Romans6v6-13 - The Secret to Renewal - South Side - Apr 24 -
The Secret to Renewal
Romans 6:6-13
Spiritual renewal is the answer for the church today. It is God’s will for the church to be renewed and transformed, it is not God’s will for the church to be shaped in the mold of the world, but for it to be shaped in God’s mold. God wants the church to be renewed to ministry, renewed in faith and have a disciplined life. He also wants to church to be renewed to be more faithful and bold witnesses and this can only happen as it experiences the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
How can we get this renewal? Well, I think there is a secret to getting this, and it takes a couple of steps.
First, we have to be willing to yield ourselves to God. The word yield is one of the key words to our growing as Christians and having spiritual renewal in our lives. We have to be willing to yield, or give, our entire sacrifice to the Lord. If you will think back to the days of Old Testament worship the people were required to give an offering to the Lord. This couldn’t be just any offering, though, it had to be an offering of the best that they had. Nothing that was defective was allowed to be given to God. Many times today, though, I believe that we are guilty of not giving God our best, but our left overs. We keep the things that are the best for ourselves and for our enjoyment and hide it from others. It is an act of worship to personally acknowledge that we belong to God. This act is the secret of the renewal of life. This act of worship is one that requires at least three actions.
It requires us to realize that it is realistic. In the Christian life it is just as real as the decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is a definite act of yielding. There has to be a time in our lives when we present ourselves to God and from then on consider our lives to be God’s lives, completely, wholly, belonging to Him.
It is a transfer of your entire life over to God. Your life is no longer yours, but God is living through you and in you entirely.
It is an act of will, not just one of obedience. We have to be willing to give all of ourselves to God. God deserves this and we should do it out of being obedient, but God also wants us to do it willingly. It is one thing to do something for God with a heavy heart and a sad mind. It is another thing to do something for God with a happy heart and a joyous mind. That is the kind of service that God wants from us, a service that is willful and encouraging.
Secondly, I think we can see that this is a reasonable act. Think back to Romans 12:1 telling us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice which is our reasonable service. It is reasonable if we want to have victory.
The believer in Christ has a dual nature, while the lost person only has one nature, the “old man.” Something happens when a person is born again. New life comes in, divine life, Christ’s life, in the person of the Holy Spirit. The new believer now has a new nature. The old nature, the self-life, is dealt with by Christ’s death, but is not evicted from our lives. As believer’s we have a dual nature, a higher one and a lower one, and old life and a new life, the flesh and the spirit, the self-life and the Christ-life. These natures are enemies and they are constantly struggling for full control of our lives. Believers have the choice as to which of these natures to yield to. How we choose is the secret to victory.
Third, I believe this is a resisted act. The flesh resists the spirit. This resistance masses itself at some point in your life so that surrender becomes the key to victory. What is it that stands between you and renewal? Is there some part of your life that has to be yielded to God if victory is to come? Nothing will substitute for the act of yielding yourself to God. That is the secret to spiritual power in our lives. Jesus has to be the Lord of all of our lives.
The second secret is to yield our members to God. The word members refers to the parts of our bodies, and the parts of our lives. These members are weapons either for righteousness or sin, for God or Satan. We are to yield ourselves and our members to God. This is what Romans 12:1 is talking about when it says that we are to present our bodies. Your body is important, present it to God.
Yield your eyes to God. Your eyes control what you see and read. Make a covenant regarding your eyes.
Yield your ears to God. Your ears control what you hear. Be discerning about what you listen to.
Yield your mouth to God. What you say and how you say it is important. Our conversations should be full of grace and seasoned with salt, according to Colossians 4:6.
Yield your mind to God. Let your thoughts and attitudes be God’s thoughts and attitudes.
Yield your hands to God. Let God govern what you do and how you work - your actions and your service toward others.
Yield your feet to God. Go to the places that God wants you to go, but walk away from places that would harm you physically or harm your witness.
Yield your knees to God. Kneel in prayer before God regularly.
Yield your face to God. Your countenance should reflect the light of the one that lives in you. You can look at a person’s face and determine their character qualities. Do you smile or do you frown?
Are you serving others or are you expecting others to serve you?
This is the secret. Yield yourself and your body to God. Build an altar and place yourself and the areas of your life before God. He promises you victory and renewal if you will do this.