Well, we're taking up what we considered together last Lord's Day. Let me briefly remind you of the logic that Paul has set before us in scripture. He does not encourage us to check our brains in at the door. It's not that being a believer is somehow illogical, all to do with the emotions and nothing to do with the head. That's far from what Paul has to say. And as we read through this 12th chapter of the book of Romans, it begins by telling us that, therefore, on the basis of what I've said, there is a logical conclusion at which Paul arrives. It is the unbeliever who has an, incoherent world and life view. Ask an unbeliever how the world came into being and he'll say, well, it was a big bang, but what gave rise to the big bang? Well, there was nothing, but nothing gave rise to everything now. Clearly an incoherent world view. Nothing gives rise to, well, nothing, really. And to say that the universe came into being by the result of a big bang of nothing is hardly a logical conclusion. He has no explanation of how the inanimate becomes animate. No explanation of the mathematical impossibility of life coming into being. No explanation for how someone becomes a conscious being as opposed to an unconscious being. No basis of morality. just because you think that something is right and good, well, you're really borrowing from the Christian world and life view. You're talking in terms that you have no right to talk in terms of. Why? Because, well, if you don't believe in the gods, then something is right and good just because you think it's right and good. Well, how is that the basis for a moral system? And suppose I say, well, I disagree with you. Well, who's going to be the arbiter in that? There is ultimately no basis for saying that anything is good, no basis for saying anything that is evil. If we're just a collection of atoms that happen to have over the period of a lengthy span of time come into being, then We might as well eat, drink, and be merry, and for tomorrow we die, because we'll go to Sheol, as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, and that'll be the end of it. There's no basis or no reason for doing anything that is either good or evil. We can just say, I will do whatever pleases me. Supposing that were my moral code, I'm going to do only those things which please me. Well, you'd be ultimately an extremely selfish individual. The world abounds with extremely selfish individuals. You know, the unbeliever has no basis for understanding how we came into being. He has no basis for living his life in this world in the present. And if you ask him about the future, well, he has no basis for any hope for the future. That one day the sun will grow cold and we'll all be extinct. along with about 10 billion other animals that have lived upon the face of the earth. Well, it's all pretty pointless, isn't it? There's no purpose in life. There's nothing to look forward to. It's all gonna come to a rather unpleasant and unseemly end. And it's in the face of that incoherent worldview, the Christian says, we have a reason. We have a reason that we conduct ourselves as we do. The unbeliever then has an incoherent world and life view, and he has really no argument for where we've come from, what we're doing here, or the purpose for the future. But here's the danger for us, that although we would say we have answers to all these questions, that we conduct ourselves in just the same way as the world conducts itself. The question then arises, are we significantly different from those who really are ultimately entirely selfish and are only thinking of themselves or those that they care about and have no thought for anyone else? Are believers functionally the same? Well, that's where the importance of that little word, therefore, comes in for us. What Paul has been doing is setting out before us the gospel message. He's told us that we are sinners, and here as we sort of respond to Paul, we're looking at what Paul is saying. I know that I'm a sinner, And being a sinner, I deserve nothing from the hand of God except for his judgment. I deserve God's judgment. That's what I deserve. I don't deserve a good life. I don't deserve a paradise, eternal life. I deserve punishment for all my sins. But as Paul explained our condition, he then went on to explain the way of salvation, that by trusting in Christ we have the hope of eternal life. We've been rescued, saved by the grace of God. God has sent his Son into the world and that his Son entering into the world has taken our place upon the cross under the punishment of God. It wasn't that Jesus was just swept along by events that were far beyond his control. Matthew makes it quite clear that though the Sanhedrin and those in positions of authority didn't want to do anything at the time of Passover because they didn't want to upset the people, that Jesus himself has his own timetable and his timetable is the one that is kept and not the Sanhedrin or the high priest. Now he wasn't swept along by a situation that was beyond his control. Rather, in the fullness of time, the appointed hour had come and he took his place. Actually, he took my place, and if you're trusting in Christ, he took your place upon the cross. And in doing so, the wrath of God revealed against all unrighteousness is poured out, so that I am rescued from my sins. He, though being rich, became poor for my sake. And I trust you're able to say in your own heart, for your sake as well, that through his poverty, we might become rich. That's the wonderful transition, the transaction. that though we deserve the condemnation of God, God has forgiven us our sins in Christ Jesus. We've been adopted into his family. Surely one of the great gems in the crown of Reformed theology. It's not that Jesus calls us his servants. He says explicitly to his disciples, I call you friends. I call you my friends. what it is to be the friend of the Son of God. And that's our privilege, our privilege to be adopted into his family, to be able to call God Father and grant to us the promise of eternal life. It's in that context that Paul then draws us in chapter 12 and says, well, on the basis of everything that I've told you about Your rightful being under God's judgment, to being saved and being adopted into his family, to having the Spirit of God poured out upon you, I therefore beseech you, brethren, therefore, on the basis of all that you have heard, I therefore, in the ESV, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship, some translations put it, which is your reasonable service. I trust there is a name that is known to not a few of you, coming from a Dutch background, Wilhelmus Abrakel. His four-volume work on theology was entitled The Christian's Reasonable Service. Well, the good news is tonight that I'm not gonna read to you all four volumes. The bad news is it may seem like it. Four volumes. I thought to myself, well, the Lord has called me to serve what is predominantly a Dutch congregation. I better read those four volumes. And so I did. And I suppose that makes me adopted Dutch. It must count for something with someone somewhere. I tell you what, those four volumes were a blessing to my soul. They were a blessing. Four volumes, each one's about 500, 600, 700 pages long, so this is not, you don't read it between morning and evening worship. Let me just tell you that. But I would encourage any of you to take up the four volumes and just read a few pages. It'll take you a while to get through it. It took me a while to get through it. But it will repay you the investment. The Christians, reasonable service. I deserve hell. I'm not telling you anything that you don't know. You deserve hell. I trust I'm not telling you anything that you don't know. But God has promised me paradise. So what should I do about it? Where do I start? Well, first of all, it is to acknowledge that this is reasonable. If God has given me eternal life, if he has forgiven me all my sins, If he has been prepared to send forth of his own dear Son to die in my place, and has promised in his word, again from Romans, if God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not freely with him give us all things? God has promised me all things, all helpful things, all things that are good for my soul. He will not withhold any good thing from me. Not one good thing will he withhold. Now if God has promised me paradise and eternal life and blessedness forevermore, it is only reasonable for us to respond. What might I do in response to what my God and Saviour has done for me? Paul is telling us straight away, well, don't take your cue from the world. Verse 2, do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Don't be conformed to this world. We have plenty of examples of those who are selfish in this world, and truth be told, all we have to do is stand and look in the mirror to find other examples of those who can and all too often are selfish. Don't be conformed to the world that takes things from the hand of our Father in heaven and spares not a thought for how we might give our thanks and praise in return. Don't be conformed, says Paul. Don't be conformed to this world, but instead be transformed, transformed by the renewal of your mind. Again, you see the emphasis that Paul continually has. Renew your mind. He's not saying, this is illogical, I know it's illogical, but just do it anyway. He's saying, let your mind grasp these truths. There is a logical sequence. And I'm beseeching you, therefore, a marker of a logical argument. I'm beseeching you to use your mind. Have your mind renewed by the work of the Holy Spirit, by testing that you may discern." Well, what's Paul saying there? He says, put it to the test. Bring your lives before the throne of grace. Put it to the test. Are you living a life which is consistent with your profession of faith? then right away he tells us, verse 3, "'For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.'" Do you recognize that temptation? To think of yourself more highly than you think, than you ought to. Well, we're always quick to find excuses for why things haven't worked out the way we think they ought to work out. I'm tempted to tell you the time that my mother entered me into a piano competition, a Chopin competition. guess the weight of the piano. Well, you know, I wanted to be perhaps a concert pianist. Why am I not the concert pianist for the CSO downtown? Well, I think it may be because he was scared by a set of bagpipes when he was a child and has taken against Scots ever since. And that's the only reason. He hates Scots. And therefore, that's the reason that I am not a concert pianist. Of course, the other reason is I can't play the piano. But it's so much easier, isn't it, to find the reason in somebody else. He doesn't like me, or he's prejudiced, or he's this or he's that. And never to look at what may be the reason in ourselves. Why am I not leading a choir? Because I can't carry a tune in a bucket. There's a reason for it, and the reason is found in me. not in other people. Now here is Paul giving us godly wisdom. He said, Don't think more highly of yourselves than you ought to think. But he's doing so on the basis of what? He's told us in the previous verse, you can test and discern. And then he goes on to give us a number of illustrations as to how we can then move forward. Testing, discerning, what are the gifts that God has given you? Why am I not a concert pianist with a CSO? Because I can't play the piano. then God is not calling me to be a concert pianist. Well, starting to show just a little bit of discernment in that. I'm testing, what has God given me the gifts to do? What is it that God has equipped me for and is calling me to do? So what is Paul doing at this point? He's saying, now you have to do the hard thinking. Do you see, again, you see, it is not a matter of checking your brains in at the door when you become a Christian. Test it, discern it. Don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but think about yourself in such a way as you can discern, you can test, what gifts has God given you? Why should you be doing that? Because I have a duty and a responsibility to serve the God who has saved me. And I do it not because I'm hoping to gain eternal life by that, no, because God has already given me a promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus. I do it because he has called me to serve him, and I do it because I love the Lord my God. I do not love him with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind, but surely one of our chiefest prayers is just to do that. Let me love you more. How much time do we spend in prayer? And rightly so for those that are afflicted in body. They're ill, and our hearts go out to them. Our concern is for them. I heard just yesterday that a friend that I've known for almost 30 years, stage three cancer. It affected me deeply. Dear friend, we pray for those that are afflicted in body. We do not hesitate to do so. but surely there is a greater prayer that should be upon all our lips. Lord, enlarge my heart that I might love thee more. Why? Because you've done so much for me. It's the logic of Paul. Therefore, I appeal to you, therefore, What Paul is encouraging us to do is to do the hard thinking. What has God called us to do? What has he equipped us to do? And how can I use those gifts for the church? He sets it in the context of the body of Christ. Now, we can see certain elements of the body that are visible to all, our hands and our feet, our faces, our ears, nose. but we wouldn't get very far if our internal organs, which are not seen, I hope that you never do get to see them, if our internal organs were not functioning. There are those who are called to be the feet to go for Christ, those who are called to be the hands to serve. We are served very well and competently and tenderly, lovingly by our deacons. surely demonstrate to us that going out with the hands to help others. But perhaps there may be those amongst us that are quite happy to be either the tonsils or the appendix I'm almost tempted to ask for a show of hands how many people have had their tonsils out. You take them out and nobody seems any the worse for it. Take the appendix out. We seem to manage to continue to stumble on for a number of years afterwards. You're gonna say to the great king and head of the church at the end of this life, when you're standing before him and he calls you to give an account for your service, and you say, well, I was the appendix of our local church and I was taken out and nobody missed me when I was gone. Oh, we do not want to be the tonsils or the appendix of the body of Jesus Christ. And that's not what Paul is encouraging us to use our minds for, to test, to discern what is it that we are called to do. And then he provides us with some illustrations. I do not think that this is meant to be an exhaustive list. far from it. It's meant to stimulate our minds so that we can begin to think. If you've been called to teach God's Word, what are you doing to prepare yourself, making sure that your mind is filled with that which will help you and assist you in that purpose? It's to serve the saints, to exhort and encourage. That doesn't have to be done from the pulpit. I hope that the pulpit does encourage you. But how many times do we have the opportunity of speaking a word in season? And it may not actually be a word. When speaking to those who have suffered the loss of someone dear to them, perhaps the words don't come that easily to you, perhaps no more easily than to anybody else in dealing with perhaps a widow in the loss of a dear husband. But if all you can do is place your hand upon her shoulder, then that may be what God is calling you to do. No great eloquence, but the touch of a hand upon the shoulder to bring the encouragement which words do not by themselves convey. To be generous. And do we leave it only to those who have great resources to give to the work of the kingdom? No, I think we're all meant to give to the work of the kingdom. But there are those who have a particular gift and it may be a generosity of spirit, a generosity of heart. That comes difficult for any Scotsman, but I know them amongst kindred minds, being generous Is that what God has called me to do? Because he's given me the resources to be able to do it. To exercise leadership. To do so in a thoughtful way. To show mercy and cheerfulness. And all according to the grace given us. So Paul is telling us, don't check your brains in when you come to church. If anything, expect to do harder thinking here than anywhere else. It's the world that is quite content to be incoherent in its world and life view, living with all sorts of tensions and contradictions. It's Paul as he explains the Christian life that says, you know, we have an answer to every question concerning where we come from, the basis for living in this world, and where we're going to. And it's in response to that, therefore, in response to that, that we desire to do what God has called us to do, what he's equipped us to do, Well, I hope that you have already begun the hard work of thinking, what is it that God has called me to do? Young people, it may be that college or whatever else may be before you, still seems like a long way off. But now is a good time to be thinking, what is it that God has equipped me to do? And let me do that. because the Word of God provides me with a good reason." He says, therefore, in your reasonable service, what is it that God has called me to do? And once you have tested that and discerned that, let me do better than the world. If the world does all that is placed into their hands to do, and to do it with all their strength because they're going to Sheol, how much more should the child of God say, I do it because I'm called to do it? I do it because I love the God who saved me. I, your pastor, appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Let's pray together. Our gracious God and our heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for this Thy Word that Thou hast set before us. We thank Thee for the logical sequence. We thank Thee that we have an ability by Thy grace to give a reason, a reason for the hope that is within us. that we know the God who has saved us, that thou, God, hast made us in thine image to have fellowship with thee. Though we broke that image and rebelled against thee, thou hast sent thine own dear Son, and that he was willing to take our place under the judgment of a righteous God for all our sins. What shall our response be to thee, O God? We thank thee that there is this wonderful therefore in Scripture. Convict us therefore, not only of our sinfulness, of our slothfulness, but grant to us each and every one a desire this night to serve thee with all that is within us, that we may test and discern what is thy will for us. Hear us, we pray, for the sake of thy dear Saviour, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.