Verse of the Day 6/9

 

Verse of the Day 6/9

 

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.   English Standard Version (ESV)

 

I know that  I've mentioned before in posting  verses that contain "therefore" that  we have to go back and look at what  it  is there for.  Quite  often it points  us back to the  previous verse or  perhaps passage,  but in this  instance, it points back not only to  the previous verse

but also to what Paul has been writing  about  in  the first 11 chapters of Romans.  Verse 11:36 states "for from him and  through  him and  to  him  are all things.  To him  be glory forever."   That verse was putting  a capstone on the first 11 chapters in which Paul taught  us what we need  to know  about  the  gospel,  the  good  news about faith, hope,  grace, righteousness, sin and forgiveness and going  back to Romans 1:16 where  he  wrote,

"for  I am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ, for it  is  the  power of God for salvation to everyone who believes."

 

Romans 12:1 is a transition.  We go from 11 chapters of  teaching  to 5 chapters of application, Paul writing  down guidelines  for the  ages  of  just how Christians  are  to live.   The teaching to this point are the foundation to build  a life upon.  While I was driving  the  other  day I listened  to a sermon from John Piper  on this passage which was titled "Build Your Life on the Mercies of God."  That is the foundation of  the Christian life, God  has shown us what forgiveness and mercy looks like, if we are his children,  his followers we are to live upon those sample guiding principles.

Read through the passage, the  chapter, or  even  the rest of the book  of  Romans and  see how many times mercy and forgiveness are put on display.

 

The message was given by Piper as a sermon to prepare his church  for  expansion.  It  wasn't just about growth, the expansion  was focused on  serving, on showing mercy,  on reaching  out.  The  church had  grown  to  this  point on a foundation of teaching, this  would continue, but  the  expansion had more to do with transforming  lives  through the  gospel and showing what God's forgiveness and mercy looked like infused  with the  power of  the  grace  of  God working  through His  people,  His  church.

 

To get the  flavor,  a taste of  this, read verses  6-8 from The  Message:

 

^6-8 If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

I'll close with the lyrics  from a  hymn that I haven't sung for years,  perhaps decades that  came  to mind  as  I considered this passage, may we be able to do what it says from transformed hearts.

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord 
forever
I will sing, I will sing.
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord 
forever,
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord.

With my mouth will I make known
Thy faithfulness, Thy faithfulness.
With my mouth will I make known
Thy faithfulness to all generations.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings,

 

Mike

 

Romans 12:1-8The Message (MSG)

Place Your Life Before God

12 ^1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

³ I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

^4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

^6-8 If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

 

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