Why does my life matter?

God is in a good mood with you. You don’t see that when you look at yourself. You don’t see that when you look at your life. You don’t even see that when you look at your faith.

Because, God’s good mood doesn’t depend on those things. It’s objective. It depends purely on Jesus and what he’s done.

That’s why the only place you see God’s attitude toward you, is when you look at Jesus.

One challenge some people make to this is: well, so then, our lives don’t matter!

While another experience many of us have is a constant pressure to perform, to make our lives count.

These leave us either not wanting to do anything at all, or feeling like we’ve never done enough.

Now, having argued for 11 chapters that God is already in a good mood with everyone, purely because of Jesus, in chapter 12 Paul addresses both questions.

And he says, basically, your life does not matter in the sense that God’s attitude depends on it—but your life does matter in other real and important ways.

In fact: God’s mercy gives our lives real weight and real purpose.

Here’s three ways he explains that in Romans 12:1-6:

1) You don’t belong to yourself, you belong to God
2) He’s not in a good mood with you because you please him, but you please him because he’s in a good mood with you
3) God has given your life to others

So, first: 1) You don’t belong to yourself, you belong to God

Please look with me at vv. 1-2:

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. ² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Paul is saying this: Your actions matter because your life is no longer yours.

Back in chapter 6, Paul explained how Baptism unites us to Jesus death and resurrection. You died with Christ, and rose again as a new person.

And all of us have only two choices about where to present our bodies… …either as slaves to sin, our own will, and our sense of self-righteousness. …or as slaves to God, his will, and Christ’s gift of righteousness.

Now Paul builds on that by introducing another idea: that being baptised into Jesus we are all priests.

Since we are baptised into him, we are united to him. So, because Jesus is a priest, we are priests. Jesus, our high priest, sacrificed his body on the cross. And so Jesus says to us in Mark 8:34:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Jesus didn’t say that because we earn anything by doing it. But, because all who are united to Jesus are priests like he is and this is what priests like him look like.

The Apostle Peter says exactly this in 1 Peter 2:9

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession,

In other words, we are a kingdom of priests, the true Israel. So, it’s not a surprise Paul is thinking about this at the start of chapter 12, because he spent chapters 9-11 talking about Israel.

He doesn’t use the word “priest”, but that’s clearly what he’s describing in v. 1:

present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship

Not a sacrifice of atonement, to pay for sin, but a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise, in love for God.

So, You don’t belong to yourself, you belong to God In baptism, you are united to Christ. You are a priest.

You have a purpose, a reason for being here. Having purpose, having value, the fact that your actions matter, is not inconsistent with God being in a good mood with you.

In fact it flows from seeing, understanding and grasping that God’s already in a good mood with you.

That’s what Paul means by v. 2:

be transformed by the renewing of your mind

What pleases God is not my attempts to earn his pleasure! He’s already pleased—I respond in obedience. It takes time to start thinking this way: that’s Paul’s first point.

And that reversal is Paul’s second point:

2) God’s not in a good mood with you because you please him,
but you please him because he’s in a good mood with you

Paul mentions pleasing God twice in the first two verses:

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God… holy and pleasing to God… so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Pleasing God does not mean changing his mind from a bad mood to a good mood.

It does not mean keeping God in a good mood. It does not mean preventing God falling into a bad mood. It does not mean adding something onto how he feels about you.

It means: God chooses to enjoy you when he sees you in Jesus.

So… if you can’t change God’s mind toward you, why would you act as a priest, take up your cross, and offer your body as a living sacrifice?

Well: when you look at Jesus—how do you feel about God? If we remove any possibility that God could reward or punish you: You have the freedom to make him happy.

Because after the cross, through baptism: that’s the situation you’re in.

There’s no reward for bringing God pleasure. There’s no threat for failing to do so.

His opinion about you is fixed. His good mood is set in stone.

God chooses to enjoy you when he sees you in Jesus.

And the fact that he’s in a good mood with you is something you see when you look at Jesus.

And so, knowing that, do you want God to feel happy? Not to get anything. No reward is on offer here. No bonus. No favourites. No rankings.

Your life matters. It matters to God. And the more you look at Jesus: the more you’ll find he matters to you.

As Paul says:

be transformed by the renewing of your mind

That happens as you look at Jesus.

God’s not in a good mood with you because you please him,
but you please him because he’s in a good mood with you.

Your life is not a zero sum game. Your life is not transactional. Your life matters: just not as a bargaining chip, or some kind of spiritual currency.

That doesn’t make you less valuable. It makes you more valuable.

But your life doesn’t just matter for invisible reasons. It matters for practical reasons, because…

3) God has given your life to others

Please look at vv. 3-6:

³ For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. ⁴ Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, ⁵ in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. ⁶ According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts:

Paul is saying this: You are not here for yourself. God has placed you here for my sake. And he has placed me here for your sake.

Look around at the room. God has put you here for the sake of these other people.

You matter to them.

If you only think of yourself. If you only value your life on your own terms, and what seems important to you… …then this is impossible to see.

But: Look at Jesus. He didn’t come down at Christmas for himself. He came down at Christmas for you.

There’s a really unhelpful message you’ll hear in a lot of churches… …that God does everything for himself; for his own glory: and so not for you.

But, this is not what God says. Scripture does not say God made everything, and Jesus died, and the Holy Spirit works through the Word… simply for God to glorify his own name, for his own pleasure.

God’s name had glory already. Before we had even heard of it. God is love. One God in three persons who perfectly enjoy each other already.

No, what it means for God to glorify his name means for him to share that love, that joy, that pleasure with you.

God’s purpose in all things is not to serve himself, but to serve you. Serving you IS God’s glory. That’s what God’s glory means.

Hear Jesus speak in Mark 10:45:

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

And again in John 10:10:

I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

This is exactly what Paul meant at the end of ch 11:

³² For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all… ³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

This God who has given his life for you, has now given your life to others

So, Why does my life matter?

Hear Paul’s answer:

1) You don’t belong to yourself, you belong to God

2) God’s not in a good mood with you because you please him,
but you please him because he’s in a good mood with you

3) God has given your life to others

What does that look like in practice? How does he use us? That’s what we’ll hear next week.

But for today, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; because this is your true worship.