Living to Impact Your One

Romans 12:1–2 (NLT)

Romans 12:1–2 NLT

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

1 Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν ἁγίαν εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν·

2 καὶ μὴ συσχηματίζεσθε τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ μεταμορφοῦσθε τῇ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοός, εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον.

INTRODUCTION:

A- Illustration: “Contributing By Dying” (GCJ pp. 157-158)

B- Impacting your one for Christ necessitates total commitment of your life to Christ.

TS: The Apostle Paul gives us some principles we need to remember as we seek to live out the type of lives that will attract your one to Jesus.

Living to impact your one for Jesus :

I- BEGINS WITH A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO GIVE YOURSELF WHOLELY TO GOD. (Romans 12:1a)

Romans 12:1a NLT

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

1 Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν ἁγίαν εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν·

A- What is the principle?

Romans 12:1a (NLT)

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God ...

1- Yield your entire life to Christ.

(Romans 6:18-19)

Romans 6:18–19 NLT

18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. 19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

The physical body

(1 Cor. 6:19-20)

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NLT

19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

(2 Cor. 5:10)

2 Corinthians 5:10 NLT

10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

The eternal soul

(1 Thess. 5:23)

1 Thessalonians 5:23 NLT

23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

The intellect (mind)

(Mark 12:30)

Mark 12:30 NLT

30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’

(2 Cor. 4:4)

2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT

4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

(Eph. 4:17-19)

Ephesians 4:17–19 NLT

17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

Relationships, etc.

(2 Cor. 6:14)

2 Corinthians 6:14 NLT

14 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?

B- What is the motivation? (Romans 12:1b)

Romans 12:1b (NLT)

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.

God’s mercy and grace demonstrated at Calvary.

God’s continual mercy and love experienced in life.

Living to impact your one for Jesus:

II- INVOLVES MAKING CHOICES THAT PRODUCE CHANGES IN LIFESTYLE. (Romans 12:1-2)

Romans 12:1–2 NLT

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

1 Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν ἁγίαν εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν·

2 καὶ μὴ συσχηματίζεσθε τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ μεταμορφοῦσθε τῇ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοός, εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον.

A- Die to sin and live unto holiness. (Romans 12:1c)

Romans 12:1 (NLT)

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

1- The decision to die to following our sinful desires must be a conscious one.

(Romans 6:1-11)

Romans 6:1–11 NLT

1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. 5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

2- Holy living comes from making the choice to live consciously to serve God in every phase of life - separated for His service!

a- This what the Greek work, “ἁγίαν” means - separated.

B- Make Christ’s acceptance your primary goal. (Romans 12:1d)

Romans 12:1b (NLT)

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

(2 Cor. 5:9)

2 Corinthians 5:9 NLT

9 So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.

1- There is a great danger when anything else is substituted!

Listen to God’s warning to Cain!

(Genesis 4:7)

Genesis 4:7 NLT

7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

C- Refuse to copy the behavior and attitudes of the World. (Romans 12:2a)

Romans 12:2a NLT

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

1- The world will pressure you to become like them.

συσχηματίζεσθε- Present passive imperative with μη, stop being fashioned or do not have the habit of being fashioned, to be conformed to another’s pattern[1].

a- behaviors

b- attitudes

2- The sources of this pressure to mimic the world in attitude and action and its methods :

a- strategies:

ridicule

mistreatment

express displeasure

isolation

b- sources:

Foes

friends

family

nominal Christians

D- Allow God to transform you from the inside-out. (Romans 12:2b)

Romans 12:2b NLT

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2b (NLT)

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

1- This transformation brings about radical change.

a- “μεταμορφοῦσθε” Present passive imperative of μεταμορφοω, to transfigure, to transform as in Matt. 17:2 ; 2 Cor. 3:18 [2]

Matthew 17:2 NLT

2 As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

E- Seek to understand God’s will for you and live it out in everyday life. (Romans 12:2 c)

Romans 12:2 NLT

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

1- As we live out the transformed life, we daily, continually discover God’s will for our lives.

2- His will is always good, pleasing and perfect.

a- It is pleasing to God.

b- It is encouraging to other believers.

c- It is persuasive to nonbelievers.

CONCLUSION:

[1] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Ro 12:2.

[2] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Ro 12:2.