RPG Adults
OUR REASONABLE SERVICE (I)
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
Romans 12:1-2
Romans 12:1
“Present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service.”
OUR REASONABLE SERVICE (I)
We can see many “Christians” go to church to worship the Lord on Sunday, but on weekdays, they live and conduct themselves as unbelievers. Our Lord Jesus Christ expects His followers to be “the light of the world” and “the salt of the earth”! What is our “reasonable service” based on Romans 12:1-2?
(a) Voluntary Service: “I beseech you…by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies…” The verb “beseech” here means “appeal to, urge, exhort, encourage.” God does not force us to offer our bodies a living sacrifice. We are to do it voluntarily, prompted by God’s mercies and love.
(b) Reasonable Service: Paul wrote his letter to the Romans with systematic doctrines of God’s salvation to the Gentiles and to the Jews in the first eleven chapters. Then he beseeched the readers to present their bodies a living sacrifice in chapter 12. “Therefore,” (Rom 12:1) means as a result of salvation in Christ by grace through faith alone, now Paul exhorted “brethren,” both Jewish and Gentile believers, to “present” or “offer” their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is their “reasonable service” or worship.
(c) A Living Sacrifice: God wants us to offer our bodies a living sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice. It means to offer our lives to God as long as we are still alive and it must be our new life in Christ (Rom 6:13). A person who is not born again can never be a living sacrifice acceptable to the Lord “for to be carnally minded is death… is enmity against God… cannot please God” (Rom 8:6-8). Are you a living sacrifice unto the Lord?
THOUGHT: A living and holy sacrifice unto God is our reasonable service.
PRAYER: Father, keep me as a holy and living sacrifice unto Thee always.