Romans 12 verses 1 – 21
When
we turn to the book of Romans, credited by many as the greatest piece of
doctrinal writing we have, it is first of the epistles. It was most significant and important as had an
impact on many leaders of the church in bygone days. Augustine was saved by reading the book of
Romans. Martin Luther did everything he
could to find favour with God. Tried so
many things that he might break down that middle wall of partition, tried to
beat and weep himself, go on long fasts in the ministry where he was stationed,
tried to climb the stone staircase on hands and knees all to find peace with
God. It wasn’t until he read Romans 1
verse 17 “for therein is the righteousness of God” that it attracted
Luther. He read on and the moment he
read it something happened in his heart.
He realised the only way could come to faith was by trusting in Christ. Luther said of the book of Romans “it
deserved to be known by every child of God word for word.” He went on to say “take the book of Romans
and study it, use it for their time of devotion.” John Wesley was saved through it by hearing
Martin Luther’s commentary on the book of Romans. We find from this chapter that we are moving
into the practical part of the book of Romans.
4 things Paul points out.
A call to surrender. He calls us to surrender to God. That beckons a question right away for us –
was there a moment when we surrendered fully to God? Not talking about bowing our knees at the foot
of the old rugged cross and trusted Christ to save our souls. If not, not on way to heaven and home, never
been born into family of God, not talking of that, was there a moment when we
consciously said “Lord here am I take these feet of mine, hands, everything
that I have I give them solely to you.”
This is only a little church planted yet Paul comes in with this
tremendous teaching “I beseech you therefore.”
The word “beseech” means appeal, plead with. Surrender your bodies, your best to God. It is only the very best for God. We cannot give anything else. God spoke to Moses out of the tabernacle pointing
out the principles and blessings of worship.
“If any man brings to me an offering it has to be a lamb without
blemish. It has to be given voluntarily,
got to bring it to the door.” We can see
that man going into his flock, looks at all the lambs in his flock until he
finds the lamb that is perfect. He was
doing it of his own voluntary will, offering to God his best. In Romans 12 he writes “I plead with you that
you offer yourselves as a living sacrifice unto God”. One day when the Lord was preaching a little
boy came out to hear him preaching. Then
there was a meal required but nothing was available to offer the people. Yet this little boy had a lunch. He was asked if he could give it to the
Lord. He put it into the hands of the
Lord who fed the multitude of people that day.
The little boy could have given the half of what he had, that would have
been good but not his best. It is only
the best for the Lord. As the Lord
watched all the rich men one day putting money into the treasury he commented
on the woman who had given 2 mites to the Lords work. She could have dropped in one and that would
have been good but not her best. God
requires the best. Are we surrendering
our all to the Lord? Are we giving to
him our very best? A young man was
travelling on a train on one particular occasion. To while away the time people were playing
cards. They looked over at the young man
and asked him would you like a hand.
Before he was saved the young man had been a prolific gambler. He replied “no I don’t have my hands with me,
these are not my hands they are the hands of the Lord, they are his. Before I got saved I would have taken a hand
of cards but not now.” Are we
surrendered to the Lord today? In the book
of Romans Paul takes the people through what Christ has done for them in their
lives and for their lives. They all had
sinned, there was no difference Greek and Jew alike - it is the power of God
unto salvation. You heard that gospel
and you trusted this gospel. There was a
penalty for their sin – “for the wages of sin is death.” The Lord came into the world to save sinners. God has done all that for you and he expects
something from you. He asks what are you
doing for your life just to save yourself? When you look at the mercies of God it
calls for complete surrender.
A
call for separation. “Be not conformed to God.” We are called to surrender all to God. Only then can the Lord use it. The danger for the Christian is
conformity. You know what it is like to
conform to someone, to give in to someone little by little. As long as we surrender all to God that will
keep us being conformed to the world. The
danger is a conformity to this old world.
Lot simply conformed. Abraham was
called by God of heaven to take Lot with him out of the land of Chaldees. They shared many things together, worked
together and one time when down into Egypt.
God blessed them there because when they came up out of Egypt there wasn’t
enough land to contain 2 herds. Then
there was a strife between Lot’s herdsmen and Abraham’s herdsmen. They began to complain. God says there has to be separation. Abraham told Lot to choose the land he
wanted. Lot saw the plains that were well
watered and that was the land he wanted - Sodom. That is where his feet led him. When we surrender to God, God calls for a
separation. Land looked good, attractive
but Lot conformed to the land of Sodom.
Only took a look for him to see the best. He pitched his tent towards it. Then we find him actually living in Sodom, taking
an active part in Sodom. Bit by bit he slowly
conformed. No-one ever backslid all at
once, it is a conformity to the things happening around you. Have we asked the Lord’s blessing on some of
the places we have been in this week?
King David lay on his bed, cast his eyes on the rooftop, saw the most
beautiful woman called Bathsheba. Never
saw anything like the beauty of that woman before. He said to himself “I have to have that
woman.” That was the first step. He shouldn’t have been where he was in the
first place. He should have been at the
head of his army leading his men into battle instead of lying in bed. The devil wasn’t long in using that
situation. Paul says to this church “I
beseech you, appeal to you, implore you, offer your lives, bodies a living
sacrifice holy acceptable unto God and be not conformed to this world.” A separation called for, a surrendering of our
minds, our heart, our feet, our whole bodies.
A call to sanctification. Renewing our minds. God does his part.
It
is a call to service. Whenever we are at the centre of that we will
prove what the will of God is for our lives.
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