07-17-11 Good And Acceptable And Perfect

OK, we return this morning

to our study of the book of Romans

and to the 3^rd principle governing life within the Family of God, the church.

These principles are given to us

in the last 5 chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans,

chapters 12-16.

We have looked at the first two principles

given to us in chapter 12,

and now, in Romans 13:1-7,

we come to the 3^rd.

In some ways it is a little difficult

for us to fully appreciate what’s really going on in these last 5 chapters of Romans.

And yet, in one sense,

seeing this section of Paul’s letter correctly

is even more vital,

and more difficult for us today

than it was for those Christians who originally received the letter 2000 years ago.

You see,

in the years immediately following Christ’s departure,

when the message of Christ was first being introduced to the world,

the concept of THE CHURCH

was a totally new concept in the world.

Prior to His departure

Christ stated clearly

that, following His departure,

He would establish His Church,

and the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against it.

When we hear those words today

our minds instantly bring up

our own personal, highly refined concept of what He meant by “Church”.

It is a concept based upon 2000 years

of religious teaching and traditions,

combined with our own unique personal “church” experiences.

But the 1^st century Christians

had no such heritage to deal with.

The truth is,

they had no idea whatsoever

what the “Church” was.

And when the first century Christians

read Paul’s principles

governing the basic structure of the Church,

those principles were written upon a clean slate,

with very little wrong thinking to unlearn.

We, on the other hand,

come to this Church thing

with a tremendous amount of knowledge,

and assumptions,

and beliefs,

and expectations,

and ideas about the Church,

many, if not most of which are wrong,

and all of which affect the way in which we hear what Paul is saying.

At best we tend to try to add Paul’s concepts

onto everything else we already believe.

But one of the things I wish for us

as we move through these principles

is the kind of freedom that can only come

when we begin to see the difference

between the Church that Christ established

and the countless human religious institutions

that have grown up under the CHURCH banner

during the past 2000 years.

Each of those human religious institutions

has it’s own unique set of rules,

and membership requirements,

and governmental structures.

Some of those rules and structures

may come from the Bible,

while many of the others do not.

But what Paul is offering us here in Romans

is a presentation of the basic principles

that govern life within that true Church,

which is composed of all true Christians,

no matter what particular human religious group we may be a part of.

I mention all of this

because I find it fascinating

to take these 6 church principles we are studying now,

these 6 things that our Lord has told us should form the foundation of our life together as Christians on this earth,

and set them along side

of the priorities,

and the governing values

that form the foundation of many of the religious organizations

that nestle under the banner of Christianity in our world today.

And I’ll tell you right now

that, when we do that,

the first thing we’re going to notice

is that some of the things that seem to be very important to God

don’t seem to be very important at all

to many of our human religious organizations,

and some of the things

that seem to be very important

to many of our human religious organizations

don’t seem to be very important at all to God.

Now, as much as I would enjoy

spending much of our remaining time together

pointing out some of the hideous flaws

in the cultural Christian monster

we have created in the name of Christ over the past 2000 years,

we’re not going to do that.

Somewhere along the line, many years ago, now,

in my personal development as a Bible teacher

someone gave me a principle that I consider to be

among the most valuable two or three truths

I have ever received when it comes to effective teaching of the Word.

If I could remember who gave it to me

I would give him credit

and rise up and praise him publicly.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember who said it,

but I certainly remember what he said.

The principle was this:

if, as a Bible teacher, I spend my time analyzing the lies

I will never feed the people of God.

But if I can effectively teach the truth,

I will equip those who listen to me

with the ability to recognize and reject the lies on their own.

Do you know how federal agents are trained

to recognize counterfeit money?

They are given the real thing

and required to examine it closely,

and learn it’s feel,

and discover every tiny detail of it’s design.

And once they have learned what the real thing looks like,

the fakes are obvious.

So, as we move through these principles of church life here in Romans,

our goal is simple -

if we can see, accept, and apply

the principles our Lord tells us should govern our life together,

then at the same time

we will find ourselves being freed

from the power of so many of the religious games

that are being played out all around us

under the name of Christianity.

Simply put,

if it is not consistent with what Paul gives us here,

then it’s not the real thing.

OK, we’ve looked at two principles so far.

The first one outlined for us

the starting place for all true Christian living.

ROM 12:1 I urge you therefore, 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.

ROM 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

It is Paul’s call to each one of God’s people

that we daily bring our bodies

under the leadership of the new heart, the new spirit He has created within us.

And he goes on to tell us

that we accomplish that

by an ongoing process of being renewed in our mind,

our thinking.

The more we think in a way that is consistent with the truth,

the more we will act in a way that is consistent with the truth.

And no, I will not succumb to the urge to reteach this passage,

but at the same time I can’t let it pass

without just reminding us of a few of the high points we saw

when we were studying it.

Paul wanted us to know first of all

that the default setting for our bodies,

our flesh,

is the world system that excludes the reality of God

or the life of His Spirit within us.

And, if you think he’s talking mostly about

plunging into some sort of gross fleshly immorality

you’ve misunderstood.

Would you like to hear Paul’s personal description

of his own life in the flesh prior to his union with Christ?

It’s recorded for us in the first few verses of Philippians chapter 3.

He says, “...we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

Paul’s plunge into the flesh

created within him

the most intense religious zeal in Israel,

a zeal that filled him with a religious arrogance

and intense self-righteous pride.

The heart of the flesh

is not immorality,

it is self-reliance -

that refusal to bow before our Creator,

admit our utter dependance upon Him,

and allow Him to recreate us from the inside out.

With some of us

that self-reliance and determination to prove to ourselves

that we are running our own life

will certainly drive us into all sorts of immoral behavior.

“I’ll do what I want to do

and nobody is going to stop me!”

With others,

like Paul,

it will make us intensely religious,

so that through religion

we can prove to ourselves and to the world

what really great people we are.

“Look world! Look at what a really fine fellow I am!”

But the bottom line with both

is ME -

me calling the shots,

me writing my own rules,

me doing it my way

and me getting the glory.

And so,

when Paul begins his presentation of the principles that govern life within the family of God,

the first one he presents,

and the starting place for all the others,

is the call to each of us

that we begin each new day

with an awareness that the default setting for the flesh

is always the same - it resists trust in God

and dependance upon Him at all costs.

And each day we must once again

renew our mind to the truth -

the truth about who we are in Christ, His holy ones, recreated by Him in righteousness at the spirit level of our being,

the truth about the true nature of Christian living -

not us living for Him,

but His living in and through us,

and the truth about our God’s true heart attitude toward us -

“For God so loved the world...”

He’s not out to get us,

He’s out to free us

as we have never known freedom before.

I don’t think I mentioned it when we were studying this passage a few weeks ago,

but I love the way Paul ends that second verse.

He tells us that we will know we have been renewed in our minds in some area

when we see the work of God in our lives

as it really is, “...that which is good and acceptable and perfect...”

Because we all enter this world

separated from our God

we all bring with us a deep suspicion of Him,

a distrust of our Creator.

But we will know we have finally seen things correctly,

seen HIM correctly

when we see that what He is offering us is truly that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Not just “good” to do,

but truly good in the deepest sense of the word,

good in the way that causes our spirits to overflow in gratitude to our Lord for His great kindness to us,

and acceptable in a way that makes us realize this is what we’ve been longing for all along,

and perfect for us as something can only be when it has been perfectly designed for us by the God who created us.

Let me state it more simply -

we will know we have been renewed in our minds in some area

not when we obey God,

but when we trust Him,

really trusting His love for us

and His intentions toward us.

We can obey out of fear,

but only the obedience that grows out of trust

will cause us to say, “Yes, Lord! This truly is good, and acceptable, and perfect.”

I worry sometimes when I say things like that,

I worry because it is so easy for us

to fail to link up truth with our lives.

So, to help us bridge that cavern,

let me just say this -

It may be that right now

there is some issue going on in your mind between you and your God.

You have something you very much want Him to do,

or something you want Him to NOT do,

something you want Him to give you,

or something you want Him to remove from your life,

and right now there is tension between you and your Creator over that issue.

So far He has not come through

with the answer you want,

and you have even come up with your own personal Plan ‘B’

in case He doesn’t deliver.

You know Plan ‘B’ isn’t what He has for you, of course.

It involves some maneuvering,

and manipulating,

and perhaps some deception and moral slight-of-hand,

and you know very well

that it’s all of you,

it’s not what God is doing through you or in you,

it’s what you’re doing to get around Him.

You’ve convinced yourself that it doesn’t really matter,

maybe even convinced yourself

that it’s something that doesn’t involve Him.

It’s already possessing your mind

in a way that’s getting to feel

like a very heavy burden,

but so far He hasn’t come through with what you want,

and you just don’t know what else to do.

Such battles are not uncommon for the people of God

because our default position is always the flesh,

and our flesh is always quick to offer us its agenda,

its goals,

and its means.

And this is exactly what Paul is talking about

when he calls us to, “... not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

And when you find battles like that

going on inside you,

let me see if I can offer some help.

First, let me point out

what you already know -

what you really want,

what you really long for

is that which is good, and acceptable, and perfect.

You want whatever you hold in your hands

when you get on the other side of this battle

to be something that truly has value and worth in your life.

If you have to sacrifice your integrity to get it,

if you compromise your own identity as a child of the King

in order to get what you want,

even if you pull it off

it will turn to dust in your hands,

and leave you feeling empty.

And then, second,

let me assure you

that what you really hunger for,

that which will cause your spirit

to overflow with praise and gratitude to God,

will be found only in His will.

“...that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

For your own sake

I urge you to return to trust in His love for you.

If He has not given you what you’ve asked for,

if He has not done it your way,

it is because He loves you far too much to honor your request.

What He has for you

is so much better,

so good, and acceptable and perfect,

that it doesn’t even compare with

with what you thought you needed.

Now look at that -

I said I wasn’t going to reteach those first two verses of Romans 12,

and that’s exactly what I did.

But, you see,

this is the heart of what Paul is talking about

when he calls us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice,

and then tells us that our lives will be transformed

as we daily renew ourselves to truth.

At the heart of that renewal process

is our acceptance once again

of the reality of our God’s perfect love for us

and absolute understanding

of what our spirit really longs for.

Next week

we will get to that 3^rd principle.