by David Brenneman
"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. 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. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." Romans 12:1-3.
"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord." Romans 12:9-19.
Someone once taught that when you see a "therefore" in your Bible reading, back up and see what that therefore is there for.
Paul is talking about the daily life we are to be living in Christ Jesus.
Contrary to popular belief you do not take a time-out from your life in Christ.
You do not put it on pause.
You do not set it aside to do what you consider more 'fun' things.
After His resurrection Jesus instructed His Disciples to go and make more disciples teaching them all that He commanded them.
Rewind to the beginning of all four Gospel accounts to see what that entails. Do you see happening in any account that is taught as acceptable in much of the professing Church today?
We came to Christ to be saved, were indeed saved, forgiven, washed clean, made new in Christ Jesus. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them.
Doesn't say that we're fitting in the Christian life into our own whenever it suits us.
Doesn't say that we're making room for 'improvements' that are like accessories on a car dashboard to be used when situations warrant it.
"present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship" A sacrifice was to be holy, without spot or blemish. No defects allowed. That's what you go back to the Old Testament to find out before that "Therefore".
"and do not be conformed to this world" All the world teaches everyone to do and be is whatever feels right and that's in conflict with the Word of God.
Notice quite clearly that the implication is 24/7 365 days a year.
Not thinking more highly of himself than he ought to think...don't get puffed up, proud, so self-confident, that you aren't dwelling on your life in Christ...that you set it aside for wanton pleasures.
To be a disciple of Christ is to devote your energy, and your time, towards learning all that can be learned of a life in Christ, pretty much just as we read that the Disciples did.
It obviously means sacrifices in not doing what the world does. Finding the peace of God that passes all understanding that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
What the world tries to offer everyone is the synthetic peace that never truly lasts or fits our lives.
A really bad fakery of satisfaction. It is a blanket that never fits, never covers us completely and never really does what we think it ought to.
Paul talks about how to train our minds to be thinking. We have a Godly purpose under Heaven to be fulfilled until we are called to leave this world or the Rapture of the Church, whichever comes first.
We have at the end of our everything a face-to-face encounter with Jesus coming that is for everyone. For Believers we will find out whether or not our lives were lived in such a way that Christ was glorified or we were.
What does some of this look like?
"Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality."
What is evil?
"For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." 2 Timothy 3:2-5.
What do you see in the list that you might be doing or flirting with doing?
"Do not be wise in your own estimation." We do ourselves much harm in saying we got this...that we are good and don't need to be doing life ENTIRELY like the Bible really says to be like.
We also get ourselves in much trouble by getting ahead of God. When we think we know when, how, and where to mete out what we decide is justice towards others. Sadly many professing Christians try doing this in the name of Jesus Christ...more often than not without ever asking God before acting.
In the book of 1 Samuel right away the newly King Saul messed up and it cost him the kingship he was just given because he was more concerned about what man thought than obeying the Word of God.
We can cost ourselves a lot in life by doing that same thing.
The world wants to goad us by chiding us, mocking us, about all that we've missed out on.
We live in a world of immense poverty yet globally spend trillions on entertainment and sports. Disasters strike and nobody has money to cover it or to help with it.
Governments are living out of a deficit yet aren't doing nearly enough to care for people.
When the 7 year Great Tribulation is ended Jesus will physically rule from Earth. There will be no deficit spending. There will be a whole lot of what this world has accepted as normal happening for that thousand year that He leads the world.
What you read here in Romans will probably be the basis of life for that time frame. The Word of God will be followed and will be what a daily life looks like.
What have you compromised in your life that isn't ever going to glorify God?
What are you wasting that has no place in the Christian life?
What are you driven to do that God will never see good spiritual fruit from?
What are you not doing that the Spirit has been telling you to be doing?
Consider this...
"What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:1-8.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." Ephesians 6:10-11.
One of the greatest temptations is to think we're ok and to take off this piece or that piece of the armor of God. I have been praying of late that Jesus would put the helmet of salvation back on my head if I take it off. To put back the breastplate of righteousness if I remove it.
Our lives, much more than our words, tell the world who's Disciples we are.
Therefore what manner of Christian ought we to be?
In Conclusion what manner of Christian ought you to be?
All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.
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