Be ye transformed…
We have seen God’s mercy and wisdom: how shall we respond?
“With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give Him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to Him and acceptable by Him.
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”
— Romans 12:2 (J.B. Phillips New Translation)
Paul appealed for the dedication of the whole of life to God.
The basis of the appeal rested in the mercy of God.
As believers are transformed in their minds and conformed to the image of Christ, they will be able to discern, desire, and approve the will of God.
God’s will is good and holy; it is sufficient for every need.
Only through spiritual renewal can believers do the will of God.
Jesus’ followers must possess a strong passion to honor Him in every aspect of life.
Out of gratitude to God for his mercy and salvation, we should be completely devoted to loving Him, living by His standards and serving His purposes for our lives.
(1) Our goal should be to show God’s holiness (i.e., moral purity, spiritual wholeness, separation from evil and complete dedication to God) in all we do.
This requires separation from the patterns and practices of the world so we can pursue a deeper relationship with God.
As we consider His sacrifice for us, offering ourselves to Him as “living sacrifices” is good and pleasing as our spiritual act of worship (v. 2).
(2) We must offer our bodies to God as dead to sin and alive to God (see 6:11; 8:10, notes on being “dead to sin”) and as the temple of the Holy Spirit (see next note; cf. 1Co 6:15, 19).
(3) We must realize that true godly worship involves a lifestyle that brings honor to Christ in words and actions.
It is not necessarily a great sacrifice to voice our worship to God in a church service where people are gathered for that very purpose (cf. Eph 5:2; Heb 13:15).
Worship becomes a true sacrifice when we take it outside of the church by living in a way that truly honors, exalts and brings positive attention to God.
SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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