Sermon: A place For you

8/23/09 Welcome Home: A place for you Romans 12:1-8

What makes people happy?
• Growth of materials doesn’t make people feel better about themselves
• With the growth of the industries and more people having more things and additions to their lives and homes, the assumption is that money and more things make you happy
• But rather, people are feeling worse
• This is due to high levels of stress which lead to dissatisfaction, and is in correlation to the quality of a social community
o There is less time spent with other people, less intimacy in terms of closeness and emotions
• Romans 12:1-8 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us had one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form on body, and each member belong to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let us. If it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
o Renew your mind, we are connected to Christ

In Romans 12:1-8, Paul addresses this concept of community and belonging by challenging every believer to offer their bodies as “living sacrifices”. How does one make his body a living sacrifice? He does so by first connecting with others and second by contributing to others. (Forming a Christian community). Connecting with others and contributing to others is what Paul labels “Our spiritual act of worship”. The true worship, the really spiritual worship is the offering of one’s body, and all that one does every day with it, to God. Real worship is not the offering of elaborate prayers to God; it is not the offering to God a liturgy, however symbolic that may be. Real worship is offering the everyday life to God in service of others.
• Offer your body and contribute
• Worship God – God is worth it

BEING A PART OF THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST, GIVES US A PLACE TO CONNECT AND A PLACE TO CONTRIBUTE.

1) A place to Connect
• In Romans 12:3-5 – (For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us had one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form on body, and each member belong to all the others.)
o we form one body in Christ
• According to research, attending religious services has an effect on how long people live
• If a person goes to church once a month, they tended to live longer, and reduce negative symptoms by a third
• They’re immune system works betters
• Its because they belong to a relative community which fosters social networks
• Religion gives a positive aspect
• Paul speaks of a community
• When we belong to Jesus Christ, we belong to a community and we become ONE
• 1 Corinthians 12:7 – Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
o The body is a unit
o Forms one body by one Spirit
• 1 Corinthians 12: 25-27 – So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
• No longer need to compete but connect
• Ephesians 4:11-15 – It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
o The body of Christ will be built up
• The church is an organism not an organization
o It is a network not bureaucracy
o We are sold to Jesus Christ
• Romans 12: 6-8 – We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let us. If it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
o Each person is given different gifts
• John 5:24 – “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
• John 10: 27-29 – “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

2) A place to Contribute
• You don’t have to be here forever to contribute
• Romans 12:3-7 – For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us had one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form on body, and each member belong to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let us. If it is teaching, let him teach
o We know ourselves and need to accept ourselves
o Use the gifts given unselfishly for others
• When contributing rewarding
• Romans 12:6 – we have different gifts, according to the grace given us
• 1 Peter 4:10 – Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms
• Ephesians 4:16 – From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work
o Things are possible
o The Bible promises that each one of us is given a spiritual gift
• Don’t think of the past, think of the possible
• To be gifted and expected
• How do we express love?
o By expressing the spiritual gifts given (Ephesians 4:16)
• The human brain is more happy when a person gives a gift of monetary value than when they receive money themselves
• We are chemically more happy to do for others than when we are presented with a gift

This is a place for each one of us in the BODY OF CHRIST, HIS CHURCH. There is a place of CONNECTING WITH OTHERS and THERE IS A PLACE OF CONTRIBUTING TO OTHERS. DON’T MISS YOUR PLACE IN HIS BODY. -Dr Phil Lineberger