There
is so much in this chapter – like every chapter in Romans. Many sermons and comments can be made on each
verse which would make this post tooooo long so I will try my best to hit some
of the important lessons. Paul has
taught us biblical doctrines in the previous chapters, but now he’s teaching us
how to live by those standards.
Romans 12:1-8 – Living Sacrifices
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer
your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your
spiritual act of worship.” – Rom.
12:1.
Paul
tells us practical ways to live by God’s biblical doctrine. We first need to totally commit ourselves to
God, because we have experienced His mercy.
He showed us that we are all hopeless and lost in sin. He showed that no one is righteous and no one
does good. But because of God’s mercies,
He has given us Jesus on the cross, who died for all sinners. We all deserve His judgment, but if we call
on His Name we will be forgiven and saved.
That’s His great mercy. He tells
us that we cannot understand God or know His mind. We can never repay Him. All things are from Him, through Him, and to
Him.
Proper
response to receiving God’s mercy is to give yourself totally to Him out of
gratitude. You have to do this
yourself. No one can do it for you. You have to make the decision to give
yourself completely to God.
How has
God shown you mercy?
What is
your response to God’s mercy?
The “bodies”
refer to the total person. That includes
our physical bodies, our minds, our tongues, our hands, our feet, our hearts, our
eyes and our ears.
This
sacrifice is living holy and doing what is acceptable to God. He is not talking about death as our sacrifice,
but how we live in this world. We are to
live sacrificing what the world offers. We
are to be holy. Holy is to be set apart
for God. We are to use our mouths to
speak encouraging words and tell others about Christ. We are to use our hands to give help to
others. We are to use our feet and go
where God wants us to go. We are to
worship not in habitual ceremony, but in true praise and thankfulness to God.
How are
you using your whole body as a sacrifice?
Do you look at pornography or listen to or tell off color jokes? Do you use your feet to take the gospel to
others? Do you gossip? Do you watch TV and movies that use foul
language and has nudity and sexual content?
Do you dress appropriately?
Principle: Give yourself totally to Him, because you
have experienced God’s mercy.
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your minds.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good,
pleasing and perfect will.” – Rom.
12:2
The
world tells us to think of ourselves by being proud and independent. It tells us to think highly of
ourselves. It tells us if we drop the
names of famous and important people we know somehow we are better than the
average person. If we come from wealth
or have a powerful position, we think in some way it makes us better.
We must
change the way we think. We can renew
our mind by loving God with all our heart, soul and mind. We are not to copy what the world does,
because we Christians do not belong to this world. We are to behave differently than those who
are not Christians. Christians think
differently about money and possessions.
We remember that it all belongs to God anyway. We are more careful about what we watch on TV
and what we read. We listen to the Holy
Spirit and let Him guide us. We pray and
study our Bible often. We want to obey
God and do His will. This doesn’t mean
we get it right all the time, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we seek to
please God.
How has
the world affected your personal life?
Paul
says don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think with sober
judgment in accordance to the faith God has given you. Each one of us has one body with many members
and these members don’t have the same function.
We in Christ form one body with many different functions. We all have different gifts. Some have the give of serving, some to
prophesy, some to teach, some encourage, some are generous, some leadership, and
some show mercy. (Rom: 12:3-8).
One
body refers to all Christians who make up the universal church. Christians are one body and like the human
body we have different members of the body (hands, feet, etc.). God gave us each a gift. Some have the gift of prophecy. Meaning they may receive a message from God
and can share it well with others. Some
have the gift of serving. They are good
at serving others and are good at recognizing those in need. Some are good teachers. Some are good at encouraging others. Some are generous sharing their money, time
and possessions in a generous way. Some make
excellent leaders. Some show great mercy
and kindness like in the Samaritan story.
Whatever your gift, Paul tells us we are not to be proud. We are to be grateful and humble and use our
gifts.
Principle: We are to humbly function within the area of
our own gifts for the benefit of the whole body.
Romans 12:9-21 – Sincere Love
Here
it’s spelled out what God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will looks like. “Love must be
sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to
what is good. Be devoted to one another
in brotherly love. Honor one another
above yourselves. Never be lacking in
zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer. Share with God’s
people who are in need. Practice
hospitality.” – Rom. 12:9-13.
Sincere
love is described in 1 Cor. 13:4-7 –
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices
with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
Which
of these is the hardest for you to obey?
We are
to keep our “spiritual fervor” when serving the Lord. What does that mean? We as believers are to burn with desire to
please God and do His will in every possible way. You get excited about politics and sports
don’t you? So get excited when serving
God and doing His work. Christ’s death
on the cross for you should excite you.
Even the fact that nothing can separate us from the love of God should
excite and stir your heart! The fact
that He rescued you from eternal fire should excite you! Don’t be lukewarm, but serve Him fervently.
Where
is your passion?
Is it
serving Christ?
Paul
says to “practice hospitality”, but what does that actually mean? We Christians should welcome everyone we meet
spending time and energy with them.
Jesus welcomed strangers and outcasts like Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. We can greet people and welcome them to
church. We can give people a ride to
church or doctor appointments. Invite
someone to a meal in your home or even pay for the meal when eating out. Use these mealtimes to build
relationships. Many of Jesus’ teachings
occurred around meals. Hospitality
shouldn’t be just at Thanksgiving or Christmas, but a constant attitude and
practice. We should be ready to welcome
people even strangers. You never know
when you will be entertaining angels.
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with
those who mourn. Live in harmony with
one another. Do not be proud, but be
willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” – Rom. 12:14-16.
When
trials come, we must have the right attitude.
Rejoice in hope and continue in prayer that will sustain you. Bless your persecutors and be sympathetic
with them in their joys and sorrows.
When wronged by anyone, don’t take revenge, but bless them and pray for
them. This is done so Christ will be
glorified as people see Him in you.
Do you sympathize
with others in their joys and sorrows?
Paul
goes on to say that we are not to repay anyone evil for evil, but to do what is
right. Live in peace with everyone if
possible. Do not take revenge, but leave
it for God to deal with. We are to feed
our enemies when they are hungry and thirsty.
Do not be overcome by evil, but with good. (Rom. 12:17-21).
Because
of Christ’s self-sacrificing love on the cross, we are to show self-sacrificing,
caring commitment by seeking the highest good.
If you are not, you are not obeying God.
We may not like everyone, but we are to love everyone. To love everyone is to genuinely care for
them. We are not to just avoid evil, but
we are to hate evil. So evaluate whether
your attitudes, actions and words are in line with biblical love.
We are
to never pay back evil for evil to anyone.
We are to never take revenge.
When someone wrongs us, it wounds our pride and we want to restore our
honor. Revenge doesn’t promote peace,
but causes more hostility. Revenge just
keeps the vengeful cycle going. When we
take revenge, we are doing God’s job. We
can’t know the whys and the personal motives behind the person’s action, but
God does. If we let revenge take hold,
our emotions get in the way which clouds our judgment. Only God is the competent Judge. Revenge is responding to sin with more sin.
When
attacked it is natural to want to strike back, but we should respond with
love. This overcomes evil in the person
by our good. There are practical ways to
overcome evil with good. We cannot raise
our voice in anger and not argue with others.
We can be kind and patient. We
can be forgiving. We can pray for that
person who is hurting us and pray for ourselves asking God to help us show love
qualities to others.
When
Paul says we should take thought for “what is right in the eyes of everybody”,
he doesn’t mean we should determine our behavior by public opinion. He means we should think about our testimony,
because the world is watching what we do and how we handle situations.
Principle: Sacrificial, transformed living calls us to
love others.
Next time
we will study Romans 13. Have a blessed day and thanks for visiting my
site. Hope to see you here again. -- I
encourage you to trust in Jesus.
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