Be Transformed by the Word Rather Than the World

Most of you will immediately recognize that the title of this post is a paraphrase of Romans 12:1-2.

Even so, my plan here is not so much to present my dear readers with a study of these verses as to use them as a foundation to some thoughts I wish to share. Since I cannot resist, I will say that I am allowed to do this because I am not one of those fortunate ones who have the opportunity of presenting the Word of God from the pulpit! Those of you who know me will no doubt share my feelings, for the rest I should explain that what I mean by this is that the one who is called to be a minister of the Word of God has a duty and an obligation to exposit the text for the people in his church (and yes, I unabashedly maintain that it must always be a “he”). The minister who takes verses and uses them as a spring board for his own opinions fails in his duty.

I, however, am neither a minister nor am I expounding from the pulpit, so I am at liberty to confess to you that the inspiration for this post is the aforementioned verses; yet this post is not an exposition of those verses.

I should also mention that this post has been on my mind for a very long time but it has not been until now that I have had a chance to sit and contemplate how to put into words the thoughts that have been filling my mind. Before I discuss what is on my mind, however, let us read the relevant verses as they appear in the ESV:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
–Romans 12:1-2

When I read these verses I cannot help but wonder how we measure up to them. The words are pretty straightforward: in light of the truth that we are saved by the grace of God, in light of the fact that we profess to be Christians, in light of all of this, therefore our bodies are to be presented upon the altar as a sacrifice to God. A living sacrifice!

What does this mean?

Well think about it: a poor animal laid on the altar soon had its throat slit and was dead. Whatever effectiveness God attributed to its shed blood was temporary. We, however, are purchased by the blood of Christ! The blood that atones for our sins is eternal and able to cover all sins. What is more, because a sacrificed animal by necessity perished on the altar, the one who offered it did so without any reservation. You could not change your mind once the sacrifice had been made! The animal could not be resurrected and returned to you! It was dead! And so a sacrifice, whether of atonement or thanksgiving, was given up completely. There was nothing to hold back was there? The sacrifice was set aside and given over to God.

Do you see the connection?

As living sacrifices, we are set aside for God! We are no longer our own, we have been offered up completely and without reservation! What claim do we have on self when we are the purchased possession (Ephesians 1:14)? Brothers and sisters, we belong to Him!

And so this is what Paul beseeches us to do…to present our bodies as living sacrifices totally set aside for His service. And what is more, we are to be holy. We are to be set apart for Him, we are to strive to be without blemish. Just as the sacrificial system demanded a perfect animal, so we are to be perfect for Him…so that we might be acceptable. Now you may well ask how it can be that we need to be perfect and without blemish in order to be acceptable to God when we have been told over and over that we come to Him as we are! That we do not perfect ourselves! How can this be? Well, all I can say is that you should take it easy and not forget that we are not speaking of salvation here but of sanctification. If you take the time to read the context of this passage you will quickly see this. For now, all I say is that we are speaking here of one who is redeemed…we are speaking of bearing fruit.

Let’s get back to this being acceptable to God issue though. Do you remember what Samuel told Saul?

“And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” – 1 Samuel 15:22

Sacrifice all you want buddy…but if all it is to you is meaningless ritual then God rejects your offering! A living sacrifice, an acceptable sacrifice, is that one that is motivated by a love of God which is made evident through the desire to be obedient! Lose sight of this and you miss the mark! Your sacrifice will be no more acceptable than that of Cain, than that of Saul! And so look again at what Paul is telling us…THIS is the way to be acceptable!

I love the way the NKJV ends verse 1, it says that all of this is your “reasonable service.” I love it. Not that “your spiritual worship” is wrong of course! Don’t get me wrong! To be living sacrifices, to be holy and acceptable is an act of worship, no doubt about it! But the NKJV translation satisfies my soul…our “reasonable service.” God is not asking something of us that is unreasonable! It is only right that this be the manner that the redeemed live! As living sacrifices!

But okay, now we come to the nitty gritty!

“do not be conformed to this world.”

Wow.

Allow me a rabbit trail here please. For my beloved Arminian brethren, how do you reconcile the use of the word “world” here with your dogmatic interpretation of John 3:16? I mean, if in the gospel the word MUST mean every man, woman and child, why must it not mean the same here? Simply put, the word can mean what you take it to mean in the gospel, or it can mean this rock upon which we live, it can mean what it does in Revelation 5:9, or it can mean what it clearly means here: the secular mindset, that which stands in opposition to the Word of God.

End of rant.

Okay, on not being conformed to this world. Wow. This is what has been most on my mind…primarily because it saddens me so much to be among people who call themselves Christians and live no differently than the world. How is this possible? I know of people who don’t go to church and feel no remorse over this! I know of people who deny that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and profess to love the Lord! I know people who listen to voices in their heads that tell them things contrary to the Word and they attribute this to God! Sadly, I am speaking of people who say they are Christians. What transformation do we see? None.

In fact, these people look exactly like the world in every respect except that they say they are Christians! And for those who outwardly conform to some semblance of what they think is a “Christian” lifestyle, they go to extremes as well!

Do you send your children to public school? Then, to them, you are obviously some evolutionist wolf in sheep’s clothing!

You see? We are surrounded by libertines or by legalists everywhere we turn! Both the antinomians and the legalists are the same in that they ignore the law of Christ! The antinomian takes grace to an extreme that shows they don’t understand the Scriptures (how can they when they usually don’t even believe them to actually be the inerrant Word of God?); the legalist offers up his unacceptable sacrifices full of blemishes out of a desire to keep the law…not out of love. If the legalist offered up the sacrifice in love he would take the time to actually understand the Word also and apply it out of a desire to please the Master! This last Sunday our pastor rightly pointed out that all of these “righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” –Isaiah 64:6
Guess what the words are that are translated as “polluted garment”? Let’s just say it refers to a woman’s menstrual cycle. T he righteous deeds of the one who does them out of ritual rather than love are dirty and polluted indeed, wouldn’t you say?

And this is exactly what I see all around me…and it makes me so sad.

Now, don’t think I am sitting here in judgment and asking you to look upon me as a holy acceptable sacrifice upon which to model yourself. Far from it! The only example we should look to when trying to figure out how to be holy and acceptable is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I am not saying I am “there.” I fail miserably all the time! What makes me sad, however, is that the ones I refer to boast in their acts! There is no repentance! There is no “oops, I’m sorry” involved.

Brothers and sisters, will you join me in committing to renewing our minds and being transformed from within? We must be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God! We must do it because we love our Bridegroom! Let us long for Him, let us go to His Word in order to know Him. Let us prepare ourselves to welcome Him when He comes to claim us!

“…choose this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
–Joshua 24:15