THE WILL OF GOD Romans 12: 1-2
Theme of the Month Life Together Church and Community
Ragland Royappan
Seminary Intern, English Congregation Vancouver Chinese Baptist Church, Vancouver, British Columbia
Sunday Sermon for 18 July 2010
Scripture Passage Romans 12: 1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship. 2 Do not conform 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. 1
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To begin with my sermon this morning I wanted to show you some pictures or images or whatever you want to call them. Have you ever noticed sometimes kids can be very thoughtful. Sometimes we think “oh they are too young they cant do that” or “they may not understand that”. Sometimes they surprise us by things they say and do. Here is one instance where kids surprise us and some even shock us. The images I am going to show you all this morning were some serious and thoughtful presentation of some of the kids in our Sunday school class last fall. The kids were asked to create an ad in a newspaper on behalf of God for “wanted christians for heaven”. Here are some of the ads we got. *Show slides and explain a little bit* This is the ad for wanted Christians. Now let us turn our attention to the scripture passage for this morning’s sermon, Romans 12:1-2. This passage is one of the most important and well known verses from the bible. Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is true worship. 1
Do not conform 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. 2
My dear friends, we just saw a bunch of images where we saw what God wants us to do to go to heaven. Those were the basic qualities of Christians. Those are the qualifications of the Christians. Even though these pictures were done in a very simple way by little children, they teach us the truth that we need to know as Christians. As I was looking at these pictures I was saying to myself, what does God want me to do? What is His will and purpose for me in this earth? What is the reason I exist on this earth? I was looking for plain answers. And my mind was blank and this is what I came up with. I was trying to draw a picture of my own. Here it is. Here in Romans 12:2 Paul is saying that we can know what God’s will is. Elsewhere in Psalms 143:10 we see King David praying to God, “Lord, teach me to do your will.” My dear friends, as Christians, our goal and purpose on this earth is to do God’s will. Now you might ask the question, why should I do God’s will? Well, there are few reasons why we should do God’s will. First, in Psalms 143, Davids’ prayer gives us the answer. He says, “teach me to do your will because you are my God.” Second, we are the children of God and HE is our Father. In Romans 8:15-16 Paul explicitly puts it that we were adopted into God’s sonship through the Holy Spirit. And that is the reason, he says, “we have the privilege of crying out to him ‘Abba, Father.’” In v. 16 he says because of this we have become His children. In another passage in the New Testament, the Apostle John in his first epistle in chapter 3 verse 1 writes, “See what great love the father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children of God! And that is what we are!” (I really like the exclamation mark “!” in the end). It is indeed who we are, chosen and adopted children of the Heavenly Father. Hence, we need to do God’s will in our lives.
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Now, As I pondered upon a relationship of the father and a son, I was amazed to see one relationship which was beyond all human comprehension and beyond human grasp. As I looked at this relationship I was astonished to see a son who was willing to fulfill the will of the father and through their relationship they transformed the history of the humanity. My dear friends, I am speaking of the relationship of our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. He is the perfect example who came to this earth to do the will of the Father. Even before we were made his children, Jesus was sent by his father to the earth to fulfill his will. And the only reason and purpose in the life of Jesus was to fulfill the Father’s will. If we look at the life of Jesus, we see time after time Jesus fulfilling God’s will through his actions and through his ministries. Every word that came out of Jesus’ mouth and every action he performed was to do the will of the father. In John 8:29 Jesus says, “ the one that sent is always with me….. For I will always do what pleases him.” Elsewhere in John 6:38 Jesus says, “For I came down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” Friends, Jesus is the epitome obedience and fulfillment of God’s will. And this Jesus has sent us out into the world to make disciples and through his blood and resurrection we are made the children of the Heavenly Father. Now that Jesus has fulfilled the purpose and will of the father, now it is our turn to fulfill the purpose and will of the Heavenly Father. Now the most important question of this study is “how can I find the will of God?” You might ask me, brother, you preaching to us to do the will of God. But how can I find the will of God? It is highly significant to note how this question is usually put. The will of God is frequently conceived of as some kind of program. This idea is reflected in the questions that are asked: "How can I find what God wants me to do? Who is it that God intends that I should marry? What kind of business does God want me to be in? What line of work should I follow? Where should I live?" Such questions indicate that, in the minds of those who ask them, the problem of finding the will of God has resolved itself into a matter of guidance. "How will God indicate his choice to me? What are the signs to look for that I may know, between two or three possible objectives, which is the right one? How much do circumstances enter into the picture? How much am I to be led by what happens to me?" These are the usual questions that are evoked by this subject of the will of God. I wish to state flatly, at the outset of this study, that if we approach the problem this way we will never come to a satisfying answer. We are starting out on the wrong foot when we come at it in that way. This is the case with many of the questions that confuse us and bewilder us about the Christian life. My dear friends, this morning I want to plainly assert that the will of God is not a program, it is a relationship. It is not what you do, it is what you are. It is not primarily a question of guidance (that is a part of it, but it is a very minor part); it is really a question of acceptance. Friends, as we gather here this morning, I want to take you through a journey into four important will and purpose of God for you and me. Some are explicitly mentioned and some are implied in the teaching of Jesus.
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The will of God is for you to love God and others: The first and most important will of God is not very explicitly mentioned in the scriptures but I believe it is very basic for every Christian. The will of God and was communicated to the Israelites in the desert through the Ten Commandments and the tradition continues in the New Testament with Jesus revealing the will of the Father by giving us the two important commandments: “love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself.” — Matthew 22:34. My dear friends, I believe this is what God is asking of us - to love Him and to love others. This is as simple as it can get. But sometimes the simplest of things are the hardest to follow and we wander and get complacent or forget it. Sometimes it is hard for the world to see love in us as Christians. When I think of it, the song, “Where is the Love,” by Black Eyed Peas comes to my mind. I am sure most of the teenagers and even adults might have listened to this song. We also know he is a secular singer, and in his song he is asking the question again and again, “Where is the LOVE”?? And he says, “practice what you preach.” My dear friends, the problem with most Christians and us is that we don’t really practice what we preach or believe. We just hold them close to our hearts and never practice it in our daily lives. The main reason we could not practice love in our lives is because the first part of the commandment is not fulfilled. We are not able to complete the First Commandment Jesus gave us. Since our personal relationship with Him is not straight we are well short in the Second Commandment. Most often our work, families and other worldly things come before God. Hence, we lost our first love. My dear friends, I really believe in my heart that God is saying the same things he said to the Church of Ephesus, “you have lost your first love.” This is a sad situation in the church of Ephesus, the scripture in Revelation 2: 1-4 says, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance…. know that you have persevered and gone through all hard ships for my cause. BUT I still hold one things against you. You have lost your first love.” My dear friends, what a sad situation it is to do all this and lose the first love. Most Christians in churches today are in this miserable situation. They attend church regularly, teach Sunday school or never miss Sunday school, help out with kids, youth ministries and be there for every ministry in the church. But still have fallen away from the first love we had. We have forsaken the love of God. We have gone far away from his presence. Our personal relationship with him is not strong enough. It is shaky and very unstable. Because we are not able to spend enough time in meditation and pray and personal time with God. My dear friends, my question for you is have you lost your first love? If your first love is strong then following the second, i.e. To love others should be easy. There are those in this world who are longing to be loved and accepted. There are many in our homes, around our neighborhood, in our schools, in our work places, even in our church who are just looking for recognition and longing, will anyone come and talk to me? Or will anyone listen to my story? My dear friends, it is the will of the Father that we love one another. In order for our love for others to be active we should love God first with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our mind. Let us exam ourselves where do we stand in fulfilling this commandment. THEWILLOFGOD 4
The will of God is for you to “rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances”: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. My dear friends, this is one of the instances where it is explicitly mentioned in the Bible. Paul asserts that it is the will of God for you to rejoice, pray and give thanks in all circumstances. There are three components in this exhortation. First is the joy or as in some other translations “rejoice”. My dear friends, most of us today cannot rejoice for many reasons. Some cannot rejoice because of tough family situations, or for others because of their health issues or even others because of spiritual problems. Psalms also talks about losing the joy of the salvation. Like David even others have lost the joy of their salvation because of their sin. But Christianity is a community formed through “glad tiding”; it should bring joy into the hearts of the believers. This morning God is asking us to rejoice ALWAYS. The second component in this trilogy is “pray continually” (v.17). Prayer is another central aspect of a Christian believer. It is so important that we don’t realize it. Most of us think prayer is just asking God for things. It is not! It is also the source of our strength and our encouragement. It is the time God fills us with his Holy Spirit and His words and will for us. Most of the time when things don’t go our way or when we are going through tough situations, we tend to forget about prayer or sometimes we are too occupied with the problem without realizing that prayer gives us strength to withstand any problem. Martin Luther once said, “I am so busy now that I find if I did not spend two or three hours each day in prayer, I could not get through the day. If I neglect prayer for a single day, I feel weak and lose a great deal of the fire in my faith.” Friends, prayer gives us the courage and strength to overcome the evil in this world. It gives us the strength to stand against the sin. Above all, it gives us courage to stand firm in our faith. And this is God’s will that we pray continually. Thirdly, Paul completes the trilogy with the another assertion “give thanks”: this is the most important aspect of the christian. We can argue that this giving thanks is a form of worship. We see in all Paul’s letters, he begins and closes with the giving thanks exhortation as a form of worship and adoration. Even in the early church, the believers worshipped and gave thanks and broke bread in their homes. Likewise, our lives should be filled with worship and thanks giving to God in all circumstances. My dear friends, the will of God for our lives is that we rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances. This is who we are and that is what we are made for. We are made to worship God to Rejoice in his salvation and to be connected to God the Father through our prayers. The will of God is that you are sanctified. (1 Thessalonians 4:3) The third will of God, which is also explicitly made in the Bible is found in the 1st epistle to Thessalonians 4:3. Paul very clearly and plainly states that “this is the will of God that you are sanctified.” My dear friends, sanctified is a very important and at the same time complex word to understand. Let me explains this word in detail. “Sanctification comes from the verb sanctify. THEWILLOFGOD 5
Sanctify originates from the Greek word hagiazo, which means to be "separate" or to be "set apart." In the Bible, sanctification generally relates to a sovereign act of God whereby He "sets apart" a person, place, or thing in order that His purposes may be accomplished. From this very greek word also comes the greek word “holy” If we were to coin a word that exactly expresses what sanctified means it would be the word, "holified." "This is the will of God, your holification." What do we mean when we say a thing is holy? Look at your Bible and it says, "Holy Bible." What makes it holy? The land of Israel is called, "the Holy Land," and the city of Jerusalem is called, "the Holy City." Why? There is a quality about all three which they share in common. They all belong to God. The Bible is God's book, Israel is God's land; Jerusalem is God's city---they are God's property! That is why they are holy, they belong to God. Perhaps one of the most helpful ways of expressing the will of God is to put it in that very practical way. The will of God is simply that you may become God's property. "This is the will of God, your sanctification; that you become God's property." My dear friends, we belong to Christ and this body is God’s temple where the spirit of God dwells. That is why Paul asked the questions to the Corinthians in their first epistle chapter 6 verse 19 where he says “do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy spirit. Who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” My dear friends, this morning God is reminding us once again that We are the temple of God and in order for the Holy spirit to dwell in us we need to keep it Holy. We need to keep it sanctified. That is why we need sanctification. Most often we believers in church are confused with the salvation and sanctification. Sanctification does not stop with salvation, but rather it is a progressive process that continues in a Christian's life. Unlike the things and places that are sanctified by God in the Bible, people have the capacity to sin. Even though we have been "set apart" as God's children, we continue to behave in ways that are contrary. As Christians, we realize shortly after we have been saved that there is a new inner battle being waged within us - a battle between our old sinlead nature and new Spirit-lead nature. Paul in Galatians best describes this inner struggle in Galatians 5:17: "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." As we come before the altar this morning let us confess our sins and sanctify ourselves to be God’s very own because it is “who we are.” The will of God is for you to be saved: Last but not the least, the will of God for us it to be saved. In the book of Isaiah chapter 53 we see a description and detailed prophesy about the coming messiah who will bear the sins and the iniquities on his shoulder. In v. 10 the prophet prophet prophesies that “it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer….” it is a most callous picture which is pictures in the chapter how a father did not even mind that he was his son and yet chose to send him to this earth to die for OUR sins. All because of one reason. He wanted us to be saved. He predestined us even before the foundations of the earth. He choose us to be His children and he we willing to pay any price, even His own son Jesus to save us and bring us back to him. What a great THEWILLOFGOD 6
privilege it is for us to receive this salvation so free and so easy. My dear friends, this gift of salvation is open to anyone and this morning if you have not accepted this invitation now is the chance for you to commit yourself into God’s hands and accept this gift of salvation which Christ offers. It is the will of God that we should be saved from the sin and condemnation and that is the reason he sent his own son to die for us on the cross and take our place. My dear friends, it is the will of God that you should have a personal relationship with him through Christ. Do you have a personal relationship with God today? Amen. As I conclude this morning I want to leave you with two things. Number one: Do you remember the picture I tried to draw? Guess what I was able to fill it. And this is how it looked like( laugh). Secondly, I just wanted to remind you once again of Ray Stedman’s words “The will of God is not a program, it is a relationship. It is not what you do, it is who you are”. My dear friends the will of God is active in each of our lives. Because it is who we are, God’s very own, saved by grace, sanctified by his blood and stand firm through prayer.
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