Romans 11:33-12:8
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for August 27 2023, comes from Romans chapter 11, and 12. It reads, oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable his ways For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid, For from Him, and through Him, and to him are all things to him be glory forever. Amen. I appeal to you, Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, and acceptable, and perfect. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body, we have many members and the members do not have the same function. So we though many are one body in Christ, and individually members, one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophesy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who serves, in his teaching, the one who exhorts, in his exhortation, the one who contributes, in general generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness, here ends the reading.
Let's dig in. This reading begins with the end of Romans chapter 11. And St. Paul is concluding his previous discussion of the relationship between Old Testament Israel and the church with this amazing declaration of praise to God. Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable his ways For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor who's been given a gift to him that he might be repaid, For from Him, and through Him, and to him are all things to him be glory forever, amen. This end of the section from Romans nine to 11, shows the mystery of God, that the amazing thing that God has brought the Gentiles into Israel, and making the church that by by sending His Son Jesus Christ, He gathers a new Israel out of the old and incorporating all of the Gentiles. Who could have thought looking at the Old Testament that way, amazing. Now, our reading splits the end of that section and goes into the next section in Romans chapter 12, where it begins, I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable God, which is your spiritual worship. So, because of God's mercy, we are called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Now, a living sacrifice is kind of weird, because sacrifices are the kinds of things that you kill, right? You, you kill an animal to offer it as a sacrifice to God. But we are living sacrifices, because in Christ we have been brought from death to life. We were killed in our baptism, buried with Christ and then raised to new life again, so that we are now body and soul, a living sacrifice. We no longer belong to ourselves, we belong to God. He continues with the thought, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. So we are not to be molded by the world, but by God, and how does a Christian do that? Well, it comes from his word and Sacraments. This is how the Holy Spirit comes to us, to mold us and change us so that we can understand God's will, all of which we do in the divine service on Sunday. It continues, for by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you, do not think of himself more Hi Really than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Now many people see the humility of the Christian church, it's kind of a negative thing, almost like you're supposed to hate yourself and despise yourself. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, don't think about yourself more highly than you ought to think. But think with sober judgment, that none of us is really more important than the other, we're not supposed to think of ourselves as too important. But we also shouldn't despise ourselves. And he continues and says, we are all part of the same body, quote, For as in one body, we have many members and the members do not have the same function. So we, though many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. So this is the idea that all people who are in the church, especially I think, in the local congregation, so we are all a body of Christ in that place. And each of us has different gifts, gifts that are important piece of the whole. And so it's not just the pastor's whose gifts that are important, even though he's the one up in front on Sunday morning. It's all of the gifts. It's the gifts of every single person that uses these for service in the body of Christ. None of us is more important, more valuable or better than the other. Even though we all have different functions. Everyone is of equal value in Christ. That's the end of the reading. Hope to see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai