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Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual
act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind. Then you will be able to test and approve
what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you:
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,
but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God
has given you.
Just as each of us has one body with many members,
and these members do not all have the same function,
so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others,
let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently;
if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves.
Please keep your bible open there and let me pray before we look at that passage
Father as this new year begins give us energy and zeal to live
in service of our Lord Jesus who gave himself for us
and remind us through your word how we might better do that this morning
we ask in Jesus name, amen.
New Year's resolutions are tough to keep.
In fact, I noticed in the "Courier Mail" the other day that most people don't even bother
making them any more.
But here's another option.
"The Wall Street Journal" suggested that instead of making your own new year's resolutions,
you get your friends or loved ones to pick your resolutions for you.
I reckon it sounds high risk.
But the idea is apparently that when your friends and family point out where you might
need to improve, it's more likely to have an impact;
and if you've got the courage, it opens you up to what otherwise might have been blind
spots.
Nice idea.
So before you before you ask, can I be a bit forward, and offer three new year's resolutions
for our church from a very practical chapter of the New Testament.
Romans chapter 12.
Romans 12 is a famous chapter because it marks a kind of a turning point in the book.
If you remember looking at Romans with Derek a couple of years back, you'll know the first
11 chapters are filled with the good news of the gospel.
That God's messiah Jesus Christ has come to save not just Israel but the rest of us as
well.
That purely and simply by faith;
just by grabbing onto Jesus who died as an atoning sacrifice, we're counted as righteous.
Here's a sample.
Romans 3 verse 22 to 24.
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Justified.
Freely.
By his grace.
God's generosity in forgiving sinners.
And Romans 1 to 11 is packed with that kind of stuff.
The heart of what we call the gospel.
How to be right with God.
And so you get to chapter 12.
Where we're dropping in this morning.
And it's a pivot point in the book, which you can see from the very first word: therefore.
From here on, it's all about how we should live in response to the gospel.
How we should live, because of everything that's been unpacked in chapters 1 to 11.
How we should live in view of God's mercy.
Follow verse 1.
Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.
This is your spiritual act of worship.
From now on, says Paul, in view of God's mercy, your worship of God is going to play out in
all kinds of practical, sacrificial ways.
All kinds of things that you'll do with your body to use it to serve.
We like to comfort and coddle our bodies, don't we?
We like to keep our bodies warm and well fed and comfortable and well dressed.
Paul says, therefore in view of God's mercy, forget about comfortable.
Because God's been so good to us, here's how to respond.
And Romans 12 and 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 are full of the practicalities of what that
will look like.
So here we are this morning at the start of that section.
And I want to suggest just three new years resolutions if you really want to do that.
If you really want to get serious about living in view of God's mercy.
Here they are: Change your mind See more of the (church) family Do some body building
So resolution number 1.
Here's a suggestion.
What better way to mark the new year, what better start to 2012, than to start with a
new mind.
A fresh way of seeing things.
See, the fact is that as people who are living a life in view of God's mercy, we're going
to be different.
We're not living as people who fear judgement.
We're not living as people who are trying to somehow earn God's approval.
Remember, we're sinners who have been justified freely by God's grace.
Counted as righteous.
And so the way we see things, the way our mind is...
it's meant to be very different.
So easy to have the same set of values as the rest of the world, so easy to chase what
they chase and think what they think and value what they value;
but God says, resolution number 1, get a mind makeover.
Read the words closely Verse 2.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind.
Thought by thought.
Issue by issue.
Ask the question, how do I approach this...
as a person who's received God's mercy.
How do I approach this...
as a person counted righteous by the God of the universe?
And being transformed into his likeness?
We're so conformed, aren't we?
We watch what the world watches, We sing along with Lady Gaga;
we were "Born this Way." The same way our teenage girls a couple of years ago were singing
along to "I Kissed a Girl and I Liked it" with Katy Perry.
Sucked in by a catchy tune.
Molded by the world around us.
We watch the same ads, we buy into the same dreams, we want what everyone else wants,
we're so are deeply materialistic.
Paul says, do not conform any longer.
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Resolution Number 1.
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
then, you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and
perfect will.
Resolution 2.
Why not make 2012 a year with more family time?
And I'm talking here quite radically about your church family.
God's family.
Now here's what happens.
There's so much else to do, isn't there?
There's career pressure;
there's so much time at work.
There's his career and there's your career so you hardly ever see each other, and the
kids are in child care from 7AM, and you never see them.
So Sunday comes, and you just want to kick back and spend family time.
In your castle.
Safely behind the moat.
With the drawbridge raised.
Nobody gets in.
Which actually rules out being part of God's family.
See, the trouble is, if you're someone who's serious about following Jesus, if you're someone
committed to renewing your mind along the same lines as God's mind, if you're serious
about knowing and living his will...
there's a bigger family that you're part of that needs to somehow in your busy life be
a genuine priority.
And for sure you need to spend more time with your husband, your wife, your kids.
So what are you going to cut back on?
See, you maybe think of church as a kind of a club.
You maybe think of church as an institution.
But in Paul's mind, church is the family of God.
Here in Romans 12, you'll see it woven through all over the place.
It's there in verse 1.
It's not "therefore I urge you colleagues," or "therefore I urge you friends"...
it's...
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.
Again in verse 10.
Take a look.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
Honour one another above yourselves.
Now can I ask you, and I know it's a big ask, but as we launch a new year in our MPC church
family, as we look at the future and pray that God grows us...
will you be devoted to one another...
in brotherly love?
Will you make space in your hearts to love even more brothers and sisters too?
Because if you're not going to resolve to do that substantially, we won't really be
a church at all.
One morning in the Sydney peak hour my old friend Ian Powell got on a train.
Usually standing room only, but he was lucky, he found himself a seat, right next to another
guy in a suit reading a newspaper.
You know how you can sit next to somebody as if they don't really exist.
And they treat you the same.
We had that kind of awkward moment at Hungry Jacks the other day.
Had to share a table with strangers because they were out of space.
So Ian's there reading his book on the Sydney peak hour train;
the guy beside him buried in a newspaper.
Ignoring each other.
When somehow about five minutes later someone else jostles past and pushes Ian a little
bit into the other guy, and Ian has to turn to him to apologise...
and he suddenly realises it's his brother Ross.
And Ross realises it's his brother Ian.
Side by side on the train like strangers, without a second glance.
When they could have spent the time enjoying one another as brothers.
They had a laugh about it afterwards.
But what if that's church?
Every week?
What if you're just sitting next to one another like strangers when you could be enjoying
one another as brothers and sisters.
So again, will you resolve in 2012 to actually be devoted to brotherly love?
Consider one another as genuine family.
We want to help that in whatever ways we can.
And Stu Hoadley's going to be talking about some ideas for that in the next few weeks.
Some new ways of welcoming.
Some new ways of breaking the ice.
Some new ways of getting together to help us in view of God's mercy to be devoted to
brotherly love.
Instead of letting anything else that comes along squeeze your church family out.
There's one more resolution I want to suggest.
Similar to number 2, but I guess a bit more active.
The kind of people who make their own new years resolutions always seem to say, this
year I'm going to exercise more.
I'm going to run more.
I'm going to swim more.
I'm going to go to the gym.
The thing about exercise is that it's just a matter of using your body to do what it
was meant to.
It's kind of use it or lose it, isn't it?
Well, same here.
Paul says in verse 4 and 5, Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these
members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body,
and each member belongs to all the others.
We all have different gifts according to the grace given to us...
So, he's going to say...
make sure you use them.
See, you think you belong to you.
But in the new family, in the new community God's building, we all belong to each other
like body parts.
And each body part's got a job to do for the benefit of the whole body.
Look at those words again.
Verse 5...
So in Christ, we who are many form one body...
and each member...
belongs to all the others.
You've all got different gifts, you've all got different abilities according God's grace
to us.
So start exercising.
Verse 6 to 8, there's a bit of a list.
Some things kind of mundane.
Like contributing to the needs of others.
Like showing mercy.
We've got some people who are great at that.
But I'll bet there are more.
If a man's gift is prophesying (if you're gifted at proclaiming the mind of God), let
him use it in proportion to his faith.
If it's serving, let him serve;
if it is teaching, let him teach;
if it is encouraging, let him encourage;
if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously;
if it is leadership, let him govern diligently;
if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Every member of the team.
Every part of the body.
Doing what each one does best.
Not for yourself.
But doing it because you know as part of the body of Christ, you and your gifts and abilities
actually belong not to you.
But to the body.
To the team.
Want a resolution for the new year?
In 2012, why not resolve to put your gifts to work?
Whether it's serving somehow.
Or speaking God's word somehow.
Or teaching a Kidzbiz class.
Too busy to do that?
Too important to do that?
I remember Paul Harrington who spoke at our Bible Teaching Weekend a few years back saying
that their most faithful Sunday School teacher is one of Adelaide's leading heart specialists.
He arranges his life schedule...
around exercising his gift to teach a little group of little kids.
Decides whether or not to go to an international conference...
on the basis of whether he can be back for his class on a Sunday morning.
Because he understands we're a body, and each part belongs to all the others, as each of
us use our gifts.
Will you resolve to do that this year?
As we start a new year this morning, will you recommit to renewing your mind?
In view of God's mercy don't conform;
be transformed.
Will you make a resolution to do the hard yards of seeing more of your church family?
Actually getting to know and love your brothers and sisters and mums and dads and children
and grandchildren in the Lord?
Spend more time this year with your church family.
One really practical thing you can do today, right now, right after church is look around
for someone you've never actually spoken to at church.
And break the ice.
And get stuck into some body building.
Get involved in using your gifts as your part of the body...
to build up the rest.
There's plenty more to do in view of God's mercy.
As gospel people who've understood God's grace.
But those three will be a great start;
some good resolutions for 2012.