Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Paul spent 11 chapters writing about the salvation we have received in Christ.
• Chapters 1-3 talks about man’s problem, 4-5 God’s solution, 6-8 God’s provision (sanctification) and 9-11 God’s faithfulness (Lord of our lives).
• Some of you are going through Romans in SS. It is a difficult book but rich in theology. You’ll be very assured of your salvation in Christ.
Paul then ends the last part of this book – chapters 12-16 - with practical applications.
• He answers the question: So what does it mean for us today!
• What is the rightful and appropriate response to such a salvation?
And his first line of application is: Offer your bodies as living sacrifices to God!
• In view of God’s mercy (having seen all that God has done for us) – he says, offer your lives to Him. This is your spiritual act of worship (reasonable, rational service).
• Giving of your life to God is an ACT OF WORSHIP.
• He says, WORSHIP HIM! Not just with our lips, but with our lives. The best worship of God is a living worship – the dedication of our lives to God!
Worship is not a 2-hour event. It is a lifestyle; it’s a dedication of our life to God.
• This is what He delights in MOST – that which is holy and pleasing to God.
• Today I want to talk about SURRENDERING to God. This is what we must reasonably do.
• We are called to “hang over” the rulership (Lordship) of this life to Him. This is the way to a blessed and fruitful life.
• We do this by a simple prayer – acknowledging Him as Lord (not just Saviour). This change of mindset will open the floodgates to God’s blessings in your life.
First, I like to talk about the obstacle that is stopping many Christians from offering their lives to God.
• Why is it so hard to surrender to God? How can we offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God?
(1) GET RID OF FALSE ASSUMPTIONS
We have gotten a wrong understanding of what it means to have Jesus as our Lord.
• We are afraid that life will become miserable, that we’re going to lose our freedom; we can no longer do what we like to do; we are enslaved by someone more superior.
• We assume that by surrendering to Him, it would mean the end of a happy life. “I wanted to marry this girl but God directs me to someone else; or worst still, to someone ugly whom I do not like. Or God ask me to quit doing all the fun things in life and send me to some strange land to share the Gospel. He is the boss; I’ve no choice.”
• These are all false assumptions. We have not lost our freedom at any point. We feel that way because of a flawed understanding of our relationship with God.
Why would God make life miserable for us? False assumptions create mistrust and fears.
• Paul says, “in view of God’s mercy” (by the mercies of God) – if you truly understand Him and what He has done for you (Rom 1-11), then you’ll want to WORSHIP HIM by offering your lives to Him.
• What will motivate you to do that – the MERCIES of God! That’s our motivation!
And so if we are struggling to submit to Him and make Him Lord, it is because we do not know Him enough. False assumptions come from ignorance.
• Paul says in the next line, we need to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” so that we will know His good, pleasing and perfect will. GET TO KNOW HIM MORE!
(2) BELIEVE GOD HAS YOUR BEST IN MIND
God does not “suggest” a good idea; He KNOWS it. God does not come to you and suggest a good plan. He KNOWS it as a matter of FACT.
• It is not easy for us to believe that His will is “good, pleasing and perfect”.
• Do you believe God has your best in mind? Do you believe that God is good to you?
Pastor Chip Ingram shares this testimony. As a young Christian, he was once invited by a young couple to their house for dinner:
“They were brand-new Christians and had two small kids. As we ate dinner and talked about a relationship with the Lord, I saw a glimmer in their eye for each other that I longed to have someday with a wife of my own. I saw their love for their children, and despite their vey humble financial status, they had a joy and warmth that was ‘a treasure if I’ve ever seen one.’
It was a special night for reasons I can’t quite explain, except I knew that what they had in their Christian life was what I was looking for in mine. It was the treasure of the life with God and with another person that no amount of money can buy…
As I was talking to God on my drive home and asking Him to give me what I saw in that young couple, I heard the Spirit explicitly say to my heart, “Chip, I want to give you the very best; but you won’t let me. As long as you maintain control of your life, you will always be destined to get only what you can provide for your life, not what I really want to give you.”
As I drove onto the campus and slowly crept down the steep hill to my dorm room, the Spirit of God brought a verse to my mind that I’d recently memorized. It was Romans 8:32: “He that spared not His own Son [Jesus] but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him [Jesus], freely give us all things.”
It was as though God was saying, “Chip, if I love you enough to allow my Son to die in your place, how can you not believe that My plans for you are far better than anything you could come up with on your own?”
It was in that moment that I realized the real issue in my relationship with God was far deeper than my struggle over surrender; the real issue was I didn’t really believe that God really loved me or that He was good.
Chip Ingram, Living on the Edge (Howard Books 2009), pp.20-21
Are you convinced that God is really good to you?
• It’s one thing to say, “God is good.” It is quite another to say, God is GOOD TO ME! That takes faith; it requires a lot of conviction to say that.
• He may be good to pastor, good to the well-to-do, to the successful ones, to the healthy people around, but do you really believe that He is GOOD TO YOU?
• Do you believe that God wants to be good to you, that He has your best in mind?
If you do, you will be able to surrender to Him; you will be able to submit to Him in every area of your life. You will be able to give up because you know you are receiving a better deal.
• Surrendering is like opening up your hands to Him – you stop clinching on to what you have and let God gives you what He has.
• God wants to give you His best, but you’ve got to let go of what you are holding on to, and take up what He gives.
• Someone said, “Surrendering to God is but a channel through which God’s best and greatest blessings flow towards you.”
• PRAY FOR THE FAITH TO BELIEVE THAT GOD HAS THE BEST FOR YOU.
(3) LOOK AT WHAT YOU GET, NOT WHAT YOU LOSE
Don’t see SURRENDERING by what we have to GIVE UP.
• We tend to do that. We don’t look at what we have, but what we do not have.
• We think of the sacrifices we have to make in order to be a follower of Christ. We think of the things we are missing out, the things we cannot do.
We need to see SURRENDERING by what WE GET.
• We open up our hands (and drop what we are holding on to) and allow God to give you what He has for you.
• We receive from God the BEST of life there is. Jesus calls it the abundant life; life to the full (NIV). We have His presence and His presents; we experience His grace, love, joy, peace, strength and hope.
• We have what money cannot buy, what this world cannot give. See surrendering to God by what we stand to GAIN.
• Surrender to God is a blessing! In surrendering, we receive the best there is in life.
It’s like a child who saw this sweet on the floor and took it. He refuses to give it up. It’s the best pick of the day. And he’s going to put it into his mouth.
• You know that’s not good. It should not be eaten. But the child would not understand you. He wants it. And you are stopping him from his delight.
• The only way you can get him to surrender it is to offer him another sweet - a good one, a bigger one, a nicer looking one.
• God gives us the best, but we fail to understand His heart. We cling on to the second-bests in life, thinking that that’s the best deal we’re ever going to get.
Jesus describes it this way - Matt 13:44-46
44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Unless and until we see that God’s deal for us is priceless and incomparable, we’ll never learn to surrender our lives to Christ.
• You see, it is not about renunciation (giving up); it is about re-evaluation (coming to the understanding of what is of value and worth).
• Think for a moment. What will happen in your life, if you actually begin to believe that God is really FOR you, that He knows your deepest desires and longings, and He wants to make sure you get the very best in life?
• Isn’t that thought wonderful? How hard would it be to offer all that we are to Him?
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There must come a time, having believed Christ as our Saviour, for us to make a prayer of surrender to God, and to acknowledge Him as our Lord.
• We need to make such a commitment at some point in our lives, if you want to experience the best God has for you.
• At some point, you must humbly and honestly, said to Him: “Lord, all that I am, and all that I have or even hoped to have, is Yours. Use me as You think best.”
• It is a decision that, when made with sincerity and integrity, will change the course of your life. It did mine.
That was what happened to Dwight L. Moody. He was a young, poorly educated, ordinary shoe salesman who felt God's call to preach the Gospel.
One morning his friend Henry Varley made a statement: “The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”
Moody was deeply moved by these words. He says in his heart, “I want to be that man!”
And the rest is history. Moody gave himself fully to the work of God and God used him to shake two continents for Jesus in his generation. He was known to have preached to more than 100 million people.
Why did God choose Mary, of all women, to be the mother who would bring Jesus into this world?
• When the angel explained God’s difficult plan, she responded, "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38)
• She was totally surrendered to God. Can we tell Him the same?
• Nothing is more powerful than a surrendered life in the hands of God.
