Mercy’s Demand of Godliness

Pastor Ostella

10-22-2000

Introduction

We have come to a section in the book of Romans in which a slew of duties is thrown at us. Consider how this is done in 12:9-13 as a representative example (key words are love, hate, cling, be, honor, never be, keep, share, and practice). This is characteristic of much of 12:3-16:26, with some themes receiving more extensive treatment (most of chapter 14 covers the single theme of the weak and strong; seven verses, 13:1-7, are given to governing authorities).

As I said last time, these duties come at us like pellets from a gun. The first two verses of chapter 12 are like pulling the trigger on a double-barreled shotgun. Paul takes aim and then fires away. To say this another way, if Paul gives a shotgun blast in 12-16, then how does he load the gun and fire in 12:1-2? Or, what are the firing pins by which this cloud of pellets of practical proverbs and exhortations is propelled?

Paul gives us two demands of mercy. They are broad, sweeping and penetrating. They are summary in nature and set the stage for the development of a multitude of practical duties. In a word, mercy demands worship and mercy demands godliness. These overlap but they can be distinguished (vs. 1 and 2 are connected by "and"). Last time I focused on "mercy’s demand of worship." Today I will focus on "mercy’s demand of godliness" and I will do so in two ways: 1) the demand of godliness stated negatively, and 2) the demand of godliness stated positively.

1A. Mercy’s Demand of Godliness Stated Negatively

Paul has already called the church to a life of holiness in the far-reaching entreaty to present our bodies to God in 12:1. The accent, however, was on worship. He says, "Present your bodies to God on the altar of worship as living sacrifices-that is your service, your work, your ministry as a priest. In other words, you are to view all of the things you do in the body and with your body as actions of a priest in the worship of God. Thus you are to live before Him in reverential awe in whatever you do. You are to eat, drink, and take up your tasks in life to the glory, honor, and praise of God. This surely puts a powerful structure around the many duties that Paul hurls at us in these chapters. This is a very potent call to a sanctified life, in its totality, with no secular place or compartment anywhere your feet may take you on the face of the earth. Paul says, "Present your bodies continually and thoughtfully as living sacrifices to God in Christ."

We wonder if Paul could house the many duties to come in any other point of equal weight and value. Well, he does. In 12:2, Paul presses home the demand of a life patterned after the will of God (this is on a par with worship!). Mercy, Paul tells us, demands godliness. This is simply God-like-ness, which means that we seek to conform our lives to a pattern, to God’s pattern, and thus to God as His image bearers.

Read Romans 12:2 and notice how the negative is presented first followed by the positive.

The negative injunction is translated in the KJV in a somewhat passive way: "be not conformed to this world." But the NIV has a more active sense: "do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world." The nature of conformity to this world is such that whether this is translated active or passive the important thing to observe is that this is an imperative. It is a command. And as such, this is a matter in which we are actively involved.

"World" is literally "age." Therefore the duty that is grounded in the mercy of God can be summarized like this: "you are not to pattern your life along lines dictated by a preoccupation with this transient evil age." You are to be leery of the counsel of the ungodly and the way of sinners (Ps. 1).

"Worldliness" has to do with modes of conduct and attitudes of heart flavored and determined by a dominant concern for this world. Perhaps because of wrong connotations associated with worldliness we might be better served if we call it "this-age-liness," devotion to this age (this time, this temporal realm). Worldliness is not a matter of involvement with the things or people of this world. It is not a matter of being involved with the affairs of this life, with where you will work and with what you possess. Worldliness refers to conduct, attitudes, and principles that lack the long-term look and the upward look. It means, for example, to have more concern for a high standing in retirement than for a high standing in the judgment to come. Godliness here does not mean that no one should give any thought to retirement. Instead, it means that retirement is viewed in the light of eternity and in the light of God’s will for the present.

Concern for this age is autonomous conduct in which principles of expediency and necessity for self-preservation are upheld for their own sake. They may be good in themselves. The problem is that they are pursued as final ends.

Thus worldliness is fashioning your life according to attitudes, principles, and goals that are characteristic of people who live in independence of God and who set all their hopes and aspirations on this life exclusively. If your whole life is oriented toward temporal things, toward things seen, toward the here and now then you are not a child of God but a child of this world. If all your calculating and planning is determined by what happens day by day without reference to the life to come then you are not a Christian.

This kind of worldly life is an undercurrent that tugs at the feet of the Christian. It is a constant threat. Hence there is a warning here of an enemy, a pitfall, a snare, and a trap. We must be vigilant and watchful.

So how do we do this? How are we to be vigilant and watchful? The focal point being made here by Paul is that we must test our life principles for the taint of the shortsighted outlook in order to avoid fashioning and shaping our conduct accordingly. We have to ask, "where am I guided by the counsel of the ungodly?" "Where am I standing on the pathway on which sinners stand?" "Do I sit in the seat of those who scoff at the things of God?"

The bottom line of the negative demand here is that we are called to godliness not worldliness. And we must remember that worldliness is not a matter of living in this world and participating vigorously in the affairs of life. It refers to attachment. God-like-ness refers to detachment, to seeing life from the perspective of the age to come which is present now in part.

Here "selling all you have and giving it to the poor" means selling all you have to possess the kingdom (Matt. 13); you serve God in all earthly things transferring all into a relation to the kingdom of God to be guided by the King. This is a picture of a pilgrim on the earth traveling to the city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God. So figuratively, we only attach ourselves to this world with tent pegs! (cf. living in the world but not of it, having things but not being owned by them; Paul strove to not be mastered by anything but to keep his body under subjection, the body of our sacrifice to God).

To complete the picture we must turn to the positive side of this demand of mercy. But think about how this is a general duty that structures specifics. It is first of all a negative: do not pattern your life in this way, after the worldview, principles, and the attitudes that go with the present evil age.

2A. The Demand of Mercy Stated Positively

Paul says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." This involves some important considerations.

1B. First, there is a starting point (moving away from x)

The starting point is recognition of a true impact of the worldly outlook. The positive flows directly out of the negative. The Christian is in the first place a sinner. He is a sinner-saint, hopefully a saintly sinner! The Christian is in the first place "worldly." This is the pit from which he has been "digged." The principles of the autonomous life were once the clothes he wore to be fashionable and to be approved by those whose minds are worthless in assessing the truth of God (Rom. 1:28). Suppression of the truth characterized this former way of life. Now as a believer the smell of these fires of rebellion still reeks from his clothes (cf. the reference to a "licensed cussing area," for example, when banging elbows and not having the right tools under a vehicle in process of repair; this is the only place, he says, where you will find him tending to return to this former habit of speech).

Conformity to this age is something to be countered. It is a starting point from which we must move. We must see this as a critical need. The negative avoidance of worldliness cannot get the job done. It cannot simply we left at "avoid"; that leaves a void; and voids have a way of being filled with the wrong thing. We must be transformed in recognition of and from that starting point. This means that we have to live a repentant life always acknowledging our need as sinner-saints. The starting point is a sense of need due to an honest recognition of the impact of the temporal outlook.

2B. Second, there is a distinct orientation

The positive duty enjoined upon us is oriented from the inside out. Again, we can see how this structures the catalogue of duties yet to be presented. It is moral renewal of the mind and thus of the principles and attitudes that govern how we see things. The concern here is with how we think about life as we live it. How we think structures what we do. It is like the operation that is performed today on the eyes that changes ones vision. Transform the eye and you alter how you see. Things look different before and after the transforming operation. This gives an element of expectation, surprise, and wonder to the Christian life. We have only touched the hem of the garment. This is the excitement about learning; there are things on the other side of the operation that we cannot see now. The good, the true, the beautiful is out there right in front of our eyes but we have trouble seeing. The problem is internal to the eye. By analogy, the problem is internal to the mind and heart. Be transformed in your mind, heart and thinking.

3B. Third, there is an on-going process

We should note how important this is as a summary principle setting the stage for a multitude of practical duties. This tells us to recognize the need of constant refinement.

This is truly a far-reaching point. Let’s not be presumptuous. Paul says to us, "you must enter continually into a process of moral refinement. That is your duty. This is to affect you deep within at the level of the principles, attitudes, and goals by which you direct your life." This means that you will always be re-evaluating, always taking another look at Scripture and another look at your life. You must be a headhunter looking for the impact of the worldly frame of reference on your life. Am I, you will ask yourself, am I being squeezed into the mold of the world, of the transient and temporal, of autonomy?

4B. Fourth, there is a distinct goal

It is all about learning what the will of God is. The will of God is a practical synonym for the law of God. Recall the emphasis of Paul on the law in Romans 7, where it is described in ways similar to how the will of God is described here in Romans 12. The law is spiritual, holy, righteous, and good (7:12, 14).

The goal is to learn how approved it is, to learn how good, acceptable, and perfect it is. The law of God is spiritual, holy, and good and the commandments are exceedingly broad not narrow, not a burden (1 Jn. 5:3). This is not tempting the Lord or putting Him to the test. It is going through a testing process of learning the will of God in order to know it and experience it piece by piece (removing the fog piece by piece, cutting away the branches that obscure vision of the majestic oak of God’s perfection given in His law).

The implication is that you must test to learn. Why learn? It is in order to conform your thinking, and thus your life, to the will of God.

The point is that we are not to be conformed to worldliness but to the will of God. Moral renewal includes determining what God’s law says, how suitable and fitting it is. It fits. It is a good guide. God’s will, what he prescribes, what He commands is good. In the context of the gospel, the law is a marvelous wonder. Under the rule of our gentle prophet, priest, and king, the imperatives, the precepts, the laws, and commandments of God with all their austerity, weight and holiness, are our friends. They are not a burden. They are a delight and joy. As we take them in to our hearts and souls, they the surgeon’s tools in the hand of God to correct our vision and give us insight into the beauty of our Lord and His creation, insight into the treasures of truth and righteousness. It is all right out in front of us waiting to be seen, waiting to be experienced.

This is motivating. The goodness, acceptability, the perfection of God’s law encourages us to pattern our lives after this marvelous summary of the moral excellence of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. Here we look on His face and are transformed into His likeness. My what a journey! Only the half has been told us.

Let’s put all of this into final perspective

Mercy demands worship in which you come face to face with the living God and present your body as a sacrifice to Him continually, and thoughtfully. It also demands godliness in which you face the perfect will of God as it bears on every movement of your body in every moment of life, and that from the inside out.

So let me exhort you to this personal worship and this principled godliness by reminding you of the motivation found in the mercies of God.

It is mercy, divine mercy that makes demands on us, that makes these demands on us. In the flow of Romans 1-11, it is the gospel of righteousness in Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham and David according to the flesh. It is the good news of forgiveness without any merit on our part for we are sinners first and last. But you have pardon from sin and protection from the wrath of God that is revealed against all ungodliness and righteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They are storing up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath. But you have been freed from the guilt and power of sin, from condemnation and bondage. All by free and pure grace!

Jesus Christ has come to you. The risen Savior has come to you by the working of His Spirit. He came to you when you were in your dungeon of death and bondage. Long your imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night. But His eye diffused a quickening ray. You woke. Your dungeon flamed with light. Your chains fell off. Your heart was free. So you rose went forth and followed the one who gave Himself for you on the tree.

You have peace, access, joy in tribulation in hope of glory. Your delight now is in God and in His law. You have the enabling grace of justification. You have the comfort of righteousness in suffering, in weakness, in all things. You have sovereignly and freely bestowed mercy. You are a vessel of mercy in which is being demonstrated the riches of His glory in the saints. You are a wild olive branch grafted into the cultivated olive tree of God’s covenant faithfulness to Abraham and His descendents.

Therefore, I exhort and entreat you, brothers and sisters, by these mercies of God that are rich in wisdom and knowledge beyond finding out. Enter continually into worship with the sacrificial gift of your body to God and labor for refinement for transformation by conformity to the perfect, acceptable and holy will of God!

In that mindset, take up the multitude of duties that flesh out the commandments and that flesh out your priestly work to the glory of God. To Him belongs the glory now and forevermore, Amen!