Title: Romans 12
By: Todd Bevins
Intro
Someone called me the other day. We were talking. They had recently lost their loved one and so on. They were struggling with it. She is a wonderful lady. She was talking about when you were out here, I was going to ask you to pray for me or pray with me but I knew you were busy. I said, “I’m never too busy to pray.
However, I got to thinking about some things. There is nothing like praying and asking the Lord to comfort and help. I am glad we have someone we can go to and ask to help us, and help those we love. As I pondered on that, I know the Lord will do what He said He would do. I know He will comfort and be a help to those in need. He will take care of them.
I also got to thinking, a lot of that has to do with the individual and where they are at in the relationship with the Lord. How are they—we can pray and do that, and honor that; I believe that. He will help those and honor our prayers. He will help those in need. Also, those that are needing comfort. Their relationship with the Lord is something that is very important to help that. Also, to be there to comfort them, if that makes any sense.
In chapter 12, I want to look at and Paul covered some of these things. That is talking about our relationship with the Lord and some things I believe that will help us. If we back up before we go to chapter 12; we look in chapter 11 beginning in verse 33.
Romans 11:33-36
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
We will read that to you out of the NLT.
33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
34 For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice
35 And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?
36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.
I like the way they word that just simply because it puts all the focus on the Lord. We understand that basically, Paul is telling us here that He is without question and without doubt; you cannot out give God. You don’t have anything God needs. He is God and there is no other. He is the One that is in absolute control. He is the One here that has all power. When you look at that, He has all the riches, wisdom, and knowledge. He has it all. He is greater than all. That being the case, he tells us in that last verse again that it is of Him, through Him, to Him all that we do; everything that you and I do is to give Him glory, praise and honor. I forget who it was that said just a few moments ago that they just want to give the Lord praise and glory. That is all we can do is give Him praise, glory and honor because it all belongs to Him.
Romans 12:1
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
In the NLT it reads:
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Here is what he is pleading with. Here is what he is asking them as he writes to them. He tells them…
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
He is saying, guys I am pleading with you for this one thing, that you give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. When you look back—you wonder why, you look at things sometimes, and some people you feel, or they do certain things or whatever. I am kind of obligated to help them. They helped me so I need to help them. They did this and I need to do that. You know what? It is not like that. It is more so the simple fact that when we look at God and we see all that He has done for us, all of His grace, and all of His mercy. Brother Dan, talked a little bit just the other night about sin and how the Lord became sin for us. And it is a bit closer to Easter and we think about the resurrection and all that He did for you and I. As we view that it ought to make us want to say; here I am Lord. Here I am entirely completely, all that I have and all that I am, I am yours completely. Therefore, as we do that and Paul is pleading with them to do that. Again, he says…
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
He is saying let your life be a life that is submerged or controlled by, a life that is holy, a life that is directed by and desires the will of God be done in their life, a life that the Lord will look down and say that is pleasing unto me.
Do you remember in the Old Testament when they offered up sacrifices? When they burnt their sacrifices at times, you would read it was a sweet-smelling savor unto His nostrils. That means it was accept by Him. God accepted that. This was acceptable. The writer here, Paul here is saying the same thing; let our lives live in such a way that it is pleasing unto the Lord, and it is acceptable unto the Lord. Not that—again we know that it is not without sin or any of those things. What he is saying is this. You desire to live as close to the Lord every day of your life, as close as you possibly can. You do that. You give yourself entirely unto Him.
Now, when we pause there for just a moment, and think about giving ourselves unto the Lord; does that mean we give Him our finances, and then we do the rest? No. Does that mean we give Him of our intellect or give Him a part of us and we do the rest. No. When we say we give unto God everything, then we give everything unto Him. That means I give control of my finances. I give control of my life entirely, not just that but in everything I do. My conduct, how I act, where I go, where I don’t go, the things I get involved in, the things I don’t get involved in. I allow the Holy Spirit of God to guide my life in saying; I want my life to be pleasing unto the Lord. Paul is pleading with them. He said, the thing that makes you want to do that is by just looking at everything He has done for you.
I am going to say this. I feel confident that I am not the only one here that has done this. If I am then I am just going to leave. I am just kidding. There are times that if you do something wrong, it is presented before us. In a moment of weakness, or in a moment of time like that, our minds should immediately go to all that He has done for us. When it does that, it is not even a question. It does not mean that it is not there. It just means that it is not a question.
A good example of that is Joseph. When Joseph went before Potipher’s wife, we know she tried multiple times and that is just one example of many. It is one that comes to mind that I think about. The opportunity was there. However, there was no way in the world. Look at what all God has done for man. He has taken care of me in every way. That is extreme but it can also go to the smallest of things that God would not be pleased with. So, we look at that and say what He done for me means way too much. It directs us to submit our bodies and our lives unto Him in saying, I want God to be pleased with me so I am going to stay away from that. I am not going to be around that. I am not going to be involved in that.
I have often said before and I feel confident that there have been times that the Lord has just shook His head at me. I know that He has never not loved me. I am certain that I have disappointed Him from time to time. Even though, He knew I would fail. However, we look at this and he tells us this.
Romans 12:1
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
I remembered or recalled as brother Dan used this in his message when he was speaking about worship. I like the way the NLT puts it. It is like this:
Romans 12:1 (NLT)
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
That is how we worship Him. It is not just here in the sanctuary as we congregate together, which is a wonderful time. I love our church family. I love coming together. Most certainly, we know the scriptures say not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We know we should be here and this is something we desire to do. Worship goes way beyond just meeting here. It is our life. Our life ought to be as a worship unto the Lord. So, we are giving unto Him our life and we are saying; this is yours Lord. I am staying away from these things, or I am not getting involved in this crowd or doing this, or that. God, I love you. I know what you have done for me. So, I am not interested in those things. One writer said, and some others have said; they look at it like this, which is your reasonable service. It is the very least that you could do. I can agree with that. It is the least we can do is give our lives unto the Lord for all He has done for us.
He goes on writing to them. In actuality again, without question or doubt; he is writing to them to practice righteousness. Again, I am sure; I look at it as a way of encouragement to help them stay on the right track.
Romans 12:2
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
So, we read it like this. He says, “Don’t copy the behavior or the customs of this world.” I love the way they put that. Don’t copy the way the world is. Don’t be a copycat of the way the world is acting out. Let me take a moment to use a more of an example that I have been around in the last few days. I had actually spoke about in regards to and speaking about Grant. I have noticed a change in him. A good change that I am thankful for. I have noticed in the past that there were some ways that he was conducting himself and behaving. I noticed that the folks in whom he was around was beginning to manipulate, or form him into a certain way. We would say in our words copycatting, or being like those individuals which was not good. Therefore, now that he is not in that environment and around a different environment; I can see a change in him.
The writer here is saying; don’t copy the ways of the world. I have said before that my dad used to say that if you lay with a dog long enough, you will catch his fleas. Watch who you hang around. Watch where you spend your time. Watch who you allow into your space. I am not a fan and I am just being truthful with you tonight. I am not a fan of negative people. If you are a negative person, you are probably not going to last around me very long because I am not interested in that. I like to look at the positive side of things. I am not saying that I don’t want to look at the fact, and be real, and how things are, and the truthfulness of things. I don’t want to overlook anything. At the same time, I want to be on the positive side of things. There does tend to be too much negativity in this world.
We look at this and it causes me to think about our engagement when we are around other folks and people. Don’t allow them to influence your life. Rather, you be the one that is influencing other. You be the one that is so determined and desires the will of God, so much in their lives that it is the one doing the impacting in others and not the other way around. He saying be careful. Again, don’t copy the ways and customs of this world. What are the ways of this world. I read one writer say sometime that it is a dog-eat-dog world. They don’t care who they hurt. They don’t care who they have to run over. They don’t care. It is all about themselves. I don’t want to be like that. Do you? I know you don’t.
As we look at this, it says this.
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
“But let God transform you.” Paul was saying here, you cannot be where you need to be on your own. You cannot do what you need to do on your own. You cannot do what is right on your own. You cannot do anything on your own. Jesus had told the disciples, “Without me, you can’t do anything.” Paul had told the Philippians that through Christ, you can do anything. So, we know that it is all about Him. He is saying, you desire to be close and near unto God and you let Him do the work inside of you that needs to be done. You let Him transform you. Allow Him to work in your thoughts and work in your heart. Don’t allow the world to do that. You get as close to God as you can, and I promise you; He will do that. The closer we get to the world, the more we smell and act like the world.
I was in a place this week—Praise God, one more day there and we are out. I am not—if you smoke that is your business. However, I can’t handle it. I am telling you what, we left there the last few days; I thought, “My goodness, it is just like I ate a pack of cigarettes or something.” What I am saying is, when you hang around somewhere long enough, you start to smell like it, you start to act like it, you start to… I told the boy that works with us, that smokes; there is no need to go outside and smoke. Just go out there in the hall and breathe a while. There is plenty of smoke out there.
The point I am getting at is what you are close to and around; as I said earlier, you can lay with the dogs, you will catch his fleas. You hand around with them long enough then you start acting like the world. Let’s stay as close to God as possible. Stay as close to God as we possibly can. He goes on and says this:
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
When we do that, then what? After, we have not copied the behavior of the world, we let God transform us into a new person by changing the way we think.
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
God’s will is good. God’s will is pleasing. His will is perfect.
As we think about that, just the other day and I mentioned it briefly the last time we spoke, thinking about our grandson while driving down the road and praying. I was thinking about some things. I don’t always understand the will of God. However, as I was praying and I was thinking and I know it without any question or doubt in my heart. I said, God, this I do know, your will right, your will is good, your way is perfect. I know that.
How do we know that? How can we come to such confidence and such assurance. Because we have looked at all that He has done for us. We have come to understand that through that He has transformed the way we think about things. He transformed the way we look at things. Why is that? Because we understood that the one that has all wisdom, all power, all knowledge; He has all in all. We look at how great and magnificent that He is and we say with the psalmist, what is man that thou art mindful of him? You have not forgotten us, God. Look at what you did. You sent your Son and through your Son, I have hope of eternal life. He changed the way that we think and the way we look at things. When we get saved, does that just happen then and that’s it? No. He is saying, let your life be a complete sacrifice in the Lord that as that song says, “He’s Still Working on Me.” Every day of our lives, He is working in our lives. He is doing that. Doing what? Transforming us. What? To the image of His dear Son. One of these days we are going to be like Him. One of these days, we are going to leave here, and we are going to be like Him. In doing that, it brings us closer to the understanding of His will for our lives. Even when you say, I don’t always know God’s will for my life. I am glad you feel that way because I feel that way too. I don’t always know it either.
Here is what its saying. It is saying even when tragedy happens, or even when good things happen; we understand this. It is the will of God and it was good. I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t know it was going to happen. Sometimes, there are things we do know, but a lot of time there are things we don’t know. A lot times there are things that happen that just blindside us. Sometimes, they are good, and sometimes they are not good.
When we have allowed ourselves to be a sacrifice unto the Lord, we have given of ourselves entirely unto Him. I trust you with everything I am, everything that I have. I can do nothing. You are my all in all. When we have done that, He brings us to a place that He transforms our way of thinking. When those things happen, we say, yes, they hurt; or yes it is great, or it is not great. However, the end result is this. This is the will of God and it is good. So, we move on. He begins speaking about in relationship to the church.
Romans 12:3
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Paul is letting them know, that what you about ready to hear now is given to me by the grace of Almighty God. It is not of my own will, my own power, but the authority of which I am speaking has been given to me of God and that is which I am giving it unto you. He says, I am giving each of you a warning.
Romans 12:3
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
That is pretty good advice. I think I have told you before and I will bore you with telling you again because you may not remember. If you do, then you heard it twice.
Anyhow, I told Grant one time. When something happens to me and you start going on with the business; you go to hire somebody, if they be telling you how great they are and everything they can do, just tell them you are good and you don’t need them. We have been down that road. I have had those types around us. I am not good with that.
Paul is saying here, the writer is saying this: to every man not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Why is that? Because without God, none of us are anything. Without God, we cannot do anything. We aren’t anything and we can’t do anything. If that ain’t good English, then I don’t know what else is. He says, don’t think you are better than you really are. I like what the NLT says.
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
Be honest when looking at yourself. It goes on in the KJV…
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
The NLT goes on reading like this:
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
The measure of faith God has given us; what are we looking at here? You want to do an evaluation of self. I would say it this way, and I do from time to time, do it often. When you do that, don’t evaluate yourself by looking at others and looking around you and judging by what you see around you. No. Don’t do that. Look at it according to the faith given unto you. Look at it based on your relationship with the Lord and where you stand with Him, in your closeness in your relationship with the Lord. Do that. You want to see how you measure up? Measure up that way. Don’t measure up by looking around.
Do you know why that is? Kate and I for a long time would watch some of those shows that would show homes that are hoarders and this and that. Why? It makes us feel good about ourselves. (congregation laughing) You watch those shows where people are a little heavy? Why? It makes us feel good. You can always find people out there. You can always find someone out there and look at your life and say, I’m doing alright.
The writer is saying, don’t do that. He is saying, measure yourself up by the faith which is given to you. You measure yourself up to God’s standards. Evaluate your life according to what the Lord, and what He expects from us. When we do that, we will get a true accurate evaluation.
Romans 12:4
4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Not everybody—again, when we read this; I begin thinking about basically, Paul is…saying, guys listen. You need to focus on your relationship with God. Why is that? You have heard me say this and I am sure Dan has said it as well. You and I, as Christians tonight, would have to agree; that is the most vital thing in our lives. It is our relationship with the Lord. Nothing else. Our relationship with our spouses, they are most certainly important, with our children they are important, with our co-workers, and our employers. However, the greatest thing in mine and your life is our relationship with the Lord more than anything else.
So, when we do that, it is basically saying; focus on that. Focus on those things.
4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Basically, speaking of the physical body. You have heard that before. In Corinthians the hand isn’t the foot and so forth. I am sure you understand. So, what does it say? We all have different things or we will say talents. We will say ministries, gifts, or whatever that the Lord has given unto us. The Lord will use us in a certain way. He doesn’t call everybody to stand and be a pastor, or to preach. He has not called everybody to teach. He has not called everybody to sing. He certainly did not call me to sing. I know that. However, we all have different things. Paul is going to talk about some of those things.
Romans 12:6
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
Basically, I am going to sum it all up by saying this. Rather than getting into all of that it is this. He is saying, whatever you do unto the Lord, do it Holy unto the Lord. Do the very best that you possibly can. Whether it is in handling of the Word of God.
When I say that, I always think of Chuck Swindoll, when he says, a minister ought to chew on the Word of God, like a dog chews on a bone. He says, we are handling the truth of the Word of God. Making sure what we are saying is truth. Making sure we are using the Word of God accurately and so forth. So is true of the teachers. So is true of whether you sing. Sing with all you have unto the glory of God. I think in my opinion, maybe I am bias but I think we have some of the greatest singers in all the world that go right here. I think some of the most beautiful voices with some of the purest hearts sings right here at Moore Street Tabernacle. I believe that.
Also, he talks about the giving. When you give, give unto the Lord. God loves a cheerful giver. Give with a full and dedicated heart. That says I am doing this solely because I love God, and only because I know this is pleasing unto Him. This is the direction He is leading me to do. Whether that is—however you give and whatever you are giving—whether that is of your time, your clothes, or whether it is monetary things, or food, or whatever it is.
Also, he talks about other things. We can look at praying. I have known folks that we would say they were really quiet necessarily when church time comes. One of the greatest things they do is pray. They may be quiet. They may not testify a lot. You might not see things that they do here in the church, but one of the most important things they do that we don’t see that is they pray. He says, when you do that, do it with everything you have unto the Lord. Do it that the Lord is pleased with what you are doing.
Romans 12:9
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
He goes on with some wonderful advice and that is this. He is saying guys, basically just steer away from what is evil and cling to what is good. Cling to the goodness of God. Cling to what is right. What is right? The Lord is right. I like how the NLT puts it.
9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.
Don’t just to pretend to love them. Love them.
I told a fellow, and I think I told you this; maybe I told you. I am not sure. We were talking. I said, I want you to understand something. I am not like everybody else. When I tell you that I love you, I really mean it. I love you. I know to them, they thought; what in the world. They are not saved individual. I wanted them to understand that it is more than just words. If they need me any moment, any time; I will be there. They can count on it. He says here in verse ten.
Romans 12:10
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Notice what is happening here. Paul begins speaking about in the beginning about…we look at the Lord and what happens. That has a lot to do with our behavior. When we look at all that He has done it ought to draw us closer to Him. When it draws it closer to Him, we want to continue getting closer to Him. The closer we get to Him, Paul is saying…He is the One that does the transforming in your life. As He does that, there are things He will lead you to do. Stay focused. Stay focused on your relationship with the Lord. Everything you do, let God be glorified. Do it to the very best of your ability that God is praised and honored and glorified. When you tell folks you love them, love them with all you have. Don’t just pretend. Give them everything. He says, stay away from what is bad. Cleave to what is good. Now he saying this in verse 10.
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
I love that verse. It says, love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. The closer that I get to God—go back in verse three.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
What did he say? Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. We have all been called to do something. Don’t think you are better than somebody else. I am glad we don’t go to a place like that. I am not really sure who it is for, but we are throwing it out there. I know you all are great. Here is what I do know. I know this. I know that Paul is saying, not anyone is better than anyone else. When we do these things, and we draw unto the Lord. We draw close to His side. We desire Him in our lives. We want our lives to be acceptable unto Him. We want what we are doing to be pleasing unto Him. We are staying away from that which is evil. We are cleaving to that which is good. When we say we love people, it is with a genuine love. We love them because Christ first loved us. His love has been shed abroad in our heart. We can’t help but love them. When we say it, we mean it.
He said, being kind to one another. Do you know what there isn’t a problem doing? Do you know why? I love this place so much because you prefer one another. Look what happens in the NLT.
10 Love each other with genuine affection,[e] and take delight in honoring each other.
It is an honor and I mean that. I am not saying that to puff anyone up or anything else. I take great pride and it is an honor to say, I attend and I am a member at…Moore Street Tabernacle. It is an honor to say that. When I say that I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I take great delight in honoring this place and all of you. I say to everyone that asks where I go; I believe I go to the greatest place on earth. I don’t say that. Again, I let them know that I know better. I know there are great churches and other great places. I am not trying to run anybody down. As I come here and begin knowing each of you and drawing closer to each of you in relationships; I understand that God has placed us in a very wonderful place. As we read the Word of God, I believe that is how it should be. I desire good things in your life. I pray good things in your life. I pray God does great things. When I look at my brothers and sisters in Christ; I realized that God has blessed them greatly. It excites me to no end when I know how God is working in your life. When I hear the response of the things the Lord has done for you and He is working and how He has done things, helping, and answering prayers. It is a wonderful delight.
Romans 12:11
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
We will read this last verse, verse 12.
Romans 12:12
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Let me read that again from the NLT.
11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
What you do, do it with enthusiasm. What do mean? I am saying, whatever you do, do it unto the Lord, especially in your relationship with the Lord. Do it enthusiastically. When you give, or whether you are praying; whatever you are doing, do it with a full heart that honors the Lord and do it with great enthusiasm.
12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
Be patient and rejoice in the confident hope that we have. Be patient and keep praying. No matter what you deal with. No matter what you face. Keep on, as brother Mark Roach says; keep on keepin’ on and keep on praying. Keep on trusting the Lord. Why is that? Through prayer and through the reading of His Word, we are drawing nigh unto Him. Praise God. James said, you draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you. Guess what? He said, resist the devil and he will flee from you. What did Paul write here? Hey, steer away from that which is bad, cleave to that which is good. How do we do that? We just draw nigh unto God. He will help us with that. Do everything we do, with enthusiasm. Why is that? Why would that be necessary especially for us more so today? People might look at you and me and see how great we are and how wonderful—No. Absolutely not! They might look at you and me and see how good God is. They can see His good works in us and understand that as we do what we do, we constantly give glory to God, saying I can’t do anything without Him. He is everything to me. I love the Lord. Don’t you?
Come and pray.