Our nonconformity should at some point become almost a reflex to what the world gives us. An example is you're watching something on the internet or the television and you see something that of course is repulsive to Christ and it's repulsive to you and you feel it.
And that is not a bad thing. It can become a bad thing if you become self-righteous and judgmental of others instead of becoming part of the process of the Christian faith and discipleship that we are invited to be. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Romans.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick in the Book of Romans Chapter 12 with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Romans Chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You can get in the flesh as a Christian and say, I'm not conforming, and just have the wrong approach, or you can just have that steady, silent conviction and determination to resist the world on every level. True Christians are expected to live as much like Jesus as we can. And Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ.
And we call that in a word, Christ likeness, to be centered on Christ. And you know, sometimes in our Christian walk, it's not too hard to be on that path. But the enemy is stalking you, hoping your flesh will become stronger and your spirit weaker.
And it's a road and a walk that requires not a little bit, but a lot of maintenance. The world around us, however, gleefully are unwilling to admit that they are under the sway of Satan. They're unwilling because maybe they don't believe it. Either way, those who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and have refused it are under Satan's sway. And many, of course, those who have not heard the gospel are also subject to the sway of Satan. And you know, trying to imitate the Lord is going to keep that nonconformity active in our lives.
That's what we want. Our nonconformity should at some point become almost a reflex to what the world gives us. An example is you're watching something on the internet or the television and you see something that, of course, is repulsive to Christ and it's repulsive to you and you feel it. And that is not a bad thing. It can become a bad thing if you become self-righteous and judgmental of others instead of becoming part of the process of the Christian faith and discipleship that we are invited to be.
So to effectively serve Christ, we must insist on being different from those who don't serve Christ, spiritually speaking. And we can be friendly with this. We can be very clear. We have to be firm.
Satan is hoping we're not going to be firm. Serving Christ, when it is thrilling to serve Him, when it is mundane, boring to serve Him, and there are times it's just boring. We're not sensing that inspiration we crave. As the psalmist wrote, as the deer pants for the water, so my soul longeth for you. But sometimes, I just don't have it.
But I still know what my duty is. And I will be at my post regardless of my mood. If your moods are dictating how you behave, then who needs the Holy Spirit? We need the Holy Spirit.
And we're not going to allow our moods to dictate to us. Whether times are difficult, even dangerous, we want to serve the Lord with equal determination, simplicity. You know, there are a lot of high-level scholars, very intelligent people, that deal with things of theology for us. They give us the encyclopedias and the dictionaries and the language tools to study our Bible. And there are some of them that can be very intelligent and also not lose the simplicity of our faith.
They don't, you know, convoluted, twist it all up. They keep a steady flow in the things of truth, archaeology, other fields that belong to Christianity. They can still be as sympathetic as we all are to be. We should not lose the simplicity of our faith. We should be sympathetic. We should be sensitive to what others are going through.
And I know some people will push that to the limit, but we try. Submission is a big part of our faith. To Christ, that's the easy one. To each other, well, that's a challenge.
You get to the next chapter, Paul's going to say, submit to the authorities. I have found a lot of Christians have a problem submitting, unless they approve of something. Something to be careful with. Sympathy, sensitivity towards others, that is.
Some are more sensitive than others, but it doesn't mean that those who are less sensitive are not. Then there is sacrifice. These are the things that surround the faithful. These are the things that contribute to our non-conformity to the world.
In Hebrews 12, in the first verse, Paul says, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. And it happens like that. Some of you have already had that experience driving in. I think driving is one of the biggest indicators of how quickly the flesh will pounce on us, if not careful.
I find one of the best ways to drive and not get into the flesh is to drive between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Oh, it's a race. It's a competition between my flesh and my spirit mainly. Of course, all the other influences surrounding me versus the scriptures that I love so dearly. Endurance, it's a long game.
It's not a sprint. So be ready for that. You young teens, you know, I don't want to sound like Carnegie with, where do you see yourself in five years?
But where do you see yourself down the road as a Christian? Are you going to be a dropout, a dreaded dropout? Are you going to drop out of the run?
You know, in the branch of service I was in, they did runs all the time. And if you dropped out, oh man, they would scorn you. They start singing about you dropping out. He couldn't make it. So I'm not going to be that guy. Don't you be that guy with Christ. Don't you end up in a sermon like that.
Well, enough of the introduction. Verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Well, in the early days of my Christianity, this kind of verse just motivated me. But as the years rolled by, and I found out what's really involved in living up to be a sacrifice for Christ, it's a whole different fruit. There's a sobriety now. There's still the zeal.
I just don't wear it like a cone-shaped hat anymore. Beseech. Well, God invites all of his people to serve him in some way. God's callings are invitations.
They're not demands. God did not force Joseph to serve him. After Joseph, who would have said, how can God let my own brothers try to kill me, sell me into slavery? How could God be faithful? And I'm in jail.
I've been framed. Where was God? His principles of the faith on the surface.
He let him down, but he kept serving. God did not force him to do that. What about Jonah? Did God force Jonah?
No, but he did tighten the screws. He influenced him, and he'll do that to you, too, if you're not careful, if you're fortunate. God could have said, fine, I'll get somebody else. But he stuck with it with Jonah. It was the right call.
No surprise there. God is in the habit of doing that. So the next time you're suffering in life, don't think God is not there. It's part of the sacrificial processes that belong to our faith. The world will give up on God, dictate to him, lay out terms for him to meet. We just take it.
That's endurance. Both Joseph and Jonah are examples of what it means to be a living sacrifice. And the Bible, of course, is loaded with these examples. And so Paul says, I beseech you, brethren. He's talking to the church that is located in the city of Rome. These are Jews and Gentiles. And that word, therefore, is there for a reason. He is saying, everything I'm about to say to you is based on all that I have already said to you.
They're not disconnected. In the first eight chapters, Paul says salvation is for sinners, and all people are sinners. All fall short of the glory of God. And then he gets to Chapter 9 through 11, and we talked about this, of salvation for the Jews, why they had the Bible, why were they the chosen people. And yet, the majority of them rejected what was in their Bible. And then, now, coming to Chapter 12 through Chapter 15, Paul is talking about salvation's transformations, transforming us into the image of Christ, to imitate Christ, to be obedient, to fail as Christians. And by that, I mean we don't fail as unbelievers do. We understand that God is with us.
I guess the best example is the cross of Christ. The world thought that was a failure. They mocked him long after he ascended to heaven. Unbelievers were notorious for mocking. How could your God allow himself to be crucified if he was God? Well, it only appeared to be a failure. Hell knew better.
It was the greatest victory that humanity has ever known. Well, these chapters from Chapter 12 through Chapter 15, Paul is going to talk about the Holy Spirit influencing the behavior of God's people. And then the last chapter, the Alumni, is a very special chapter, that 16th chapter of Romans, where Paul names names of people in the church.
I think two-thirds of them are Gentile names. And he just rattles off these things about them because he was in touch with the people of God who were not conformist. Well, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren. And again, he'll name those brethren, as many as he can recall, by the mercies of God. Well, here's a reminder about God's care.
Okay, that part we hear all the time. But what about God's tolerance? That's mercy. God could care for you, but be intolerant. Maybe like an impatient parent sometimes. And as a parent, you go, but I think I was too firm there. I could go back and patch that up. Well, God, of course, is very tolerant of us when we fail.
And when I say tolerant, I don't mean he approves anything that's sinful or carnal, but he doesn't abandon us. These are the mercies of God, and this should help us not bury our talent. How are you going to find out what talents you have if you never use them? You've got to get in it. You've got to, you know, coach, put me in the game. You've got to serve. And the church is the best. You know, witnessing is a form of serving, but that's not really serving. That's who we are. We are witnesses.
Serving takes it to another level in the context of what we're talking about here. And I have to say that because some think, well, you know, I hand out tracts. Well, that's great. You know, nobody's knocking you for that. But is that all you got?
Is that it? Does that define your walk with Christ? We're all eager to share Christ with the lost souls of the world, but there's a lot more work that's got to be done. What happens if you just save people, but you never strengthen them?
And where do those people get strengthened most? In the body of Christ. And that's why it was bought with the body of Christ, the church, bought with the blood of Christ. Now, what's the value of the church?
The assembly I'm talking about. So no one wiggles out of this. Well, you know, we're all the church. That's the universal church.
Yeah, yeah, we get that. But there is the local church. And she should pack a punch. She should be a fortress of defiance and nonconformity. And so when the world starts doling out their pride over sodomy and marching down the street with it, we say, not for me and my house. And that house extends. Not only my house that I live in, but the house of God. This is what the church should be.
And this is why Satan targets the church so much from the inside out. Serving positions us. It puts us in a place where we can strike back. What uses it if you're armed and you're ready but you're not in a position to strike? You can't see the bad guys.
You can't see the enemy. How do you get in a position to do that? Well, serving does that. Serving puts us in a position to strike back at the work of the devil in people. And don't dare undervalue any service in the house of God.
It's too bad that has to be said. Is serving in church a small thing to you? Is it, nah, well, you know, I ought to go down there and make the coffee. Like it's, you know, I've got to go check the mailbox.
It's a big deal. Satan can get hold of that too. It has been that way for too many people. So I'm not trying to recruit anyone to serve. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm not trying to build a church, though I want to be fruitful. That's the role of the Holy Spirit to grow the church.
Otherwise, if people do it, you might just grow a mob. Just a, you know, a community center in Jesus' name. The work of the Holy Spirit is to add to the church. And the work of the Holy Spirit is to raise up servants, to give fruit, pray to the Lord of the harvest. The harvest is plentiful.
The laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest. That's his role.
I can't do it. I am to preach the word in season and out of season. When there are too many servants, when there aren't enough servants, I'm still to preach the word.
That you may present your bodies. Now this is free will in action. One of the worst examples in scripture of someone exercising free will and paying for it on the spot is Lot's wife. Jesus thought it was important to say, remember Lot's wife?
You see what happened to her? That was free will going the wrong way. We are to present our bodies the right way. It's a problem if you just go to church and serve. But that's all you're doing. It's the problem with that. It's a big problem. There's a statement being made with that.
And after a while that will not bear fruit. You've got to be part of the body in every way. And that you present your body. Even Christ was, as a baby, was taken to the temple and presented by Joseph and Mary. And what happened?
What happened? Okay, they presented him to the Lord. No, Simeon stepped up. Anna stepped up. It created, it was a play-making move.
You know, from sports. Nothing's happened. Well, let's make something happen.
And that made something happen. Just by Mary and Joseph being compliant to the scripture and not conformed to the world, doing what they were supposed to do, and look what we have. Just read the testimony of Simeon there in the temple.
And Anna, and you will be blessed. Well, this, uh, present your bodies. The body is a vehicle of the soul. That for the Christian is energized by the Spirit of God. Romans 6, verse 13, do not present your limbs as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead as your members, your limbs, as instruments of righteousness to God. Because the alternative, we don't have to guess about that.
We know what the alternative is to not present ourselves, our bodies, to Christ. Behavior flows from belief. This explains the behavior of Islam. Uh, you know, you say, oh, don't say that.
Why? You know, if you're in a building and there's a fire and you ignore it, well, the whole thing is going to burn down for sure. And then we see this in society. We see things that are on fire, but Christians are afraid to say anything. I don't know, not all Christians, but in the past it has been that way in many churches, and thus we had seeker-friendly movements, which really did nothing but suppress the truth.
Every preacher is a sinner who preaches two sinners in no way around it. But there's something that can happen because of it, and that's what we are discussing here, that we present our bodies to the Lord on his behalf, a living sacrifice. Now under Old Testament law, worshippers brought an animal to be sacrificed, and that animal was slain.
It was now a dead sacrifice. Under New Testament grace, we are living sacrifices, able to serve. Now the Lord, he may ask some of us to die for him, but he asks all of us to live for him. That means out loud, not, you know, taking it and hiding it under a bushel, you know, or, you know, you have to serve, you have to be a Christian out loud. I mean, it doesn't mean obnoxious, go to get a new job, waltzing, just slam open the door, I'm here, I'm a Christian, any of you foul sinners need help getting out of the hell you're going to, just come see me.
Oh man, I'll be, man, Satan will have you and your testimony for lunch very quickly. We're all expected to serve the Lord with our lives, but again, some serve with death, through death. Serving is not necessarily miserable in the context of sacrifice. We associate sacrifice with misery.
That's not the whole story. There are unwelcomed episodes in serving the Lord, there are unwelcomed seasons, not because of anything you're doing wrong, because you're doing things right, but you endure. There are times when being a sacrifice to the Lord just brings fruit.
That's all for that season. Enduring is a sacrificial element of serving. Hanging in there, some of you might like that phrase. I don't particularly care for it. I don't want to hang in there, I want to go and clobber something. Well, who doesn't? Show of hands, who just wants to hang there?
I want to be useful. Hand in my armor, dented and smoking. Now that's so easy to say from up here, but it's already been happening, so I'm not going to stop it by suppressing it. Jesus has always been frank about this very thing, has he not? Go your way as he sent out his disciples. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. That behold, when the Bible says behold, it's sort of like, hey, pay attention. It's emphatic. Behold I send you, we don't talk that way, right?
Behold, what's for dinner? But the Bible does, and for a reason, and I'm glad we don't talk that way. Now Paul will teach all about this living sacrifice, as I mentioned in the preceding verses of chapter 12 from verse 3 through chapter 15, what it means to present our bodies a living sacrifice and transformed. Well, the world can produce people who are living sacrifices. The beaches of Normandy had loads of people who were living sacrifices, but not transformed necessarily. I mean, I wouldn't doubt there were some born-again believers that died in that number, but just so we can be clear about what is going on here in our scripture in its relationship to our lives.
Because this is very important. This rules out self-affliction, flogging oneself, cutting oneself, or any concoction of self-inflicted pain to try to demonstrate your faith. This is being ruled out when he says, let me show you what a living sacrifice is from 12 verse 3 through 15. He's showing us, and it all requires doing something for Christ and not harming oneself. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19, or do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. You have surrendered the rights to yourself. That's what that means.
So willfully harming oneself is equal to vandalizing God's property, God's dwelling, God's tabernacle. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.
We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross-Reference Radio.
