Telling the Truth

Jill Briscoe: You may have wondered what practical steps you can take to please God by living sacrificially for him and others. Well, Stewart's about to tell us. But I'd like to take a moment before his message begins to tell you about a powerful resource we want to send you as our way of saying thanks for your gift to keep our broadcast going strong. If you've ever struggled with the pain of betrayal or the weight of resentment, you're not alone. Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we're called to do, but it's also one of the most freeing.

That's why we want to send you Freed by Forgiveness, a four-message compilation from Stewart and Jill as our thanks for your gift today. In it, you'll discover how you can break free from bitterness and step into the healing and freedom Jesus offers. So request your copy of Freed by Forgiveness when you give today, knowing your support helps more people around the world experience freedom in Christ, many for the very first time as they hear God's truth thanks to you. Call now at 282-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thanks again for listening and for your support today.

Now here's Stewart with his message Making God Smile by Living Sacrificially.

Stuart Briscoe: Now we're going to turn to our Bibles and today we're going to be in Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Now I have not spent a lot of my life establishing goals. I think there's certainly merit for having some general goals. I get a little bit worried but when people have very specific goals because sometimes the the goals they set are unreachable, then they feel discouraged even though they may have done very well. And sometimes they're totally unrealistic and they could have done much more than the goal that they set. So I don't spend a lot of time doing that, but I do believe that there are spiritual goals that we should be setting.

And the reason I believe that is that the Bible says quite specifically that there are spiritual goals that we should be establishing. One of them comes from second Corinthians in which the apostle Paul said that we make it our goal to please God. That is our objective. We make it our goal to please God. Now we've been talking about the idea of pleasing God or making God smile. And we're trying to find out why we should do it and we're trying to find out how we should do it. And Romans chapter 12 is is a case in point where it gives us a further explanation, first of all, of of what it means to please God and then why it is pleasing to God and therefore why we should do it.

So let me read to you Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. And this is what it says. Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. Is good, pleasing and perfect will. Now notice God's will is good, pleasing and perfect. Notice that the sacrifice is living, holy and pleasing to God.

So we're looking into scripture to find out what are the sort of things that please God. If that is to be our goal, then what sort of things will we be doing? Just imagine the beginning of the day you may say to yourself, wow, I've got so many things to do today. I've got to do this, I got to do that, I've got to want to try and get this finished, I want to get this started, got to deal with all these telephone calls, got so many emails to answer or whatever it is that the particular environment in which you live requires of you.

But overarching all those things to do, you could factor in something like this. Today, Lord, I want to so conduct myself as I go about all these various activities that I would bring pleasure to you. And at the end of the day you could probably sit down and say as I look back over the day, Lord, were the things that made you smile? Were the things that made you proud? And in that sense it becomes a goal that is helpful for us. Now in this particular instance you'll notice that the first part of this goal in pleasing God would require us to make a sacrifice of our bodies, living holy.

And this we are told is pleasing to God. Now this immediately rings a slightly discordant note in our thinking. You want me to make a sacrifice of my body. The only time we hear of anybody sacrificing their body now is in an ice hockey match where the guy is shooting on goal and the defenseman throws his body in the way of the puck and say oh wow, he sacrificed his body or he took one for the team or something like that. Well, that is not what Paul had in mind. He did not follow ice hockey.

Now what then did he make when he talks about this idea of making a sacrifice of the body? Well, let's back up a little bit on this idea of sacrifice. One of the fascinating things about what archaeologists and anthropologists are discovering about human beings is this. All the various cultures, wherever they explore these cultures, however primitive by our standards or sophisticated by our standards they are, they will always find in the culture a religious component. It's always it's always there wherever the cultures have developed. But secondly, one aspect of that religious component almost invariably is the dimension of sacrifice.

Now these sacrifices would take different form, but wherever you find human beings developing cultures, you will find a religious component and you will find as part of that an aspect that requires or looks to some element of sacrifice. Now this of course is intrigued those who explore these kind of things and they have come to to conclusions. Number one, that whole cultures in their religious impulses demonstrate the fact that human beings have feelings of vulnerability. When they look at the hugeness of the world of which they are a part, they feel fragile in the immensity of the whole thing.

And they are looking for some kind of power out there that they can relate to and hence sacrifices to this power, whatever it might be in some way form part of their thinking. This is very generalized, obviously. The second thing that they've noticed is this. Wherever you find human beings, you will find the feelings of guilt and shame. Now granted in our more sophisticated societies, we've become very very skilled at chloroforming feelings of shame and we have become very very skilled at taking away many feelings of shame by giving them highfalutin terminologies. But the problem is this.

We can have all kinds of attempted chloroforming feelings of shame and we can have all kinds of ways of explaining away guilt, but we just can't get rid of those feelings inside. And so in all the cultures there there seems to be an attempt somehow or other to get in touch with a power that will help with feelings of vulnerability and to find some way of the swaging feelings of guilt and shame. Now that's a very broad general statement, obviously. But not everybody will agree with it. Now when Jesus came along, he was the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

He is the one who was incarnate even though he was deity. He was the eternal one, even though he limited himself to time. He lived a perfect, spotless life and was shown to be the ultimate sacrifice who could lay down his life as for the sins of the whole world. And the cross is fundamental and central to the whole of our understanding of reconciliation to God and life before God. When you walk into a place of worship, if it's a Christian place of worship, what will be most prominent there? And the architecture and the answer, of course, will be a cross.

What is it that Christian women often wear around their necks? It is a cross. What is it that we're reminded of also much in our hymnology? And the answer is the cross. What is it that you cannot escape in the New Testament? It's it's the cross. Why? Because the whole of our experience of being reconciled to God and living before God is predicated on the cross. It's all about the sacrifice of Christ. Now then here is where it becomes very personal for us. Well, what is it that we sacrifice? And the answer in this particular context is we sacrifice our body, living, holy, well-pleasing to God.

Well, what does that mean? Well, this can be applied in in a variety of ways, but one rule of biblical exegesis is that we interpret the scripture in its context, immediate context and broader context. Romans chapter 6, Paul talks a lot about the body. Let me read to you a few verses and you'll see the connection, I think, when we're asking the question, what does it mean to sacrifice our bodies? Romans 6:11. In the same way count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from the dead and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. All right, that's quite a mouthful. This is what he's saying. He is not saying that your body is sinful, but he is saying that sinful influences or the power of sin can get a grip on members of your body and the members of your body become agents of sinful action and activity. Now we we all know that that is the case.

If our bodies were sinful, I suppose we're worried about the sin in our lives. I guess we could off the members and say we'll have to cure it, but we know it wouldn't. That wouldn't get to the sin problem at all. By the same token, and the members of our bodies can be used as instruments of unrighteousness. Give you a very simple example of this. My hand will do a variety of things. If anger were to take over in my life, then for me enough this member of my body on the end of my arm called my hand could clench into a fist.

And it is perfectly possible that I could bludgeon you with my fist. And it doesn't mean that I've got a sinful hand. What it means is that there's a sinful impetus called anger and that this is getting hold of this member of my body and it is being used to be destructive in your experience. By the same token, this hand of mine could actually be used as an instrument of soothing. It could be placed on your head in a prayer of blessing. It could be used if it was skilled medically to bring healing to you.

It could be used to dry away a tear. It could this same hand. It doesn't mean to say that it's a it's a very wonderful hand. It just means that this member of my body can be an instrument of unrighteousness or an instrument of righteousness. Same with the tongue. The tongue can rip somebody's reputation to shreds. It can circulate outright lies. It can be incredibly destructive or this same tongue can actually become a means of blessing and encouragement and a building. Now says the apostle Paul, if you are going to be a follower of Christ and you want to put a smile on the face of God, recognize what your body can do.

And if you're going to live sacrificially, what it means is that you are going to be willing to give up the yielding of the members of your body to those impulses that are sinful and you're going to be making intentional surrenders of that same member of your body to impulses that come from the spirit of God that will make your body a means of blessing. You see the problem is this, that that I I just kind of when I get mad, I just kind of I just I can get it all out of my system.

I feel so much better after it. I perhaps you're going to say, you know, when when people start delivering the dirt on somebody else, I got to tell you something. I enjoy it. And in fact, if I hear a nice, tasty tidbit of gossip about somebody that is demeaning, I can't wait to share it. And the simple factor of the matter is this. The reason I like to share it is this, that the worse I make them look, the better it makes me feel. And so I don't really want to give up yielding my tongue to that sort of thing.

I don't want to give up yielding my fist to that sort of thing. In actual fact, I want to go on yielding the members of my body to do whatever impulses come along. And God says, no no, no. This is what I want you to do. I want you to be willing to make a sacrifice of your body, living and holy and well-pleasing to me. You say, oh, that's going to make a big difference. Right. It's going to be costly, isn't it? Yes. Sacrifice usually is. You remember when David was wanted to find a place to to build a temple for the Lord and he found a nice piece of real estate.

It's right in the middle of Jerusalem now. It's probably the most famous piece of real estate in the whole wide world. And he went to this guy and he said that they wanted to buy this piece of property so he could build a temple for the Lord. And the fellow said, oh, if you want to do that, I'll give it to you. And David said, no no no no no. Can I offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing? Sacrifice without cost doesn't make any sense at all. So this is what will put a smile on God's face.

If we will begin to say, Lord, I tell you what I like to do. I would like to make an inventory of the members of my body and just check out what I 'm doing with them. I 'm going to check out what my hands are getting into. I'm going to check out what my tongue is getting into. I'm going to check out what my eyes are getting into. And I won't go any further with other members of your body, but let your imagination run riot. And just think about the members of your body and ask what in the world am I doing with them?

And am I willing to make a sacrifice of my body in order that I might stop yielding my instruments as members of unrighteousness and yield them as members of righteousness to put a smile on the face of God. But then the second thing that he says is do not conform to this age. This is a very very challenging thing. Do not conform to this age. What does that mean? Well, the Bible teaches that we live in an environment, in a cultural environment that for want of a better term is called the spirit of this age.

And it's called this evil age. It's called an evil age. There's a lot of evil in our society, in our cultures around the world. We we all recognize that. But in addition to that, the Bible teaches that with the incarnation of Christ the age to come was introduced. And so ever since the time of Christ, people living in this present evil age have also been exposed to the spirit of the age to come. And we live in an overlap now. We live in a present evil age, but we've been exposed to the realities of the age to come in Christ.

That is why you see a believer struggles a lot because you and I live in this present evil age. We are constantly exposed to it. We are continually bombarded by it. We live in the environment of it, all our waking moments. The third thing he said is this. You got to deal with your body. You got to deal with the age in which you live. And you got to deal with your mind. And what you've got to do with your mind is this. You've got to make sure it is renewed. And if your mind is renewed, your life will be transformed.

It starts with the mind. Now computer people will tell you, and I'm learning it gradually, garbage in, garbage out. Now theologians have been telling you that a long time before they even thought of computers, garbage in, garbage out. What do we need? Renewed minds. So what are you watching? So what are you reading? So who are you listening to? What kind of stuff you all about? Cuz I'll promise you something. If that old mind of yours is taking in garbage, don't expect to grow a fruit on it. They will put a smile on the face of God.

So what are you reading? So who are you listening to? What kind of stuff you all about? Cuz I'll promise you something. If that old mind of yours is taking in garbage, don't expect to grow fruit on it. They will put a smile on the face of God.

Jill Briscoe: If Jesus has made the ultimate sacrifice, Stewart, then why do we need to live sacrificially ourselves?

Stuart Briscoe: When we are called to live sacrificially, it has absolutely nothing to do with bringing about an atonement, a satisfaction for our sin. It has absolutely nothing to do with dealing with the righteous indignation of God. What it has to do with is this, that if we are to live for the Lord, we cannot live for ourselves. And that is what we constitutionally are wired up to do to live for ourselves. And so we're going to have to deny ourselves and take up the cross, not in order to merit salvation, but in order to live unselfishly for him.

Jill Briscoe: Stewart, when we think about what we would do with different parts of our body, what's one thing we can do better with our hands?

Stuart Briscoe: Scripture does tell us to individually commit our members to the the Lord. And it it does so both positively and negatively. In other words, it it says that the members of our body can be taken over by sinful impulses and we can engage in sinful activities. On the other hand, they can be yielded in trusting obedience to the indwelling spirit and then they become agents of blessing. And I I have found it very very helpful when I feel a sinful impulse in one of the members of my body. I try intentionally to yield that member of my body to something positive that the spirit can do.

Now as far as the hands are concerned, there are all kinds of things that that hands can do in response to sinful impulses. I'm not going to catalog them for you. You you probably can think of some for yourself. All right, the thing to do is whenever that impulse comes, say to yourself, no, that's not the way to go. What can I positively do with my hands now? Start with acts of generosity and kindness.

Jill Briscoe: Thanks for listening to Telling the Truth today. We're so glad you've joined us and want to encourage you further with a powerful resource from Stewart and Jill Briscoe. If you've ever struggled with the pain of betrayal or the weight of resentment, you're not alone. Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we're called to do, but it's also one of the most freeing. That's why we want to send you Freed by Forgiveness, a four-message compilation from Stewart and Jill as our thanks for your gift today. In it, you'll discover how you can break free from bitterness and step into the healing and freedom Jesus offers.

So request your copy of Freed by Forgiveness when you give today, knowing your support helps more people around the world experience freedom in Christ, many for the very first time as they hear God's truth thanks to you. Call now at 282-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thanks again for listening and for your support today. On Friday's program, Stewart tells us how we can make God smile by worshiping in spirit and truth. Listen in and experience life next time on Telling the Truth.