Sermon
How Should We Then Live?
May 1, 2005
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles. If you're going to use the pew Bible we're on page 600. We're going to spend the next number of months in this one chapter. It will be the launching pad for a number of different subjects, and you will see those subjects as we read the Scripture together. But for you that join with us today, January, February, March, and April we spent our time studying the person of Christ, in theology it would be known as the doctrine of Christ. We covered various aspects of His teachings. We went and discovered much about the events that surrounded His life, and then we concluded our doctrinal series on the person of Christ last Lord's day with a sermon on the second coming of Christ.

And now taking that doctrine that we have learned for the last four months, I thought it would have great value to us if we took those great truths and we put them from the theoretical into the practical aspects, how should I live out my Christian faith in the world around me? And so we're moving from the doctrinal, the theoretical, into the practical aspect of our Christian faith. We're going to follow as it were in the footsteps of the apostle Paul because that's the way Paul wrote many of his letters.

The first portion of this letter he would introduce great theological doctrine and then after dealing with that, then in the closing chapters of his letter then he'll apply those doctrinal truths to everyday living. He practicalizes the Christian faith and he does that almost throughout all of his letters. So with four months of discussing the person of Christ, now our quest is, how does that relationship with Jesus Christ, how does it manifest itself through my life, through my behavior, through my value system? How do I take my faith and make it practical? Something that's attractive, something that the world looks on and says, now that's the way a Christian should act. And so our subject for the next number of months is 'Behaving like a Christian' - the practical aspect of living out our Christian faith.

So I want you to turn with me to Romans chapter 12. Remember, the 11 chapters that precede this, Paul has dealt with some tremendously important theological subjects. Intensely profound is his way of presenting those, and after those great truths now he says: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness."

Now you'll notice that immediately following that consecration of ourselves and the commitment of our lives to Jesus Christ, we become involved in the body of Christ. And so the first thing that Paul touches upon, how do I live out my Christian faith in the body of Christ? How do I use my gifts that God has given to me? And so he deals with our relationship as Christians with one another in the body of Christ and the utilization of our gifts to the building of the body of Christ.

Now in verse 9 he turns to the personal aspect -how should my Christian faith affect me as an individual? Well, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Implied in all of those verses, my Christian faith does affect my behavior in the given situations of life. Go with me to Ephesians, and here again Paul is talking about living out our Christian faith and behaving like a Christian. Look at what he says beginning at verse 20 chapter 4 of the book of Ephesians: "But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."

Pause - Paul uses some very practical words. He says you take off, you put off, that is the same thing we make up our will to take off our coat. It's something we do as an act that is a response to our willful decision that we've made, and we put on something. Paul says it's something we do as Christians. What do we do? Well we put off the old man, it's former conduct which was corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and we are renewed in the spirit of our mind that we may put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

"Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, and do not sin.""

Implied, there is a godly way of handling your anger. It doesn't say don't get angry, but it says handle your anger in a way that you do not sin.

"Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." Now that's interesting. He says we labor with the intent of having in our hands the provisions of helping someone else who is in need.

"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."

"Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them."

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light [for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth], finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light."

"See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

It's obvious that Christian faith does affect our behavior, doesn't it? Let's go on to Colossians chapter 3. What we're finding is in the Bible it's obvious that Christian faith changes behavior. Look what Paul writes in Colossians chapter 3 verses 1 and onward: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him."

We could go from passage to passage to passage, and throughout the text of the New Testament it's obvious that God when He changes our lives by giving to us salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ, it's obvious that our lives should bear characteristics that are God-like and that are Christ-like.

Now, I think that most of us are unaware but there are various parts of our nation and in some churches, evangelical churches as well, where it is being preached today that you can verbally make assent to your belief that Jesus is the Christ, that He died 2000 years ago, that He died to save sinners, and you can verbally assent to the truths of the Christian faith, but they teach you that your faith doesn't have to affect your behavior; that the grace of God is sufficient enough that you can live in all of your liberty and your freedom and God ultimately has to save you in the end, but they make no requirements as far as a behavioral change whatsoever.

And they of course take the position that God's grace is sufficient, and they stretch God's grace to the point of heresy. Well again when we read the scriptures it's obvious that genuine conversion makes a tremendous change in our desires, our lifestyle, and the objects and the goals that we have before us. They change. I think one of the joys of being a pastor and watching the lives of people in our congregation who come to a saving knowledge of Christ, when it's genuine, when it's real, when the Spirit of Christ really has made that transformation within the heart, to observe and watch their lives day after day and week after week as they take on the nature of Christ's likeness in love and forgiveness. I'll tell you it's a joyous experience as a pastor to see that.

True conversion, dramatically, I believe, changes our behavior and our lifestyle. And if it doesn't, then I have valid reason to question the genuineness of what I call my conversion. I'm not suggesting that our good works save us. That would be heresy. It's not by works that we can earn any salvation, but once we have been saved and God's grace has transformed us, Jesus said a could tree is going to bring forth good fruit, and a bad tree is going to produce bad fruit.

So for the weeks and the months to come throughout the summer I want to talk about this very practical aspect of living out our Christian faith in such a way that it becomes attractive, it becomes challenging, it becomes something that causes the hearts of those who observe our lives to want what took place within our hearts, to want the Christ, the Savior of men's souls.

Now let's in the closing moments of our lesson today, and because it will be short, I'll just introduce the subject and then the Lord willing, we'll go on with our lesson next week. But would you take your notes now and follow along a page or two according to the time that we have.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

And here's our lesson: When Paul wrote to the Church in Rome, he was writing to a church with whose founding he had had nothing whatever to do and with which he had had no personal contact at all. But all of us his life Paul had been haunted by the thought of Rome; Rome that city of the Empire, the capital city of that vast empire of his time. He wanted to go there. He wanted to preach there. In fact, it had always been one of his dreams to preach there.

And when he is in Ephesus, he is planning to go through Achaea and Macedonia again, and then comes a sentence obviously dropped straight from the heart. "After I have been there, I must also see Rome." When he was up against things in Jerusalem, and the situation looked threatening and the end seemed near, he had one of those visions which always lifted his heart, and in this vision the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage, Paul, for as you have testified about Me at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also at Rome."

So he not only had a dream to go to Rome to preach, but he had a vision and in that vision God simply says, Paul, you've ministered in Jerusalem, the day will come when you will minister at Rome. So he had the promise of God added to his dream.

Now when he actually wrote the letter to the Romans, the date was sometime in the year of A.D. 58 and he was in Corinth. He was just about to bring to its completion a scheme that was very dear to his heart. The Church at Jerusalem was the mother Church of them all, but it was poor, and Paul had organized a collection throughout the younger churches.

Pause - you remember in those early moments of the church when the Jewish people became converts to the Christian faith, when they went home and said dad, mom, I'm a Christian now, they face difficult times because they either recanted and changed back to their Jewish faith or their parents, in most cases, had a funeral, crossed them off of all the inheritance, if they worked at the family place, they fired them - they were out of a job. And at the very first sermon that Peter preached 3000 people came to Christ, and thus the church has these people now who can't...who have no home to go to and the tremendous responsibility of feeding all of these folks and caring for them plus there was a dearth in the land.

Paul was deeply concerned about the church back in Jerusalem. And he had gone around and he had established churches and so what he decided to do is go to these churches as a result of his missionary endeavors and he took up a collection and that collection is almost ready to go back now. And in our notes I make the observation when Paul wrote Romans he was just about to set out with that gift for the Jerusalem Church. "At present, however," he says, "I am going to Jerusalem with aid for the saints." And he is referring to that collection that he is taking back to Jerusalem.

Now the main purpose for Paul writing this letter at this time was to prepare the way for his visit to Rome. Remember, he's never been there. To let the believers there know of his plan to come, and to enlist their support for his future ministry in Spain. He has a dream after preaching in Rome he is going to go west. One of the fascinating things about church history, that the gospel has always moved west. It's amazing. When you follow the flow of Christianity down through the centuries it always moved west. So Paul, after preaching in Rome, he had a dream go on to Spain and preach there.

I'm at the top of page 2. Now one of the reasons that Paul wrote this very detailed letter to the Christians at Rome was he wanted no misunderstanding concerning his goals and his message, for there was widespread slander directed at him by some fellow Christians and many Jews. To most Roman Christians, Paul was just a name, so Paul took time to build his credibility and authority by carefully setting forth his theology. It's as if Paul were saying, "Here's who I am, and here is what I believe." And so he writes this masterful treatise on the Christian faith, the Book of Romans.

Now in that particular book, that letter, I'm suggesting that he divides it may be in five different headings or five different subjects. Paul had a mind that was brilliantly trained by Gamaliel, one of the brilliant rabbis of his day. When you watch as he writes and you watch the flow of his logic as he develops his argument, it's immense, it's tremendously interesting. So here's what Paul is doing, he's going to write this treatise on the Christian faith and the first thing he starts with is the subject of sin.

He starts in those early passages and he talks about the fact that all of us are sinners. There is none righteous. We've all turned against God. So he lays down the foundation for his letter; we are sinners and there's not a thing we can do to save ourselves.

In the second subject that he then begins to discuss is the subject of salvation, and when you read through those passages on the subject of salvation you'll find that he deals with the fact that only in Christ, not through the things of the law, not by anything that we have done, but according to what Christ has done for us at Calvary. So he gives us the solution to the problem of sin in the person of Jesus Christ who has provided salvation.

As then he assumes, and rightly so, that after salvation comes Christian growth, and thus he discusses this whole matter of being set free from the bondage of sin and set free to serve Christ as slaves to Christ and slaves to righteousness. And he discusses the beautiful subject of this fact of Christian growth, we do it bound and surrounded by the love of God who nothing, nothing changes that love. So he's dealt with sin, salvation, and the matter of spiritual growth, and his next subject is an interesting subject because chapters 9, 10, and 11 he deals with the sovereignty of God.

You ask the question, why would Paul fit that into his Christian text of this great treatise? And he did it because he was writing to a people who saw their great empire as the sovereign ruler of the universe, and Paul writes these great truths about God really is the one in charge He's the sovereign one of the universe. And I'll tell you those chapters are so intense with thoughts that go far beyond our finite minds. When I think back of my 50 plus years of ministry, I have preach very few sermons from Romans 9, 10, and 11.

You say, why pastor? Well you read to them when you go home today and you'll see the intensity, Paul says, God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He will harden on whom He will harden. And he goes on to say that we are clay in the potter's hand, and the potter is going to make of that clay whatever He wants; vessels for honor, and vessels of wrath. And I'll tell you he moves into such depth in the concept of God's sovereignty he goes beyond the reaches of the human mind. So I just leave it on the page because I don't understand it all, and neither will you if you read it.

The other day I turned on my tape recorder and I was listening to R. C. Sproul try to explain it, and even with his brilliant mind he came to zero just like the rest of us. But Paul wanted them to know that God is the sovereign ruler of the universe and all things are under His control.

Now with those four basic truths covered, he comes to chapter 12 and he commences this practical aspect of the letter: I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present yourselves a living sacrifice.

And with there my time is up, and we'll start right there next Lord's Day, all right?

Lord Jesus, we love Your word. We don't understand it all, but what we do understand thrills our hearts. We thank you for Your precious Holy Spirit that is at work within us and revealing these truths to us. And Lord Jesus during the next few weeks as we talk about this matter of living out our Christian faith in a very practical way, in our world, so those who observe and those who watch us in our reactions to life's situations will see a Christ likeness, a godliness, a righteousness about our character that will attract them to You.

We want to be Christians who act like Christians, who live out Your commandments and abide by Your word and seek to follow Your will. That's our desire as a church congregation. So may it be that in the weeks to come there come a great transformation even in our own thoughts, a re-examination of our own ways, and a recommitment of our life to holiness, to godliness, and to righteousness. We pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. God bless you, and the Lord willing, I'll see you next week.