Romans 12 verses 1 and 2 hold a wealth of information when we take a close look at them. It begins “I beseech you”: I, being the apostle Paul writing to the church in Rome. Beseech means to beg, implore, urgently request. “I beseech you therefore,”: Therefore is a conjoining word or hinge-pin that ties what the speaker in about to say back to something he just said, so what was he just saying? Paul has spent the past few chapters talking about how Christians are saved by a genuine love for God and faith in Jesus, not by adherence to a set of rules and behaviors. So he’s saying, “Because God has set us free from the Law (and the condemnation of unbelief) through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, I beg you by the mercies of God”: Paul is able to write to them, to impart his knowledge, because God has been merciful to him, “…that you present your bodies a living sacrifice”.
Sacrifice is something that Paul’s original audience knew well. Most religions of the time involved sacrificing something to a deity. Even the Hebrews sacrificed livestock, grain, and wine, to Jehovah. Pagan religions extended their appetites to the children of their adherents and to virgin women. Sacrifice was carried out in a variety of ways: throat slitting, stabbing on an alter, burning alive, but in all cases, sacrificing a life meant death. So this statement of being a living sacrifice would have come as a contradiction. How do you offer yourself as a sacrifice to God AND remain alive?
“…present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God”: the word holy means “sanctified”, “consecrated” or “set apart for service to God”. To be a living sacrifice, you must be acceptable to God, that means consecrated for His use, “…which is your reasonable service.”
In Luke 17 Jesus tells a story about faith and servitude, by asking his audience whether a slave sees to his own needs before those of his master. While a slave can choose to disobey, the treatment he gets from his master is directly related to the performance of his duties. Jesus points out that just as a slave is expected to perform his duties, servants of God are expected to fulfill their duties. Matthew 25 and Luke 16 say that being faithful with a few things or small things will cause you to be entrusted with bigger things. Reasonable service, then, is the baseline performance that God expects of us not some lofty goal we should consider working toward … someday.
Back to our verse, “…which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world”. A Bundt pan is a odd-looking type of cake pan. You pour your better in and bake it. When it’s done you turn it over and tap the pan to drop the cake out onto a plate. The cake is ring-shaped with ridges and rolls along the top and sides, matching exactly the shape of the pan. That is “conformed”. “And do not be conformed to this world,”: this does not mean the planet we live on, but the society or the age in which we live. Non-believers have their own ideas about what is right and what is wrong, and rarely do they line up with the precepts of God. We are not to be shaped, molded, conformed, by the prevailing thoughts of our society. We are to be conformed to God’s will.
“…and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed”: transformed does not mean that you slice up that bunt cake and arrange the slices on a plate. It may look a little different, but it’s basic shape is still the same. Transformed is a caterpillar going into a chrysalis a worm and coming out a butterfly. “…transformed by the renewing of your mind”: not just cleaning up our act but a complete change.
I was once the live-in superintendent for an apartment building. It was my job to collect rents, fix things that broke and clean up vacated apartments in readiness for a new tenant. In most cases this meant painting the walls, shampooing the carpets and giving the kitchen and bathroom a good scrubbing. That was not renewing, that was touching up. Renewing was the time a resident so thoroughly trashed the walls in one room that I had to pull down the wallboard, install new drywall, tape and plaster it, then repaint: that is renewing.
To render reasonable service to God, we must no longer be conformed, through our worldly ways, but be transformed into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”) by renewing our thoughts and habits to bring them into compliance with God’s will. Why?
“…by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” What would it take for me to prove something to you? If I tell you that I’m convinced of something, would you believe it? If I told you I saw something on TV, would you believe it was true? Probably not; most people want evidence (proof) before they are convinced.
If believers tell people that God is gracious and loving and Jesus saves us from condemnation, but we live just like the rest of our society, watch the same shows they watch, go to the bars with them, tell the same jokes, and moan and complain just like they do, what evidence is there that the believer is any better off or different from them? God wants the world to see Jesus in us. To do that, we must live a life in compliance with God’s will by emulating Jesus as closely as we can.
That rarely happens all at once. There is no instant brain wash at the moment of salvation. But as a new believer sets their mind on following Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to teach them, they change their old habits. They do well with small things and are rewarded with bigger things. If they persist, their maturity in Christ results in an unshakable faith and the kind of spiritual gifts that leave no doubt that God is with them. But first, we must be willing to be sacrificed alive.
The remainder of Romans 12 tells us exactly how we are to accomplish our reasonable service. I offer it here without further comment:
Serve God with Spiritual Gifts
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Behave Like a Christian
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”[b]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Footnotes:
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
