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Psalms 78:40-57 How often
they provoked Him in the wilderness, And
grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited
the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power: The day when He
redeemed them from the enemy, When He worked His signs in Egypt, And His
wonders in the field of Zoan; Turned their rivers into blood, And their
streams, that they could not drink. He sent swarms of flies among them, which
devoured them, And frogs, which destroyed them. He also gave their crops to the
caterpillar, And their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost. He also gave up their cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery lightning. He cast on them the fierceness of His
anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, By sending angels of destruction among them. He made a path for His
anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the
plague, And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt, The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.
But He made His own people go forth like sheep, And guided them in the
wilderness like a flock; And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And He brought them to His holy border,
This mountain which His right
hand had acquired. He also drove out the nations before them, Allotted them an
inheritance by survey, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Yet
they tested and provoked the Most High God, And did not keep His testimonies,
But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; They were turned
aside like a deceitful bow. Father
God I ask that you bless us and our loved one each day. Pour out you love and
mercy and touch our hearts in such a way that we are awestruck by your
magnificence. We give you all the glory and praise. Amen!
Romans 12:1-8 NKJV
Starting
with chapter 12 and on through the rest of this book of Romans Paul tells us
how we are to live as true believers. In Chapters 1-8 Paul taught us the
doctrine of Condemnation, Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification. In
chapter 7 we found out that through the physical members of our bodies sin and
disobedience is carried out. In chapter 8 we learned how the Holy Spirit gives
us victory over our flesh through Jesus death and resurrection. In chapters
9-11 we learned about the Covenants and now in these final chapters Paul tells
us how we are to conform in life here on earth as children of God. So let’s get
started.
Romans 12:1-8
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is
your reasonable service. Paul
starts out with “I beseech you”. Beseech is not a command, but a pleading or a
type of begging to his fellow believers. “I beseech you” in the Greek is “parakaleo,” and means “I beg of you,
please.” The word “therefore,” reverts back to the contents of previous
Chapters.
Why does Paul use the term
beseech? Why doesn’t he just command his brethren? Moses commanded but Paul
asks. The difference in the two is Grace. Paul is under grace while Moses was
under law. With grace comes love for fellow brethren. Love is the result of
Grace and that is why the second greatest commandment is, “Love thy neighbor as
thyself.”
By
the mercies of God; The word “mercies” here denotes favor
shown to the undeserving, or kindness, compassion, etc. With the free gift of
Grace from God comes Sanctification, Justification, and Glorification of the
Believer. Because of God’s love and mercy He gave His only begotten Son as the
ultimate sacrifice for us so that we can choose to receive the free gift of
grace if we so desire.
That
you present; denotes the
action of bringing and presenting an animal or other sacrifice before an altar
in OT times. It implies that the action was a free and voluntary offering. This
is the same for people in NT times. We have to come to Jesus through the
calling of God our Father in order to have a Spiritual Birth. We have to
present ourselves as sinners and ask forgiveness and repent of our sinful ways
and ask Jesus to come into our lives to rule and reign. This is how we are to
present ourselves.
Your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service; Just as the animals that were brought
before the OT priest as a sacrifice for sin, Paul is telling us as believers
that we are to offer our whole body to God as a sacrifice to live in a Christ
like manner and serve Him. If we are Born Again we will have the desire to be a
servant of God and do whatever we are asked to do through the Holy Spirit. We
are to give our whole body to God for Him to use as He sees fit, not what we
want. If we don’t give it all to Him, we restrict the work of the Holy Spirit
within us.
We are to be a holy living
sacrifice so that we are acceptable to God. Just as the animals that were
sacrificed were to be without blemish and spot so that God would accept them as
a true sacrifice for the sins of the Israelite’s, we to must be made holy through the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ and the cleansing of His life giving blood. God
can only accept pure and holiness because He is pure and holy, that is why the
animals of OT times were to be without blemish just as Jesus is, and that is why
we have to be washed in Jesus blood to become holy so that God can accept us
into His kingdom. 1
Peter 1:19 but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Without the covering of Jesus blood we
are still viewed as sinful people by God because of the inherited sin nature
from Adam. No matter how good we think we are, without a Spiritual Birth we
cannot please God through our self works as an individual. If we don’t repent
and die to our sinfulness we can’t live for God under Grace and serve Him as He
desires. Romans 6:11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 1 Corinthians 6:11 NLT Some of you were once like
that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God
by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
So is God asking something
of us that is unreasonable? Definitely not, all we have to do is accept the
truth that the Bible is telling us and Jesus as our Saviour.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.
Let me put this verse another way, that is, don't live according to the behavior
and customs of this world, but let God mold and shape you into a new person by
changing the way you think. Our minds have to be changed. We have to study the
Bible and allow the Holy Spirit to transform the way we think. By allowing God
to do this within you, you will learn to know God's will for you which is good,
pleasing, and perfect in His eyes. The purpose of this transformation is to bring
the Saint into conformity to the “Perfect Will of God.” For this to happen we must start
thinking spiritually instead of worldly. A person must make a commitment to
this new life. Even though God’s gift of grace is free when one gives their
heart to Jesus they must be sincere and willing to give it all to Jesus. They
have to deny their flesh, mans rules and regulations, and past beliefs of
salvation. For this change to happen one must be willing to give the Holy
Spirit the latitude to work within them. Without this willingness the change
will not happen because the Holy Spirit will never take control by force. This
commitment is like a marriage vow. It will only work if one focuses on Jesus
and what He did for us at Calvary. If we focus on anything other than Jesus we
will be broken off of the tree of life and cast away. It is faith and not works
that will keep us grafted in. Matthew
16:24-26 Then Jesus
said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world,
and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? We
must furnish a willing mind and an obedient heart for the Holy Spirit to come
and dwell within us for this transformation to take place. 1 Chronicles 28:9 "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God
of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for
the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If
you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you
off forever.
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to
everyone who is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God
has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
For
I say, through the grace given to me;
Paul is referring to his conversion that was granted unto him by God. Ephesians 3:8 To me, who am less than the least of all the
saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ.
To
everyone who is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly; Paul
is telling us that we are to be humble if we want to be part of God’s family.
We aren’t to be boastful and prideful, but humility is the immediate effect of
self surrender to God. This was the downfall of the Israelites in their know it
all attitude and therefore have been broken off from the tree of life
temporarily.
As
God has dealt to each one a measure of faith; This phrase has two meanings. First is the measure of
faith that God gives to a believing sinner through the convicting works of the
Holy Spirit. Without this measure of faith a person in a sinful life style
would not have the capability of believing because there is nothing spiritual
in the unregenerate heart. Secondly a measure of faith is given to the New Born
Saint to carry out the gift that God bestows upon them when they become a true
believer.
4 For as we have many members in one body, but all
the members do not have the same function,
For as we have many members in one
body; This is
referring to the church members being of one body. Anyone that has given their
heart to Jesus becomes part of the church body. Who is the head of the church?
That would be Jesus Christ! Ephesians
1:22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church.
But
all the members do not have the same function; When a person is a son or daughter of
God each person has a particular function or service to contribute to the body
of the church. These services are list in the following verses. Do you know how
you are to serve God? Have you ever thought about what you are called to do for
God? If you have no idea of how you are serving God, then one must ask
themselves who are they serving? If one is saved they will have a desire to
serve God. God sent his only Son to earth and Jesus died for us so that we
would have a chance to be saved. Doesn’t verse 1 tell us to present our bodies
as a living sacrifice unto God?
5 so we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. So
we, being many, are one body in
Christ; This is stating that each and
every person that belongs to the church of Jesus Christ, are one. We are to be
one in Christ. John
14:20 At
that day you will know that I am
in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Paul also states this in Corinthians
that we are all of one body. 1
Corinthians 12:11-14 But one and
the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually
as He wills. 12
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one
body, being many, are one body, so also is
Christ. 13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in
fact the body is not one member but many.
Individually
members of one another; This phrase is stating that whatever is true
according to one, is also true according to the other. This isn’t pertaining to
the services of God, but of being a member of the body. If we are one in Christ
and Christ is one in us, then any person that is saved is also one. With this
in mind then, we should all be of one accord pertaining to God’s Holy and True
word, right? So where does that leave denominational churches?
6 Having then gifts differing according to the
grace that is given to us, let us use
them: if prophecy, let us
prophesy in proportion to our faith;
7 or ministry, let us use it in our
ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;
8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives,
with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with
cheerfulness.
Due to
space I will start with verses 6, 7, & 8 next week and include other gifts
as well.
Romans
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is
the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…...
Psalms
51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit
within me.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill Wiesbrock
Last Week’s Trivia: Who was Abishai?
Answer: Abishai was David’s nephew and a bold
and loyal follower of David. Abishai was always in the thick of the battles
against the Philistines, the Edomites, the Ammonites, and Absalom’s forces. He
is given special mention in all the records and is listed as one of “The
Thirty,” David’s elite corps of guardsmen/officers. 1 Samuel 26; 2 Samuel 2, 3,
10, 16, 18-21, 23; 1 Chronicals2, 11, 18, 19.
This week’s Trivia: Who was Abital?
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