Fuel for the Fire Romans 12:1-5

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

then:

3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

then:

4 For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function,

5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.

We have talked about:

• being living and holy sacrifices
• the reasonableness of doing so
• the insanity of holding to a perception of life that contradicts that of God
• measure of faith given to each believer
• individuals coming together in humility and sanity to form one body, working together, each part serving the others

we also spoke about:

• being a living and holy sacrifice was reasonable in response to Romans 1-11 (all that God has done and does, and will do)
• being a living and holy sacrifice is the context within which the body of Christ is seated (i.e. you can’t and won’t function as part of the body of Christ until you start becoming a living and holy sacrifice)
• functioning as part of the body of Christ is a proof (expression) of sanity

 

so B (living and holy sacrifice) , 

which is a response to A (the mercies of God in Romans 1-11) , 

leads to C sanity and living sanely

understanding all that God is, and what God does, 

leads to a willingness to be a living and holy sacrifice, 

which leads to properly serving in the body of Christ.

inversely

not understanding all that God is, and what God does, (or refusing to)

leads to an unwillingness to be a living and holy sacrifice, 

which leads to not serving in the body of Christ.

 

Telling someone to be more of a living and holy sacrifice can be phrased differently

(in a way that might mean more to some)

“love God with everything you have and everything you are”

Shema = Deut 6:4-5

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord alone is God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Jesus quotes it in Mark 12:29-30

telling you, or me to “love God more and more and more”  without telling ourselves how

is like trying to pick myself up off the ground by my own belt

love may be an act of the will but the will does not supply motivation or power.

(any more that a gas pedal in a car makes the motor run faster)

there needs to be a power source … a motivator.

where does the motivation (the power) come from ?

back in verse 1 “I urge you, by the mercies of God to present your bodies…”

He is not saying the that the mercies of God are an authority to urge us to present our bodies

He IS saying that he is urging us to present our bodies in response (because of)  to the mercies of God

 

We must be aware and appreciative of the mercies of God in order to WANT to present our selves as living and holy sacrifices

(which then leads to becoming part of the body of Christ, fitting in , serving, revealing how a sane person lives.)

Seeing more of God  = loving more of God = loving God more

 

I love my wife more now than I did when I first met her WHY?

(because I see more of her virtues, and graces, and beauty now that I did before)

the more of her I become aware of and appreciate , the more I love her

(of course, if you get to know more of someone who is a terrible person, the opposite holds true)

 

There is a relationship element to all this, awareness and appreciation take an investment of time and effort

(a sacrifice of self time needs to be spent in order to get this appreciation factor)

 

I asked Sue how she experiences and feels His love

(her response was “I take the time to notice all the little things He does, how he is “into the details of my life”)

she takes the time to notice God. She takes the the time to see His attributes in action

 

What do we know about the God we say we love ?

How much time do we invest hoping to see more of Him ?
(and yes, He is waiting for us to notice His mercies far more than we do)