The Overview
Did you know that Bible verses (and chapters for that matter) are a human construct? They were added to Bibles in the 1500s. They are convenient because they allow us to reference specific areas and to direct each other to specific sentences in the different books. All of this is to say, we will not be going through this chapter verse by verse mainly since sentence fragments bother me. So we will work through this chapter sentence by sentence, although sometimes, we might look at several sentences together as a single thought or idea.
While the verses I reference in this series will be NIV, I encourage you to read through this chapter in as many different translations as possible. Online resources and Bible apps allow you to change between different translations with ease. Find one that you are unfamiliar with; it may become your new favorite translation. Note how the underlying meaning stays the same from translation to translation, but how the different translations give nuanced understanding to the verses. I will talk *about* the verse(s) in each post, but I will only directly quote them if I'm splitting a verse into multiple parts in the series.
Romans 12: Part 1
We start, as is customary, at the beginning with Romans 12:1. In essence, Paul urges those of us who are Christians to offer our bodies as a sacrifice to God, in light of God's mercy. In the Jewish temple, animal sacrifices were common and the animals were killed in the ceremony. So it is good that Paul specifies that we are *living* sacrifices. Our bodies, our sacrifice is holy and pleasing to God. Paul considers this the true and proper worship by Christians.
Mercy
God's mercy. This is a wonderous, glorious thing. Mercy, for those who need a refresher, is best summed up as "not giving someone something negative that they deserve". If a person comes up and slaps you, they would deserve a scolding and a punishment for unprovoked violence. But if you took the time to ask them what's wrong and listened to them vent, you would be showing mercy. God showed us mercy when He does not exact the penalty of our sins from us. We deserve death, hell, and eternal separation from God, but God, in His mercy, redeemed us through Jesus' death and resurrection.
How do we respond to this mercy? We are to offer our bodies as a living and ongoing sacrifice to God. This doesn't mean that we mutilate our flesh or collect bruises as an atonement for our sins. But as an act of worship, true worship, proper worship, we use our bodies to serve God and humanity. May we treat others mercifully, because we have been shown mercy. May we use our redeemed bodies in acts of service to those around us and around our world, as we worship God.
Sacrificing Our Bodies
Our bodies are not our own. So let us consider what we put into and on our bodies. Are we putting in good, nutritious, wholesome food, so we will have the energy to serve God and people? Or are we consuming empty calories while watching mindless shows? This goes beyond just simple food and drink. What are we watching? What are we listening to? What are we wearing? It is my prayer that we take small, faithful, consistent steps to filling our bodies, our minds, and our lives with food, messages, and possessions that glorify God. May we go deeper than just buying things with pithy Christians slogans on them; may we buy items that are justly and humanely produced in ways that treat workers with dignity and preserves the environment.
Sometimes, the Church is guilty of spiritualizing practical commandments. When we make "love your neighbor" a warm feeling we hold in our hearts towards our neighbor, we are absolving ourselves of taking practical loving actions towards them. But what if this was meant to be a practical thing? We can be living sacrifices by giving of our time, our energy, and our belongings. We are living sacrifices when we give the waitress a larger tip then the bare minimum encouraged. We are living sacrificially when we use our strength to do a task someone else is struggling with. We embody this spiritual discipline when we give of our time to housesit, pet-sit, or babysit.
Holy and Pleasing
May the living sacrifice of our bodies be holy and pleasing to God. Our culture often spouts that "the ends justify the means", but as Christians, the methods we use to achieve our goals matter just as much as the end results. For example, if a person raised money for an orphanage by fleecing widows' from their savings, God is not glorified by this. But if a person raised that same money by denying themselves the luxuries they enjoy and by selling their possessions, then God is glorified by both the means and the ends. Let us invite the Holy Spirit to show us where our actions, words, and lives lack the holiness that pleases God. What purchases, activities, or habits are interfering with our ability to live sacrificially?
Time and again through the Scriptures, God condemns His people for making a mockery of the worship of God (See Malachi 1, Isaiah 58, Amos 5). When our actions Monday-Saturday do not match up with our worship on Sundays, then our prayers, fasting, and worship are not acceptable before God. God has not been coy about what He wants from us. He tells us in James 1:27 that pure and fault religion=care for widows and orphans AND not being polluted by the world. He tells us in Micah 6:8 that He requires us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. He has detailed through the Bible what worship actions and attitudes He accepts and which He rejects. Have we taken the time to study this?
We are fond of worshiping God in the ways that WE prefer. We use OUR music style, OUR Bible translation, and OUR preferences to try to worship God. We have made the worship experience about us instead of about God. It is like giving a person a gift YOU would love to get, instead of buying or making them something that THEY would like. Our goal as Christians is to live in a way that is holy and pleasing to God, but our culture has indoctrinated us to live in a way that is pleasing to us instead.
Questions to Wrestle With
Take time this week to consider:
How has God been merciful to you?
How have you been merciful to those around you and those around the world?
What kinds of things are you putting into or on your body? (What kinds of food, beverages, media, clothes, etc. are you consuming?)
How is the Spirit calling you to live sacrificially for those around you and around the world?
What does the Bible say about specific worship/actions/attitudes that God wants from us?
Are the "means" in line with your "ends"? How can you live more justly and ethically?
What is God's preferred way to be worshiped?
How we can live sacrificially, as we love God and humankind with our words, actions, purchases, and lives?
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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