Romans 12:1-2: "Living and Holy Sacrifice"

MacArthur writes, "having concluded eleven chapters of profound and stirring teaching about what God has given believers, Paul now charges those believers with what they need to give God". Chapter 12-16 will be more of an application of what we have learned in the previous 11. Now that we understand who we are in Christ, and what true salvation is, our response should be . . . Paul begins, "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God". Paul is urging, or coming alongside to exhort or help his brethren. Paul, understanding the beautiful riches he has in Christ, and all that Christ has done for his fellow believers, knew that he must get them to understand their calling. Paul knows his urging is not in vain because he is addressing the "brethren". It is only those who understand the beautiful truths of all Paul had said in the previous 11 chapters, and have accepted them in faith, that could possibly obey what Paul is about to tell them. Only spirit-filled believers would have the ability to give of their lives, minds, and wills to the obedience of Christ. MacArthur writes, "The unregenerate person cannot give God his body, his mind, or his will, because He has not given God himself. Because he has no saving relationship to God". I Cor. 2:14 says, "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised". And it is only, "by the mercies of God" that any of us have the opportunity to obey Christ. If it were not for the grace and mercy of God, we would all be left in our depraved state, completely unable to save ourselves.

So, with all that to say, what is Paul "urging" his brethren to do? "Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice". Once we have accepted Christ in faith and our spirits have been washed inside, we are asked to outwardly respond by giving our bodies in obedience to God. MacArthur explains, "Our bodies therefore encompass not only our physical being but also the evil longings of our mind, emotions, and will". Paul understands we are battling with the flesh (see. Rom 7:14ff), and therefore, must urge and remind us to give our lives as a living and holy sacrifice. We must, therefore make a concerted effort to battle the impulses of the body that would cause us to live in selfish sinfulness. Paul wrote in I Cor. 9:27, "I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified". We must understand our ability to fall, and take the urging of Paul to give our bodies to Christ. As we live out our lives, we must battle with sin in order to set it apart for God's service. In order to be properly used by God, we must be holy and pure. I can definitely see the ineffectiveness in my ministry when I find myself neglecting His word, or harboring sin in my life. God desires to use us, but He can only do so when the vessel being used is holy and and will be a good examples to others as they bear the name of Christ. We must be urged by His word to remind us that our sacrifice of ourselves should be "acceptable to God". It is only when we are living a life that is holy and pure, that we can effectively be used by God, and it is when we are effectively being used by God that we are acceptable in His sight. MacArthur writes, "Only a living and holy sacrifice, the giving of ourselves and the giving of our best, is acceptable to God. Only in that way can we give Him our spiritual service of worship . . . service of worship translates the single Greek word latreia, which refers to service of any kind, the context giving it the added meaning of worship". We can therefore, understand another way to worship God and that is with obedient and pleasing service. We must think of ourselves as a living sacrifice, willing to do whatever it takes to be pleasing to the Father that bought our sentence of death and has given us life anew.

To add onto this, not only our bodies, but our minds must be given to God as Paul writes, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind". MacArthur writes, "Be conformed is from suschematizo, which refers to an outward expression that does not reflect what is within. It is used of masquerading, or putting on an act, specifically by following a prescribed pattern or scheme". The idea is that as Christians, we are different from the ways of the world. We no longer belong to the world, instead, "our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). We must understand that when we are saved we no longer think, act, and talk like the world, for we have been given a new heart that belongs to God. Therefore, we must not "masquerade" that we belong to this world. Rather, we should stand out as those who follow Christ which will oppose the world. Paul understood the opposite nature of the world to a believer when he wrote, "but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong" (I Cor. 1:27). So, if we are asked not to be conformed, or change our behavior to what we are not, what are we to do? Paul writes, "But be transformed". MacArthur writes, "be transformed is a passive imperative. Positively, we are commanded to allow ourselves to be changed outwardly into conformity to our redeemed inner natures". Once we have been saved, a radical change has occurred within us. This radical change inward, and a new standing before God, should flesh itself out in an outward change in which we are transformed from our old lives (dead to sin), to our new ones (alive in Christ). Lastly, Paul explains how we can do this, "by the renewing of your mind". MacArthur writes, "The Holy Spirit achieves this transformation by the renewing of the mind, an essential and repeated New Testament theme. The outward transformation is effected by an inner change in the mind, and the Spirit's means of transforming our minds is the Word". David's words in Ps. 119:11 immediately come to mind, "Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee". Also in Ps. 119:9, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word". A mind that is renewed or refreshed daily by the truths and promises of God will be transformed into a living sacrifice that can be used by God. Practically, a mind that is focused on Christ and His Word, has far less time to let his mind wonder to sinful things. So it is the continually and frequent renewing of our mind that will lead to the transformation into the image of Christ, and keep us from conforming to the world.

In the last part of this section we learn that those of us that will follow Paul's urging, will "prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect". Looking through this section we learn that we must live our lives as a holy sacrifice so as to be acceptable to God. We also learned that our lives, when obedient to God is a way of us worshipping Him. We have been told that instead of conforming ourselves to the world, we must transform ourselves by keeping consistently in God's word, which will renew our minds. Lastly, we must yield our will to Him. MacArthur writes, "When a believer's mind is transformed, his thinking ability, moral reasoning, and spiritual understanding are able to properly asses everything, and to accept only what conforms to the will of God. Our lives can prove what the will of God is only by doing those things that are good and acceptable and perfect to Him". So we see a progression in the giving of ourselves in body, mind, and will. When all are availed to God, we will in fact be proving what God desires for us, and our lives will be acceptable to Him. This is the sanctification process. As we grow in the Lord and continue to battle sin and give God our lives, we will be proving all that God says is true, and living out a life that will conform to His will for us.