Peter Tan-Chi - Live Your Best Life
Have you ever wondered, have you ever thought of… what does it mean to live your life to the full? What does it look like? Are you living the best life that God wants you to have? To live the best life, I want you to remember three important words. The first word, everybody, Surrender. Together, say it. Surrender. That is counterintuitive. We want to be in control. Next word, Separate. Wow! What does that mean? What does it mean to separate? Ah. I’m going to explain that to you. Next, Serve. That’s the best life. Are you ready?
All right. Romans chapter 12. Let’s read verse one, together. «Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship». Here is one thing I’d like you to notice, «Therefore». Every time you see the word, «therefore», what does it mean? «Therefore…», so to understand «therefore», you must look at the above: chapter 1 to chapter 11. That’s what he’s talking about. Therefore, in conclusion, Paul is now saying, «I appeal to you…», notice he did not use the word «I command you». «I’m appealing to you, brethren, by the mercies of God». In other words, the way God wants you to understand, to live the best life, you have to understand theology. Based on all of what God has done for you, «…by the mercies of God».
How do you see the mercies of God? Well, let’s look at the outline of the Book of Romans. Therefore, notice, here’s a reminder in Romans of all that God has done for us. Therefore, once upon a time we were sinners! I’m lost. Something happened. God gave me salvation. Wow, that’s God’s mercy. He saved us. If you want to know how to be sure you go to heaven, go back and read chapters 3, 4, 5. Listen to our videos. And then, God’s mercy includes how to live a holy life, Sanctification. That’s where we all struggle. How do I live a holy life? Sanctification. That’s God’s mercy. He gives you the Holy Spirit. He gives you the new desire. That’s chapters 6, 7, 8. But then how can you be guaranteed that you will enter heaven gloriously? How can you be sure?
Wow. He talks about the sovereignty of God, and he used Israel as an example of God’s amazing power to preserve people. God’s amazing power to choose and select people to make sure they enter glory. That’s the sovereignty of God without removing human responsibility. That is all of God’s mercy. And after listing, chapter one to chapter 11, he now says, therefore, what must you do? That’s where we are today. «Therefore», all right? Do you understand now the logic of the Book of Romans? So «therefore» is the conclusion of everything that God has been saying to all of us: His mercy, His righteousness. Go back to Romans chapter 12. Let’s read it one more time. (v.1) «Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God…»
In other words, because of God’s goodness, because of God’s grace, because of God’s kindness. What must you do? «…present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice». That verb «present», the verb is special. It is called a «once and for all» commitment. It’s like you make a final decision, to present. What does it mean by «living, holy sacrifice»? Well, in the olden days, you will notice that they give animals, the animal must be perfect. You cannot give a lousy animal for worship. You make sure the animal, in Tagalog, «walang peklat» (no scars). No blemishes. You cannot give an animal that’s blind and you say, «Well, nobody will buy this animal, I’ll just give it to God». You cannot do that. You give God your best.
So that’s the picture here. «…you present your body as a living and holy sacrifice…» But the grammar is even more interesting when you read that word, «acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship». Acceptable to God. Guys, have you ever asked yourself what God really wants from you? What does God really want from you and from me? You will be surprised. You may think, «Well, God wants me to give my whole life, my body». «…present your bodies», yes, that is true. But do you know why he gives you the motivation? Because of all that, based on all that God has done for you, is it asking too much if you give your life to Him? Do you see the argument? If God has given His all, is it asking for too much if He sacrificed His life, is it asking too much of you to surrender your life to Him? Why is it so hard for us to surrender our life to Him? I’m going to explain to you in a short while, but right now I like you to think, why is the body important?
Do you know the Greeks do not like the body. Even though they have nice paintings, nice sculptures of the human body, for them, the Greeks, the body is what imprisoned the man, the woman. They love the spirit, but they don’t like the body because the body is corrupt. The body will decay. But the Bible is different. The Bible says God loves every part about you, your spirit, your soul, and your body. And God is saying, «you give Me your body». Let me tell you why the body is important. Many people are thinking, «God, You want my body? My body is sinful. This is no good». And God is saying, «No, no, no, you give Me your body». You know why? When God has your body, what is He talking about? He wants everything: Your heart, your mind, your body. Because your heart and your mind and your spirit cannot do anything on planet Earth unless it is done through the body.
If I want to help somebody, I need a body to help, because your body is neutral. It is an instrument. It can be used for sin, it can be used for God. It can be used to hurt people. It can be used to bless people. But God is saying, «I want your body». Tell your neighbor, this is what you tell your neighbor: «Surrender your body to the Lord. Surrender»! Now, another interesting observation in verse one, «living and holy sacrifice». You know why it’s living and holy? In the Old Testament, when you offer an animal, you kill the animal. In the New Testament, uh-uh, you don’t kill. You are living, but you offer it to God. Now, let me ask you, is it easier to die for the Lord or to live for the Lord? Do you know that to live for the Lord, every day is harder? Because every day you say no to yourself. Every day you die yourself and you say, «Lord, here I am. What I wish to do, I don’t do, because I love you». And God says, «You give Me your life, your body».
Every day you say no to yourself. You say yes to God! That is the meaning of surrender. Notice when you surrender your life to the Lord, you know what else is going to happen? I want you to read the next verse. According to Jesus, what does it mean to surrender? Everybody read, (Matthew 16:24) «Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, '» You want to follow Jesus? «Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me». That’s the meaning of 'to surrender'. He now tells you how to follow Him. «Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me». Do you notice as of now, if you don’t know Jesus, this is very difficult. Because to surrender, the idea is negative. «I give this up. I give that up. I’ll give everything up».
That’s negative. But if you know Jesus, you’ll realize it is positive. You know why? (v.25) «For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it». You know what God wants from you? Your best! But the only way you can experience your best is when you die to yourself, and surrender all. Look at Romans 12:1. «…present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God…» Notice, God is saying «it’s acceptable to Me». «…which is your spiritual service of worship». This 'spiritual service of worship', if you go to the Greek language, it’s very simple, but they have to have many words to explain it. It is really the only logical thing to do. That’s one idea, it is logical to do, but number two, it’s the word used for worship.
Friends, to worship God is not once a week. When you come together on Sunday, what are we doing here on Sunday? People say, «We are worshiping God». Yes, that is what you call collective worship. We worship together. We sing together. Wonderful! But more than that, God wants you to worship Him every day. So, if I surrender my body to the Lord, let’s say you’re a wife, when you cook, you cook for the Lord. That’s worship. When you go to the office and you do it for the Lord, that is worship. In other words, worship is anything you do for the Lord. And I guarantee you, if you think of your life 24/7, a life of complete surrender, sin will be the farthest thing from your mind! When you are tempted to commit adultery, you are tempted to lie, you are tempted to look at bad things, you say, «Lord, I’m going to do this for You. I say no to myself».
How do you sustain that commitment that you have made? In other words, grammatically when you surrender, it is once and for all. You say, «Everything I surrender to God». However, the grammar changes in verse two, how do you sustain it? Look at verse two. It says the following, (Romans 12:2) «Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect». Let me explain. The grammar changes, «do not be conformed». Grammatically, this is now in the present tense, something you do daily. It’s in the passive voice. Do not allow yourselves to be conformed.
You see, the world is always trying to influence us through media, the people you meet, the TV program you watch. The whole world is designed to squish you into its mold. Remember this illustration? What is the shape of a watermelon? Oval, right? In Japan to maximize refrigerator space, they make it into a square. How do you make a square watermelon? Do you know how? When the watermelon is still small, they put it in a plastic cover. It’s like a plexiglass. And when that melon grows, it has to follow the shape of the plastic. My friend, you and I, consciously or unconsciously, you are being squeezed by the world. You may not realize this, the way you dress, the way you speak.
You know my brother-in-law, a godly man, the younger brother of my wife, he was telling us his testimony. When he was in college, remember, he’s a good man. In fact, today he’s a pastor, right? He is a godly man, but in college he had to work in a construction company, and he was surrounded with rough workers, right? And what they do, those workers basically, they curse. Every one sentence, in Tagalog, every one sentence, Understand? And then he said, those words began ringing in his head and when he came home, before he knew it, he started cursing. You see the power of environment many times you don’t realize that it is shaping you. «Do not be conformed to this world…»
Now, when the Bible uses the word, «this world», what does that mean? Well, it’s very clear. Do not copy, be separated from this world. What does «this world» mean? Jesus explained that clearly in the Book of 1 John. Let’s read that together, in 1 John 2, together now. Notice the repetition of the word 'love'. The issue has to do with your love. What is your highest love? And then he now tells you the competition, the competitor of God, whether you like it or not, are the values of this world. So read the next verse. Everybody, (v.16) «Everything in the world…» He’s not talking about the green grass. He’s not talking about the mountains, nature. No, no. He’s talking about values. «…the lust of the flesh,» number one. Number two, «the lust of the eyes,» and number three, «the pride of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world».
What do you mean by «the lust of the flesh»? That’s where you have the philosophy of hedonism. Have you heard of the word hedonism? Hedonist, your god is pleasure. You know, God invented sex, but Satan has corrupted sex. Sex is beautiful, in the context of marriage. Sex is to be enjoyed in the context of marriage, but the world has hijacked sex, because Satan is a liar. Everything God creates, he will distort it. One of them is sensuality, sex. Number two: «the lust of the eyes». That is where you have the idea of materialism. In your mind, «if I can have this, it’ll make me happy». You know, some people, they just want to keep accumulating. There’s no ending.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with appreciating the good things of life. You know, I appreciate beauty. Praise God! You notice my wife is beautiful? Yeah, but I did not marry her for her beauty. Okay? I married her because I love her. I love you baby. Materialism is really the lust of the eyes. Some people will compromise their ethics, will compromise their standards for the sake of materialism. At the end, it’s empty. The pride of life. You know, the pride of life is most dangerous. That’s why people want titles, they want position, they want recognition. Do you know there are many sincere believers who have never dealt, they have never separated themselves from this world. You separate from the values of this world, and you separate yourself unto God.
That’s why it says: do not be conformed, be transformed. You don’t just stay away from the world by doing all the «I cannot do this», «I cannot do that», «I cannot drink», «I cannot go to nightclubs». Those are all negatives. Many Christians are good at the negatives. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. I don’t take drugs. Excuse me? That’s not Christianity. What do you do? Do you help the poor? Are you kind? Are you serving people? Ah! Notice, God’s command is always for our good! You guard your heart daily! You know why? (v.17) «The world is passing away, and its lusts; but the one who does the will of God will live forever». The next verb is exactly the same grammar, «be transformed by the renewing of your mind,» That word «be transformed» is where you have the word metamorphosis.
Grammatically, it simply means this: present tense, be transformed, daily! Ah. It’s in the passive voice. You don’t transform yourself. You allow an outside force, and you cooperate with it to be changed. Ah. So the secret of transformation is not in yourself, it is in the passive voice. You allow God’s Spirit, God’s word, and God’s people to impact your life. Everybody, let’s read this fast. Whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil, your blindness is taken away. «Now the Lord is the Holy Spirit and where the Holy Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled…» no more blindness, «beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are», everybody read now «are being transformed,» metamorphosized, are being transformed, «into the same image, from glory to glory as from the Lord, the Spirit». It is through the Holy Spirit that you allow God to transform your life. But the Holy Spirit only works, many times, in conjunction with the word of God.
Notice Romans 12:2. What does it mean? How are you transformed? Together if you don’t mind. Together, «Do not be conformed to this world». Grammatically, stop copying! In other words, they are already copying. Grammatically, they are already copying. So the Bible says: Stop it. Stop copying. Stop allowing yourselves to be pressured. Be transformed. Allow yourselves to be transformed daily! By the, everybody, this is the secret, «by the renewing of your mind» In other words, the mind is crucial. Do you notice how the Book of Romans was written? Doctrine before duty. Notice, creed before conduct. Chapter one to chapter 11 is all about doctrine, then you have duty. Belief before behavior, that’s the way of the Lord.
So, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. If your mind believes in something that is wrong, you will never be changed because your mind is crucial. And Satan has captured the mind of many Christians today, especially young people. You are believing a lie. You don’t even know it. Do you understand when Jesus tells us, in John, do you remember what Jesus said? «You will know the truth», and what will happen. «You will know the truth», in John 8. (John 8:32) «You will know the truth and», everybody read. «the truth will make you free». How do you know the truth? How do you know? Think about it. Is it from human opinion? Is it from religion? Is it from the writings of smart people? Is it from movie actors? Is it from rich people? Is it from the majority decision? Is it based on what is popular? Excuse me. Truth.
You have to decide. You have to decide who will decide truth for you. Who? In my case, I have made a decision years ago. I have decided, truth. Truth, listen to me, comes from, what is this? God’s Word! Why? We have a study on this. You study archeology, geography, internal evidence, prophecy, Israel. Why do I believe the Bible? Because it is the truth, and that’s why, to be transformed you’ve got to study the Bible. Look at the Book of Joshua chapter one. Everybody read this. (Joshua 1:8) «This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, you shall», everybody read, please. «you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success».
You want to live the best life? All right. Surrender everything to the Lord! But what will make you surrender, uh, separate from the world, separate unto God by the renewing of your mind. I call that sound thinking, Why should your mind be renewed? You know why? Everybody read now, «so that you may prove…» Notice, «Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…» Remember, you have to put truth in your mind, to be renewed. If you don’t put truth in your mind, your mind will not change. So you have to study God’s word. I call that sound, if you like, S-S-S, sound thinking. All right, Surrender. You Separate. How do you separate? Sound thinking! So that you may, everybody read, «…you may prove…»
The word prove has the idea of, you will experience. You will know for yourself. I cannot prove it for you. You cannot prove it for others, but for yourself. You will prove it for yourself. What will you discover? What the will of God is. What is the will of God? It is good, it is acceptable and perfect! And that, my friend, is the best life: in the center of God’s will! Amen? Are you living the best life? Okay. How? Never too late! Surrender Separate, and then Serve. What do I mean by serve? Look at verse three. It has to do with the mind, right? Look, verse three. (Romans 12:3) «For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment as God has alloted to each one of us…»
You know what this verse is talking about? You have to think soundly. To serve God, you better think properly. That is so crucial. Surrender, Separate. Do not overestimate yourself. Notice the word, «think». The idea is repeated how many times think, think, think. It’s repeated many times in one verse because the mind impacts your behavior. So he’s talking аbout: do not think more highly of yourself. You know, some people they are very conceited. Are you conceited? I know somebody, he was so impressed with himself. He said, «I am the gift of God to this church. I am God’s gift to this church». I call that Messianic Complex. Have you met people who have this Messiah Complex? «You better use me. If you don’t use me, you are losing something».
You know these kind of people, I’m afraid to make them leaders. You know why? They are full of themselves. So the Bible says, don’t do that. At the same time, the other extreme, you underestimate. I call that false humility, «Ah no, I cannot serve God, I’m nobody. You know, my education level, I’m just an ordinary person». Don’t do that. That’s what he’s saying. Don’t overestimate, don’t underestimate, «…as God has allotted to each one a measure of faith». Now what is he talking about? Read the next verse. (v.4-5) «For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another».
The Bible compares us to the Church. In Corinthians it says, «the body of Christ, which is the Church». Now, the body of Christ has many parts. Look at what it says. Look at the next verse. (Romans 12:6) «Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each one of us is to exercise them accordingly; if prophecy», He mentions seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. «prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; service, in his serving; teaches, in his teaching; exhorts, in his exhortation; gives, with liberality; leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness».
These are seven gifts, but in the Bible you will notice the gift of the Holy Spirit is mentioned in four parts of the Bible. What are the four parts of the Bible? Well, number one, it is shown in, if you want to take a picture so that you can study on your own, it is shown in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4. Now, what in the world is he talking about? We have many parts. Now, what he’s trying to say is simply this. Every part, is very, very important. We all have different functions, but for you to understand, to live the best life, you must know God designed you to serve. God did not design you to take, or to receive. You are to give! You are to serve!
Let me ask you, what’s stopping you from surrendering everything? Can I tell you what helped me? When I began to realize my theology of God is wrong. You know, in Psalm 84, when I understood the heart of God, two verses that really impacted my life, one is Romans 8. If God did not spare His own Son, right? (Romans 8:32) «He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him over for us, how will He not with Him freely give us all things»? Until I really understood that God loves me so much that He wants what’s best for me, then and only then was I willing to surrender my life. I was so afraid to surrender my life. In my mind, God will send me to Africa and I like air conditioned rooms. I like good food. But then I realized, if God loves me, then He wants what’s best, and that means if going to Africa is what God wants me to do, you know what I told the Lord? «Yes, I will go wherever You want me to go! I will do whatever You want me to do! Here is my life! I give it all to You»!
Psalm 84 is so important. (v.11-12) «The LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD gives grace and glory;» Notice, «No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly». Do you notice? No good thing, including marriage, including relationships. God will not withhold it from you, but you have to surrender. You see, surrender is the channel of God’s blessing to your life. If you don’t surrender, you keep running your own life, it is the obstacle to God’s blessing! So, surrender means what? You have to trust Him! You have to tell God, «I know You know better than me. I know You love me, and I will trust You. And here I am, I surrender my all».
Father God in heaven, I pray for everybody here today. I know there are some of us here who have not surrendered their lives. They have not surrendered their all to You, because they don’t really trust You, or they don’t really know You. But today, Lord, they are willing to entrust everything to You. Lord, You love us. Father God in heaven I pray for all those who are standing today. You look, You know their hearts. You know their future. Thank You that You’re willing to accept us as is, where is. I now commit to You everybody that we will experience Your best, live the best life by surrendering. Lord, accept their surrender. Assure them that You are ready to assume full responsibility to those who have surrendered their lives to You. It is Your promise to take care of those who have surrendered their lives to You. And Lord, I trust You because You are God and You’re a loving God. So accept all of these people who have surrendered their lives to You. And Lord, use it for Your glory. Bless them in such a way that they will never regret and above all, they will be a blessing to thousands of others. In Jesus' name, we all pray. Amen and amen!