Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.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 beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
24 sermons cite this verse
… I want to live in the purposes of God, not so that I can get something, but I want to do that because I already have something. Oh, I love this. Put this on Romans 12 verse one, put this on the screen. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and your proper worship. Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will. So he's saying to the Israelites, hey guys, before you step into this thing, it's gonna be amazing. I just wanna make sure we're on the same page, that your life is totally consecrated from sinful use. It is now used for godly use. I want to just remind you today that your life does not belong to you. …
… about living God's will out, doing it right now. He says, 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, someone say reasonable, service. 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. And we know, Lord, that you want to bless your word, but we ask you to do it. We ask that you would open the eyes of our understanding that we may see your good plan for us and live it out with your help. We pray, God, for those listening today who don't know you, that you would draw them to you, that the lost would be found, and the found would find more of you. And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. The sermon in a sentence today is that God's will is more present than it is future, but it's often invisible until it's in the past. Let me say that again. God's will, It's more present than it is some exotic thing in the future. …
… He went to her. He touched her. He raised her up, and she waited upon them. That was the service of Romans 12, 1 and 2. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service of spiritual worship. What should I do, Lord Jesus, now that you have raised me up? Why don't I do this for you? Why don't I make you a wonderful salad? Divine service. Secondly, it's a demonstration not only of his power, but it is a demonstration of his compassion. Of his compassion. Was there ever a shepherd like this? Was there ever such a tender shepherd? The prophecy of Isaiah, anticipating the coming of Jesus, says that he gently leads those who have young. He gathers the lambs close to his heart. He is constantly on the lookout, constantly watching? Surely it would have been possible for Jesus, after all of the dramatic encounter in the synagogue and the necessity of involvement in the healing process of Simon's mother-in-law, when they finally all got together around the table and said, you know, let's not only close the door, let's close the blinds. Let us be done with this. …
… The next verse is this, before we dive into our section. A beloved passage, Romans chapter 12, verses one and two. Paul the apostle said to the church in Rome, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, watch this, that you present your bodies. Read it, watch closely. A dead sacrifice? A living sacrifice. God doesn't want you to blow yourself up. God doesn't want you to kill yourself for his kingdom. God wants you to live. He wants you to have life, and he wants you to take your life and your body here references your earthly existence, body, soul, and spirit, as a living sacrifice. What is that? Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. The word service there is the word worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, which leads us to this study today for all in the family, that the way of wisdom is for all in the family. And I'm going to be challenging you throughout this message, are you in the family of God? You need to examine that. Number one, mark it down if you would. By the way, I think it's safe to say this is as far as we'll make it today, is the first point. I had three, listen, at three o'clock this morning, I had three points. And by the time I got done, I had one point. So we'll be in this section for a …
… And they didn't do it. It was meant to entail the totality of a person's life. Some year later, we'll get to Romans 12.1, in view of God's mercies, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual act of worship. Your whole self is now, as a redeemed Christian, to give honor to God and thank Him. We were made to live a life that testifies to the reality that God is eternal. Your life is supposed to reflect that to everyone around you, that people look at your life and know there's a God, He's eternal. He's powerful. He's mighty. He's lovely. And His transcendent glory rests heavy upon us. So, this is the first instance of this word glory, translated here, honor. Now, look just a few verses later, verse 23. What did human beings do? What do they do with the sight of this glory? Well, they don't honor Him. They don't give thanks. They exchange the glory, exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. This is a further explanation of man's failure. They exchanged the glory, that is the radiance, the beauty, the power, the transcendent excellence of the immortal God, all of that that should have rested heavy upon them, they exchanged that for images resembling man, birds, animals, creeping things. …
I'm trying to give you some keys right now. Pursue peace, Romans 12.1. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. No, some people, Pastor Mike, because you know her. Everyone. What are you doing to live at peace with that person who gets on your last nerve? Matthew 5 9 God blesses those who work for peace for they will be called the children of God let me give you a practice practical step if you want peace in your life you may have to go first you may have to forgive and they didn't even say nothing you may have you may have to do something that nobody even asked you to do you may have to go first but that's what peace looks like by using the Holy Spirit to do the impossible. See, peace is not the absence of something. It's a godly life inside of you coming out empowered by the Holy Spirit. God wants you to have peace under pressure. Don't ever look at the pressure of life as something you can't handle because God's already given you peace. His name is the Holy Spirit. …
… Romans 12, 1, a fantastic verse on this very point. It says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. And I love this, which is your reasonable service. Your reasonable service. We are to give our lives back to him as an act of worship. and this is really the only reasonable response that we can have to the great things that he has done for us to be a living sacrifice a good catchy kind of slogan that will help you remember this as it's helped me is to live for him because he died for you live for him because he died for you. Serve the Lord. But what does it practically look like to serve the Lord? I actually believe that's a very important question that demands an answer. Now, certainly serving the Lord could look like you serving within the church in some capacity, but know this, that it is not limited to that. …
… using an illustration. Well, first of all, three texts, I think. Romans 12 verse 1. How is it that our lives are transformed into the likeness of the Lord Jesus? If you were to say to me, what is the very core of sanctification, progress in the Christian life, then it's what Paul says in Romans 8 29, isn't it? God's purpose is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son. Well, how does this transformation take place? Well, says Paul, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. And if you think about it, if there is nothing in our minds, then our lives are not going to be renewed or transformed. So, what we're doing when we study Christian doctrine is in forming our minds so that by their renewal our lives may be transformed. I remember in the days when I used the old King James Version when I was a teenager, those lovely words in the Proverbs, as a man thinketh in himself, so he is. …
if waiting is life then what does living in the wait actually look like well I think that Romans chapter 12 gives us a pretty clear honest picture it says this therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. You know, in Louisiana, I grew up with bonfires. My favorite hang time with friends was a bonfire. And I understand for people watching today, maybe that sounds a little foreign. So let me explain to you how we do it in Louisiana. Indiana, we would plan a date and a time. We would get the wood. We would light that thing on fire, and everyone gets their seats, and everyone faces the fire. You can get a guitar. You can pull out the blankets, but the fire is the center of attention, and it is blazing. Now, my husband, He grew up in Washington state and he did not grow up with bonfires. …
… congregation and think that's part of the story that's part of the analogy but how does that work for you what's the expectation for believers paul tells us romans 12 1 you know this now it makes sense i appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of god to present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your spiritual worship your reasonable service of worship is to die for christ to to to to become fuel on the fire of the altar that goes up to god and becomes a sweet smelling aroma to to bear fruit that's appropriate in this life that means dying to yourself so that you can live for christ taking up your cross and following him the goal is for you to die for your children to die to yourselves and to live for god it's not too much to ask why is it not too much to ask John 1 29 the next day John sees Jesus coming toward him and he says behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world there's dignity in being a sheep there will never be more dignity in any animal that walks this earth than a sheep and God calls you to be one until we come to the book of Revelation we find that that he is eternally and gloriously celebrated both as the shepherd king who leads his people to living waters and also as the lamb who was slain. …
… state of humanity forever in glorified human soul and body so the fight against sin is a soul and body battle i wonder if you've noticed this in romans chapter 12 verse 1 where he says surprisingly present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your spiritual worship you might just think he would say present your souls to god yes present your souls and present your bodies all of you presented to him in worship do not be conformed to the pattern of this world that loves to tear body and soul apart so you can do what you want to do in your body. Don't be like that. 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. Christians, we have a history of this in the church. We Christians have at times neglected the body and had a focus on the soul that minimized the body. And there are some understandable reasons for that. I mean, the way that Christianity exalts the importance of the soul, the promises that are made to us in Christ Jesus are so spectacular. Some Christians should be forgiven for neglecting some aspects of the body. So I've got understanding for that. I'm not here to dump on that. I'm here to try to bring a fuller biblical perspective to the whole body and the whole soul that your body can be an asset and not just a liability in the pursuit of joy …
… conformed to the world, be transformed to the rear of your mind, that by testing. In the NIV, it says, then, then you will be able to test and approve. That by testing, so that you will be able to test and approve. In other words, how do we find out? Well, it's a stirring call, isn't it? It's a call to respond to the transforming power of the gospel. All of us in living our Christian lives understand that it is a whole series of new beginnings. We never know when we're going to come to one of those lampposts along the jog of life that just arrests us for a moment and we stop and we realize, God, you have brought me here to this moment and this time for this reason. You may be sitting out there today and you're saying to yourself, I don't know if this guy has been reading my journal. I don't know what's going on. But this stuff about my body, this is really getting to me. …
Romans chapter 12, it says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. I love singing in the car, singing in the shower, but right here, proper and true worship as the Bible defines it, is a life that is surrendered to God. You might not be able to sing on key, you might not be able to know all the notes or the songs, but your ultimate and true worship is offering your life to God. It's surrender to him. Verse two says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good and pleasing and perfect will. So in view of God's mercy, do not conform to the pattern of this world. Last week, Pastor Chad, we talked about this. We talked about Hosea. Hosea goes after Gomer, his wife. His wife has committed adultery and has left their home, and God says, I want you to go after your wife. I want you to bring her back and restore the marriage, and that is a picture for us of what God does for you and I. It is a picture that in my worst place, God picked me up out of the miry clay. God picked me up out of my situation. God picked me up out of the mess that I had made. God picked me up out of my bad decisions. …
… What you should do with that body is what Paul said in Romans chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And don't be conformed to this world, but be, tell me, transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you might prove it is that good, perfect, and acceptable will of God. Thank you. So we are to keep our vessel, our body. Now some might ask, well, you know, the body isn't as important as the spirit. The spirit is what's most important. The body is secondary. Why would the body be considered all that important? Very simply this. Your body is a what of the Holy Spirit? Temple of the Holy Spirit. A temple wasn't just a place where God was worshipped. a temple was seen as the base of operations for that God to work. So your human body, hands, feet, mouth, eyes, ears, could be the base of operations for God to work in your community. …
… We say it here all the time. Worship is a lifestyle. I like the way Jesus says it. If you love me, you'll obey my commands. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 12.1. Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercy of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true worship. It's the presentation of our bodies as obedience that God calls worship. And just as a side note, I can't help but notice verse 10. It's not just obedience that they had. It was quiet obedience. Look at what he says in verse 10. Do not shout or let your voice be heard. Do not let one word come out of your mouth. I'm wondering if the hardest part of this whole journey for the Israelites was quiet obedience could you imagine the temptation your feet starting to hurt yet when you think these walls are going to fall silence but notice quiet obedience gave way to a loud victory and I'm wondering if in our lives if you're anything like me it's tempting to talk about our obedience. What'd you give up for Lent this year? Oh, for me, social media, it's hard, man. …
… That's where we're gonna be today. Grant looked at Romans 12, verse one and two. So he covered two verses. I'm gonna cover the rest of the chapter. Okay, so take that, Grant. Just kidding. We're gonna motor through a good bit of it. It's a wonderful chapter. But before we get even back to that, I wanna take us all the way back to the beginning because community is not a modern church strategy. It's not a response to this loneliness statistic. I do believe it's an answer, but community was not invented as a response to something. It's not something God created to fix a problem. Community is woven into the very nature of who God is and who he created the world to be. Genesis 126 says this. It's not gonna be up there. I'm just gonna read it for us. Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. From the very beginning, God reveals himself, not as isolated, but as relational. …
… So I just signed. And then I awkwardly wrote Romans chapter 12, verses one and two, which is our text today. I call it the autograph section of scripture. These two verses are some of the most powerful verses in the Bible. And I think if we ever could ask God right now for his autograph, I really believe he would autograph these texts on our heart, soul, and mind and body. They're that powerful. You have to understand, we've been studying the book of Romans and the book of Romans was written to Romans and also was written to Jews and non-Jews. It's written to the church. The first 11 chapters, when the apostle Paul writes, is about orthodoxy, about belief. The second part of the book of Romans, beginning in Romans chapter 12, is orthopraxy. That's the practice. That's the application of behavior. Does that make sense? So we've got belief in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. And then we have behavior beginning with Romans chapter 12. …
… Let's read our scripture together real quick before you sit down. I want to preach today from Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, one of the most iconic passages of Scripture. And I'm excited that God is allowing me to preach from it today. It says this, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. The title of my sermon today is God Wants to Show You. Let's pray one more time. Father, would you bless the reading of your word today? Holy Spirit, we welcome you in this place. We welcome you in this room, in all of our campuses, wherever anybody is watching, Holy Spirit, come, come into our hearts, speak to us today. We are listening, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. You can have a seat. …
… ben is just an incredible human being and and he works with original language and and he'll give me briefs and manuscripts and things so shout out to ben um but uh yeah romans 12 1 and 2 the whole renewing of the mind um yeah i let's not make assumptions that people know what romans 12 1 and 2 is i can't stand her uh romans 12 which is a letter written in 57 a.d by the apostle paul some 60 years post the resurrection and ascension of the christ uh written by a elderly man at this point who is what's that christ resurrected and ascended in 30 so 57 isn't like 37 years another great point touche uh you get it but anyways uh you know what paul cindy when he calls you out on that you are outrageous i really hope she sees this episode um yeah i there's this passage we'll just leave it at that and and paul's writing to ancient jesus followers living in ancient rome and um he's giving you know practical tools for practical living and he's like, listen, I beseech you like a sibling by the mercies of God, which is every day the Bible says we wake up not with what we deserve, which is a crazy concept. Every day we wake up, we don't deserve it. God's not giving us what we deserve. He's given us the opposite of what we deserve. And that's a concept that's fresh to me. I've seen it before, but that's fresh to me. …
… a different way. says this, Romans 12, 1, familiar verse, "'Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, based on everything God has done for you, His mercies being new every morning,' as Lamentations says, "'because God has poured out His mercies endlessly on you. I urge you, brethren, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.'" So in John 4, worship is the Spirit and the truth. It's the inner person adhering to and loving the truth concerning God. That's the interior. That's the heart. But it doesn't stop there. Romans 12, 1 says, "'Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.'" So you give your inner person, you give your heart, you give your mind, you give your body to the worship of the Lord. We don't have a priesthood any longer, no Levitical priesthood, Aaronic priesthood. There are no official priests in the true church of Jesus Christ, because every believer is a priest. …
… I ain't even making that up. Go to Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. It says what? Romans 12, 1 and 2 said, it says, it says, it says, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will discover and prove that which is good and perfect, which is the acceptable will of God for your life. I got to give y'all the Freddie Haynes remix of Romans 12, 1, 2, and give you time to shout. It simply says, here's what you do. Present all that you are. Don't half-step with God, but give all that you are to God. And once you give all that you are to God, you'll discover that's when you're really worshiping. Worshiping ain't just what you do on Sunday. Worshiping is what you do all week long. And when you present all of yourself in worship to God, then you won't be conformed. …
… BEEN SAID ABOUT THE GRACE OF GOD. I BESEET 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, NOW LISTEN TO THIS, AND BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE'S SAYING IN TITUS TWO, VERSES 11 AND 12. THAT'S JUST A, UH, TITUS TWO, 11 AND 12, JUST A SHORTENED VERSION OF THE BOOK OF ROMANS. BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, BUT BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, WHAT, THAT YOU MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD. NOW THE VERY WORD FOR THE WORLD, THE, THE VERY WORD, UH, FOR THE WORD CHURCH IN THE BIBLE IS EKKLASIA, WHICH MEANS A GROUP OF PEOPLE CALLED OUT. THE CHURCH IS CALLED OUT. WE'RE TO BE DIFFERENT. WE'RE TO BE SEPARATE. A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO STAND OUT IN THIS WORLD SYSTEM LIKE A DIAMOND IN A COAL MINE, LIKE A GARDENIA IN A GARBAGE CAN. WE ARE DIFFERENT. …
… So I'd ask you to stand for the reading of the Word of God. 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. 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. This is the beginning of Paul's summation for his magnum opus, his great treatise on the gospel that we have been studying throughout the book of Romans. And I pray that God would give us ears to hear this petition that the apostle sets before us this evening. Please be seated. let us pray Once again, O Lord, we come into Your presence in a spirit of sheer delight that we can gather and hear Your Word. I pray now that as we contemplate these practical applications set forth by the Apostle, that indeed we will take them to heart. …
… Lord, Why Can't I Change? Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. And Paul begins by saying, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now, more than likely, all of us at some time or the other have felt like, since we were saved, there were times when we wanted to do right, but something inside of us we felt wouldn't allow us to do right. We were tempted with the same old temptations. We had the same old thoughts we'd had before we were saved. Maybe even wanted to do the same old things we wanted to do before we became a Christian. So maybe you have become a little discouraged because even after you're saved, you think, well, now, wait a minute. …