Sunday AM Nov. 6, 2011

Introduction

Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to impose a little bit on your time to express, first of all, my sincere appreciation and that of my beloved Norma for the kind invitation to come and be with you this week. I’ve looked forward to this for quite a long time, and I especially looked forward to it when I knew that Tony and Cherry would be here. I have loved them almost as my own for a long time. Appreciated their faithfulness and the work that they’ve done in the kingdom has not been without note by me. So I’m looking forward to being with Tony and Cherry all week this week, too. It’s a joy to see some of you I haven’t seen in a long time.

And I thank you for your kind remarks to me this morning. It’s been a joy already to be with you. I hope to do a good thing for you this week. I want to say to you that I didn’t come here to impress you. I don’t have anything with which to impress you. I’m not very pretty, you’ve already noticed that. But if you’re interested in the Word of God, I have a story to tell you. I have a message I want you to listen to. I have a thing that relates to eternity about which I want to speak. I have something that reaches off to the annals of time, past the annals of time, and lands at the very throne of God Almighty. If you’re interested in that, then we’ll have a good week in spite of me.

Thank you for your kind invitation, and thank you for what will happen during the week. Open your Bibles, if you will, to the twelfth chapter of the book of Romans. Romans chapter 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry, let us wait on our ministry, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation, abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectionate one toward another with brotherly love, in honor, preferring one another, not slothful in busyness, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints given to hospitality.

Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind, one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap holes of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

It makes no difference if you want to talk about athletics or if you want to talk about economics or if you want to talk about chemistry. No matter what you want to talk about, if it has a human involvement in it, attitude is important. A football coach will tell you he’d rather have a man with good talent and excellent attitude rather than a man who had excellent talent and no attitude. One is easy to manage, the other is what Romans chapter 12 is all about, as we shall see in a few moments. I wish you could have known Brother James Ianson. Tony would have known him and Sherry would have grown up with it. Brother Ianson was the retro officer in Apollo 13. He was an elder at the Southside Church where I’ve labored for 35 years.

And he was a wonderful, godly man. He used to invite me to come out once in a while and sit at that very console that you see on television and watch as they flew simulated flights to the moon. And I would sit as they were in the con in the capsule and I would hear him talk back and forth. Had a set of earphones and I could hear. One day I was out there and he kept talking about adjusting the attitude of the spacecraft. And when it came time for coffee, I asked him, I said, Jim, when you talk about the attitude of the spacecraft and adjusting it, what do you mean? He said, Well, he took a napkin, I’ll never forget it, and he drew a circle on it, and he said, This is the earth.

Then he drew a dash around it, and he said, This is the atmosphere of the earth. When the projectile, the spacecraft comes back into the atmosphere, if it’s pointed down too much, it’ll back the friction will attend to it and it will burn up in the atmosphere. If it’s pointed too far the other way, it’ll bounce off the atmosphere and go out into space, and we can’t retrieve it. So the attitude of the spacecraft is very important. I said, Jim, how would you define the word attitude? He had a handlebar mustache. Ashen complexion, slightly balding, restored corvettes, flew a Japanese zero in those Torah flight shows. He was an interesting fellow. His brow furrowed. He twitched his mustache and suddenly he looked at me with the right smile and he said, Bowman, attitude is where you are in relation to where you ought to be.

1. Our Attitude Toward God

Now work on that in your mind for a minute. Attitude is where you are in relation to where you ought to be. That’s a pretty good way to say it. In Romans chapter 12, we have a story of attitudes. We have a story of your attitude toward God and what it ought to be. We have the story of your attitude toward yourself and what that ought to be. We have a story of your attitude toward others and what that ought to be. And we have an attitude when others oppose you and what that ought to be. I ask your indulgence as we discuss those propositions for a few minutes. First of all, our attitude toward God. It’s simple. He says, you ought to give your whole to God.

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Now notice what he says. He says, I beseech you, I beg you, brethren, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. In the very first place, our attitude toward God must be one of self presentation. What that says is that we subordinate our will to his will. We give ourselves to him. We present ourselves to him. And that presentation is a strong word. That saying I do it willingly. That’s saying that I, that’s saying that I have already made up my mind what I’m going to do with myself, and I’m going to deliberately, forcefully give myself to God with purpose and determination.

I’m going to give myself to God. It’s a sacrificial kind of statement. And it’s a statement that includes the entirety of who you are. He said, I’m going to present myself, I want you to present yourself a living sacrifice. Now I know you’ve heard forever that is just the words that speak to the difference between the living sacrifice and the dead sacrifices of the old law. And surely it has some sort of connection to that, but there’s more to it than that. What he’s saying is that I want you to present yourself a living sacrifice. That is a sacrifice that lives every day for God. That lives every day with God in mind. That means that every decision that I make will be made with how with relation to that will with a with determination that will affect my relationship to God.

I will look at every decision and I will say, how is this going to affect my relationship to God? I’m presenting myself a living sacrifice to him. How is this going to affect that? I’m going to present myself every day to God. That means every day when you get up in the morning, you give yourself to God all day that day. That means that everything that you do is going to be done with relation to how it will affect your relationship with God. So present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. First of all, it is a sacrifice that is dedicated, it is a holy sacrifice. That simply means sanctified. That means that you’ve set yourself apart to God.

You’ve made yourself acceptable to God, one that pleases Him. You don’t live any longer with your own will and force. You live with His will and force in your life. So then, a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service. I’m reading the old King James. And I know that most translations say spiritual service or other words are used to just to define the Greek word there. I believe the King James is correct on this passage. I use the King James because in the front of it says authorized version. You do it there. I figure if it was good enough for the apostles, it’s good enough for me, you know. Let me tell you something. I tried to change. I’ve been preaching a long time.

I tried to change, I was going to go to the new King James. You would not believe what I was quoting. It was awful. I finally just gave up, and I told Norma I’m just going to go back and do what I do. So you’ll just have to put up with me this week. So he says, which is your reasonable service. And I think it’s right. It’s a the Greek word here, it is a form of our word logic. Now I want to say to you what he’s saying here, in my opinion. He says, present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. What that’s saying is, it’s the only service that makes any sense at all. It’s the only service that has the kind of end that it promises.

It’s the only service that will make you happy every day, regardless of externalities. It’s the only service that allows you to live your life, knowing that no matter how bad things become in this life, you’re just a step away from an eternal existence in the pleasure in the presence of God Himself. What a wonderful life that is. That is a wonderful life. He said, it’s the only life that really makes any sense. Any other life doesn’t make any sense. You can go out here and you young people can have yourself a big party, and you can do all kinds of things to make yourself feel good, to get all kinds of highs going and do things like that. And you can get highs without dope. You can get highs just on living life and that kind of thing.

Just not denying anything that your body wants at any time. You can do that. But when you get through with it, what do you have? There’s no substance to it. There’s no quality in it. There isn’t anything in it that makes any sense at all. It’s just having a little fun for the moment. And that moment is going to disappear, and when that moment disappears, you’re going to have to look God in the face and say, I didn’t present my body a living sacrifice, even though I knew it was a reasonable service. I wanted to do some other things, that’s not going to work. You’re going to spend your life in eternal damnation because you didn’t see that the life that is makes any sense, the life that is really reasonable, is to present yourself voluntarily, sacrificially to God, and say, I’m going to give myself to you.

And that’s the life that makes any sense. He says it is your reasonable service, and then he makes some other applications to it. And be not conform to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. He says, be not conform to this world. Our English word conformed is almost an exact translation of the word in the Greek here. It is conformed. It’s from the Latin con, which has the force of with and forma, form. So he says, be not formed with the world. You have two choices. You can let the world form you, or you can be formed according to God. It’s that way. That’s how it works. If you’re formed with the world, you know what happens? You begin to look like the world.

You begin to talk like the world. You begin to dress like the world. You lose your distinctiveness. You have no uniqueness in the kingdom. You’ve completely lost your connection to God. And you’re formed with the world. The world does your thinking for you. The world tells you what’s fun. The world tells you what how to make a living. The world tells you how to cheat. The world tells you how to do all kinds of things that are outside the relationship that you ought to be having with yourself presented body to God. So you be formed, be not conformed to the world, but be ye transformed. Now I’m not going to bore you with the old Chrysalis moth illustrations about metamorphosis, but that is the word here, meta, which means after and morpha change the after, that’s the same kind of thing.

Be transformed. Be transformed, change the very form of who you are. And I’ll tell you how that begins. It begins with the forgiveness of sins. You can’t be transformed into a right relationship to God without first having the forgiveness of your sins. And what that says is he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. And when somebody is initiated into the kingdom of God, they begin to be transformed. And they’re transformed by the renewing of their mind. It’s a constant renewal kind of process. And so we have to be transformed. And we’re transformed by getting the forgiveness of our sins. And then connecting ourselves to the word of God to such an extent that it becomes the guide in our lives. God has given us that, you see.

He has given us this word in order that it might guide our lives. All scripture is inspired of God. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God, that there you are, that the man of God might be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work. What that says is that when you have this word, you have everything that you need for every kind of situation. It will teach you where you came from and why you’re here and where you’re going. It will teach you how to walk the right way. It will teach you how to kind of make the constant course corrections that are necessary to be pleasing to God. It will teach you how to grow.

It will teach you how to grow up. You’re going to grow up physically. You’re not going to need any help with that. But it will teach you how to grow up and mature spiritually. What a wonderful word we have. What a wonderful law God gave us. And what a wonderful transformation takes place because of our intimate association with that word of God. So he says, be not conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And that word is in the present, continuous active, which means constantly renewing your mind. You’re regularly doing that. You folks that are here this morning, these young people are listening so well, you’re renewing, constantly renewing your mind. That’s what you’re doing when you come. That’s the reason God gave the assembly.

That’s the reason he gave us study to show thyself approved unto God. We have to constantly be doing that to renew our minds. We have to constantly desire the milk of the word that you may grow thereby, you see. Constantly we have to be doing those kinds of things. Constantly renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. That good and perfect and acceptable will of God is made abundantly clear when somebody presents himself a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. Everything that God has to say is wrapped up in that good and perfect and acceptable.

It’s the will of God. It’s the wonderful measure of mankind. It’s the wonderful tactical procedure that sets forth a path of pursuit that eventuates an eternity with God. What a wonderful thing he has done in giving us the word. And I’ll tell you something. Could I just pause just a minute? Don’t leave Jesus out of your thinking. Sometimes I think we get so carried away with the scriptures themselves that we forget that the scriptures are about Jesus. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John before you read the epistles. Read about Jesus, read about what he did. Read about what he said. Read about how he taught people. Read about all of those things, and you’ll be not conformed to this world. It’ll help you with the renewal of your mind.

It’ll help you get that perfect and acceptable will of God in focus in your life. But you have to get back to Jesus. All the while we have to return to him who bought us with his blood. He is the important consideration. He is the personification of the gospel. He’s what the gospel is all about. We are talking this morning about the practical application of which ye died, of that which for which he died. So bear in mind that Jesus is the focal point. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

2. Our Attitude Toward Ourselves

Here he tells us how we ought to have what kind of attitude we ought to have toward ourselves. We ought not to think too highly of ourselves. That’s hard, you know that.

One of the biggest obstacles that every one of us has in our lives is our own pride. Pride is the biggest difficulty that I face. I pray every day to God, please knock me down, don’t let me be proud. There is no reason to be proud. We need to be humbled by the mere fact that we’re recipients of the things of God, that the blood of Christ has washed us clean. That ought to make us so humble. It ought not to make us proud at all. Listen, without him, I’ll tell you what we are. We’re a floating mass of protoplasm without any kind of worth at all. That’s what we are. We’re just a dust bucket, that’s all. And so we need to understand where we are without him.

And that’ll knock us back where we ought to be. We don’t have any reason to be proudful. And I would I say this to you about preachers too. We have a special problem with that. We’re in front of the people all the time. And the people offer their accolades and their appreciation and their respect. And that’s good. But I’ll tell you what, if you’re not careful, you hurt me because you make me too prideful. I’m not saying quit. I’m saying I need to be careful with what I have. And so does Tony, and so does anybody else that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. The attitude that we ought to have is one that does not think more highly of himself as he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

I love that. God has dealt to every man the measure of the faith. Then he talks about several things here. I think probably it’s so that all of these are spiritual gifts. But I don’t care where the gift came from, if it came spiritually manifested or it came because it was genetic. I don’t care which one it is. The management of those things must be done carefully. And what he says is if you’ll understand that God gave everybody something, that everybody has something to do, then you’ll understand that you should not be proud. You’ll think soberly about yourself. I can’t fix stuff. I’ve never made a living all my life except by talking. I spent 20 years in broadcasting before I was a preacher. And I just talked all the time.

That’s all. Every day. Good morning, folks, and welcome to K dub, you know. But I can’t fix stuff. I’ve never hit my thumb with a hammer. I don’t get that close to the nail. That’s the truth. And if I start to fix something goes wrong at the house, I say, I’ll get my two. Norma said, no, I’ll get somebody. Don’t you worry about it. So everybody has something he can do. Do you know that? Everybody has something in the kingdom that he can do. The same way. Everybody has a measure of faith. Everybody has something that is his. I tell the young preachers that I’ve tried to work with through the years, the gospel, the preaching is the gospel in personality.

Preaching is the gospel in personality. Not everybody is going to be like everybody else. We don’t want it that way. That wouldn’t do any good. Different personalities appeal to different people. And so we need every kind of a personality. And that’s what he’s saying here. He says, so we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another, having gifts differing according to the graces given to us. If we prophesy, he says, prophesy like you ought to. If you minister, then do it well. If you teach, do it well. If you exhort, do what? God gave you something to do. If he gave you something to do, and that something is preaching, that’s fine. If he gave you something to do as a qualified elder, that’s fine.

If he gave you something to do as a young person, then get on with the job. That’s all we need to do. Everybody doing his part and pulling together is what it’s all about. I hate jigsaw puzzles. I hate jigsaw puzzles. Norma loves jigsaw puzzles. My daughter Denise loves jigsaw puzzles. They’ll on a Sunday afternoon, it’s kind of rainy a little bit, and we’re watching the ball game, and they’ll break out a puzzle. Pour it on, like they first of all have to put up the table, you know. And then they break out the puzzle. 496,212 parts. Little old pieces like that. Lay it around there, and you’re going to put them back together. What in the world have we come to? And do you ever try to put the did you ever notice that every piece of a puzzle looks like every other piece of a puzzle?

That’s just the way that is. Oh, well, they’re putting the thing together, and they say, come put together with us, and I say, No, I’m watching the ball game. After a while, the cowboys are behind 45 to nothing. So I meander over and decide I’ll get close to the table there and look at a few pieces, you know, and I find one with the end on it, and I stick it over. Norman said that won’t fit there. Won’t fit there. I say, well, I knew it. I just was kind of move another one around, you know, a little bit. Finally I get where’s the box? I know the box will have the picture on the front of it, and I can look at that box and figure out which one to fit.

So they hand me the box. It’s a picture of popcorn. Every piece of popcorn that ever popped is just like every other piece of popcorn. And so I find one that has a kernel on it. Finally I fit it in there and I say, look at that. And she would say, I won’t fit there. I say, You want a bed it won’t fit there? Now listen to me a minute. I relaxed you a little bit. Listen to me a minute. Every piece of that puzzle is the same. Every piece of it protrudes to be received. Or to receive. Every part of it is indented to be received. It gives and it receives, every part of it. And when you put the parts together, it comprises the whole picture.

3. Our Attitude Toward Others

Do you not see what he’s saying here? That’s the same thing. We’re all members one of another. We’re one body in Christ, and yet we’re members one of another. And that’s the attitude that we must have all the time. We have to have the kind of attitude that I’m going to do my part, and I’m not going to be bad if I can’t do the part that you do. I wish I were red and you were green. It’s hard being green. It’s not easy being green, but I’m going to be green because that’s what I am, see? And so that’s what you do. That’s what Kermit the Frog says. It’s not easy being green. You be green because that’s who you are. And so if you can teach, you teach.

And if you can admonish, you admonish. If you’re a good elder, then be a good elder. If everybody does his part, then the whole becomes functional. And you know what that does? It solves about 99% of church problems. It gets rid of the pride. It says, Well, I need to let him do that. He’s better than I am at that. And I’ll grow and do better as I go along, and I’ll have to fit this part. And as I grow older, I’ll have to fit in this part. But my attitude is I’m going to be who I am and do my part. Do you see that? Okay, good. So then he says, Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that is which is evil, cleave to that which is good.

Be kindly affectionate one toward another. That’s the motive for all of it. Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love. That’s the word Philadelphia, incidentally, in the Greek. With brotherly love, in honor, preferring one another, not slothful in busyness. When you have a job to do it. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord in all that you do, rejoicing in hope. If you could see all the parts going through these things, what a wonderful church it would be everywhere. And I’m sure this one is that way. It’s that way at Southside. We love one another over there, and I’m sure you do here. I’ve heard your wonderful reports about this church, and I’m glad that’s the case. Rejoicing in hope, all of us together.

Isn’t that wonderful? Patient in tribulation, continuing urgent or instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep. That’s hard. Did you know that? It’s not hard to rejoice with them that rejoice. Weep with them that weep, it’s hard to rejoice with them that rejoice. When somebody had Lucy’s loved one, it’s easy to weep with them. But when little Johnny got the reward and my little Susie didn’t get an award, it’s hard to rejoice with them that rejoice. But you do it anyway, because it’s right. Rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep, be of the same mind one toward another.

4. Recompense to No Man Evil for Evil

Same mindedness is the constitutive power of unity. Mind not high things but condescend of men of low estate, be not wise in your own conceits. And then I want to say to you that in a local church and in everything else that you do, you’re going to have a situation where you have people together where people bump into one another. It’s just the way it is. People just bump into one another. And so he says here, you be careful and recompense to no man evil for evil. You’re going to have some people do some bad things to you. They may be Christians, they may not be Christians, but you don’t recompense evil for evil. Provide things honorable in the sight of all men, as it much as it is possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Paul says it this way let not the sun go down on your wrath. Do you know what that says? You have about twelve hours daylight savings time to be mad at somebody. What a different world it would be if people cut off the anger at the end of the day. And weren’t mad during the night and didn’t get mad again the next day. Paul said, let not the sun go down. You got 12 hours. And that assumes that you got daylight savings time. So you give your thought time to God. You say, I’m not going to let that ruin me. Recompense to no man evil for evil. If it be possible, live peaceably. But notice, he says, if it be possible, not always so. And then he says, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.

Why is that, do you think? He says, Let wrath have its right place. I’ll take care of it, is what he says. You know why that is? I love Tony. And so if he does something bad, I would not be too quick to give him a hard time about it. But if somebody I don’t like did something bad, boy, I would crush his inside, see. I’m not qualified to meet out vengeance. You’re not either. Nobody is. And so he says, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if I enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst give him drink, for in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Had a fellow come to me once, and he said, I just can’t stand that guy over there.

He doesn’t like me, and I don’t like him. He said, I don’t know what to do about it. I said, What you need to do is be nice to him. And I cited this passage. You need to be nice to him. Go and do something good for him. I saw him about, oh, it’s 60 days later, maybe. Maybe not that long. He came up to me and said, Brother Bowman, that thing that you told me really worked. He said, I was so nice to him you wouldn’t believe it. I did all kinds of things for him. I bragged on him, I did all those things, said I really got him. That’s not what that’s talking about. That is not it. He’s saying that you want to do it in such a way as it causes the man to see the error that he’s involved in and go back to doing right.

Conclusion

It’s a matter of bringing about a penitent attitude. So your attitude toward those who do you wrong is that you better just back off and be as open as you can possibly be and be as honorable as you can possibly be, and let the thing happen until you can do something about it. And when you can, do something good, and something good will come. What a wonderful way to tell us about our attitudes, our inclinations, our dispositions. Are you aware that our English word attitude is derived from the same word as the word aptitude? Because your attitude is in reality what you’re apt to do. So he says here, it starts with God. Present your body as a living sacrifice, make everything right with God, and then follow along and be a part of the whole as you’re intended to be.

You serve the purpose that God had in mind when he gave you being, and you do it with the best of to the best of your ability and with the best intentions possible. And then he says, even when people oppose you do right. Paul wasn’t present that I know of when the Sermon on the Mount was preached. But he indubitably had to be aware of the Beatitudes. Because Romans chapter 12 is a practical application of the Beatitudes. That’s all it is. So your attitude is to adopt the Beatitudes. I’ve sought in vain to find an etymological connection between a word attitude and beatitude. There’s not any. But the concept is real good. Beatitudes are your attitudes toward God, toward yourself, toward your others, and toward those that would be enemies.

Thank you for listening. There may be somebody here this morning that needs to respond to the invitation. If you do, listen to me before you get your book now. If you do, you need to do something about it today. You don’t need to be waiting around. You’re walking on dangerous ground, you’re in dangerous territory. Better get your life right with God today. If you’ve never obeyed the gospel, come confess your faith in Christ and be baptized. That’s the most important decision you’ll ever make. Then you’ll be on the course to make yourself available to God for the rest of your life. If you’re here and you’ve not been faithful, it’s not worth it, folks. It’s not worth it. Come back and make your life right. Repentance, confession, and prayer.

We’re a fellowship of forgiven sinners. We’re not going to make fun of you. You come and let us help you. We want to do that.