True Worship

Series on Romans

XV Spiritual Gain

A Gratitude

Text: 12:1-2

Introduction

Some have said that these verses begin the practical section of the book of Romans as opposed to the doctrinal section. I do not like that distinction although this is obviously a new section. I prefer to call it the responsive section. True worship is a response to the grace of God and surely chapters 1-11 are a compendium of God’s sovereign saving grace. And now Paul answers the question, ‘What is our response?” The answer is worship, but not the outward formal liturgical worship that was characteristic of the Old Testament, though that was important, but rather the Apostle tells us the transformation of our lives, the worship of the heart and soul and mind and strength. This Paul describes in verses 1 and 2, 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. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were commanded only until the appearance of something better, that is their fulfillment in Christ. By contrast with what Paul commands here they were carnal, weak, fleshly, and beggarly. The mystery of God’s saving love is revealed in the gospel Paul preached and explained in this book. The worshipful response to that revelation of God’s sovereign election and predestination, of our calling and justification and glorification as summarized in chapter 8 is the opposite of what men would and have predicted. Unbelief says that if grace has done it all then we can relax and do as we please, but faith says, we should look at what God has done and fall at his feet because we owe Him everything. Paul reminds us in II Corinthians 8:9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Those who truly worship Him follow in His steps. He said to truly follow we must deny ourselves, and take up our cross. It is in that denial that we discover how rich we are in Christ. This is what Paul is asking us to do here in Romans 12. A California psychiatrist who treats the rich and famous says their problem is that they have lost the ability to experience the “if only” syndrome. You see we peasants can always say if only I was rich or if only I was famous things would be different, but they can’s do that. The people who have “arrived” have nothing to look forward to. Thus the psychiatrists conclusion is essentially that the ability to covet is what makes us happy. I have the remedy for that and I get it from Paul in Philippians 3:7 and 8, But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. This is the living sacrifice that Paul is talking about. Thus we shall consider this sacrifice as complete, confident, and costly.

I Complete Sacrifice

The first thing Paul tells us first is that this sacrifice is to be of the whole individual. We are to yield our whole selves to Jesus, but the word “body” is used here to emphasize three things.

A It emphasizes the earlier teaching of the Apostle in Chapter 6 where he says in verse 13, Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. The body is the vehicle of our interaction with the animate and inanimate in the world in which we live, and the spirit works through the body. Calvin states, “By bodies he means not only our skin and bones but the totality of which we are composed. He adopted this word that he might more fully designate all that we are, for the members of the body are the instruments by which we carry out our purposes.”

B The body is also recognized as the last bastion of sin and Satan’s temptations while we are here below. The final act of redemption in Christ is glorification or a new body, and until that happens we are not fully redeemed. Thus in chapter 8 Paul reminded us in verse 10, But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the whole body is yielded then the whole man is yielded.

C When the sacrifices of the Old testament were made a living creature was brought. In the sacrifice the blood was shed, and according to Leviticus 17 the life or soul of the flesh is in the blood. What remained was the body which was burned or eaten depending on the circumstances. Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree, His blood was shed, and he died for us. Essentially Paul is reminding us that this experience of dying and rising to a new life must be duplicated in us and thus he writes in Colossians 2:11 and 12, In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

II Confident Sacrifice

Paul also tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable or pleasing to God. In Old Testament times the words holy and acceptable had a special meaning. No sacrifice could be offered that was blind or lame or otherwise marred. The animal had to be “without blemish.” Also the only sacrifices that could be offered were those specified in the law, or in other words acceptable to God. How could we offer up ourselves as holy and acceptable sacrifices when we are marred by countless sins? We could not, except for Christ’s once for all sacrifice. Peter tells us that he was offered up as a lamb without blemish and without spot and Paul reminds us that the sacrifice of Christ was a fragrant or pleasing offering to God. Jesus died for the sins of His people. Isaiah reminds us in 53:6, All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Thus in the words of the Apostle John, The blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. Thus cleansed we can indeed offer our bodies, our persons to God as holy and pleasing sacrifices. So the author of Hebrews reminds us in 4:16, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. This sacrifice Paul calls for is one we can make confidently.

III Costly Sacrifice

This act of worship in response to the grace of God involves a costly change in our lifestyle. We can no longer conform to worldly standards. Instead, transformed by the grace of God we discover that His will is good and pleasing and perfect. Here are some illustrations.

A Pure Will

I Choose pure because it best suggests that what we are talking about is the fact that God thinks it is good. We often use the word good to describe what we want and actually that may not be good for us. God’s will is always good for us. Take for example a Christian businessman who upon entering his line of business finds that most others in this business are dishonest, and what is more if they were honest most of them would fail. His dilemma is either cheat and succeed or be honest and fail. Realizing that it is the world that deifies success he decides to fail before the world but succeed before God. He has discovered the good or pure will of God. The discovery is that in the world the bad often appears good and the good appears bad and he knows the difference.

B Pleasing Will

Discovering that God’s will is pleasing is often difficult because the acceptability of that will can only be gauged by the peace we experience and the freedom from guilt and misery which comes as a consequence of doing His will. God’s will is always pleasing to Him, but we have to experience it to realize that it is also pleasing to us. For example a Christian man gets married and he is irritated by some of his wife’s behavior. He becomes resentful and failing to love, gradually his affection for her dies. Then as often happens he goes to the therapist and says, as if he has been struck by a bolt of lightening, “I just don’t love her anymore.” The worldly psychologist will approve of separation and divorce as the only sensible course. The Bible says God hates divorce, so in this instance what is acceptable and pleasing to God is for the man to return to his first love. He can do this if he is willing to admit that his love for his wife did not die a natural death. His lack of love was not an act of God. He murdered it first in his heart and now he is about to do it publicly in a divorce. God says there is no peace for the wicked.

C Perfect Will

Conscience is important, but believers cannot just depend on their conscience. The conscience must constantly be sent back to the school of Scripture to receive instruction from the Holy Spirit. In this manner believers become aware of God’s decretive will. In this way the will of God becomes a proven component of the lives of God’s children. The more they live in accordance with that will and approve of it, the more also, through this experience, will they learn to know that will, and rejoice in that knowledge. They will exclaim, “Thy will is our delight.” This is discovering the perfect will of God. Since God’s will aims at our perfection, the more we experience it, the more perfect it appears to us. Not conforming to the world and being transformed is always the direct result of self denial. It is costly, but in the end it is pure, pleasing, and perfect to us as well as to God.