Romans Chapter 12– John Karmelich
1.
We are now beginning “Part 3” of the Book of Romans. My title for this section is, “Now what?”
a)
When you study most of Paul’s letters, especially those addressed to
churches as opposed to individuals, Paul style is to spend chapters explaining
all the good things God has done for us.
The latter chapters will then explain what is our response back
to God.
b)
In other words, “God has done great things for you and me. Now what?”
i)
The “now what” is God’s desire of how we are to respond to His love to
us.
ii)
We are now starting the “now what” section of Romans.
2.
In this lesson, I’m going to spend an extraordinary amount of time on the
first two verses.
a)
These verses are the “methodology” of Christian living.
b)
It is as if Paul is going to say, “Here is how I want you to live
your lives (Verses 1-2). Then let me
give examples and illustrations for the remainder of Chapter 12.
3.
Before I start, I need to talk a little about “giving one’s all to God.”
a)
“The entrance fee to God’s kingdom is nothing, but the annual dues are
everything.” Henry Drummond
b)
As a Christian, one has to understand one’s personal behavior matters. Yes, we are saved as long as we are trusting
in Jesus, but that is not an excuse to sin as much as we want.
c)
The life of the Christian keys upon one word: “Gratitude”. God saved us
from an eternity in hell. God works in
our lives to mature us. God gives us
all sorts of power in order to overcome sin.
What does God expect in return?
Gratitude.
i)
God demands obedience out of gratitude.
It is the greatest motivator one can have in order to serve God. God can “stick a gun to our head” and ask us
to serve Him under duress. We would
then resent it. However, if we served
God out of gratitude for His love, we are then serving because we love Him.
d)
In many lessons, I spoke of the danger of trying to please God through
our own efforts without God’s intervention.
One is technically “worshipping themselves” as opposed to God if we
don’t give Him the credit or praying for Him to help us in the first place.
i)
The other danger is laziness. God
never calls us to say for example, “I’ll just lay here until God gives me a
sign to do something.” God can only
guide us if we are “moving”. God expects
us to live a life of gratitude in service for Him. The remainder of Romans gives examples of how this is to be
so. My point here is to avoid laziness
in our service to God.
ii)
Another danger is, “I can go do whatever I want as long as I’m trusting
in Jesus.” That is true, as we have the
freedom to do whatever we want. The
problem is the freedom God gives us also comes with responsibility. God saying in effect, “You want to turn your
life over to Me? Terrific; I have a
book full of instructions on how I want you to live. Start reading and obeying!”
God gave us these “do’s and don’ts” for our own happiness. Those laws and word-illustrations are “on
the books” for our benefit on how to live a happy and fulfilled life.
4.
One has to remember that giving one’s life to God is more than just
salvation; it also gives us a purpose for living.
a)
If there is a God, then the first question is, “What does God require of
us and expect of us?” That is where
God’s laws come into effect. Those
laws are God saying to all people: “You want to know what I want from you
folks? Here’s a set of laws and
instructions. Start obeying or you’ll
be toast“. ☺
b)
Since humans are incapable of being perfect, God in His love for us, then
provided a perfect-punishment on our behalf, so we can spend eternity with
Him. That is the Gospel message in one
sentence.
c)
If all we have to do is accept Jesus, what’s the point of living on earth
after that? Grant it, some accept Jesus
on their deathbed and are saved. For
most of us, there is still a long life to live. What do we do after we are saved? In other words, “now what”?
d)
The purpose of living gets back to the concept of gratitude. We live a life in gratitude to God. If we are grateful for God’s salvation, then
out of gratitude for God, we spend the rest of our lives serving Him. All we do, in whatever we do, is designed to
give glory to God. This applies to
work, school, home, waking hours, sleeping hours, household chores, and
recreation activities.
i)
Do you want practical examples?
Hang in there. Most of Chapter
12 all the way to the end of the book are examples of such.
5.
I also want to talk a little about some mistakes Christians make in
serving God.
a)
One mistake is “trying to do it all on one’s own power”. I have watched Christians practically work
themselves to death trying to help others to a point of mental and emotional
exhaustion. It never occurs to them that
God designed us for rest and sleep in order to have the power and energy to
serve others. Some people serve others
out of guilt or they believe they need to do more to please God. That is getting back to the danger of trying
to please God through one’s own efforts.
Yes, God wants us to give it everything we got, but one also has to
understand the concept of rest and recuperation in order to have the strength
to keep moving.
b)
Another danger is to not put up boundaries over those who use and abuse
us. There are people who take advantage
of one’s good nature. I’m not talking
about ignoring those in need. God may
have called you to minister to that person.
I’m talking about the kind of person who controls you through
manipulation and guilt. God never calls
us to serve out of guilt. Further, we
are not truly helping people who take advantage of our good nature.
c)
Another danger I’ve seen is people who “try and try and try, yet never
feel connected to God”. They go to
Christian seminars and pray constantly, yet they complain they never feel God’s
power working in them. A similar idea
is a person who knows the bible cover to cover, goes to church regularly, and
then complain how miserable is their lives.
i)
The solution is often found in Verses 1-2 of Romans 12, which we’ll get
to in a moment. (I promise! ☺) It has to do with not giving ones all to
God.” We’re impatiently waiting for God
to do something for us, as opposed to us living a life for God. We’re waiting for God to work instead of us
working for God to be His witnesses to others on our behalf.
ii)
As an example, when you and I are having a pity party for ourselves,
often the best solution is to go help someone else in need. Getting our minds off of our problems by
serving someone else gives us perspective and gratitude for all God has done
for us.
6.
Romans Chapter 12, Verse 1: 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.
a)
I’m going to discuss
Verses 1 and 2 phrase by phrase, as these two verses are the “methodology”
needed in order to serving God effectively.
The remainder of Chapter 12 is illustrations and examples of such. If we can grasp the concepts of Verses 1 and
2, the rest is “downhill”. The pace
will pick up after that point.
b)
Notice the last phrase
of Verse 1: “-- This is your
spiritual act of worship”.
i)
Paul desires that we
worship God in gratitude for what God has done for us.
ii)
The word “this” refers
to the words that come before the dash (“--“) in the verse.
iii)
We think of “worshipping
God” as getting on our knees and expressing gratitude. The idea of ”worship” is far greater in
scope. Paul’s comment of “spiritual act
of worship” means we are to give are “all” to God and minister to others. Again, most of Chapter 12 gives examples and
illustrations of how to do this practically.
c)
Let’s start with “Therefore”.
When you see a “therefore”, ask yourself why it is there-for.
i)
In other words, the “therefore” connects to some previous thought.
ii)
The first and logical answer is that it ties to all of Romans so far.
iii)
The key point so far in Romans is “God keeps His unconditional promises:
a)
Chapters 1-8 are about God keeping His unconditional promises to
Christians. As long as we are trusting
in Jesus, we are saved. We can’t mess it
up because it is God’s faithfulness that is at stake, and not ours.
b)
Chapters 9-11 are about God keeping His unconditional promises to the
Jewish nation. They still have a future
destiny within the land of Israel, not due to their goodness, but because of
God’s unconditional promises.
iv)
If it’s all up to God and no longer up to us, what do we need to do? That is what the “therefore”, is there-for.
v)
You can also argue that the “therefore” ties to the last few verses of
Chapter 11.
a)
Remember in the original text, there are no chapter breaks.
b)
Paul ended the last few verses of Chapter 11 with a prayer of
praise. It praises God’s mercy toward
us and how God has blessed our lives.
The “therefore” can be seen as “What is our response to His mercy upon
us?”
d)
Next, let’s talk about “urge you brothers”:
i)
In the original Greek, the verb-tense a command like an army captain
giving a command his soldiers. At the
same time, it is a plea, like one who is equal.
ii)
Paul sees all Christians as equal to him in stature. He is pleading with us to “do as He
does”. Paul is implying his authority
as one sent from God. At the same time,
again, Paul is pleading “as an equal”.
e)
The next phrase is “in view of
God's mercy”.
i)
This gets back to the
introduction about service out of gratitude.
It is the idea that because God has been merciful to us, we need to live
a life of gratitude to God.
ii)
God’s “mercy” is the
fact that He has forgiven all of our sins, past, present and future
because He has provided payment for them, at “no cost to us.”
f)
Now we get into the
actual discussion of “How to worship God”.
Remember the main point of Verse 1 is Paul urging us to be obedient to
God. So far, we have only focused on
the “why” issue (i.e., out of gratitude).
Now we get into the “how” issue.
g)
The next phrase is
begins the “how” issue: “offer your
bodies as living sacrifices.”
i)
In the Old Testament, for one to have forgiveness of sins, one had to
offer an animal as a sacrifice for ones sins.
This had multiple purposes:
a)
Killing an innocent animal reminds us that innocent people suffer when we
sin. There are consequences to others
when we are disobedient to God.
b)
Remember that small animals were a form of money. They didn’t have currency and people had to
barter for services. Payment was often
in the form of animals. My point here
is that offering an animal actually cost that Jewish person “something” as a
sacrifice.
c)
Finally, an animal sacrifices were a reminder of death. Sin ultimately leads to death. By seeing death via killing an animal, it is
a visual reminder of what can ultimately happen if we continue in that sin.
d)
We as Christians no longer do animal sacrifices. Those sacrifices were ultimately fulfilled
in Jesus’ payment on the cross.
e)
We are “not done” with sacrifices.
That is what this verse is all about.
ii)
Getting back to Verse 1, it says to offer our bodies as “living
sacrifices”.
iii)
The key word is “living”. If you
think about it, this can be a contradiction in terms. We think of a biblical sacrifice as to kill something, yet Paul
uses the word “living” with sacrifice.
The term sacrifice means to give up something for someone else.
iv)
This is about giving one’s “all” to God. This is about putting our bodies up on a “mental” sacrificial
altar and saying, “OK, God, You are now the owner of my body. You are in charge. If You want me to die tomorrow, that is Your problem. If you want me to live another day, then my
desire is to live to do Your will.”
a)
The classic joke here is, “The problem with a living sacrifice is it
keeps squirming off the altar. “ A dead animal just lies there on the
sacrificial table. A live animal has a
desire to get off the table as the fire is hot.
v)
We as Christians constantly battle “our will versus God’s will”. In a sense, most of the remainder of Chapter
12 are examples and illustrations of how we can fully live for God and not for
our own desires.
vi)
It is also important to talk a little about human bodies:
a)
Many people mistakenly think of our bodies as what causes our sins. They think it is the bodily desires that
cause us to sin in the first place.
b)
All sin begins with a thought or desire.
The body then “acts” on that thought if it goes unchecked. For example, if we steal, is it the fault of
our hands for grabbing what is not ours? The point is our bodies are not bad;
it is just how our minds use them that are bad.
c)
Getting back to the text, if we give our “bodies” on the sacrificial
altar, that starts with our thoughts, and our bodies follow. It is our mind telling our body, “get up
there on that altar” and the body follows.
It starts with our desire to want to please God in all that we do, and
our actions must follow.
h)
The last phrase left in Verse 1 is “holy
and pleasing to God”.
i)
The word “holy” is the
idea of “separated for God”.
a)
For example, if you have a special dinner plate that is only used for one
person with no exceptions, that plate “separated” for that person. If that plate were only for God’s use, then
one can think of that plate as “holy”.
It is the idea of something completely dedicated only for God’s service.
ii)
The word “whole” is
similar to “holy” in that the whole thing is being used.
iii)
We as Christians are
designed to be “holy” in that all our lives are designed to be of use to
God. That not only includes the “God
stuff” time (i.e., church, prayer, etc.), but anything and everything we
do. It is best to think that our entire
lives are designed to be “witnesses” for God in all that we do.
iv)
The last phrase is
pretty self-explanatory: “pleasing to
God”.
a)
I have to admit, I’ve
never been happy with the currently popular Christian cliché, “What would Jesus
do?” I prefer the expression, “What
would Jesus want me to do?” God
does not call us to literally say, walk on water or be crucified. God calls us to live a life pleasing to Him
in all that we do. If you are not sure
whether or not something is a sin, ask yourself, “Is what I am doing pleasing
to God?”
b)
I can here some people
thinking, “Does this mean I can’t go shopping or go to say, a sports event or
to a movie? Of course you can. The secret is to take God with you! We can still enjoy recreational things. We must remember that we are witnesses for
God whenever and wherever we are.
c)
I find that if one has a
heart for God, one’s interest in other “things” will be limited. If we love God with all of our heart, soul,
mind and strength (Ref.: Matthew 22:37), then our desire is to spend our time
living for Him.
d)
I also try to put things
in balance. If I act so much “like a
non-Christian” so that no can tell even tell I’m a believer in Jesus, then I’ve
gone too far. I always liked the
question, “If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough
evidence to convict you?”
i)
Wow, we actually made it
to Verse 2. ☺
7.
Verse 2: 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.
a)
I warned you the first
two verses are slow going, and then I pick up the pace.
b)
The first two versus
focus on “how” to please God. The
remainder of the chapter is illustrations and examples. The methodology is key, which is why I’m
spending so much time on these two verses.
c)
Let’s start with “Do not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world”
i)
This gets back to my
concept of “If I were on trial for being a Christian, is there enough evidence
to convict me”.
ii)
I am also reminded of
the classic joke, “Some of you are excellent secret agents for Jesus
Christ. You’re neighbors don’t suspect
in the least you are Christians.” ☺
(Water Martin)
iii)
So what does Paul mean by “the pattern of this world”? It refers to living for anything and
everything other than the true God.
a)
Everybody has some “god”. Find
out where people spend their free time and their spare income and you will find
their god.
b)
This gets back to idea I brought up in the introduction that if there was
no God, life ultimately has no purpose.
You can live to make lots of money, be famous, or even “do good”, but if
there is no ultimate purpose of an everlasting life for mankind, inevitably, it
is futile.
iv)
The “pattern of this world” is to “do whatever feels good”. It is about living for anything and
everything other than God himself.
a)
I need to add that life is meant to be enjoyed. A miserable Christian is a lousy witness for God. The secret is to let God work through us so
we can appreciate it all the more.
Anything life has to offer eventually leaves us short in
satisfaction. God designed us with a
need to worship Him. If we fulfill that
need with anything else, we ultimately will be unsatisfied.
b)
People who are in marketing understand this concept well. A commercial may start with, “Are you happy
with your old car?” Marketing people
understand that no “thing” ever fully satisfies and we always crave more.
v)
Again, to be a Christian is the opposite of living for things other than
for God. It is about living to please
God in all that we do. After we
comprehend that, we can put every other aspect of life in perspective. We can then enjoy “things” because
we’ve got the right perspective. We
understand things can only bring limited satisfaction and not ultimate
satisfactions.
vi)
If we are to be
witnesses for Jesus Christ, then are behavior must follow. It starts with the mind i.e., our thoughts,
and then are actions follow.
vii)
The problem is we fail a
lot. We see “things” we want and turn
away from God. Just how do we live a
live that is always pleasing to God?
That is what the rest of Verse 2 is all about.
d)
The key phrase is, “but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
i)
Let’s start with “be
transformed”. This means to be changed
from the inside-out.
a)
It is the same Greek
word that we get “metamorphosis”. For
example, it is like when a worm goes through a metamorphosis to become a
butterfly.
b)
The same word was once used of Jesus.
There was a time when Jesus was alone on a mountain with three disciples
and Jesus became “glowing white”. There
was a physical change from the inside out.
Jesus was “metamorphosized”. (Ref.:
Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:1-7; Luke 9:28-36).
ii)
So how do I be
transformed? Is there some button I
push to start the change? ☺
a)
The answer is the “by
renewing of your mind” part of that verse.
b)
By seeking God through prayer and a desire to please Him, we literally
change from the inside out. Do you want
proof? Ponder how much desire did you
have to pray and study God’s word prior to being born again?
c)
Being transformed is
about being “God-focused” instead of “me-focused”.
d)
This is about praying
regularly for God’s will to be done in our lives.
e)
It is as if God is
saying, “I’m just waiting to take over “x” aspect of your life at this
moment. Just tell me you want Me to
take it over, then I’ll step in.”
f)
This gets back to the
idea of being a “living sacrifice to God”.
God desires that He be in charge of every aspect of our life all the
time. Again, the classic joke is the
problem with being a “living sacrifice” is we crawl off the altar a lot. That it why the “renewing of one’s mind” is
a constant and consistent process of turning different aspects of one’s life
over to God.
g)
This is about
“control”. At any given moment, one
needs to consider, “am I letting God be in control of my life, or is it
me? Sometimes the simple test is to
ponder if what you or I are doing is pleasing to God at that moment.
iii)
How do I stay
focused? I can’t focus that long on any
one thing. Don’t panic. ☺
a)
This is not about
praying around the clock to the point of ignoring one’s life. It is about praying “regularly”. It is about sticking close to God as our
best friend. If we are to be dependant
upon God, then we have to “mean it” and do it regularly and often.
b)
Let me give some
practical advice. Start one’s day with
a few minutes in prayer. Pray for God’s
will to be done in our life. Spend some
time, be it 5 minutes or a half hour reading one’s bible every day. Did you have a bad day where it didn’t get
it done? Let it go, and start
again. During the day, when you “catch
yourself” doing something that is not pleasing to God, stop and think, “OK,
that’s not right. I confess that sin to
you. Lord, take over this aspect of my
life and help me to live all the better.”
c)
I am not arguing one
will be perfect by regularly “renewing one’s mind”, but it is a step in the
right direction. Remember our Christian
maturity is up to God, not up to us. All
God asks of us is to be “willing”. It’s
God’s job to fix us. All God asks of us
is availability.
e)
This leads to the second
sentence of Verse 2: Then you will be
able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect
will.
i)
In other words, our life
as Christian is a two step process:
a)
Step 1 is to regularly
pray for God’s will to be done in our life.
b)
Step 2 is to live our
lives for God and watch the results.
c)
The bible becomes our
“barometer” as to whether or not our life is pleasing to God. Our conscious becomes our “barometer” as
well.
d)
If for that moment, we
are violating any biblical principal, then we are not doing “God’s will.
f)
This is a good time to
briefly discuss “God’s will” for our life:
i)
First of all, God’s-will
for you can be different from His will for me.
God gives each of us special talents, passions and gifts. Just because the “Christian next door” is
called to special ministry, it does not mean God calls you to the same one.
ii)
I take the view that if
we pray regularly for God’s will to be done in our life, and we study God’s
word as a pattern for how to live our life, then we can “go do what we want”
assuming it is our desire to live a life pleasing to God.
iii)
God gives each of us
“desires” and talents that He intended for us to use for His glory. The joy of life is to be able to combine
one’s God’s given talent in a location or “area” of one’s life that one enjoys.
iv)
My main point is that
“God’s will” is not some verbal revelation that we are suppose to receive
moment by moment. Doing God’s will goes
back to the classic line by Augustine, “Love the Lord Your God with all of your
heart, soul, mind and strength, and then go do whatever you want”. If you love God with all of that “might”,
then one’s life will follow and “God’s will”, will be done. It’s not one’s ability that is important; it
is about making one’s life available to God.
v)
Our goal is to make an
impact for Jesus in our lives. A
question to ask is, “Are you a thermometer or a thermostat?” A thermometer “conforms” to the world around
them. A thermostat “controls” the world
around them. (Source: Jon Curson.)
g)
Hey look, there is a
Verse 3! ☺
8.
Verse 3: For by the grace given me I say to every one
of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think
of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God
has given you.
a)
Let me paraphrase Paul’s
thought: “God can’t use us if our big
fat ego gets in the way! Let’s get off
of our high horse thinking we’re someone special. Think of ourselves as pawns that can be used by God. Let’s humble ourselves so we can be
available to God!”
b)
It is important here to
describe “humility”. Humility is not
to think that we are some “low-life nothing”.
It is not about being masochistic about ourselves.
i)
Humility is about not
thinking about ourselves at all. It is
about looking at a situation and helping someone in need without thinking of
the consequences to one’s self. It is
about “getting ourselves out of the way” so God can use us.
ii)
The danger is we manage
to go, say five minutes without sinning and we think we’re pretty impressive. ☺ Thinking “humbly of one’s self” is to realize that we
still are sinners and without God’s help, we would fall apart.
c)
Much of the remainder of
Romans gives illustrations of how to live a life that is pleasing to God. It starts with a humble attitude. That is why Verse 3 is here. God can’t use us if our ego’s and personal
desires get in the way of God’s desire for our lives.
9.
Verse 4: Just as each of us has one body with many members, and
these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in
Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the
others.
a)
In Verses 4-5, Paul uses
the human body as an illustration of how to get God’s will done.
b)
One of the important things to grasp about living the Christian life is
that God never intends for us to be a solo act.
i)
If I had to describe the main purpose of living the Christian life, it
would be to “build up the body of Christ”.
(See Ephesians 4:11-12.) That
means we as Christians work as a “unit” to help mature each other, build-up
each other’s faith, bring in new members, encourage each other, comfort each
other when we are sick etc. It is all
about helping each other grow in our relationship with God.
ii)
With that said, the human body is a good illustration. Each part of the body is designed to work
with every other part of the body. Each
body part has a specific function. The
brain, or the liver, or the heart cannot live all by itself. Each part needs each other in order to
survive. The same applies to
Christians.
c)
By the way, this does not mean we ignore non-Christians. For starters, we never know who will be
eventually saved. If God’s love is
inside of us, it should be poured out to whoever happens to be in the
neighborhood. ☺ Our primary goal is to use our gifts to help other Christians, but it
never should be limited to that group.
10.
Verse 6: We have different gifts, according to the grace given
us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is
serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is
encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others,
let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it
is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
a)
Now that we understand that Christians are to work as a unit, it’s time
to focus on our responsibilities and duties.
Just as each body part has a function, so each Christian has a
function. Our job is to work together
as a collective unit to “build up the body of Christ”.
i)
What does “build up the body of Christ” mean? It is God’s intent is for Christians to work together to help
each other mature in our relationship with God.
b)
God gives us spiritual gifts to accomplish this goal. First of all, a spiritual gift is just
that: A gift. It is not something to brag about or take credit for. If it is a gift from God, then one gives the
credit to God.
c)
When Paul traveled from town to town as a missionary, he established
churches. He then appointed “elders” to
be in charge of that church. The word
“elder” simply means “senior”, as in someone who’s lived for a good while. I believe Paul wanted people who were more
spiritually mature to be elders. One can find a list of elder qualifications in
Paul’s 1st Letter to Timothy Chapter 3 and his letter to Titus,
Chapter 2.
i)
My point here is those qualifications never say, “Pick somebody
who has outstanding spiritual gifts”.
In other words, Paul wanted spiritual maturity, not raw talent. One can have great spiritual gifts but still
be an immature Christian.