Wednesday Night Bible Study 17 March 2021
/THE SECRET OF HOLY LIVING
Romans 12:1-2
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Intro: Chapters 9-11 formed a break in Paul's letter to the Romans. In those passages, Paul's focus was on salvation and the Jew. Paul wanted to show them that God was not neglecting them in this present age, but that they could be saved by calling on the name of the Lord. Now, Paul returns to the main idea of his letter. He has spent considerable time telling us how we are saved, what we are saved from and what salvation has done for us. In this last section of the book, Paul's focus shifts to some very practical matters. He will discuss many aspects of everyday living in this world.
I am thankful that I have a home waiting on me in Heaven. I am glad that I will live in a perfect mansion some day in the very presence of the Lord God. However, right now, I am a pilgrim and a stranger living on foreign soil. Heaven is a blessing, but I need practical help for my day to day walk with God. These first two verses of Chapter 12, give us some insight into an area of our walk with God that we must never over look. These two verses tell us the secret of holy living. Paul tells us what God expects from us and how we are to achieve His goals for our lives. He tells us that holy living revolves around our surrender to three powerful concerns. Let's see just what they are and what they demand as we consider the thought: what’s the plan The Secret Of Holy Living
Why, Why, Why = Jesus was publicly beaten, mocked, and spit on. A crown of thorns was placed on his head. He was stripped of his clothes and led to Golgotha. ... Stakes were driven through Jesus' wrists and ankles, fastening him to the cross where he was crucified between two convicted criminals.
I. V. 1 THE WORSHIP OF GOD
(Ill. Notice the wording of verse one. Paul tells us that yielding of our bodies to the Lord is our "reasonable service." The word "reasonable" comes from the same word from which we get our word "logic". So, first we see that yielding our bodies to the Lord is logical. Just makes sense, Then, the word "service" comes from a word which means "to perform sacred service." It has reference to the function the Levites performed in the Tabernacle and Temple. It is connected to the idea of worship. Therefore, that phrase means that yielding our bodies to the Lord is our "logical service of worship before the Lord." In other words, when we are totally yielded to Him, it is the highest form of worship that we can render! Nothing says "I love you" to the Lord like a consecrated, dedicated, holy life, John 14:15; 15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 14:21. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. With that in mind, let's look at this first verse and see what Paul means when he calls on us to yield up our bodies.)
A. The Challenge - We are called upon to "present your bodies." This has reference to the flash that you and I wear around. Show some sign, I personally believe that we are being commanded to yield up to God our bodies, along with our sinful natures. God is calling on us to present all that we have, are and ever will be to Him for His glory and for His use. The word "present" means to "place at one's disposal." It means that we are no longer holding anything back from God, but we have placed our all on His altar and we are His disposal!
(Ill. The idea here is of total surrender to God. Far too many people want to be saved, but they are not willing to lay everything on the altar. They are guilty of holding back areas of their lives that are precious to them. God wants it all! Another thing to notice is that the word "present" is in a tense that suggests a one time for all time action. We should not present our bodies to God, then take it back and use it for ourselves again. When we have given it to Him, it is His forever!) It’s a challenge: You might ask why is all of that required?
B. The Cause - Notice the phrase "therefore by the mercies of God." That phrase carries our minds back to what the Apostle has been talking about. He has been talking about the fact that the redeemed are redeemed only because of the pure grace of God. We may ask why God would think that He can control every aspect of our lives. The reason is simply because He bought us at Calvary and we belong to Him, 1 Cor. 6:19,20; 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
7:23. 23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Since that is true, we have no rights! We are supposed to be subject to His commands, regardless of what they are! May we never forget that we were headed to Hell when He found us. We didn't care a thing about God, but He loved us. He died to save us. He convicted us and called us. He gave us the faith to believe and He saved us by His grace. It seems to me that we owe Him everything! May we, like Paul, ever be aware of the fact that "But by the grace of God I am what I am", 1 Cor. 15:10. May that teach us why God has the right to issue any command to us that He may wish to. I remember getting in trouble, old people would say I bought you into this world and I can take you out. And, may it also teach us that we do not have the right to say anything but "Yes, Lord. Here am I, send me!"
C. The Consecration - We are told that these bodies are to be presented "a living sacrifice". This sounds dreadfully painful to us because we know that a sacrifice, in Bible times, was an animal that belonged to the person offering it and that the animal was put to death, its blood was shed and its flesh was burned on an altar. That does not sound like something I want to be involved in. The difference between what the Lord is calling us to do and what He called those people in the Old Testament to do is this: Their sacrifice was to die, our sacrifice is to live! While that is true, there are also some similarities between our sacrifice and theirs. Now, just as then, the sacrifice the Lord is commanding each of us to make is costly, painful, difficult, personal and necessary. Basically, God is commanding every one of His people to lay the totality of their persons on the altar of sacrifice. But, at the same time, this sacrifice must continue to function in the world around it. This is confusing, but I think that four ideas are in view right here:
1. A living sacrifice means that we are to be on the altar wherever we are. Regardless of the geographical surroundings, we are to remember that this body and all it is belongs to God. There is never an instant in life when we are out of His view or free to live as we please.
2. A living sacrifice means a constant, continuous sacrifice. This is not something we do from time to time. But we are to offer this body up to the Lord and never ask for it back again!
3. A living sacrifice means that the body sacrifices its own desires for those of God. To be a living sacrifice will require that the body does not live for the world, the flesh or the devil, but that everything the body does is held to the guidelines of the Word of God.
4. A living sacrifice means that the body is devoted to the task of serving God. This means that we are to lay down the ambitions and desires of the body and commit ourselves to doing nothing but that which God bids us to do! We are to be His vessels through which He can live and work in this world.
(Ill. The bottom line of all this is that the sacrificing of the body is not something on does in the church only. But, it implies that every action and activity that the body engages in is an activity to glorifies and honors God. The sacrificed body sees itself as the Temple of God. It realizes that God must be in absolute control of the will, the emotions, the passions, the deeds and the thoughts of the body. All rights are released and the body is delivered to God to do with it as it pleases Him!)