Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Motives matter when we serve the Lord, as Pastor Ed explains. When Paul, the Holy Spirit through Paul appeals to us, he doesn't say, "Get your life right. Clean everything up. Live a perfect life, and then maybe you can go the next step." But instead, he says, "Think of God's mercies and worship him by offering your whole life."

He is worthy of your whole life. Don't ever forget this. The motive of serving God and yielding yourself to God, the motive in surrendering, is always his mercy and grace. It's not guilt. It's not manipulation. It's always love.

Guest (Male): From Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado comes another edition of Abounding Grace. Pastor Ed Taylor will join us in a moment as we continue our Greater series. As we turn the calendar, many of us would like to see some changes in our lives, maybe to lose a few pounds or kick a nasty habit. Well, today, we'll see that the change we want will require greater sacrifice, and God can certainly help us with that. Here's Pastor Ed in Romans chapter 12.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Romans chapter 12 is where we are. We're going to finish our Greater series. Today we wrap up 2026's New Year's study and series that I've entitled Greater. It's been very, very encouraging for me and stirring. Even a few of the points have been very challenging for me personally as I look to the Lord for all that he wants to do in my life as I receive the word of God for me personally. And I hope it's been that way for you too.

I hope the Holy Spirit has been taking the messages and shooting them right to your heart so that you might be stirred up. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." That's been my prayer, that he would stir up love among us and stir up good works that you would notice. That you would notice that he's growing us and that he is molding and shaping us, that we're becoming more Christ-like each and every time we present ourselves to him. We obey him in the fellowship, we study his word. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. We persevere through another trial, we make it through, we endure, we patiently wait.

Even as we were reading today in the Psalm, that God is going to do, he says he's going to bring it forth just at the daybreak or at dawn. And that's a statement of the timing of the Lord in Psalm 46, which was our first study, wasn't it? In this Greater series, counterintuitive studies they are because you think, "Okay, greater, that means more of this and more of that," and it is greater. But God has taken us to these inward things. In the first study, you remember, we learned that God does things in great ways little by little.

And we studied in depth what God did with the nation of Israel, leading them in to take the promised land and all that they've waited for and all that they've wanted, delivered from Egypt. And then God says, "I'm going to take you in, but you won't get the land right away. It's going to be given to you little by little." And the main reason was they couldn't handle it all at once. God had to do that work of preparation. And we learned that God is always preparing us for what he has prepared for us.

And we went from the topic of little by little to the topic of greater faith. Greater faith, why? Because it's impossible to please God without faith. It's impossible to be in that joy-filled relationship with God and enjoy him without faith. And so God is calling us to greater faith. And we learned faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. We're going to press into the things of God, the work that he does through his word. And then last time we learned about greater abiding.

On my way into service last night, I was listening to a Bible study from a pastor, a friend of mine. He's gone home to be with the Lord, but still very encouraging to me as I listen to him. And he was sharing in Psalm 1, reminding me of how important it is to be planted. He used that illustration of a tree planted by the rivers of water. It doesn't move. It stays in the place of nourishment. And when that tree stays in the place of nourishment, then it is going to bear its fruit in due season.

The timing of the Lord and how important it is for us to abide in Christ and he in us, because without him, what did he teach us? We can do nothing. But then Paul learned, as we've learned, that I can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens us. Today the topic is greater sacrifice. What God has for us in a new year is greater sacrifice. Can I be very clear that these Bible studies are rooted in our worship of God? I'm not asking for greater sacrifice for the church and to give more to the church.

The church always is a secondary place to live out your faith. Your primary place is in relationship with God through his Son Jesus Christ. That's where everything is lived out. It's your faith walk with Jesus, learning who you are in Christ, enjoying his grace, walking in obedience. The fruit of that benefit is certainly lived out in your church. But be careful not to take greater sacrifice as, "Well, here is pastor asking for more." What I'm asking for more of is more of your intentional following of Christ because that will benefit the church the most.

When you become the woman and the man that God wants you to be, the husband, the wife, the single, when you are the single parent, when you're the one that God, when you are the one in Christ living out your faith, then we all benefit. It's not greater sacrifice for the church, it's greater sacrifice for the Lord. Why? Because there is such a deep joy and amazing abundant fruit when we put our complete trust in God. I mean, that's where it's at, where we trust God where it counts.

It's a tremendous way of living your life, surrendering your will, surrendering your plans, your efforts to the wisdom of God by faith. But so many have difficulties right there. They don't want to surrender an area or two. They want to hold it in their back pocket. They're willing to give, but not all. They're willing to step forward, but not with everything. They're willing to obey, but perhaps holding back a little of their obedience. Or even worse, they're willing to move forward, but they trust God, but they also trust in man.

And what a place of failure that is, trusting in man instead of trusting in God. How many times do you need to be let down by some man or some woman before you realize that God will never let you down? And allowing somebody come with this fresh line, somebody's feeding you or something that, the man and the woman that we trust in the most is so often ourselves. It's how we see things, our philosophy of life. When all the while God is wanting all of our heart, mind, and soul.

You can rely on and trust in God this coming year, who has a specific plan for our lives. It begins here, notice in Romans chapter 12, one of those very familiar passages. But don't ignore the familiar passages, actually pay attention to them because they're very important. Notice in verse 1, it says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present yourselves, or your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

We're going to spend most of our time in verse 1, but notice verse 2, "And don't 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." Now, I know many of you are already praying, "God, what is your will for me in the new year?" And I know the New Year is just symbolic. It's just another day. But it's a powerful day because the year changes, we have a brand new calendar, and it has this symbolism of a fresh, clean slate.

We look back, as Ian and I were just discussing, we look back on 2025, we see the ups, we see the downs, we watch the calendar year come and go. So take advantage of that. Fresh slate, new beginnings, past is behind you, future's in front of you, living out today. We can trust in God who has a specific divine plan for our lives and for your life. The way to discover it is right here, beginning in verse 1, listening to the pleadings of Pastor Paul. Paul wrote this letter to believers in Rome and he begs them.

That word "beseech," we don't use that word very much. You could write next to it "beg," I beg you. You know how sometimes you come to someone and you really want to convince them and you're just looking for words to try to convince them and just, "Please, please, I mean it. I'm serious about this. I beg you. I beg you to do this. I beg you to stop this. I beg you." That's where Paul is. I beseech you. But actually, it's also a familiar Greek word. You Bible students, when I say the word, it'll immediately take you to another place in the Bible.

This is the Greek word "parakaleo." It is the same word that Jesus uses to describe the Holy Spirit. "I will send another helper, a Parakletos." Well, this is the verb form, parakaleo. It means to come alongside to help. Paul says, "I'm coming alongside of you as a pastor. I'm coming alongside of you as a friend. I'm coming alongside of you as a leader in God's church." And how I can see that for myself today. I'm coming alongside of you as a friend, as a brother in the Lord, as a pastor, as a leader.

I'm begging you. This is your future if you want to hold on to it. You want to discover the will of God in your life? Do you want to know whether to go yes to the open door, closed door? Do you want to know if you go left or you go right? Then I'm begging you, listen to this passage and obey it. And so what does he say? "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God." Notice the basis of his plea. He comes alongside brothers and sisters, brethren. He comes alongside, but how does he plea? By the mercies of God.

Consider the mercies of God. This is not a heavy-handed pastor. He's not using manipulation or guilt or trying to shame you into activity. Say, "Look, just take a step back for a second." If he was here today, perhaps he'd say, "Just let's take a step back for a second as you look to a New Year and consider how merciful God has been and how merciful he is." Now, if you're taking notes, I want to give you three words that you should know connected to the word mercy. For some of you, this will be a review, but for some of you, it's the very first time you put these three words together as it relates to how you view the character and nature of God.

Understand how he works with us. Three words: judgment, mercy, and grace. Let's define them so you understand them in their most simplest terms. First of all, judgment. Judgment is defined as getting what you deserve. That makes sense. If you have committed a crime and you've been found guilty and you're standing before the judge and the gavel comes down, "Guilty, and this is your sentence," you would be receiving what is just and right. You would be receiving judgment. This is the sentence. This is the penalty for that crime. Judgment is you get what you deserve.

Number two is the word mercy. When you think of mercy, I want you to think of it this way. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. When someone shows mercy or receives mercy, they do not receive what they deserve. For example, that same illustration in the courtroom. If you have been found guilty and the judgment is going to be set at a later date, when you come back for that later date, either you or your attorney will throw yourself on the mercy of the court. What does that mean? That means you're asking the judge, "I know I did it. I am guilty. But please do not give me what I deserve. Give me a second chance. Allow me to work it off."

When you ask and receive mercy, a little bit closer to home, if you grew up with siblings and you're wrestling and fighting and the whole deal is, "Whoever wins gets to punch the other one in the face." And there you are wrestling and you got him down and your arm is up like this. When you're laying on the ground, you're not saying, "Go ahead. I don't care. Hit me twice." No, you're crying out, "Mercy, mercy, mercy." What are you asking for? "I know I lost, but please don't hit me in the face." That's what you're saying. You cry out mercy. You don't ask for judgment. You don't ask for double judgment. You ask for mercy because mercy is not getting what you deserve.

And then the third word, "grace," is a beautiful word. In its most simplest terms, it means to receive something that you don't deserve. Judgment: getting what you deserve. Mercy: not getting what you deserve. Grace: getting something that you don't deserve. The grace of God, thinking of the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin and our rebellious nature against God and our sins have separated us from God. What does he do? He shows forth not with judgment, but with mercy and grace.

When Paul writes this, he says, "I want you to consider. My plea is based upon the mercies of God." You are still alive. You still have today and I'm asking you to consider how gracious and merciful God has been to you. There is no greater incentive to holy and righteous living, no greater incentive to godly living, than remembering and thinking upon the mercies and the grace of God. They're all tied together with the love of God, where he speaks forth in Lamentations in chapter 3 and verse 22. It says, "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because his compassions fail not, they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness."

When Paul, the Holy Spirit through Paul appeals to us, he doesn't say, "Get your life right. Clean everything up. Live a perfect life, and then maybe you can go the next step." But instead, he says, "Think of God's mercies and worship him by offering your whole life." He is worthy of your whole life. Don't ever forget this. The motive of serving God and yielding yourself to God, the motive in surrendering is always his mercy and grace. It's not guilt, it's not manipulation, it's always love.

True connection and sacrifice in God is a response. It's a response to all that he has done. That's where he's at. He says, "Okay, church, you're looking forward in what the future is. I'm begging you. Come alongside of you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice." That word "present" is the verb in this sentence. He says, "With all of this, I want you to consider, I want you to understand. But here's the action. I want you to present yourself to God."

The love of God moves us in ways that no one and nothing else ever can. And when you understand God's grace and goodness in your life, when you see his hand moving in your life, you naturally are drawn to him. And now Paul says, "I want you to present yourself to him." That's a technical term, by the way. It's a technical term that will tie us back to the book of Leviticus when the priests were being instructed on how to offer the sacrifices to God. They were to present the animal on the altar where the animal will be completely consumed.

Completely burned and consumed as an offering to the Lord. Now, aren't you glad that's not what God's requesting here in the new covenant? You don't need to bring an animal, and you yourself don't need to get on the altar and be burned and consumed. The new covenant now is for you and I to bring ourselves, present ourselves on the altar of worship, the altar of service, the altar of adoration, the altar of surrender, and stay alive and to live out your life. Live out your surrendered life of obedience. That's the request.

If you want to see substantive change in a new year in any situation, there's going to require greater sacrifice on your part. I can use the phrase holding nothing back. It doesn't mean that we're going to be able to address every single situation, but I do know this: when you think of nothing, you have to also think of something that you're not willing to offer, something that's holding you back. Why you can't describe yourself as surrendering fully or yielding completely to the Lord.

The animal being brought for sacrifice didn't have a choice. It's just, "Oh man, why did he pick me?" I don't know what the animal's thinking. But remember, there were two on the day of atonement. There was one that would be presented on the altar, but there was that other one that the priest would lay his hands on his head and then let him go. And the scapegoat would be able to run away symbolically carrying the sins of the people. They could all watch the goat run away. "I'm sorry for you, buddy, you're going to the altar, but I'm out of here."

The animals didn't have a choice. They got picked, they got carried. That's the way life was for them. But for you and for me, I have a choice. It is my choice. God has reserved for me the make choices to either worship him or not, to present myself to him or not, to obey him or not, to surrender to him or not. And how often we miss out on wonderful things because we're not willing to completely, totally yield ourselves. Isn't that what Jesus said? He looks out at Jerusalem and he's emoting over them. He's emotionally seeing the city.

There's a place up on the Mount of Olives where you can see the entire city coming down and the Dome of the Rock there and the city of Jerusalem. And I picture Jesus overlooking the city and going, "How often I wanted to gather you," he said, "like a mother hen her chicks, but you were not willing." How much we miss out on simply because we are not willing. We have reduced this dynamic glorious relationship with God to something so much smaller than God ever intended. Some religious expression, we've made it so many other things than the dynamic salvific powerful leading and guiding presence of God in our lives.

We just present ourselves to him. "Lord, whatever you have for us. What is it that you have for us?" The person that gets in the way the most is ourselves. I know we give a lot of attention to other people and what they've done to us and all the difficulties and trials in life. I get that. But they are not the problem, we are. I want to give you a tool as you're ministering to people. It's something that I've noticed in my life, maybe the last five, 10 years, I don't know exactly. As I'm talking with people and I'm listening to them, this just happened not even a month or two ago.

I was talking to someone after service, one of those conversations where I say, "Hey, we should go sit down." We're sitting down in one of the rows here and I'm listening, I'm open to the Holy Spirit, I'm listening to how they're describing the situation, and then I pause. Here's the tool. You can use it too. It's a very powerful tool. I stop in the conversation. I see it's pretty heavy. And then I say something like this, "Hey, can I share something really hard with you right now?" And almost always somebody will give me their permission.

I want that permission because I want to be able to connect because it is going to be hard. In this particular one, I'll let you in on exactly what I shared. I said, "It sounds like you're acting really selfish right now. Have you seen that in your life?" They were talking to me about a very difficult, they were grieving. I could sense they were becoming very selfish in their grief. They go, "Pastor, how could you say? I don't think I ever want to sit down with you. Like, how could you say that?" Well, I'll tell you how I could say that. I know what it's like to be a grieving man who's incredibly selfish.

I speak from experience. God has given me a sensitivity to this, and I wanted to draw them out faster than I got out. Because it is very familiar when you're wounded, when you're hurt, when you're struggling, when you're living in this world, when you're dealing perhaps like Paul with the thorn in the flesh, it's a temptation to become very self-focused. You're nowhere near Romans chapter 12. You're not thinking about the mercies of God. You're thinking about how you've been wounded, how you've been hurt. You're thinking about, "Oh, this is unfair. This is wrong." Especially if you have a high level of justice.

And then when that cycle of self, it just doesn't end. And before you know it, you're either surrounded by no one because it's very hard to be around that. You're either surrounded by no one or only other people that are as bitter as you are. And that doesn't help. And perhaps even the Holy Spirit today is using hard words. I forgot to ask if it's okay for you. I already shared the hard words, but this is the freedom day for you. You don't need to be in a place like you have to even sit back and go, "Have you been considering the mercies of God? Because if you haven't, look where it's led you." You're upset, you're bitter. You're not experiencing the healing or the comfort of God. I don't know how long the journey's going to be, but I do know this: on the journey there's more pain, more difficulty, more hardship, but on the journey there can also be more in your relationship with God.

Guest (Male): God wants greater things for us in this new year, but to get there, it will require some measure of sacrifice on our part. That's the big takeaway here from Romans chapter 12, and this is Abounding Grace. This is the fourth installment of our Greater series from Pastor Ed Taylor. Hear it again online at aboundinggraceradio.com or wherever you get your podcasts. At Abounding Grace, we're committed to bringing the truths of God's word to the radio and internet every day, but we can't do it alone.

We look to the Lord and our listeners to help us provide these daily studies. And today, when you give a donation of $25 or more, we'll send you Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. Has this thought ever crossed your mind? Why won't God reveal his special will for my life already? Kevin DeYoung would answer, "Because he doesn't intend to." With pastoral wisdom, he debunks unbiblical ways of understanding God's will and points to a wonderful and biblical alternative: live like Christ.

He also exposes the frustrations of our waiting games and underscores the freedom of finding God's will in scripture and then simply doing it. Request a copy right now by calling us at 877-30-GRACE. We'll return to Pastor Ed Taylor's series Greater tomorrow on Abounding Grace. Hear more about greater sacrifice as you join us then. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado here in Aurora.