Romans 12:1-2
~11 min read
SERMON OUTLINE
TRANSCRIPT
Greetings in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. First of all, I praise and thank God for this privilege to give some words of exhortation unto all of you tonight. Also, I'm so grateful to Reverend Paul for giving me this chance to share God's word.
As we come before the Lord, let us meditate upon the Word of God before we go for prayer. For our meditations tonight, I have chosen Romans 12:1-2. Romans 12:1-2, let us hear the word of God: “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. 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.” May the Lord add His blessing upon the reading of His holy and sacred Word of God. Amen. Tonight, I have entitled my short message of exhortation, "A Reasonable Service,” service that we ought to render unto the Lord as believers, as Christians. Let us look to the Lord in prayer.
Our gracious and merciful Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy saving grace and also for sustaining grace until today. Lord, because of Thy grace, we have been saved, and because of Your mercies, we can come before Thee in this manner, and we are not consumed until today. Lord, as we come before Thee, we would like to meditate upon Thy word. As we meditate on Thy Word, we need the illuminations of the Holy Spirit. Without the revelations of the Holy Spirit, we are nothing, we cannot know Thy Truth and Thy Will. Lord, help us to understand Thy Word. Be with us through thy Holy Spirit so that we may know and understand Thy Word and may apply it to our lives. We also ask for Thy forgiveness of our sins and unrighteousness. We commit ourselves and our time to Your mighty hand with thanksgiving. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
This is the Epistle of Paul unto Romans, the believers, those who are in Rome. Romans chapter 1 to 11 – if we look at Romans chapters 1 to 11 – there are can see the doctrinal teachings and the basic doctrines of Christianity. In chapters 1 to 11, we can see the doctrine of sin and also the doctrine of salvation – in other words justification – and especially in chapter 8, we see the mystery of predestination. God has called, and also God has justified, and also God is sanctifying those whom He has called. And one day, in Heaven, those whom He has called, and justified and are being sanctified will be glorified. And for those people for whom God has chosen and God has called and God has justified and are being sanctified, one day they will be sanctified.
So as believers and as Christians whom God has chosen and called, we are also called to do service. That’s why I have entitled this short message, “A Reasonable Service”, in other words, as Christian believers, our reasonable service. So for this service to render unto the Lord, the Apostle Paul beseeched the brethren who are in Rome, and this brethren, I think, refers to not biological brothers or sisters of Paul, but rather the spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ, the believers in Rome.
I. A Call
Therefore, this epistle, as it is the word of God, we must understand that Paul also is now calling us—you and me, the believers. And this call is not a call unto a specific office like pastor, like evangelist, like apostle, or to full-time minister. But this call is none other than a general call of God to all the believers. It means that God has called us to render a service unto Him. That's why the first point is this: “A Call”. And this call is a general call, a call made by God to all the believers through His servant Paul to render a service.
So, what is our reasonable service? Here, "reasonable" means logical, and “service”, the word service here means worship, actually. So, in other words, we can say that as a Christian, as a believer, what service we ought to render unto the Lord, to the One who has chosen us and has called us, has justified us, and also is sanctifying us and also will glorify us. Therefore, as a believer, God has saved us to our Saviour: what service must we or ought we to render? Here, Apostle Paul mentioned the service that we must render unto the Lord in chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. Let me read the service we ought to render unto the Lord, our Saviour: to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God”.
II. A Service
And the second one is that—or the reasonable service that Paul requests us to render unto the Lord so that it might be acceptable and holy unto the Lord. Here in verse two, we see the explanation of how that service might be holy and acceptable before the Lord. In order to be holy, in order to be acceptable by God, verse two explains this way: "Be not conformed to this world” – you believer – “but [rather] be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that ye may prove, ye may know what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Here we see what service we must render unto the Lord. Here, Paul clearly mentioned in verse one and in verse two, we must render, we must present our bodies and also our mind. Not only our body but also our mind. Body and mind here speak of our whole being. Not only our action, but that action, that practice also must be agreed, or must be supported by the mind, the willingness of our heart. Though we may render some service unto the Lord, if there is no willingness, if our heart and our mind agree not to that action, then that kind of service will not be accepted by God. In other words, we can say that it will not be acceptable before the Lord.
So, in order to be acceptable, in order to be holy, verse two must be applied into our life. We must not conform to this world. It means that we must not take the counsel, the philosophies, and the systems, and the lifestyles of the worldly people or of the world. Though we are living in this world, we are not of the world. Therefore, we must not live according to the world or the systems of the world. But rather, we must be transformed day by day by the renewing of our mind. Here, our mind speaks also of our heart, our understanding. If our heart and our mind are being renewed by the word of God, then we will know and we will be able to prove what is the will of God.
And we will be able to know the will of God if only our heart and our mind are being renewed by the word of God. Though we are believers and positionally we have been sanctified, but still, we have a sinful nature. That's why, as we are living on this Earth full of deceptions, temptation of Satan, and also our sinful nature is here, sometimes we live and act and do things after our fleshly desire and after our sinful desire. And sometimes we do not know what the will of God is and what is the truth. This is why we need to be renewed day by day by the word of God so that we may be able to recognise what is good and what is the will of God.
So, we need to be renewed by the word of God. For that reason, we need to read the Bible. We need to attend the Bible study classes. And also, we need to pray unto the Lord so that we may know what the will of God is. And by knowing the will of God, if we do things after the will of God, then that service would be acceptable before the Lord. Sadly, many so-called Christians today, they render service, they do many things in the name of the Lord, but there is no true knowledge of the word of God. But they rather do things after their own understanding and just for their own satisfaction. They give tithes, they also do service unto the Lord, but not according to the will of God, not according to the Bible, and just for their own satisfaction, they do many things. And also, for the praise of men, for their own reputations, they do service unto the Lord. Then, that kind of worship and that kind of service would not be acceptable before the Lord.
Here, we have a biblical example from the life of Saul, King Saul. We know God commanded him to kill all the Amalekites, including the cattle. But he spared the fatlings of the cattle and also the king himself. And when he was confronted by Prophet Samuel and he tried to give excuses, here we see he wanted to present unto the Lord a sacrifice but not according to the will of God, not after God's commandment. That's why his sacrifice and what he did was not accepted by God. He was rejected by God, which means that though we may present our body, though we may give and render our service unto the Lord, if that service and that worship has no willingness, in other words, not agreed by our heart and our mind, just for the sake of duty, just for the sake of our reputations, and just for the praise of man, then that kind of worship and the service that we render would not be accepted, then that kind of service is not acceptable before the Lord because God sees the heart.
Our heart and our mind must be willing to render all these things after the will of God. In other words, whatever we do, we must do willingly. We must agree to the word of God, the revealed Word of God. And then, with awe and reverence and the love of God, we must present our body and our mind unto the Lord. Then, that service would be acceptable before the Lord.
So here, Paul exalts and also constantly and continuously beseeches us to present our body and our mind unto the Lord. So when he makes this exhortation and when he makes this call, he does not use his apostleship authority. He does not force us to do so. But rather, he tenderly appeals to us and exhorts us to do so by the mercies of God. On account of the mercies of God, he makes this call. Therefore, in order to present our body and our mind—that is our reasonable service—unto the Lord, we need motivation.
III. A Motivation
We need the motivation. Here, Paul uses the mercies of God as our motivation. We need strength. We need to continue to present our bodies and our mind. Today we may be able to do so, but it is not sure for tomorrow. Here on Earth, life is very difficult. We are facing many temptations and difficulties and trouble in our journey of life as a believer. We try to do our best for the Lord, but sometimes as we are living on this sinful world, cursed by God, we cannot do so. This is why sometimes we are so downhearted, we cannot continue at that time. Here, Paul wants us to acknowledge the mercies of God. And here, the mercies of God are none other than not giving us according to our sins. In other words, God does not judge us according to our sins. If God would have judged us according to our sins, we would not be here on Earth today. But because of God's mercies, we are here today.
God allows us to live here on Earth just because of His mercies. Knowing God's mercies, what we ought to render unto the Lord is none other than our body and our mind unto Him—for His use, for His glory. We must not conform to the world, but we must be being transformed day by day by the word of God. So that our service, our reasonable service as Christians, our logical or moral duty unto the Lord, to present our bodies and our mind—that service would be acceptable and holy before the Lord.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us remember the mercies of God. Not only has God called us and saved us, but He continues, He continually shows His mercy upon us and allows us to live here on Earth. Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us present our body and our mind unto the Lord as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. That is our duty as a Christian, the service we ought to render unto the Lord because we belong to the Lord. We are not of our own, but we are owned by God. Therefore, let us submit ourselves as clay in the hands of a potter into the hands of God so that our God, the potter, would mold us and shape us according to His will and for His use and for His glory.
So let us submit ourselves, knowing our Christian moral obligations. Let us submit ourselves and let us render our body, not only our body but our mind – willingness, we must agree to the truth and the word of God. Knowing the will of God, we must willingly render our bodies and our mind unto the Lord for His use and for His glory. Brothers and sisters, may the Lord help us so that we may be able to render our reasonable service, which is none other than to present our bodies and our mind—the mind that is being transformed day by day by the word of God. May the Lord continue to help us and bless all of us. Let us pray.
Our merciful and gracious Heavenly Father, we really thank Thee for Thy love and care. Thank You for this blessed hour when we can come in this manner to meditate upon Thy Word. Lord, we know in part and we also preach and share in part. But Lord, Thou would use Thy word so that we might be edified and also sanctified, and also, Lord, we may present our bodies and mind unto Thee as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto Thee. Lord, continue to lead us and guide us as we will pray before Thee. Please hear our prayer from Heaven and bless us despite our shortcomings and sins and unrighteousness. Continue to cleanse us by the blood of Jesus Christ so that we might be a holy and acceptable and a living sacrifice unto Thee. We commit all these things and pray in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
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