The One Year Bible Club with Teaching
Commentary by Nick Boork
July 29
Romans 12:1-29
Commentary by Nick Boork
July 29
Romans 12:1-29
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July 29 ~ Romans 12:1-29
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.
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
In this portion of scripture of the apostle Paul talks about how we’re supposed to respond to the great mercy that we have been shown by God through Jesus Christ. This is what it means when Paul says that I'm asking you to present your body to God as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable. Jesus Christ offered up his body for us when he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross. Through his obedient active sacrifice all of us can be cleansed from our sins and eternal he saved through faith in his death for us. The least that we can do is offer up our bodies to God in worship surrendering our lives to him. This is where it all begins as a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ making a decision to commit your entire life to God by first dedicating your body to live for him.
Next Paul says that we are not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we can prove or experience the will of God for our lives. What does this mean? Well I'll tell you this word transformed in the original Greek is metaporphoo. It has the meaning of change from the inside out. It’s much like when a caterpillar goes into a cocoon and then overtime emerges as a beautiful butterfly, spreads its wings and begins to fly. That is a natural miracle that we can understand because you would never think by looking at the Caterpillar that it would turn into a Butterfly yet somehow it is transformed and develops wings much like it says in the Bible that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation old things are passed away behold all things have become new!
For the Christian, the whole process of being transformed is through the renewing of the mind. The primary way that our minds are renewed is through the word of God. As we hear, read, study and meditate upon the word of God it has a transforming effect on our lives and behavior. The more time that you spend in the word of God the more it affects your life and causes you to become transformed into the image of Jesus Christ from the inside out by the Holy Spirit! The Bible also promises us that if we will renew our minds we will be able to prove or experience the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for our lives. Some people are not sure what the will of God is for their lives but if they will spend time reading the word of God they will get a pretty good idea of what God wants for them because the Holy Spirit will make the word of God alive to us and speak to us concerning how we need to change.
It's important to note the progressive steps between the first few verses in chapter 12 about offering up our bodies first as a living sacrifice then second renewing our minds to know the will of God and thirdly to use the spiritual gifts that have been given to us to build the body of Christ. Every born-again Christian has been given spiritual gifts to use to serve and help one another. For this reason the Bible teaches us that if you have received a spiritual gift you are to use it and this is definitely is the will of God for every Christian to get involved using spiritual gifts to serve one another. Some of us have been given strong gifts in the areas of prophecy, teaching or exhortation while others have been given a stronger gift to serve, give, lead or have mercy ministering to other people in their suffering.
You may say I really don’t know what God has called me to do well here is a question, what are your desires? I mean what are you passionate about? Remember God not only gives us spiritual gifts but he also gives us the motivation and desire to be used in those gifts. Don’t wait until you’re perfect, just dive in and try different things. I mean hey, if you put together a short message and people like it and sense God speaking to them through you that’s a pretty good sign you probably have a vocal gift. But if you have zero desire to preach but love to serve behind the scenes then you that would indicate you have practical serving gift. If you organize things and people follow then you probably have a gift of leadership developing.
Finally, Paul covers the rest of the chapter by giving all kinds of practical instructions on what it means to be renewed in our minds to do the will of God and how we should treat people. His final exhortation for us is very powerful because he says do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
1) Jesus Christ offered up his own body on the cross to be our savior so now we also are to offer up our bodies to God as living sacrifices to worship him and serve him alone.
2) As Christians God expects us to renew our minds with his word to be able to understand what his will is for our lives.
3) God’s word has supernatural power to be transformed from the inside out.
4) Discovering and using spiritual gifts in your life is part of the process of understanding what the will of God for your life is. You will discover by doing.
5) This world is full of negative influences but through God we can overcome the world through his power by making choices according to his word and not returning evil for evil but showing people the goodness of God.
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
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.
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
In this portion of scripture of the apostle Paul talks about how we’re supposed to respond to the great mercy that we have been shown by God through Jesus Christ. This is what it means when Paul says that I'm asking you to present your body to God as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable. Jesus Christ offered up his body for us when he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross. Through his obedient active sacrifice all of us can be cleansed from our sins and eternal he saved through faith in his death for us. The least that we can do is offer up our bodies to God in worship surrendering our lives to him. This is where it all begins as a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ making a decision to commit your entire life to God by first dedicating your body to live for him.
Next Paul says that we are not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we can prove or experience the will of God for our lives. What does this mean? Well I'll tell you this word transformed in the original Greek is metaporphoo. It has the meaning of change from the inside out. It’s much like when a caterpillar goes into a cocoon and then overtime emerges as a beautiful butterfly, spreads its wings and begins to fly. That is a natural miracle that we can understand because you would never think by looking at the Caterpillar that it would turn into a Butterfly yet somehow it is transformed and develops wings much like it says in the Bible that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation old things are passed away behold all things have become new!
For the Christian, the whole process of being transformed is through the renewing of the mind. The primary way that our minds are renewed is through the word of God. As we hear, read, study and meditate upon the word of God it has a transforming effect on our lives and behavior. The more time that you spend in the word of God the more it affects your life and causes you to become transformed into the image of Jesus Christ from the inside out by the Holy Spirit! The Bible also promises us that if we will renew our minds we will be able to prove or experience the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for our lives. Some people are not sure what the will of God is for their lives but if they will spend time reading the word of God they will get a pretty good idea of what God wants for them because the Holy Spirit will make the word of God alive to us and speak to us concerning how we need to change.
It's important to note the progressive steps between the first few verses in chapter 12 about offering up our bodies first as a living sacrifice then second renewing our minds to know the will of God and thirdly to use the spiritual gifts that have been given to us to build the body of Christ. Every born-again Christian has been given spiritual gifts to use to serve and help one another. For this reason the Bible teaches us that if you have received a spiritual gift you are to use it and this is definitely is the will of God for every Christian to get involved using spiritual gifts to serve one another. Some of us have been given strong gifts in the areas of prophecy, teaching or exhortation while others have been given a stronger gift to serve, give, lead or have mercy ministering to other people in their suffering.
You may say I really don’t know what God has called me to do well here is a question, what are your desires? I mean what are you passionate about? Remember God not only gives us spiritual gifts but he also gives us the motivation and desire to be used in those gifts. Don’t wait until you’re perfect, just dive in and try different things. I mean hey, if you put together a short message and people like it and sense God speaking to them through you that’s a pretty good sign you probably have a vocal gift. But if you have zero desire to preach but love to serve behind the scenes then you that would indicate you have practical serving gift. If you organize things and people follow then you probably have a gift of leadership developing.
Finally, Paul covers the rest of the chapter by giving all kinds of practical instructions on what it means to be renewed in our minds to do the will of God and how we should treat people. His final exhortation for us is very powerful because he says do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
1) Jesus Christ offered up his own body on the cross to be our savior so now we also are to offer up our bodies to God as living sacrifices to worship him and serve him alone.
2) As Christians God expects us to renew our minds with his word to be able to understand what his will is for our lives.
3) God’s word has supernatural power to be transformed from the inside out.
4) Discovering and using spiritual gifts in your life is part of the process of understanding what the will of God for your life is. You will discover by doing.
5) This world is full of negative influences but through God we can overcome the world through his power by making choices according to his word and not returning evil for evil but showing people the goodness of God.
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
ORDINATION
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today and get access to our free and pay as you go courses. http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today and get access to our free and pay as you go courses. http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll