HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?

Luke 9:18-27; Romans 12:1-2

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

 

 

I was so excited! It was my very first major conference to attend as an ordained pastor - and this was not a minor conference, by any means! The conference was held in the Indianapolis Convention Center. The title of the conference was “How Should We Then Live?” and the two notable speakers were Dr. Francis A. Shaeffer, a very prominent theologian, and Dr. C. Everett Koop, the US Surgeon General.

 

The theme for the two-day conference was that of being salt and light in a society that so often runs counter to Christian faith. If Jesus Christ is Lord, Lord of the universe and Lord of our lives, then what difference should this make?

 

While this conference occurred quite a long time ago, I remember it for two specific reasons. The first is that I was so tired the evening it began, from a very long and hard week of work, that I fought hard against falling asleep in my chair! To make matters even worse, I was close enough to the stage for Dr. Koop to keep a stern eye on me, at least it seemed to me he did!

 

Well, I recovered after a good night’s sleep, and so the second reason is this: The question they were asking then seems to be even more critical today than it was 25 years ago. If we are truly Christians, how are we to be different from others who are not Christians? How should we then live?

 

 

THIS, IN FACT, IS A TIMELESS QUESTION, ISN’T IT.

 

The Apostle Paul actually deals with this question in chapter 12 of his letter to the Christians in Rome. In previous chapters, Paul brings forth the great themes of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, and growth in Christ by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Paul then moves on from teaching sound Christian theology to pointing out the difference this should make in practical terms. This is appropriate, as it is absolutely essential that Christian belief always be followed by Christian behavior.

 

God’s disclosure of divine truth is utterly useless unless it affects not only our belief system, but our behavior as well. For if we don’t join belief and behavior in a marriage for life, we run the danger of being appropriately labeled as hypocrites, and even worse, of hearing the accusatory voice of the Master: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” [i]

 

Thus it is that Paul brings forth practical instruction in answer to the question: How should we then live? And in the first two verses of this chapter, he leads us into some answers to this most critical question.

 

I

FIRST OF ALL, WE ARE TO LIVE AS THOSE

WHO BELONG FULLY AND FAITHFULLY TO GOD.

 

“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.”

 

With full apostolic authority, Paul appeals to and urges Christians to live out fully what we say we fully believe. If we claim in our confession that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” we should then truly live under His Lordship. We are to live under His rule and reign, living in joyful abandonment to God. We are to bring all that we are and all of our lives before Him as an act of reasonable, legitimate, spiritual worship.

 

Why would we do this, when personal autonomy and independence are so very important to us? Paul tells us why: “in view of God’s mercy.” God has already proven the infinite depth of His love and mercy in Jesus Christ; how could we not, therefore, give Him all that we are and ever hope to be?

 

This is precisely the point that Jesus makes in our Gospel reading. Luke tells us that Jesus asked His disciples what people were saying about Him as to His identity. While answers were given, Jesus kept searching, getting even more specific: “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” And Peter came through, giving an orthodox, theologically correct confession: “(You are) the Christ of God.”

 

What is most interesting to me is that Jesus didn’t leave it at that, did He. Jesus wasn’t satisfied with an undeniable and straightforward confession of who He was and is. Jesus went on to tell His disciples of His impending suffering, death and resurrection. In a most important sense, Jesus was telling them to take a good look at, to have a good  “view of God’s mercy” in what Jesus was about to do. It would become the undeniable essence and incontestable proof of God’s love.

 

Though such infinite love and mercy are beyond our full comprehension and grasp, this requires a response, and Jesus tells the disciples and us what the response should be:

 

If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?[ii]

 

Can you see that what Jesus is saying here is the very essence of Paul’s exhortation? In view of God’s great mercy and infinite love in Christ - in all of His terrible suffering, agonizing death and triumphant resurrection - you can give your life away to God. “Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.”[iii]

 

Early one morning in the mid 1800’s in England, a young man named William Booth did just this. He had a view of God’s lavish love and tender mercy in Jesus Christ. This led him to climb a hillside overlooking the city of London, to kneel in the grass, spread his Bible open before him and pray.

                                                                                          

Father, I know that there are men with greater courage than William Booth. And I know there are men with greater intellect than William Booth. And I know there are men with greater ability than William Booth.

 

But Father, I promise you this day that you shall have all the courage and all the intellect and all the abilities of William Booth. You shall have all there is of William Booth.

 

William Booth departed that grassy hillside and went down, back to the streets of London. He was a changed man, and in time thousands of people would come to benefit from his ministry and the ministry he founded in 1864: The Salvation Army.

 

But dear friends, please don’t think that such a prayer is only for those called to unique ministries … to what we might call full time ministries. God does amazing things through ordinary people in ordinary time, when they have a view of God’s extraordinary mercy in Jesus Christ.

Regardless of one’s position in life, when Dick or Jane or Tom or Sally give all there is of them to God, God will work through them in amazing ways!

                                                                                   

 

II

YET, SOMEONE WILL ASK,

“BUT HOW ARE WE TO LIVE IN THIS WAY

WHEN THE PRESSURE IS ON TO LIVE OTHERWISE?”

 

Paul has an answer for us in verse 2:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is –

His good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

You know as I know that the pressure to conform to worldly ways is both very intense and extremely relentless. It has always been this way and it always will be. Thus, in J.B. Phillips paraphrase, Paul exhorts us in saying,  “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould.” [iv]

 

Dr. James Boice once described the pressure of worldliness in terms of four prevalent “ism’s. [v] First, there is the “ism” of Secularism: The Cosmos is all there is, nothing more, nothing less. The second “ism” is Humanism: There is no Deity, but rather a deification of ourselves. The third “ism” is Relativism: there are no moral absolutes, everything is up for grabs, and all truth is relative. Lastly, there is Materialism: money, fame, material prosperity and personal pleasure – this is what life is really all about. “Eat, drink, and be merry!”

 

It doesn’t take much observation or personal reflection to be able to acknowledge the power of all this, does it? How should we then live? By not being conformed, but transformed, by the renewing of our minds and the appreciation and application of God’s will – God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

And how are our mindsets re-newed, re-set and re-directed? The psalmist’s answer generations ago remains the answer for us still today: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

 

Scripture, inspired, infallible, authoritative, is the Word that lights our way in a darkened world. It is the primary source to direct us in how we may glorify and enjoy God, the source in which we may know what to believe about God and find out what God requires of us. [vi]

 

As one of our Presbyterian confessions puts this matter:

 

In this Holy Scripture, the universal Church of Christ has the most complete exposition of all that pertains to a saving faith, and also to the framing of a life acceptable to God.[vii]

                                                                     

By making diligent, daily use of the Scriptures, the view of God’s mercy in Christ is kept consistently before us. In addition, a more certain way in an uncertain world is laid out before us. And only here are we principally reminded that life is not so much about us and our kingdom, as it is about God and His kingdom. It is this that brings forth a certain note of unyielding conviction in the face of pressure to conform otherwise.

 

Some years ago, Dr. Boice was seated on a plane flying from Chicago to the West Coast. On that flight, he sat next to a woman and they had a conversation regarding many things, including the subject of “religion.”

But when he spoke to her of the Gospel, she replied, “But that’s just your opinion.” To this, Dr. Boice responded in saying, “You’re right; that is my opinion. But that’s not really what matters. What matters is: Is it true?”

 

Well, this happened about a dozen times, to the point where she would smile and even laugh when she would say, “But that’s just your opinion,” and he would reply, “You’re right; that is my opinion. But that’s not what really matters. What matters is: Is it true?” When Dr. Boice got home, in the way of follow-up, he sent her a copy of C.S. Lewis classic book, Mere Christianity.[viii]

 

The response of Dr. Boice is worthy of our use, I believe: “You’re right; that is my opinion. But that’s not what really matters. What matter is: Is it true?” In a world pressuring us to conform, we can be transformed, not solely because it is our opinion, but because it is true!

 

Belief is so very important, but so is our behavior that flows from that belief. How should we then live? Paul gives us the answer:

 

In view of God’s mercy,

offer your bodies as living sacrifices,

holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual worship.

 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is –

His good, pleasing and perfect will.