Romans 12:1-8

Sermon preached in St. Bartholomew’s Parish – Stranmillis
Sunday 4th January 2009 – Evening Prayer Service

May the words of my mouth and the mediations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable in thy sight o Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

On this, the first Sunday of 2009, I wonder have you made any new years resolutions? – Maybe giving up something or taking up something

One particular website I was reading this week gives a top 10 of new year Resolutions:

1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends
2. Fit in Fitness
3. Loose weight
4. Quit Smoking
5. Enjoy Life More
6. Quit Drinking
7. Get Out of Debt
8. Learn Something New
9. Help Others
10. Get Organized
All of these are of course great in themselves – getting more out of life. However statistics show
That 52% of were confident of success with their goals only 12% actually achieved their goals.

New Year is a great time to stop and look and listen, to reflect and to take stock of where we are.

As Christians it is important to do the same –we are called to bring our actions, our words, our thoughts into line with Jesus’ teaching, into line with what scripture tells us.

Let us then look into the text of tonight Epistle reading Romans Chapter 12 which can be found on page 1139

One of the drawbacks of the Lectionary which our church uses is the fact we dip in and out of books which is exactly what we are doing tonight.

The first word in our reading is “therefore”. In our studies when we see this word in a passage we simply have to ask “What is it there for?”.

Chapter 12 comes in after 11 chapters in Pauls letter to the Romans explaining the good news of Jesus systematically, answering many of the objections and questions which the Roman Christians had, he has if you like, tackled the major difficulties they had with believing that Jesus is the messiah and lots of the issues people have had with the Christian message.

Now he gets onto the practical outworking of this message – Therefore, he says to his readers, present your bodies as a living sacrifice

To offer their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

Let us take a few moments to stop and think about this – what does it mean?

In our day, sacrifice seems such an alien concept when one is looking to get the most out of life and society tells us to get wealthy, look after number 1!

Let us remember the context which this was written, a time when there was many temples to many gods, and the idea of sacrifice was everywhere.
The reasons behind the sacrifices were also diverse – to placate the gods, sacrifice too was in the Jewish mindset – we know that throughout the Old Testament there was many rules around the sacrificial system. When it comes to Christian teaching – what do we mean by a living sacrifice?

We also understand that there are various types of sacrifice – Atoning sacrifice – That is – to remove sin. As Christians we know that Jesus was the all sufficient Sacrifice, however what we are talking about here is the thanksgiving sacrifice.

Well, when we think about sacrifice, it would be an animal who has no idea what they are doing, what is happening to them,

As rational human beings if we are to be a living sacrifice, the altar is not the best place to be, its not a natural place to find ourselves, it is not a comfortable place to be.

The problem with a living sacrifice is that it jumps off, again and again and again.

As Christians we are not tied down on the altar like animal sacrifices – the living sacrifice has the option not to be, we have to decide to be.

What does this look like in every day life. Quite simply it means us surrendering our will to God, it is asking “What would Jesus do” in this or that circumstance. This is not a natural thing to do.


Think for the moment of the offertory prayer which we pray

For thine O Lord is the Greatness, the power, the glory, the victory and the majesty
All things come from thee and of thine own have we given thee

When we look at sacrifice in these terms, if we think that God has given us life then our prayer becomes – we want to know you, we want to give it all back to you God as a thank offering.

It is then amazing what happens when we do – he uses us to be a blessing to others

Although we offer ourselves as sacrifice, we come to realise that it is the only way to live the only way to make sense of the world – things slot into place.

Jesus in John’s Gospel says – in 10:10 I have come that they may have life and have it to the full

In our world today it is not easy being a Christian – In Northern Ireland on the surface we are a peaceful country, no persecution of Christians however there is growing apathy towards the gospel, growing secularisation of society, consumerism replacing the gospel values. However, positively, we do have the opportunity to reach out to those who are seeking answers to the deepest questions.

We as Christians need to realise that we have a radical alternative way of life, answers to the fundalmental questions of existence and to eternal issues.

We can be an iguana – blending into whatever colour of background we find ourselves but surely we should me more like an elephant – standing tall ready against whatever we find.

It is a shame to think that there are so many Christians who are conforming to the worlds beliefs and prevailing cultures – and not standing up for what the Bible teaches.

We are challenged in this passage to be transformed so that we will be able to discern what God’s will is.

So far we have seen that Paul is urging his readers
- to think about their lives lived as sacrifices to God
- to look at the prevailing culture and to critique it and not to necessarily conform to it

Finally I believe that there is challenge to the church corporately in this passage – to realise that each person is unique, different people, different gifts, talents, skills and passions. Your gifting is not my gifting, the circle of your friends are not my circle of friends. Each of us has a different task to do, a different job to do.

Whatever you do – it can be done in a way which brings glory to God.

The word Christian literally means “Little Christ’s”. The church here - St. Bartholomew’s has lots of little Christ’s - people who are living out the gospel in the midst of the community, people who are using the gifts, their talents, their time – both in the church, its societies and through worship. If you are doing that, be encouraged, If you would like to become involved then have a chat with the rector, the wardens.


Paul is urging his readers to:
- Think about their lives lived as sacrifices to God
- To critique the prevailing culture
- To realise that each individual is unique in their gifting and needs the support of one another in the Christian community
Therefore, in light of all of this and to conclude I wonder what our Christian Resolutions could be this year?

How do we know how to live our lives as Christians?
Could we commit to reading the Bible Daily – if we find it difficult some good reading notes are available.

Could we maybe seek to do a bible study in the parish? – maybe speak to the rector or curate.

How do we critique the prevailing culture?
Do we know what is happening in our land? What the issues concerning our neighbours and friends are? What should the church be doing about them?

Could we pray for the church? Either at home or at the parish prayer meeting

If we believe that the church is the body – do we know where we fit in?
Do we know where our gifts are?, what do we enjoy doing? Could we make tea on a Sunday morning? Could we welcome people at the door? Could we do the occasional prayers? Do we know what needs done?

What could we do this year to build the church here in Stranmillis as well as our faith in Christ.

Let us pray

Heavenly Father

We pray that you would challenge us to change those things in our own lives which are conforming to the worlds standards and not to yours and at the start of this new year we pray that you would speak into our lives and help us to identify those areas in which we need to work on. In Jesus name we pray amen.