Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum and a Smile in the New Year

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I
recently read Scripture at a friend’s wedding. It was an honor for me to proclaim God’s Word to the wedding party and
guests. I could have declined or made
excuses, and maybe even suggested someone else for the job, but weddings are
exciting events! Declining was furthest
from my heart. If you’ve been in a
wedding, you know what I mean.

I
don’t think many of us would say we participated in a wedding ‘out of the goodness of our hearts.’ This is because it’s not so much a hardship
as it is a privilege. And the highest
privilege, being a maid of honor or best man, isn’t really about what we have
to offer. It’s about who we are: someone dear to the bride or groom.

We are also dear to
God – especially dear. Do we serve Him with the same
readiness and enthusiasm? Or do we bring
stipulations and conditions? Do we hold
off until there’s a task that matches our higher skill sets? Do we wait for someone to ask for our help?

If
so, then maybe I’ll be the first to say we have already been asked and it is
incumbent upon us to step forward. We
owe a great service to God who has done more for us than we could ever imagine
or deserve, and who continues to be a present advantage at our side. We’re not perfect, of course, but let’s not
allow our imperfection to excuse us from what God expects of us.

God expects our sacrifice. It is fitting.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and
sisters,
in view of God’s mercy,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God—
this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1

Am I continually giving of myself as
God expects? Admittedly, no, but Romans 12 offers a clear path to doing so.

There's a lot of context around Romans
12:1. Here’s the short version of the first 11 chapters:

2. Jesus (who is righteous) sacrificed Himself to save us, and we are
made righteous through faith (Romans 3:21-31)

3. We enjoy freedom in many ways (Romans 5-8)

4. By God’s choice, salvation is for all (Romans 9-11)

So, nothing from us. Everything from God.

Now let’s focus on the more
immediate context right before Romans 12:1:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge
of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”

For from him and through him and for him are
all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

God is vastly beyond us in wisdom,
understanding, and glory. He is greater
than us in every way, including those ways that make us feel good about
ourselves. God is sovereign, He’s in
complete control, and no one can rival Him.

We have nothing of real value to
offer God except for
honoring Him in the ways He has requested.

My favorite Christmas song is The Little Drummer Boy*. It’s a fictional story about a boy who was
invited by the Magi to join them in offering gifts to the “newborn King.” The Magi brought their “finest gifts” of
gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew2:10-11).

The boy, however, had “no gift to
bring” and he identified with Baby Jesus when he said he “is a poor boy, too.” So, he did what he could. He asked if he could play his drum to honor
Him. “Mary nodded” and he played. He played his best for the newborn King, and
the Baby “smiled.”

The boy represents more than himself. He is all of us. Considering what we read in Romans, we are poor boys, too.

We have no gifts to lay before
the King,
no matter how gifted we are.

No matter how wise or smart we may
be, we are dim compared to God. No
matter how successful we are, and how hard we’ve worked, our things and
achievements are useless when we consider who God is and what He can do.

We don’t know if the boy was a good drummer. He had rhythm, but maybe
he wasn’t that great of a drummer. Have
we considered that, when we play for Jesus, it doesn’t really matter if we have
mad drumming skills, or even poor skills? When we honor Him, it doesn’t matter how fine our gifts are or how much
more we give than the next person. All
of this is irrelevant. It has no bearing
on whether we see the Baby smile.

This is not to say there was something
wrong with the gifts from the Magi. On
the contrary, they worshiped Jesus and gave meaningful gifts to honor Him.

How can we honor Jesus?

We do it through a transformation
of our hearts and minds. We replace our
natural tendencies, like thinking highly of ourselves, with a new will and a
new way of life that comes from God.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—
his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

In other words, considering the context, since we have no
gifts to lay before the King, we allow God to shore up all the deficiencies in
our lives, including our tendency to think we can manage ministry on our own.

All that we are and all that we have come from God, not us. He gifted us. Even our faith and wisdom are from God. We love with God’s love. We offer grace because God is gracious to
us. We give money that already belongs
to God. We sacrifice because of God’s
comprehensive sacrifice. We serve with
Jesus as our example. There is nothing
good in us (Ephesians2:1-5). Jesus is the vine – the resource of all good for the branches. We bear fruit only when we remain connected to the vine (John15:5-14).

Romans 12 further describes the manner in which we should
honor and sacrifice for God. It must be
done for the benefit of others (1Corinthians 12:7), and we express it with sincerity
and kindness.

(See Chip Mattis’ terrific post on kindness. Read more

We also express our sacrifice with humility.

…Do not think of yourself more highly than you
ought,
but rather think of yourself with sober judgment,
in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Romans 12:3

Left to ourselves, we are very good
at tooting our own horns and looking out for “number one.” But if we are helpful, it’s because God is
working through us. We are gifted only
because God gifted us, and, as the perfecter of our faith, He continues to make
us better so we can serve Him more effectively (Hebrews 12:1-2).

It’s not about what we can offer or do. It’s about what God does through our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). I know this doesn’t comfort our egos, but
it’s the truth. If it feels like we’re
serving because God needs us to, we’re thinking too highly of ourselves, as if
we have something to bring to the table. God wants living sacrifices who obey and honor Him in humility, but we
would rather volunteer in strength out of the goodness of our hearts.

God requires our service. Following Him in obedience and gratitude is
the appropriate way to respond to His request (Romans 12:1, Ephesians 2:6-10). And we do it for the sake of others – to build them up with an eye
toward Heaven.

Maybe the best thing about The Little
Drummer Boy* is this:

The boy didn’t have a drum solo. He didn’t do his own thing
and he didn’t play for his own satisfaction. He played while the ox and lamb kept time. The beat (the timekeeper) is arguably the
most important feature of a song. A
melody isn’t even melodious without the structure of time. The boy followed the lead of animals –
animals that are commonly used for sacrifice. He not only identified with Jesus, He identified with the ox and lamb
who knew how to sacrifice. The boy
followed their lead when he offered himself.