Conformed or Transformed

Paul’s Appeal

Therefore

Romans 12 begins the close of the book of Romans. Paul’s closing is a mere 5 chapters long. So this is clearly more than just a see ya later.

Where Romans 1-11 is primarily theological Romans 12-16 are primarily practical teachings based on those theological truths.

So the “therefore” in this verse points back to everything.

The righteous live by faith.

We are justified by faith.

God’s wrath is real.

No one is righteous on their own merits.

We have peace with God through faith.

In Adam we have death, but in Christ we have life eternal.

In Christ we are dead to sin but alive to God.

In Christ we are free from the bondage to the law.

In Christ we are heirs together with Christ of the very presence of God.

God is sovereign.

The people of Israel are His chosen people and we, the church, have been grafted in to some of those promises.

God is transcendent over all mankind. Romans 11:33–36 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Appeal

Meaning

Urge

Beseech

Exhort

Tone

The word appeal sets a tone for these two verses.

This is exhortation. Which if you remember my personal definition of exhortation, encouragement with boxing gloves on.

Sometimes it stings. Sometimes it is urgent.

There is no time to waste.

The absolute dumbest thing you could ever do is wait to get saved.

The second absolute dumbest thing you could ever do is as a believer, wait to start serving Him. You might think I am going to have my fun now and I will serve Him later. I question whether or not you have ever tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Because once you get a taste of His goodness you wouldn’t want to wait.

Audience

Brothers

Brethren

Brothers and Sisters

Believers - this is not an evangelical plea.

Basis of His Appeal - the Mercies of God

What God has given to you.

Mercy is given from a position of power or authority.

It is not required. - Nothing outside of Himself was compelling God to show us mercy. It was only His own nature that moved Him to be merciful.

Mercy is such an exceptionally complex concept that several Hebrew and Greek words are used to express the dimensions of its meaning. Synonyms like compassion, lovingkindness, favor, and steadfast love often appear in Bible translations to illustrate the idea of mercy. A brief biblical definition of mercy is “the gift of God’s undeserved kindness and compassion.” Paul clearly views the justification God has bestowed on us as a great act of God’s mercy.

1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Paul brings up mercy here because it is the basis for what he is asking us to do. Much of what Paul has already written in the book of Romans can be summarized as “God’s mercy in action.” Now Paul says this is what you should do as a recipient of that mercy.

Present

The first thing that Paul asks us to do as a result of the mercy we have received from God.

What - our bodies as a living sacrifice

Our bodies - This is weird right?

We would expect Paul to say something more spiritual here; such as, our hearts. Even our minds would make us more comfortable with this verse.

Most sound Bible interpreters agree that what Paul has in mind here is the whole person, represented by the body. Paul intends us to understand this as a reference to body, mind and spirit. He uses the word body here as a means to keep within the theme of sacrifice that he is about to introduce.

Living Sacrifice

Whether it liked it or not when a lamb was physically sacrificed it was totally committed.

When Jesus offered Himself as the Lamb of God sacrificing Himself for our sins He was totally committed.

Now we who have been the recipients of God’s mercy through the blood of the lamb are called to be similarly totally committed, but not in death.

The commitment we are called to is a living commitment.

As the old hymn goes, “I’ll live for Him who died for me.”

Who - God

Who or what you give yourself to matters as much as whether or not you make the sacrifice in the first place.

Is the God of the Bible a God worth serving?

How has He presented Himself to us? How does the Bible present Him?

How - Holy and Acceptable

The Old Testament has multiple examples of individuals attempting to offer unacceptable sacrifices.

Nadab and Abihu offering their strange fire that ended in their deaths.

Saul usurping the office of priest and offering his own sacrifice before Samuel’s arrival.

The sacrifice that we offer is to be holy, and if we are the living sacrifice then we are to be holy.

We are to be as a lamb without spot if we are to be a living and acceptable sacrifice.

But as anyone who has honestly read the Bible knows we are many things but holy is not one of them.

Thus the only way for us to be this living sacrifice that God is calling us to be is through Christ’s holiness in us.

Why - Spiritual Worship

Why would we put ourselves through this?

Self-sacrifice is unnatural.

For anyone to give of themselves sacrificially the cause must be worth the cost.

Christ gave Himself sacrificially because the cause of God’s glory and our redemption was worth the cost.

We give ourselves as a living, holy and acceptable sacrifice because the cause of God’s glory is worth the cost.

He is worthy of worship.

Worship of every kind.

Singing praises to His name.

Preaching and teaching of His words.

Giving monetarily

Serving with our time.

Magnifying Him through evangelism

We worship Him through our own personal spiritual growth.

Thus the Christian is called to a worship that is not confined to one place or to one time, but which involves all places and all times: “Christian worship does not consist of what is practiced at sacred sites, at sacred times, and with sacred acts.… It is the offering of bodily existence in the otherwise profane sphere.”

Preserve

The second thing that Paul asks to do as a result of God’s mercy is to preserve ourselves from the world.

World

The thing that we care called to preserve ourselves from is the world.

This could also possibly be translated “this age”. This carries the same idea. Galatians 1:4 “who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

The concept here as in in many places in Scripture is that the world is the people who constitute that group of people who are outside of Christ, and therefore in open hostility toward the plans and purposes of God while under the influence of satanic powers.

Conformed

For all the talk in this world about diversity what the world really wants from you is conformity.

They love it when everyone looks different, but they absolutely hate it when you think differently.

And when you take it a step further and go from thinking differently to believing differently and actually having convictions about moral and biblical issues now the world goes from hating you to actively moving against you.

The temptation to conform is real.

There are two ways to conform.

The first and obvious is by adopting to the worlds ways, beliefs and systems.

The second and much more subtle is to simply be silent.

Not conforming to the world is the first step in a two part process of sanctification that Paul mentions here. This is step is the negative one. He tells us what not to do. Next he moves to the positive step by describing the process of what we are supposed to do.

Process

The third response that Paul asks us to do as a result of God’s mercy is to go through a process of transformation.

Transform - Process

The greatest change that any person can undergo in this life is salvation.

So it should come as no surprise that life after salvation is a series of transformations that lead us closer and closer to Christ.

Transformations that conform us not to the world but to Christ.

Renew - Means

Renewing our minds is one of the primary means by which we are transformed in to the image of Christ.

Renew Defined

give fresh life or strength to

Putting our sin natures to death is a process.

Romans 8:13 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Philippians 2:5 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,”

As we consider the

Righteousness

Justification

Propitiation

Grace

Mercy

Discern - Goal

What? - What the will of God is.

A renewed mind creates a discerning spirit.

Pursue

The fourth and final response to God’s mercy is to passionately pursue the will of God.

By - Testing

This is something that most Christians struggle with.

We discern the will of God in two ways.

The Word of God

Testing - The Christians who are confident that they are in the will of God are confident because they have tested the waters through the guidance of Scripture. In other words they know the will of God because they have submitted to the Word of God and they get their hands dirty in service.

You May - Discern

What is - the will of God

Which is - good, acceptable and perfect