Written ~ 07-26-2024
Read Romans Chapter Twelve
Romans 12
In our chapter for today Paul is going to give us some very sage advice as to how we are to behave as believers in Jesus Christ. So let’s dig in, as we study this chapter together, let’s really look deep within ourselves and see what areas we need to improve on as we live moment by moment for the Lord.
Romans 12:1-2…
1 “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. 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.”
The more we give our lives over to the Lord, the more we will understand the Will of God for our lives. Makes sense, right? The more we pursue living in the light of Jesus the more pleasing to God we will become. In contrast, the more we want to keep up with the world’s standards, the farther we get from the transformation God has instore for our lives.
Have you ever heard of the term “double standard?” As Christians we cannot have it both ways. We cannot live in this world, blend in and live by its standards and be good and pleasing and perfect in God’s eyes. It just doesn’t work that way.
The very first line of verse 12:1 says, “…I plead with you…” Paul is exceedingly concerned by how his brothers and sisters in Christ were behaving. It seems to me that they didn’t realize they had to be “all in” now that they had accepted Jesus as their Lord. Paul goes on to say that we are to “…give our bodies to God because of all He has done for us…” It’s true! God gave His only Son for us, He paid the greatest price by having His Son carry all of our sin upon Himself, just so we might have life through Him. Just think, we would have to read every word of Scripture to know all the many promises of God so we might have even that much better understanding of everything God does for us. Even then it only gives us a small peek into the grandeur and majesty of God. Our human brains can only fathom the magnitude of God’s greatness by a human standard. So when Paul continues in verse one by saying we need to be a “…living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable…” seems kind of impossible, doesn’t it? That is why we need the Lord, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we need the Word of God and every instruction given to us within its pages.
Here’s the first of many instructions given to us in this chapter…
- Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world
What would you say are some obvious behaviors and customs of this world? There are possibly too many to list, but many of which came to my mind are found in Romans 1:24-32…
For example:
- Homosexuality, and every other form of sexual perversion, anything that goes against what God established when He created man and woman
- Greed, hate, envy, murder, lying, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior and gossip
- Backstabbing, insulting and overbearing speech, proud and boastful attitudes, hatred towards God
- Defiance and disobedience towards one’s parents
- Broken promises, heartlessness, no mercy
- Foul and dirty language coming from their mouths
- Lust, impurity of all kinds, anger, rage and slander
- Worshiping anything other than God
You get the picture, right? When you look over this list, you may think to yourself, I don’t do any of these things! But, if we have committed even one, such as lying or speaking with ill will towards someone else or if you are using filthy language, even if you have done just one of these things, by God’s standards you are guilty of them all.
So, if the world cannot distinguish you as a follower of Jesus Christ, you are not being that “living and holy sacrifice” that God would find acceptable. That’s why we need Jesus! Jesus sacrificed everything for us! One way we can sacrifice our worldly behavior and change how we are representing Christ is by digging deeper into our Bibles and learn what God does find acceptable.
Romans 12:2b…
2b “…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.”
Have you ever caught yourself thinking about everything you don’t like about yourself? Maybe you have even talked with friends about all the things you wish were different about the way you look, or ways you would change your personality, as you begin to list all your insecurities, every negative quality you can think of starts coming to the surface. If you continually repeat that list in your mind, those things will eventually change your heart and put you in a very dark and desperate place. But God is saying, He will transform you into a new person… that doesn’t mean all of a sudden you become something you never were, what it does mean is that God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. You’ll look in the mirror, it’s still you, but the way you feel about yourself is now coming from the love God has for you. Think of it this way… If the thing you keep telling yourself over and over again isn’t positive, uplifting, powerful and full of light – it’s not from the Lord! God is telling us through the apostle Paul to let Him get into our hearts and minds and let Him transform us into a new person! God is asking us to let Him change the way we think! If we continue to put ourselves down… How is that giving God a holy sacrifice? If we are still in a place where we listen to the world’s standard of living or we contemplate the devil’s lies – we have got to repent, truly repent from those negative things and let them go. We want to be the type of sacrifice the Lord God Almighty finds acceptable. By letting go of those worldly behaviors, we can truly worship the Lord!
Let’s see what else Paul wants us to learn…
Romans 12:3-8…
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. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
6 In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.”
In this passage Paul has given us a list of the different gifts God has given each and every one of us. The warning he is giving in verse 12:3 is to make sure no pride begins to develop if one person decides their gift is better than someone else’s. Paul gives the example of a human body and though there are many parts to the body, it moves as one. Each part has its own function, but not more important than any other part.
When God was knitting us together in our mother’s womb He gave us a special gift, it would be built into our personality and would wind up being a very strong part of who we are. Let’s look at the list Paul gives us, if you don’t already know your gifted area, maybe seeing this list will help you identify which one stands out more than the rest.
- Gift of Prophesy (one who speaks divinely inspired revelations)
- Gift of Serving Others
- Gift of Teaching
- Gift of Encouragement
- Gift of Giving
- Gift of Leadership
- Gift of Kindness
I have known for some time now that the gift God has given me is the gift of encouragement. Nothings brings a joy burst to my heart more than if I can encourage my fellow believers in their walk with the Lord. If I can help believers, brand-new or well-seasoned, to grow in their faith, I am in my happy place. So for me, verse 12:8 speaks to my heart, “If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.”
Word of warning… don’t let anyone steal your joy if they don’t understand what your gift is. I had an experience years ago where someone said to me that I wasn’t “being a good Christian” (in so many words) because I wasn’t out on the street evangelizing and bringing people to Christ. At the time, I must admit, I was devastated, I really did think for quite some time that I was not pleasing God because I wasn’t out on street corners shouting the Gospel message. I shut down for quite a while, I was confused as to what my purpose was, I wondered if I wasn’t doing God’s work because I wasn’t leading people to Christ. Luckily, somehow, I was able to recover from that devastating time period and I will never again misunderstand God’s gift for me. If you are unsure, ask God to reveal His gifting for you, then pursue it with all you’ve got!
Romans 12:9-18…
9 “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”
Boy oh boy! Paul is really packing a punch with these verses, isn’t he? He has given us a very lengthy list of things we should be doing! I am going to highlight below everything he lists, maybe that will be more helpful to understand…
- Love
- Hate what is wrong
- Hold tightly to what is good
- Never be lazy
- Work hard
- Serve the Lord enthusiastically
- Rejoice in your confident hope
- Be patient in trouble
- Keep on praying
- Be ready to help those in need
- Bless those who persecute you
- Pray for those who curse you
- Be happy with those who are happy
- Weep with those who weep
- Live in harmony with each other
- Don’t be too proud
- Don’t be a know-it-all
- Never pay back evil for evil
- Live in peace with everyone
Wow! Just WOW! Will you look at that list! Some of those things don’t come easy! Do you think that’s why Paul said in verse 12:1 that we are to be a “living and holy sacrifice?” Doing any one of those things in the list above would qualify as being sacrificial. If we are honest with ourselves, most of us might want to skip over several of those things because we don’t want to let go of our selfishness. If you look over that list and find a few that you really struggle with, maybe those are the things you should work on. Ask God how you can be a living and holy sacrifice, especially with the most difficult things on that list.
OK…
Paul isn’t finished with giving us a couple more pieces of sage advice…
Romans 12:19-21…
19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.
For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.
(Deuteronomy 32:35)
20 Instead,
“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”
(Proverbs 25:21-22)
21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
What an ending to this power packed chapter, wouldn’t you agree? Paul gives us a few more things to think about. What I want to say about all these things Paul in instructing us to do, is that they bring me back to what he said in verse 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of the world…” Think about it, wouldn’t you agree that it would be quite uncommon to witness a non-believer pursuing every single item listed in verses 12:9-21. Most of them require the love and patience of Jesus living within! Quite honestly, if we were able to master everything Paul was asking us to do, we would definitely stand out among the crowd. That’s the difference between the copying the world’s standards and living by God’s standards – we become a new person, we become good and pleasing and perfect.
Contemplate the words of Paul in relation to the list of instructions given to us in this chapter and see how you measure up to living as a holy sacrifice to the Almighty God… and be the kind of sacrifice that God would find acceptable.
~AMEN~