Sober Judgment | Romans 12:3

Scripture

• Romans 12:3

About this sermon

Introduction: Where does the life that is worthy of our calling begin to be embraced and lived out? When we talk about doctrine and devotion. When we talk about doxology and devotion. When we think about the Christian life as a thinking life — our lives beings transformed as our minds are renewed. What we are really talking about is living a life that is worthy of our calling. It is a life that takes the mercies of God and finds its motivation in those mercies, and its sense of responsibility in those mercies. It is a life that is lived in agreement with the great reality of salvation. IF THE FIRST 11 CHAPTERS OF ROMANS ARE TRUE, AND THEY ARE, HOW THEN MUST WE LIVE? That is what Paul concentrates on beginning with chapter 12. The life that is encouraged by the mercies of God, the life that represents a living sacrifice, is the life that embraces what is fitting for a people who have been delivered by God. ESV Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ESV Colossians 1:10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ESV 1 Thessalonians 2:12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Again, I ask, where does that life begin? In verses 1-2 we see where it begins. It begins by believing what God is worthy of. And now in verse 3, the first step beyond our view of God, is how we see ourselves. After that, he is going to talk about how we relate to the church. But it is instructive that our view of God and our view of ourselves precedes how we function together in the Lord’s church. The outcome of thinking that is submitted to truth is that we reject the mindset of the present evil age, and we embrace the mindset taught by God. By submission to truth, by constant application of truth, we grow in our ability to discern what God’s will is. AND THE FIRST PLACE WHERE OUR THINKING WILL DIFFER FROM THE WORLD AND WE WILL MANIFEST THE RENEWAL OF SALVATION (AFTER OUR VIEW OF GOD), IS HOW WE SEE OURSELVES. We are thinking today about the sober self-judgment that belongs to salvation. We are thinking about a right self-perspective that flows from the knowledge of and the experience of God’s mercies. I. THE EXPLANATION FOR A RIGHT SELF-PERSPECTIVE (vs.3a) The first thing that we find in our verses is the explanation for how ANYONE can have a right self-perspective. We were not born with one. The world around us does not think about mankind in a way that is accurate and sober. The natural man’s thoughts about God are idolatrous. The natural man’s thoughts about himself represents lying flattery. The only way that men think rightly about God, about themselves, about anything, is that they have met with the grace of God in Jesus Christ. IT IS BY GOD’S GRACE GIVEN TO PAUL THAT HE IS ABLE TO GIVE THIS INSTRUCTION TO THE CHURCH. Paul is a teacher of a right self-perspective, but his ability to be a teacher of this, is not explained by his own superior nature. In fact, Paul is modeling the very humility that he is about to call for. HE KNOWS how he has come to be a teacher to men and women about the life that is worthy of Christ. God has had mercy upon Paul. God has given GRACE to Paul. The grace that he likely has in mind is the grace of apostleship. He emphasizes the grace of God in that authoritative role often. ESV 1 Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. But that grace points to the very grace of salvation. Paul is not an apostle without Christ saving him. GOD HAS PUT PAUL IN HIS RIGHT MIND. I think about this often when I think about the Garasene demoniac. ESV Luke 8:26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me." 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.)

Topics

• Hell & Judgment