Romans 12 - The Body of Christ is Not a Label!

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A Living Sacrifice

Along with Romans 8, this is one of the finest and most important chapters in the New Testament. And it starts in these first two verses. Romans 12:1-2 should be mandatory memory verses for every Christian. They came to me at a time in my life where my walk with Christ was taking off after a period of spiritual apathy. 

He starts off with the word, "Therefore", which makes the transition from the previous 11 chapters. Chapters 1-11 focused on the basic doctrines of how we are justified by grace through faith based on the righteousness Jesus gave to us. Then, in chapters 9-11, Paul talks about the fate of the Jewish people and how he desires for them to be saved. 

Here are the important parts:

"In view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God." 

As Paul is explaining what it means to live the Christian life. It all starts with our motivation. And our motive is the grace of God, which God has given to us freely. Our response is to offer our bodies as a "living sacrifice". We are not a sacrifice in the sense of an Old Testament sacrifice by the unblemished lamb, but in the sense in which we offer all of our bodies for God's service. 

We offer our eyes, what we look at! We offer God our mind, what we think about. Our bodies to glorify God with our choices. Our strength we offer in service to God. It is a whole body offering. We give all of who we for all of who God is. 

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

J.B. Phillips translates this, "Don't be squeezed into the world's mold". The pattern of the world is pretty obvious. Just look at what is happening in our world. Just watch the news, the movies, or any other media platform. Anybody who is says we are a "Christian" nation  is living in the past. But we are called to be "salt and light" in the world. We are not called to hide in our churches and holy huddles, but to go out and be Jesus' ambassadors in a world that is lost and headed for a Christ-less eternity. 

Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

You see God's will is good and the best for us. As we offer our bodies and minds to God, we start to experience the life we've always wanted. God's will is good. It is good for us and good those around us. It is pleasing in that it gives us happiness, purpose, and joy. The world cannot give us this no matter how hard it tries. Finally, God's is perfect. God completes us and brings us to Christ-like maturity, which is the goal of the faith in which we are saved. 

Do you see why it is so important to memorize these verses? Not only to memorize them, but to live by them! I challenge you to memorize this verse over the weekend. Please email me if you did at mfa9864@gmail.com.  That would encourage me!!

Humble Service in the Body of Christ

Paul now talks about how God has organized the body of Christ for maximum effectiveness and efficiency. In humilityk we remember that not all of of us have all the gifts. But, we each have a gift through which we can contribute to what God is doing in the local church we attend. 

Notice when Paul says the word, "Body of Christ", he is not saying, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Mega-Church, Pentecostal etc.. The body of Christ is not a table or a specific denomination. It is a move of God's kingdom which comes through Christ followers who submit to the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Paul gives an example of some of the gifts. 

Prophesying - Speaking the Word of God, which is the truth about who we are in Jesus Christ with boldness. Prophecy is usually more "prescriptive" than "predictive". Meaning though a prophet could have a predict about a coming event, I have rarely seen that. I.e. Predictions about Jesus' return, which up to this point have had one thing in common. They are all wrong. 

Anyone who has given a date for Jesus' return, which has expired already, could be classified as a "false prophet". It reminds us which the bible warns be careful when you say, "Thus sayeth the Lord!" That is very dangerous if you are wrong because it is taking the Lord's name in vain. 

Serving - this is just the practical gift of waiting on tables or serving others like Jesus did. Throwing church potlucks, cooking meals for community events, making sure the house of worship is clean and represents God well, leads small groups, serves as an elder or deacon. I think you get the point! 

Teaching - Teaching God's word so people understand it, and its application to our lives. Importantly we learn it not to be necessarily be bible experts but to live by its principles in the power of the Holy Spirit. We also should grow in our knowledge of the Word, so we should be able to teach others, especially those who have the spiritual gift of teaching. Those who have the spiritual gift of teaching simplify God's Word so even a teenager could understand! 

Encouragement - The gift of encouragement is someone who is always optimist about what God is doing in your life and the church. They strengthen people with faith when someone goes through times of doubt. The encourage people to take risks for Christ. Note, the word is "en-courage", which means to bring courage from within. You can never have enough encouragers around you, especially during times like this where Christians get a bad rap. 

Giving - A supernatural capacity to give generously to causes that grow the church and the kingdom. They are thinking more about how much they can live on so they can give more. They realize you can't "outgive God" and God increases the storehouse of those who give liberally.

Mercy - Mercy is not getting what you deserve. People with the gift of mercy love on people who are down and hurting or have made mistakes they are not proud of. They may have even brought on their circumstances, but still need to be reminded of God's grace and mercy in Christ. We all need this gift and those who have it more than we can ask for or imagine. 

Love in Action

You could also call this faith in action. Without love our faith is a noisy gong or clanging cymbal Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13. In the following verses Paul lays out what that love in action looks like. The bottom line is we can have great theology, and tons of spiritual gifts, but without an authentic demonstration of the love of Christ we show to the world, it all means nothing. 

There is a great line from the DC Talk song "Jesus Freak". The greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips but deny him with their lifestyle. This is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.