Romans 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; 13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Now we leave argument and go to a plea for the church to live
Godly. Paul calls us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. This
brings to mind a contrast between the Law and Grace. The Law called for dead
sacrifices while Grace calls for a living sacrifice. The Law represented death
while Grace represents life. By the mercies of God, because of the
mercies of God we should do this. A holy, separated unto God, living sacrifice
is what is acceptable to God. Now, I don’t agree with the famous revival
preacher Charles G. Finney that if you don’t exercise, sleep enough, and eat
right, that if you consume anything but water and like tea and coffee then you
probably aren’t saved. You can read his sermons online for free. I believe this
calls for an attitude of offering up your body to God in service. In fact, it
says that offering your body as a living sacrifice is your reasonable
service.
Reasonable comes from Logikos from which we get
logical. It is perfectly reasonable and logical to serve God with our bodies as
a living sacrifice as He has purchased us with His own blood.
Acts 20:28 Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
with his own blood.
Service comes from a word related to priestly service and after all…
Revelation 1:6 And hath
made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen.
What could be more fitting than offering yourself to God as a
living sacrifice seeing that He has given you eternal life.
What defines that follows in verse 2. This opens up these passages
to Christians of any era. Not being conformed to this world, to the spirit of
this world, the spirit of this age, is essential in presenting yourself as a
living sacrifice.
Universal things are like what Satan presented to Eve and what
John refers to.
Genesis
3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he
did eat.
1John
2:15 Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. 16 For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world. 17 And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever.
As
Jesus warned the religious of His day of walking on earth as a human being;
Luke
16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they
which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that
which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
These were the three temptations presented to Christ.
Luke 4:1 ¶ And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost
returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in
those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
3 And the devil said unto him, If thou
be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is
written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
5 And the devil, taking him up into an
high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All
this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto
me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get
thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve. 9 And he
brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said
unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And
in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering
said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation,
he departed from him for a season.
Satan wishes to have Jesus take the Crown before the Cross and
subvert His mission as Saviour of the world. He uses His human hunger to begin
demanding that He turn stones to bread but Jesus answers with Scripture.
Deuteronomy
8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did
thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread
only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Then, Satan tempts Him with power and the glory of the kingdoms of
the world. God has given those over to Satan and the lowest of men rule over
nations through him as the god of this world system (2Corinthians 4:4). He
demands worship.
Daniel
4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of
the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men, and
giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
One day Jesus will seize these kingdoms.
Revelation
11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and
there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdoms of our
Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Christ replies with Biblical truth.
Deuteronomy
6:13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God,
and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
Deuteronomy
10:20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God;
him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
Satan then tries to tempt Him with presuming on God, to his sense
of self-preservation and tries to create a sense of needing to prove at this
time His relationship with God the Father. He quotes:
Psalm
91:11 For he shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone.
Jesus replies by alluding to this Scripture.
Deuteronomy
6:16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your
God, as ye tempted him in
Massah.
In these things, Satan tempted Christ with the lust of the flesh
regarding hunger [see Deuteronomy 12:15 for lust and hunger], the lust of the
eyes regarding power and glory of man’s kingdom, and the pride of life with the
temptation to display His supernatural power.
I would suggest that Jesus teaches us to resist these things the
world requires we want with Scripture.
We should not be conformed to the ideas of this world, or this age
of man. What mankind holds in high regard, as Jesus said in Luke 16:15, God
views as an abomination. Remember that the next time you watch the Super Bowl,
the Oscars, or a news story about Wall Street or a new yacht some billionaire
has purchased. For that matter, think of this when you want a new house, a new
car, or the latest tech gadget. Even more so think of it when you are envious,
self-righteous, angry at what you perceive as a lack of respect or feeling that
your manhood, authority, or your honor is being challenged.
Being transformed by renewing our minds is very interesting.
Remember how the Bible links our mind and our spirit?
For contexts where the Spirit of God or the spirit of man can be
synonymous with mind please see the following;
Romans
8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind
of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
1Corinthians
2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may
instruct him? But we have the mind of
Christ.
Ephesians
4:23 And be renewed in the spirit
of your mind;
Philippians
1:27 Only let your conversation be as it
becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be
absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the
faith of the gospel;
2Timothy
1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit
of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
How better to renew our minds, our spirits, but with the written
word of God in our ears and coming from our lips every day? And with prayer, talking
to God, accepting His will and even being delighted in it.
There is a good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God and that
is what we should be pursuing, not His permissive will permitting us to have
our way to our shame and bad consequence. But, we should be following after
what God wants for our lives.
Next Paul starts talking about behavior in the church and the
particular type of social interaction God requires.
For verse 3, we believe and are given faith.
Galatians 3:22 But the scripture
hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe.
But we are not all given the same amount or kind of faith. The
faith that we are given by God requires a certain specific purpose for each of
us and we should not look down our noses at the expression of someone else’s
faith, what their calling is for Christ. We are all members in one body but do
not have the same office or gifts as another. See Paul’s argument in
1Corinthians 12 going through 13 and into 14.
Whatever gifts and ministries we have we are to do them diligently
and with joy in our heart.
The context of the further admonitions and rules in this chapter are the
church. We have similar such rules throughout Paul’s letters to the Christian
churches. These admonitions are the constitution for Christians in any age.
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