Knowing God’s Will
(Romans 12:1-2; NKJV)
“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. [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.”
I. To understand God’s will for our lives we must OFFER OUR SACRAFICE unto Him.
The very first verse in this passage tells us we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. A sacrifice was a very common part of worship among the Old Testament Israelites. Sacrifices were offered to God for a variety of reasons. These sacrifices were to contain blood. God required a surrogate death for man’s sinfulness.
(Luke 22:19-20) – “…He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ [20] Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.’”
Is it any wonder, then, that the ultimate sacrifice which was Jesus Christ on the cross – on the brow of that awful hillside known as Golgotha – would naturally shed His precious blood for the atonement of sins? Because He offered His body as a sacrificial offering for the reconciliation between God the Father and all mankind, we too should offer our bodies as a sacrifice. The heavenly Father showered His mercy unto us; He offered upon us His eternal grace by giving us His Son, Jesus.
(Hebrews 7:25-27) – “…He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. [26] For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; [27] who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”
There is no better sacrifice than for us to offer ourselves to God! This includes surrendering our lives, both spiritual and physical, to Almighty God, who is Creator over us all. From our text in Romans 12, the Apostle Paul calls it a “reasonable service.”
(Adam Clarke) – “We are not our own, we are the property of the Lord, by the right of creation and redemption; and, it would be as unreasonable as it would be wicked not to live to his glory, in strict obedience to his will…”
(Hebrews 13:20-21) – “…may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, [21] make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever…”
II. To realize God’s will for our lives we must ABANDON OUR CONFORMITY to this sin-filled world.
Simply put: We (as God’s children) are not to conform to the pattern(s) of this world. The dictionary defines the word conform as – to be in agreement or accord.” That means we must turn our backs on what the world may offer us that is not in accordance with the Word of God! And, we should be transformed; which means to change the nature, function, and/or condition(s) of by (our text; Rom. 12:2) “…the renewing of our minds…” When something is renewed, we bring it into being; we restore, we regain, we replenish the voids in our lives that sin had once corrupted and filled with death.
III. By sacrificing our life unto God and no longer conforming our lives to this sinful world, we then shall see & prove God’s pleasure and will in our daily lives.
(our text; Romans 12:2) – “…that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
We can know the Lord’s good, pleasing, and perfect will for and in our daily lives! His perfect will is what He ordains for our lives. However should we miss the mark on His perfect will, He does not throw us away as misfits! Rather, if we (God forbid) fail to choose His initial pleasing will, we then enter into what is commonly known in theological circles as the permissible will of God.
The Bible tells us in (Rev. 12:10) – “…salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night…” Now – of course – God would rather His perfect will be established in our lives. The devil and his evil imps bombard those who have backslidden or have failed to respond to God’s initial plan for their lives with guilt, despair and hopelessness. BUT, God the Father does not just give up on us when/if we have failed His perfect will! (Ezekiel 18:20) – “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Yet… (Ezekiel 18:21-23) – “…if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. [22] None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. [23] ‘Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord GOD, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’”
(1 John 1:9) – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
We learn these three very important Biblical steps from Romans 12:1-2: 1) entirely sacrificing ourselves unto the Lord Jesus (which is a very reasonable sacrifice when compared to Christ’s sacrifice for us), 2) completely abandoning our conformity to this world because this sinful world is not a friend of our Lord and His will for mankind. 3) After a total sacrifice and non-conformity to this world and its mindset, we then can understand & see actual proof of God’s will for and in our lives (whether His perfect or permissible will). We see this met out in our lives through the transformational work of God’s enabling grace!
We renew our minds by consistent study of God’s Word, daily prayer and willful determination & actions to resist and abandon ANYTHING & EVERYTHING that would attempt to compete or destroy our ever-burgeoning desire to become daily Christ-like!
Not conforming to the world is not easy especially since we are raised in the world, and there is so much pressure from family, friends, etc., to live life as they live it. This is where prayer and perseverance truly plays itself out in our earthly lives. This is where we receive God’s enabling grace to turn our backs on this sin-filled, temporal world! We must continually learn to love God with our heart, mind, soul & might; and, this becomes obvious in our lives each and every day!
We only begin this holy process after we have asked the Lord for forgiveness for our sinful lives (born-again), and abandon our sinful and corrupted ways of life. Then, we entirely surrender unto living a life that is pleasing and glorifying the heavenly Father. For some, surrendering is not easily attained; because surrender means to give up control. However, Jesus tells us (Matt. 10:39) – “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
(Lastly)
IV. Finding and realizing God’s will for your life is manifested by our willingness to seek the Lord’s help.
(Psalms 143:10) – “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.”
God will show you His will, God shall enable our hearts and desires to forsake our worldly views, and the Lord will work in our lives His will for us. And, the Holy Spirit will lead and guide us into all truth. By doing so, we become more Christ-like, and we begin to find things in our lives that just days before would be inconsistent with our character. So, what makes the difference? Why is there now a drastic and obvious change in our lives & lifestyles? It is the enabling grace of God!
(2 Corinthians 5:14) – “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
“The will of God never will lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you!”
Once while Francis of Assisi was pulling weeds in his garden, he was asked: “What would you do if you were suddenly told you would die at sunset today?” He replied, “I would finish pulling weeds in my garden!”
