The TV programme, Edwardian Country House,
tried to recreate the gracious living of the privileged few early last century.
Some were chosen to act out the master and the mistress:
they generally loved it, being fussed over at every turn.
Their biggest problem was how to fill their day
when so much of ordinary living was taken care of:
someone else would cook and clean and wash and iron and garden
and even run their baths and leave out the right clothes to wear
and help them on with them.
It was quite the opposite for those chosen to be servants
Some of them only lasted a couple of days.
It was hard, demeaning, tiring
and even in the servants' hall some asserted themselves above others.
Do I need to ask which we would rather have?
Is not the image for us of 'gracious living'
the big house, the butler at our beck and call
all the ease and gallantry of the setting of a Jane Austen story?
But how can it really be gracious living
when others suffer to serve our selfish needs?
Is that not the fantasy by which so many of us live
and not least in the church?
Really we want an easy life, everything done for us
without trouble for us or disturbance.
Romans 12 is such a great contrast in the gracious living it promotes.
The word grace is a small word with a big meaning.
I hope to explore some of its depths in the sermons until the end of July.
Grace means so much more than charm and elegance,
cucumber sandwiches on the lawn and grand dinner parties
In the Bible grace has to do with God's attitude to us
his welcome, his generosity, his forgiveness
and it is not only to do with the entry to the Christian life --
that by grace are we saved and only by grace
only by what Jesus giving up his life for us --
but it is also to do with how we go on living the Christian life.
As more than one of our Moderators has said in recent years:
Grace should make us gracious
If we truly know God's free undeserved favour and welcome
poured into our lives, gift after gift after gift
then we simply should be people who are
kind and generous and welcoming and joyful and consistent and sensitive and approachable and everything else which characterises our Lord Jesus Christ.
How then do we achieve this truly gracious living?
Let me highlight just 3 things from Romans 12:
1 RESPOND TO GOD'S GIFT OF JESUS
BY GOING ON GIVING YOUR WHOLE SELF
Gracious living is like a flourishing fruitful tree.
Its root in the grace of Jesus Christ
what he has first and supremely done for us, giving himself for us.
Our lifestyle is the fruit arising from that root:
we love because he has first loved us
we give because he has first given to us.
This is so clearly seen in the previous 11 chapters of Romans
Paul has passionately and painstakingly explained
that we are made right with God through faith
and that in Christ neither Jew nor non Jew has any reason or right to boast.
God shows us his mercy
in Jesus Christ who is the one perfect sacrifice to deal with our sin.
'Therefore' says Paul in view of such wonderful mercy
what else can you do than be living sacrifices,
offer your bodies and keep offering your bodies as living sacrifices
going on giving your whole selves.
This is a continuous process, not a one off
There is no one point of conclusive giving which brings our sacrifice to an end;
as long as we live we are to go on giving ourselves.
When Paul speaks of our bodies he means our whole selves
what we do with our hands
where we go with our feet
what we see with our eyes
our spiritual or 'reasonable' worship
is not confined to a church building on Sunday morning
it is a '24/7' 24 hours a day seven days a week
2 THINK CAREFULLY AND COOPERATIVELY
ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR GIFTS
Isn't so much of our contemporary Christianity just so bland?
It blends in with the rest of the world, we don't make a difference?
We are like chameleons, our colour changes to camouflage us
so that we are never distinctive and different.
Very clearly v 2 challenges us not to be conformed but to be transformed
we are not go with the flow, we are to be changed and to make a difference.
How will that happen? 'by the renewing of your minds'
How will our minds be renewed?
The answer is given in v 3 when Paul tells us to think clearly
about who we are and what we have been given
'3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you:
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,
but rather think of yourself with sober judgement,
in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.'
Think it through, think afresh.
Look at the large sums spent now on sports psychology
be it for Wimbledon or the World Cup or for golfing classics.
It is not that athletes no longer have to train hard physically
and practise their skills
but to all of that effort they also spend time learning to think well of themselves
and to be prepared for the 'mind game'.
The careful coach treads a balance
between publicly praising up the opposition as a hard team to beat
knowing that lazy over confidence can undermine a technically better side.
At the same time he encourages and exhorts his players
to believe realistically that they can and will win.
In other words they are asked to think of themselves with sober judgement.
So it should be with the Christian 'team'.
In a world which relentlessly seeks to impose its pattern of the pecking order
by the lure of power, wealth, success
where some are deceived by their false superiority
and others crushed by their sense of inferiority
God is looking his people who march to the beat of a different drum
who orientate their thinking and attitudes
not according to their achievements and efforts, their successes or failures
but because they are secure in the knowledge of a God who loves them
and therefore they can use their gifts freely and humbly.
I wonder if anything spoils church life as much as
pride in some that they are better than others
and inverted pride of others who feel inferior and insecure
discontented in the gifts God has given them?
When we feel like that, let's be honest that it is not new feelings that we need
but new thinking, a renewed mind to reshape our feelings and reactions,
a sober assessment of who we are with God and what we have from God.
We need to realise that 'grace' is not only to do with the gift of salvation
but also to the gift or gifts which God gives us to serve him and others.
That is what grace means in v 6
'We have different gifts, according to the grace given us'
This is such an important theme for Paul that he spends time in three letters,
explaining that we each have different gifts but belong to one body and one Lord
writing to the Romans to the Corinthians (1:12) and to the Ephesians (4).
Different lists of gifts are given in each letter
but he makes the same central point in all three letters
that there is one body with many different parts which all need each other.
We all have different gifts, so we are not to despise others
because we think we have better gifts
not to resent others because we think our gift isn't as good as theirs.
Instead we are to think positively:
What is my gift? How can I use it for the good of the whole body?
'Just as each of us has one body with many members,
and these members do not all have the same function,
5 so in Christ we who are many form one body,
and each member belongs to all the others.'
This is the secret of the gracious living of Christians
We don't have to think 'I'm better than those people', or 'I'm worse than them'
We can instead think: 'How can I co-operate with my brothers and sisters?'
What has God given me for me to bless others?
What can I thank God for his gifts to them to help me?
3 GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT!
Whether we are thinking of particular gifts from v 6 to v 8
or the general attitudes of all Christians from v 9 onwards
gracious living needs to be generous, lavish, free flowing
not doled out and rationed.
That's a problem if you are like me, a cautious reserved personality
priding yourself on restraint and moderation.
Gracious living means generous living
where the question should be
not how little can I get away with giving of myself and my resources
but how much more may I give and be glad to give?
GtG 48 I'll love the Lord with all that lies inside me
I'll love the Lord with body, soul and mind
and every goodness, every blessing in the Lord I'll find
I'll walk the path that Christ has walked before me,
I'll give my yes to him who gave me all.
In every sound and silence I will hear his call
I'll let my life be open to God's spirit
to make me new and set my heart on fire
more than all things his peace and presence are what I desire.
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord
Be joyful in hope, patient in suffering, faithful in prayer
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