"In View of God's Mercy": How to be a sober sinner and not a Rockette or Mr. Potato Head ~ Romans 12:1-8 (Life Together Sermon Series, No. 4)

 
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. ² 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. ³ For by the grace given me I say to every one 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. ⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ 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. ~ Romans 12:1-8

I was a grad. student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, working as a TA for one of my favorite professors, the historian of early Christianity, Hal Drake, who had a wicked sense of humor. His first exam always closely followed Halloween which was a big event at the University leading many students to forego classes for parties, costumes, and other unmentionable things in excess. These students weren’t worried because they knew that Dr. Drake recorded all of his lectures, so they would head to the library afterwards to hear about any exam prep they needed to know about. At the class in which he talked about the exam, however, when there were few students present, he welcomed all the students and told them not to laugh. He then held the recorder in his hand, “Welcome to Western Civilization with Hal Drake. I now would like to speak about the exam. The most important think you need to know if you have any hope of passing this class is . . .” CLICK. And with that he turned off the tape recorder. The students present snickered. He then pushed record again . . .” That’s right. Any failure to do any of these will leave you failing. So don’t forget that you must . . .” CLICK. I told you – a wicked sense of humor. He did love the train of students who would be at his office a few days later wanting to know what was so important.  

Sometimes, we as believers are like that. We act like we’ve missed the instructions and not heard the heart of the exam – that God has mercifully sought to redeem us in Jesus Christ. And we’ve caught Paul mid-lecture with our text this morning, “Therefore, in view of God’s mercy.” And with short phrase Paul summarizes the preceding 11 chapters of serious theology believing that this theology had implications for the church to help them think and act differently. Paul’s message is . . .

    1.    If you want to think differently, start with mercy.  

In the previous chapters in Romans – mercy was the theme. Paul has been recounting God’s mercies toward undeserving people by sending his son to die for them thereby declaring them justified and reconciled and offering them his life-giving Spirit. In chs. 9-11 mercy receives in greater attention. For salvation depends “not on human will . . . but on God who shows mercy” (9:16), and his purpose is “to make known the riches of his glory for objects of his mercy” (9:23), which, of course, means you. You are an object of mercy. But Paul goes on also to forcefully claim God’s undying mercy for “all Israel” (11:26). Friends, let’s talk. Last week in Pittsburgh some Jewish brothers and sisters were not met with mercy – they were met with a gun and murdered – in the worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. And there is an increasing rhetoric of hate and disgust in this nation that is creating tragic consequences, resulting in a painful silence on the part of us who have been called and formed by God’s mercy. This is “the world” that is currently seeking to conform us – to shape us into a pattern of hate toward one another, particularly those who are different. Don’t be conformed to this world, Paul warns. 

How are we to discern how to behave in this world? How will we know “what is the will of God”? Paul’s answer in our passage is not a rule but a vision of “mercy” (vs. 1) and “grace” (vs. 3) which transforms our thinking. It’s why our confession at communion is the declaration not of specific sins but of our lack of love. Start with love. Let “in view of God’s mercy” do its work. Begin every political statement, every social critique, every judgment on sin, every economic plan, every immigration concern, with the phrase, “in view of God’s mercy.” You will only be able to determine the will of God in any of these by standing in a story of redemption – God’s plan to not give us what we deserve but to give us what we need. You will only be able to resist being “conformed to this world” by experiencing God’s mercy. In vs. 3, Paul says “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you” NOT “by the wisdom given me,” or “the authority given me,” or “by the political power given me.” Speaking “by the grace given” is a sign of a transformed mind. How did Paul get there? What reveals such transformation?

      2.    If you want to be merciful, be a sober sinner.
 

In vs. 3, Paul argues that nothing is more detrimental to ministry, nothing is more toxic to helping others than an intoxicated self. Be sober, he warns. We need to learn from our AA friends that being sober means first confessing your own sin. “Hi, my name is Jon and I’m an alcoholic.” They don’t say, “Hi, my name is Jon and Judy’s an alcoholic and so is Stan, Paul, Debbie and Claire.” It’s recognizing the problem that mercy lovingly uncovers in you not others. In Romans 2, Paul reminds, it’s God’s kindness or mercy that leads to repentance. And I would like to use Paul as an example of such a transformation.

c. 36 A.D. Acts 9:29-31: He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. ³⁰ When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. ³¹ Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

c. (17 years later) 53 A.D. Galatians 2:6: ⁶ As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message.

c. 54 A.D. 1 Corinthians 15:3-9: ³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.


c. 62 A.D. Ephesians 3:7-8: ⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. ⁸ Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,

c. 65 A.D. 1 Timothy 1:12-15: ¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. ¹³ Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. ¹⁴ The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
 

Bonhoeffer, sounding a lot like the Apostle Paul, is right: “Finally, one extreme thing must be said. To forego self-conceit and to associate with the lowly means, in all soberness and without mincing the matter, to consider oneself the greatest of sinners.” ~ Life Together

The clearest sign that we are transformed, that we live and serve in view of God’s mercy, is the sober reckoning of our own sinfulness. And a sober sinfulness is not self-loathing or self-hatred but the self-knowledge that much of the world’s tragedy and despair exists within me. That the villains of this world are rarely sinister people out to sow destruction but good people who refuse to acknowledge the darkness within, who refuse to see they’re complicity in harming others, who refuse to live by mercy but rather choose instruments of fear and violence. Remember, the Paul who was persecuting Christians was deeply religious and he believed that he was acting rightly on behalf of God. He was not, however, sober.

       3.    If you want to be a church, don’t be a Rockette or Mr. Potato Head. 

Paul draws a powerful analogy by likening the church to a body – which highlights the unity of the church and the diversity of members thus challenging two different problems or perspectives that existed in the church at Rome and even still today. 

Some often chafe against such a body image of diverse parts by preferring a much more conservative identity (a more Jewish one) in which we stress uniformity and conformity. And so the church becomes like the Rockettes whereby we all look and sound alike – a sameness that cannot tolerate different looks, sizes or perspectives. And Paul critiques this notion, that we should all be the same. We are many members, he argues. So a healthy church is one which displays such graceful diversity with a certain delight because it is not in our conformity that we are made into a body but through the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. He is the one who calls diverse inviduals and gives us different grace gifts to serve one another.
 On the other hand, we find some who prize diversity and yet chafe against Paul’s claim that we should also embrace a certain oneness. These prefer a more liberal sense of individuality (a more Roman view) in which the church becomes a loose collection of people who do whatever they want without any claim upon each other. And so the church becomes like a Mr. Potato Head whereby we remove parts or limbs to suit our liking, our needs, our respectability. We can leave whenever for another limb will easily replace us. And Paul critiques this notion saying, “each member belongs to all the others.” So a healthy church is one which displays a shared, resolved oneness because it is not only in our diversity that we are the church but in our unwavering belief that Jesus brings us together as one. It means you hurt others and yourself if you leave.

Both correctives, find their center “in Christ” and “in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” And that faith is not some individual belief but the gospel itself “the” faith. And so saving faith does require a sense of unity, a focus of belief, a sense that some things are necessary, particularly the simple but profound truth that Jesus is Lord and saves us from our sins. And yet that same Jesus who makes us one chose tax collectors and fisherman, Roman soldiers, and Jewish terrorists, wealthy women and blind beggars, Democrats and Republicans, blacks and whites, Jews and Gentiles, you and me. So which perspective might you need to repent of today. Have you maligned another believer and said that they don’t belong? Have you suggested that we have no center and have no claim on each other? You are not a Rockette or Mr. Potatohead – you are one body with diverse members. 

“We are a body,” Paul declares.  And I’m tired of being a body for Jesus that seems to have cancer or one that mutilates itself. It all begins with mercy. In mercy you were saved, in mercy you were called, in mercy you should worship, in mercy you are to behave, in mercy you, you specifically are loved and so are they, in mercy you are not your own. Amen.