Date: June 4, 2006
Speaker: Doug Dapo
Title: Serving God as Functioning Members in His Body
Core Verses: Romans 11:36, 12:1-6a;
Proverbs 4:23; Philippians 4:8; Titus 3:5; 2 Tim 3:16;
Main Point:
Romans 12:1-6a show us that we can
serve God as functioning members in His Body.
If we are willing to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, and open
to the Lord to allow Him to transform us, He will renew our minds. As God renews our mind by the Spirit and the Word,
so also we are supplied with faith and grace to function.
Summary of
Message:
What a great blessing to realize that we can serve God as
functioning members in His body! Our
serving God is based on a decision that everything that I am and have is from
God and through God and to God (Rom. 11:36).
Everything that I am and have is because of God’s compassions toward me
(Rom 12:1). So then, it only makes sense
that I come to the logical, intelligent, rational, and reasonable conclusion
that my life is to serve my God!
Our serving God begins by
presenting our bodies a living sacrifice.
After this, God takes us on a wonderful journey of transformation. This is a life-long process. Romans 12:2 says “be transformed.” “Be transformed” is active/passive. This means that I cannot transform myself, only God can (Passive). But
God can’t transform me unless I open to Him and give Him the permission to work
in me (Active). I take the initiative to
open to the Lord, to contact Him, and to seek Him. That is active. Then I let the Lord touch my thinking. I do not assume to know. I am willing to let the Lord show me
something new. This is passive.
By
allowing God to touch our thinking, God transforms us by renewing our
mind. Our mind is so precious. It is like a garden needing constant
care. Proverbs
In Romans
12, transformation by the renewing of the mind is so that we can function as
members in the Body. Sometimes we allow
thoughts into our minds that can kill our functioning. Examples of functioning killers in our mind are: I can’t
function because: “I’m afraid (FEAR-false
evidence appearing real), I’m different (COMPARING-I can’t be like others), I
can’t do much (DESPISING), I’m too young, I’m too old, or I’m too weak.”
It is by faith and grace
that we can be rescued from all the functioning killers in our mind. As God renews our mind by the Spirit and the
Word, so also we are supplied with faith and grace to function. “…God has apportioned to each a measure of faith”
(Rom 12:3).
“And having gifts
that differ according to the grace given to us…” (Rom 12:6a). By faith we are strengthened to step out to
serve the Lord. By faith we have the
ability to believe in the Lord, trust in the Lord, and depend
on Him! (2 Cor
The Lord is in us as
grace to be our supply of energy in our serving (2 Tim
Consider what the Lord’s
Word has to say about our functioning as members in His Body. When fear comes to rob you of your
functioning, you can function because God has not given you a
spirit of cowardice but of power and of love and of sobermindedness (2 Timothy
1:7). When you consider yourself
different from others, you can function because Romans 12:4 and Romans
12:6a say that all the members do not have the same function and we have
different gifts. When you consider that
you cannot do much and despise your function, remember you can
function because you are able to do all things through Christ who empowers you
(Philippians