Romans 12:1-8 / Jonathan Thomas

about 20 years ago I used to do something called tea and toast um now tea and toast was a Wednesday night Outreach to people who'd been to a nightclub um who was in abist withth um and there was a nightclub in the union and so every Wednesday night we'd hire out the chapl SE um and then as people were coming out to the union we'd make them tea and toast and we try and share the gospel with them now it was a really good idea and we had lots of good conversations but it was really hard let me tell you the main reason it was hard everybody was hammered they were drunk so they would come out of this Union and we'd be there ready for big kind of theological conversations and giving tea and toast and actually most people were drunk and I quickly realized over the years that I did it that drunks coming out of a nightclub fall into one of two categories on the one hand there's the dangerous drunks they come out thinking I can do anything and they would try and they would crash the other half would come out and they were more what I would call depressive drunks I can't do anything and they would cry and part of our job then in Te and toast was to try and respond to the different people and help them and what I saw over the years is alcohol does something very interesting to you for half the people it gives you two higher view of yourself you can do anything for other people it gives too lower view it kind of accentuates how you're feeling that they can't do anything now hold that thought in your mind we're going to come back to abist withth and to those two groups of people but before we get there where are we and why are you talking about this well we're in Romans if you got a Bible please turn to Romans chapter 12 we've had it read already and we're looking at the first eight verses of Romans uh chapter 12 today um on a church Bible it's on page 1,139 1,139 and last week as we got to the start of chapter 12 we realized that last year we climbed the mountain of Romans and it was a brilliant Mountain climb it was hard work but we enjoyed it and last week we finally got to the summit of the mountain we got to the top and if you remember we turned around having got to the top and we looked at the view we looked at the Panorama and it was amazing we've actually got some pictures here of a local mountains and one of the things I love to do as a number of other people in the church is to walk up to one of the top of the local mountains and when you get to the top you turn around and look and when you get there there's one I really enjoy is if you go up the front of the blinge or for cheaters go up to Keeper's Pond park your car there and walk around you can do it on the flat as well if you want and so you go to the front of the blor ringe the big kind of mountain and then you turn around and what's amazing is you see all of abeni it's amazing it's like a little miniature town and you can see where abeni starts and finishes you can see all the schools you can see people's houses you can do a little bit like it there but you can see the whole thing and what's fascinating is as someone who's only lived in abist in abigan for for eight years there's still little roads and little lanes that I still don't know there shortcuts everywhere now those of you who've been born brought up here you know all of these but sometimes when I go to the top of the mountain and I look over Aben I realize oh that's right next to there and even though when I drive from there to there it takes me 8 minutes it's actually only three or four meters and you start to realize how everything fits together it's fascinating and it's exactly the same with Romans when you work through Romans when you work through the gospel when you get to the top you can look back and you can understand life you can understand the gospel you can see how it all fits together and so last week we saw in chapter 12 and verse one there's a therefore therefore in view of God's mercy when you see the gospel what should you do you should offer your bodies as living sacrifices so you don't have to offer a dying sacrifice you don't have to sacrifice yourself to earn God's love and so the conclusion is you don't need to be a dying sacrifice because Jesus has died you can now be a Living Sacrifice and last week we saw that that Living Sacrifice is our whole body our whole life and we now live for Jesus in a life of gratitude and in fact last week we saw that Jesus doesn't just die for us and say you're alive go and live he actually gives us metamorphous that is like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly he wants to transform us give us real life so that the life we now live as a Christian is the true life the ultimate life and it changes Us and how do we do that how do we change well if you remember last week we realize it's by beholding Jesus in view of God's mercy be transformed by the renewing of your mind when you see Jesus you will be more like Jesus he changes us but there's a problem with a sermon like that you leave it open ended and what we end up with is is is a danger zone now Paul has already battled this Danger Zone by telling you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices now 2,000 years ago in a kind of Greek world view that would have been a radical thing to say what do you mean offer your body is a Living Sacrifice because bodies in those days were considered evil they weren't good you wanted to get beyond your body to the spiritual so what are you doing offering your body well that's the amazing thing of the Gospel the gospel reminds us that God has created us we're created in the image of God and actually God wants all of our bodies worship isn't something that's separate from our body worship is something that includes our bodies our whole lives and so what he does in this last second of Romans is he makes sure that the application isn't vague isn't spiritual in in a kind of false sense of the word because we tend to think of spiritual as opposite to body but actually our spiritual or our logical our real worship involves all of our life and so in chapter 12 the rubber hits the road and Romans becomes incredibly practical in fact Jesus in saving us has laid out plan for our lives today we're going to see how it affects Church life then we're going to see how it affects our relationship with government then we're going to see how it affects the way we deal with people who perhaps disagree with us or are weaker with us we're going to see how our logical worship changes the way and so today we're going to look at verses 3 to8 and the way we serve the body that is the way we should be in the church and I've only got two points this morning you'll be glad to know so we're going to see how do we live now that we're Christians in the church because the amazing thing is Jesus didn't save us to be just on our own he saved us to be part of a body Jesus gave his life for the church so we're not saved to be just on our own we're saved to be in the church and the way we do it is all down to how we think about ourselves so last week it was make sure you view the gospel now you've got the view of the Gospel this is what I want you to imagine remember last week we looked at the Apple Pro Vision we saw these new kind of goggles you can wear I want you to imagine how as we go through this sermon series that each week we're putting on gospel goggles and we're looking at a part of life so I want you this morning to put on your gospel goggles so that you can look at yourself what do you look like when you look at yourself through gospel goggles when you have the vision of Jesus well two points here's the first point very simp simple it's from the text it's from verse three number one don't think of yourself more highly than you ought that's the first thing this morning don't think of yourself more highly than you ought we've got to get the view of ourselves right Calvin the great reformer in his Institute of the Christian religion basically starts his argument like this you've got to see and understand God then you can see and understand yourself if you truly want to understand you you've got to understand God first now in the world in society and really summed up in many senses in what um Frank shared in the poem this morning I think there are two broad views of the person in society some people in the world have a view where they say we're worthless we'll never amount to anything ha damne we're just an accident we're worthless but other people in the world want to say this you are worth it you can have have anything and be anything you want you are worth it and these two schools of thinking are shown in different ways and they're taught us in different ways so for example some of these things are taught to us through film and TV so the Disney World View now look I enjoy Disney films I'm not going to have a go at Disney But ultimately Disney is trying to teach you and one of the things he wants to teach you is you can be anything you want and one of the hardest things in life is when a child child is told they can be anything they want and then they can't that crashing realization is a cruel way to put on a child but there's also not just media out there that's trying to teach us actually we have moments in life that teach us I would say sometimes that the more significant formation of our minds are in what other people would consider insignificant moments I think lots of people understand the place of trauma with a the capital T in life some of us here this morning have experienced trauma at a young age and in many senses that affects us even to this day that's understood books like the body keeps the score and others explain that one of the things I think that we don't grasp in society is the impact of what I want to call this morning little tea traumas so small experiences that don't quite make it into capital T traumas but are little T TR traumas little moments in life where perhaps someone said something and to them it was a passing comment but to you it's a defining comment something like you're worthless said to an 8-year-old can affect them for the rest of their life and so this morning actually some of us have had these litty traumas where actually we come and think there's I'm worthless I can't amount to anything I'll never do anything my life is set and it affects us in lots of ways some of us it's flight fight Freeze or fa fa is when you just want to please people and many of us spend our life just trying to please people hoping that if we please them they won't recognize us they won't notice us and we'll be okay the mind is a complex thing the heart is huge and so we've got to get a right view of ourselves who is right you're worthless or you're worth it which is it you can't be anything or you can be anything which school of thought are you going to jump into well the gospel rejects both Romans gives you a third way and it's a wonderful way Romans basically says in the first 11 chapters we are loved by the creator of everything there is an unconditional love that is available a love that that anybody can has have no matter what you've done because it's based on another Romans teaches us that actually that we're all the same at the foot of the cross because it's an undeserved love and if we're loved by what another has done not what we have done then actually we're all the same we're all equal but also it's a love that means that we belong to one another because it's a love that unites us in Christ you see when it comes to Union with Christ it's not just that I am United with Christ it's I am United to Christ with you we are united with Christ and a fourth thing it teaches us is that we are part of a cosmic plan that actually we get to be a part of the plan that unleashes the kingdom of God it's crazy isn't it the gospel is amazing and so you see what we do is we view ourselves what in verse one in view of God's mercy how by being transformed in the renewing of our mind and so he's able then to say in verse three for by the grace given me I say to you Grace Your Grace Gossel goggles change everything you see if you want to get the right self-image don't start with yourself first start with God if you want to Define your life you'll be like up and down all the time but if your life can be defined by another it changes everything you see friends this morning the gospel says you don't need to be defined by what you've done don't need to be defined by what you haven't done you don't need to be defined by what's been done to you and you don't need to be defined by what you think you can do Romans says you're defined by Jesus the one who gave up everything for you and it changes everything it's a bit like a piece of art art isn't it I don't understand art I went down to Cardiff the other day to the art galleries and I hadn't been for a few years and there's a few of my favorite paintings down in Cardiff uh they were originally donated as you probably all know this by the Davis sisters we all know about the Davis anyway I won't get into it but there's amazing art and there's two pictures in particular that I love and I went down to find them and guess what someone's moved them a curator who knows what they're doing and I couldn't believe it and what is worse one of the pictures that I'd particularly gone to see the whole kind of room had been stripped out and someone had put massive plastic jugs in there now apparently this is amazing art and if you go and you love that or you are the artist or you know the artist I'm sure it's amazing but I'm just going I cannot believe that this preff anyway I won't get into exactly what the painting was has gone for a plastic chug but this is the interesting thing I know that there's people going in there and going I'm so glad that old stuff was gone and there's a plastic jug how amazing it's bunkers I don't understand that but here's the thing there a sense in which you know what art is worth in some senses by whatever anybody's willing to pay for art that's how you know ultimately some of us think we are amazing paintings you know know we are this kind of pre-reformation anyway amazing art some of us just feel like we're like plastic jugs here's the question what did God pay for you he gave his only begotten son for you friends don't try and figure out what you're worth look to Jesus and see what you're worth and you see when you get that you will come down and and this is interesting isn't it because because Paul says but don't think of yourself more highly than you ought what's he saying there why is he saying in the gospel that we're worth all of this Jesus has given himself for us but then says don't think too highly of yourself than you ought what he saying is this is you need to remember that your worth isn't based on you but it's based on Jesus you see here's the thing we've come to the summit we're going back down the mountain which is more dangerous walking up a mountain or walking down a mountain it's actually walking down a mountain more accidents happen on the way back down the mountain you're tired you think you're safe it's all okay and that's where most accidents happen so actually it's on this side of Romans that we can make the most accidents that we can fall and so we've got to be careful that we don't go Jesus has died for me I must be worth a lot no wonder he died for me who wouldn't Die For Me possibly for a good man yeah that's me I'm the good man no no no no no because once you start believing your own hype you're just one experience away from realizing that you're not worth it and then Jesus doesn't love me but when you realize it's all down to him you don't have too high a view of yourself then actually it's all okay he is with you let's go back to abis swith I told you we'd go back to arth um you'd go and you'd go and and meet these people coming out drunk and as I said some of them were dangerous drunks and actually part of your job was to try and keep them safe remember a guy just above the stairs he was sitting on a balcony and he just jumped backwards because he thought he could he landed on his head on the steps dangerous didn't realize he thought he could do anything he couldn't I remember so many people coming out just crying they'd go down into town and try and go into the sea because they just thought it was not worth living alcohol does terrible things to people and so actually Paul says how should you think about yourself have a look at this don't have too high view of yourself that is realize it's all of Jesus but secondly do think of yourself with sober judgment versus 3 to8 we need to have sober judgment there is a way to live where you don't have too high a view of yourself which is dangerous and too low a view of yourself which is dangerous too I find Eugene Peterson in the message really helpful here sometimes he captures doesn't he the meaning of the text listen to Eugene Peterson in the message verses uh three onwards he says this I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you living then as every one of you does in pure grace it's important that you not Mis interpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God no God brings it all to you the only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he has done for us and by what we are and what we do for him do you see it's only by understanding who we are um Ed clung Ley who was a great Theologian says this the humility of those who serve Christ is not merely the absence of Pride or the aware of limitations Christian humility is realism that recognizes Grace his humility Springs from his total dependence on the grace of God when we understand grace we'll understand that we are loved we understand that we're loved because of Jesus and so that is a love that will not let us go because it's all based on him and so actually when he saved us he saved us for a reason I I love that I love the fact that the gospel doesn't finish at Romans 12 I love the fact that the gospel just doesn't go all the way to the end of Romans 11 so you're saved oh how searchable now just wait until you die and go to heaven the gospel isn't just about how you're saved actually the gospel is about how you live and actually when Jesus died for you he died not just to give you forgiveness of sins but to give you a full life Abundant Life he actually wants you to live within his plan so you think about something like Ephesians 2 it teaches us that we were saved for good works which Jesus prepared in advance for us to do or if you look at Paul's other writings in one Corinthians when he starts to talk about the body he says that the Holy Spirit has given each of us gifts as he determines for the common good you see when God sent Jesus to die for you and the spirit applied that go gospel to your heart and saved you actually it wasn't just so you could be forgiven it was so that you could live you could live for him did you know that God has a plan for your life actually Jesus has saved you for a reason and he's got big plans for you he's got big reasons for you we don't like to talk like this in in our kind of tradition you all get a little bit nervous now what he going to start saying God has a plan for my life I don't know I like the idea that he died for me and I'll go to heaven but the problem is once Jesus has a plan for your life well your life matters and he might get you to do something what's he going to get me to do I don't know but he does he has an amazing plan for us and the initial part of that plan is being part of the church body now I am a purist as you've always seen I'm a bit snobby when it comes to Art I like old art and also in the most important things in life like the Great British Bake Off I like the original series I like it and I love the Great British Bake Off particularly when paully Hollywood is involved because Paul Hollywood teaches you that you can be a little bit overweight and have graying hair but still be interesting so he's my hero so there's Paul Hollywood okay now Great British boff when it comes to Paul Hollywood the thing I noticed with Paul Hollywood is he loves food combination doesn't he he likes combinations and so he'll go around and he'll stare at people with his lovely little stare and he'll talk about the combinations now some of them are classic like lamb and rosemary rhab and custard chocolate and orange Classics some of them a little bit more unexpected like chili and chocolate or salt and caramel they've become very kind of quickly become normal tastes aren't they and then some of them are missing things like scon with no Jam or banana cake without banana I mean you've got to have the right mixture and when it comes to Flavors you want spices and textures and temperatures all different now interestingly I think God has created food in a way to be enjoyed this way in combinations that's pretty amazing isn't it that when God was creating the world he didn't just create sludge that had the energy in we needed and let us eat it he actually gave us taste buds and different types of food to enjoy and it's also how he created colors isn't it when you look at different colors that to be used together and mixed together a pallet of colors is amazing when it comes to Art and it's exactly the same with the church when God created the church he created us to be different that's really what we're coming into in Romans 12 this view of the church as a body which has different parts and different gifts and different personalities and actually this is a wondrous thing to be a part of I often think that a church is like a stained glass window all different colors all different patterns put together and when the sun shines through a stained glass window it's wonderful and I think it's exactly the same with the church if you look around the church and you know different people in the church you'll know that we don't just look slightly different but actually our personalities are very different our backgrounds are very different our interests are very different our temperaments are very different but when the love of the Holy Spirit pours in through the church the church should become a beautiful thing really a church without the gospel should be a nightmare place because we're all so different but with the gospel and the love of the spirit those differences should make a beautiful thing and so Paul in these chapters is going to walk through how you do it and here he says well look look at yourself in sober judgment in accordance verse three with the faith faith God is distributed to each of you and then he says look verse four for just as each of us has one body with many members and these members do not all of have the same function so in Christ we though many form one body and each member belongs to all the others don't if you ever thought of that when Jesus saved you he saved you to be a part of a body to be a part of the body one of the members of the body and we're meant to belong to one another that's amazing do you know if you're here this morning you're meant to be here and you know what if you're slightly different or very different excellent you're meant to be here too like a little bit of cinnamon put in an apple crumble how much better is the apple crumble for the cinnamon some of us feel a little bit different you're the cinnamon you're the one that brings the taste on the beauty and so Paul like in many different places gives us a list and it's an interesting list isn't it it's not an exhaustive list he says look we all have different gifts verse six it's all according to Grace given to us it could be prophesying it could be serving it could be teaching it could be encouraging it could be giving it could be leading it could be showing Mercy there are so many different gifts and God has given us all of these gifts so that we can come together to create a church and a church family um as a church when we do our membership courses or the new um kind of when every year or so we we run these kind of meetings where if you're new to the church you can come and have lunch um I always give the same talk um so if you came and you thought it was the first time it was the same talk every time and I talk about the three rooms in our house the Cornerstone is a church with three rooms I always say the first room is our dining room that's a Sunday morning we hope Hope on a Sunday morning that you're fed well but just like lots of dining rooms it's a little bit formal a little bit stiff and it's pretty much only one person feeding you that's what our dining room is like but actually when you go to someone's house if you go for a dinner party ultimately even though you enjoy the dining room you want to get into the lounge where they've got the nice little chocolates and the coffee and you all start breaking down and serving each other and passing things around and those are our community groups our home groups where we hope that really there it's not just one person teaching but we're all teaching one another and helping one another but when you really get to know someone you don't just want to get out of the dining room into the living room where does everybody always want to hang out the kitchen everybody wants to go in the kitchen and you know you've made it in friendship with someone when you can go and make your own cup of tea when you can go and raid the biscuit tins when you don't have to ask and stand and really that's what the serving teams are in our Church you jump into a serving team and there we're all serving together and really that's the picture that he's got here we're a body with many members and we're all here belonging to one another can I say church is not a restaurant it's a home if you see church as a restaurant do you know what happens you end up demanding things and you end up judging the quality of it that's what I do when I go to a restaurant say haven't served me in time I'll say well I'll go to another McDonald's that's okay no when I go to a a restaurant I want to be served in time and then I will judge the quality of the meal but at home when food comes or I make food or one of the boys makx food I Delight in it and we have a hug I don't judge it's a completely different world isn't it it's such a big game Cher in your mind once you see church as a restaurant all you do is Judge the quality of everything but when you see it as a home you're just thankful for anything that happens it's wonderful isn't it and so he says look come and be a part of this church and he says look we've all got gifts and if we've got them use them friends can I say God has gifted every single one of you and he wants you to use it and they're different gifts they're all completely different and you need to try find out what those gifts are now how do you do that what do you do well let me tell you very quickly what you do it's very easy the first thing you do is you just start serving and getting involved honestly some Churches tell you to fill out a form and do a quiz don't worry about that just serve just see a need and get involved um in our church let me give you the big heads up the best ones to get involved in first tea and coffee they're the cool team they're the team you want to be involved in making tea and coffee at the end of the service for the simple reason they're a big team so you don't have to do it every week but number two when you're serving you actually get to meet people which is brilliant you're not just hidden way it's an amazing team and they really make Sunday morning a special place we're so thankful for that team but then there's at the moment why are you all able to listen cuz all the kids are out they're the unsung heroes of the church the crash and the Sunday School and the nans and the the SE are in this morning but the SE the leaders and the helpers all of the people behind the scene who do all the organization and the safeguarding make sure it all happens it all happens out of sight but it is wonderful I could go through the list this morning and I could tell you you know what turn up your at half N9 on a Sunday morning if you want to see the most beautiful part of the day in Cornerstone turn up at half N9 see the setup team see them moving these big seats into place see them trying to plug in all the kit again because they have to plug it up and set it up and set it down every week and you see all of these people and do you know what it is it's not 10:30 but it is church it's church family and then it's not even between the hours of 9:30 and 12:30 on a Sunday in the week you will see people visiting and phoning and calling and checking and praying with and doing the shopping for and helping and encouraging you see all of these people and guess what that is church that's people using their gifts that's what gives the Apple crumbled cinnamon that's what means in our church you don't just have to have custard ice cream you can have it both you can have cream as well if you want we put it all in it's wonderful so many things happen in our church do you know what if you want to use your gift first thing I would say is just see a need whether you're gifted in or not see a need and get involved get involved where you can and then second ly when you get involved start to see where your gifting is what you naturally enjoy doing those things that you do that don't Tire you but kind of energize you and as you do that you'll start to see the things you're gifted in now here's the brilliant thing because of the Gospel we serve in areas that are difficult and we serve in areas that we fly it's not either all it's both and but if you really want to do well in serving firstly serve wherever secondly find you gifting but thirdly always remember to look at the gospel always remember to look at it through the lens of Jesus it's in view of God's mercy it's by Grace given because once you forget that once you start to think you're doing someone a favor it's game over that's where bitterness comes in but when you realize Jesus died for you and this is why he died for you and this is a privilege V we love to do it let's go back to abist withth let's finish come back with me so you got these streams of people coming out of the Union half of them are dangerous drunks half of them are depressed drunks and then you've got these Christians from the Christian union 19 year olds thinking they can change the world and they probably can they're wonderful and do you know what they would do they would make tea and they would make toast I mean they were there doing degrees and phds and all these subjects they're still happy to make tea and toast some of them would go and help people walk back to stop them doing something dangerous others would go with them and hold their hair as they were being sick but they were there in their moment of need they would serve them and love them and then they tell them about Jesus friends God has an amazing plan for our life and he wants us to get involved not just on a Sunday as We Gather but as we scatter serving Society living a sober life of sober judgment realizing that Jesus has given his life for us well we're going to finish by singing a wonderful hymn to together it's one of my favorite hymns that reminds us that we need to Survey the Wondrous Cross on which Our Savior died so let's stand and sing When I Survey

Channel: Cornerstone Church, Abergavenny

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Length: 34min 20sec (2060 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 18 2024