The Lives We Are Urged To Live | Romans 12:1-2

Scripture

• Romans 12:1–2

About this sermon

Introduction: We celebrate God’s inexhaustible wisdom and knowledge, and we give Him praise for His judgments and ways that express that wisdom and knowledge. If we understand the Word of God rightly it humbles our hearts and fills our hearts and mouths with praise for God. When we learn doctrine rightly it results in doxology. And that includes the branch of theology called eschatology. When we survey God’s revealed plans for Israel and the nations — we marvel, and we give Him worship. That is what we’ve learned when we came to the end of the 11th chapter. But a life of worship is not just for the mind or for the mouth. It never excludes the hands and the feet, so to speak. If God is truly admired, then He is obeyed. You cannot claim to admire God and then refuse His rule. Where there is true doxology there is devotion. It is not coincidental that after 11 chapters of salvation doctrine we arrive at applications that are personal and practical. There is no firm division between the doctrinal and the practical. There is nothing more practical, in all the world, than how we think about God. Nothing is more life altering, life defining, than our thoughts about God. And nothing that we call practical, is sound, or trustworthy, unless it is firmly grounded in and expresses, sound doctrine. There is no sound doctrine that is impractical, and there is no practical teaching that is not an expression of doctrine. WHAT FOLLOWS THE FIRST 11 CHAPTER OF ROMANS IS THE CONCRETE APPLICATION OF THE DOCTRINE WE HAVE BEEN LEARNING. GIVEN WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN SAVING US, HERE IS THE WAY IN WHICH WE ARE MEANT TO LIVE. There is a Christian way of life, and now we are being called to live it. And that way of life is not just explained it is exhorted. “GIVEN WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN SAVING US, HERE IS THE LIFE THAT SHOULD RESULT FROM THAT, AND HERE IS WHAT THAT LIFE WILL MEAN FOR YOU IN SOME VERY SPECIFIC TERMS.” John Murray – “Paul did not… postpone to this point in the epistle his teaching on the subject of sanctification. Chapters 6–8 had been concerned with that topic, and the basis of sanctification as well as the exhortations particularly relevant thereto had been unfolded in 6:1–7:6. What then is the difference between these earlier chapters and that to which we are introduced at chapter 12? At this point the apostle comes to deal with concrete practical application.” AND THAT IS WHERE I WANT US TO SET OUR FOCUS TODAY. THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN EXHORTATION (vs.1) I want to begin with the recognition that what we have in verse 1 is a specific and unique kind of exhortation. It is uniquely Christian. It is specifically, unmistakably, based on the salvation doctrine that has been given to the people of God. And I want to begin here for a couple of reasons. I believe there is a great neglect of this kind of exhortation in the church of our time. I am certain there are many professing Christians in our time who think of the church in a way that does not allow for this kind of exhortation. I go to church as the place where I find: My friendships My support network My people to hang out with for relationships and enjoyment My place for non-judgmental encouragement My place to join with people in the enjoyment of my hobbies My place to have instruction about and conversations about spiritual matters In other words, a place for friendship, a place for camaraderie, a place that builds me up in my desire to feel good about myself and to be happy, a place where I find fun and mutual interests, all the while I can engage in a little theological interaction. AND EVERYTHING I’VE JUST DESCRIBED; YOU COULD FIND IN A BAR (including conversations about God). There is nothing necessarily supernatural, or eternally focused, or godly, in what I have described so far. What we have in our text is something different. It is something specific and unique to salvation. In fact, it so requires the doctrine that we have been learning, that it could not exist without it. It flows from it. It is based on it. Do we recognize that God’s people are to love each other in a way that exhorts for godliness? Do we recognize that God’s people gather to exhort each other in a way that NOT ONLY REFLECTS ON SALVATION, it anticipates A FUTURE DAY OF SALVATION? Do we recognize that God’s people exhort each other in response to ROBUST DOCTRINE like we have just been given for 11 chapters? ESV Hebrews 10:25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. The life of the church is a life of mutual exhortation unto godliness that flows from faithful, biblical, instruction and understanding. And this concept of the Christian life, this concept of the Christian church, is often SO lacking in modern, westernized, views of what it means to “do church,” that when people meet with it, some find it shocking and offensive and extreme.