1I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. ³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

It is easy to measure liquids. We use a system of cups, pints, quarts, and gallons. It is easy to measure weight. We use pounds and ounces. It is easy to measure distance. We use inches, feet, and miles. It is easy to measure height. We use inches and feet. It is easy to measure temperature. We use degrees.

Yes, all those things are easy to measure. We sometimes have trouble when the English system of measurements runs into the metric system. To be honest, I have to convert from metrics to what I am use to understanding.

Today’s text speaks not of measuring liquids, weight, distance, height or temperature. It speaks of measuring faith.

How do we measure faith? To be honest, it is not as easy to measure faith as it is to measure some of the things about which we speak. Let’s see what Paul taught the Romans and us about faith.

How do we measure faith? Look with me at verse 3. The text says, "each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

Faith is not something we can have on our own. In fact, faith is a gift of God. It is God who measures our need for faith. It is God who provides the amount of faith that we need.

Therefore, faith is not measured by us. Faith is measured by God. God gives us the faith that we need when we face situations that require it. Sometimes the amount of faith needed is not so great. Sometimes we must have a great deal of faith in order to accomplish that tasks to which God assigns us.

What else does Paul have to say about faith? The text says, "¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

In beginning what he has to say, Paul mentions another of the gifts that God offers believers. We have already decided that faith is a gift of God. Paul also speaks of God’s mercy. None of us deserve mercy. What do we deserve? We deserve a guilty sentence along with the verdict of that sentence. What do we deserve? We deserve punishment. What do we receive? We receive kindness and sympathy.

Paul is appealing to his reader to do something because of the great gift of God’s mercy. What is Paul suggesting that the disciples in Rome and Gainesville do? He is suggesting that we offer our bodies as living sacrifices.

As I mentioned, I have watched some of the Olympics over the last few weeks. What amazes me so much about the athletes is their self discipline along with the willingness of family to offer whatever support they need.

In the same way, we must offer ourselves to God. Our offering is not about physical discipline, it is about spiritual discipline. Paul urges us to make sacrifices for our faith.

Paul believes that our bodies become our offering before God. Most of the time sacrifice requires someone to die. Paul speaks not of physical death. He speaks of spiritual death. We must set aside our own desires. We must set aside our own agenda. We do so that we can adopt what God wants us to do.

What does God want us to do? God wants us to be holy and acceptable. How can we who are anything but holy become holy? How do we set aside our sinful nature that we might become like God?

In order to do so, we must rely not on ourselves. We must rely on God again. God helps us to become an acceptable sacrifice. How does God help us along? God offers faith, mercy, and grace.

What else must we do in order to measure up in our faith? The text says, "²Do not be conformed to this world."

What does Paul mean by the word, conformity? Conformity speaks of being identical. I think of it in terms of school uniforms. Some schools require certain colors and styles of clothing. In that way, all the students dress and look almost the same.

Paul wanted his reader to not be conformity with the world. What does the world do that Paul wants believers not to do? Let’s think of a few possibilities. First, the world cares about status. That status has to do with how much we make. In fact, men almost immediately try to determine how much other men make. Status has to do with the advance degrees, large salaries, nice homes, fancy cars, and designer clothes.

God doesn’t care about those things. God cares about our hearts. God wants us to be out of conformity with the world. Dave Ramsey of The Total Money Makeover fame speaks of living like no one else so that later you can live like no one else.

God wants us to be like no one else. God wants us to be very different from the world. We should live differently. We should work differently. We should have different priorities.

How does this transformation take place? The text says, "²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect."

We are transformed through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us decide what God’ will is for our lives The Holy Spirit helps us to be good, acceptable, and perfect. This is more than what Jesus would want us to do. It is becoming Christ like in how we live our lives.

We spoke earlier of God’s gift of faith and mercy. There is one more gift which God gives believers. The text says, "³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

What is the source of the grace that Paul experienced? That grace came from God. That grace causes Paul to realize how sinful he really was. Grace was the means by which Paul was able to set aside his special place. It allowed him to see himself as God saw him.

What did Paul do when confronted by God’s grace? Paul believed. What do we do when confronted by God’s grace? We fall on our knees and beg forgiveness.

We began by speaking of how one measures faith. Have you discovered that our faith is measured not by what we do? It is measured by what God does. God provides faith, mercy, and grace that we might live differently.

What are we required to do? We are required only to receive what is offered.

R. Shane Owens, D. Min.

Covenant Presbyterian Church