Romans: Consume Christ, Not the World

Well, hey, good morning, everybody. How's everybody doing?

Hey, I'm going to step on some toes here a minute, but just right now,

hey, the Cowboys got a win yesterday, right? Came through and got that thing.

I guess we got mostly Sooners fans. Hey, Cowboys came through,

right? How about them Sooners, right? Yeah, okay, there we go.

Hey, it was a good day, good day. Two dubs, I love it. And here's the deal.

That is probably both the best and worst part about being a fan of any team, really.

I had this conversation with my brother last week. It's just true.

It does not matter for me. It does not matter how bad the Sooners looked the week before.

I can be saying we are not any good. What are we doing? Get rid of everybody.

But before kickoff the next week, I have convinced myself they've got a chance.

They got a chance to win this one. Right. And yesterday I'm convinced Texas

is going to give us a whooping and then somehow we steal a win.

It feels good when your team wins, right? But here's the deal.

It's also a bad feeling when your team loses, right?

It's a great feeling when they win, but it's a bad feeling when they lose,

especially when you don't expect a win. It's a really, really good win.

But when they are bad, you've just got a desire to root for them, right?

Because they're your team, right? Like you just got, it's your team.

You just can't help but care.

I've been guilty of this before. So again, I said before I start stepping on

your toes, I'm definitely stepping on my own.

I have been guilty of letting a loss of my team, whether that's the Sooners

or the Thunder, whoever your team is, maybe you're good at this too, affecting my mood.

Like a win and I'm happy. Let's go. Let's go get Brahms ice cream.

Let's get some milkshakes.

A loss, I'm frustrated and grumpy. Beans and rice, you've got leftovers in the

house. That's what we're doing, right?

Now, I will say that now I have some health people around me.

I can see this. I'm actively trying to do better.

But if you think about it, it's a bit of a wild thing to let one event derail

your attitude for the whole day or the week or the evening, whatever it might be.

Now, there's some of you that, you know, some of you guys are in my boat.

It's football. It's a sporting event, but maybe that's not you.

Maybe it's one conversation with a co-worker that'll just put a cloud over your

whole day, or maybe it's some yahoo that cuts you off in traffic,

and now you're raging and mad, right?

The passage that we're going to be looking at today, we're going to be in Romans

12 and Romans 13, and it's going to talk about one thing, and it's saying that

this one thing is huge, that it affects everything, and here's the way Paul is encouraging us.

He's talking about a change that if we will make this one change,

everything will be better.

So before we get into Romans 12 and kick off today, before we turn there,

let's get our hearts ready for what God has for us this morning.

Would you put your arms out with your palms up? Close your eyes.

Just posture of surrender. Take a deep breath.

And remember, God is just as near as the air you're breathing.

Let's pray. God, today, would you guide us closer to you?

Help our minds put away the frustrations

of the past week, put away the distractions of the coming week.

We want to fully focus on you.

We come empty with nothing to offer but surrender.

Fill us up as only you can. Holy Spirit, move in here today with power.

We believe that in advance.

And we ask all these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said,

amen, amen. Hey, let's jump right in. Romans 12, verse 1.

Romans 12:1

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God

because of all he has done for you.

Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable.

This is truly the way to worship him.

All right. Romans 12, verse 1. give your bodies to God.

Romans 12:1

And why? Why does it say right there in that verse? It says,

because of all he has done for you.

Paul, for really the past like nine chapters in the book of Romans has been

talking about grace, the grace, the sacrifice, the love of God.

God has done so much for us.

So right here he's saying we should operate as a living sacrifice,

the kind that he will find, that God will find to be acceptable.

Now, remember Paul's audience here in Rome, he's trying to tie the Jews and

the Gentiles in first century Rome together by the good news of Jesus.

And the language he's using here is a living sacrifice. Think about this for

a second, a dead sacrifice.

You put it on the altar, has no options, right? It's placed on the altar.

It's not moving anywhere. Why?

Not a trick question. It's dead, right? Dead things don't move,

right? In the Old Testament, they'd burn sacrifices on the altar.

Now, here's the deal. They'd put the thing on there. They were sacrificing.

They'd burn it. That's how it goes.

If you place the living sacrifice on the altar, light the fire,

what do you think it does? What's it going to do?

It's going to move, right? It hurts. It doesn't want to be destroyed. It's going to go.

He's going to go. And Paul is calling us to be a living sacrifice.

Look at how David says it in Psalm 51. It's commonly accepted that he wrote

this psalm after he had done some horrific things, after he committed adultery, he had the man killed.

And this is the psalm that is commonly accepted that this is what David wrote here. Psalm 51, 17.

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.

You will not reject a broken and repentant heart. Oh, God.

He's calling this to be a living sacrifice, and God isn't looking for a sacrifice

of you giving up like a physical thing.

He wants your heart, and that is a living sacrifice.

It's hard to be a living sacrifice that is holy because here's the thing.

Life has a way of testing us in times that can really make us wiggle or run

away from the altar, right?

From doing things God's way. So to see a cost associated with following Jesus,

oftentimes we kind of want to go the other way.

Like I love Jesus, but I don't want to do that. That thing that Jesus says we

should do. And Paul is saying we are to be living sacrifices,

to stay on the altar, so to speak, and to be holy.

And when we do that, when we follow Jesus and we follow his ways,

even when it hurts or it costs us, that is acceptable worship.

That's how it's supposed to be done. That it's Jesus over everything.

That Jesus is the king of your heart.

To go back to Psalm David and Psalm 51, God isn't looking for you to be perfect.

That's not what God is looking for. He's looking for you to be honest with him

about your shortcomings.

A broken and repentant heart. That is the posture that God finds acceptable.

That is the worship that pleases Him. That should challenge us in our humility,

that we can have confidence. I think confidence is a great thing,

but our confidence should be in the Lord, not in ourself.

Give your body to the Lord as a living sacrifice.

All right, I know you're thinking we're seven minutes in and that's one verse.

And I said, we're gonna do two chapters a day. I'll pick up the pace.

All right, verse two, help me out with that word in yellow.

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you

into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and free.

This is a very, very well-known verse, as it should be.

I want to break it down. That first part, don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world.

When it comes to who you're going to emulate or imitate, you need to not be

like the world. Paul is saying that if you are a believer, you should look like

Christ, not like the world.

There's a truth that they've done study on this and just found when it comes

to your habits, you typically don't drop or quit a habit.

You actually just pick up a new one, right? You don't get rid of a habit.

You actually replace it. And so Paul starts by saying, hey, don't copy the world.

And you would think, hey, just don't do that.

But then he actually gives you the replacement. He says, let God transform you.

Let God transform you. My whole life I've heard this or something to the effect of this.

See if you can help me finish this. Show me your friends. I'll show you your

future. true, that you'll become like the crowd that you run with. I found that to be true.

You will become what you consume.

You will become what you consume. That's true of our friends.

That's true of our relationships. That's true of your diet, the content that

you take in on social media.

You will become what you consume. So just hear me on this for a second.

If you are spending hours on the daily on social media,

Hours on the internet and minutes in the word and prayer.

Which one are you allowing to shape you?

Consuming God's word, spending time in prayer, he will transform you.

He will change the way you think. That's the one thing that changes everything.

When God is changing the way you think.

And then what is that? You will know God's will for you.

That is good, pleasing, and perfect. Man, that seems like a great deal. Yeah.

Be shaped, be transformed by God, spending meaningful time with Him,

good, pleasing, perfect will.

Or you can be chronically online.

And I feel pretty confident in saying that the most likely things that you'll

catch from chronically being online is FOMO, anxiety.

What are we going for here? And the transformation that God is going to give

is going to happen in you.

It's talking about your leaving body. It's not going to talk about the external.

It's going to be about the way that you think.

The way that you think. You're not going to think the way the world thinks.

You're going to think the way that he thinks.

The way you think is so powerful. I heard somebody, it was like in a sales pitch,

but he was like, what if he reframed a no, right?

He's talking to guys who are going to go door knocking. What if you thought,

hey, I'm going to get 20 no's before I get a yes when I'm knocking on doors or something like that.

Every time you going to know, what would you be thinking? 19 morphs.

That's what you're thinking. Every time you get rejected, that way that you

think, you got to come at it the right way. Your mindset matters.

And God wants to transform the way you think. But if you're consuming the ways

of the world, you're never going to start thinking about the ways that God wants you to think.

You have to let him transform you. That starts with what you consume.

Become what you consume.

Verse three, because of the privilege and authority God has given me,

I give each of you this warning.

Don't think you are better than you really are.

He's just putting us in our place. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves,

measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

Don't think you are better than you really are.

I got to be honest, the first three verses here, they just kind of wrecked me this week.

They just kind of convicted me. Like, what am I allowing to shape me?

Am I being shaped by Jesus and his word or am I being shaped by the world around me?

And I think the way that he's landed us out makes so much sense.

Most of us have a tendency to overestimate our abilities. Right.

I think if it's famous last words, like, hey, everybody watch this,

or I can jump that far. Like we tend to overestimate our own abilities when we can't actually do it.

And I think when it comes to the things we consume, we think,

well, I can watch that. I can listen to that. I can drink that.

That crowd doesn't affect me.

And it's almost like Paul, God is supernaturally telling Paul to write,

hey, he knows this. We knows we all have a tendency to think that our stuff don't stink, right?

Don't think that you're better than you really are. We got to put ourselves

in the right frame, the right space of mind that, hey, we can't think too highly of ourselves.

Hey, I can do this and like get away with it. That's not going to affect me. No, no, no, no.

Humble ourselves. Let's consume

what God wants us to consume so we can be transformed to be like him.

Then we go a little further, verses four through eight. Yeah,

I'm just gonna kind of give you a quick summation here.

Paul starts talking about gifts, like spiritual gifts, giftings that have been

given to believers. He's saying everyone has a spiritual gift and we all need each other.

And he's saying, hey, some can encourage, others can teach, others can lead,

others can serve. Others have a gift for kindness or hospitality.

Others have a gift for giving.

And Paul makes it very clear right here when he's in 1 Corinthians,

sorry, Romans 12, makes it very clear, you are to focus on what your gift is and to do it well.

He says, if your gift is to serve others, serve them well. If your gift is teaching,

teach them well. Whatever it is, do the very best you can with it.

And then after talking about gifts, Paul kind of shifts his gears and he starts talking about love.

And that might seem like an abrupt shift, but Paul does this not only in Romans

12, but he does the same thing in 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 13.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks again about all the different gifts.

Whatever gift you have, you should use it well. And then he follows it up with 1 Corinthians 13.

That's the chapter of love.

And he starts off by basically saying, if you have all of these abilities,

if you can do all these things, but you do not have love, you have nothing.

Love isn't part of the goal. Love is the goal. Because without love, we don't have anything.

Romans 12, he talks about the gifts. Verse 4 through 8, verses 9.

Read this. It says, don't just pretend to love others.

Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.

Don't just pretend to love others.

When it comes to loving others, there's really no fake it till you make it.

You can't pretend to love them. Paul is telling us, actually love them.

And it's easier to love people when you have the proper outlook on the people

that you interact with. And the proper outlook doesn't have to do with them

or anything that they've done negatively or anything they've accomplished positively.

It's actually all about whose image were they made in. And scripture tells us

that every single human being on this planet is made in the image of God.

That mankind is set apart from everything else in creation, that we are made

in the image of God. And so we should love everyone because they were made in God's image.

Not to pretend to love them, to actually love them.

Verse 10, he's hitting this hard.

Love each other with genuine affection take delight in honoring each other genuine affection.

I think like maybe a good litmus test to measure this would be someone gets

a promotion or has something good happen for them is your response to be happy

that something good happened to them.

Or is it jealousy i can't believe they got that did you see their last quarter

like you know i I mean, you start getting a little critical about what's happening

over there because what about me, right? We're viewing it through the lens of self.

As Jesus followers, we must love others with genuine affection,

taking delight in honoring them.

Verse 11, never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

I almost put that one in yellow. It's just too many syllables though, right?

Serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Work hard, serve the Lord with enthusiasm.

My personal, like the Logan Key translation would, don't be a bum,

do things that matter, right?

Like work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically, doing things that matter.

Work hard and serve God well.

Don't let success in your life mean climbing up a ladder that once you get to

the top, you realize you left God out.

It's nothing. The things that are done for the Lord, those are the things that

matter. Serve God enthusiastically.

Be excited that you get to use the gifts God has given you to serve the other

people, to serve the people around you.

He has given you spiritual gifts for that reason. whatever your gifting is, use it well.

Not for yourself, but for the people around you. Who are you serving with your God-given gifts?

Verse 12, rejoice in our confident hope, be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Rejoice in our confident hope. Our confident hope, that's Jesus.

He has already won. You need to rejoice.

There is no sorrow. There is no tragedy of life that Jesus can't redeem,

that Jesus hasn't already paid the price for.

Rejoice. Be patient in trouble. You will find trouble in this life.

It will pass. Jesus is bigger than the trouble that's coming your way. Be patient.

Keep on praying.

Keep on pushing. Pray until something happens.

Rejoice in our comfort, be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. Verse 14.

I think this is a hard thing. This is a hard thing for our world.

This is a hard thing for us.

But if we can live this out, it transforms us in the way we think.

It does miracles. It does amazing things. Bless those who persecute you.

Don't curse them. Pray that God will bless them.

Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of

ordinary people. And don't think you know it all.

This is a radical teaching of Jesus. Bless those who persecute you.

Then he goes even further, pray that God will bless them.

Don't want to do that, right? Be happy with those who are happy.

Weep with those who weep.

Don't be a wet blanket when someone is on fire with excitement and just like

joy nobody likes a party pooper don't do that read the room,

on the flip side when someone is grieving just because it makes you uncomfortable

don't try to just instantly make them glad sit with them in their grief,

be glad with those who are glad weep with those who we i think what he's getting

here is meet people where they are at,

that's where god does some of his greatest work.

When we just faithfully step into ordinary situations.

There's a last verse there that just gets me. Don't be too proud to enjoy ordinary

people. Don't think you know it all.

I don't know how to put this any other way, so please take this just the right

way. I ain't trying to be a chump here, right? But don't be too proud to enjoy

ordinary people. Here's the deal. You're an ordinary person.

Like, by definition, like, I think that's us, right? And then he closes that

verse with, don't think you know it all.

If you're a parent, you've heard these words, I'm certain, from your child at

some point. I know. I know.

I had an aneurysm Friday night at our flag football team. I just got this,

not my child, so I can share this, keep his name silenced, all right?

One of my boys forgot to bring his water bottle, left it in the car,

left it in wherever. We're getting ready to, we're warming up out in the field,

getting ready to play the game.

And his mom saw that he had forgot his water bottle and like got it and filled it up.

And she hollered at him, like this kind mom who her son forgot what he was supposed

to do. She went there and took care of it.

She hollered at him and said, so-and-so, I got your water.

And he yells back, I know. I was like, boy, your mom just went all the way to

the parking lot to get your water.

You got to say, yes, ma'am. Thank you. I appreciate you. Anything other than

I know, right? Because I know it's a posture of pride.

I already know that. That's the opposite of what Jesus calls us to.

Don't think you know it all. A posture of humility.

We don't know, but he does.

Verse 17, never pay back evil with more evil.

Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.

Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Don't repay evil with even more evil.

Do the right thing even when others are doing wrong. Live in a way that everyone

can see you're honorable.

That is a hard thing to do.

That is that is a challenging thing to do to live in a way where everybody can

see that you're honorable back to friday night, okay I leave a lot of living

on friday nights these flag football games.

It's fun But my other son his team is playing and they're really beating up

on the other team And so I pull back the throttle a little bit because i'm trying

to be honorable in this situation I'm, not trying to like run up the clock.

I'm not trying to run up the score I'm trying to like hey wait for the play clock to get under 10.

Let's kind of like slow things down does not go fast and just try to run more plays and just like,

just destroy them and i guess that's what the other coach wanted after the game

the other coach is a friend of mine i've known him for a hot minute he was a

little frustrated me because we were running the clock,

and i'm over here thinking i'm doing the right thing by trying to run the clock

out right i'm like man i'm just not gonna run the score up and he's like i don't

care about the score i just want my boys to play and get reps the faster you

play the more reps you get,

zoom out for just a second i'm trying to do what I feel like is the honorable thing.

And it's being perceived on the other side as something dishonorable. My point is this.

Living in harmony with everyone is an incredibly challenging job.

There are a lot of viewpoints out there in this world. Do all that you can to

live at peace with everyone.

Do all that you can to live at peace with everyone.

I don't see the posture of Jesus here by saying, they just don't give me, that's their problem.

I don't see that here. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

And here's the deal. At the top of that list of the person you should be living

peacefully with, it has to be Jesus.

Are you first living in harmony with God?

I promise if you've got him in the right place, the rest of that list is going

to fall into place. Thank you.

Last few verses of Romans 12, verse 19 says, Dear friends, never take revenge.

Romans 12:19

Leave that to the righteous anger of God.

For the scriptures say, I will take revenge.

I will pay them back, says the Lord. Indeed, if your enemies are hungry, feed them.

If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.

Some of you guys just give them something to eat and something to drink because

you want to burn that coal on their head, right?

Verse 21, don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

When you feel like you've been wronged, that someone has done an evil thing

to you, don't take revenge into your own hands.

Leave it to God. He will pay them back.

I think if we think about ourselves in our lives, like it's just really,

do you trust God to be a better judge than you?

The answer is yes, right? He is. Then let him get the revenge that you feel like you deserve.

Don't take matters into your own hands.

But Paul takes it a step further here and he quotes Proverbs.

He says, hey, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they're thirsty,

give them a drink. And in doing so, you will heap burning coals of shame onto their heads.

That's some mind games right there, right? That's how it feels.

Hey, your enemy is hungry. You feed him, thirsty, give him some of the drink.

Burning coals of shame on his head.

It's hard to be mad. Hard to be enemies with somebody who is like literally

meeting your physical needs.

Don't let evil conquer you. Overcome evil by doing good.

Church, do the right thing even if it costs you. Do the right thing even when

it's hard. Don't stoop down to the standards of the enemy.

Overcome evil by doing good.

Overcome evil by doing good.

We need that in our world right now. Let's not get down in the mud with the world.

I mean you heard the old saying What happens when you wrestle with a pig You guys know that one.

You both got dirty, but the pig liked it, you know? It's silly,

I know. Overcome evil by doing good.

All right, that's chapter 12, chapter 13. These next seven verses,

I'm just going to kind of highlight them real quick.

They're really all about respecting and honoring the authorities over you.

That basically God is in control, that he has a purpose with the government,

and you should respect and honor those over you, that everyone should respect

the authorities, because right laws put the fear of God into people.

He's literally saying that the authorities don't strike fear into those who

do good, but they strike fear into those who are doing wrong.

And then he finishes by saying, pay your taxes.

A lot to unpack there.

For today, I just want to leave it at this. Honor and respect those in authority over you.

That's what he's calling us to. You can tell that the elections are right around

the corner because I'm just trying to watch football and every other ad is about

a politician from Texas, right?

And the first ad, this is the most vile person I've ever met.

And the next ad, he's like walking your grandma across the street.

I don't know. What am I supposed to think about this guy, right?

Go out, vote, absolutely. But even when your candidate doesn't win,

trust that God is still on the throne.

And give honor and respect to the position, even if they don't deserve it.

Be different than the world. That's how the world acts. He doesn't deserve my

respect. I'm not going to do that.

Be different. He says there in those first verses of Romans 13 to give honor

and respect to those in authority.

He says, verse 7, pay your taxes. He talks about owing Caesar's to Caesar's,

so to speak. And in verse 8, he shifts again.

Owe nothing to anyone except your obligation to love one another.

If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of the law.

For the commandments say, you must not commit adultery, you must not murder,

you must not steal, you must not covet. These and other such commandments are

summed up by this one commandment, love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's law.

Owe nothing to anyone.

Accept your obligation to love.

And to love your neighbor as yourself is the fulfillment of all the law.

Can you see how Paul has kind of shifted his target?

It's not just don't seek revenge.

It's not just don't do that. He's actually replacing it with,

how can I best love this person?

How can I best love this person?

Verse 11, last passage here.

This is all the more urgent. For you know how late it is. Time is running out.

Wake up for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

The night is almost gone. The day of salvation will soon be here.

So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes and put on the shining armor of right living.

Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see.

Don't participate in the darkness of wild parties or drunkenness or sexual promiscuity

or immoral living or in quarreling or jealousy.

Instead, doesn't you say don't, he says instead, he's replacing it.

Clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Don't let yourself think about the ways to indulge your evil desires.

And he ends chapter 13 with a parallel relay of how he started in chapter 12.

He starts with saying, don't be conformed by this world. Be transformed by God.

Let him change the way you think.

And here he is saying, avoid the ways of the world, drunkenness,

sexual promiscuity, immoral living, jealousy, quarreling. Instead, be like Jesus.

Seek his presence. Don't think about ways to give into sin. He's not just saying,

avoid this. He is saying, seek the presence of God.

And guess what happens when you seek the presence of God? Sin loses its grip.

Clothe yourself in the presence of God and he will change the way you think.

And then you will know what God's will is for you, which is good, pleasing, and perfect.

I wanna end just with a thought. It challenged me this week and I wanna challenge

you with it. You will become what you consume.

How much of Jesus are you consuming? are you in his word are you spending meaningful

time in prayer are you singing his praises,

it's really hard to overcome evil by doing good when you're relying on your

own goodness we need the spirit of God moving in us are you seeking him,

are we blocking him out just keep myself occupied with other things.

As your pastor, I want to be just very clear here. You need to be consuming the Word of God daily.

You need to be spending meaningful time in prayer daily because we can't live

the lives that God has called us to live on our power.

We have to be seeking the Lord each and every day, and He will transform the way you think.

Begin to close. Here's what I find so encouraging is that when you seek the Lord, you will find Him.

He is near.

You will become what you consume, church. What you consume in His Word.

It's been a time of prayer.

It's been a time consumed with stuff. It doesn't even have to be like,

evil or sinful. It's just stuff

that's distracting us from the supreme purpose we have, which is Jesus.

He's got to be at the top. You become what you consume.

What are you consuming? Let's make sure it's the Word of God. Let's pray.

God, would you help us to be honest? Just to be honest with ourselves about

what we're consuming. Are we consuming things that are gonna make us more like

you? Are we consuming things that are gonna distract us from the life that you've called us to?

God, would you give everyone here a clear sense of what they need to do to take

that step to move closer to you?

Maybe it's a habit they need to replace or a new spiritualist one.

God, whatever it is, would you

give clarity to everyone on a tangible next step to walk closer with you?

God, we ask for this because we need it. Our world needs more and more of you

and we can't show who you are without more of you in our lives.

God, help us to be a bright light for the gospel and it is only possible when

we are walking close to you.

God, help us to walk closely with you. Let us consume you and your word and spend time in prayer.

God, to replace the bad habits with the ways of your word.

Give everyone here clarity on the next step just to take that next step to be closer with you, Lord.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Church, for the next 10 minutes or so, let's just consume praise.

Let's worship our God, the Savior.