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
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
I memorized Romans 12 many years ago. It has to be one of my most favorite chapters in Scripture because it is so very practical. As a new Christian, I can remember thinking it was gold and truly it is.
Looking at the first two verses we see that we are to offer or present to the Lord three things. The first is our bodies, the second is our minds and the last one is our wills. Let's take them one at a time. For this study we will look at presenting our bodies as living sacrifices.
Paul, starts off this chapter with a therefore. This is the fourth therefore we find in the Book of Romans. The first one is found in Romans 3:20 and is the therefore of condemnation which says that by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight. We are all guilty before God because none of us can keep the law. We all need a Savior. The second is the therefore of justification found in Romans 5:1 which says that we can be justified by faith and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The third therefore is found in Romans 8:1 and is the therefore of assurance or of "no condemnation" because we are in Christ Jesus. If we are in Christ, we are free from the law of sin and death. The fourth and final one is found here in Romans 12. It is the therefore of commitment or dedication based on the mercies of God...So because of His mercies to us...because of who we are in Him...because of all that we enjoy....because of what the previous 11 chapters in Romans tell us...because of all that....Paul beseeches or pleads with us to commit ourselves to Him in total devotion.
The first thing he says we are to dedicate to Him is our bodies as living sacrifices which is our reasonable service. Offhand, I remember two living sacrifices in the Bible. The first was Isaac, Abraham's son, and the other was the Lord Jesus. Abraham offered Isaac, his son, in obedience to God's command. Isaac willingly placed himself on the altar in obedience to his earthly father's command as unto the Lord. God stopped Abraham before he killed Isaac and provided for Himself a ram for the sacrifice. Jesus some two thousand years later, probably on the same mountain, willingly obeyed His Heavenly Father's command to die for the sins of humanity. Jesus became the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world. Are you beginning to fathom what is required in service to the Lord. Do you see why being a living sacrifice is our reasonable service. The Son of God willingly died for us to give us eternal life and an inheritance none of us can even fathom. A serious and thoughtful consideration of the mercies of God can only lead us to the same conclusion that Paul reached....that our reasonable service is to die to our own selfish desires and live our lives for Him alone presenting our bodies to Him as instruments of righteousness to be used in accordance with His will.
I understand what is expected, but I surrender so little. The Lord is good. His plan for me comes from His heart of love and yet I rail and fight at times against Him and complain. I hold on to my flesh and my desires with all I have forgetting that I am His bond servant; forgetting that my "reasonable service" is to give myself to Him completely, utterly and sacrificially. I am to live for Him not only when it is convenient but always.
I am thankful that the Lord performs all things for me. I am also thankful the Lord will be faithful to complete that good work that He began in me until the day of Jesus Christ. Paul says this in Romans 7:
"For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."
My inner man so wants to surrender completely to my God, but my flesh rebels. For whatever it is worth, here is what I have found helpful. I begin each day by surrendering my body to Him before I even get out of bed. This helps me refocus on Him because the first person I think of when I awake in the morning is me and how I am feeling. It helps me to remember once again what I am always in need of reminding...that it is not about me but it is about Him.
Love
Mom
Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:13 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 6:19 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.
1Co 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
1Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
2Corinthians 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
2Corinthians 6:9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
Philippians 1:20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
