Sermon Central
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A Total Commitment
Contributed by Robert Webb on Oct 31, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: The first two verses of Romans 12 are the general commands on how to live out our faith in the world. The rest of chapter 12, along with chapters 13-15 are the details as to how to obey the exhortation given in Romans 12:1-2.
We will discover God’s will and do the things that are pleasing to God.
The second point Paul makes is that God not only wants a total commitment, but that this is a reasonable commitment. There are two different translations that require our consideration before we can examine Paul’s teaching. Some translations have "reasonable service" and some translations have "spiritual worship." The question is over the Greek word logikos, which is rendering "reasonable" or "spiritual." This word does not occur in the LXX and the lexical form of the word only occurs in one other place in the New Testament. In 1 Peter 2:2 Peter exhorts his readers to "long for the pure logikon (spiritual) milk." However, this word does have a rich background in Greek and Hellenistic Jewish philosophy and religion. They used to it speak of rational worship. I believe this makes the most sense of the text. Paul is calling for Christians to give themselves as sacrifices to God because it is our reasonable act of worship.
It is eminently reasonable and rational for believers to fully dedicate themselves to God. The reason we should offer our lives as complete sacrifices to God is because of God’s mercies. The mercies of God are the basis of Paul’s exhortation. The reason that offering our lives to God is our reasonable act of service and worship is because of the mercies of God. When we grasp all that God has done for us, it is completely logical for us to give ourselves wholly to God. We have been made alive by God, though we were dead in our sins. The rational thing to do is to serve God. The irrational, illogical thing to do is to be atheists, or be unbelievers, or be selfish. It does not make sense to NOT serve God!
Don’t Copy; Be Transformed
When we were children we had a phrase, "Don’t be a copycat!" As kids, we like to mimic other kids. Of course, if you were the kid with originality, you did not like someone copying you. Paul’s instruction in verse 2 amplifies what Paul taught in verse 1. Being a sacrifice for God means that we will not be copycats of this world. The NLT reads, "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world." This is what it looks like to be alive to God, holy to God, and pleasing to God. Do not copy the world’s behavior and customs. Do not do the things they do. Do not think the way the world thinks. If we fit in with the world, then there is a problem. We have been conformed to the world if we fit in.
Instead, Christians are to be transformed. Christians are not to allow the world’s pressures to change them. Rather they are be changed inwardly in the mind. Paul calls this the "renewing of your mind." It is a radical transformation that must take place. It is interesting to observe that the only other time this word translated "transform" is used in the New Testament is in reference to the transfiguration of Jesus. We are not be changed by the world, but radically changed by God by renewing our minds.
