Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The living sacrifice
12 So, my dear family, this is my appeal to you by the mercies of God: offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. That’s what properly thought-out worship looks like. 2 What’s more, don’t let yourselves be squeezed into the shape dictated by the present age. Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you can work out what God’s will is, what is good, acceptable and complete.
3 Through the grace which was given to me, I have this to say to each one of you: don’t think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think. Rather, think soberly, in line with faith, the true standard which God has marked out for each of you. 4 As in one body we have many limbs and organs, you see, and all the parts have different functions, 5 so we, many as we are, are one body in the Messiah, and individually we belong to one another.
Living together in the Messiah
6 Well then, we have gifts that differ in accordance with the grace that has been given to us, and we must use them appropriately. If it is prophecy, we must prophesy according to the pattern of the faith. 7 If it is serving, we must work at our serving; if teaching, at our teaching; 8 if exhortation, at our exhortation; if giving, with generosity; if leading, with energy; if doing acts of kindness, with cheerfulness.
Peter’s declaration of Jesus’ messiahship
13 Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi. There he put this question to his disciples: “Who do people say that the son of man is?”
14 “John the Baptist,” they replied. “Others say Elijah. Others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15 “What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered.
“You’re the Messiah,” he said. “You’re the son of the living God!”
17 “God’s blessing on you, Simon, son of John!” answered Jesus. “Flesh and blood didn’t reveal that to you; it was my father in heaven. 18 And I’ve got something to tell you, too: you are Peter, the rock, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell won’t overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you tie up on earth will have been tied up in heaven, and whatever you untie on earth will have been untied in heaven.”
20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.