In light of God’s incredible mercies, how should the believer respond? Paul tells us in Romans 12:1, it is by presenting our bodies to Him to be used to do His will and bring Him glory!
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Dedicate Yourself To God!
Romans 12:1
Brothers and sisters, we have reached a milestone this morning in our study of the book of Romans. Two years ago, we embarked on this study, and up to this point we have gloried in the riches of God in chapters 1-11, which is the doctrinal section of the book. But beginning in chapter 12, we enter the practical portion of the book. Paul goes from exposition to exhortation, from doctrine to duty, and from information to application. Notice that Paul does not start by telling us what to do. He begins by giving us 11 chapters in which he tells us what God has done for us. That is the proper order: first tell people what God has done for them, and then what they are to do in response. This is what will protect us from creating hypocrites and legalists. If we take someone and immediately begin to tell them all they must do, without telling them what God has done for them, we may get them to try to do something, but their motive will be all wrong. They may try to do it to please us, or to make themselves look good in the eyes of others, but neither of those motives is righteous. Rather, they must do any good thing to please God.
You can’t build a house without laying a foundation. Chapters 1-11 are the foundation, and chapters 12-16 are the house. But neither do you spend your entire life laying, and re-laying the foundation. You lay the foundation, and then you build upon it. Paul, in chapter 12, is going to begin to build the house on the foundation of theology he has laid in the first 11 chapters.
Practice without a foundation of rich doctrine is legalism. However, doctrine without application is dead orthodoxy. Our teaching must be followed by devotion, practice, and experience, or we are just puffing up our heads with knowledge. We are to be doers of the word, not just hearers who delude ourselves.
The book of Romans is Paul’s explanation and application of the gospel. In reality, Romans 12:1 is everything we need to know about living out the gospel. Romans 12-16 are just Paul unpacking Romans 12:1. In Romans 12:1 Paul urges us to make a complete consecration of our lives to God. In chapters 12-16 Paul tells us what that consecration to God looks like in relationship to the church, our enemies, the government, and the weaker brethren.
Let’s back up for just a minute and get a broad, birds-eye view of the book of Romans.
Romans 1:1-3:20 are about SIN.
Romans 3:21-5:21 are about SALVATION.
Romans 6 – 8 are about SANCTIFICATION.
Romans 9-11 are about SOVEREIGNTY.
Romans 12-16 are about SERVICE.
Now, this morning we are only going to take one verse – Romans 12:1. The heart of this verse is that we are urged to make a dedication to God. Paul says, “I urge you…” The word he uses for “urge” can also be translated as “exhort, beseech, entreat, beg, encourage, implore, entreat.” Paul is urging these Romans Christians to do something.
Who is Paul addressing? “I urge you, brethren…” Paul is not talking to sinners. He is not addressing the lost. He is calling on born again believers to do something.
What is Paul calling on them to do? “present”. That word “present” can mean to “to put something at someone else’s disposal.” It means “to give, or to offer” something to someone. It is the warrior who presents himself at the King’s feet and says, “at your service your Majesty.”
So, the heart of the exhortation in Romans 12:1 is that we are being called to make a dedication to God. This morning, I want you to see the Essence of this Dedication, the Motivation of this Dedication, and the Result of this Dedication.
1. The Essence Of This Dedication
Present Your Bodies. Notice that Paul calls us to give God our bodies, not our hearts. I know it is very popular today to talk about giving God our heart. The truth is, that we don’t give God our heart. He gives us a new heart. It would be one thing if God were requiring you to give something to Him outside of yourself, like your car or your house. But He’s requiring that you give Him yourself! When Paul says “present your bodies”, he’s saying “present yourself completely and totally to God.” Dedicate, offer, give yourself to God. Remember when Jesus took a denarius with an image of Caesar on it and said, “Render to Caesar what is Caesars’, and to God what is God’s.” Since the Roman coin has an image of Caesar on it, render Him the taxes prescribed. But since you are the image of God, give yourself to God.
This is the very first command we are given in this chapter, and it has to do with our relationship to God. “Present your bodies to God.” Before we are instructed as to how we are to use our spiritual gifts, or how to function in the church, or with our enemies, or government, Paul tells us how we must relate to God. The way we must relate to God is by unconditionally surrendering ourselves to Him. We love to talk about God’s unconditional love toward us, but we must also remember that we must give an unconditional surrender to Him.
Our Eyes. We must present our eyes to God. We must dedicate our eyes to God, so that we don’t gaze upon those things that would defile us. This means we must be careful to avoid images that provoke lust. There has never been a time in the history of the world where it was so easy to be sucked into pornography than today, with the easy access of the Internet, and Netflix. If you find yourself giving in to temptation to view sexual images which promote lust, you need to cut off the source of those images. You need to make a decision as to what movies you will and will not watch. You need to make up your mind what web sites you will visit and which ones you won’t. If you are not sure, just ask yourself if Jesus Christ were watching the movie with you, would He sit through it, or leave. And, if you are unable to make wise, godly decisions in these areas, you need to swear off movies and the Internet altogether. Rather, we should dedicate our eyes to reading the Scriptures, and to looking on the poor with compassion.
Our Ears. We must present our ears to God. Do you allow filth to enter your ears? Of course, just by living in this world, we are going to be exposed to a certain amount of blasphemy and profanity. But we don’t have to go searching for it. And that’s what we do when we watch movies or listen to audiobooks that are full of it. We must not allow ourselves to listen to gossip, or slander or lies from others as well. If someone begins to spread gossip to us, we must respectfully and politely tell them that they need to go and talk to that person, not to us. Rather we must present our ears to God so that we listen to the preaching of the Word, praise and worship, and the prayers of God’s people.
Our Lips. We must dedicate our lips and our speech to God. We must remember Paul’s instruction in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” That’s the test we must submit all of our speech to. We must repent of all gossip, slander, lying, evil-speaking, and profanity. Instead we must use our lips to praise God, to witness to the lost, and to build up our brothers and sisters.
Our Hands. We must present our hands to God. We do so by refusing to use them to hurt, but only to help and bless others. We use our hands to praise God by lifting them to His name. We use our hands to serve others, by working to support our family and the church, and helping those in need.
Our Feet. We must present our feet to God. How do we do that? By refusing to allow them to take us to places where we will be tempted or sin against God. By using them to take us where God wants us to go. We use our feet by walking or driving to where we can share the gospel, take a meal to someone, help a neighbor, or attend a prayer meeting or bible study.
In short, we present our bodies to God by dedicating all of who we are to God for His service, to do His will. This is really what Jesus meant when He said, “If anyone wishes to be My disciple, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”
A Living Sacrifice. There were many offerings that God required under the Old Covenant. There were offerings related to man’s reconciliation with God, like the guilt offering, sin offering, and peace offering. However, there was another offering that was related to man’s consecration to God. It was called the burnt offering. After the animal had been slain, it would be cut up, placed on the altar, and then it would be consumed by fire. The entire animal would be offered up as a soothing aroma to the Lord (Lev.1:1-9). Well, Romans 12:1 is the New Testament counterpart to the burnt offering. Just as the animal was consecrated completely to the Lord for His pleasure, so the believer is to consecrate himself completely to the Lord for His pleasure.
Of course there is one big difference between these two situations. The Old Testament animal sacrifices were dead. We are alive. I think that a living sacrifice may be more difficult to make than a dead one. If we give ourselves to the Lord and die as martyrs for His cause, that will be extremely difficult and painful, but only for a relatively brief period of time. But to give yourself to the Lord as a living sacrifice, means that you will sacrifice your own will and desires to do His will, every day, day after day, for the rest of your life! Of course, there is one problem with living sacrifices. They do everything they can to squirm off the altar. And, that’s our problem too. When it becomes painful to deny ourselves to do God’s will, we start squirming off the altar. But God is calling us to remain on the altar, and die to our own fleshly desires which run counter to His desires.
A Holy Sacrifice. The word “holy” means that it is set apart to God. I believe that is what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians 5:15 when he wrote, “and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “For you are not your own; for you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” My friends, the Bible calls us “saints.” A saint is a holy one. He is a person who has been set apart for God. As a Christian you have no right to do whatever you want to do. Your main purpose in life is to ask the Lord what He wants you to do, and to do it. We are holy sacrifices.
Which is Your Spiritual Service of Worship. Here the apostle tells us that this complete dedication of ourselves to God is our spiritual service of worship. We too often make the mistake of thinking that worship is what we do from 10 am to 10:45 am on Sunday mornings as we sing songs of praise to God. Well, that is part of worship, but only a very small part. Paul tells us here that worship of God has to do with consecrating yourself to Him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Worship occurs when you make a decision not to use your tongue to curse, or slander or gossip, but to build up others. Worship occurs when you decide not to use your eyes to look on that which inflames you with lust, but to read Scripture. Worship is what happens when we dedicate our time, money, energy, and gifts to God’s service every day, all day.
2. The Motivation For This Dedication
Therefore. Why does Paul begin with the word “therefore.” A wise old man once said, “when you see the word ‘therefore’, always check to see what it is there for.” So, let’s take his advice. What is the word “therefore” there for? Well, it tells us that what Paul is telling us now is based on what he has already told us. In other words, his exhortations in Romans 12-16 are based squarely on his teaching in chapters 1-11.
By the Mercies of God. There we have the motivation. Paul is calling upon us to dedicate ourselves entirely to God because of the mercies of God. Now, notice that He is not telling us we must serve God because if we don’t, we will face His wrath. No, we are to serve God because of His goodness and His mercies. This is what Paul already told us in Romans 2:4, “the kindness of God leads you to repentance.”
So, just what is Paul referring to when he speaks of the mercies of God? He is talking about every mercy he has listed in the first eleven chapters. I have made a list of 50 mercies of God in chapters 1-11. I’m going to read them to you. Although there are 50 of them, it won’t take long, because I’m just going to read them.
- His mercy in revealing through creation that there is a Creator (1:19-21)
- His mercy in revealing His gift of righteousness (3:21)
- His mercy in making this gift of righteousness conditioned by faith, not works (3:22)
- His mercy in making this gift of righteousness available to all who believe (3:22)
- His mercy in providing redemption through Christ (3:24)
- His mercy in setting forth Christ as a propitiation (3:25)
- His mercy in promising believers they would be heirs of the world (4:13)
- His mercy in giving us peace with God (5:1)
- His mercy in granting us introduction into a standing of grace (5:2)
- His mercy in causing tribulations to bring about perseverance leading to proven character and hope. (5:3-4)
- His mercy in pouring out the love of God within our hearts through the Holy Spirit (5:5)
- His mercy in promising to save us from the future wrath of God (5:9)
- His mercy in causing us to die to sin when we were united to Christ (6:2)
- His mercy in giving us new life in union to Christ (6:4)
- His mercy in causing us to no longer be slaves to sin (6:18)
- His mercy in sanctifying us (6:22)
- His mercy in granting us eternal life (6:23)
- His mercy in causing us to be joined to the risen Christ (7:4)
- His mercy in causing us to be released from the Law (7:6)
- His mercy in enabling us to serve in the newness of the Spirit (7:6)
- His mercy in declaring that there is no condemnation for us in Christ Jesus (8:1)
- His mercy in causing us to set our mind on the things of the Spirit (8:5)
- His mercy in causing the Spirit to indwell us (8:9)
- His mercy in raising our mortal bodies from the dead (8:11)
- His mercy in causing the Spirit to lead us to put to death the deeds of the body (8:13-14)
- His mercy in causing us to cry out, ‘Abba! Father!”
- His mercy in causing the Spirit to testify with our spirit that we are children of God (8:16)
- His mercy in causing us to be heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (8:17)
- His mercy in destining us for glory (8:18)
- His mercy in a future revealing of us as the sons of God (8:19)
- His mercy of a future redemption of our body (8:23)
- His mercy of granting the Spirit who intercedes for us (8:26-27)
- His mercy in causing all things to work together for our good (8:28)
- His mercy in predestining us to become conformed to the image of His Son (8:29)
- His mercy in calling us (8:30)
- His mercy in glorifying us (8:30)
- His mercy in being for us (8:31)
- His mercy in not sparing His own son (8:32)
- His mercy in His commitment to freely give us all things (8:32)
- His mercy in Jesus interceding for us (8:34)
- His mercy in not allowing anything to separate us from Him (8:35-39)
- His mercy in electing us (9:11)
- His mercy in loving us (9:13)
- His mercy in making known upon us the riches of His glory (9:23)
- His mercy in preparing us beforehand for glory (9:23)
- His mercy in making us His people and His beloved and sons of the living God (9:25-26)
- His mercy in causing elect Gentiles to find Him even though they were not looking for Him (10:20)
- His mercy in keeping for Himself a remnant according to His gracious choice (11:5)
- His mercy in causing the salvation of the Gentiles to make the Jews jealous for salvation (11:11)
- His mercy in determining that His gifts and calling would be irrevocable (11:29).
Oh, brothers and sisters, because of all that God has done, and is doing for you, because of His mercies in Christ, I beg of you to give yourselves totally and completely to Him. He has loved you with an everlasting love. Respond to His love! Love Him back! Don’t let your heart lie cold and unresponsive as a stone. Show from a holy life that you are thankful for His mercies.
3. The Result Of This Dedication
Acceptable To God. Now, this is a curious translation, because the Greek word translated “acceptable” here, occurs 12 times in the New Testament. It occurs 3 times in Romans, and 9 times elsewhere. Everywhere else in the New Testament where it occurs, other than in Romans, it is translated as “pleasing” or “well-pleasing.” Actually that is the literal rendering of the word. In the Greek it is “euareston.” This is a compound word. The prefix “eu” means good or well. It appears in the word “eulogy” or a good word spoken at a memorial service. The suffix “areston” means pleasing. That’s why the literal rendering is “well-pleasing.” Let’s translate the verse that way, “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.”
This is the same Greek word used in Hebrews 13:16, “And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Doing good and sharing pleases God.
It is found again in Hebrews 13:21, “may God equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight…” Doing God’s will pleases God.
It is found again in Philippians 4:18, “But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.” Giving to the work of the Lord pleases God.
It is found again in Colossians 3:20, “Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.”
Notice that we can be pleasing to the Lord in all kinds of ways – sharing, doing God’s will, giving to the work of God, obeying parents.” Basically all of life can be pleasing to the Lord, if you are living for Him.
It is My friends, have you ever wanted to know what you could do that would be pleasing to the Lord? Well, here you have your answer! Present your body to Him as a living and holy sacrifice.
Conclusion
Jim Elliott was one of five missionaries who were speared to death when they attempted to bring the gospel to the Aucan Indians in 1956. His diary was later found and one of the entries was, “God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life, that I may burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.” God answered that prayer! He did not live a long life, dying at 28 years of age, but he lived a full one.
The missionary C. T. Studd once made the statement, “If fJesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
The old hymn puts it well, “When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride. Were the whole realm of nature mine that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
So, brothers and sisters, will you obey the word of God? Will you present your bodies to God this morning? Will you put your whole self at His disposal, to do with you as He wills? Will you seek to live every second of every day to do His will and to pursue His glory? Dedicate yourself to God!
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