God's Good, Acceptable and Perfect Will 121104

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. 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.

This is a familiar passage of Scripture. It is used in many ways to teach so many wonderful things. Most teaching seems to "rush" into the living sacrifice that we are urged to be, or, the renewal of the mind that comes from nonconformity to the age and the transformation it brings about. I don't want us to miss God's mercy. After all, God's mercy is what Paul uses to appeal to us. In fact, I fear that we very often forget that we are only here by God's mercy and grace. There is a large emphasis in the Bible on mercy! Man's response to the mercies of God should be an unhesitating surrender and a willingness to seek a renewed mind.

We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Other places in Scripture refer to our bodies as, a temple of the Holy Spirit, God's field or God's building. Peter referred to us as living stones being built up as a spiritual house. All of these examples point us to the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, in the life of the believer. We are bought with a price and that price was Jesus' death on the cross. We are not our own we belong to the living God. If you are a Christian, you came to know God through his kindness. Often the presentation of the gospel seems to focus on some kind of trembling fear of God. We should be respectful in our awe of God but not trembling in fear, unless, of course, we have sinned and not sought forgiveness. I loved my parents, now I love their memory, and respected them. Only experienced fear when I knew what I deserved for what I had done. Then I asked for mercy — not justice! We should be aware that we have salvation only because of…

The mercies of God. Anytime we are in trouble we need mercy. Mercies…

Are needed when we are in distress. Listen while I read, Hebrews 4:14-16, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Mercy is one of the primary characteristics of God. We need to remember that God has many aspects of his character. We cannot just use one characteristic, or a set of characteristics, that we are comfortable with. We must include them all. Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology tells us, "God’s whole being includes all of his attributes: he is entirely loving, entirely merciful, entirely just, and so forth. Every attribute of God that we find in Scripture is true of all of God’s being, and we therefore can say that every attribute of God also qualifies every other attribute.".

The Bible does not present two Gods, one for the Old Testament and the other for the New. God is always the same. He is not presented as a God of wrath and then later is a God of love. All of his attributes are with him all the time. The so-called God of wrath in the book of Genesis rescued Lot and his family from Sodom, before its well-earned distruction, because he is a God of mercy. We should not hesitate to call on God when we are in need.

When in need we should ask. Look what happened when two blind men sought mercy. Listen while I read, Matthew 9:27-31, And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.

Other words for "mercy" are: "compassion" or "kindness". The dictionary defines compassion as a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. A number of times in the Gospels Jesus is referred to as having compassion on the people. In other words, he had a deep feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the problems the people had and had a willingness to do something about it. Here we find Jesus having compassion on two blind men who followed him home. He asked them about their faith. Did they believe that he could heal them of blindness? They answered, "Yes, Lord". And they were healed according to their faith. Then we see Jesus asking them to not spread the news about their healing. Immediately, they told the story everywhere they went.

As we have already seen…

Mercies are part of God's character. Look what Paul called God in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

The Father of mercies and God of all comfort! Granted, in order to get our attention God will gladly allow us to be uncomfortable. Humans need very much to know that they need God. I can assure you, God has put into every person's life enough discomfort to make them seek after him. Sadly, it seems that the majority of mankind push back and rebel against God when confronted with God-given affliction.

The Father of mercies and God of all comfort has a plan that includes our affliction, or sufferings. Once he has delivered us, and moved us in the right direction, his plan involves our being able to comfort others with the same kind of comfort that God has comforted us with.

His mercy is to give us comfort but it's not all about us! We benefit immensely but we are to pass it on just as we received it. The Bible says we are to become…

A living sacrifice.

"Living" implies active not passive participation. One of the greatest dangers to the church is passivity. Listen while I read, Romans 8:12-14, So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

We are debtors! Yes, our debt before salvation was enormous. All have sinned and the wages of sin is death! But, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! You see, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He became our substitute and atoned for our sins. A man named Elias Crum wrote a little, but powerful, gospel song: He paid a debt He did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay; I needed someone to wash my sins away. And, now, I sing a brand-new song "Amazing Grace", all day long. Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay!

Yet, we are debtors! We owe our eternal life to Christ. As a result, we must take an active part in living the Christian life. The Spirit alone doesn't put to death the deeds of the body. Romans 8:13, says, "if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live”. We are not to be passive, instead we are to be very active in paying our debt. We are to be a "lively" sacrifice not a passive one. Our sacrifice is…

Acceptable to God because it is holy. Listen while I read, Colossians 1:21-22, And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Once we were alienated and hostile in mind but now we are reconciled to God. That reconciliation was worked out by Jesus Christ on the cross. He took our sins in his own body and nailed them to the tree. With his death he buried them in the grave and rose again leaving them there. Just as God had promised in the Old Testament to bury our sins in the bottom of the sea, and Corrie ten Boom said that he posted a "No Fishing" sign there. Further. he said he would put our sins as far away from us as the East is from the West. And the distance between East and West is infinite. Our living sacrifice is holy and acceptable to God because HE made it holy. Not because WE have made it holy! It is the God of peace who sanctifies us completely. He is faithful He will surely do it! (1 Thessalonians 5:24-25) When we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) We are holy and acceptable because he has made us so!

If we could have made ourselves holy, then God is unjust and we know that is not true. Why do I say that? Because in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:39) If we could have made ourselves holy then Jesus died for nothing. Clearly, he was saying that if there was any other way to atone for the sins of mankind that way should be taken. The fact that the Father let him go to the cross is evidence that there was no other way.

We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is…

Your logical, spiritual worship. Presenting ourselves to God is an act of worship. Listen while I read, Romans 6:12-14, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Paul goes on say, in the next few verses, that we choose who we serve either sin or righteousness! We are to present ourselves to God. There is no middle ground. Either we serve God resulting in righteousness and life or we serve the flesh resulting in unrighteousness and death.

Verse 14 gives us one of the greatest promises in Scripture. Sin will have no dominion over you! Some days, I know, this promise sounds hollow because we have stumbled into sin again and can't seem to shake it off! But the promise is sure — sin WILL HAVE NO DOMINION over you! Remember, he who calls us is faithful he will do it! (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

When we present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, it is our reasonable, logical, spiritual worship. The result will be that we are not conformed to this world but instead are transformed by the renewal all of our mind. Now what is A renewed mind?

This age is ruled by the enemy. Everyone is born in need of a renewed mind. As part of the world we were subjects of Satan. See what Paul told the Ephesians in … Ephesians 2:1-3, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Writing to Christians in Ephesus, Paul could use the past tense, "you were dead", because by grace they had been saved. Before salvation they were subjects of the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself!

In Romans 12, when Paul writes about our not being conformed to this world he is not talking about the material universe. A much better translation would be that we should not be conformed to this age. This age is ruled by Satan. Hallelujah! There is coming of age entirely ruled by God! But we live in the now — not the then. Everything around us seeks to shape us, to conform us, to the spirit of the age. We are not to present ourselves to sin or to the desires of the body and the mind like the rest of mankind. We are to present ourselves to God as subjects of righteousness. We must not be conformed to this age.

Not conformed to this age. The world is too much with us. Conformity to the world is a dangerous thing. Listen to Peter's injunction. 1 Peter 1:14-16, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Have you ever wondered why an unbeliever just simply doesn't "get it" when we try to share our faith? Peter hits the nail on the head! We are not to be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance! We are to be obedient children trusting in our father in heaven to guide us into his righteousness day by day. We are to be holy in all our conduct.

I know, we are saved by grace not by works. But we forget too readily that the same passage that tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast." Also tells us, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Yes we are saved by grace through faith that is a gift from God! When we were created anew we were created for good works! Those works can't save us but they are evidence that we are saved.

All of this is the work of God. All of our righteousness acts, apart from him, are like dirty clothes at a dress-up party!

When we surrender, and Christ becomes our Lord and Savior, then he begins a process of Transforming us from glory to glory. We begin with the glory of God and we are moved on to greater glory. Listen while I read, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

We are being transformed! That's what that feeling is we do something wrong or even think a bad thought! That's why we feel guilty about things we never felt guilty about before we became a Christian! We are being transformed! We once were a caterpillar crawling on a leaf then a process began, for some it is a long time, for others, it is very quick! Then we emerge as a beautiful butterfly!

Peter's counsel to us is to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. That is the process of Christian maturity.

Just as in the physical realm, a person is born a baby. And no one expects anything else! In the spiritual realm we are born immature, spiritual babies. Sadly, some Christians never seem to grow much beyond the the day of their salvation. I'm sure God intends for all of us to grow in grace and the knowledge the Lord. Remember, once a person is born from above, his nature is already Christlike. But that new nature is infantile in maturity.

I quote from Bill Gillham's book, Lifetime Guarantee. He is like an oak sapling that can mature into a fully grown, fruitful oak tree. He is not half oak and half briar bush. I reiterate, just as an oak sapling does not get oakier as it matures, neither does a new creature in Christ get holier, more forgiven, more accepted, etc. Through obedient faith, as he begins to live consistently with his new nature, he will mature more and more into the image of Jesus.

If anyone is in Christ Jesus he is a new creation! Not, he will become a new creation! At salvation, we do not become a little bit Christian, and then, little by little, become more and more Christian. We are transformed by the renewing of our mind. Once that blessed event occurs we begin to grow spiritually. The glory of God comes upon a person at salvation. And then, we begin the process of being shaped like him. It is not always, or even often, a joyful, painless, process.

There's a story about a great sculptor who stood before a huge piece of stone. He was asked by person standing nearby, "How do you know what to do with the stone?" The sculptor answered, "It's really quite simple. You see, this block of stone is going to become a horse! Now, all I have to do is chip away everything that doesn't look like a horse!" That's a preacher story, and it may have happened and it may not have happened but it makes the point very well anyway.

God takes us in our unsaved condition and, by his grace, through his gift of faith, he makes us a new creation! Then, spiritually, he begins a process of chipping away everything that doesn't look like Jesus! We are being transformed into the same image. God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. (Romans 8:29) We are made to die to our old nature so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:11) John tells us that we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but when he appears we shall be like him. (1 John 3:2) This is really a continuation of the promise that sin will have no dominion over us!

We can present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is reasonable, logical, and spiritual worship because it is not our works that makes us holy and acceptable it is the work of God! He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise him all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Old 100th, or, The Doxology, should flow from a heart that has seen the mercies of God, then has been offered up to Him as a sacrifice, and been transformed by a renewed mind. If you've never surrendered your life to Christ. Please, do so now! Now is the favorable time; now is the day of salvation! If you have surrendered your life to Christ but have never made a public confession of your faith I urge you to do so now. We need to let the world know where we stand.

All scripture quotes are from:The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.