YOUR LIFE IS YOUR OFFERING

Luther Memorial Church

25th Sunday after Pentecost

May 25, 2003

Pastor: Dave Naumann

Hymns: 465, 398, 788 st. 1, 789, 477 st. 4

Pre-Service Meditation: Psalm 96 p. 144

O God the Holy Spirit, Who art one with the Father and the Son, we thank Thee that Thou hast begun in us Thy work of sanctification. Cause our faith to increase, and make us ever more zealous in good works. Clothed in our Savior's righteousness, exalt us and all believers to eternal life on the Last Day. We ask Thee to hear us for Jesus sake.   Amen.

The Old Testament Reading: Malachi 3:6-12

"For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. 7 Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the LORD of hosts. "But you said, 'In what way shall we return?' 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," Says the LORD of hosts; 12 "And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land," Says the LORD of hosts.

The New Testament Reading: John 15:1-8

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Sermon:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Amen.

INI

"YOUR LIFE IS YOUR OFFERING"

I.   Is not conformed to this world

II. Is transformed by faith in Jesus

III. Finds its place in the Church

The text I would lay on your hearts is taken from:
Romans 12:1-5 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Dear Friends in Christ - Fellow Redeemed,

            Our congregation has elected to have an offering as part of the church service. The collection plates get passed AFTER the sermon for a good reason. Your motivation to support the Gospel should always be the Gospel. As part of our support of the Gospel, you and I will contribute as we are able. What will you put in it today? Twenty dollars? One hundred? Five hundred? Five thousand? Hopefully, you'll be generous in your offering to the Lord. Hopefully, you'll recall with joy everything that the Lord has given you (which is, in fact, everything you've got!), and you'll respond by cheerfully supporting the work of the Gospel with your monetary offering. I know that most of you will do just that and, in fact, have been doing just that for as long as you can remember. You understand that good stewardship of the monetary wealth God gives you is part of a God-pleasing Christian life.

            Well, this sermon isn't about money. But it IS about offerings - it's about the most important offering you can give to the Lord. This is an offering that's much more important than any check or bank note. It's the offering of YOURSELF! Today, the Apostle Paul is challenging you to take a giant step as a Christian; in effect, he's asking you to put YOURSELF in the collection plate. -Not physically, of course, but spiritually to give yourself over, body and soul, to the service of the Lord. We ask God's Holy Spirit to guide us this morning as we consider the theme: YOUR LIFE IS YOUR OFFERING" An offering pleasing to God is a life that... 1)Is not conformed to this world, 2)Is transformed by faith in Jesus, and 3)Finds its place in the Church.

            Paul was writing to the Christians in the congregation at Rome. Some of them were Jews, and some of them were non-Jews. One thing they both were familiar with was the practice of religious sacrifices. I mean literal sacrifices - the ritual killing of animals on religious altars as a part of worship, which was something both Jewish and pagan religions of the time commonly practiced. True Christian worship, Paul was telling them, also required sacrifice...but not the kind they were used to. He said;

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

Give your whole life as a sacrifice to God, he said. Not a bloody sacrifice, but a living one; ongoing, in daily service to the Lord. You might remember, though, that the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament had to be carried out with particular kinds of animals, in a particular way. Otherwise, the sacrifice wouldn't be acceptable to God. The same thing is true about the way we New Testament Christians give our living sacrifice to God. In order to make your life a pleasing offering to God, there are some guidelines you should follow. Paul spells them out. In the first place, he says an offering pleasing to God is a life that 1)is not conformed to this world.

            I remember, as a child, visiting the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Everything in it was fascinating, but what really grabbed me was a huge machine that made ashtrays. A mechanical arm would take a round disc of tin from a stack and place it in the press, then a big steel piston would come down and stamp it into an ashtray with one, powerful stroke. One after another, the machine stamped out the ashtrays, each with the same design on it, each one exactly like the last. The society we live in is a lot like that machine. It tries to mold us and shape us into something we shouldn't be. As Christians, we're under constant, driving pressure to conform our lives to the image of the world. On television, in movies and magazines, we're told that pleasure is the ultimate goal in life. That there's really nothing wrong with sex outside of marriage. That a woman should have the right to kill her unborn baby if she wants to. That homosexuality isn't an unnatural abomination, but a healthy "alternate lifestyle." We're taught that the Bible is a quaint, old-fashioned story book, full of errors and fairy tales. The pressure is constant, and it's effective. After a while, we may be tempted to see things the same way. We may be tempted to live like the world wants us to; or at least to look with a less critical eye on those activities that God's Word clearly condemns as sin.

            But Paul says, "Don't be conformed to this world." An offering pleasing to God is a life that's not stamped out in the world's mold. Does that make you feel uncomfortable? Somehow "different" from the folks around you? Great! As Christians, you're SUPPOSED to be different. As Peter said;

I Pet 2:9, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

What's the alternative to CON-formation? TRANS-formation. Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." An offering pleasing to God is a life that is transformed BY FAITH - faith in Jesus.

            A Christian is a human being whose life has been transformed by faith. He's still made of flesh and bone, but now - by the power of the Holy Spirit - his life takes on a different look. He also functions differently, using his body, his mind, and all his resources to serve the Lord. Earlier in the book of Romans, Paul encourages the transformed Christians;

Rom 6:19, "For just as you (once) presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness."

But what is it that transforms us? We can't transform ourselves, that's one thing for sure. Even if you set aside an hour every morning, and sat at your kitchen table concentrating with all your might on how to keep the Commandments and make your life better, that by itself wouldn't do you any good. The Law of God is powerful - it's great for showing you your sins - but it can't give you a better, more God-pleasing life. Only the Gospel can do that!

            The Gospel message is the renewing, refreshing, transforming Good News that you have been freed from your sins. Each one of your sins - the ones you committed yesterday, and the ones you will commit tomorrow - they have all been washed away by the blood of Christ. Jesus died to redeem the world, yes. But more important is the fact that He died to redeem you, as an individual. And in the place where your sinfulness was, Jesus has put His perfect righteousness. He kept all of the Commandments perfectly. He was perfectly obedient to His heavenly Father. He fulfilled all righteousness; and now His perfect righteousness has become your personal possession, by faith in Him. I get angry by the people who try to portray salvation as a complicated and difficult process. It's very simple, as simple as John 3:16;

"God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

So simple..."Jesus lived and died for me. It is finished. For Jesus' sake I'm going to heaven, and nothing can stop me!"

            When people really understand that - when they grasp the meaning of this incredibly Good News - a powerful change occurs. By the power of the Holy Spirit, their minds are renewed. Without even thinking about it, their lives are transformed. Good works flow spontaneously in their lives, just as water runs spontaneously downhill. You don't have to sit and concentrate about it; the fruits of a thankful faith will appear in your life as naturally as apples appear on apple trees. You don't even have to go looking for good works to do because God has, in fact, already got them ready for you:

Eph 2:10, "For we are His workmanship," Paul says, "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

The joy of knowing we're saved by Jesus - that's what makes us offer our whole lives as a sacrifice to the Lord's service. In our new-found freedom from sin's consequences, we WANT to serve the Lord...we CAN'T HELP but serve the Lord. The only question that remains for you now is: what's the best way for me to do this? How can I, as an individual, put my particular talents and abilities at the Lord's disposal? And that's an important question, because Paul says that an offering pleasing to God is a life that 3)Finds its place in the Church.

            Today the Apostle urges you, as an individual, to "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" for YOUR life. In other words, to let God's Word to guide you to your place, to show you where you fit into His overall plan for the Church, the invisible body of all believers.

"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

By nature, we human beings are all soloists. We're proud, we want to perform alone, and have the stage completely to ourselves. But the Church of God is no place for soloists. The Church is like an orchestra. It's made up of many different members, all using their different talents in different ways. The harmony of the whole orchestra depends on the fact that they're all using the same music and watching the same conductor. The Head of the Church is our Savior Jesus Christ, the One we all look to for our life and salvation. The score that we all depend on for our life's direction is the holy, unchanging Word of God. We dare not give in to "pious pride;" we dare not assume a "holier-than-thou" attitude. Paul uses the picture of the human body - can the hand criticize the foot because it's not a hand? Ridiculous! Both the hand and the foot are necessary to the body.

"As we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another."

Sometime in the near future - maybe on your way home from church today, or sitting in your easy chair after dinner - I hope you'll give some more thought to that question. "What's the best place for me in the Church? How can I position myself so as to give the most back to God for all He has given me?" God offered up His only Son for you - remember and rejoice! And let your life be your offering to Him!

In Jesus' saving Name, AMEN.

Close

	Luther Memorial Church
	25th Sunday after Pentecost
	May 25, 2003
	Pastor: Dave Naumann
	Hymns: 465, 398, 788 st. 1, 789, 477 st. 4
	Pre-Service Meditation: Psalm 96 p. 144
	O God the Holy Spirit, Who art one with the Father and the Son, we thank Thee that Thou hast begun in us Thy work of sanctification. Cause our faith to increase, and make us ever more zealous in good works. Clothed in our Savior's righteousness, exalt us and all believers to eternal life on the Last Day. We ask Thee to hear us for Jesus sake. Amen.
	The Old Testament Reading: Malachi 3:6-12 "For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. 7 Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the LORD of hosts. "But you said, 'In what way shall we return?' 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," Says the LORD of hosts; 12 "And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land," Says the LORD of hosts.
	The New Testament Reading: John 15:1-8 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
	Sermon: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Amen.
	INI
	"YOUR LIFE IS YOUR OFFERING"
	I. Is not conformed to this world II. Is transformed by faith in Jesus III. Finds its place in the Church
	The text I would lay on your hearts is taken from: Romans 12:1-5 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Dear Friends in Christ - Fellow Redeemed, Our congregation has elected to have an offering as part of the church service. The collection plates get passed AFTER the sermon for a good reason. Your motivation to support the Gospel should always be the Gospel. As part of our support of the Gospel, you and I will contribute as we are able. What will you put in it today? Twenty dollars? One hundred? Five hundred? Five thousand? Hopefully, you'll be generous in your offering to the Lord. Hopefully, you'll recall with joy everything that the Lord has given you (which is, in fact, everything you've got!), and you'll respond by cheerfully supporting the work of the Gospel with your monetary offering. I know that most of you will do just that and, in fact, have been doing just that for as long as you can remember. You understand that good stewardship of the monetary wealth God gives you is part of a God-pleasing Christian life. Well, this sermon isn't about money. But it IS about offerings - it's about the most important offering you can give to the Lord. This is an offering that's much more important than any check or bank note. It's the offering of YOURSELF! Today, the Apostle Paul is challenging you to take a giant step as a Christian; in effect, he's asking you to put YOURSELF in the collection plate. -Not physically, of course, but spiritually to give yourself over, body and soul, to the service of the Lord. We ask God's Holy Spirit to guide us this morning as we consider the theme: YOUR LIFE IS YOUR OFFERING" An offering pleasing to God is a life that... 1)Is not conformed to this world, 2)Is transformed by faith in Jesus, and 3)Finds its place in the Church. Paul was writing to the Christians in the congregation at Rome. Some of them were Jews, and some of them were non-Jews. One thing they both were familiar with was the practice of religious sacrifices. I mean literal sacrifices - the ritual killing of animals on religious altars as a part of worship, which was something both Jewish and pagan religions of the time commonly practiced. True Christian worship, Paul was telling them, also required sacrifice...but not the kind they were used to. He said; "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Give your whole life as a sacrifice to God, he said. Not a bloody sacrifice, but a living one; ongoing, in daily service to the Lord. You might remember, though, that the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament had to be carried out with particular kinds of animals, in a particular way. Otherwise, the sacrifice wouldn't be acceptable to God. The same thing is true about the way we New Testament Christians give our living sacrifice to God. In order to make your life a pleasing offering to God, there are some guidelines you should follow. Paul spells them out. In the first place, he says an offering pleasing to God is a life that 1)is not conformed to this world. I remember, as a child, visiting the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Everything in it was fascinating, but what really grabbed me was a huge machine that made ashtrays. A mechanical arm would take a round disc of tin from a stack and place it in the press, then a big steel piston would come down and stamp it into an ashtray with one, powerful stroke. One after another, the machine stamped out the ashtrays, each with the same design on it, each one exactly like the last. The society we live in is a lot like that machine. It tries to mold us and shape us into something we shouldn't be. As Christians, we're under constant, driving pressure to conform our lives to the image of the world. On television, in movies and magazines, we're told that pleasure is the ultimate goal in life. That there's really nothing wrong with sex outside of marriage. That a woman should have the right to kill her unborn baby if she wants to. That homosexuality isn't an unnatural abomination, but a healthy "alternate lifestyle." We're taught that the Bible is a quaint, old-fashioned story book, full of errors and fairy tales. The pressure is constant, and it's effective. After a while, we may be tempted to see things the same way. We may be tempted to live like the world wants us to; or at least to look with a less critical eye on those activities that God's Word clearly condemns as sin. But Paul says, "Don't be conformed to this world." An offering pleasing to God is a life that's not stamped out in the world's mold. Does that make you feel uncomfortable? Somehow "different" from the folks around you? Great! As Christians, you're SUPPOSED to be different. As Peter said; I Pet 2:9, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." What's the alternative to CON-formation? TRANS-formation. Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." An offering pleasing to God is a life that is transformed BY FAITH - faith in Jesus. A Christian is a human being whose life has been transformed by faith. He's still made of flesh and bone, but now - by the power of the Holy Spirit - his life takes on a different look. He also functions differently, using his body, his mind, and all his resources to serve the Lord. Earlier in the book of Romans, Paul encourages the transformed Christians; Rom 6:19, "For just as you (once) presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness." But what is it that transforms us? We can't transform ourselves, that's one thing for sure. Even if you set aside an hour every morning, and sat at your kitchen table concentrating with all your might on how to keep the Commandments and make your life better, that by itself wouldn't do you any good. The Law of God is powerful - it's great for showing you your sins - but it can't give you a better, more God-pleasing life. Only the Gospel can do that! The Gospel message is the renewing, refreshing, transforming Good News that you have been freed from your sins. Each one of your sins - the ones you committed yesterday, and the ones you will commit tomorrow - they have all been washed away by the blood of Christ. Jesus died to redeem the world, yes. But more important is the fact that He died to redeem you, as an individual. And in the place where your sinfulness was, Jesus has put His perfect righteousness. He kept all of the Commandments perfectly. He was perfectly obedient to His heavenly Father. He fulfilled all righteousness; and now His perfect righteousness has become your personal possession, by faith in Him. I get angry by the people who try to portray salvation as a complicated and difficult process. It's very simple, as simple as John 3:16; "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So simple..."Jesus lived and died for me. It is finished. For Jesus' sake I'm going to heaven, and nothing can stop me!" When people really understand that - when they grasp the meaning of this incredibly Good News - a powerful change occurs. By the power of the Holy Spirit, their minds are renewed. Without even thinking about it, their lives are transformed. Good works flow spontaneously in their lives, just as water runs spontaneously downhill. You don't have to sit and concentrate about it; the fruits of a thankful faith will appear in your life as naturally as apples appear on apple trees. You don't even have to go looking for good works to do because God has, in fact, already got them ready for you: Eph 2:10, "For we are His workmanship," Paul says, "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." The joy of knowing we're saved by Jesus - that's what makes us offer our whole lives as a sacrifice to the Lord's service. In our new-found freedom from sin's consequences, we WANT to serve the Lord...we CAN'T HELP but serve the Lord. The only question that remains for you now is: what's the best way for me to do this? How can I, as an individual, put my particular talents and abilities at the Lord's disposal? And that's an important question, because Paul says that an offering pleasing to God is a life that 3)Finds its place in the Church. Today the Apostle urges you, as an individual, to "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" for YOUR life. In other words, to let God's Word to guide you to your place, to show you where you fit into His overall plan for the Church, the invisible body of all believers. "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." By nature, we human beings are all soloists. We're proud, we want to perform alone, and have the stage completely to ourselves. But the Church of God is no place for soloists. The Church is like an orchestra. It's made up of many different members, all using their different talents in different ways. The harmony of the whole orchestra depends on the fact that they're all using the same music and watching the same conductor. The Head of the Church is our Savior Jesus Christ, the One we all look to for our life and salvation. The score that we all depend on for our life's direction is the holy, unchanging Word of God. We dare not give in to "pious pride;" we dare not assume a "holier-than-thou" attitude. Paul uses the picture of the human body - can the hand criticize the foot because it's not a hand? Ridiculous! Both the hand and the foot are necessary to the body. "As we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another." Sometime in the near future - maybe on your way home from church today, or sitting in your easy chair after dinner - I hope you'll give some more thought to that question. "What's the best place for me in the Church? How can I position myself so as to give the most back to God for all He has given me?" God offered up His only Son for you - remember and rejoice! And let your life be your offering to Him!
	In Jesus' saving Name, AMEN.
	Close