This evening we are going to have the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said that the purpose of the Supper is to remember His death. Remembering what Christ did for us on the cross ought to have an impact on the way we live. In the next few minutes, want to show you from Romans 12:1-2 one of the ways Christ’s death should impact us.

In verse one, the “mercies of God” speak of all the compassionate things that God did for us, particularly when Christ died on the cross. Christ suffered in our place. He paid for the hell that we deserve. He made it possible for us to be justified by faith in His blood.

Transition

Paul reminds us in these verses that the mercies of God ought to impact the way we live in three important ways.

Because of God’s mercies…

We Ought to Present Our Bodies to God

  1. Our gift should be a living sacrifice
    1. The word “present” speaks of giving a gift. What is the difference between a gift and a loan? __ A gift is for keeps. A loan must be returned. God is asking for a presentation not a loan.
    2. The present God is asking you for is your body. Your body represents all of you. Christ has already purchased your body and spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:20) “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Now He wants you to give Him control over your body.
      1. Our five senses represent our body (hear, see, taste, touch, and smell).
      2. The things we do, say, and think represent our body.
    3. God wants your body as a living sacrifice. When you go to heaven, you will be immortal and perfect, but God wants the physical part of you that is alive right now.
      1. A sacrifice is a gift not a loan. In the OT when Aaron killed a lamb and burned it as a sacrifice to God, he could not get it back. It was a permanent gift.
      2. A sacrifice is costly. If you give your body to God, it is no longer yours to do as you please.
  2. Our gift should be holy and acceptable
    1. A holy gift is one that is set apart and devoted to God. It is given to honour God.
    2. It must also be an acceptable gift. This is one that truly pleases God.
    3. Thus, it is living in our body in such a way that we set it apart to God and cause it to please Him. It is seeking to please Him rather than pleasing ourselves. That is the only reasonable or rational thing to do.
      Because of God’s mercies…

We Ought to Choose Not to Conform to This World

  1. The world is the philosophy of unsaved people
    1. The world is the present sinful age.
    2. William MacDonald explains that the world … “as used here means the society or system that man has built in order to make himself happy without God.”
    3. The world displeases God. We read in (James 4:4) “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
  2. We must not conform to this world
    1. The word “conform” means to fashion oneself to, to fit into a pattern.
    2. Because we have received of God’s mercies, we should no longer squeeze into the form set by the world. Instead, we should be like a square peg in a round hole. Our lives should not be patterned after the godless styles and philosophies of the wicked world around us.
      1. The world is powerfully pushing unisex philosophy today. The coming election will help to decide whether children are taught that they are gender fluid (either male or female or neither). That is sick. Christians ought to dress and act gender distinct. That is another reason why I believe women ought to wear modest dresses or skirts and men ought to wear pants.
      2. Many of the styles of the world are godless. Piercing, tattoos, fluorescent hair colours, tight clothing, long hair on men and short hair on women, eye makeup, dreadlocks and filthy music are all patterns of this sinful world. They do not reflect the holiness of God in any way.
      3. John wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)
    3. Jesus mercifully died and rose again to save us from the corruption of this world and the hell that awaits them.
    4. Be not conformed is a command and a choice that God wants us to make because of all He has done for us.
      Because of God’s mercies…

We Ought to Allow God to Transform Us

  1. God wants to transform us
    1. Being transformed is the wonderful opposite of being conformed. The devil wants us to think that conforming to the world is the ultimate of happiness. He is a liar. The true ultimate of happiness is being transformed by God.
    2. We cannot transform ourselves. Only God can transform us, but we must allow Him. This word describes the change God makes when he takes an ugly worm and changes it into a beautiful butterfly. The devil wants you to remain like an ugly worm conformed to this filthy world. God offers to change you completely like a beautiful butterfly for his glory.
    3. Because of God’s mercies, the choice to allow God to transform you ought to be an obvious one. The world has nothing to offer us that will last. The beauty of a transformed life has much to offer that will last for eternity.
    4. Don’t settle to be like an ugly worm. Let God make you like a beautiful butterfly.
  2. God transforms by renewing our minds
    1. God wants to renew you. That word means to renovate. It describes a totally new makeover. However, God cannot do this until we stop conforming to the world.
    2. When God transforms a person, he begins in the mind. Our actions come from our mind or heart. Jesus said, (Matthew 15:19) “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” That is the reason Solomon wrote, (Proverbs 4:23) “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
    3. God wants to change you from the inside out. If you struggle to obey God in an area, that is a direct reflection of your heart.
    4. If we think right, we can do right.
    5. Because of the mercies of God, we ought to stop conforming to the world and allow God to renovate our minds.

Conclusion

It is only when we give our bodies completely to God, stop conforming to the world and allow God to transform us that we can prove and find God’s good and well-pleasing and perfect will.

Christ’s mercy toward us ought to impact us to respond in these three ways. This evening as we think about Christ’s death, ask yourself if you are giving Christ what He deserves after all He’s done for you.

Pray:

4. Lord’s Supper

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Because of God’s Mercies
29 May 2016 PM – Romans 12:1-2 – Scott Childs