A COMPLETE SPIRITUAL CHECK UP

Introduction

Everyone here this morning has at one point or another had to go to the doctor’s office and get an annual physical checkup. Sometimes one may receive more than one during a year. An annual physical or in general any physical exam is considered preventative medicine or maintenance. They are done to hopefully catch any irregularities before they become a big issue or bigger issue. in the case of an issue being found, a doctor will counsel and consult on the proper treatment to cure/heal/fix the problem diagnosed.

This morning, our text is a familiar text. Some pastors and theologians would say label this passage in Romans a key passage to the Christian’s life as a whole. They would look at these verses as the crux of the Christian life. Paul here in this passage does not use medical terms but he does express the concern and care that a doctor may share with a patient over treatment that is needed for the process of getting rid of the physical problem. Paul is doing this same thing only in relationship to a person’s spiritual life received through Christ.

So this morning I have entitled this sermon “A Complete Spiritual Checkup.” As we dive into God’s word this morning I pray and desire that you truly let the Word of God and the Spirit of God evaluate and assess your spiritual health and relationship with Christ!

This text is foundational to our lives as Christians. Often when we hear the term foundation we think of a building. In this case we are speaking of not the imagery of building something but rather dealing with the “abc’s” of the Christian life. A building foundation is poured and then really not thought of much over time. IT is taken for granted. The truths in these verses are not to be forgotten but rather meditated on and lived out in daily!

Christ did much more than giving of his time and energy. He gave his life! He sacrificed his life on the cross for you and me, for the world so that we may not have a better life but a great and eternal life in heaven. He sacrificed for each of us so we would not have to have a terrible life of eternity in hell because of our sin. We need to do more than placing flowers on a grave. Paul urges us to be a living sacrificed transformed by the renewing of our mind!

Textual Theme: Paul urges the Roman believers to live totally committed to Christ through transforming their mind which brings about the ability to obey God’s will.

Big Idea: Daily obeying God’s will requires a total commitment to Christ and living a transformed life.

I. The Christian response to God’s mercy reveals in daily sacrificing your life to God, v1.

a. Explanation

The word “therefore” carries significant weight to what Paul goes on to say here in our text this morning. The exhortation of these two verses combined with 12:3-15:13 is firmly built on the theology that is taught in the first eleven verses. The word adds emphasis giving meaning and reason for why the Christian is to present themselves as a living sacrifice.

“I urge” – Paul is urging the Christian to live a certain way based on the “mercies of God.” This word has a range of applicable meaning here. In the idea of urging also is the idea of exhortation done with authority. The importance for us to see here is that the authority is not coming from a simple leader but from God himself. Paul spoke with the authority of God behind him but did so in a humble manner. The word “urge” comes from a Greek word, parakaleo, which comes from two different Greek words. One of the words means “to call” and the other means “along side of”. The imagery here is that Paul is coming alongside the believers and encouraging and exhorting them to do what he was already doing. This was a passionate plea from Paul appealing to them to spend the rest of their lives thanking God for his awesome mercy, his payment for our salvation. He had made it possible for us to have a relationship with Him.

This plea emphasizes the importance of the message of these verses to our relationship with God. As one of your pastors I speak on behalf of all of us that we echo Paul’s plea! We all including us pastors need to daily evaluate and heed the truth of these two verses!

iii. “brethren” – Paul is specifically speaking to the believers.

iv. “by the mercies of God” – this prepositional phrase lays out the basis for the exhortation for the Christian to be a living sacrifice. It refers back to what Paul has just finished talking about in chapters 1-11. In the previous 11 chapters of Romans, Paul has taught and explained the doctrine and basis of the Christian life. Romans 1-3 Paul explains to us how man has ruined their lives in sin. We see beginning in chapter 1 the terrible status of sinful man. Man in these chapters express their worship in a “false and foolish” manner. Life is about themselves. Paul truly gives to us the heinousness of man without God. He describes for us mankind’s baseness and depravity, we morally and ethically fall short of God’s glory. Mankind does not measure up to God’s righteous and holy standard. Paul thankfully does not leave it in this negative position but follows in chapters 4-11 revealing what the remedy is for man’s sinful and depraved state. [A1] The fix being the good news of the gospel! Paul discusses in Romans 6:13 and Romans 6:19 the truth of presenting ourselves as those who are no longer dead but alive! In Romans 7 Paul shares the struggle that the believer has with their sin though redeemed followed by the encouragement of Romans 8 displaying for us the love of Christ and the inseparable nature of his love for each Christian. We are no longer condemned but have been made alive and justified. We are more than conquerors through Christ who died for us. In Romans 9-11 we see Paul reach back in to the annuls of Israelite history and share the offer of salvation given then taken away and given to the Gentiles.Paul is simply stating the basis for the reason of living a sacrificial life—the mercy of God in the Christian’s life.

Romans 6:13 (NASB95)

13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Romans 6:19 (NASB95)

19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

Romans 11:36 (NASB95)

36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Christian we get to experience God’s mercy every day. His mercy claims us in totality and makes it the only reasonable/logical thing to do be serving God by daily placing our life on the alter as a living sacrifice! It is God who is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:5 “5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”)

God’s mercy seen in salvation and sanctification elevates these two verses to the same level as John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

As you think of God’s mercy this morning and him reaching down with an offer of salvation to you, an offer he did not have to make—what is your response?!

Maybe this morning even through this summary of the text in Romans you are sitting here and asking if I have truly acknowledged the sacrifice Christ demonstrated for you on the cross (Romans 5:8 “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”). If you have repented of your sin and called on Christ to save you from your sin then Romans 12:1-2 needs to be the central nervous system to your thoughts, actions, and words. It needs to be the catalyst by which you live your life.

James Montegomery Boice said this about these two verses:

Romans, Volume 4: The New Humanity (Romans 12–16): An Expositional Commentary Outline of Chapters 12–16

Just as God is the basis of reality so that everything flows from him and takes its form from him (“For from him and through him and to him are all things,” Rom. 11:36), so also our relationship to God is the basis of all other relationships and our duty to him the basis of all other duties. Because this is so, Paul sets out the principles that should govern our relationship to God in verses 1 and 2. He reminds us that we are not our own and that we should therefore present ourselves to God as willing and living sacrifices.

v. “present” – Paul now shifts to using language used throughout the NT. He begins to use sacrificial language. When Christ died on the cross he fulfilled the law and animal sacrifices were done away with as a means of getting right before God. The whole sacrificial system was no longer needed. Paul uses this language because it would resonate strongly with the recipients of this letter. He starts by using the simple word “present.” This word is interesting. How do we present our bodies? Do we wrap ourselves up in pretty wrapping paper and a giant bow? Is it like in a classroom or bus trip when role is taken and when your name is called you say “present?” Is it a formal presentation?

1. “Present” or “Paristemi”[A2] – comes from two words, para, meaning “near,” and histemi meaning “to stand near or before.” (Complete Word Study Dictionary)

2. “Present”– “to bring into one’s presence,” “to stand by,” “to be present” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)

- This presentation is a daily action. It is not a decision we make as a “once-for-all” act. It is carries the meaning that the Christian must be daily putting himself in the presence of God and sacrificing himself. The opposite of this is “aphistemi” which means “to desert.” The Christian is not to desert God or forsake him. At any point that this happens it is rooted in selfishness and pride.

One author put it this way, “In a way, we should wrap up ourselves as a present to God when he calls our name, we can immediately say, “Here! Right by your side! Present!”

- This presenting is a willingness to get as close to God as you possibly can. We are not just to present our spiritual lives but our physical lives also.

In 1 Samuel when the narrative of David being chosen by God to be the next king of Israel the Bible makes the statement that Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. As Christians we often look at this passage and say the heart is what matters to God but the body does not matter. We ought to sacrifice our dreams and thoughts, our affections and desires.

Paul here uses the term “body” to describe what we are to present as a living sacrifice. Turn over to Romans 6: 12-14

Romans 6:12–14 (NASB95)

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

God is telling us here in Romans 6 that because of God’s mercies sin no longer has reign over “just our heart”? No over our mortal body. God tells us to not go on using our members (different aspects of our body) to be used as instruments of unrighteousness. We are to here present our members as instruments of righteousness because sin no longer reigns.

Paul under God’s inspiration is urging us to make the whole of ourselves both outward and inward, body and heart as a sacrifice to God. This speaks of daily dedication with my whole being in service to God.

Let’s dive in a little closer to see what Paul means as to being a living sacrifice.

“Living Sacrifice” –

Being a living sacrifice requires as Moo states “requires a dedication to God in the harsh and ambiguous life in this world.” The world we live in today does not make living totally dedicated in all of our heart and body to serving God easy. We are thrown distractions all the time. We are actually going to look at that in a few moments as we reach Romans 12:2.

This word sacrifice is used by Paul and it is anchored in the OT imagery. It is imagery that is hard for us to grasp sometimes.

Romans, Volume 4: The New Humanity (Romans 12–16): An Expositional Commentary (“Therefore”)

Leon Morris says, “It is fundamental to [Paul] that the justified man does not live in the same way as the unrepentant sinner.”8

Sacrifice is the willingness to give up something that is very valuable to you, something that you love and cherish very deeply.

2. Leviticus 1 [A3] – Have people turn here and quickly go through the first 9 verses giving the application from Rand Hummel’s book Gratefully Yours.

3. Christ sacrificed for us and when we genuinely meditate on what he did for us we should be overwhelmed spiritually with how unworthy we are of salvation.

4. God does not just demand our possessions, our desires, or our needs. He demands US!!! He wants YOU and 100% of you! The world we are in is hard and cynical. It is becoming more postmodern and pragmatic. It is in this world that God wants our complete dedication and sacrifice on a daily basis.

5. The sacrificial system during the OT was a way for the OT saints to express their religious convictions in serving the Lord. Paul uses this imagery to show that in order for those sacrifices to be legitimate the individual had to bring the best they had. Today in the NT age, the age of grace, God wants your entire best all of the time.

Let’s pause here and again think through this OT imagery. It is sacrificial imagery. OT sacrifices involved three primary things when it came to atonement for sin. It involved a priest, a place, and a presented sacrifice. How does the Bible describe the Christian?

Turn in your bibles to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NASB95)

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

What do these verses describe the Christian as? They call the believer a temple. Now turn over to 1 Peter 2:5

1 Peter 2:5 (NASB95)

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

In this verse we are called a holy priesthood. Now turn back to Romans 12:1

Romans 12:1 (NASB95)

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.

We are told to present our bodies a living SACRIFICE! The key difference is that we are alive because of Christ. We are alive in Christ. The sacrifice, the death that takes place is the death of our will for the fulfillment of God’s will as the connection will be more clear throughout this morning.

Sacrificing and dedicating our lives to God is how we are to daily worship God! We day to day die to our pride and selfishness and live a holy life that is acceptable to God because it is the only logical choice because of God’s mercies in our life.

“reasonable service” – it comes from the word (logikeen). It means rational. It is the only rational idea based on the mercies of God to present yourself a living sacrifice. The simple meaning here is that it is our logical and true worship when we are presenting ourselves a living sacrifice to God. Within this it is that our worship is both spiritual and reasonable because it is the only action that makes sense for the Christian’s response to what God has done for them.

Refutation/Application –

How do we be a living sacrifice? We have seen the why? Now how does one be a living sacrifice?

i. As we look at society today the philosophy of self- indulgement permeates almost everything. Here are some examples from company slogans. Read from Illustration sheet.

L’Oreal - Because You Are Worth it

McDonald’s - I’m Lovin It

Gillette - The Best a Man Can Get

Adidas - Impossible is Nothing

Mastercard - There are some things money can’t buy, for everything else there is Mastercard

Red Bull - Red Bull Gives you WIngs

We live in a world of entitlement. We also have been impacted with its entitlement. It has dissplaced our priorities. The believer’s commitment to the local church has waned greatly as a whole in the last 15 years. We allow all manner of events and life circumstances to take priority over serving God in total dedication and dying to self daily. We have allowed our lives to begin to let family, school, work, recreational time, and you fill in the blank to take priority over God.

Christian, what are you worshipping this morning? God in his mercy has saved you. He has justified you. He has adopted you. He has conquered the power and reign of sin. He has given you an inheritance. He as redeemed you. He has sealed you. He has sent the Comforter to enable us to live faithfully and holy before God. Christ’s death satisfied God wrath so that we would not be the recipients of that wrath because of our sin. He has given us new life.

So why do you worship your hobbies? Why do you worship your goals and dreams? Why do you worship your standing before other people? Why do you worship your appearance? Why do you worship your outward appearance among Christians but in reality you are about form and not the substance of what you are claiming to live? Why do you worship your sleep over dedicating the morning to havng a God and I time? Why do you worship ___________ over total dedication to God as a living sacrifice? It is the only logical decision the Christian can and must make.

iv. We give excuses why we cannot give that up or do something that is not a part of our 5 year plan. We have so monopolized our time and talents that there is very little to none left over for God to use. Many Christians have fallen prey to the thought of consumerism and what can the church or what can God do for me rather than what does God want me to do for him.

v. Parents are afraid for their children to commit 100% of their life because that might mean they could never see them again. We can come up with excuse after excuse but in the end each of us here this morning knows that they hold no merit with God! He gave his life! He came to earth as a man veiling his glory from man so that we might live.

vi. What excuses are you giving God this morning? Are you a living sacrifice? What area of your life needs to be sacrificed? How much of your life needs to be sacrificed?

vii. Are you willing to be a Christian who is side by side with Christ and daily asking Him what to sacrifice and what he wants you to do? Do you ask this question of everything you do? When we ask this and commit 100% to Christ, God’s blessings will come and your relationship with God will grow. It is our logical worship!!

You ask how does this dedication and desire for it live and grow in my life? It happens through living out Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 (NASB95)

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.

II. The Christian’s presentation requires a transformation of life, v2.

Explanation–

process of accomplishing a sacrificed life. God’s will is that you not conform to the world but are renewing your mind in order that you can be transformed, made different to each day reflect Christ more and more.

i. Paul continues right into verse 2 and explaining what needs to take place for a sacrificial life. He begins with a negative and positive comparison.

ii. He tells the readers to “not be conformed to the world” “but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.”

1. Paul and Peter both use the word syschmatizo. - Shaping one’s behavior

2. Paul in Romans 12:2 and Peter in 1 Peter 1:14[A4]

3. “Whether it is the width of a belt, the style of hair, or the length of an outfit, the world’s fashions change. The only thing constant about today’s fashions is change.” – Rand Hummel, GY pg 79

Let’s first look at the negative…”Be not [A5] conformed to this world” – this phrase Paul is talking about the seat of our affections, our heart and mind, and how it is not to conform the worlds system of beliefs. The term “world” here is talking of the belief system that the world holds. Our world beliefs are attacking more and more the person of God. What was once considered taboo is now just a way of life. The idea of conform is a term that denotes outward change.

1. Conforming is a superficial way of living.

2. Conforming is like Jell-O, you just simply ooze into the desired mold. We typically never have to think when copying someone’s behavior. Like art class in second grade, just trace the picture.[A6]

3. We just mimic the patterns of the world without even thinking through the destination and consequences of what we are doing. It is the idea of just wanting to fit in and not be noticed. The world we live in now is dominated by sin. Every day we hear in the news about a murder or theft or slandering of a political opponent. In the sports world right now players are being punished for cheating. This is the type of conformity that if present will deter from being a living sacrifice.

Turn in your Bible to 1 John 2:15-16

1 John 2:15–16 (NASB95)

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Paul is telling us to not be conformed to this age. We are not to be pressed into the mold of the system of the world or the schemes of the world. What are those schemes? 1 John 2:15-16 share with us what those schemes look like. They look like the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes nad the pride of life.

Jesus touches on a specific way that we often find ourselves giving into the schemes of the world. Turn in your Bible to Matthew 6:18-33

Matthew 6:18–33 (NASB95)

18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We allow anxiety/worry to dictate our decisions in life. We worry about paying bills before we even do something to receive a bill sometimes. We worry about the smallest things in life and try and justify it as wisdom in planning ahead. Here in Matthew 6 Jesus is providing instruction and comfort saying that God provides exactly what we need and when we need it. We do not have to store things up so that we will make it. We do not have to put ourselves in a worse place spiritually by not sacrificing our job and family needs to God.

I have seen too often a husband or a wife that had strong financial needs so they justified taking a second job that would pay them the finances needed but at the cost of fellowshipping nad worshipping regularly with their church family God has directed them to.

Have you ever placed your comfort over the opportunity to present the gospel or even build a redemptive relationship with another believer. We have a pathway that in God’s wisdom has given to us for our church to be a curch culture that is about dying to self, not conforming to the slef-centered world and investing our lives to the glory of God in others.

Jesus says dont do that! Do not worry about food or raiment but rather SEEK ME FIRST and all these other things will fall into place. God will reward your choice to dy to slef and live righteously if you obey and present your bodies a living sacrifice.

Along with this scheme are many other schemes of the world we live in.

4. Philosophy simply means “why we do what we do.” A philosophy of life anchored in God’s character and is unchanging is a wonderful mind-set to have.

5. Believers must be non-conformists as we look at the world around us. The world that is external, and has a fleeting philosophy to life. We can only be living sacrifices if only we do not conform to this world!

iv. The positive of this command is the “be transformed.” The word transformed comes from the Greek word that we get metamorphosis. It is the idea of becoming something completely and entirely different. Transformation goes deep into the deepest of levels and changes the object. A butterfly and a caterpillar do not look anything alike. One you want to squish and the other zoo’s dedicate an entire exhibit for them. Caterpillars are ugly while butterflies are beautiful. A conforming Christian is ugly while a transformed Christian is beautiful.

v. Paul uses the present tense in the passive voice here helping to stress the importance for us to be transforming daily and that it is not us that transforms us! You could translate this phrase “Let yourselves be transformed.”According to 2 Corinthians 3:18 the Holy Spirit does the transforming.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB95)

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

vi. The verb “transform” is however in the imperative mood. As believers there is a responsibility (Philippians 2:12–13 “12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” ) to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and lives.

vii. Transformation is an inward change with an outward manifestation. Someone who has yielded their life completely to Christ will have had a transformation. What visible change can people see in you?

viii. This transformation takes place through the process of renewing our mind.

1. The renewing your mind will never happen if all you do is spend 5 minutes of prayer and devotions.

a. Rand Hummel at the Youth Worker’s conference did a session on Fast Food Philosophy when it comes to our devotions. The point he was making was that way too often the Christian takes a fast food mentality to their devotional life. Nothing about fast food is nutritionally long lasting.

b. Taking this approach will not give a lasting transformation of your mind.

2. The renewing or reprogramming of our mind does not happen overnight. The process is minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year discipline to saturate your heart and mind with the Word of God.

We need to adjust our thinking to align with the “new man” and way of living that comes from living in the Spirit.

3. To renew is to make new again. One author likened it to the remodeling of a house. You replace the old with the new. Renewing of our mind. This is something that we are active in but it begins with God and what he is doing. It is yielding ourselves to it continually every day. It is a miraculous act that God does this.

This explains everything in your life. God is changing you, your very form by the renewing of your mind and all three persons of Godhead are involved.

4. In our mind:

a. Replace hate with what?

b. Replace lust with what?

c. Replace anger with what?

d. Replace fear with what?

e. Replace selfishness with what?

f. Replace pride with what?

g. Replace laziness with what?

5. Two Important Principles:

a. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – process of renewal time line

b. Colossians 3:10 – knowledge we need

ix. “that ye may prove” [A7] – as we become less conformed to this world and more transformed into Christ-likeness we will “prove” or “show” or “display” what the will of God looks like. It is that as we are being transformed we agree with God on what he wants and how then to live that out.

Without God’s Word and the renewal of your mind you will have trouble discerning God’s will for your life. Before you can know the concealed part of God’s will, you must make sure that you are honoring and obeying His revealed will[A8] .

x. Three aspects to God’s will:

1. Good - profitable

2. Acceptable – pleasing to God

3. Perfect – produce God’s intended purpose

a. “teleios” – full, complete, finished

b. Used in Colossians 1:28 in reference to a mature believer

b. Illustration–

i. Play Dough into a mold(conformation)

ii. Family Matters/Coal-Diamond Example(transformation)

c. Refutation/Application

i. Our world preaches to us every day to conform. I have mentioned slogans that companies put out. Advertisements produced by marketing departments to “enhance” their product. The tabloids in the papers, our entertainment world and political world are all about conforming to each other, to a system of beliefs that is anti-God.

All Christians have an interest in having a renewed mind and being transformed. If not one is not a Christian. The problem lies in the fact that this is one of many interests in the Christians life. To God this is the only interest for the Christian. This is what embraces everything. This is what God wants to happen! You know you need a renewed mind if this truth makes you draw back. Unhappiness comes from having another agenda other than God’s agenda.

ii. Biblical living has been replaced with pragmatism. The society we live in is all about what works for them. The problem with this philosophy is that it is not about them or their friends or family or anybody else. It is all about the one and only Holy God!

iii. Has our pragmatic and materialistic society reached your mind and heart? Our lives are so loud and busy we do not even have time to think. We wake up in the morning in time to get ready for work and get the kids off to school. Children and teenagers you wake up leaving yourself just enough time to get ready in the morning and if you have a day off you sleep as late as you can and waste valuable time during a day that God could be using you. Sure getting extra sleep is not wrong, and the morning is not the only time we can spend time with God in devotions. Most of us know though what happens once a day has started.

iv. Our thinking needs to be revamped, it needs to be renewed! God’s Word is what does that renewing! The problem with the scenarios I just mentioned is that it really shows what we love first. How can you be ready to battle in your mind if you have never picked up the tool to help you fight? None of here would consistently go to work without the right equipment, but we go through our Christian life too often without God’s Word.

v. “So to remake, remodel, and make new the thoughts and attitudes of our selfish and immature minds, we need a consistent, step-by-step commitment to know more and more about our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Rand Hummel

vi. Are you living a life that is honoring to God by thanking God for what he has done for you and through living a pure life? That is God’s will that is what a transformed life will be like.

vii. Are your life’s actions, thoughts, words, and aspirations profitable to God, pleasing to God, or help in completing His purposes? A transformed life has their mind renewed and their life doing exactly those things.

Conclusion:

Big Idea: Daily obeying God’s will requires a total commitment to Christ and living a transformed life.

I. The Christian response to God’s mercy reveals in daily sacrificing your life to God, v1.-

Let’s now combine both verses as we look at the whole picture. Paul here is telling us that we need to be daily living sacrifices by not conforming to the world’s belief system but rather through the renewing of our mind being transformed so that we can accurately see and display the will of God in our life. Therefore, God getting the glory!

- Ask yourself this morning, what am I not willing to sacrifice? What is so important to me that it is keeping me from complete surrender to God?

- What am I doing day in and day out that is keeping me from being conformed to the world? Daily to renew my mind?

- How has God transformed my life in the last few days and weeks? Has he transformed you?

- What we believe determines how we behave – Weirsbe. What aspects and lies has become a part of your life? What about the world have you let in to deceive you and stop you from living a sacrificial life before God?

- Ask yourself these questions:

o Do I sacrifice anything that actually costs anything or do I just give out of what I have extra or reserves?

o Do I sacrifice because I want to or because I feel like I have to?

o Do I sacrifice in a way that honors God by giving him the glory in the process?

- Being a living sacrifice that is set apart and pleasing to God, is that how people can describe you?

- What fills and dominates your mind most of the day? Too often it may not be anything of wrong in content but the problem may be that God is not enough.

- God is full of mercy, he sent his son to die for each and every person. The world needed a perfect sacrifice to pay for the penalty of sin. Christ did that for you and for me. We can rejoice because He rose again just as he said and death and sin were conquered. Salvation gift was paid for.

- Maybe you are here this morning and you realized that you have never accepted Christ into your heart. You have not put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and repented of your sin. There is no other way to heaven, Jn 14:6. Christ is the only road to heaven. So if you are here this morning and you realized that the sacrifice Christ made for you and you want to make that decision to accept Christ’s gift of salvation, I pray that you do that today. It is not until then that you can become a living sacrifice because Romans tells us that we are dead in the trespasses and sins. It is only Christ that can wash that sin away.

- Maybe you are here and are saved, what are you doing with your life? What are you holding back from God? Are you all in on serving God? God does not say here that if bad things have happened to us or good things have happened to us that we do not have to serve him 100% of us, heart and mind. He does not base it on family relationships and responsibilities, or work responsibilities. He bases it on His person, his command for us to be renewed in our minds, to be 100% sacrificed and ready and willing to do whatever he wants and whenever he wants us to do it!

Are you looking at life through the lens of Scripture, the lens God has given to us to live the sacrificed life he wants from us?

IS YOUR LIFE A LIFETIME PRESENTATION OF GODLY TRANSFORMATION?

[A1]Quickly go over Moo’s breakdown of Romans as it further explains these statements of description. Chaps 1-4:25 the heart of the gospel Universal Reign of Sin Justification By Faith Chaps 5-8 – Assurance provided by Salvation: The Hope of Salvation Hope of Glory; Salvation from sin Freedom from Bondage to Sin Freedom from the Bondage to the Law Assurance of Eternal Life in the Spirit The Believer’s Security Celebrated Chaps 9-11 Defense of the Gospel: The Problem of Israel We can praise God in light of His eternal plan [A2]Transitive Verb connecting “present” with “body” [A3]Page 76 from Gratefully Yours [A4]1 Peter 1:13-16 (KJV) 13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. [A5]Lets us know to stop doing something! [A6]Taken from Rand Hummel’s book Gratefully Yours [A7]Rand Hummel gives the illustration of where you will not find the will of God: Fortune cookie Flip of a coin Written on your Facebook wall Posted on your twitter page [A8]20 NT References about God’s will: 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 Ephesians 6:6-7 1 Thessalonians 5:18