The Apostle Paul was
concerned with the way his Roman brethren were living out their Christian
experience. Rome in the first century
had some unfortunate parallels to Sodom and Gomorrah during Lot’s time. And, apparently, the Roman saint’s were
displaying a lifestyle that had changed very little since their conversion. Fast
forward two thousand years: Same problem, different country -- the modern
church in the United States.
In
Romans 12:1 Paul begs his fellow believers to submit to the Lordship of Jesus:
“I
appeal to you therefore, my fellow believers, and beg you by all the mercies and
tender compassion of God, that you make a decisive dedication of your bodies
presenting body, soul, spirit, mind, heart, and will, as a living sacrifice,
holy, devoted and consecrated to God. This pleases God and is your reasonable, rational
and intelligent divine service -- your spiritual worship -- to God.” (John’s translation) A
“living sacrifice” is a continual sacrifice, as the Greek present participle so
indicates, a lifelong sacrificial process of dying to Self that Christ might
reign in our hearts and minds. (Gal. 2:20) God
views this as an offering of pure worship, esteeming His worth by our
sacrifice, and is pleased. Lordship is a willful change of ownership prompted by
“the mercies and tender compassion of God”: “And you are not your own ... For you
were bought at a price (purchased with preciousness and paid for by Christ) ...
The precious blood of Christ.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20; Peter 1:18-19)
In Romans 12:2 Paul commands his fellow believers to embrace
Transformation through mental renewal: “Brethren, stop assuming a lifestyle
that is not representative of your inner spiritual nature, but is patterned
after this world. Change your way of
living to express and reflect your inner spiritual nature by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able to test
and approve in practice God’s will, His good, well-pleasing and complete will.”
(John’s
translation) As brethren...
saint’s, we have the DNA of our Lord’s nature implanted deep within our spirit,
waiting to be manifested through us by the Holy Spirit. It is in the willful
setting of our mind that we choose, moment by moment, to walk according to the
indwelling Spirit of God or according to our fleshly carnal nature... Self, to
set our minds on things above or things below. Choosing rightly, consistently,
will develop the spiritual discipline of walking in the Spirit... being led by
the Spirit of God, putting to death by the Spirit the deeds of the body. And
this leads to sonship, becoming children of God! (Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16)
What matters now and
in Rome two thousand years ago is not that we are Christians. What matters is that we are Christlike. God’s goal is not a label – God’s goal is a
lifestyle. Romans 12:1 establishes the believer’s relationship to God: He is
Lord and we are His devoted Love-Slaves. God made Jesus both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), Lord and Savior (2 Peter 3:18), and as Christ, the
anointed one, the Messiah, He brings salvation.
But He is also the Lord God Almighty, and total submission as a
bondservant... Love-Slave, to His lordship is mandatory. Romans 12:2 commands
change, Transformation into the very nature and attributes of Christ, in a
word... Christlikeness. Self must die that the Christ-Life can come forth!
Together, Romans 12:1and
2 form the Greatest Commission of scriptures, for it is in Lordship and
Transformation that we are equipped for the “righteous works” God has prepared
for us. The great Love Commandments, the Great Commission, everything we are
and do in Christ comes forth from the release of His essence within our spirit,
as we are changed from the inside out. This is how we become vessels of honor
fit for Kingdom service. This is how we release the Holy Spirit to manifest
Christ in us. This is how the Christ-Life flows through us -- a Life living its
Life through our life – making us Salt and Light to a dying world. This, in a
sense, is the whole enchilada... what we call salvation.
A
LIVING SACRIFICE
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