Romans 12:1-2
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Living Sacrifices
Living Sacrifices
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2 is a sift in the book of Romans that mimics what happens in our very lives. The beginning of Romans deals with what God has done for people who were in such debt that they could never pay.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
This is the message of Romans 1-11. The sinfulness of man versus the gift of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The sacrifice of Sinless One for the sinful, the the Holy One for the unworthy. Everyone stood sinful yet God set Jesus Christ as the perfect sacrifice while we were lost.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Here is our text Paul deals with how will you response to what God has done? How should you respond to the work of Christ? What does life look like now because of what Christ has done for us?
The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Christian Theology Is Shaped by the Cross
“Christian worship is shaped by the cross—and so must Christian theology be, unless the theologian is to find himself alienated from the worship of the church. The heart and mind of the church cannot be allowed to go their separate ways, but must be forged together in a cruciform unity.”
The lives we now live, because of the Cross of Jesus Christ, are a response to what God has done and is doing in us.
In a children’s church service, a seminary student spoke on the Christian’s walk. He presented his message in the first person, or more accurately expressed—“the first butterfly.” His dramatic monologue incorporated the following guise: two large antennas with sensors attached to the ends, halved eggshells for his nose and eyes, a bright orange suit, and beautifully knitted wings. He proceeded to tell his story as a butterfly who was describing his former state and lifestyle as a caterpillar. Obviously, he could no longer live as a caterpillar, since his state had been drastically changed.
The message was pointedly driven home. Just as he could no longer live as a caterpillar once he had become a butterfly, so we can no longer live as unbelievers once we have become believers.
Living as a Sacrifice the only True Worship Response.
Living as a Sacrifice the only True Worship Response.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Paul is pointing to the only proper response to all the mercy and grace that God has shown, and that is be living sacrifices. This is true worship. There is a correspondence between what God has done in the lives of His followers and the response that now happens because of God’s work.
They are now living sacrifices. A Sacrifice simply is an offering of something to God. Believer’s offer everything to God. Their whole being is offered to God is response to the work that God has done in their lives.
He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.
Worship is the response to the things that God has done.
A.W. Tozer said it like this, “Sometimes I go to God and say, "God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth, I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already. God’s already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn’t pay Him for what He’s done for me.”
If you can’t think of a reason to worship God, think of the cross. The place that we all deserved because of our sins, yet God sent Jesus Christ so we could be set free. We are so far in debt.
We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, for your name is near.
We recount your wondrous deeds.
We now live in response to the Mercy of God in Our lives
We now live in response to the Mercy of God in Our lives
Our lives show our worship. Living as a sacrifice means you live for God’s purpose and God’s Glory. A sacrifice is an offering of something to God. We offer as believers who have experienced this great work of going from death to life, from sinner to saint, for blind but now have eyes opened, respond by giving everything to God (Our job, Marriages, Children, futures, relationships.)
Renewing the Mind Keeps us from Conforming to the Patterns of this World.
Renewing the Mind Keeps us from Conforming to the Patterns of this World.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Paul writes here saying “don’t conform to this world, but rather renew your minds.” He shows a contrast of two lives lived. One conforms to this world, follows this worlds patterns, has this worlds values, and pursues the things of this world. While the second life responds by not conforming to the world, but by renewing their minds and being transformed.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
The former life, before coming following Christ and acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior, was lived in ignorance to the mercies of God, and now because they have been redeemed they pursue holiness.
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
There is a change in our lives.
Soon after a family moved into their new house, it began to show the effects of their slipshod lifestyle. The yard was littered with trash. The lawn withered for lack of care, and, even when replanted, died out again. To enter this house was to enter a shambles. It never was clean or in order.
Another family eventually bought the house and moved in. They painted the house, cleaned up the yard, and replanted the lawn. The results were completely different. What had happened? There was a dramatic improvement in the appearance of the house because there was a change in those who lived in that house.
In the same way, it is impossible that there not be a change in a person’s life once he or she becomes a Christian—because there is a perfect new resident within: the Holy Spirit.
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
We are Transformed by the Renewing of Our Minds
We are Transformed by the Renewing of Our Minds
We not only give God songs, but we give Him our lives, and our minds.
God is making us more and more like Jesus as our minds are being renewed. We are transformed, “1. “to change the essential form or nature of something.”[1]μεταμορφόομαι in Ro 12:2 may be ‘become completely different’ or ‘become different from what you are.’
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
By Renewing our Minds we can know God’s will
By Renewing our Minds we can know God’s will
What is God’s will? 2 Peter 3:9 “ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
There is obligation that Paul shows here, and that is that those who follow Christ must renew their minds. It isn’t an option it is a requirement. It is a response to the work of God in their life. Paul also show that by renewing their minds, believers can know god’s will for their lives. Should I do this? Believers can know what God’s good and perfect will is.
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Believers are called to walk as children of the light and to discern God will. We fumble around in the darkness, tripping up and falling constantly. We walk in the light, we can clearly see.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;
God’s desire for us is to be sanctified: Consecrate, or dedicated to God.
God is Making Us New
God is Making Us New
We have an obligation to renew our minds. To Renew means, “To cause something to become new a different, with the implication of becoming superior.” When we come to Jesus we surrender our lives, our minds, and our will, for His will. God makes us new. God gives His Spirit to us, and He produces the fruit in our lives.
Conclusion
John MacArthur quote, “Jesus is Lord (1 Cor 12:3), that is the single, central, foundational and distinguishing article of Christianity. It is also the first essential confession of faith every true Christian must make: ‘If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.’ (Rom 10:9). The belief that someone could be a true Christian while that person’s whole lifestyle, value system, speech, and attitude are marked by a stubborn refusal to surrender to Christ as Lord is a notion that shouldn’t even need to be refuted.”
We surrender our wills to God through disciplined prayer. As we spend time in prayer, we surrender our will to God and pray, with the Lord, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” We must pray about everything, and let God have His way in everything.
Imagine a field covered with freshly fallen snow. Off to the one side you notice two figures entering the field. The first is larger than the second—perhaps they are a father and his son. As they walk across the field, you notice that the father pays no particular attention to where he is going, but his son, on the other hand, follows directly behind, making a special effort to step in his father’s footprints. After the two figures pass off the scene, you notice that there is only one set of tracks visible in the field, although two people had walked across it. The Christian life is that way. In our daily walk we ought to be following Christ’s example, particularly in times when we are suffering. If someone were to observe the snow-covered fields of your life, would there be one set of tracks, those of Christ? Or would he see two sets, one belonging to Christ and the other distinctly yours?