A Sermon

Living Sacrifices

Text: Romans 12:1-2: “(1)Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – This is your spiritual act of worship. (2)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.”

God is not a magic eight-ball. We can’t shake him around and demand he give us an answer. Sometimes when he does give us an answer it’s “reply hazy, try again” or “ask again later”. I find that rarely do I get a resounding YES or even a definitive NO. How do we know what God’s will is? Who do we marry? What should we do for a career? What college should I go to? The truth is that it is very hard to discern God’s will in our every day decision making. Now, I am not saying that this means we can’t guesstimate that God wouldn’t want us to steal or have sex outside of marriage, but there are so many gray areas the bible does not answer, so many decisions we have to make. What is the world does God want?!?

Today we are going to understand how to get a better grasp on God’s will. Let’s look at Romans 12:1-2. (Read passage). Okay, so what in the world did that mean? Transform your mind? Living sacrifices? Let’s look at this backwards because I believe the answer will show itself better this way. Take a look at verse one. “Therefore…” Now, therefore means “because of this then” or “In light of that…” We need to turn back to see what he’s thereforeing about. In Romans 11:34 Paul, who is writing this letter says, “Who has the mind of the Lord?” Paul is getting across here that no one knows exactly what the Lord wants, and no one is in tune with God’s mind. Therefore we must do what he’s about to tell us to get even close to that. Wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly what God wanted you to do? Let me tell you right now, I don’t think we will get there on this earth, but we can get closer every day, and wouldn’t that be nice? A little less anxiety and hesitation?

Look at the middle of verse two “But be transformed by the renewing of your mind” I wonder if this ever happens to you… I have a radio in my kitchen, and I will tune it so the station I want is coming out so clear and perfect. It’s just right. Then, I’ll go across the kitchen to do the dishes and it will get so fuzzy I can’t even decipher the words anymore, so I’ll walk back over there and it will come through crystal clear again, so I’ll try to tune it a little off so that when I walk across the room it will be clear, but that never works, so I’m stuck with a fuzzy radio unless I’m right next to it.

The world knows that we are out of tune. It realized our minds are messed up. Many philosophies and religions claim that if we could just think differently and not desire anything for instance (as in Buddhism), if we could just tune ourselves to the harmony of nature (as in Taoism) we could be happy and live renewed lives. God says we need to change our minds too, but not to think in a different worldly way. We need to think more like God. We need to be in tune with God. Our minds to be transformed and renewed. Not only do we need different minds, but we need new minds all together! 2 Corinthians 4:16 says “Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” God can and will renew our minds. We can never be perfect here on earth, but should be slowly getting more and more perfect every day.

How do we transform and renew? The beginning of verse two says by not “Conforming to the pattern of this world” Now when the bible uses “world” here it really means “current age”, or the “current way things are done.” Do you ever notice that when your friend says something you don’t agree with you might make your opinion sound a little more close to theirs? I did that all the time when I was a teenager. I cared about how I looked to other people, what they thought of me, and I did all sorts of things I didn’t really like or that wasn’t really me to fit in with them. When the bible reads “Don’t conform to the pattern” it also means “Don’t conform to a mold”. We don’t want to change ourselves to fit into whatever the world is doing. The world has always been contrary to what God wants for us. Paul wrote this to the church in Rome 2000 years ago! The world back then was filled with idolatry, sexual immorality, drunkenness and countless other sins, and the people of the church then had to not conform to it, just as we have to not conform now. Be a non conformist! Be your own person, be the person God wants you to be.

Now, this does not mean you have to stop doing anything that does not involve going to church. It is perfectly fine to go to the movies, play basketball, watch Heroes, or anything else you like to do that is not in direct opposition to proper Christian conduct. What do I mean by that? It is not okay for you to have sex before you are married, to steal, to lie, to gossip, to do drugs, to get drunk, and a whole list of other things I’m sure you can recognize as sins. However, it is not a sin, to enjoy non-church related activities. You do not need to lead a boring life of constant prayer to transform your mind and be a non-conformist. Exercise your conscious and think, would I be proud if my parents walked up right now and saw what I was doing? Would I be proud if Jesus saw me? If you feel uneasy, you may have to rethink your actions.

Okay, so we’re renewing our minds by not conforming to the pattern of this world. There is one more step to help with this non-conformist process. Verse one tells us to “offer our bodes as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship” First off, we need to offer to be living sacrifices. We have to want to be in a relationship with God. If you think you are a Christian just because your parents are or because you are dragged to church every Sunday, you are wrong. You are only a Christian if you love Jesus and have a genuine relationship with him. That doesn’t mean that when things suck you go running to him, or that you check in with him twice a year on Christmas and Easter. That means an ongoing relationship with him just like you have a relationship with anyone else in your life.

What about the sacrifice part though? That sounds really scary. In the Old Testament times, the Isrealites or the Jews offered sacrifices to God, usually an animal or some grain. This was to say, “I’m sorry for any willful sin that I’ve done.” It showed God that we were truly sorry, and wanted to move on and get back into a right relationship with him. When Christ died and was resurrected he became the last sacrifice. He is now the way we say “Sorry” to God, and start over. So if our bodies are living sacrifices we need to understand that part of being in relationship with God is coming to him with our mistakes. We need to repent and truly mean that we want to try again and do better. We need to be living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. To be “holy” means to be set apart. We need to be set apart from sin, set apart from the world so that we can be pleasing to God. Lastly, this whole process is our “spiritual act of worship” Here the bible means “a ministry”, or “a service to God”. This is how we pay him back for taking away our sins, and also how we minister to others. If other people see that we are set apart and holy, then they will wonder what it is and perhaps start seeking for what we have which is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Okay, so we need to be living sacrifices by being holy and set apart, not conformed to this world. As we do this, our minds will be renewed so we can see how God wanted us to see. Remember the radio? When we are away from God, we can’t hear him properly, and there is nothing we can do to adjust it, so that we can be away from him and still hear his voice. We need to be in a relationship with him to be in tune with him, and we do that by living as sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

The Homeless

Yesterday, I passed another homless man on the street, while driving in my nice new Kia. I had just received 5 bucks from a book a sold, and I was compelled to give it to this man, so I rolled down my window and handed him the 5 dollar bill. His hands were absolutley filthy and he began telling me about people in the sky and some other nonsense, so I just smiled and nodded because I was sure he was schizophrenic. The light changed and he said good-bye to me. I turned the corner and saw another man dancing as he walked down the street. The violation of social norm led me to wonder if this man too, was schizophrenic, and this led me to a thought.

Firstly, I am in the process of creating a myspace page with my boyfriend called The Absolute Love Project. It is a site where people can ask theological questions, find resources and read our testimonies. It has long been a dream of mine, for the Absolute Love Project to expand into a non-profit organization. My first expansion is simple, and I hope to turn into a movement, the other will take some time.

I want to have a stockpile of 5 dollar bills in my car at all times. Everytime I pass a homeless person on the street with a sign, I will hand them one of these bills in an envelope, but the envelope will also contain a short letter. The letter (which I have yet to write) will basically tell them that God loves them, I hope they use this money for food, and will be a short synopsis of my story and the story of Jesus. In this way, no matter whether they read the letter or not, I am helping them, but if they chose, they can also recieve the gospel. I find too often that help for others in contingent on whether we have shared the gospel with them or not. I was outraged as a teenager (and a non-christian) that missionaries would only give aid in return for help in building their churches. Why should help not be free? Jesus never asked anything in return for his miracles. In this way, the homeless person gets help regardless of whether they are interested in what I have to say. I hope that I can start a movement where all people do this on behalf of the Absolute Love Project which operates on behalf of Christ.

Secondly, seeing these two men on the street reminded me of the greater picture. 1/3 of all homeless people are Schizophrenic. They have no way to recieve medication or phychiatric treatment. Here I am driving in my nice car, myself having a mental disorder (which for a minute plagued me with OCD thoughts about the man's filthy hands). However, I am lucky enough to have been given free counseling while at Western, to have afforded medication (which I am now off of) and to have been provided with a wonderful Christian counselor that lets me pay her next to nothing. I am lucky to have been able to have all that, but these men, have a condition far worse than OCD. They have such a hard time distinguishing reality that often times they slip further and further into disability so that they cannot hold a job or take care of themselves. They are stuck homeless, thereafter, and not only that, but are plagued by the ills of their mind.

One day I want the Absolute Love Project to be able to give a scholarship of sorts to homeless schizophrenics to pay for medications, stays in state or private hospitals and ongoing therapy. No one thinks twice about helping someone with medical conditions we can see, but illnesses of the mind can be far worse, but no one helps them. If they had care, they could hold a job and get off the streets (if they accept the help that is). The homeless shelters would not be overrun. This is my dream, and I pray they God brings people into my life that can help me to do this because it seems so big, so daunting that I have no idea how I would go about it. One day. One day.

Friends

Why is friendship so hard for some people? Yes, relationships are hard for many reasons, but sometimes dissention is just stupid. Instead of acting hostile because we are hurt, why do we not talk about it? I am very sure that most difficulties with other people happens over misunderstandings and different perspectives. People aren't mind readers. No one knows that something they said or did struck a nerve in you unless you tell them. Unfortunatley, not all people care if you say, hey, you pissed me off when you... Why are we so defensive? Everyone pisses someone off at some point in time. Instead, we should remember we are human and repent to our friend, or at least apologize that they feel that way. Take these times to re-evaluate how we treat others and our actions. In the end, I am really annoyed with immature, I don't want to be your friend cause I'm hurt and you pissed me off. Yes, there are toxic friendships, but when you have bent over backwards for someone, stuck by them through thick and thin, and they say they don't want to be your friend because you told them that they are rude sometimes is a little silly. I know, I went into a personal situation, and I don't mean for this blog to be all about private matters, but my point is that friendships are hard, and there is a lot of needless pain and dissension simply because people cannot communicate, or tell the truth. I wish people would not ignore me if they were upset with me, or were afraid they would hurt me. I'm a big girl, I can handle it, and I can talk through a problem calmly (most of the time). Let's respect one another, lets use the law of love Paul describes in Romans 14 and 15.

A Theological Thought on Passover

God gave the Israelites the Law of Moses way back when. This was the way to have a relationship with God, through sacrifice and adhering to the law. When Jesus came he said he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. He fulfilled it by becoming the ultimate sacrifice. Animal sacrifices were not sufficent enough to cover our sins, so we had to keep doing them, but Jesus, he was more than enough. Perhpaps, in the same way, Jesus fulfilled the Passover. Passover is a Jewish holiday that commemorates God leading Israel out of slavery in Egypt after the 10 plagues in Exodus. (It's called passover cause death passed over the Hebrews' first borns, but not the Egyptians). Part of celebrating passover involves the passover meal, or the Seder. Originally, a special lamb was supposed to be sacrified. Jesus's last meal was the Seder. The last Seder we would ever have to do for Jesus became the ultimate passover lamb. He freed us from slavery to the law. We take communion to remember that passover is no longer necessary! The sacrificial system is over cause Jesus fulfilled it. The Jews were freed from Egypt, but the world was freed from sin. I'm not saying if you want to celebrate Passover, you shouldn't. I'm only saying that God took his plan for that holiday so much further, and I think that's really cool.

In Addendum, Thinking about communion, why is it communal? Why do we only "do this in remembrance" of Jesus in church? I can see why Catholics see the need as the priest must bless it and then it transubstatiates and all that, but as Protestants why do we? We know it is still bread and juice (or wine). The point of communion is what it represents, so why not see representations of Christ's sacrifice in everything I eat? Why would it be nothing other than wonderful to say this pepsi is his blood spilled for me or these tacos are his body? The very reason I am able to live and drink and eat at all is because of him! I think every supper should be the Lord's supper. That's the "grace" we should say over our meals. Just a thought.