Church Sermon - August 28, 2005

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Jeremiah 15:15-21
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 16:21-26
Sermon Text; Romans 12:1-8

There was a little baby boy born without any ears. His mother and father were quite concerned, so they talked to the doctor. They asked the doctor what could be done. The doctor said that nothing could be done, until their little one grew up to be an adult. And, at that time, if a donor (someone who dies and donates his or her ears) could be found, then an ear transplant could be done.

And so, here they had this little son, with no ears.

When he grew and went to grade school, he was teased and made fun of. It was a hard life.

Finally, when he got into high school, he went in for his annual check up with the doctor. His mom and dad asked the doctor, "Now that he is in high school, and he has gotten bigger, can we do the ear transplant?"

The doctor said, "Not yet. He is still growing. We are going to have to wait."

And so, he went through his high school years and he was teased and made fun of.

Finally, when he went in for his check up in his senior year of high school, the doctor looked at the boy’s charts and said, "Now you have come to be a grown man. If we can find someone, who, when they die will donate their ears to you, we can do the transplant."

The boy was excited, (to say the least) and so were his parents. However, he went through his whole senior year and never did find anybody to donate his or her ears to him. So, he went off to college with some fear and trepidation in his heart.

He was in college for two weeks with no ears, when there was a phone call. It was his dad on the other end of the line. His dad said, "Son, you need to go to the airport right away. Get on the plane and come home. Go right to the hospital, because we found somebody to donate their ears."

And so, the son got on the plane, and went immediately to the hospital, where they did the ear transplant. The next day he had to go right back to college. He was so happy!

About two months later, he got another phone call. It was from his dad, again. With voice shaking, his dad said, "Son, your mother died and went to Heaven. You are going to have to come home for her funeral."

And so, the son flew home. He walked into the funeral home and saw his mom lying there in the casket. He walked up to her and wanted to say his goodbyes to her. He began to touch her face and accidentally brushed her hair with his hands. It was then that he saw she had no ears.

There was a mother who was willing to sacrifice a great deal, for her own son, so that her son would not have to go through life being laughed at and made fun of.

Think about how much

He did not just sacrifice his ears. He sacrificed his eyes, his hands, his mouth, his body - everything, everything. He sacrificed everything, so that you and I (not so that we don’t have to be made fun of in this life, but rather so), we don’t have to endure the eternal mockery of the devil in Hell, because of something we lack. And, what we lack is our own righteousness.

What an awesome sacrifice our Savior made for us. What mercy Jesus has for us!

And, to take that even more deeply, I will tell you about a little boy, named James Harper, in Tampa, Florida. Back in 1978, he got a brand new, little puppy. One day he was playing with the puppy he loved, on a train trestle. As they were playing, a train came. James saw that the train was about to hit his little puppy, so he jumped and pushed his puppy out of the way. That train hit James. He did not loose his life, but he lost his legs.

Think about that. There is a boy, a precious little boy, who sacrificed his legs for a little dog. The little dog, in comparison to James, was of little or no value, whatsoever. And yet, James loved that little dog so much that he sacrificed his legs, for something of far less value than he was.

Now, think about our Savior and you. Think about the difference in value between Jesus Christ and you. Jesus is of more value than we could ever, ever begin to estimate. He is the eternal God, perfect and holy in every sense. He is of ultimate value. And then think of you and me. What does scripture say about us? Scripture says in very point blank terms, taken from Romans chapter 3,

"There is no one righteous, not even one;

there is no one who understands,

no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one that does good,

not even one."

"Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit."

"The poison of vipers is on their lips."

"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."

"Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know."

"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

What does God say about all of us there, every one of us? Worthless. Worthless! I have nothing to offer, in my natural state to God, except worthlessness – sin, evil, an enemy of God.

What mercy it is, when God, who saw that train of His anger and wrath flying toward us, (which should have knocked us into the oblivion of Hell for all eternity, which is what we deserve, because we are worthless), what mercy it is, when Jesus threw Himself in front of the train of God’s anger and wrath. Jesus, Himself, was knocked into the oblivion of Hell, to suffer and pay for our sins. The one of ultimate value, giving up His life, sacrificing all, for those who are worthless. What mercy our God has! What mercy, in His sacrifice! And, because of what Jesus did, whoever believes in Him, shall be saved!

Now, as Lutherans, it is easy to go home and say, "That’s it. I know I am saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And that is awesome."

But, Brothers and Sisters, it does not stop there. Every one of us sitting here needs to ask ourselves, "How does that affect me? How does that change my life? What do I want to do, because of the mercy God has shown me?"

And so, our scripture reading begins this way. "Therefore, I urge you," (now, this is not a command, it is not demand of God, it is an urging, it is an exhortation). "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy," (as you look at how merciful God has been to you, in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He has paid for you). "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship."

There, scripture does not demand, doesn’t command, but because of the Gospel, because of what Jesus has done, it motivates us to say; "I want to be a living sacrifice for Jesus, my Savior."

Now, let’s pick apart those words, "living sacrifice." The Holy Spirit could have chosen a number of words for the word "sacrifice". He could have used a word that today we might translate, "donation, contribution, offering". But, that is not the word the Holy Spirit chose. The Holy Spirit chose a very specific word for the word "sacrifice." It is from the Greek word, "theo" which means, "to go up in smoke". To go up in smoke - He is talking about an offering, a sacrifice that was placed on the altar. It was burned up and it was gone. It went up in smoke. What happened to offerings that went up in smoke? They had been dedicated for one thing and one thing only. If I had a sheep, I could have used it for wool. I could have used it for food. I could have used it for milk. I could have used it for cheese, but I put it on the altar. I gave it to the LORD, and it went up in smoke. At that point, it was not going to be used for anything else. It was never going to be used for wool. It was not going to be used for milk. It was not going to be used for food. It had been given over completely, for one purpose, and one purpose only. And that purpose was in service to God. All other purposes had gone up in smoke. Scripture says,

That means, as we look at the body God has given us, and everything our body contains, (our mind, our soul and our emotions), as we look at the body God has given us, scripture urges us to use it for one purpose and one purpose only. Every other purpose should go up in smoke, not to be used for any other purpose but for the LORD, Himself, for Jesus, our Savior, in view of the mercy He has for me.

Of course, that involves sacrifice. Sacrifice means it is going to be hard and it is going to be painful. Our sinful nature does not want to give up the use of this body, these eyes, these ears, and this mind. It is a sacrifice. And, the world may laugh, if we use our eyes and our ears only for the LORD. That is a sacrifice. And it is hard.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers,

in view of God’s mercy,

to offer your bodies as living sacrifices."

Then scripture goes on and explains how that is done. It says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

The world has a very specific pattern how it considers our body should be used. You go to work, and there is a pretty specific pattern on how people’s mouths get used. You go to high school, and there is a pretty specific pattern on how the world thinks our bodies should be used.

But here scripture says, "Don’t conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

As God’s people, who know God’s mercy, as we look in scripture, we see scripture teaches us how to use our mouths, which is not in a way that conforms to the world, but conforms to the way God created our mouths to be used. God, in scripture, tells us how to use our bodies, which is in a way that God intends them to be used. 1 Corinthians 6, talks about sexual immorality. There, God tells us that our body was bought at a great price. Jesus bought my body at a huge price. It does not belong to me. It belongs to Him. The Holy Spirit lives in my body. This is His temple. I should not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed, because our minds are renewed in scripture. And the Holy Spirit leads us in the way that we use our bodies, as living sacrifices, totally dedicated only to the use of our Savior.

Then our scripture reading goes on, and it gets even more specific. It says, "I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

And then it says,

"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought."

And then listen to what it says. Remember, it has talked about Jesus sacrificing His body for us, and we giving our bodies to Him in His service. And now it talks about using our bodies in service to the body of Christ, all believers. "Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying (that is preaching), let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."

There scripture reminds us, as we consider ourselves living sacrifices, totally dedicated to the LORD, all of us need to realize, as we think about ourselves in sober judgment, "God has not given me the gifts to do everything for Him, but God has given to me a specific set of gifts, a specific set of talents. He has given me this body, these ears, these eyes, this mind. And it is to be used in service to the body of Christ in accordance with the gifts that God has given me. With the gifts God has given me, in particular, I want to use those as a living sacrifice, only for the purpose of God."

Scripture gives us some examples. "If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is teaching, let him teach." And it goes on.

About 200 years ago there was a young man by the name of Abraham Bininger, who lived in Switzerland. When he was seventeen years old, he, his mom, and his dad were immigrating here to the United States. Unfortunately, his mom and dad died on the ship, on the way over.

Abraham was a believer. He went to a seminary, because he wanted to learn to become a pastor. While he was in seminary, he heard about the island of St. Thomas. He heard that the slaves on St. Thomas were ignorant and miserable. In his heart he wanted to go and preach to them the saving Gospel message of Jesus, so they could be comforted in their misery. So, he went down to St. Thomas.

He tried to go about the work of preaching the Gospel to these slaves, but he was told he could not do it. It was illegal. He was told that the only person who could speak to a slave was a fellow slave, because the slave owners wanted to keep the slaves ignorant.

And so, Abraham Bininger wrote a letter to the governor. In the letter he said, "I request that I be made a slave, so I can go and work as a slave. And, I promise that I will be a slave for the rest of my life, so that I can go and teach the slaves about Jesus, our Savior."

Now, there was a man who was willing to make a huge, living sacrifice, so that he could go and preach.

Our scripture reading says that if the gift God has given to you is preaching or teaching, then preach, then teach." That calls to mind living sacrifice. Be willing to make a living sacrifice. Look at the sacrifice St. Paul made, because he was called to preach and teach. St. Paul was willing to be stoned, be shipwrecked, to be thrown in prison, to be hungry, to be poor, to have nothing, to be made fun of, to be persecuted. If only he could have the privilege of preaching and teaching, he was willing to make great sacrifices and be a living sacrifice to carry out the position, which God called him to. And so, if you are a pastor or a teacher, I urge you to be living sacrifice, in view of God’s mercy. That may mean giving up worldly fame. It may mean giving up worldly goods, and worldly honor. It may mean long hours. It may mean sleepless nights. But, look at the sacrifice our Savior made for us. Let’s be living sacrifices for our Savior.

He goes on and says that if your gift "is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."

God urges all of us, in view of God’s mercy, to be living sacrifices. You know the talents, the skills, the abilities, the treasures that God has given you and the position in life to which He has called you. Scripture urges you to be a living sacrifice, to use the talents, the abilities, the skills, and the treasures God has given you, given your specific situation in life, to use them and dedicate them only to the service of Christ.

And, for every other purpose, they should go up in smoke. Whether that means how we use our finances, or how we use our time, as we see someone who is in need, and needs our listening ear, or how we use our hands in service to God. God urges us. He says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices."

Now, we all have to admit that we fall far short of totally dedicating everything we have and everything we are, only to the service of Jesus, our Savior. And, thank God we don’t get to Heaven by the kind of sacrifices we offer our Savior.

We get to Heaven by

Christ’s mercy,

only

and the value of His sacrifice

for us.

Scripture says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices."

God grant that to all of us, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

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