Expound: Romans 12 - Part A

I do think it's good from time to time to review the mercies of God in your own life to stop and think of how God has taken the moments relationship decisions.

Mistakes and moving them together in section to bring you to where you want when we give our lives to God. That's all he wants, just us as we are open to the spirit today on connect with Skip Skip shares of the board works in a powerful way. When we devote yourself to.

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I think today when you get online securely/often called hundred 90 okay will in Romans chapter 12 joint Skip for today's member I gave you four sections of this book is divided into you know them you memorizing your Roman expert at this point, you know that talks about the wrath of God grace of God plan of God. And now the will of God.

See I knew you knew it. So it's the graduation chapter because he says I beseech you there for, and the Christian life always has a there for that is it leads you somewhere. It it brings you to a place of once you know something now you do something with what you know that's that therefore now Paul does use this term quite a bed but in the book of Romans. There are four transitional therefore's and I just thought it would be appropriate if you kind of looked at them with me to go back to chapter 3 and let's look at this first one. Romans chapter 3 verse 19 now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who were under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and the all the world may become guilty before God.

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, or by the law is the knowledge of sin. The first, therefore, is that, therefore, of condemnation, the gavel goes down, the judge says, Jew, Gentile. Every person guilty before God.

That's that's the first one the second one is in chapter 5's return to the page to chapter 5, verse one. Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This second, therefore, is the therefore of justification even though the gavel goes down and pronounces the world guilty because you've trusted in Christ that gavel goes down on your behalf whereby God treats you as though you have never sinned, even though you have, even though you're not perfect. He he regards you he treats you as though you were as righteous as his son.

You have been justified by faith. So that's the that's the therefore justification.

The third one is in chapter 8 verse one there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. This is the therefore of exoneration you are not condemned and nothing and no one can make you condemned again the gavel is gone down on your behalf pronouncing you as though you had have not send justified and there is no condemnation and no one can bring condemnation to get you a been exonerated and then in chapter 12 verse one is the fourth one this is the therefore of consecration because all of these are true. Therefore, I am going to do something with myself, my body, my life, so he begins, I beseech you, I urge you, I beg you, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service notice and he says I urge you or I beseech you by the mercies of God, in view of the mercies of God, the JB Phillips translation, one that I'm in a refer to a few times tonight. The JB Phillips translation puts it this way, with eyes wide open to the mercies of God, think of what God has done as recorded by Paul the apostle guilty all mankind. But God is declared you not guilty. He's forgiven you.

He's justified you are. He's adopted you. I he's promised you heaven after this life. I he is promised to walk with you during the hardest times and make sense out of the trials of life. In view of all of those things that we would call Paul sums up as the mercies of God, I beseech you therefore you would present your bodies to God. I do think it's good from time to time to review the mercies of God in your own life to stop and think of how God has taken the moments the relationships the decisions mistakes and woven them together in in perfection to bring you to where you are, my mind goes back to a young teenager who was aimless, often on drugs, unsure, insecure, no real future. But how that God, in 1973 got a hold of his heart and saved me and gave me purpose and then I think of not only that which is a great mercy of God, but that I was bouncing around to a few churches, but by the mercy of God, you let me reside. Finally, at a Bible teaching church under a great mentor pastor who fed the word of God and gave us good role model of pastoral ministry and then I think about feeling alone and wondering where the Lord would lead me after that, only to meet a beautiful young girl by the name of lamia and how in 1981.

We got married and then the Lord put it on our hearts to go east to go back east to Albuquerque way far away back east and just let's just see what will happen this just give it a shot and and see if the Lord's, and it only to discover by his mercy.

The Lord was in it so it's good to stop at the pause button on just review the mercies of God and how he is patched together your life for his purpose. So, I beseech you, I urge you therefore, because of all the God is done by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice now. That happens to be technical language. The word present yourself is a technical term often used to refer to the Levitical priests who would offer their animal sacrifices on the altar and you know it says in the book of Peter we are a holy priesthood, and we offer up spiritual sacrifices. The first sacrifice is our self.

We, as a priest offer ourselves to God.

We do this every day.

Lord, I'm yours. Take my body take my will take my affections take my passions take my time and use me. You and I are priests. Imagine my mother who raised me as a Roman Catholic. The day I came to her and she said as she looked up she was all I had always hoped that you would be a priest and I smile and said mom, your prayers been answered. I am one and she gave me that quizzical look and I went on to explain how the Bible says we are a holy priesthood, and I I offer these sacrifices to God as do you. Every day so here's the problem though when you have a dead sacrifice.

It can go anywhere you taken animal you kill it slit its throat bleated out, put it on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It's totally consumed. It is totally sacrifice because it has no life.

It has no will.

It doesn't go anywhere instead. The problem is with the living sacrifices, living sacrifices, that is a sacrifice to God not dead but while you live your life is lived in sacrificial ministry to the Lord, but because it's a living sacrifice living sacrifices have a tendency to want to squirm off the altar ever do that. Lord I give you my life wanted to get back right now with you later.

Right or Lord I recommit, why are you recommitting because you had taken it back you had gone the other direction. The only reason we make prayers of recommitment is because the sacrifice has squirmed off the altar, but we are to be a living sacrifice, that is our life lived for the glory of God present your body why the body what's the big deal about the body know the reason I'm asking the question is because some Christians I have discovered have what I would only describe as a philosophical dualism in life. We explained they would say well the spirit is important and that which is spiritual is important, but that which is physical is not all that important. My body isn't all that important. You know I gotta do what I want with my body and I bring that up because I was the exact same philosophy of Gnostic Herod tick heresy in the early church. They had a philosophical dualism. They believe that the spirit was important.

The body was not there for the concert live however they wanted with their body as long as her spirit was dedicated to God that was Gnosticism.

It's not quite the same but some Christians today just think their body isn't all that important.

They don't take care of it.

They don't see it as a vessel is a temple of God. Why would God be so interested in you giving your body to him because your body can become a base of operations for the Holy Spirit to work in to move in to operate from to do his work in the world. Put in the parlance of first Corinthians, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where God resides a place where worship is conducted. The place the base of operations from which God moves among this people. How about if you were to see your body as a base of operations from which God could work with your family with your neighbors with your friends at your work if you saw yourself is that then you could live a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your reasonable service. So your body is important. God does want it to become a base of operations for him to work through.

Think of the Bible think of people in the Scripture who dedicated their lives, their bodies to the Lord. Think of for example the womb of Sarah Baron, an older woman but eventually though it took God some time with her. She surrendered her life, her body to the Lord in her womb conceived Isaac in the plan of God. The salvation of Israel and the world through Jesus Christ eventually came to that lineage. Think of the mouth of Moses. Moses said I can't talk. I'm a man of uncircumcised lips. I really can't do this but surrendered to God. He became a very powerful spokesperson before Pharaoh for the children of Israel. Think of the hands of David this little shepherd boy but the Holy Spirit governing controlling those hands. He was able to slay Goliath. He was able to lead his people and he became a very important king in Israel's history so your bodies are important. Present your bodies to God.

A living sacrifice wholly acceptable, which is your reasonable service is the smartest thing you could do.

It's the wisest move. You could make some translations say your spiritual act of worship that that's okay too. That's a good translation. I prefer reasonable service. The Greek word is log. It costs logical when we hit.

Think of it this way when you think of the mercies of God, when you think of all that God has done for you.

When you think of the plan of God and how God was was able to let that gavel go down and declare you justified and not guilty in all the plan that God has for you week when you understand those mercies, the most logical thing you could ever do the smartest move.

You could ever make. This is a Lord I'm presenting my body do you. That's why think this is a superior translation. It is your reasonable service to all of that for verse one.

Let's let's let's mosey on and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed totally changed. A complete alteration transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So the presentation of your body leads to the transformation of your mind and your life. One leads to the other.

Do not be conformed to this world. The transform now in verse two there. There's a couple different parts. There's the negative. And there's the positive DCF is the negative. Do not be conformed. Do you know that God calls you and I to be nonconformists. You don't have to conform to the thinking Beatitudes the values of this worldly system. Do you nonconformists Jesus in the sermon on the Mount, in speaking of the pagan world. He said do not be like them be a nonconformist.

Do not be conformed to this world that I mentioned the JB Phillips translation right as it is in a quote a few times from in the JB Phillips translation verse two is rendered this way. Don't let the world squeeze you into its own mold that good.

Don't let the world squeeze you into its own mold poet will try it wants you to parrot. It's weird value system and and say all the right things and be all woe can be all spoken be all that they say you want to be don't be conformed to this world be a nonconformist dome of the world squeeze you into its own mold. Why is it that we conform by the way, why do we conform to the world. Fear. Nobody likes to be rejected by a peer group everybody fears not fitting in everybody's afraid of what other people are going to think of them. Everybody's afraid of the backlash if they take a stand with somebody's gonna write on their Instagram or what they're going to tweet back or an email they're going to get her somebody gossiping behind their back, it's fear of the crowd that makes us conform to the values of this world, but he says don't be conformed as the negative. Here's the positive, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, just like your body matters your mind matters. Too many Christian institutions have an unwritten rule when you enter them and that is please check your brain at the door. No more thinking critically. After this point. Now you just swallow everything we give you know your mind matters and you should think critically and if need be. Question necessarily even Paul the apostle congratulated the Parisians because they were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word of God with all readiness of mind, but they search the Scriptures daily to see if these things be so be it. Berean do that. Can you imagine listening to Paul the apostle, and even having the thought want to know if that's true in some legal leaving.

As such that's as Paul the apostle meant so I want to make sure that that is in line with the Scripture. I'm in a search the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul just said is true. And Paul said, I like that there are more noble than those in Thessalonica because they did that so your mind matters to God. You are to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength to think through things intelligently, clearly, critically, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove now, we've gone to the negative and the positive. Here's the practical. The practical part is this world will lead you when you do that when you don't conform, but you are transformed you will approve the result will be. You'll discover what is the good acceptable and perfect will of God. I don't think I've ever met a Christian who doesn't want to know the will of God. A person comes to know Christ. They're all excited that there sins are forgiven of heaven waiting for them, there purpose for life, but they quickly come to the place where they say I wonder what God wants from my life what he wants me to do what area he be leading me into what is the will of God. How do I discover the perfect will of God. And then unfortunately some think well it must be difficult or it must be strange, weird in discovering the will of God may be gotta give me a sign. Maybe I'll hear a voice from heaven will seek lights lineup somebody will's speak a word of prophecy. To me that's all will discover the will of God.

God could use any of those means but I discovered that usually God moves supernaturally naturally not supernaturally weirdly not supernaturally strangely but just naturally you will just discover no walk in the Lord will put you in the right place and you will discover, you will prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God that Skip message from the series expound now want to let you know about a special opportunity to pursue biblical study in a way that works with your schedule.

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