Sermon: Romans 12:1‑8 (Proper 17A)

28 August 2005, Christ Church Riverdale

The Rev. Robert C. Lamborn, Rector

NRSV Romans 12:1 I 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 spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God‑‑ what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

            “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,” Paul writes to the Romans, “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,” he continues, “but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God‑‑ what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  The “therefore” in this passage marks a transition, forms a hinge from one major section of Romans to the next, and although theology and ethics should never be divorced from each other, we’re at the hinge moving from a section mostly on theology to one mostly on ethics–from what we say about God to what we’re going to do about it.

            “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.”  I don’t know what people’s attitudes toward personal sacrifice were in the Mediterranean world in the time of Paul, but I do know that personal sacrifice isn’t terribly popular now.  Going to war, for example, has historically involved shared sacrifice by the entire society, but that sense is now largely absent.   What would it mean to present our bodies as a living sacrifice?  The Greek word for “body” isn’t limited to just the physical body, but refers to the whole person.  At the same time, presenting our bodies means not just watching TV or getting on the web, but being involved with our entire selves.

A living sacrifice would be a walking, talking, breathing person dedicated to God.  A sacrifice is literally something holy-making and such a living sacrifice is about coming fully alive through this dedication.                   

             Such a sacrifice is “holy and acceptable to God,” Paul continues, and is our “spiritual worship.”  The word “acceptable” is a bit of a weak translation–presenting ourselves to God isn’t minimally acceptable, but could also be translated well-pleasing to God, causing God to take delight.  This, Paul says, is spiritual worship, and although we might ask what other kind of worship there is, the Anglo-Saxon roots of the word help us here worth-ship: giving something worth or value, so that worship is not just something that takes place on Sundays but is a constant activity of those dedicated to God.  In the mid-1800s, what was at the time considered an innovative and dangerously Catholic movement in England–some church leaders, centered in Oxford and Cambridge--sought to recover some of the catholic beauty of worship that Anglicanism had left behind in the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment.  Many of the results of the movement can still be seen in our worship, and the beautiful architecture of this building shows its influence, but the movement was not just about aesthetics or scholarship.  A very important goal of this focus on beauty was to help lift up the poor living in slums, working in factories or on the docks. Thus worship in the church was integrally connected with worship through work in the world, a commitment, I would say, that is well-pleasing to God.

            “Do not be conformed to this world,” Paul goes on, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God‑‑what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Conformity to this world is not just an issue for middle schoolers, but for all of us who are given the message that possibilities are limited by circumstances or that we should settle for less than God’s call.  Being transformed–being “morphed”--means taking on a new mindset, a new outlook.  And what is meant by “mind” is not just a matter of the intellect, but of the will and of morals.  The purpose of renewing the mind is to discern the will of God those things that are good and acceptable (which we might say are well-pleasing) and perfect. 

            Our society often confuses what is good with what is appealing what is immediately attractive, and we’re tempted to give up entirely on what is perfect.  But this kind of perfection doesn’t mean flawless so much as complete.  In terms of Christian spirituality, this is taking on the mind of Christ, and in so doing, living our lives accordingly, just as a computer acts differently when new software is installed.  These verses I’ve reflected on today are absolutely packed with powerful terms: present-sacrifice-holy-worship-transformed–renewal–good and perfect.  Like the elements of an extremely rich meal, they are verses to savor and reflect on.  “Therefore,” Paul says, “here’s what to do about all I’ve been saying to you.”  May we, as Paul urges, give ourselves to God, let our point of view--our way of doing things--become transformed and ever more Christlike.