Romans 12:01-08 Living Sacrifice to God
1. Present yourself - Romans 12:1-2
Present yourself as a living and pleasing sacrifice to God. This is the spiritual act of worship. Do not conform to this world standard, world scales, or world patterns of thinking, doing, and acting accordingly but be transformed, renewed, revived, and reformed according to the standard of the Gospel of Christ. Let Christ be your role model and not this world. Understand the perfect will of God for your life. Let the life principles be governed according to the scriptural standard and at par with Christ’s teaching. God loves such a person and he is pleased with such activities. The renewal of the mind is the base for the Christian life.
2. Do not think of yourself – Romans 12:3-5
Paul states that each one of us is unique and has different levels of faith. The measures of faith were given by God. We try to pose as somebody whom we think to overcome. God has created all of us with different capacities and talents. All are one as for as humanity is concerned. We are different as per as our talents and capacities are concerned. The problems in the churches, missions, and ministries, are everyone thinks equal of one another even in talents and capacities which has led to confusion and confrontation. All are equal in Christ means that we are sharing the same body of Christ. We are one in him but we are having different functions and different duties. Today’s church and mission members are trying to behave differently. Hands would like to do the works of the legs; legs would like to do the works of the tongue. When the right work is performed by the wrong member there is confusion, chaos, and work is finally collapsed. Rightly placing people according to their talents, and skills only can advance the work of the mission of God.
3. Use yourself – Romans 12:6-8
God has kept different talents in the Church. He equips everyone according to their talents and gifts. There are gifts of Prophecy, gifts of service, gifts of teaching, gifts of encouragement, and gifts of contribution to the needs of others. Some are gifted with leadership, governance, and showing mercy to the needy. Have you ever sat down and evaluated yourself? What is your gift? Use your expertise to build your organization, use your talents to build people, and use yourself for the expansion of the Kingdom of God. God honors a person who uses his talent for God and His kingdom. God multiplies the talents of a person who uses them with stewardship and integrity. Remember the words of Paul on another occasion, if any destroys the Kingdom of God, he would destroy them. God is the respecter of no one. God spoke to Moses about the men’s power whom he had entrusted with him for the building of the tabernacle. God provided men power to Solomon to build the temple at Jerusalem. So, God enables people with different talents and he brings them to the right place at right time to glorify God. So, use yourself.
Discussion:
1. What is personal real worship?
2. How to evaluate the self in the Kingdom of God?
3. How to use ourselves for the benefit of others’ spiritual upliftment?
(For further studies in Romans by Rev. Dr. Andrew B Natarajan, +91 9443586008, kindly refer this cite)
