I don’t usually do this, but I would like to begin this issue of The Kernels of Truth by quoting two verses of Scripture that will be the text for our topic today. They are fairly well known and quoted verses, but I would like to insert them here, nonetheless. They are Romans 12:1-2 from the Berean Study Bible.
“Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
Even though we have been born from above by the work of the Holy Spirit and have our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, there still remains an old man that we must deal with that is always attempting to drag us back into an old lifestyle of response. This battle begins in the mind, because our minds have been so trained to think a certain way for so long that without some change, we will continue to think the same old way.
These verses follow a dissertation on God’s salvation for the Gentiles, and among other verses, we see this one. “This is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.” So, Paul writes that in view of the mercy of God, we should offer a response in kind. Keeping in mind that there are none righteous; all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, and the wages of sin is death – the other side of that coin is that the gift from God is eternal life, that begins the moment we are regenerated and
made alive in Christ.
Our natural answer to His mercy begins with consecrating ourselves to Him. Consecration is our response to God’s grace and mercy to us. In the act of consecration is where we distinguish ourselves as belonging solely to God the Father. It is also where we make ourselves available for service to the King. It is important to remember that consecration does not make a person or thing necessarily holy, but declares it to be sacred, that is, devoted to God or to divine service. To live a consecrated life before God, we understand that this begins with the presenting of our lives to God as a living sacrifice.
Thus the apostle’s urging the readers of the letter to the Romans, and us too as well, that we should present our bodies to God as that living sacrifice. When we present ourselves before the Lord as a living sacrifice, we commit ourselves to Him as a whole being; body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). William Barclay offers this paraphrase of Paul’s thoughts and
sentiments.
“So,” Paul says, “take your body; take all the tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the factory, the shipyard, the mine; and offer all that as an act of worship to God.”
It is the entirety of our life that we present to God as a sacrifice. There should not be a secular part of our lives and a religious part. They are one and the same. This is real worship, when we offer to Him our everyday life and all that contains. When we assume this posture before Him, we yield ourselves to the work being done and to be done in our lives.
When we talk about offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, this obviously fits into the idea that the Jewish dispensation with its animal sacrifices had ended and we now live in a new order of sacrifice, where no longer does an animal of some type take our place, but we now give ourselves instead. Under the Old Covenant, when a sacrifice was placed upon the altar for worship, you could pretty well count on it not going anywhere because it was, as Jerry Clower used to say, “graveyard dead.” Now that
we are living in the New Covenant, the problem with the sacrifices offered is that sometimes these living sacrifices keep getting up off the altar. We offer our lives and take back control of them. We commit ourselves to God and His way, and return to our old self that goes its own way (Isaiah 53:6). The apostle Paul was writing these words to call on Gentile believers to
devote themselves to God, to promote His honor in any way which He might command.
He is looking for a people that come to Him with purity of heart and integrity of our souls; a heart that is undivided and fully committed to Him. The apostle describes this as our logical response of worship. As stated before, true worship is offering to God one’s body, and all that one does every day with it. The offering of ourselves to God is seen as the only sensible, logical, and appropriate response to him in view of his self-giving mercy. As John Stott writes,
“No worship is pleasing to God which is purely inward, abstract and mystical; it must express itself in concrete acts of service performed by our bodies.”
It is our everything devoted to God and His service that is acceptable worship before God.
The second verse of our text says that we should be careful to not be conformed to the world around us and its ways. Leviticus 18:3 offers an interesting take on this.
“So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.” NLT
Some think that holiness and purity are God’s ways of keeping us from having fun in our lives. Actually, it is the exact opposite. Not allowing the world system to conform us into their ways keeps us out of the garden of corruption that eventually produces nothing but heartache and destruction.
To allow the world to conform us to them is to follow an outward pattern or adapt to our surroundings. It may seem like something shiny and exciting, but so is a fish hook just before a fish swallows it. It is important that we be a people that “come out from among them and be separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17), because society has influenced the church more than the church
has influenced society. We need to beware being like the chameleon that takes its color and appearance from its surroundings. Some people become whoever they are around. Thus, we must not allow ourselves to be unduly influenced by those who have no hope and are without God in this world. Because we have both – hope and we do have God in this world.
I like the rendering J.B. Phillips offers in his translation of the Bible when he writes,
“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within…”
And this brings us to our next part of the instruction offered by the apostle Paul. And that is that rather than allowing the world to squeeze us into their mould, so that we look like and think like them, we should be transformed in our inner being. To be conformed to something takes place from the outside environment to affect the inside motivation and will. To be transformed is to have a change on the inside that affects our behavior, thought processes, and actions on the outside. Inside out is better than outside in. We don’t know exactly what happened to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, but something deep and major took place and a complete change of some kind came over Him. What does that have to do with Romans 12? I’m glad you asked! The word “transformed” and the word “transfigured” in Matthew 17 is the same word in the original text. So, somehow the “metamorphosis” that Jesus experienced is the same one Paul is describing in Romans 12. Again, John Stott had this to write about transformation.
“It is a fundamental transformation of character and conduct, away from the standards of the world and into the image of
Christ Himself.”
So how exactly does this transformation take place in our lives? “By the renewing of the mind.” We must guard our minds and take our thoughts captive, so they do not draw on old ways and old thoughts and direct us away from life and peace and towards trouble and chaos. To be transformed by the renewing of our mind is to be changed into a new kind of life with a new strength and vigor. New thinking brings new power. We must understand that the renovation of our mind is a lifestyle; not an experience. We can’t simply have an emotional moment when we make some bold declarations, because when the emotion of that moment wanes, we will return to our old ways. Being renewed in our minds is a conscious decision to embrace God’s ways over our ways or the world’s ways. Paul wrote about this to the Ephesian church.
Ephesians 4:22 – “In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in through deceitful desires,
Ephesians 4:23 – “And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind.” AMP
Someone has said that only when we let go of the low life will we find the high life. As our mind is renovated, our person is transformed. As we renew our minds to God’s higher thoughts, we begin to experience His higher ways. And remember that only a renewed mind can discern what God’s will is.
So, consecration does in fact lead us into a transformation of our lives. I must add this on here at the end. This process of transformation by the renewing of the mind is not a one-time process. It is an ongoing progression of growth
that is incremental. The Scripture describes our being changed from “one glory to another glory.” So, the issue isn’t how far you are down the road of growth, but in what direction are you going. Remember my mantra that it is a matter
of direction, not perfection.
So then, a consecrated life is a life being transformed as we allow our minds to be renewed according to His plan and purpose. Which direction is true north on your life’s compass pointing?
I leave you with this most definitely apropos verse from Philippians 4:8.
Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
Let this hymn be our prayer.
Take My Life and Let It Be
Frances R. Havergal, 1874
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
*Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise.
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.