Preached July 17, 2011
from
Romans 12:1-2
Theme: Our proper response to God’s mercy is to give ourselves to Him in love and live holy lives in this world.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
I invite you to turn with me to the twelfth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans—and to two very important verses in that great New Testament letter.
In Romans 12:1-2, Paul writes:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2).
What great words! I don’t know if you make it your practice to memorize Scripture; but if you don’t, you should start. And I suggest that these two, very important verses would be good ones with which to begin!
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Why are they so important? One reason is because they summarize the practical call of the apostle Paul’s great letter to the Romans—that great letter about the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you a reader of the Bible at all, you’re probably already aware that Paul’s letters are careful expositions of sound doctrine. But did you also know that he was always careful to bring his theology down into real-life, practical application? He does so in the first two verses of Romans 12. He had spent eleven chapters of his letter laying-out profound doctrine to his readers; but beginning with these two verses, he calls his Christian brothers and sisters to put all of that doctrine to work.
You can see this at the very beginning of these two verses. They begin with the word “therefore”; which points our attention back to all the things he had written in the earlier chapters of this letter. All the great gospel doctrines that he has revealed to us in this epistle—the great doctrine of ‘justification by faith’; the doctrine of God’s just wrath for our sin, but also of His free gift of salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross; the doctrine of our deliverance from bondage to sin through Christ, of our union with Christ, and of God’s own enabling through Christ to live the life that pleases Him—all of it comes together in the appeal that Paul makes in these two verses.
I agree with those Bible teachers who have said that, in the flow of the Book of Romans, these two verses pick up where chapter eight leaves off. And let me read to you what Paul said at the end of chapter eight. He wrote;
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-39).
No wonder, then, that he writes;
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (12:1-2).
If you don’t find this appeal at the beginning of Romans 12 to be a powerfully compelling one, then it’s probably because you haven’t been impacted as you should by Romans 1-11—and haven’t yet allowed yourself to marvel at the mercy of God toward us through His Son Jesus Christ!
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So; that’s one reason why these two verses are so important. It’s because they summarize the appropriate practical response we are to have to the grace that God has shown us in His Son. But I believe there’s another reason why these two verses are important. And that’s because of the impact we can have on this world when we do what is said in them.
You see; professing Christians—who are supposed to embrace the great truths that Paul wrote about—do not seem to be having much of an impact on the unbelieving people of our culture today. And there’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that the reason is because the majority of professing Christians don’t behave in accordance to the great truths they are called to believe.
In 2009, researcher George Barna conducted a survey to assess a distinctively “biblical” worldview among professing “born again” Christians in comparison to American culture in general. He defined a “biblical” worldview as the belief “that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.”
He found that 79% of born-again Christians believed that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches; while only 50% of all adults in general that he interviewed did so. And he also found that nine out of ten born-again Christians believe that God the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who rules the universe; while only seven in ten of all adults did so. But for the rest of the categories, the born-again Christians he interviewed believed pretty much the same as the American culture as a whole. Less than half of the born-again Christians he interviewed believed that moral truth was absolute; only a third believed that Satan is a real force; less than half believed that it’s impossible for someone to earn their way to heaven through good behavior; only around half believed that Jesus lived a sinless life
Taken altogether, he found that only 9% of the adults that he interviewed professed all those things consistently; and that among those who professed to be “born again”, only 19% did so. In other words, only one in five professing Christians had a truly consistent biblical worldview. In almost every way, they believed like the unsaved people around them! And one of the more disturbing things he noted was that “although most Americans consider themselves to be Christian and say they know the content of the Bible, less than one out of ten Americans demonstrate such knowledge through their actions.”1
Clearly, we’re not making the kind of distinct impact upon the unbelieving people of this world that God wants us to, because we’re not living as distinct people. We’re thinking and acting too much like the people of this world. We’re no longer taking our stand on the word of God as we used to; and are allowing ourselves instead to be pressed into the values and priorities of the culture around us.
How can we prove the glories of our Savior to the people of this world if we don’t appear to be any different from the people of this world? And that’s what makes Paul’s appeal to us in these two great verses even more important;
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (12:1-2).
Can you think of anything more crucial for us to heed as Christians today than this passionate appeal from Paul?
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Now; before we get into the details of what Paul urges us to do in these two verses, I’d like to ask that we take a moment to consider how he prefaces his appeal.
Notice, first, to whom he made it. He spoke to his readers as “brethren”. I believe that’s very important. Paul was not speaking to just anyone. He was specifically speaking to those with whom he shared a mutual faith in Jesus Christ. He was speaking to those who had said a fundamental “yes” to all that he had already taught in Romans 1-11—that is, who had confessed that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23), and who had received that gift freely through faith in Jesus. No one else but they could offer themselves as “living sacrifices” to God. No one else but they could be “transformed” through the renewing of the mind.
And I would be terribly remiss if I didn’t pause right now and ask: Are you certain that you are among the “brethren” Paul wrote to? Have you acknowledged that you personally are a needy sinner before a holy God; and have you deliberately placed your trust in the cross of Jesus alone for the payment of your sins? Have you received the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord? Have you—in the words of Jesus Himself—been “born again”? Are you sure you have done this? I sincerely hope that if you’re not sure of it, you’ll make sure of it before the day is through.
Second, notice on what basis it was that he made this appeal. He said that it was “by the mercies of God”. It’s the mercies of God toward helpless sinners like us that Paul had spent the previous 11 chapters Romans describing; and it is because of those mercies that we are able today to respond to Paul’s heartfelt appeal. It’s because of the mercies of God toward us that the guilt of our sin has been completely taken away; and that “[t]here is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). It’s because of the mercies of God that He was moved to deliver up His own precious Son for us as our atoning sacrifice. And it’s because of His mercies toward us that we are now free to offer ourselves to Him in gratitude as “living sacrifices”, and to allow Him to transform us into the people He wants us to be.
It’s not because of anything worthy in us that Paul made his appeal. It’s because God has been good and merciful to us that we’re invited to gratefully offer ourselves to Him. After all that God has done for us in mercy, how terrible it would be if we didn’t respond with gratitude and take Him up on the wonderful adventure of “new life” that He offers us!
And third, please notice in what manner Paul made this appeal. It was not in the form of a command. Rather, it was in the form of a request. He wrote, “I beseech you . . “, or “I urge you . . “, or “I exhort you . . .” But not, “I command you . . .”; or “I order you . . .”; or “I demand of you . . .” As the great apostle Paul, he could have commanded or ordered or demanded this of us! But God doesn’t want us to offer ourselves to Him out of a sense of compulsion. He doesn’t force us to do it. Rather, He wants us to offer ourselves to Him freely, and willingly, and gratefully. In fact, you might notice what Paul said at the end of verse one—that it’s our “reasonable” service. Given all that God has done for us, it’s only reasonable—or literally “logical”—that we do so.
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So then; what is it that Paul, in these two verses, urges us to do? How do we begin the great adventure of practical and distinctive Christian living that God invites us to begin? And how do we truly begin to live in such a way as to make the impact for Jesus Christ in this world that God wants us to make?
First, Paul urges us . . .
1. TO PRESENT OUR BODIES TO GOD AS LIVING SACRIVICES (v. 1).
Look at what he says in verse one: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
In our culture and in our time, we don’t have much familiarity with what it means to present a “sacrifice”. But when Paul wrote those words, he wrote them to people who understood exactly what it meant. Some of his readers were Jewish; and they would have thought of the offerings that Moses commanded be made on the altar in the temple. They would have thought of the bull, or the goat, or the lamb that was slain, and drained of its blood, and placed on the altar; and that was completely consumed in the fire as a burnt offering. And some of his readers were Gentiles from pagan backgrounds. They also would have thought of the animals that were offered up completely and unreservedly on the altar of a false god in any one of the many temples that filled the land.
And what would have struck those people would have been the remarkable phrase “a living sacrifice”; because none of the sacrifices that they had ever made were “living”—not when they were through offering them, anyway. A “living” sacrifice would be one that was offered up completely and unreservedly to God; but that was still alive, and still operative, and able to be obedient, and that could be useful for whatever He commanded it to do. And that, dear brothers and sisters, is what Paul is urging us, by the mercies of God, to become—a living sacrifice to God.
What does it mean in actual practice to “present” our bodies to God as living sacrifices? Some have interpreted it to mean that our bodies are symbolic of our whole self; and that Paul is simply urging us to offer our whole self to God. And of course, I believe we should. But I believe that when Paul says “bodies” he means, quite literally, our bodies! Way back in Romans 6:12-13, Paul urged his brothers and sisters to consider themselves to have died to sin; and said,
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Romans 6:12-13).
We used to be the slaves of sin. When sin commanded us, our body parts jumped to action and did whatever sin told us. But now that we have been set free from sin, we are to truly offer our body parts—our hands, our feet, our lips, our eyes—to God as His instruments of righteousness. Paul went on to say,
I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness (v. 19).
Paul says that the presentation of our bodies is a sacrifice that is “holy, acceptable to God”. Now, before we trusted the Lord Jesus, we wouldn’t have dared to offer our bodies to God as “holy”. We had used those bodies for sinful purposes. Almost all of us can look back in deep shame and regret at the ways we have used these precious bodies for wickedness. But now, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, we can present our bodies as living sacrifices that are truly “holy”; because, through the blood of God’s Son Jesus, we have “our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). All the stains of sin are gone in Christ; and we can now offer this body of ours—formerly used for sin—as a sacrifice that is truly made holy and acceptable to God.
And now, when sin commands us, we don’t give our body parts over to sin for its purposes. Instead, we say, “My hands have been offered to God; and they obey only Him. My feet are God’s; and they only go where He says. My lips are God’s; and they only speak as He wants. My eyes are God’s; and they only look upon what He wants me to see.” Clearly, if God has our bodies in that way, He has our whole self in the bargain!
And do you notice that Paul said that this is our “reasonable service”? The word translated “service” is a word that speaks specifically of works of sacred service, as if in a temple. God doesn’t ask us to offer an animal in the temple any longer. That’s not the “sacred service” He wants from us. He doesn’t want us to offer the dead body of an animal to Him. Instead, He wants us to offer our very own living bodies to Him. That’s the only “sacred service” that is acceptable to Him now.
Considering all that He has done for us in Christ, isn’t it truly a “reasonable” service?
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Now; just think, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what an impact we would have on this world if we lived in it consistently—in our jobs, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, at our school, in our earthly citizenship—as people who have ‘presented our bodies a living sacrifice’ to God? And that’s exactly what Paul urges us to do.
But Paul went on to also urge us put it into action; and . . .
2. TO CONDUCT OURSELVES IN THIS WORLD AS DISTINCT PEOPLE (v. 2).
What Paul says in verse two cannot be separated from what he says in verse one. Both verses are joined together by the word “and”; so that ‘ presenting our bodies a living sacrifice’ to God also means, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Paul used two very different words in the original language. In the first case, he urged us, “Do not be conformed to this world . . .”; and his meaning was that we are to stop allowing ourselves to be brought into outward conformity to the values and priorities of this fallen age. As one very famous translation has it, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould . . .”2
How does the world around us seek to conform us to itself? The apostle John wrote about the sinful values and priorities of this world and said,
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).
This sinful world system puts great pressure on us to ‘love’ the things that are in it. It puts pressure on us to love “the lust of the flesh”—appealing to us to give-in to sinful desires and fleshly passions that God forbids; or rationalizing to us that those things aren’t really as wrong as God’s word says they are. It puts pressure on us to love “the lust of the eyes”—telling us the lie that life consists in the abundance of things on earth; and that if we simply ‘desire’ something, we have some kind of right to possess it. It puts pressure on us to love “the pride of life”—making us think that the more “hip” and “cutting edge” and “worldly” we become, the better of a person we’ll be; and making us want to avoid, at all cost, ever having anyone think of as “old fashioned” or “out of touch” or “not in the mainstream”.
Paul appealed to us not to be “conformed” to this world and the things in it. And he didn’t mean that we should all dress and talk like we just somehow ‘popped’ out of the wrong century. We wouldn’t have much of an impact on this world if we did. Rather, he meant that, as people who have presented their bodies to God as a living sacrifices, we’re to live consistently as God’s people—and not allow our beliefs and our values and our actions to be dictated by this fallen, sinful, ungodly age.
And look at what he appealed to us to do instead of being conformed to this world. He used a completely different word when he said, “. . .but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . .” To be “conformed” to this world means to be externally shaped and formed so as to look like it on the outside. But to be “transformed”, as Paul uses the word here, means to be truly changed in terms of what we really are—both inside and out!
And do you notice how this is to happen? It’s through the renewing of our mind—our thinking! We’re no longer to take our cues from the values and priorities of this world; but rather, are to allow our minds to be renovated and renewed in Christ so that we’re embracing the values and priorities that please the One to whom we’ve been offered as a living sacrifice.
How does this happen? It’s by reading, studying and obeying the Scriptures. As King David wrote in Psalm 1;
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper (Psalm 1:1-3).
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And in closing, dear brothers and sisters; look at why Paul urged us to do this: “. . . that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (v. 2).
When we respond to the mercy of God toward us in Christ in the most reasonable way—that is, by presenting our bodies as living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God; and then by walking consistently in this world as “living sacrifices”; not conforming to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds—then we become a truly distinct people. And as a truly distinct people, set apart in this world unto God, we prove to this world the nature of God’s will; that it is good, and acceptable, and perfect.
May each one of us do so; and may He display the glories of His Son in this world through us as a result!
1The Barna Group, Barna Survey Examines Changes in Worldview Among Christians over the Past 13 Years, http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/21-transformation/252-barna-survey-examines-changes-in-worldview-among-christians-over-the-past-13-years (July 2011).
2J.B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition, (New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1974), p. 332.