INTRODUCTION
Would you describe yourself as rich or poor? Would you describe yourself as spiritually rich or poor?
When I first became a Christian at age 20, there were many days of discouragement for me in my walk. I would look around and see a lot of Christians who seemed to have it all together; while I was struggling along the path. I wondered what was different about me.
As I have grown in the Lord, I have come to realize that many people go through the same battle that I did. The sad thing is that some never seem to recover from it and their whole walk with the Lord is not what they thought it would be when they were immersed into Christ.
It saddens me when I see brothers and sisters in Christ not reaching their full potential in the Lord. It pains God to see that also.
We have to choose whether we want to enjoy spiritual riches or spiritual poverty.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savoir, God intends for us to have all of the wonderful blessings that He has in store for us. God wants us to enjoy spiritual riches!
God has never promised us that we will live a life without pain and sorrow, but He has promised us that He will always be with us through it all.
Today, I want to share some thoughts from God’s word that will literally transform your walk with God if you will put them into practice. This passage will help us to understand what we need to do to grow in the Lord. I want us to turn to Romans 12:1-2 today.
The passage today will tell us what we need to do to be TOTALLY HIS.
SERMON
I. THE REASON TO MAKE YOURSELF TOTALLY HIS!
A. Why should a Christian give themselves totally to Jesus?
1. The little word “THEREFORE”.
Throughout the book of Romans, Paul has been explaining all that God has done so that we can enjoy the gift of salvation.
Paul tells us that since God has done all that He has for us that we need to give ourselves totally to Him.
2. By the mercies of God.
We are encouraged to give ourselves totally over to Jesus because of the mercies of God.
The mercies of God are all of the things that God has done so that we can have the gift of eternal life and all the countless ways He shows His love and provision for us.
John Calvin said that men will never worship with a sincere heart or respect and obey God with zeal until we properly understand how much we are indebted to God’s mercy.
This is why many times you will see a person who has had a rough life who comes to Jesus be so zealous for Jesus, they understand the debt they owe to God. They understand the debt they owe God for sending Jesus to die for their sins so that they can have eternal life.
We are being urged to give ourselves over fully to God so that we can enjoy spiritual riches!
II. HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF TOTALLY HIS
A. Verse one of our text calls for a decisive commitment on the part of the Christian to do something. Spiritual growth does not happen by accident, but it happens in the proportion in which we are able to present our bodies to God, to be totally His.
1. The presentation is a one time decisive past act. We are being asked to make a definite surrender of our will to God’s will once and for all. Have you ever reached the point in your walk where you knew you would never turn back? A time when you told yourself that you were going to do your very best to serve and live for Jesus?
2. We are to make this presentation to God out of gratitude for what He has done for us, the mercies that He has extended to us.
3. The Holy Spirit will help us as we make this commitment, but He will not force us to conform, that is a choice that we make.
4. We decide that we are going to let our bodies be used as an instrument for God instead of Satan. Listen to a couple of these passages
ROM 6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
ROM 6:13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
5. This presentation is a conscious choice that we make; God does not force you to make it. The level of our commitment to this choice will determine the level of spiritual riches that we enjoy.
B. Not only are we told that we are to present our bodies to God, but we are also told what kind of sacrifice it is to be.
1. We are told the sacrifice is to be living and holy.
Living. The sacrifices of the old Jewish system were killed, in contrast, our sacrifice should be a constant living reminder to all that we are dedicated to Jesus.
Holy. This usually means, “to set apart for service” or without sin. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices had to be without blemish, they had to be some of the best that the worshipper had. In this case, our sacrifice is to be pure and free from the stains of our appetites. 1CO 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
2. Our sacrifice is to be acceptable to God.
If we present ourselves to God as a living holy sacrifice, we will be acceptable to God. We cannot set our own terms of acceptability, God sets that for us.
We can’t hold on to living for the pleasures of the flesh and still receive the full riches that God has for us.
C. The reason that we are to present our bodies to God in this manner is because it is our spiritual service of worship.
Paul tells us that this is how we worship God. Sometimes we put so much emphasis on the “Worship Service”, that we forget that true worship is an extension of what we do Monday through Saturday.
This part of the verse means that a person has voluntarily given himself or herself to God. Our act of worship is not just singing, giving and coming to church, it is a daily giving of ourselves to God. WE come together on Sunday to celebrate together, the God that we have been serving all week long.
The word service evolved to mean that to which a person gives their whole life. What are you giving your life to?
The King James Version tells us that we give ourselves to God because it is our “reasonable” service to God. This implies that because of all that God has done for us, that our only logical or reasonable response is to give ourselves to Him.
D. Look with me at verses one and two again. Verse one calls for a decisive commitment from us, but verse two tells us how we can maintain that commitment. The level at which we are willing to commit ourselves to verse two, will determine how well we will be able to maintain the decision we make in verse one.
Do not be conformed to this world. READ VERSE 2.
1. Paul tells his readers to STOP being conformed to this age. This implies that the Christians were allowing the world around them to influence their minds.
2. The battleground for the soul happens in the mind. The one who controls the mind, owns the person. ELEPHANT ILLUSTRATION
3. If we are going to render our spiritual service of worship, we must not allow ourselves to be conformed to this world. Our behavior can be influenced away from God by copying the world.
How do we keep from being conformed to this world?
1. We do so by being transformed by the renewing our minds.
This is a continual process, one that goes on everyday. The Holy Spirit works with us in the process, but once again, we are not forced into having a renewed mind.
The word translated “transformed” is the word from which we get “metamorphosis”
WE stop thinking the world’s way and start thinking God’s way. This is why the military sends people to boot camp. They want to take a person and empty them of their civilian way of thinking and get them to think the military way.
The Christian must keep eternity’s values in view if we are going to live for Jesus.
We are called to take every thought captive to Jesus! 2CO 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
2CO 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. God wants us to be transformed into the image of Christ. This will not happen unless we allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
2. The way that our mind is renewed is by focusing on Christ. It is an adjustment of our moral and spiritual vision to the mind of God. A renewed mind is interested in the will of God, not what the world thinks. The will of God is what the Christian fixes his thoughts on and then a transformed life will result.
3. The purpose of the renewed mind is proving God’s will. God’s will here is not an attribute, but the thinking that is willed by God. We learn about the will of God through the Bible. I will spend a lot of time encouraging you to read the bible fro this reason.
This proving is a twofold process. One, we decide what God’s will is, secondly we act upon it. This is a continual proving and demonstrating of God’s will.
When we act upon God’s will, then we will see the results and the lost will see that God’s way is the only way and the best way to live.
4. This passage also tells us that God’s will is good, acceptable and perfect.
This means that for something to be God’s will it has to fit these criteria.
It has to be morally right, something that we know is pleasing to God and perfect, or complete. We are not going to just act on part of God’s will, but all of it. We are presenting ourselves daily to God and we are to do the best we can to see that there is no inconsistency in our practicing of God’s will.
CONCLUSION
III. THE BENEFITS OF BEING TOTALLY HIS
God wants us to enjoy the riches of His glory. God did not allow Jesus to go the cross so that He could watch us be spiritually impoverished.
If we will give ourselves totally over to Him here are just a few benefits for us.
1. Joy. God wants us to have joy in our lives. Joy is something that we can have no matter what the circumstance. The world offers happiness. God offers joy. Happiness is determined by circumstances, joy is not. RAMS ILLUSTRATION.
2. Confidence. ROMANS 8:1, 15.
3. Guidance. Proverbs 3:5-6
4. Understanding of Gods purpose for your life.
5. Victory!
6. Salvation
Do you want joy, victory and all these things in your life? Do you want to live in spiritual poverty or do you want to enjoy the rich spiritual blessings that God wants you to have?
We will only receive and enjoy them to the level we are willing to trust God enough to give ourselves to Him.
Which will it be? Will you give yourself totally to Jesus so that you can say that you are totally his?
