by Mark Rater
Because of God’s saving mercy, we should offer our whole selves, body and mind, in worship and conformity to God.
In today’s text we are exhorted to offer our whole selves to God (body and mind) in response to who He is and all He has done. Let's take a look at the text.
Romans 12:1-2 (NASB)
1 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. 2 And 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 and acceptable and perfect.
In verse one, we see that we present our bodies to God:
By the mercies of God (the how and why) (v1)
As a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice (v1)
As our logical act of worship (v1)
In other words, Paul is encouraging, exhorting, begging, pleading with you, brothers and sisters in Christ, because God has shown such grace and mercy to such vile sinners, (Rom 1-3), because God offer sinners salvation, sanctification, the Holy Spirit, eternal security in salvation, salvation to Gentiles through Jewish rejection, salvation and restoration through Jewish jealousy and an eternal plan (Romans 3-11), since from Him and through him and to him are all things (11:36), to present yourself as a living sacrifice, fully devoted to the service of God, to live for Him, holy and acceptable, set apart and pleasing to God, not like the world and not to displease God. This is the conscious, intelligent, true, real, appropriate and logical way to worship God.
Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice involves our thinking. We present our bodies as a living sacrifice by:
Not being confirmed to the world (v2)
Being transformed by the renewal of our minds (v2)
The world/culture has it’s principles that it wants us to conform to, to obey, to resemble. These do not always line up with God’s principles. So to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, we must not primarily be conformed to the world. The way that we prevent being conformed to the world and to be filled with conformity to it’s principles bombarding us each day is to undergo constant renovation and renewal of our minds to discern, choose, and distinguish what is the purpose, design, plan, and principles of God, what is profitable, upright, righteous, well pleasing, and up to the standard of our Holy God who gave His Son, who gave His life as a ransom for ours. Who gave His life bearing our sin and rose again for our justification. Giving His righteousness to all who place their trust in Him for salvation.
The renewal of our minds comes from God. . Proverbs 2:6 says “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;” (and He speaks to us through the scriptures). 2 Tim 3:16 says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
We get into the Word and fill our mind with God and God’s principles. God’s will. We get into prayer to align our will with the will of God (see Psalm 19). In this way we renew our mind, not being conformed to the world but rightly discerning the will of God which allows us to act accordingly, as redeemed sons and daughters who no longer present our bodies as instruments of sin (Romans 6), but now present ourselves to God as a living, holy, acceptable sacrifice!
For further study and consideration throughout the week:
How do people properly worship God? (12:1)
What is the most reasonable response to God’s great mercy? (12:1-2)
How is the Christian to be different from unbelieving people? (12:2)
How should the mind of a Christian be changed? (12:2)
What must happen in order for a person to discern and agree with the will of God? (12:2)
To what worldly life-styles or values do we typically conform?
What are the patterns of the world that tempt us to conform?
How can a Christian renew his or her mind?
What is one step you can take this week toward eliminating habits that merely conform to the world’s pattern?
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