Romans 12
COMMENTARY:
: 1 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. (3050 “reasonable” [logikos] means pertaining to reason or logic, true to real nature, thoughtful, pertaining to being genuine, or rational.)
DEVOTION: When we enter into the family of God it is because HE has given us unmerited favor. We should appreciate this unmerited favor and present our bodies to the LORD for genuine service to HIM with no strings attached.
It has been stated that because we are “living” sacrifices that we try to get off the altar of service very often. We want to have complete control of our life or at least sections of our life. We want to give God the portions we don’t want to have control over but keep those we do. That is not giving HIM our complete bodies.
The only acceptable sacrifice is a complete sacrifice. Partial sacrifices don’t’ work. It doesn’t please the LORD and it doesn’t please us. No one wins. The only one to win is supposed to be the LORD. It goes against our nature but that is the bottom line.
Paul wants the Christians in Rome to give themselves as complete sacrifices to the LORD because it is the only acceptable way to give ourselves to HIM.
After all we owe HIM our place in heaven and our blessings on earth. We owe HIM because of the sacrifice of HIS Son Jesus on the cross for our sins. It is rational to give HIM our life.
CONCLUSION: Paul is begging the Christians in Rome to understand what they owe the LORD. He is doing the same to us. Are we responding properly?
: 2 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. (342 “renewing” [anakainosis] means renovation, renewal, complete change for the better.)
DEVOTION: We are constantly being bombarded with advertising on television, movies, billboards, radio and through the mail to buy things that we have to have to be popular. The schools across our country and many others are telling us that God is not important in our lives. All we need is a good education and we can do whatever we want in this world. Our banks are trying to give us charge cards to make our lives easier. The problem is that a majority of us are spending more than we are earning and it causes health problems. There has to be a better way.
The Bible tells us that there is a better way. We are not to fit in with the world’s way of thinking. We are to rethink our needs and wants. We are to change our mind through the power of the Holy Spirit. With a changed mind we can completely changeover our life into what will fit in with the way God wants us to live.
We need to count on Christ to give us good direction in our lives. It is to take time to be with HIM in the Word and in our prayer time. Sometimes it even means taking time to stop eating and spend more time with HIM. The world wants us to be too busy for time with Christ. Christ wants us to come apart for a while and spend time with HIM and HE will lead us concerning what to do and say. HE has promised to meet all our needs. HE has not promised to meet all our wants.
The world makes our want list. To think properly we need to keep our need list before the LORD. With Christ in our life there is a complete change for the better. Part of the change is to use our gift from the Holy Spirit in the service of the local church. Part of the change is described in the rest of this chapter. One characteristic of the change is to open our homes to those who are less fortunate than we are. HE wants to put joy in our life even during times of suffering. Amazing!!!
CHALLENGE: There needs to be a rewiring of our thinking through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Ask HIM each morning for HIS instructions for the day.
: 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt with every man the measure of faith. (4993 “soberly” [sophroneo] means be sober minded, to be in one’s right mind, to exercise self control, to curb one’s passions, to have sound judgment, or to be reasonable.)
DEVOTION: Paul warns believers of something that can happen to them as they continue to serve the LORD. The first two verses encourage us to serve the LORD. They tell us that this is a privilege that we should not take for granted.
One of the things that change as we start serving the LORD is that there is a tendency to look around at other believers. We can get a very high opinion of ourselves as we serve the LORD. We can see that we are doing more than others. We can see even that we are doing more than those who are being paid to serve the LORD. We develop a pride in ourselves that begins to affect our service to the LORD. It happens to many in the service of the LORD. They tend to get bitter. They tend to complain about others. They are headed in the wrong direction. That is why Paul warns us to be careful. We can fall into this trap.
God is the one who is supposed to judge others. We are not held responsible for others failing the LORD. We can bring it to the attention of those responsible in the church or we can if someone is sinning bring that to the attention of the congregation after the elders of the church have investigated the issue.
God wants us to look honestly at our service to HIM. We know if we are genuine in our service or bragging about doing more than we really are for HIM. We are not to brag. We are to serve with gladness. This brings glory to God.
Some people are more gifted than we are and that should be an occasion to rejoice in their gift. Those in higher positions in churches will be judged according to their position by the LORD at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
CHALLENGE: If they don’t use the gift they have been given by the LORD – HE will handle it!!
: 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is MINE, I will repay, says the Lord. (1556 “avenge”[ekdikeo] means to vindicate one’s right, to protect, to take revenge for a perceived wrong, vindicate, grant, to exact vengeance for, to do justice to or punish.)
DEVOTION: Getting even with someone who has hurt us is a normal human response to those who hurt us. We want to hurt back. We shouldn’t let others take advantage of us. We should show people that we have courage and the ability to fight back when attacked either physically or verbally. We don’t want to be a doormat.
All this makes sense to those who are outside of Christ. We are called to not avenge ourselves. We are not to be overcome by anger. We are to turn those who hurt us over to the LORD to let HIM handle it in HIS time.
That is the command. Obedience is another thing. It is not easy to obey this command. It seems like we are allowing those who lie about us or hurt us in other ways to have the upper hand. They don’t have the upper hand – God does. HE knows how to handle things better than we do. If we try to defend ourselves sometimes it makes us look guilty instead of innocent. That gives our enemies more ammunition to put us down.
Walking away is never easy but if we are innocent it will not matter what people think of us. It is what God thinks of us that is most important. We should pray that person or those persons into the hand of God for HIM to deal with as HE sees fit.
However, there are times when we are falsely accused that the Holy Spirit gives us the words to say to defend ourselves against some enemies.
CHALLENGE: It is hard to understand which circumstance is which, but the LORD will give us discernment as to when to walk away and give it to HIM and when to speak up. Listen to HIM!!
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