Thank you, Chris, and turn with me all of
you 8:15-ers. And fellow morning allergy-sufferers. You know who you are. Turn with me to Romans chapter 12. If you have a ribbon, you know, one of these
things. Or a piece of paper, put a—put the ribbon
or the piece of paper in I Corinthians 6. We'll be there later this morning, but it
might help me and perhaps you. If you make some kind of attempt to have I
Corinthians 6 ready when the time comes. But my topic and title which has been allotted
to me is "How Then Shall We Live in This World?" How then shall we live in this world? And my text is Romans 12 and verses 1 and
2, and let's pray together. Father, as we turn now to the Scriptures,
all Scripture is given by the out-breathing of God and is profitable for doctrine and
instruction and correction in the way of righteousness that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished
into every good work. No Scripture is of private interpretation,
but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Help us to read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest, and all for Jesus' sake, amen. Romans chapter 12 and verse 1, "I appeal to
you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual (or reasonable) worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will
of God, what is good and acceptable, and perfect." "How then shall we live in this world?" In this world, in this world of sin and rebellion,
this world on which the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men. I appeal to you, therefore"—now, the question
of course, and you've heard it many times, the question that you have to ask when you
see the word "therefore" is, what is the word "therefore" there for? Why is it there? And Paul is drawing now a conclusion. It's not the first time that Paul has addressed
in the course of his epistle to the Romans what amounts to an imperative—the "doing"
section. He has actually addressed it on a couple of
occasions before. He has told us in the 5th chapter of Romans,
"Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments
of unrighteousness." So, Paul has made a very specific application,
a moral application, an imperative as to the use of our bodies as instruments of righteousness. And then in the middle of the 8th chapter,
he has given that imperative, "If he by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh,
you shall live." We are to be engaged in putting sin to death. Remaining sin, remaining corruption. But now, as he turns to chapter 12, there
is going to be an extended section covering several chapters in which Paul is going to
answer the question, how then shall we live in this world? And he says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers,
by the mercies of God." And again, Paul is returning to the grammar
of the gospel, making sure that we understand that these imperatives, these verbs of command,
these doing verbs, these verbs that bring a sense of ought and obligation now upon the
Christian, these are responses to the mercies of God that we have already experienced. Obligation follows grace. Paul isn't reverting to a kind of performance
mentality that by doing, we earn our way into the kingdom of God, but as those who have
experienced the mercies of God who have been brought out of darkness and into light, who
have been justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ, alone by the grace of God alone, there
is a therefore. Now, in doing that, of course, Paul is all
too conscious that in verbs of obligation, there is of course a looking at ourselves,
and looking at ourselves can bring all kinds of pastoral difficulties, and so I am reminded
this morning even as we begin to unfold this passage of the words of Robert Murray M'Cheyne,
"That for every look at yourself, take a hundred looks at Jesus Christ." That's a wonderful piece of pastoral advice. Every now and then, we are to examine ourselves,
we are to look within, we are to test whether the fruits of the Spirit are being manifested
in a way that corroborates the profession of faith that we make. But, for every look at yourself, take a hundred
looks at the Lord Jesus. Now, there are four things I want us to see
as we look at these familiar verses, Romans 12 verses 1 and 2, four things that characterize
our response to the grace of God in the gospel. And, the first is that ethical consequence,
"How then shall we live in this world?" The first thing I want us to see is that ethical
consequence involves sacrifice. That's the first principle that Paul wants
us to understand, it involves sacrifice, "present your bodies a living sacrifice." It's such a rare word in contemporary Christianity,
I think. There's almost something old fashioned about
it, that we're meant to sacrifice for the gospel, we're meant to sacrifice for Jesus
Christ. What did Jesus say? "If any man would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up a cross and follow me." Now, you understand that a cross is not a
piece of jewelry made of platinum or gold or silver that you hang around your neck as
a piece of jewelry, something beautiful to look at. It's rather odd, isn't it, that we would ever
think of doing that? It would be like having a syringe or a little
electric chair. Or a little platinum version of a gas chamber,
because what is the cross? It is a civil instrument of execution. Jesus says, "No, I'm not telling you to put
a piece of jewelry around your neck and make you feel all warm and cozy in the mornings
like some kind of talisman that keeps you safe from the hurts and dangers and trials
and difficulties out there like a Christian version of a rabbit's foot." No, this is what Jesus is saying, "When you
come to me, I want you to come and die. Die to yourself, die to your ambitions, die
to your dreams, die to your aspirations. Not my will, but yours be done." Thomas à Kempis in his book, "The Imitation
of Christ" put it this way, very famous statement that he made, "If you will bear the cross,
it will bear you." If you will bear the cross, it will bear you. Now, you understand here, Paul isn't asking
us to make sacrifices, that's not the point. I'm not saying that we shouldn't make sacrifices,
but that is not the point here. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the
mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice." He's not asking you to make sacrifices, He
wants you to be a sacrifice. "Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my
Sovereign die? Here, Lord, I give myself away, 'tis all that
I can do." Here Lord, before the cross of Jesus Christ,
I give myself away, 'tis all that I can do. Jesus wants you, not a part of you, but you. So, the ethical consequence involves first
of all, sacrifice. Secondly, the ethical consequence that Paul
has in mind here involves the entire person. "To present your bodies"—the ESV has "to
present your bodies," or you could render that to present the whole person as a sacrifice. One of the probably greatest privileges I've
ever had in my life was to meet and become a friend to a remarkable woman. She lived in Belfast and still lives in Belfast
in Northern Ireland, and I'm referring to Helen Roseveare. You have to be of a certain generation, I
think, to have met and heard Helen Roseveare. She is without any shadow of a doubt the most
remarkable woman I've ever encountered in my life, and for seventeen years or so when
I lived and ministered in Belfast, I had the privilege of seeing her on many, many occasions
and ministering to a ministry that she had to young girls, a discipling ministry for
young girls, and I would go and speak at those meetings once or twice a year, and just got
to know her a little. And, you know her story of course, how in
the 1950's and then in the 1960's in what was then Congo. She was captured by terrorists, that we could
call them today, and she was taken prisoner for many, many months, five, six months or
more, and she was repeatedly abused and raped. You have read her story I am sure, many of
you, and the godliness of this woman, and I remember on the one occasion where I heard
her relate, and she always had a reluctance to relate this story. She wanted us to know the story but she wanted
us to know the story as she would want us to know the story, because it—not for the
salacious details of her imprisonment and the abuse that she suffered, but the moment
she describes the first encounter with these men. And the fear that gripped her as to what these
men were going to do to her, and hearing in her mind's eye, not a physical, audible voice,
but a whispering of God within her mind, and in her soul in those moments, that, Jesus
saying to her, "They're not doing this to you, they're doing it to me. I want your body." And, you can't read those words without being
gripped by the totality of her self-resignation to the demands of the gospel in ways that
go extraordinarily deep. This is Helen Roseveare, and Paul is saying
here, "Present your bodies." He's not asking here for some kind of mystical
heart experience. He's talked about it earlier in the sixth
chapter of Romans about our bodies as instruments, our bodies can be instruments of righteousness
or unrighteousness and he's saying, "I want your bodies as instruments of righteousness." Take my hands, take my feet, take my eyes,
take my body, take me in all of its totality. He wants the entire person, He wants all of
you. I want everything there is of you. I don't want just little bits of you, little
compartments of you that you portion out and you say, "Well, one for Jesus and one for
me, and one for Jesus and one for me." No, I want it all. Not just the mind, not just the intellect,
but the heart and the affections, and the body. Yes, the body which is the temple of the Holy
Spirit in all of its totality. We speak of total depravity, but we also speak
in another way, in a sense of total sanctification in a definitive sense, that when we are regenerated
and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, we belong
now to Jesus Christ lock, stock and barrel! Everything about us. You know, nowhere does Paul—and, I'm not
going there yet, but nowhere does Paul make that clearer than in I Corinthians 6, when
he's talking to the Corinthians and he's talking about adultery, and he's talking about visiting
a harlot. Imagine what in the world is going on in the
church in Corinth. That sexual abuse in a marriage is taking
place in the church in Corinth, and he's saying to the Corinthians, "You know, when you visit
a harlot, you can't check out Jesus at the door, and pick him up on the way out." That when you are united to a harlot, you
unite the Lord Jesus to a harlot. That's what sin is. That's the ugliness of it. The ethical consequence involves sacrifice
and the ethical consequence involves the entire person. And then thirdly, the ethical consequence
is an act of worship. Now, look at the words, "To present your bodies
as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your"—well, I don't know
why the ESV renders this "spiritual worship," the word is "logical." I don't actually get how you get from logical
to spiritual. I don't follow the translation reasoning here. Some of you have a different translation here,
it is "reasonable service" or a "reasonable act of worship." We still speak about worship as a service. Service begins at 8:30 or 9, so we interchange
the word "service" and "worship," but here Paul is speaking and using a word—you know,
it's the logical thing when you belong to Jesus, when you've experienced the mercies
of God, it's the logical thing that you worship Him, that you give yourself to Him as an act
of worship. You bow down before Him and you say, "Take
my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee." I give myself back to Him. You know, one of those passages in the Old
Testament that just completely takes my breath away every time I read it? Hannah, and she's praying, you remember, in
the temple, and Eli, who's old, and losing his marbles. And just on the point of senility or something
of that kind, and his eyesight perhaps is failing, and he sees her lips moving, but
she's not saying anything, and he accuses her of being drunk. And Elkanah, well, he's gone out and bought
a new model, because he has another wife who's producing babies every year with irritation. And Hannah wants a child, and those of you
here who have the burden, and the trial, and the cross that God has put into your lives
of childlessness, and the peculiar and particular pain of that you enter into Hannah's prayer,
you understand her prayer, but, what does she say? "Lord, give me a son and I'll give him back
to you." It takes my breath away. "Give me a son, and I'll give him back to
you." And that's precisely what she does, and it's
a little illustration here of what Paul is saying is the consequence of the gospel, it's
the consequence of the Reformed faith, it's a consequence of Reformed soteriology, it's
a consequence of the mercies of God that we give ourselves away in worship. It's a logical thing. Stands to reason. "If Jesus Christ is God, and He died for me,
nothing is too great for me to do for Him." Hudson Taylor, Jim Elliot. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose." Ethical consequence involves worship, the
worship of the whole man, the worship of mind and body and soul and affections and will,
and everything that constitutes our renewed humanity in Christ is to be given over now
as an act of worship. Yes, worship here in the broadest possible
sense in all of life. Now, I know this verse is used in the worship
wars as a verse that covers all of worship including gathered worship, and Sunday worship,
and worship that involves the sacraments, and so on, and this verse is a broad and generic
verse here. He's not talking about the specifics here
of particular gathered worship, but he's talking here about all of life, the totality of life
as an act of worship. And then fourthly, we see here that the ethical
consequence involves sacrifice, and the ethical consequence involves the entire person, the
ethical consequence involves worship, and fourthly, the ethical consequence is counter-cultural. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, but by testing you may discern what is the
will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Do not be conformed to this world and its
worldviews. When I was growing up in the 1960's—let
me be clear, I'm a child of the fifties, but I was a teenager in the sixties, and I do
vaguely—and I mean vaguely, because when my sister was listening to The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones, I was listening to Beethoven and Brahms. I know, I know, but that was me, and it still
is me. But I do vaguely remember The Kinks. I'm a dedicated follower of fashion. How many of you remember that? Yes, not many. Which I think is a relief. I'm a dedicated follower of fashion. Yes, we are. Amazing, isn't it, how suits now, if you've
got turnips on your trousers, you're not a dedicated follower of fashion? Ties, you know how many of us have bought
ties and then after a while, there's no way you can wear that tie. Whatever possessed me to buy that tie? And shirts with collars that are at ninety
degrees and forty-five degrees and a hundred and twenty degrees. And there're shirts that are almost like aeroplanes
that they're about to fly. We are dedicated followers of fashion, and
Paul is saying to Christians who love the truth and know the truth, "Do not be dedicated
followers of fashion. Be non-conformists." You know, that's why I love being a Presbyterian. Because another term for a Presbyterian is
a non-conformist. I love that term. You remember J.B. Phillips' wonderful translation
or rendition of this verse, "Do not let the world squeeze you into it's mold." And how do you do that? By the renewing of your minds, by the renewing
of your minds. One of the ways to ensure that you're not
conformed to this world is to read good, solid literature. By the renewing of your mind. You know, when I first became a Christian
in 1971, somebody put a little booklet into my hands. It was a—it was just a little booklet and
it was called, "Your Mind Matters." It was by John Stott, I think it was written
in 1967, "Your Mind Matters." You know, there are Christians and they check
their minds at the door. They go to worship, and they have a great
time and a great experience, and they're lost in the moment, and their hearts and affections
are engaged like going to a concert or the opera, or a ball game, and your affections
get into it, but you've checked your minds at the door. Your mind matters. "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed"
in your thinking by renewing your minds. I'm amazed, I am constantly amazed how few
books educated Christians actually read. To quote something that Dr. Sproul said yesterday,
"What's wrong with you people?" I'm talking now about folks with—who are
doctors, and lawyers, and who have advanced degrees, and to get them to read one Christian
book it's like torture. Listen to Paul, your mind, your thinking,
your worldview needs to be changed, and the way you—the way that gets changed is in
the mind, it's by your thinking and reasoning. Now, if you read on in this passage, you will
see that Paul has many things to say about how this renewal takes place, that it takes
place in the life and context of the church. And you'll see that in verse 4, he segues,
"We are one body. We have many members, the members do not all
have the same function." And so on, and he segued now from the renewing
of our minds and not being conformed to this world by the importance of the local church
and our gathering together with the people of God, and within the context of the fellowship
of the Lord's people, our minds are renewed so that our bodies can be given over as an
act of worship to the Lord. But I want to take a specific example here,
and that was the charge that I was given, not only to address this in a general way,
but to address it in a very specific way: "How then shall we live in this world?" In what way is this world trying to squeeze
us into its mold? So, turn with me to I Corinthians 6, and verses
9 to 11. And, forgive me, this is the 8:15 session,
and we're going to look at something that is a little distasteful perhaps for some,
but it's part of the Word of God, it's part of I Corinthians 6, and it is here for our
instruction and admonition and encouragement. I Corinthians 6 verse 9, "Do you not know
that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the
greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God, and such
were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Now, let me ask a question here. What is Paul talking about? And, I want to focus on the words, "Men who
practice homosexuality," and I do that simply as an example. It is surely a current agenda. It is on every news bulletin, it's in every
newspaper, it's everywhere around us. We are being squeezed by the world and by
the culture in which we live, no matter whether that's the intellectual culture of the university,
or the highest person in office in this country today, or legislators, or school teachers
in public schools, or wherever you go, we are being squeezed by the entertainment industry
again and again to conform to the spirit of this world, to conform to the ethical standards
of the world. And Paul is saying in Romans 12, "Be not conformed
to this world, but be transformed." So, let's look at this as an example. What's Paul talking about here in I Corinthians
6? Well, he's talking about lifestyle. Now, I know he's not simply talking about
homosexuality, he's talking about a lot of other things, about thievery and greediness
and drunkards and revilers and swindlers and so on, so he's—I'm not saying for one minute
that homosexuality is a greater, more abominable sin than any other sin, that's not my point. I'm simply focusing on this one because it
is so current. And folks are asking, "What are we supposed
to think about this?" Well, let's look at what Paul says. He's talking here about lifestyle. He's talking here about regular behavior patterns. I don't think he's talking here about occasional
lapses followed by repentance and forgiveness, but he's talking here about something that
is established, an established pattern in the life of somebody who professes to be a
believer. He's talking about what is Paul saying about
these habits? They are ways of sin that if not repented
of and forsaken, will keep people, will prevent people from entering into the kingdom of God. That's what he's saying. That a lifestyle, an unrepentant lifestyle
of homosexuality will keep you from the kingdom of God. That's what Paul seems to be saying. Those who claim to be Christ's should avoid
the practice of same-sex, physical connection. "Malakoi oute arsenokoitai." The Greek. It's very graphic in Greek. "Male-bedders" would be a literal translation. "Unmanly" would be a literal translation. He's saying the person who is the female in
the role here of same-sex. That's—he's that graphic here in the Greek. And what is Paul saying about this? He's not saying that those who have engaged
in this can never enter the kingdom of God, he says and such were some of you. This was your lifestyle, but God in his sovereign
mercy and grace came and He changed you, and He gave you a spirit of repentance, and He
enabled you to turn from that lifestyle and from that practice, and to turn and embrace
the Lord Jesus Christ as He is offered to us in the gospel. Now, let's be absolutely clear what Paul is
saying here about this. This is a practice. He's not saying that true, genuine, justified,
spirit-indwelt, Christ-united Christians can suffer and experience same-sex attraction. He's not saying that. And for some, that cross, that issue will
be with them for the rest of their lives. But what he is saying is, those who make it
a practice, a lifestyle, cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is counter-cultural, isn't it? I mean, the culture around us is saying, "Well,
you know what is the ethical standard of the culture around us, so long as no one gets
hurt?" That's the principal ethical standard of the
world today. So long as nobody gets hurt, what's the harm
in it? You know, "What people do in their own lives
is none of our business!" Well, it's Jesus' business. It may not be the state's business in certain
instances. It may not be the church's business, but it
is most certainly Jesus' business what you do as a professing Christian. You may have these struggles, you may have
these issues, and there are a multitude of reasons why that is so, and you may have them
for the rest of your life. And God is saying to you, if you continue
in this practice, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, how does a relativist hermeneutic work
here? "Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind." Here's how conformity to the world might manifest
itself in the life of the church and in the lives of Christians. It might come to a passage like this and say,
"You know, what I do doesn't bear any relationship to what Paul is talking about here. Whatever Paul is talking about here was something
entirely different. This was something that involved harm of some
kind." You can bring into the interpretation here
something that suggests that whatever it is Paul is talking about, it's not the loving
relationship that you have. You can do that. That's a relativist hermeneutic that can be
employed. Or you might adopt the hermeneutic, the popular
hermeneutic—you know, if you ever you go to a bible study and somebody says, "I like
to think what Paul is saying ..." I mean, get ready for it. Because who knows what's going to come out? Because it is a hermeneutic based on personal
opinion without any insight whatsoever to the context of what Paul is saying. Right? You might approach a passage like this, and
you might approach it with a kind of multi-interpretation hermeneutic that's driven by personal experience. "I like to think that ..." or, "I feel this
is what God is saying here." Who cares what you feel? Unless there is an objective standard for
ethics, what we have in this country is two hundred and fifty million standards all based
on personal feeling. Actually, that's precisely where we are. It might suggest something like this, that
this kind of focus here on one particular sin, well it's just so unhelpful, because
we're all sinners, right? Yes, we're all sinners. I deserve God's judgement too, who are you
to judge? Oh, there you go. The most misquoted text from the Sermon on
the Mount, "Judge not lest ye be judged." So, I can make no ethical judgement whatsoever. Somebody comes and steals your wallet, you
cannot make a judgement—"Judge not ..." Your spouse has an affair—"Judge not lest
you be judged." We're all sinners, right? It might come in this way: 'all this emphasis
on sin, it just misses the whole point about grace. You know what we need is, what we need is
grace. What we need is just talk about grace, we
need to talk about the gospel, we need to talk about grace and sanctification. It'll just take place by itself. It'll just happen. So, all you need to do is talk about grace,
and all these things will just disappear. Well, I have to tell you for the last thirty-five
years, they have not. I still wake up in the morning grumpy until
I've had my cup of coffee. Every single day I wrestle against the world
and the flesh and the Devil, and I have to address myself. There is an ethical imperative that is a consequence
to the experience of the mercies of God in the gospel. Now, my dear friends, please don't misunderstand
what I'm doing here this morning. Here is Reformed conservative Christianity
once again having something to say about homosexuality or lesbianism. I do so this morning not because that is the
greatest sin in the world, because it isn't, but it is a sin. The practice, the lifestyle is a sin, and
no amount of fanciful exegesis and interpretation can get away from what Paul is saying here
in I Corinthians 6, and bless God that Paul adds, "And such were some of you." That the church in Corinth was actually filled
with sinners who once practiced this lifestyle, but what are they now? They are those who used to be practicers of
this lifestyle. That's what they are. How then shall we live in this world, you
and I as Christians? As a non-conformist. 'Ah, but you're saying if I become a non-conformist
on the practice of homosexuality as an example, that's going to make me so counter-cultural. It's going to make me so negative. It's going to make the church look so negative. Well, what's the alternative? You can conform to this world. You can say, "But, it's none of our business." You can adopt an ethic that says, 'so long
as nobody gets hurt. I mean, if they love one another, what's the
problem here?' And you can adopt an ethical standard that
is wholly contrary to the Word of God, unless the Word of God, the infallible, inerrant
Word of God is the root and basis and foundation of our ethics, we are lost. We are adrift in a sea of relativism. And Paul is calling upon the church, and he's
calling upon individual Christians to present their lives and their bodies, and the instruments
of their bodies as a sacrifice, as an act of worship. As an act of worship. Every time you are tempted to sin, you must
ask the question, "Can I bring Jesus into this?" Try it, I guarantee that what you are thinking
is, 'I've left Jesus outside the door. When I close the door and I switch on my laptop,
what I do in my own private time has got nothing to do with anyone else and it has nothing
to do with Jesus. I pick Jesus up when I close the lid.' And my dear friend, that is as far away from
a biblical ethic as you can possibly get. You are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you are
in union and communion with Christ. The body is Christ's body, and that's Paul's
ethic here in I Corinthians 6, in a very specific setting—"Be not conformed to this world." Let's be a people—and it'll cost us. Oh, for sure it'll cost us. It may cost us dearly. Sometimes I think we are returning to those
days in which the apostles themselves lived, and they didn't live in those persecuting
days with gloom and doom, they lived with optimism for the gospel. What is it that can transform this culture
of ours? What is it that can change the oppressive
meta-narrative that surrounds us? It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, because
it is the power of God unto salvation. Father, we thank You. Thank You for the Scriptures. Thank You for these passages in the New Testament
that speak to issues that concern some of us here this morning. For we know this in our own lives, perhaps. We know it's allurement, we know the temptation,
we know the desire, and we want with all of our hearts for those desires to be controlled
by the Spirit of God. Grant us the grace of mortification, grant
us grace to say "no" to sin, and "yes" to righteousness. Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord,
today. Take my eyes, and take my hands, and take
my feet, and take my sexuality, and take everything there is of me, every single thing there is
of me, and make it Yours, wholly and absolutely, and without reserve. And grant us the fullness and strength of
the Holy Spirit every day to run in the opposite direction to the standards of this world that
we might be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we might know what is that
good and perfect and acceptable will of Yours. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.
