Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Romans 12:1-8
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  September 13, 2020

If someone described the life that you are called to live as a Christian as oxymoronic, how would you react? Would you think they were insulting you? Maybe that’s how it sounds initially, but actually an oxymoron is a literary term. An oxymoron takes two seemingly contradictory words and puts them together to describe something or someone. Jumbo shrimp, paid volunteer, and pretty ugly are all examples of oxymorons. 

The Christian is also described with an oxymoron of sorts. Our condition as baptized children of God is one of a sinner-saint. Even though the new man was created in us by the Holy Spirit when we came to faith, we are both saint and sinner because of the sinful nature that still lives in us. And there’s one more oxymoron that I want you to think about this morning. It’s a phrase that Paul uses in our lesson from Romans 12, and it’s the concept we want to focus on this morning. Let’s see if you can pick it out as I read the first few verses. “Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice–holy and pleasing to God–which is your appropriate worship. Also, do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you test and approve what is the will of God–what is good, pleasing, and perfect.”

Did you catch it? Paul urges us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Perhaps that doesn’t jump out to you as an oxymoron right away, but to the Christian of Paul’s day, especially to the Jew, this phrase would have been startling. Why? Because none of the sacrifices they offered to God were ever living. In the Old Testament, there were four kinds of animal sacrifices. All of them involved clean animals–sheep and lambs, bulls, goats and calves, doves and pigeons. All of them required that the animal be as perfect as it could be–no diseased or deformed animals. All of them required that the animal be killed, that blood be shed. But there was one sacrifice that stood out from the rest. There was only one sacrifice where after the animal was killed, the entire animal was burnt up. This was called the burnt offering. And this was a voluntary offering. An Israelite would offer it up at his own choosing, as an expression of his faith.

So why would God create this guideline? Why would God tell the worshiper, who wanted to offer up a burnt offering, a thank offering, a voluntary offering, to burn up everything? Seems like a perfectly good waste of resources, doesn’t it? Yet, think about the symbolism. As the worshiper watched his sacrifice literally go up in smoke before his very eyes, he was expressing his complete and total dedication to God. That worshiper was giving their entire selves to God.

That’s what Paul is urging today. Chapter 12 marks a major transition in Paul’s letter. The word, “Therefore,” at the beginning of the chapter gives us a clue. Paul has taken 11 chapters to define and defend the gospel. He’s shown that it doesn’t matter where you come from, what your history is, what side of the tracks you grew up on; all are sinners. And yet, Jesus came as that perfect sacrifice of atonement so that the whole world could be at one with God, at peace with God again. And we have that peace with God through faith in Jesus because we know that God is working all things for the good of his Church, for those who love him.

Now Paul is giving us guidance on how we can bear much fruit! Therefore, Paul urges us, he appeals to us–he doesn’t command us. Like a good Lutheran preacher, Paul doesn’t beat us into submission with the law, but rather appeals to us through the gospel. He calls us brothers, that personal name. He appeals to us, urges us, in view of God’s mercy, looking back on all that God has done for us, to offer our whole selves as oxymoronic Christians, as living sacrifices. This, he says, is our appropriate worship! Holding nothing back, Paul says, because God’s Son gave everything for you!

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want to say thank you to God? Who doesn’t want to bear good fruit? So, how do we do it? “Do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you test and approve what is the will of God–what is good, pleasing, and perfect.” First, Paul tells us what not to do. He tells us to stop conforming to the pattern of this world. This picture is really one of a mold. Paul is saying, “Stop being molded by the form of this world. Stop bending and shaping your life to the world’s way of thinking.” Let’s just pause here for a moment. If Paul is telling us to stop being molded, he must believe that we are being molded, shaped by the world. Is that true? Think about what you consume with your eyes and ears and mouth. Think about what you’ve done and said. The Old Testament sacrifices demanded a perfect animal. Are you worthy to be a New Testament “Living Sacrifice”? Or are you filled with spots and blemishes. Friends, we’ve already confessed at the beginning of the service that we are unworthy. We know how easily we are shaped and molded by the pressures of this world. But, that’s not what makes us worthy living sacrifices. How can we offer our whole selves to God? “By the mercies of God.” Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has washed us clean, has removed all our spots and blemishes, has made us presentable to God. We have been transformed by Christ through our baptisms. Our minds have been renewed! The new man living inside each of us wants what God wants and approves of God’s will–those things that are good, pleasing and perfect.

Because of Christ, we can offer our whole selves as living sacrifices. But what kind of fruit will we offer? Listen again. “So by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think in a way that results in sound judgment, as God distributed a measure of faith to each of you. For we have many members in one body, and not all the members have the same function. In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. We have different gifts, according to the grace God has given us. If the gift is prophecy, do it in complete agreement with the faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is encouraging, then encourage. If it is contributing, be generous. If it is leadership, be diligent. If it is showing mercy, do it cheerfully.”

Have you ever heard this story? A group of animals decided to improve their general welfare by starting a school. The curriculum included swimming, running, climbing and flying. The duck, an excellent swimmer, was deficient in other areas, so he majored in climbing, running, and flying, much to the detriment of his swimming. The rabbit, a superior runner, was forced to spend so much time in his other classes that he soon lost much of his famed speed. The squirrel, who had been graded an “A+” climber, dropped to a “C” because his instructors spent hours trying to teach him to swim and fly. And the eagle was disciplined for soaring to a treetop when he had been told to learn how to climb, even though flying was most natural to him.

Seems rather silly, but I think the point is clear. When we look at the gifts God has given to us, we can go one of two ways. We can either think that our gifts–whatever they are–are the best gifts, the most necessary gifts, the most important gifts and therefore look at the gifts of others as unnecessary or less important. Paul knew that way of thinking. That’s why he prefaces this listing of gifts and how to use them by saying: “So by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think in a way that results in sound judgment, as God distributed a measure of faith to each of you.” Or we can go in the other direction. We can look at other people’s gifts and be envious. We can look at other people’s gifts and think that our gifts don’t hold a candle to theirs. We can believe that our gifts aren’t as important, aren’t as necessary, and therefore don’t need to be used. Paul has words for us in that case too: “For we have many members in one body, and not all the members have the same function. In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.”

So, how do we avoid the ditches on either side of this gift road? “By the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice–holy and pleasing to God–which is your appropriate worship.” Be who you are. You will never become anything greater than what you already are–a baptized child of God. You will never be anything greater than what you already are–an oxymoronic sinner saint Christian who stands acceptable before God because of his mercy. God’s mercy made you who you are today. And God has placed you in a specific place in life, given you specific gifts that are completely unique to you, and has prepared works that he wants you to do. 

Your works don’t have to look like my works in order to be an acceptable living sacrifice. No, sometimes the best works are the simplest works, the works that we don’t even recognize as works because we overlook them. God doesn’t love you because of what you do. God loves you because of who you are, because of who he has made you to be. So if you’re a parent, be a parent to the glory of God. If you are blessed to stay at home with your kids, raise those kids to the glory of God. If you are blessed to work for someone else, do you best to the glory of God. If you’re a student, do your schoolwork to the glory of God. If you’re a teacher, prepare your lessons to the glory of God. Live the oxymoronic Christian life. Be living sacrifices! Use the gifts God has given you. Hold nothing back. All of our time, our energy, our abilities, our gifts belong to God–by the mercies of God, offer them back to him because God’s Son gave his everything for us. Amen.