is so that everything is accountable and to build us up as a church. But I was nervous because with money comes lots of hassles. I am pleased to announce that our church has been growing in giving. Not only has the total amount grown each month since we started, but also the number of givers has also grown. This is the number that I am more excited about. Because each of us is called to give and it is a vital part of our spiritual growth. Let me encourage each of you, even if giving is very difficult for you to do, step out in faith and start. But for others giving is a joy. God has blessed them with abundance and they are happy to give back to the Lord. Last month we received a bank deposit for 1 million yen. Now a lot of people would have said to me. "Pastor, this is my gift, but I want you to use it for this or for that." But this was simply delivered with no strings attached. That is what Paul means by "simplicity". What you give is truly given, not half-way but all the way.

Paul says that those who lead should lead with diligence. I have to say that the hardest thing about leading is to keep going. Last week was a great week from a ministry standpoint. I was teaching or preaching every day of the week, many people came out for the events of Holy week and Easter and it was all a success. But from a personal point of view I was tired out. And you know the worst thing? I got to do it all over again this week. Praise the Lord, on Monday I took my day off and we went to sit in a hot spring. "Do not grow weary while doing good for in due season we shall reap if we donﾕt lose heart." (Gal. 6:9) There is always a time gap between the start of something and the harvest. I have seen this time and again here at Horizon. The Westin started with about six, the Sunday school used to be Keita and Noah, and the Machida service is still small, but the harvest is coming! Leadership is about diligently keeping to it until the harvest starts to come in.

Finally, there are some who are gifted by God to show mercy to others. They rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. However Paul says that we should not only come alongside and commiserate with the downhearted. We should grace others with our cheerful heart. We should never forget where we used to be before we found Jesus. But we also cannot forget to let them know that Jesus is the way for them as well.

Folks, the way to be truly happy is to serve. When God is able to grace others through you, you also are blessed. The great thing is that God provides us with the grace to give. On Easter my son and I met a man in the park with his little son. After we finished talking with them we went back to the picnic and Keita wanted to take an Easter candy to the little boy. I gave him one and a few minutes later he was back with a big smile. On his own Keita could not have given anything to that little boy, but because it was Easter and he had already received more than he could possible eat himself, he was happy to give some away. This is how we are with the Lord as well. He keeps on giving and giving, because He wants for us to learn the joy of giving as well.

Romans 12:9-13 A Church that Loves!

God has given each one of us grace. It is grace by which we are saved, but God has given us even more grace. He has designed special graces specifically for you. The purpose of all these various graces in the church is to spread the grace around. We learned from Paul last week that even though each of us are graced differently by the Lord we are still all part of the same body. On Saturday I went to Nagoya to marry Noel and Emi. During the ceremony we read the famous verse on love from the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy , and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-2) If there is one thing that is more important than grace, it is love. This week we are going to learn from Paul about how to love each other.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:9-13)

I am sure you all know what a hypocrite is, a person who says one thing but does something different. But the original meaning of the word was an actor on the stage. Paul was saying, "Don't pretend that you love each other, really love." Don't just say the lines. More than anything else, love is what we should be known for. Our purpose at Tokyo Horizon Chapel is to "Love as Jesus Loves and Teach the Word of God". I am always praying for our church that everyone who visits one of our services will not leave without feeling the love of God here. A lot of churches talk about love but you donﾕt feel loved when you go there. I want our church to be the kind of church that doesnﾕt just play at love, but really gets down to it. So what are the kinds of things that will make us a loving church?

"Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good." I was about to get on the train the other night and was hoping for a spot to sit down. When the train pulled into the station I looked to see if it was crowded or not and sure enough it was packed. But when the train stopped I was surprised to see that the car right in front of me was almost empty and there were seats open. The doors opened and I rushed in to get a seat only to find that there was something disgusting on the floor. Somebody had drunk too much and gotten sick. No wonder the car was empty! Paul says that we should treat evil like we would treat those seats on the train. No matter how tired you are or how far you have to go, there is no way that you are going to sit in that! Gross! You want to get as far away from it as you can. Folks this is a key to love. Many people think that in order for us to love people who are in the world, we also need to be familiar with the world. They think that it would be offensive to non-Christians if we didnﾕt join them in what they are doing. But that is ridiculous. What if your non-Christian friend invited you to sit down with him on that train seat? Would you sit down on that? No way, you wouldnﾕt sit there and you would beg your friend not to sit there either. True love doesnﾕt ignore evil. Our Lord and example Jesus loved many sinners and yet never once joined them in doing evil. The other half of this of course is "Cling to what is good." The word, "cling" means "to glue". Paul wants us to get as far away from evil as we can and fasten ourselves onto good. Remember Paul is talking about love that is real, not just playing a part, so specifically he wants us to cling to good works. We need to DO good instead of evil. This is how we love.

"Be kindly affectionate to one another." This is two Greek words put together meaning to love each other as we love our friends and families, "with brotherly love". Obviously we treat our families differently than we treat people to whom we are not related. Last week I got an e-mail from my mother that my uncle had suffered a heart attack during the Easter service at church. As soon as I read it I forgot about everything else on my desk and immediately wrote a letter to encourage him. There are lots of people suffering heart attacks in this world, but they are not my Uncle John. There was a lot of other things on my desk, but none as important at that moment than my uncle. He goes to the front of the line because he is family. And this is exactly how we should treat each other. Paul says, "in honor giving preference to one another." The best way to make sure that you are doing good, truly loving each other and not just pretending, is to treat each and every person in the church just as if they were your dearest friend or best uncle. If your dearest friend asked for your help, would you make an excuse? If your favorite uncle was in need, would you think twice? We need to constantly be putting others to the front of the line, giving them preference. Why? Because we usually reserve that spot for ourselves.

"Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;" I wonder sometimes what the Emperor would feel like if He got the same service as I sometimes get. I went out for lunch last Sunday after Sangenjaya with some of our members and it must have been at least 30 minutes after we sat down that finally a waitress came to take our order. If I was the Emperor, I am sure that the service would not have been so slow. I donﾕt know if the Emperor even likes Mexican food, but I think if he showed up the entire place would spring into action. The staff would be rushing around like crazy, working feverishly to fulfill his every whim. I am sure that he wouldnﾕt have to wait and wait trying to catch a waiterﾕs eye just to get a glass of water refilled. They would be right there. In fact they would probably pour him another glass even before he knew he wanted it himself. Real love treats others with this level of respect. We should work hard loving each other, doing good for each other, because we are really serving the King. Jesus said that when you give a cup of water to a servant of the Lord you shall have a reward. Let me give you a hint in regards to working hard. It is impossible to keep it up unless you are motivated. Any leader knows that without strong motivation nothing gets done. The way to keep your spirit on fire, burning to do good, is to look at each person that you serve as a servant of the King. Service given to each other is service given to the Lord. In regards to warmth, kindness, affection we should treat each others as part of the family. In regards to honor and our service, we should treat each other as servants of the King of Kings.

"Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;" These three are very important ways that we can help someone to feel loved. Many people come to church for the first time, or come back to church after a long time, feeling pretty beat up by the world. Some have come to church, because they donﾕt know what else to do. They look at their situation as hopeless. Actually, everyone at one time or another looks at their situation as hopeless and despair of ever finding a way through it. This is when we have a very precious thing to share. We know that nothing is impossible with God. He specializes in the impossible and the hopeless. We can help each other through the times of despair and depression by sharing our hope, Jesus Christ, and rejoicing in that hope. "Tribulation" is simply when the pressure of this world gets to be too much. Sometimes it seems that it would be much much easier just not to be a Christian. We all feel like this at times, but the great thing about being part of a church is that we donﾕt all feel like this all of the time. When one is stressed out and under pressure, others of us can lend that person patience. Perhaps the greatest way of all that we can love each other is through prayer. Especially, by taking up the fight for each other when our own will to pray is falling short. I have felt like this recently about praying for my permanent residence status and getting a house. It seems that we have been praying and praying and getting nowhere. A great way for you to love us, is to continue steadfast with us in praying for these things. It will encourage us to continue in prayer as well.

"Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." Did you now that you are in a partnership with each person in this church? That is what it means to be part of the body of Christ. When another Christian is in need, you also are in need. When a brother is hurting you also are hurting. The word here, "Distributing" is really "koinonea" , fellowshipping with or partnering with the needs of the saints. You see most people wonﾕt come up to you and ask for help when they need it. But as a partner, when you see a need you should right away feel a responsibility to do whatever you can to help. This is a powerful way to share Godﾕs love. Another powerful way to share Godﾕs love is hospitality. In Greek, the word for hospitality is really a word for love. It is the "love of strangers". This is such a great description of hospitality, the ability to open your home to someone who is not part of your family. In fact Paul says that we should be "chasing after" strangers with love. He uses the exact same word in the next line saying that when others are "chasing after you" with evil intent that you should not curse them but bless them. But even though people might persecute us, we should go out of our way to love even those we donﾕt know.

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