How to fulfill God’s will
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsPresent your bodies as a living sacrifice to fulfill the will of God for your life
Notes
Transcript
Romans 12:1-2
Romans 12:1-2
Good morning. It is an honor and a pleasure to get to be with you in service this morning. I am thankful that Jonathan asked me to fill in and I look forward to sharing the Word of God this morning. For our main text today we will be in Romans 12:1-2. We will start in Romans 11:29 and read through verse two of Romans 12 if you would like to go ahead and be turning there in your Bibles.
This scripture passage brings up a question that would be important to anyone that is desiring to follow Jesus, and is important in the life of the Christian. I would title todays message How to fulfill the will of God. How to fulfill the will of God. As a subtitle we can add what is the meaning of life. The age old question that has been asked of all people throughout the history of mankind is why are we here? What is our purpose?
In the first 11 chapters of Romans Paul is laying out the grace and mercy of God towards sinners and how our need of God and our need for forgiveness is found in the attributes and mercies of who God is by His very nature. That while He is just and righteous and cannot tolerate sin, His love and His mercy have provided a way for us to stand before Him blameless.
The rest of the book of Romans starting with chapter 12 is Paul telling those who are following Christ how we do so and how we live a life of sanctification.
We are justified, or saved from our sins, by the grace of God alone, but then the rest of the life of a Christian is walking in the process of sanctification, or the process of becoming more and more like the character and person of Jesus Christ.
We will begin our reading with Romans 11:29 and read through Romans 12:2.
And This is the Word of God
29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,
31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.
32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?
35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE REPAID TO HIM?
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing 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 approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.
AMEN
Paul begins verse 1 of chapter 12 with the word “Therefore”. This placement and this word are important to note because Paul has spent the last 11 chapters showing us how we are obligated to devote ourselves to God and he is now saying because of all of this we should now lead holy lives in the way outlined from the beginning of chapter 12 through the rest of the book of Romans. That though Paul has laid out that we are saved by grace alone and that God promises our salvation is one for eternity and cannot be lost that this is not a license to live our lives in any way that we please. Instead this is a drive and a reason that we should live out our lives in holiness.
This is why I started with chapter 11. Paul lists here a grand doxology of who God is and what He has done for us. That all glory is due to God and now THEREFORE, this is how we should respond.
The hymn writer Issac Watts writes in the last verse of the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”
“Love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my life, my all.”
In the hymn by Frances Havergal “Take My Life, and let it be” we sing
“Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord to thee, Take my moments and my days; let them flow in endless praise.”
or as the Psalmist writes in Psalms 116:12
12 What shall I give to Yahweh in return
For all His bountiful dealings with me?
That because of God’s great work and His great love, our all is demanded of Him. Paul writes here that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God which is our spiritual service and our worship to God.
Part of giving our all to God is giving our Soul, Body, Mind and Will over to God and being conformed in all of these areas, or sanctified in all of these areas to the likeness and image of Christ Jesus. God is not satisfied if we just give our soul and withhold our body. He is not satisfied with a mind or just our will. Instead all of these 4 areas play a part in our sanctification and in our sacrifice to God.
Here the sacrificial system of the old testament is done away with. Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, He was the final sacrifice of the Old Testament system, the unblemished Lamb of God who through His obedience to the Father even to the point of death on the cross, took away the sins of all those God calls.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
All of the sacrifices that were done throughout the old testament were a shadow, they were an image of what was to come, they were pointing to the sacrifice of the Messiah, that would be the final sacrifice for all mankind.
Before Christs death the people would have to offer sacrifices of goats and bulls and their grain. Then once a year the high priest would enter in the Holy of Holies in the temple where the very presence of God dwelt. This was such a solemn task that bells were put around the ankles of the priest and a rope tied to their leg because if they went into the presence of God without preparing properly and without following the proper sacrifices, they would be struck dead from bringing sin into the presence of a holy and sovereign God.
Now with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross this was no longer needed. Gods presence did not just dwell in the tabernacle but was now available to all those who believed. When we read the account of the crucifixion we are told that when Christ said “It Is Finished” the veil of the temple that separated the holy of holies from the courts of the temple was torn in half. This wasn’t just a thin veil like we think of curtains today but a several foot thick piece of material that ripped in half. No longer was man separated from God, no longer were dead sacrifices required to point towards the ultimate sacrifice that would satisfy the just wrath of a Holy God. Man now was able to have relationship one on one with God and to stand in His presence Holy through the cross of Christ.
Now we enter into the New Testament sacrificial system. Not a sacrifice that has to be made to atone for our sins, Christ has already done that for us, but to give ourselves, alive, on the alter before God. To present our bodies a living sacrifice. Many think that all it means to be a Christian is to write a check, or to attend church once a week, or to try their best to be a good person, or my momma was a christian, or my granddaddy was a pastor so I’m a christian, but that is not what we are called to do, that is not what makes us a Christian. Faith in Christ alone to save us from our sins brings salvation and we are then to set our lives apart and they are to be consecrated and reserved to glorify God in all that we do alone.
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
All aspects of our lives are to glorify God. It is what is acceptable to Him, it pleases Him, it brings delight to Him, and when we look at all He has done for us it is the only appropriate response we can have.
9 then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Through Christ submitting and fulfilling the will of the Father to provide a way of salvation we can now be sanctified. We can now approach the throne of God ourselves clothed in the holiness and righteousness of Christ.
When Paul writes that he exhorts us by the mercies of God, the greek word for by here is διὰ (dia) which means through, because of, or by. So we can read this as through the mercies of God, because of the mercies of God, or by the mercies of God. It is only through and by Gods mercy that we are even able to present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice and we are called to present them not only living, as our whole life being served to glorify God, but to be holy and pleasing to God which is our spiritual service of worship. The word living here, ζάω (zaō) meant that they were to devote the active powers of their bodies and souls to the service of God. All that they were and all that they had was only there to serve God.
Our sacrifice is to be Holy to God. Earlier in Romans we are told by Paul that
10 as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME WORTHLESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
and the psalmist writes in Psalms 14:1-3
1 The wicked fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They act corruptly, they commit abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good.
2 Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there is anyone who has insight,
Anyone who seeks after God.
3 They have all turned aside, altogether they have become worthless;
There is no one who does good, not even one.
From this we must ask how can we in any way present ourselves as a holy sacrifice before God. It is through the saving grace of Jesus that we are made holy and only in living in His grace can we do this. We must understand that there is nothing we can do, no work, no good deed, no penance, that will make us holy. It is only through the grace of God shown forth in the death of His only son that we are made holy.
It reminds us of the 5 solas of the reformation. The 5 answers to Catholicism that preached a Gospel that required works and penance and the purchase of indulgences to obtain salvation and be saved from time in purgatory. That we are saved by the grace of God alone, and that grace of God gives us Faith and faith alone in the perfected work of Jesus, according to what we read and see in Scripture alone as our only standard by which we stand and all of this. All of life. Is to glorify God alone!
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
We are the workmanship of God. God has prepared us and set us up as His. There is nothing we can do to make this happen on our own. It is a free gift. We are made Holy and pleasing to God through our living sacrifice only by the gift of Jesus Christ.
All of this is the least we can do. It is our spiritual service it is our worship to God. All of our life is worhsip to God. He created us, He saved us, and He sustains us for worship.
Some translations say it is our reasonable service. We must realize the difference in language here from english and greek. In our thought reasonable would mean it is our rational service or it is our proper service but the greek word here shows that it relates to the mind, it is something mental and pertaining to reason. It stands opposed to the external service that the Jews believed was required for salvation. It stands opposed to the false gospel of works that says I must do these good deeds to make it to heaven. It tells us that the proper worship of God is giving our soul and body to God. A proper worship of God is not forced or constrained but it is something we voluntarily do and something we do with great joy realizing the great debt that we could never repay for what God has done for us. God’s character leads us to this because Gods character is that of mercy, of patience with us and our failures, God has every claim to our affection and our hearts.
Paul continues our instruction in verse 2
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.
This brings us back to the whole body being a living sacrifice. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. What your mind is filled with, what your mind thinks affects your body and your soul. This is why it is so important to guard what we feed our minds with. The old saying Garbage in and garbage out is really Biblical. If we are filling our mind with the things of this world then the world is going to be seen in our actions and in our lives. If we are filling our minds with the things of God then God will be seen in our lives and in our actions. We are called to be transformed by renewing our mind and not conformed to this world.
The renewed mind here contrasts with the depraved mind that we are all born with.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper,
23 but I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members.
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
The beautiful thing of the work God does when He saves us is that He renews our mind, He transforms our lives, He changes the way we think and the way we act that we are no longer seeking after our own will but after His will alone.
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
24 and to put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
God takes away our sinful will and allows us to have a will that is sanctified to be more like Christ. We renew our mind by seeking the will of God, we renew our mind by spending time reading the Words of God that we are so blessed and privileged to hold in our hands. If we are not studying the Word of God, if we are not learning who God is then how can we expect to become more like Him?
This non-conformity to the world and this renewed mind has taken a very legalistic tone in many churches over the years. If the world wears red lipstick then surely the Christians shouldn’t. If the world goes to the movies then the Christian should stay away. This has nothing to do with what Paul writes here. Instead not conforming to the world means that we refuse to conform to the sinful patterns of the world, we refuse to conform to being disobedient to scripture and to God. We don’t allow our minds to be set on things of sin but instead God sets our minds on the things of Him! What are the things of God our minds should be set on?
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is dignified, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, consider these things.
These are what our minds should be set on. These are the things a renewed mind seeks. All of this so that we can fulfill and approve the will of God. Changing and dying to our own will and seeking the will of God can be the hardest thing to do but it is the only way you will find true peace and true joy in life.
God’s will and God’s plan is always better than anything we can come up with on our own. The renewed mind and the transformed life learns to pray like Jesus did, Not my will but yours be done. Even when it came time to die on the cross, to be beaten and tortured, Christ set the exampled in the Garden in prayer praying “Father if it be your will, let this cup pass, but not my will but yours be done.”
Our will personally may not always be what God has for our lives. If we know who God is though we can rest knowing that His ways are always perfect. His ways are always better. That even when it hurts His ways are for our good and for His glory. That no matter what struggle you are going through in life we rest in the peace that God is good and His mercy endures forever.
To live the Christian life is a strong desire generated by the will, based upon what we know of the Word of God, which informs what the body does, all in gratitude for the mercies of God granted graciously to us in Christ. This is Sanctification. This is how we know and fulfill the will of God. This is how we please God. This is how we lay our bodies down as a living sacrifice on the alter before our maker.
It is through this process we find that peace that passes all understanding. The peace that the world cannot understand. The peace we have that no matter what we are going through we can say like Paul we have learned to be content. The peace that says as Job did that though He slay me, yet, I will trust in Him.
It is through this that we realize that though we could never be holy and pleasing to God on our own merit or our own works that Jesus has already paid the price for our failures and our sins. Jesus has clothed us in His righteousness so when God the Father looks at us He does not see our past failures, our present failures, or our future failures, He sees the righteousness and holiness of His only Son. That we realize when Christ died on the cross His sacrifice covered every sin we have ever committed, any sin we are currently committing, and every sin we will ever commit if we are held in His safety. That He is the good shepherd that lays down His life for the sheep and that no one or no thing can remove us from His care.
Augustine wrote that, “Grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.”
God’s grace is unmerited, none of us are worthy, yet, He calls us to Himself, He adopts us as His own, and He calls us to rest in His grace and His mercy knowing that His will is always best.
Father, I pray that as we go from this place today that we will leave with the knowledge that you are good and that we find rest and peace in you. That you have called us to live our lives to glorify you and you alone and that while we could never accomplish this on our own You have provided the way through Your son for us to stand holy and blameless in your glorious presence. I pray that as we walk through this week and even through our lives going forward that we would present ourselves to you a living sacrifice, that we would do all to glorify you and to bring glory to your name. We thank you for your grace and your mercy in the most precious name of Jesus. Amen