Great job. Excellent. All right, well, my name is Ricky. I'm one of the pastors here at the church. And I want to invite you to open your Bibles to Romans chapter 12 as we see what the Lord has for us today. Normally, if. If you are new around here, normally we teach through the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. But as we begin the new year, there's some particular things we wanted to present to you and get before you. One of those things was last week, Steve talked about opening and closing your day in the presence of God, which this really is a continuation of what that will look like. And so I hope this will be helpful to you. Really, what I hope to do is give you some new New Year's resolutions, and they may replace the ones that you had. If you didn't make any, then I have some for you. And hopefully they will be very different than what you are expecting.
But let's read Romans chapter 12. And I'm gonna. I'm gonna keep the. The poor presentation team on their toes. The AV team's gonna be on their toes. Lenny, God bless you. Good luck here today. What I'm gonna do is read three verses that I think exemplify the heart of what we're gonna talk about, and then we'll unpack those together. But they're not so. Romans 12, if you have it in front of you, you're going to be reading verse 1, verses 4 and 5, and verse 15. This is God's word. Romans 12. 1. 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. Now, verse four. 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. Verse 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. This is God's word. And Lord, I pray you a blessing over the preaching and the hearing of your word today in your house. May this year, Lord, may we apprehend, may we grab hold of what you have for us this year as a church, as moms, as dads, as husbands, as wives, as kids, as friends, as workers, as evangelists, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Well, I love studies. I love data. It's one of the things that people know me, know about me. And so I was intrigued by a really significant study a number of years ago undertaken by Lifeway Research. Now, the thing that interested me most was the question that they were asking in the survey, what really makes a Christian grow? And what they were trying to do is measure. Okay, here's a bunch of output goals. And the output goals were things like, okay, growing as a husband or a wife in Christ, telling more people about Jesus, having a sense of faith in your life, all of these other things, obeying God more and more in different areas, denying yourself where you need to, all of these good things, right? People would say, like, man, that's Christian maturity, those kinds of things. So they went, okay, now let's ask a bunch of questions about what those people that are growing are doing. And they were looking at a number of things and they're, they're trying to figure out, man, is there one Bible study that all these people are doing? Is it just that one new best selling Christian book? That's like, man, once people get that book in their hands, wow. Or they were at this one prayer meeting, there was this one conference. They, you know, they, they prayed the prayer of Jabez every day for 20 years. Whatever. That was a blast from the past. Some of you guys woke up for that. Everybody under 40 is like, what's that? That was the thing, right? It was just one of the things that will come out during the year and people will go, this is it. Now we know how to grow as Christians finally. And they measured all of that. Now, spoiler, it wasn't any of those things. It was none of the things that most people would think about when they think, how do I really grow as a Christian Now? I bet you'd love to know that they found three particular marks of people who were growing consistently as Christians. And I bet you would love to know, man, I would love to know what those three marks are. I would love to know how I can do them. So I will grow as a Christian and I will tell you about that later. And I'm just going to string you along so that you pay attention. Because by the end, I will give these to you. And I think you'll see. Well, by the time we get there, you'll, you'll think that they are obvious. Okay?
But before we go there, I want you to pause yourself and ask yourself, what do you think would need to happen this year? What would you need to do this year in order to have grown as a Christian? When you get to December 2026, so it's January right now, what do you need to do to get through the year and go at the end of the year, I really grew as a Christian in the year of our Lord 2020.
Now, here's the way we're going to approach this, because a lot of the research about how to make resolutions has been studied, and there's some good and bad ways to do this. And so we're going to get the Bible to help us. Here's how. What not to do. All the experts will say this. Here's what not to do with your New Year's resolutions. Don't make your resolution. I will stop doing X, which is what a lot of people do. I will stop eating too much. I will stop sitting on the couch too much. I will stop doing this or that. And better researchers will say, is to decide what you will do instead. So I will go on a walk every day or I will eat more vegetables or whatever that's better. But you know, what researchers have all found is the best way to actually change? It's not by trying not to do something. It's not even by trying to do something specific. It is by trying to be something. It is by starting with your identity. Because the way we are wired as human beings, our actions, what we do and don't do, flow out of our identity. And so the thing we need most at the beginning of the year is not a new plan. We need a new identity.
And so what we're going to do is look at two, two pieces of a new identity the Lord gives us at the beginning of year. And these two pieces, by the way, they are the ingredients for lasting change. Okay, first, first ingredient of identity is the gospel flips, meaning the gospel flips us upside down or right side up. Look at verse one. 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, and perfect. Now, Romans 12, verse one is the hinge. Romans is a big, meaty, lengthy book with lots of, of heavy, big concepts in it. But Romans 12, verse 1 is the hinge of the whole book. And you can see the hinge in that word, therefore, notice that word, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers. So 12 and on is all of the life change, life application stuff of Romans. Do this at work, do this relating to the government, do this in conflict, do this in peacemaking. So all of these things we are meant to do flows out. This is key. Flows out of our identity that Paul has laid out in Romans 1 through 11. And so what is that identity? It's an identity reshaped by the mercies of God. Do you see that phrase? I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by what? By the mercies of God. So what is that? What is he referring to? By the mercies of God. What is it that gives us this new identity? Well, in Romans 1 through 11, we see the gospel identity that Paul is talking about. The mercy given, the mercy gifted, the grace given identity of what it means to be in Christ. Romans 1 to 2 lays out the problem with all of us. And the problem is way bigger than we need to get off the couch more and we need to eat a little better. It's way bigger than that. Romans 1 and 2 lays out the problem with all of us, is that we and humanity, we have flipped upside down. Meaning that we were made to know God, made to be in relationship with God, made to follow God, made to. To obey God, and yet sin in sin, we flip ourselves upside down. And in doing that, we have flipped the entire world upside down. We reject God and it. And it begins to ruin and infect everything in our lives, in our culture, in our world. And it looks like, man, this is a dark book. If you just read Romans 1 and 2, you're gonna end up going, man, this is the saddest book in the Bible because it ends with this. No one's righteous. No one's righteous. No one's righteous. The world's upside down.
6 · The pastor continues tracing the gospel narrative in Romans, showing how Romans 3 breaks into the darkness of Romans 1-2 with God's interrupting mercy—justification comes not through human effort but through grace as a gift in Jesus Christ, flipping humanity right-side-up
But then Romans 3, God's mercy breaks in. Romans 3 says, But God interrupts things, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified or are made right by his grace as a gift. So God's mercy interrupts the story and, and, and provides a way for human beings to be, in a sense, flipped right side up. And how does that happen? Through what Jesus has done. Not by our efforts, not by us trying harder, not by us gritting our teeth. Rather, by the grace of God. It's a gift given to us.
7 · The pastor continues the Romans narrative into chapter 4, showing that justification is received not through a works-payment-plan or merit-sharing arrangement, but solely by faith—an open hand receiving God's mercy
And so Romans 4 lays out, well, how do we receive this gift? Do we. Do we get on a payment plan with God that we gotta put in a certain number of good works every year? Do we meet him halfway? He does some merits, we do some merits, we kind of get there together. No, we can't do that. Rather that we receive the gift simply by faith, with this open hand to receive the mercy of God.
8 · The pastor adds another layer from Romans 6, showing that even the faith by which we receive justification is itself a gift—the Spirit awakens our dead hearts to believe
And then Romans 6 tells us, by the way, that that gift of faith is a gift of God as well as the Spirit of God comes in and wakes our dead hearts up.
9 · The pastor completes the Romans 1-11 survey with Romans 9-11, emphasizing that God's electing love is sovereign—not based on human potential or merit, but on His free grace
And that gift of waking our dead hearts up by The Spirit, Romans 9:11 tells us, is due not to our potential, not to us being better than others, not to do to anything in us. Rather, it's God setting his love on us in sovereign grace. That's what it means when he says, by the mercies of God, all of that should be going through our minds. Therefore, by the mercies of God, offer yourselves differently.
10 · The pastor synthesizes the Romans 1-12:1 argument into a core theological claim: the Gospel produces one fundamental flip in our souls (justification), which then progressively flips every other area of life right-side-up (sanctification)
Meaning, because of God's mercy, God has given you a new identity in Christ. Therefore you're meant to live out that identity, identity in Christ. And so there's one. If you could say it this way, there's one giant flip in our souls that needs to happen. And then once that happens, everything else in our lives progressively begins to flip right side up.
11 · The pastor issues a direct evangelistic appeal to those who have not yet experienced the fundamental soul-flip, warning that without being right with God, all other life improvements are futile—a hamster wheel of yearly failed resolutions
Now, maybe you're here today and that fundamental change has not yet happened to you. And you need to understand something. You need to understand that. That if you don't have your soul set right with God, nothing else we're going to talk about can you do. Or nothing else will matter other than that. Because here's the reality. Your need is way deeper than your diet plan, than your exercise plan, than your work plan, than your relational plan. It's way deeper than anything else in your life. It is a soul need that your soul is not right with God. But in the Gospel, God provides a way for it to be made right with God. And so come to him today, friend. Come to him as Lord and Savior. Because otherwise you're just gonna be on the hamster wheel of humanity's New Year's resolutions every year. Maybe this will be my year. Maybe this will be my year. It'll never be your year until the Lord. You're right with the Lord.
12 · The pastor transitions from evangelistic appeal to congregational challenge, asking believers whether they arrive in 2026 with a willingness to let the Gospel progressively transform every area of life—marriage, parenting, work, peacemaking—acknowledging ongoing need for change
And when that changes, everything changes. But when that changes, everything can begin to change and should begin to change, because all this is true. Romans 1 through 11. But Paul then says, okay, your souls have been flipped right side up by the gospel. Now we're going to go after every area. Now we're going to go after marriage and parenting and work and peacemaking and all of these other things. They're going to begin to be set right by the power of God in the gospel. So here's the question I have for you as we arrive in 2026. Do you arrive this year with a willingness to change? With a willingness to put your hand up and say, I have more areas in My life that need to be set right by the Lord.
13 · The pastor uses a cultural observation about American New Year's psychology to illustrate humanity's resistance to admitting ongoing need for change—we either avoid the mirror or self-assure, but January briefly breaks through that denial before resolutions fail
Because the reality is, a lot of times our default is looking in the mirror either avoiding looking in the mirror, like, nope, I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it. Or looking in the mirror and going, that's pretty good, right? Like, and the reality is, I love January in our American culture because January is finally the moment that all Americans go, I need to change, right? We spend the whole year going, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. And then somewhere, December 29th, we begin to go. Maybe, you know, begin to look in the mirror and go. So then we make some resolutions and we go, I will be fine. I will be fine. You know, look, the reality is, growing in Christ means having that fundamental soul change by the gospel, but then beginning to see progressively, I need to keep changing. I need to stop being conformed to the pattern of the world. I need to be transformed into the pattern of Christ.
14 · The pastor uses a personal parenting story about his sons coming downstairs in mismatched clothes to illustrate the human condition: we often don't recognize our need for change until someone lovingly shows us what's wrong, and growth is the progressive willingness to see and respond to that need
My parenting, three young men in my household, ranging from 6 to 13, has often looked like us announcing. Jen and I announcing, hey, we need to go. We're gonna go. We're gonna leave the house. And they're like, okay, go get dressed. Okay? So they go. And they come down, and here's the reality. I don't know if this. I don't think girls do this, but we just have boys, right? And so the boys will come down, and they'll be wearing, like, flip flops and basketball shorts and then, like, a formal dress, you know, sweater. And you go, like, what are you doing? I said to get dressed. And they're like, I'm dressed. And they start out. At least young boys, they start out not recognizing any need for change. But growth is slowly over time. Me saying, they come down dressed in some wild thing, and me going, okay, look at what you're wearing. Do you think you need to change? And then finally, after much parenting going, yeah, I'll be back. You know, like, growth is recognizing that you need to change, right? That's. That's what Romans is saying. Romans is saying, listen, all the stuff God has done for us, but now we need to apply that gospel identity to all the areas of our life. We arrive ready and need to change, but with the new identity, that gives us the power to change. Amen.
15 · The pastor signals a structural shift from the first piece of gospel identity (the gospel flips us right-side-up) to the second piece (the gospel binds us to one another)
So that's the gospel's first. The first piece of our identity. The second piece of our identity is the gospel. Not only Flips us right side up. The Gospel binds us.
16 · The pastor reads Romans 12:3-8, highlighting Paul's body metaphor for the church and the diversity of gifts given by grace, establishing the second piece of gospel identity: believers are bound together as body parts, not isolated individuals
Look at verse three, if you would. 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 with 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 of one 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 generosity, the One who leads with zeal, the One who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.
17 · The pastor draws the theological connection between Romans 12:1-2 (gospel transformation) and 12:3-8 (community unity), arguing that the Gospel not only changes us individually but binds us to other believers as organically as body parts—disconnection is not optional but dysfunction
Now, there is so much here we could unpack section by section, phrase by phrase, but I simply want to make a. A basic observation about the connection between verses 1 and 2 and verses 3 through 8. So verses 1 and 2 say the gospel has come, the mercies of God have come, and now we're not going to be conformed upside down. We're going to be transformed right side up in progressive areas of our life. But that transformation of the gospel happens in community. The Gospel changes us, but then it binds us together with others in Christ. Notice verse 4. Notice the illustration. Christians are pictured as body parts joined together with other body parts, right? And body parts do not have casual or distant relationships from one another, do they? In fact, if your body parts, if you have some part of your body that has a distant relationship to another part of your body, you need to go to the ER because that means you don't have an arm or something, you know, like, it's not good. You're meant to be joined together. If something's disconnected, you're calling a doctor. Similarly, for the Christian, we're meant to be bound together. Not disconnected, but bound together. The gospel, if you can think of it this way, flips us right side up, begins to change us. But it binds us then to other Christians that we might experience that change not alone, but with one another.
18 · The pastor presents statistical data on church attendance decline in America, creating tension between Americans' stated desire to be close to God and their declining commitment to the church—exposing the cultural assumption that one can pursue God while disconnected from His people
Now, in America, this is surprisingly controversial if you look at the statistics, because for the past number of decades, the number of people who say that they want to be closer to God, they want to know God, they want to have a relationship with God that has stayed high. Americans continue to believe that there is a God somewhere and that they want to be closer to Him. But church attendance in particular has been on the Decline for a number of years. Regular church. Semi. Regular church attendance has gone from 70% at one point in America to about 30% of those who attend semi regularly. And it used to be then that many people, even if they didn't attend church regularly, felt that they were part of some church. Meaning that maybe they went for Christmas and Easter, but they weren't regular attenders, but they were part of a church. Well, the number of people that think that way has dropped below 50% for one of the first times in the last hundred years in America. Meaning people don't even have a sense of, like, I belong somewhere, that they'll be happy to see me on Christmas and Easter.
19 · The pastor directly refutes the American cultural assumption that spiritual transformation can happen in isolation, arguing that Romans 12 makes community non-negotiable—you cannot accept gospel transformation (vv
It's a fundamental change. But Romans 12 says, Listen, you can't say you want to be closer to God and say you want God to flip the areas of your life right side up, but then say, no, thank you. I would rather not be bound to other people. Right? You. You can't go. Awesome. I love the by the mercies of God part. I love that. I love the. Like, I'm gonna be transformed. Love that. And then get to the binding together with other people and go, I. I don't love that. Not that. Right?
20 · The pastor uses American Revolution and Alamo imagery to challenge Texan individualism, pointing out that even America's most celebrated acts of independence were corporate endeavors—the founders hung together or separately, the Alamo was defended by many, not one—and similarly, gospel transformation requires community
And listen, I understand the audience I'm talking to. We're not. Look, we are Americans, man. We're going to throw everything, all the tea into the river. We're going to declare independence. And even worse than being Americans, I'm talking to a group of Texans talking to a group of Alamo people. I love the Alamo, too. But. But look, in Romans 12, right? I hate to make this observation about the. The American Revolution and the Alamo, but American Revolution didn't happen with a guy, okay? Right. We're all gonna hang together or we're gonna hang separately was what they said. Same thing with the Alamo. It wasn't a dude at the Alamo. It was people, right? Meaning that spirit of independence, which is wonderful in many ways, and God given to say, like, man, we can achieve things. It's great. It happens in community that we do these things together, right? Romans 12 says, God flips us right side up, and then he binds us together so that we can do verse two, so that we together can stop being conformed to the world and can together be transformed into the image of Christ.
21 · The pastor uses the NCAA transfer portal as a cultural analogy for Christians who relate to the church as free agents rather than committed members, treating church participation as a trial season rather than binding covenant—arms-length engagement rather than organic unity
Those are the two crucial pieces of our identity. We are changed by the gospel and then bound together with other people. And I think we got to arrive in 2026 with a commitment that we are going to be bound Together with other Christians, I was talking to a guy that was high up ranking in an athletic program for a college. And we were talking about, you know, the changes to college basketball in particular and the transfer portal and how it's changed college ball. And listen, as soon as I said transfer portal, 50% of you checked out and 50% of you, like, were like, all right, let's see what's going on here. Jumping back into the message here, the transfer portal forever changed, especially college basketball. And the comment of this guy who's very high ranking in a college, he said, one of the changes that fundamentally happened is that when people suited up, they used to think, I am a member of a team. And now because of the transfer portal, they suit up as their own team, putting on that team's jersey for that year, right? Like, they always know I could leave, I might leave, who knows, you know, every week to week where before that wasn't the case. And similarly, I think too many of us, we want to, we have adopted sort of the American mindset of like, I can be at arm's length with the other Christians around me. I'm on a team of one and I might be, I might play a season with these people. You know, we'll see how it goes. You know, see, see how it goes with this team. And then next year, like, I didn't like that. I'm going to go on my own, right? I'm just not going to play at all like Duke. Right, sorry. Oh, sorry, I meant Notre Dame there. It's the wrong thing in my notes.
22 · The pastor reads Romans 12:9-15 and makes a hermeneutical observation: these commands are corporate, not individual—originally heard by the gathered congregation, not read privately
All right, so two pieces of our identity. We don't want to think that way. We don't want to think that. We don't want to think I'm going to be independent and we don't want to think I, I don't need to change. We have to come into the year going, I need and I need to change with other people. Dragon. Okay, so now with those two pieces of our identity in place, now how do we live these things out? How do we apply this new identity in Christ and together with one another? Well, this is where we hit a rapid fire list of pithy statements from Paul about various, various areas of our lives that apply. Notice I want you to see two things. They apply gospel identity and they apply community together to help us change. Look at verse nine. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. And we could keep going. But two things I want you to notice. Notice that each of these has a gospel connection in light of Romans 12. One, that they are different, we're meant to live different because of the mercies of God. And second, that all of these are given. These are commands not given individually but given to a church. These commands would have been taken in not. Not in that day with one believer reading their copy of the Scriptures. They didn't have that. Rather, this letter was to be read to the whole gathered congregation. So. So when we read things like, like, do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. When you read that, it's not just to you, it's to us. Right? All of these are us commands. Rejoice in hope. Not just rejoice in hope, Ricky, but rejoice in hope. Cross of grace. Right? Be patient, Ricky. No, be patient. All of us as cross of grace. So these two dynamics are at play. The Gospel change and the power of community.
23 · The pastor returns to the Lifeway Research study deferred from the introduction, revealing the three marks of growing Christians: read the Bible, attend church weekly, and be known in a smaller group
Now, I want to go back to that study I started with. Remember I said that they did this wide ranging study on how Christians, what the marks of Christians that were consistently growing, what did they do? So all these things like growth and marriage and evangelism and holiness, how do you produce those things? What are the Christians that are growing? What are they doing to get at that? And we said it wasn't going to one special specific conference. It wasn't reading one brand new Bible study that finally got all the pieces put together. No, it was actually three simple things that led to long term change year over year in the life of the Christians. You ready for them? You may want to write these down, but you probably don't need to. Okay. You don't even need to get your pen out. Here they are. Number one, read the Bible. But I got there, they strung me along. Okay. In the book that I read, they were like, we're going to show you the three things. Here's what we found. And I'm like, okay, okay, here we go. And the first one is, make sure the Bible's open. Like I read this whole book, you know, like that's what you give me. Read the Bible. Yep. And. And what's funny is you see this in Romans 12. Because as we'll talk about all of these commands. Well, first of all, Romans 1 through 11 is full of Bible. That's where Paul gets the Gospel identity from. And then Romans 12, all these commands are Old Testament commands or teaching from Jesus. Meaning? And you notice the command, don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed. What, by the renewal of your mind. How does that happen? By the word. Right. You see, it's just right there in Romans 12. So that's the first one. Read your Bible. The second one, you guys are gonna be mad at me. Second one. This is not me saying this as a study. All right, second one. Go to church every week. Literally. That's what it is. You're thinking, okay, I've read this entire book. What you're giving me at the end is, read your Bible and go to church. Really? What's the third one? You know, the third one is know and be known by a smaller group of Christians within your church. Meaning have a group, be part of a study, be part of a service team. Have a group of people that you don't just sit in rows with, but you're in a circle with, right? That know you. You know them. Those were the three. How do you grow as Christians? Not by going to some conference, not by reading this specific book. Rather, read your Bible with others, go to church, and know and be known. Those are the three.
24 · The pastor connects the research findings directly to Romans 12's two identity pieces, showing that Bible reading, church attendance, and small group participation are not arbitrary disciplines but applications of gospel identity and community binding
But do you see that they are applications of the Gospel identity that flips us right side up and binds us to other Christians? It's Romans 12.
25 · The pastor transitions from exposition and research to practical application, introducing a three-part framework (open tables, open Bibles, open lives) for concretely living out Romans 12's gospel identity and community binding
So I want to give you three ways now to apply this, because I'm worried if you just. Okay, I showed up to church, I sat there, I left. Nothing happened. Well, let me give you three ways to kind of lean in and apply this gospel identity. And I'm going to give you three things. Open tables, open Bibles, and open lives.
26 · The pastor unpacks the first application—open tables—explaining hospitality as the biblical practice of welcoming others (even strangers or distant connections) into your space and life
Open tables, Open Bibles, Open lives. Open tables is. First, notice that this is a relational passage. Look at verse nine. Let love be genuine. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Verse 15. Seek to show hospitality. Open tables. What I mean, there is is a relational life. A life where people are gathered around the table together. Look, in my family, my extended family growing up is Hispanic. And so if we really liked somebody, you got invited to, like, a family meal, right? And you always knew whose boyfriends and girlfriends were in and out among the cousins based on who got invited to Thanksgiving, right? So like, oh, so and so's got a boyfriend. Yeah, but she's not coming, you know, he's not coming to Thanksgiving, though. Like, ooh, okay, so it's one of those like. Or it's like, oh, we love this guy. Bring this guy to Thanksgiving, right? That's the table. Everyone's around the table. That is what Romans 12 is saying. We're meant to have an open table life toward other Christians. And that word hospitality really gets at this. Hospitality is the Old Testament practice of providing food and shelter and help to others that you may not even know. Well, at first, they may be a second cousin, a third cousin, a friend of a neighbor, right? But in the ancient world, you didn't. You couldn't just like, book a Motel 6. You couldn't just, you know, go to a new town and look up the information, you know, guide people. No, the only connection you had sometimes was this one family who was a friend of a friend or a distant cousin. But you would show up in town and they would practice hospitality. They would give you a place to stay. They would open their table up so you can have a meal with them. That is what Romans 12 is saying. We should live like as the church with open tables. So let me encourage you to think through this. This year in 2026, how can you live with an open table toward other Christians? When's the last time you had somebody from church over to your home, your apartment? Maybe you don't even have an apartment. Maybe you just, I don't know, you invite somebody to coffee, right? You can find ways to extend hospitality. And really the goal is not that you provide like the fanciest meal they've ever eaten. Rather, it's that you extend relationship to them and relationship that helps people go from strangers to friends and family in Christ. So we want to live friends with open tables.
27 · The pastor unpacks the second application—open Bibles—explaining that Romans 12's commands are saturated with Scripture, and the early church (Acts 2) lived with the Bible open in community
Second, we want to live with open Bibles. As I mentioned, all of these, these applications in chapter 12 are either partial quotes or allusions to parts of the Bible or the teachings of Jesus. Later on, Paul just quotes directly from the Old Testament. And what this means is that the, the early church lived life with their Bibles. Open Acts, Chapter 2. As soon as the church forms, we read that that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, meaning that the apostles were regularly there opening the Bible. This is an open Bible community. And the reason we need the Bible is what we read in chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. We need that by the mercies of God, that the mercies of God work on areas of our life to flip us right side up. So how do our lives get flipped right, right side up by the power of the Word and the power of the gospel in the context of community? And so let me encourage you to think about this this year. How can you get your Bible Open more in 2026? How can you get your Bible open more? I would go back and listen to Steve's message from last week. Wonderful encouragement on starting and ending your day with the Word. But I want to encourage you to push this further. How can you get the Bible open not just by yourself, but with others in the church? Look, sometimes, and what I'm not saying is this, please don't go home and go, okay, great. We're gonna invite another couple over from church. And before we eat, I'm gonna say, now please turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy, chapter six. I have a few comments before dinner here. Three points this evening. It's like you and three people. Now, please don't do that. That's not what I mean by open Bibles. What I mean is this. When you text a friend to say, I'm praying for you think, is there a scripture that God's encouraged me with this week that I could pass on to them? Right? When you're praying over somebody in your home group, is there a scripture you can pray over them? When you're gathered together as guys or as girls, break the ice and say, hey, man, either say, here's what I'm reading in the Bible that's encouraged me, or here's what I'm reading that I don't understand, or ask them, hey, are you reading anything encouraging in the Bible? Be willing to be that person that breaks the ice and goes, hey, let's go from just surface level to spiritual level here in this relationship, right? Open your Bibles in friendship and in life. And then let me encourage you, be in a group. In our church. We have a number of them where the Bible is regularly opened with others. Like I, I benefit so much. Like, I, I'm going to be honest about this. I study the Bible. I have the privilege of studying the Bible a lot during the week in order to teach the church. But friends, when I gather in my home group, there, there are insights that people bring out in my group that I still hadn't seen that I go, or maybe there's something the Lord's shown them because of a long history of following Jesus, that I just didn't feel the same way, right? I still, even after spending all week in the text. I mean, helped and encouraged. You will be, too. So open tables, open Bibles, and the third, open lives.
28 · The pastor unpacks the third application—open lives—making the simple but profound observation that Romans 12:15's command to rejoice with those rejoicing and weep with those weeping requires that the church actually knows one another's joys and sorrows
Now, I'm running the risk of making an observation so basic here that you're going to think, I can't believe I came to church for this. I can't believe Ricky studied and this is what he came up with. But look, for example, at verse 15, I want to point something out where it says, rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Here is my very basic observation. Somehow the church had to know who was rejoicing and who was weeping. And for the church to know that, one of two things had to happen. The church asked or the person told, and usually both. And what I mean to point out here is just this. You can have your Bible open, you can have the table open, but unless you're willing to open your heart, unless you're willing to open your life up, the change will never go very deep in your life. But if you're willing to honestly and openly share where both where you're rejoicing and where you're weeping, friends, that is a recipe for true and meaningful change. Right? They had to know who was rejoicing. They had to know who was weeping. There are all kinds of other things that they would have to know. They. We read a section about gifts. They would have to encourage one another and be able to say, hey, you know what? You, I, I think you have a gift for this. They would just one, there's a bit about not being slothful. Look, somehow they had to live life close enough with one another that they kind of knew, you know, I want to say anybody's name, but like, Joe over here may need that encouragement, you know, whoever he was. And Joe's like, yeah, I know. You know, like that's, that's the kind of community this was. They, they lived with open lives.
29 · The pastor addresses the fear and resistance many feel toward vulnerable community, pastoral-shepherding those intimidated by open-life living
And let me encourage you, if that feels scary or intimidating to you to go for. Maybe you've never really even been part of a church where anybody even encouraged you to do this. You thought church was. Well, I come and I sit in a row and then I experience some things on stage and then I leave. And that's church, friends. No, no. Romans 12 is church. Weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice is church. And if this feels scary or intimidating to you, remember the gospel truth that allows you to think differently. Remember this. The gospel has already said the worst and the best about you so many times. We're embarrassed to share where we really are or what's really going on in our lives because we don't want to be embarrassed or we don't want to have people know our business. But here's the reality. If you're a Christian, you've already put your hand up and said, yep, I am hopeless and helpless. So we already know that. So if you come to a group and like, I'm just hopeless in this area, we all will go, yeah, we know you're a Christian. We all are. Right? But the gospel also says the best about us, meaning that our identity is secure in Jesus Christ. You are a son, you are a daughter, you are in him, so you don't have to worry about what we're thinking. And open tables, open Bibles, open lives. Think to yourself, is there any area that you want to get help, but you're too embarrassed or stubborn to ask for help? Maybe this is the push you need to open that area up. Or is there any area in your life that you frankly just hope nobody asks you about that you just don't bring up and you just hope nobody asks about it. Friends, maybe that's exactly where the grace of God and the people of God need to meet you.
30 · The pastor adds a spontaneous four-point practical coaching section in response to between-services feedback: (1) Make time—actually schedule it, don't just say 'we should,' (2) Give it time—relationships don't form overnight, (3) No gossip—vulnerable sharing dies in gossip, (4) Lots of Gospel—don't condemn, encourage with Christ's saving and sanctifying work
All right, I didn't do this in the last service, but I'm just going to give you. Somebody caught me in between services and go. And went, okay, how do I. How do I actually do this? I want to do it. I'm in a group, but it's like, how do I do that? I see them there. I'm here. How do I. What do I. Okay, Four things. Four things to help. These are just pastoral wisdom tips on forming these kinds of relationships. First, make time for it. None of these relationships grow overnight. You have to make time in your schedule for it. You need to go from, listen, I'm in El Paso in two. Here's what we do. We do this hilarious dance. We should get together. And the person says, yeah, we should. We should get together. And then like a month later be like, oh, bro, you know what? We should get together, bro. And they're like, oh, bro, you know that's right. Like we need to do. And then the third month, let's do it. Let's actually make the time and get together. That's the first tip. Second, give it time. Make time and give it time. Especially when you're forming new relationships or joining a new group, it will take time for your relationships to. To form. So give them that time. Third, no gossip, okay? Open relationships. Open Tables, open, Bibles, they will shrivel in the presence of gossip. So please commit to hold those things carefully because you're holding things about people's hearts. No gossip. And then four last Lots of Gospel. Lots of gospel. None of this condemning. I should be doing better. You should be doing better. We're the worst. We're never going to get better. No, we have the power of the gospel. The gospel says the worst about us. But then it gives us hope for change. Lots of, lots of, lots of Gospel. Jesus saved you, Jesus changed you. Jesus is working for you. You have a bright future. Lots of gospel in those conversations.
31 · The pastor frames the choice facing the congregation: join the 80% whose resolutions fail by mid-February, or the 100%—the two-thousand-year track record of the Church advancing through the simple recipe of gospel identity and community
And last, let me end with this. As we start 2026, we have a choice between two numbers we can be a part of. Okay, first number is 80%. 80% of resolutions that people make around New Year's will fail by mid February. We are approaching Quitters Day, which is the second Friday of January. Most of you will quit by then. Almost all of you will quit by mid February. We can all be in that. We can all be like, I need to change, I want to change. I'm going to be different. But we end up in that 80% year over year. Or Romans 12 offers us a better choice. 100%. 100% is the number of years that Jesus church has advanced and grown in him since his ascension and sending. And what I mean by that is this. Over and over, year over year, century over century, it has seemed like the church doesn't have a whole lot. What do we have? Read your Bible, go to church, be friends with Christians. That's what we've got. But friends, here's the reality. That simple recipe of identity in Christ and the community of Christ has grown the church of Jesus Christ for 2000 years. And so meanwhile, all these people have all these complicated plans. Listen, we have a simple plan. It's Jesus One another, open Bibles. Often that's what we've got. And that has taken over the world and continues to advance. So we can either be part of the 80 or part of the hundred. And by God's grace, friends, let's commit that this year we will, by the mercies of God, offer ourselves to new life, not being conformed to the world, but being transformed in community around the Word through Jesus. Amen.
32 · The pastor closes with a two-part prayer: first for any unbeliever present to see that only the Gospel can work the deep soul change they long for, and second for believers to recommit to the simple disciplines of Word, community, and gospel—joining the Church's two-thousand-year advance until Christ returns
Would you stand and let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would meet us. Lord, I first pray if there's anyone here that needs to have that decisive change in their life that the gospel, and only the gospel can work. Lord, help. Help that friend to see today that they can come to you as Savior and come to you as Lord. And the change that they, they long for, that deep soul change is possible in Jesus. And then I pray for all of us, Lord, Lord, that we would recommit in many ways. All you're doing in Romans 12, Lord, is you're calling us to recommit to the right things. To recommit to sit under the word and to open the word. To recommit to fellowship with one another, to recommit to the power of the gospel in, in our lives, that we might be part of that hundred percent of year over year gospel advance in our lives and in our world until you return. Amen.