“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).
When a person becomes a Christian, God fills the new believer with his Holy Spirit. This is the New Life that Paul writes about in his letter to the Corinthians (see 1 Corinthians 5:17). The work of God within is perfect. He has left nothing out and kept nothing undone, but now the new child of God has the responsibility to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to complete God’s work.
As his children, new born, all of us would presumably like to do the will of the Father. However, many of us find it difficult to discern his will for our lives. In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us how we can know God’s will and the first couple of verses in Chapter 12 provide us with a lot of answers. It may help to work our way backwards.
In order to discern God’s will—what is good, acceptable and pleasing to God—we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds from conformity to the world to conformity to God’s world. This is the kingdom of God, often referred to by Jesus as the kingdom of heaven. This advice implies three things:
1. There is the world in which we live and a certain way in which it works.
2. There is the kingdom of heaven and a way in which God works.
3. Both are in conflict with each other.
Paul speaks of this conflict in his letter to the Galatians. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25).
Paul warns us that those who live in the way of the world will not inherit the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? And how do we find it?
The Kingdom of Heaven
Jesus spoke to his people in parables, which are simple stories used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. Many of these parables can be found in Matthew 13, and several of them speak about the “kingdom of heaven”. Here are two that talk about discovering it:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:44-46).
Many of us have read books, studied philosophy, spoken to people of wisdom, or otherwise engaged in activity that would bring us to a knowledge of the secrets of the universe. As we pursued our quest, some of us have come to a sudden illumination about God. Others among us have had a “chance” encounter with him, most probably when in a moment of difficulty or need. Either way we have discovered the kingdom of God, which is actually just a euphemism for Jesus. The question is: Having discovered the kingdom, do we realize how valuable it is?
There was once a rock hound named Rob Cutshaw who owned a little roadside shop outside Andrews, North Carolina. A rock hound is someone who hunts for precious stones in order to sell them to collectors or jewellers. Rob was not an expert; he knew just enough to decide which rocks might make him a little money. On a dig about thirty years ago Rob found a big, blue chunk of rock that he thought he might sell for a good price, but discovered he couldn’t even get $500 for it. Not wanting to sell it for anything less, he figured he’d just hang on to it until he desparately needed money. Fortunately for him that day didn’t come, because what Rob had in his possession was the largest, most valuable sapphire ever found, currently valued in excess of $4,000,000!
In the parables that we just looked at, the two men knew how valuable the treasure they had discovered was worth and the price they had to pay in order to own it. Everything. But so determined were they to have this incredible treasure, they sold off all they had to purchase it. Paul did the same, having accidentally discovered the treasure on his way to Damascus. This is how he describes it. Note that “the flesh” Scripture often speaks about is that part of us that seeks the things of the world.
If anyone ... has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (Phillipians 3:4-8).
Paul was a man who lived by the flesh until he discovered the “surpassing value of knowing Jesus” after which he considered everything else “rubbish”.
Like Paul, we too get carried away by the seductions of the world. The world lures us with wealth, power, prestige, fame, honor and the like, promising us great treasure, but the glitter is only superficial. The only thing of real value and importance is contained in the kingdom of God, and much as we might like to live in both, we cannot. As Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24). Or serve God and anything else either. It is why Jesus tells us that in order to be his disciple, we need to make everything and everyone secondary to him (cf. Luke 14:27,33). But this necessitates a transformation of the mind.
Transformation
About 60% of the world’s population live in countries with right-hand traffic and 40% in countries with left-hand traffic. A driver who moves from one to the other will struggle for a few days in adapting to the changes. What enables this to happen is replacing in the mind the rules that he has learned with a new set of rules. Fortunately for drivers, at least experienced drivers, this is not very difficult because the skill sets remain the same. It is a similar process when we move from the “world” to the “kingdom of God”, only far more difficult because in the kingdom everything is different, and in most cases involves a total reversal of hold held beliefs and principles. Consider, for instance Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:3-11).
These “beatitudes”, which in a way summarizes the essence of Christian tenets, are bewildering to everybody who has been taught just the opposite. Blessed are the poor, the meek, the hungry, the thirsty, the persecuted. Really? Yes, really! After this Jesus goes on to tell the people how they may have been taught certain other things in the past, but how they now needed to do it differently.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:38-48).
And here is something that Jesus told his disciples when they fought among themselves about who was the greatest among them. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44).
Everything is different! In order to make the shift, we need a complete reprogramming of our minds. And this is possible only when we learn what the new set of rules are, which obviously can be found in the great rule book known as the Bible; and when we put these new set of rules into practice in our lives. Using our analogy of driving, this is much like a car driver would need to know the rules in the new country he is driving in, and then following them. But even a car needs fuel to go anywhere, and in our case the fuel is the Holy Spirit. Here are a couple of verses we have already considered:
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:16,24).
And how do we crucify the flesh?
Living Sacrifice
Knowing the rules of the road is essential to safe and proper driving, but understanding the reasoning behind each rule makes it easier to follow because rules are not made arbitrarily: there is a purpose behind each rule. Similarly, in the Christian journey one can follow rules blindly—as many do—or one can follow a rule after understanding the purpose behind it. When Paul asks us to offer our bodies as “living sacrifice” to God, it is not only to please him (which it does, because it is the only sacrifice that really means anything to him). It helps to realize that we belong to him, anyway. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice also enables God to dwell in us powerfully to make the transformation that is required possible. Jesus said: Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5). To abide fully in Jesus, we need to prune everything that stands as an obstacle to growth. Pruning is cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to encourage growth. This is painful, as you can imagine, but necessary to change. It is like carrying a cross. To quote Jesus again: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).
Jesus never gave advice that he, himself, did not follow and he took up his own cross and died on it, quite literally. We commemorate this great sacrifice in the Eucharist, which is one of the ways that Jesus says we abide in him and him in us. Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:53-56).
The union with Christ is best symbolized in the mixing of water and wine that the celebrating priest does just before the consecration. St. Cyprian wrote on this theme: “For because Christ bore us all, in that He also bore our sins, we see that in the water is understood the people, but in the wine is showed the blood of Christ. But when the water is mingled in the cup with wine, the people [are] made one with Christ, and the assembly of believers is associated and conjoined with Him on whom it believes; which association and conjunction of water and wine is so mingled in the Lord’s cup, that that mixture cannot any more be separated.”
As a final note on the subject here is a passage of Scripture, very relevant to all that we have learnt, to meditate upon.
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 1:3-17).
