Romans

We're now gonna have our reading, which is from Romans chapter 11 verse 33 to chapter 12 verse 8. And that's page 1139 in the church bibles. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of god, how unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out Who has known the mind of the lord or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to god that god should repay them? For from him and through him, and for him are all things.

To him, be the glory forever our men. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy am pleasing to god. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform 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. 4, by the grace given me, I say to every 1 of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment. In accordance with the faith, god has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has 1 body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function. So in Christ, we, though many form 1 body.

And each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophecy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach.

If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. I'm gonna hand over to Pete and he's gonna open that passage up for us.

Well, we've been, working our way through, the book of Romans, and we finally got through those really tricky passages We've come out the other side and we're in Romans chapter 12 and I just want us to think about verse 1 today. Let's pray. For the help us now, as we look at this this sentence, that you by your spirit would write it into our hearts and minds and actions for your glory in Jesus' name, amen. So verse 1 of Romans chapter 12. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters In view of god's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to god, which is your true and proper service.

There's, the Bayou tapestry that is supposed to be coming over from France back to England because it originally was English. And, I'm looking forward to going to see it personally, but you know the Bayou Chapistry. It It's it's it's the recording of the great event when William the conqueror came over and conquered conquered these aisles. And as 1 comedian said recently, good job that there was someone there to take a tapestry. Otherwise, we wouldn't know quite what would happen happened.

And so someone took a tapestry of that moment and there's all kinds of different scenes and 1 of the scenes some of you may have heard me say this before that I love has an explanation underneath it and it says Bishop Odo comforts his people. Bishop Odo comforts his people. Now the word comfort is an old English word that is used actually in the old English translation of the Bible about the Holy Spirit when Jesus says that the holy spirit will be the comforter, the comforter, or that god is the comforter is of his people. When you and I hear that word, we think of comfort as putting our arm around someone and saying, oh, 0, this okay? It'll be alright.

It'll sort itself out, you know, and there's that sort of nice, arm, round comfort. But when Bishop Odo, thought about comfort, it was a Pike staff which is and that's what's on the tapestry, a long stick with a spike on the end and he's shoving it up the backside of 1 of his men. And it says Bishop Odo comforts his people because comfort means urge spike. Get on with it lads. It's prodding.

It's encouraging. It's advising, but more than advising. That's the way to go. And that is the Greek word that Paul uses here in verse 1 of Romans chapter 12. I and being a bishop Odo, he's saying.

I urge you. Do you see it? I urge you. I prod you. I comfort you.

I advise you. I'm impressing on you. I'm pushing you to worship god. I want you to worship god. I want you to be taken up with something bigger than yourself.

I want you to be taken up with god. So that you would be a worshiper of God. Verse 1, look at it. Therefore, I urge you. There's the word.

I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to god, which is your proper worship. Here's the first thing I want you to see from that verse. The foundation and the motive of Christian worship is the mercy of god. The foundation and the motive for you to worship god is the mercies of god. There's a foundation, and he's urging us from a foundation That's the reason he's urging us on.

It's it's not just to spike us on in some sort of idea that he's got. There's a foundation, and you can see it in 2 words, the word therefore, and the word view. Therefore, view. Look at verse 1 again, therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy. See, the therefore is a mountain top where you view the rest of life.

That's what a therefore is. When you see a therefore, you're supposed to be at the top of the mountain. You look back to all of the stuff he's talked about. All of that in the past You see? Therefore, because of all of that that we viewed back there, therefore, now we're on the top of the mountain top, this is the way to go.

That's what he's saying. This is 1 of those great connecting verses in the Bible. When you see a therefore, you've got to ask that old I know it's been said so many times. What's it there for? And what is it there for?

It's a connecting verse. It's connecting all that he said. All of the teaching all of the sometimes hefty stuff that we've been looking through that we've had to wade through in some ways. Some of the difficult stuff in Romans 1 to 11 because of all of that now. Now you've got that.

In view of that, live this life. So it's connecting doctrine and life, teaching and life. Referring back to all of those things. Just think of some of the stuff. I have no time to go over what all the meaning of the words are but think of some of the stuff we've heard in chapters 1 to 11 that there is good news.

That's that's that's brilliant. I mustn't stop on any of these words, but there's good news. There's grace, there's love, there's power to save even wicked people like you and me. There's peace with the living god. There's the Holy Spirit.

There's resurrection. There's justification. There's propitiation. Remember what that word meant? There's glory for glorification, there's faith and forgiveness and freedom and kindness of god.

All of those amazing mountains that we've gone up and down on. Now we can gaze back on. All summed up in that magnificent act of the lord Jesus Christ, the son of the living god coming and dying on that cross to pay for our sins so that we could be saved from everything we've ever done said thought that god would damage for. Now we're not damned because of Christ taking that punishment on the cross. All of that.

In the light of that, have a look at that. That's the foundation. That's what we've been looking at. All of the mercies of God. Nothing to do with you, even though some of those verses about the mercy of God upset us a bit.

Well, If he has mercy on us, what about? Yet all of those questions, but the mercy of god poured out in Christ for you, because of that, because of all that god has done, live your life, or you could just take the last few verses of Romans 11. Do you see it? Oh, the debt and the riches. Look verse 33.

Oh, the depth and the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out. They're magnificent. They're so rich. They're so wonderful.

The wisdom that we could keep searching for all eternity and never get to the bottom of how wonderful they are. Get it? Who has known the mind of the lord? Who has been his counselor? Has anyone gone up to god and said let me give you some advice?

Well, unfortunately people dare to do, but the advice they give is the fettig. It's a joke. God is the wise 1, who has ever given to god that god should repay them. You've given nothing to god that he owes you. He owes you nothing.

We owe him everything. It's all mercy, you see. It's all the mercy of God and from him and through him and for him are all things for him be glory forever. Amen, he shouts out. It's extraordinary.

Therefore, I urge you. See who god is? I'm calling on you to live a life of mercy, to live on the basis and the foundation of the mercy of god. And that's what chapters 12 to 16 are. I'm so excited to get to these verses because these chapters because it's working out what it is to live the Christian life now you know this stuff.

It's what it is to live it. But you can't live the Christian life without building it on the mercies of god. You can't. You would totally and utterly fail. You're building will fall down quickly.

You will fail as a Christian if it is not built on what god has done for you, the mercies of god. You'll bear no fruit on your tree. Unless the roots are really in an understanding of the mercies of God. That's why he's taken 11 actors, to bang on about it. In all kinds of different ways, a mercy of God.

If your life isn't rooted in the mercy. If that isn't the foundations, you'll collapse. You'll be a dry shriveled Christian. Therefore, build, he's saying our practical lives on this. If you miss the connection, between the teaching and the life, you miss everything.

You miss everything. Therefore, in view of god's mercy, the Christian life is not a mechanical obedience to law It's not even an experience to be received. It's a therefore because of that, I urge you. It's an active work worked out, not passive, but worked out on the basis of what god has done for you. Therefore, I urge you.

Therefore, in view of god's mercy, I want to say this because this is so important that Christian life is always worked out from deep, solid teaching of the mercies of god. In my experience now over the years of being a Christian and I'm 60 so I can start reminiscing. Yes. And tell you my old stories, you know. In my experience over in in the Christian life, the people that have the most trouble in their Christian life are the people that are not working.

It's not always the case that I know. So, you know, there's always people that say, well, what about that's always an extreme way of questioning. But largely, in the years that I've been ministering, Those that have the greatest difficulties in their Christian life are those who have not really got to the bottom of understanding. Justification by faith, the truths of Romans 1 to 11. They're the things that we need to spend our minds and our energies on.

And as you understand that stuff, then you start living in the mercies of God. So are you building your life on the therefores? Are you looking at the mercies of god? What is the motive then for you to live for god? Well, let me put it another way because this this is quite a helpful way sometimes to see see differences Let me put the question like this.

What is the essential difference between the Christian and the religious non Christian? What's the essential difference between the real Christian and the religious non Christian? And I want to say motive motive that's built on this foundation of the mercies of god. Motive is crucial, isn't it? If you think about motive.

Have you have you have you ever had people that, sort of, treated you really nicely. And you know, they're a really nice person, then you suddenly realize there's an an ulterior motive. They're only treating you nicely so that they can manipulate you or get something nice out of you. You know those people? And it's really horrible, isn't it?

You say, well, yeah, okay, their actions seemed to be nice towards me, but their motive wasn't just manipulative. And and you feel really let down. So what's your motive for living the Christian life? Is crucial to get the motive. The motive comes from understanding the foundation, the mercies of God, When you know that god so loves you, you love him.

You love him. And when you love someone, your motives are pure. You wanna do whatever whatever it costs. It's lovely when you see people fall in love, isn't it? You suddenly get young men doing things they never thought of doing like washing their armpits.

You know, it's extraordinary, isn't it? When people fall in love? People will drive right through the night and think nothing of it. Just to get a view of the 1 that they love. It's extraordinary what you do when and it's there's a whole motive because you know you're loved because of the mercies of God that god so loved me.

Me. He loved me. Wow. Then I love him. And when I understand his massive love to me in Christ, my motive is to live for him.

And I want to say to you again, I think most of our problems are are always sort of trying we we try to we forget the love of god in Christ. I'm so love. We forget that doctrine of justification by faith alone. It's all it's all what he's done. And as I build on that, as I understand that as I grow in that as I battle through other things that come into my minds as I keep coming back to the of god than my motive is, I love him.

So is there a therefore in your life? See, be very careful. Be very careful of building your Christian life on feeling or experience. I'm not against feeling or experience. I'm not.

But I I don't think it's a place to build your life on, your Christian life, because If I only live the Christian life because I feel good about it, it's not love. It's not love. It's a wrong motive. If I only live the Christian life because I get sort of you know, a good sense or I feel better about myself, it's not love. It's not Christian love.

Now that the motive is the mercies of God, what he's done for me, not just my feelings. We are therefore then to display the mercies of god, and that's what Romans 12 to 16 oozes with. We're gonna see what it means to live in this world that have governments. What do I do? We're gonna see what it it is to live with 1 another in in the Christian church.

We're gonna see what it is to live with those that are weaker than us and those that stronger than us in the Christian faith. How we live that out? We're gonna see about greeting 1 another. I've been very challenged in beginning to think about chapter 16. About how we greet 1 another.

I've been really thinking that through and wonder whether I've missed so much stuff there, but we'll we'll come to that eventually. It's all going to be how we live in this world with each other under the mercies of god So that's the foundation. Now, if that's the foundation and the motive of worship, the mercies of god How does that really spell out then? This is my second point. It spells out in body language age, body talk.

You listen to your body talk. Yeah? It'll get your body talk. It's body talk. It's very physical here.

Let's get physical. Let's talk about the body. And this is the second point, where Christian worship is expressed is your body let your body talk. Look at verse 1, do you see it? Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy to offer your god is as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to god, which is your true and proper worship.

See, the trouble is when we come to worship, We've got actually not necessarily a biblical view of what worship is. We tend to think of worship as us giving worth to god. It's it's often that's the often the expression that's used or and we we we we we put it. It's it's almost synonymous worship with singing. Now I I'm glad we sing, and we should sing, and I want us to sing, and I I hope we sing more and more.

It's good to sing. It's fun we've got fantastic bands that help us to sing. It's terrific. So all about singing, and we should sing. But that isn't a definition of worship in the bible.

Or we we might think of it as expressing our feelings carefully, reverently, respectfully, effect affectionately to god, but that isn't the definition that Paul uses of worship. Paul talks about the body. It's not mystical. It's not ethereal. It's the body.

See what he says? Look, therefore, I urge your brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy. To offer your bodies as lifting sacrifices. This is your true and proper worship. It's the body.

Use your body your body, this, the physical body means body, the flesh and blood, the bones. Offer your body. Your body matters. Your body matters. Now if you know anything about the old testament sacrificial system, you think actually the the lambs and the things that were offered were were perfect and pure and first born and and new and fresh.

And then you think my goodness, how could I offer this decrepit looking thing to god? You know, would got this this body would fail and be rejected in any old testament sacrificial system. Now you gotta remember, you gotta let an old man go for it, 60. I wrote these words down. My body might be overweight, Underweight, or which it was, but it isn't.

It may be wrinkled, blotchy, achy diseased, impulsive, nervous, unattractive, lazy, awkward, disabled near sighted hard of hearing stiff and brittle. I was thinking about getting to 60. It may be all of those things. And so you say to yourself, well, how could this be a sacrifice to god? But the truth is God isn't worried about looks like we are so obsessed with looks.

And being fit, it's just an idol that's in our world and in our church, in our churches. When it talks about offering your body, it's not offering your looks. It's offering your behavior, your bodily, behavior. The Bible never worries about your looks. It worries about your acts.

Jesus, at the peak of his bodily commitment to the world is described as repulsive to the world. Listen. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance that would, that we should desire him. He was this spised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering, like 1 from whom men hide their face He was despised and we have steamed him not.

That's what he was like on the cross when he was giving his body in the worship of god to save us. So get this right. God's not interested in whether you're a size 8 or whether you're a size 18. God is not really interested in whether you look like mister universe, He's interested that you model mercy. You are a model of god's mercy.

He wants you to visibly live out with bodily evidence that you are building your life on the mercies of God bodily. Let me try to give you an illustration. Years ago, 1 of the girls in 1 of the youth groups that I used to run-in another church. She, she was just an or an ordinary girl. She's an ordinary girl, and she had body image issues like all girls do.

And, she was a lovely, modern girl. And wanting to look nice. Nothing wrong with any of that wanting to look nice. But, she went over in her twenties over to be a missionary. She went to be a missionary.

And she was over there for several years. And she came back on furlough, you know, for a break. And she'd put on masses of weight and her skin was in terrible condition and her hair looked terrible. And the reason was is that the the food that she had to eat when she was in this country was just not very good for her, and it made her fat and her skin bad and her hair bad. Now I remember really thinking, looking at her, she's given her body as a living sacrifice.

That that she's a definition of mercy by her body. Do you see that? I remember, another occasion when, we were trying to reach a group of, young people in Tasmania. And the only way that we could reach them was to go to this thing called the Bavarian tavern that was full of marijuana smoke. And I used to go there.

The band would play, couple of the blokes in the band had become Christians and then they would say we're gonna have a break now. Pete's gonna come around to all of the tables and talk to you about god. So watch it, you know. And we used to do that, but because I'd come out quite sort of and quite sort of stinking of marijuana, there were brothers and sisters that said it was actually evil to go in there and it was sinful and that you were breathing in this But how are you going to reach people? Aren't we prepared to give our bodies, prepared for lung cancer, prepared for all kinds of stuff?

In order to reach the smokers? How do we do that? It's about the body that that is what Paul is talking about. See, the interesting thing is that traditionally the invitation that the evangelist gives is to say give your heart to god, give your heart to the lord Jesus Christ. Actually, we would be better to say, if your bodies to the lord Jesus Christ.

John Stott, in his, fantastic commentary on the book of Romans, he writes this. Not listen. It's very pat very straight. No worship is pleasing to god which is purely inward, abstract mystical. It must express itself in concrete acts of service performed by our bodies.

Similarly, authentic Christian discipleship will include both the negative mortification of of the body's misdeeds. In other words, putting to death in and the positive presentation of its members, the bits of the body to god. Our body is important. Your body is important. The salvation of the lord Jesus Christ is not just spirit and soul.

It's about the body as well. The body 1 day will be remade and totally redeemed. And what we do with our body now does count. You can't do act of the soul without the body. Don't separate body and soul.

It's it's it's it's not what we are. We're a we're a whole. Listen to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 versus 9 19 and 20. Just listen to Paul arguing here. He says Do you not know that your bodies your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?

Whom you have received from god. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore, honor god with your bodies. Your body isn't yours.

Not just your soul or your spirit. Your body isn't yours. It's the temple of the Holy spirit. The body has been bought by Christ. It will be fully redeemed in the new creation.

But still here this old body now is not yours. Christ bought it. When he bodily died on the cross. So that body, this body, this physical stuff, the 1 you're sitting in right now, offer, present to god. Look at verse 1 again.

Therefore, I urge you brothers assist in view of god's mercy to offer present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing to god. It's a living sacrifice. The thing about old testament sacrifices is it only got 1 go at being a sacrifice because it died But you get a go every day at being a sacrifice. It's a living sacrifice. It constantly being given up in a living life giving manner.

The new life that we've got in the body is that we give ourselves bodily to god. Do you do that? Bodily? So we battle with sin because this is the area. The body is often the area where the temptation is, and Paul's already said in Roman 6, and we've looked at Roman 6 that we are to offer the parts of our body as instruments of righteousness.

We are to put to death that which is sinful in the body. And we are to offer our bodies as instruments of righteousness. God use me righteously, goodly on the basis of what you've done for me. Wanna use my body for you. On the basis that you gave your body for me, I wanna give my body to you.

This is like a marriage. I give my body to you, all that I have, all that I am, I give to you, says Christ. And then we respond all that I am, all that I have. I give to you with my body I honor you. Is like the marriage.

We offer. We present. We give to the lord Jesus Christ. So 1 old, fourth century preacher, John's, Chris Austin called Silvermouth, because he was a great preacher. I don't know why silver mouth, but there you go.

Here we go. Look, this is what he says. So this has always been the Christian opinion right back to the fourth century. How is the body to become a sacrifice. Let the eye look on no evil thing, and it has already become a sacrifice.

Let the tongue say nothing filthy and it's already become an offering. Let your hand do no evil and it has become a whole burnt offering. But even this is not enough, For we must have good works also, the hand must do arms, you know, give give give itself to people. The mouth must bless those who curse. And the years must find time to listen to the reading of script sacrifice allows of no unclean thing.

It is the first fruits of all other actions. In other words, We present our bodies. We present our speech as a sacrifice. Our kind words or a sacrifice to people that even curse us, not being unkind to people, is a part of our worship. Do you see that?

Our bodies. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy to for your bodies as living sacrifice holy, pleasing, refrain from sin in the body. Stop treating your body selfishly. It isn't yours. It's bought with price.

Yeah? Of course, keep fit, but why are you keeping fit for yourself? No? You're keeping fit so that you can fitly serve people. That's why.

If you're a runner when you're just doing it for self and getting a medal and constantly building your body up for your own ends. Stop it. Stop that. Be as fit as you can be so you can serve people. That's why you be fit.

It's to use your bodies so you could present them to god. Yeah? So if you overeat, don't, if you under eat, eat. If you're neglecting your body, don't neglect your body. Use your body for others if you're abusing your body by drinking too much, then stop it.

Give your body, give your eyes, give your tongue, give your hands, give your feet, give your body to righteousness, to serve god's kingdom, a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to god. You see that? It's it's it's bridal, bridegroom language, isn't it? I wanna I wanna give my body to please. You know, why do why do why do people go on diets before their before their wedding day so that they look fit for their husband and their wife, you know?

So they can get in the dress and look beautiful. And that's the sort of approach. Our bodies are to be righteous. The use of them for god. That brings me to the third point.

This giving our bodies, this is true and proper worship. Isn't that interesting? The old version say spiritual act of worship. This is our spiritual act of worship. So don't separate spiritual experience with your body.

I met a a bloke from another religion some time ago in Lester Square when I was doing some evangelism And I was talking to him about god, and he totally and utterly believed in god, and that god was the great being and so forth. And I said, oh, okay. And then he he then told me what he was about to go to do. He says I'm just going down to a prostitute, you know, have sex with, a prostitute. And I said, that's amazing.

I thought you said you believed in god. He said, of course. I said, isn't isn't god upset about you going to a prostitute? He said, no, don't be silly. What happens when I go into a prostitute is my soul comes out of my body.

Yeah? And god's just looking at my soul. And my body's doing the stuff with the prostitute. So there's no problem. It's extraordinary that anyone would talk like that, isn't it?

But people believe that stuff, you could separate soul and body. So he's saying that your spiritual act of worship is in the body. It's you don't separate things like that. In fact, I mean, we can do it. James says about people that hold up hands and worship god and they're worshiping god, but they won't talk to their their Christian brother or sister or if their Christian brother or sister is in need, they they say, oh, praise god.

God bless you, and they do no practical bodily help, and Peter says that is not true religion, doesn't he? Now the word use here for true and proper worship is the word from logic. It's the word you get logic, reasonable, logic, rational, In fact, I've read 1 paper on this word that that suggested that a good translation would be informed reasonable, logical, informed when you know the mercies of God for you, then the most reasonable, rational, informed way of worship is to give your body. And that interesting. It's not automatic.

It's a decision. It's rational. It's an informed choice on the basis of what god has done in Christ I will give my body to holiness. Yeah. It's not just coming on a Sunday morning, is it?

You know, we we we tend to think we've worshiped. So what we do is we do a bit of worship for god, yeah? We go into a building or we say our prayers or read our devotions or whatever it is you would do, and that's the sort of worship done, and then the rest of my life is mine. No. The trouble is wherever you are, you you are there.

Have you noticed that? Wherever you are, you're there. So it's not like if it's the body that is about worship, I can't just do worship and then walk away unless I can do what that Muslim bloke did in Lester Square, and that is to separate the soul and the body, but when you've done that, it's called death. Yeah. So wherever I am in the body, I'm there.

So worship is not part time, it's constant. When I'm sleeping, my body is there. What's it doing? Yeah? So we need to use our bodies.

And then when you read, through Romans 12, you'll see it's about building the kingdom of god in this world. That's what we're doing. So it's about loving, forgiving, It's about caring for the brothers and sisters. It's about understanding who's a weaker brother or a weaker sister and caring and putting myself out for them. And giving up things that maybe I'm alright to to take but my brother and sister might fall if they see me doing that and so I'm giving myself my body to building up the kingdom of god and it's encouraging people and loving people and using my effort It's about washing up when there's washing up to be done.

It's about hoovering up when there's hoovering to be done. I am worshiping god when I serve. You see that? The people have put the chairs out. Worshiping god, putting a chair out so your bottom could sit on it.

Yeah? So your body could sit there and listen. It's about the musicians twiddling away using their fingers to hit the right notes so that we can sing and remind ourselves of the mercies of God. It's about them practicing so that they know how to get the cords right. So it isn't sort of like, you know, really duff You know?

And the drumbeat, so he's not just whacking away playing a led zeppelin solo. And enjoying himself on his own, but it doesn't help us to be able to remind ourselves of the mercies of God because we can't start thinking of John Bonum. No 1 knows who that is, so don't worry about it. It's giving ourselves to people. It's physical.

Do you see that? So how are you doing? The group are gonna finish in a minute with this wonderful song. It's an old hymn take my life and let it be, consecrated lord to thee, take my moments and my days, let them flow in endless place take my hands. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.

Take my feet. And let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice, and it sing always only for my king take my silver, my gold, not a might, will I withhold? Take my, my, will and make it thine. Take my love.

My lord, I pour out to you. That's your reasonable service. It's reasonable. It's logical. It's spiritual to serve.

I've got 1 last bit of application, though. I'm sorry about this. I don't want to take away from anything I've said, but I'm gonna go a different route in application. Because The obvious question that unfortunately isn't obvious, but it should be, is why don't I give myself the full time Christian work? Why don't you?

Why don't you do that? Now I know what I'm supposed to say I'm supposed to say yet, not well, you know, ordinary everyday work where my body is is the worship of god. Yep. I've said that. I have said it, and I totally believe that.

And we're gonna see in Romans 12 to 16 that actually we serve god in the ordinary in the in the every day. Absolutely important where your body is is where you're gonna worship. Are you living righteously? All of that. Absolutely.

I know I'm supposed to say so that's alright, but I'm not gonna say that at this point because I've said it because I think it's a bit of out and I want to put to some of you because it's an opportunity to do it. Why aren't you thinking of full time Christian gospel work? Jesus asks us to pray that there'd be more harvesters in the harvest field. There'd be more people full tar. Do you know what?

The more I look at Kingston and the more I see the opportunities for god for work. We just need hundreds of workers. So why not you? Why not you? Why not you be a worker?

I mean, someone's gotta replace the old lot that are just dying off? Why not you? Now I know the answers. Well, not everyone could be a full time Christian worker. Someone's got to raise the money for Christian ministry Someone's got to do a job.

I know that answer. Yes. Of course. Yes. But if you think about it, if you really think about it, you only need 10 people that are giving properly and the eleventh person could be full time Christian work.

So if you have a church of 200, how many workers is that? Sort of under 20, but, 17 or something or whatever it is. We could have 17. More Christian workers full time. If all of us are working for the gospel using our gifts and abilities for the gospel, then every 10 could should produce a number 11, which is a Christian worker.

That I mean, that's how it should work, isn't it? Why wouldn't it work like that? So why not you? Why not you? Uh-uh, you say because I haven't had a call.

Well, hold it. Let me just remind you of verse 1. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters In view of god's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to god, this is your true and proper worship. There's the call. Do you want anything louder?

Shall I read it louder? Therefore. Or why not me? Well, I've got a career and a wife and me. Do you want me to read that verse again?

Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy to offer your bodies Why not you? Why why are there not enough harvesters? I had a bloke come to me this, last week, and he's He's he's suggesting an amazing opportunity for us. And I'm thinking, who can I get to do this? An opportunity to get into people's lives that we wouldn't normally get into.

And I was just thinking gospel, the way we could do this, we've got to get a team to do this, We've we've got hub club that is just crowds of kids in hub club and not enough workers. Why can't someone take an afternoon off work? You know, sometimes work even does this. You can go to your boss and say community service, let me go and do it. You see?

Why can't we think like this? To give ourselves for gospel building and gospel work Think of all of the lonely old people. So there's a group that's come to us. They want to use the hub because they because they want to, talk about the lonely people in Cambrey Park area, old people on their own. Can they use our building?

We said, yeah, of course, you can have a meeting in our building. We'd love to know if we could help in some way. There's just so many opportunities to use our bodies for the glory of Christ. What about you? What will you do?

Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing to god, and it'd be lovely. But god looks at my body and says, way. You know? You know when you see a body that pleases you. It's beautiful in it.

Quite like to have 1 like that. Here's god looking down and saying, oh, that's lovely. That's a beautiful body. It's a beautiful body. Yeah?

It's full of smoke and disease and cancerous lungs because that body went in to reach the smokers. You know? What a beautiful thing that body is.