Romans 501 Serving God
Chapter 12 begins a new section of Romans. Chapters 1-5 showed how
man is in a helpless, sinful condition facing God’s wrath, and Jesus Christ
paid our sin debt so that we can be justified, even though we are guilty.
Then chapters 6-8 showed how God has freed us from living in sin and
the condemnation of the law, empowered us to live for Him, and secured a
glorious future for us. Chapter 9-11 showed how God has delayed
Israel’s program and His wrath on the world so that we can be His. What
should our response to all this be? Now Paul shows us how to apply
what we have learned in Romans to life situations, and what kind of behavior
results when we do.
Romans 12:1-8
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.
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.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto 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 hath
dealt to every man the measure of faith.
4 For as we have many members in one body, and
all members have not the same office:
5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ,
and every one members one of another.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the
grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy
according to the proportion of faith;
7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering:
or he that teacheth, on teaching;
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that
giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with
diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
(Vs 1.)
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God..." To what motivation does Paul appeal
here? To our gratitude for God’s mercies.
(Eph 5:1,2; II Cor 9:15) "Therefore..."
refers back to all that God has done for us in chapters 1-11. God has purchased
us with the highest price possible. (Acts 20:28; Eph 1:7)
Now that we belong to God, it is only reasonable to serve
Him. (I Cor 6:19,20; II Cor 5:14,15) Notice God
doesn’t command or threaten us as He did Israel’s children under the law.
(Deut 28:15...) He beseeches (begs)
us as responsible adult sons in God’s family.(Gal
4:1-6)
What is a "living sacrifice"?
A sacrifice is killed, so how can it be living? Our old
sin nature has been "crucified with Christ", made dead to us, separated
from us, so sin’s control over us is destroyed. Now we can think God’s way and
live for Him.(Gal 2:20, Rom 6:4-11& 8:10,11)
(Vs 2.)
This verse tells how our service can be acceptable to God. Not
even the best deeds motivated by our old nature can please God
(Rom 8:8; Luke 16:15), so we must be transformed
on the inside by learning and adopting God’s values. Moment by moment our thinking is
either "conformed to this world" which is run by
Satan, (II Cor 4:4; Eph 2:2) or "transformed"
by the word of God. (II Cor 10:3-5) If we renew
our minds with God’s word, (Eph 4:22-24; Col 3:9,10)
we are capable of knowing, not just right and wrong, but also the "good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
(Phil 1:9,10) God’s word reveals God’s will, and when we apply His
word to life’s decisions, we are being led by the Spirit and doing God’s
will. (II Cor 5:7 with Rom 10:17 & review lesson on Rom
8:11-15) God’s word is complete now, so don’t expect Him to tell
you what to do any other way. (Col 1:9,10,25,28; II Tim
3:16,17)
(Vs 3.)
How we think of ourselves determines how we relate to God and to
other people. So we need to think "soberly",
which means realistically. How do you think of yourself?? And
why? Romans has taught us that we are eternally saved from the
penalty of our sin, justified and guaranteed a wonderful destiny - all
because of what Christ did for us. In God’s sight, we have no goodness or
merit apart from Christ. (Rom 3:10-12) That means
no one is any better than anyone else. (I Cor 4:7; II Cor
10:12)
God has given us the "measure of faith" to
think with. Our faith is in God’s word, (Rom 10:17)
by which we should measure everything. (Ps
119:9,128; II Tim 3:16,17)
(Vs 4&5.)
A body has fingers, toes, eyes and ears that function differently, but together, controlled by one brain.
Likewise each believer is a member of the body of Christ, and has his own
special place in the world to function for God. If and how a member functions
effects the whole body. (I Cor 12:12-27; Eph 4:16)
But when we think realistically, we’ll realize we are still equal members
in Christ with every other saint, no matter how they function.
(Rom 14:1...)
(Vs 6.) Spiritual gifts!
What confusion there is in Christianity on this subject! First let’s
distinguish between talents, spiritual blessings and spiritual gifts. (1)
Talents in things like music, art, social graces etc. are the result of
heredity, environment and hard work. These are not the gifts from God the
Bible speaks of. Even unsaved people who are dead to God have such human
talents. (2)Unlike gifts, spiritual blessings are the same for everyone
in Christ. They include redemption, forgiveness, predestination and every other
good thing God can give us because of Christ. (Eph 1:3-13)
(3) Some spiritual gifts were supernatural powers promised to
Israel as a sign of the impending kingdom on earth.
(Acts 2:14-22; Is 28:11,12 & 35:4-6; Luke 9:1,2&11:20)
When God postponed that kingdom, these gifts
were briefly carried over into our time period, to prove the authenticity of
Paul’s new message, especially to Israel.(Rom 11:14 &
15:19; I Cor 14:21,22) Other gifts were given to inform and
edify the new body of Christ when there was little or no scripture
written yet about it. (I Cor 12:7-11,28 &14:26; Eph
2:15,16 & 4:8,11-14) All these gifts ceased when full (perfect)
knowledge about the body was revealed, written and made available.
(I Cor 13:8-12) Now that the scripture is complete (fulfilled,
Col 1:25), it is everything we need to be edified
and made "perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works".
(II Tim 3:16,17) Today we still have pastors,
evangelists and teachers (II Tim 2:2; 4:5) but they
are not supernaturally filled with knowledge. Today they have to desire
the office (I Tim 3:1) and study the scripture
to be approved unto God. (II Tim 2:15)
Romans is one of Paul’s early letters written before complete knowledge was
revealed, and gifts were still in effect. God used prophecy then
to edify and teach believers (I Cor 14:3,12,19,20,31)
like He uses Bible studies now. "According
to the proportion of faith" means according to the amount of
knowledge then available to have faith in.
(Vs 7.)
Paul encourages us to get on with whatever it is that we are doing for
God. (Col 3:23,24) The things listed in verses
7 and 8 can be done by every one of us because today they are
motivated by knowledge of the word of God, not by a supernatural gift.
To minister means to attend to something, to serve.
(Eph 6:6,7) We’re to be teachers of what
Paul passes on to us in his letters. (II Tim 2:2; I
Cor 4:16,17 & 11:1,2 & 14:37)
(Vs 8.)
We can exhort (encourage & comfort) fellow saints to look beyond
their troubles to a reality that is eternal, as no unbeliever can.
(II Cor 1:4 & 4:16-18; I Thes 4:18)
Let’s give so that others can hear the truth and grow too. Whether it
is time, money or whatever, it should be for God, and not a show for people
to see. (IICor 8:1-7 & 9:7)
"He that ruleth", I think refers to the
"overseers" of the church, (Acts 20:28) also
called bishops or elders. (I Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9)
That responsibility should not be taken lightly. Let’s cheerfully
show mercy to others, like God has to us. (Eph
4:31,32)
Being empowered by knowledge of God’s word enables us to accomplish
all the things that gifts did back at the time Paul wrote Romans. Knowledge
is power. God wants us to use His power, with His motivation, to
edify His body. (Eph 4:15,16)
M. Dent
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