How
do you think of yourselves? There are two options. We can allow our lives,
values, attitudes convictions and relationships to be influenced by the world,
or we can be remodeled, transformed, reshaped and redesigned from the inside
out by the Holy Spirit.
How
can we know God’s will for our lives? If we are not careful, we can mistake
God’s will for something else, and we will be intimidated by fear. Well, fear
not, because the will of God is realized by the direct influence of the Holy
Spirit. To find God’s will in our lives, we don’t have to be supernatural. All
we have to do is know how God speaks to us and how we hear him. It’s about
learning how to spot his will when we see it and then choosing to follow it.
What
is God’s will like? God’s will is good. That means that God has the highest and
best goals in mind for us. God’s will is also acceptable, which means that is
well-pleasing and agreeable. God’s will is also perfect, which means it meets
the needs of the person.
So
how can we know we are in the will of God? There are four steps:
1.
Be sure we are already in
the habit of obeying God.
2.
Decide to always glorify God
spiritually and physically.
3.
Read and study the Bible
constantly.
4.
Associate with fellow
believers in a church where we can receive faithful teaching based on God’s Word.
There
is a note of authority in the words we read from the apostle Paul in Romans
12:1-8. He reminds all Christians that we must be careful in how we evaluate
our own lives. This evaluation must come from a mind that has been transformed
by faith in Christ, and not by a mind that has been influenced by the world.
This evaluation must be based on the gifts God has given us and how we use
them. We need to have a godly sense of
self-worth. It provides a safe, stable middle ground while being at the heart
of a peaceful life.
Paul
uses the analogy of the human body to describe the unity all Christians have in
Christ. We are the eyes, ears, head, hands, legs and feet of Christ. All
Christians are part of one body of Christ, all of whom have vital parts that
work together. Each part is different, but the parts need each other.
Christians have individual gifts, and these gifts are really a gift of God’s
grace. They are like parts of a human body. When one part of a body disappears,
we look for it. Do we look for a member of the body of Christ when that member
disappears?
If
we truly understand the price of our salvation, we will want to give back to
God out of gratitude and thanksgiving. When we truly understand God’s mercy, we
will want to worship him with every ounce of our being. God’s love and
sacrifice for us will motivate us to love and to sacrifice ourselves in return.
That sacrifice involves using the gifts he has given us to do his work in our
world. If we want to be the people God wants us to be, we will do what God
wants us to do.
Once
we are consecrated to God, we must not allow ourselves to be conformed to the
world and its sinful nature. We must be guided by the Holy Spirit. This
guidance involves two aspects. First, as committed followers of Jesus all of
our actions must be in harmony with the will of God as spelled out in the word
of God. If we meditate on God’s word daily, it will shape our thoughts and help
us to be more Christ-like. Then we will act in a way that pleases God. Second,
we need to know what our gifts are and how we can use them to serve God. We
have to get the best training we can to sharpen these gifts and use them to
serve others. We serve God by serving others.
No
one can even begin to imitate Christ’s ministry on his own, because his
abilities and ministries were so varied. When we come together as one body we
can collectively demonstrate the many and varied forms of ministry that he
wants to perform through our united effort. The Holy Spirit gives each of us
the correct portion so that we can fulfill our individual roles within the
entire body of Christ.
We
have to consider our roles within the body of Christ because each of our roles
is different. Each role is represented by the individual gifts believers have. One
of the spiritual gifts is the gift of prophecy. Old Testament prophets along
with some of the New Testament prophets, had the gift of addressing the future.
Modern prophets don’t have this gift. Instead, they are teachers and
proclaimers of God’s truth. My own ministry is a good example. When I preach, I
teach and proclaim God’s truth. This ministry has taken place within this
parish and within the wider community in churches such as Zion United Church
here in Liverpool and Bridgewater United Church.
Another
gift is the ability to exhort or encourage those who are hurting, weak or
discouraged. People with these gifts give them sacrificially. The church also
needs the gift of leadership. In particular, the church needs the gift of
leadership that has a sense of what the church needs to do. People naturally
follow leaders who have that gift.
The
most important gift is the gift of mercy. It is the spirit-given ability to
extend love and compassion to those who are suffering. It also involves
reaching out to the outcasts of society and other people who are ignored by
society.
Regardless
of the gift we have been given, we must not be full of pride, but at the same
time we must understand how much each and every one of us is valued by God.
Satan can use discouragement to keep us from using our gifts for God’s work. On
the other hand, pride causes to attribute our contribution to God’s Kingdom to
ourselves and not to God.
Paul
encourages all believers to consecrate themselves to a Christ-like way of life.
This doesn’t happen automatically when we come to Christ. Our consecrated bodies
are to be sacrificed to God constantly, undefiled and pleasing to God and his
character. We live for Christ because we are grateful for what God has done for
us. Transformation is a positive view of the place where God’s redemption
unfolds. This transformation occurs because of God’s grace, and therefore we
are to give ourselves entirely to God. This is what Paul means when he tells us
to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.
The world was originally clean, but it became corrupted by sin, and when Christ returns the world will be transformed and cleansed. We are part of the sinful world even though we have been transformed by God’s grace. We learn to see the world through the Scriptures and respond to the world as the Scriptures tell us. Our minds become more and more like God’s mind and accomplish God’s will.
In
ancient times, salt was used to preserve and add flavour to food. When Jesus
told his disciples in Matthew 5:13 that they were the salt of the earth, He
meant that they could stop the moral decay of society and impact generations
for Christ as they ministered his truth to the world. We are to be reflections
of Christ on earth. This will mean that we will be different from the world,
but our mission is to change the world for the better. We can’t change the world until we change
ourselves. We must not become arrogant by thinking too highly of ourselves. We
are to be servants in the world, not its doormats. We are to have a balanced
view of ourselves. We are to see ourselves as God sees us and not in comparison
to others. All of us are the same in the eyes of God. He chose all believers
and the choice is made on the basis of grace.
Transformation
causes us to believe God’s truth instead of listening to our feelings. It will
take time, but eventually God’s truth will become part of us. When it does, our
relationship with God will be stronger and the way we think about ourselves
will change. All of this can only happen when we feed on God’s word.
Doing
God’s will with certain conditions is not obedience. Obeying and following
God’s will means surrendering everything in our lives to God. If we are not
surrendering everything to God, we are not obeying God. Our different gifts
must be offered humbly to the body of Christ. Only within the body of Christ
can our thoughts, desires and behaviour be renewed and changed.
Paul
uses God’s mercy to appeal to us as Christians. God’s mercy is the key part of
a Christian’s commitment to God. In return, we are to show mercy to others.
Christian life is marked by transformation and growth in discernment and
understanding.
1.
Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing, 2013)
2.
Swindoll, Charles R.: Swindoll’s New Testament Insights on Romans (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan; 2010)
3.
ESV Study Bible. Part of
Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.
4.
Briscoe, D.S. & Ogilvie,
L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series,
Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982)
5.
MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, NASB (Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 2006)
15. Dr. Charles Stanley, “Peace with Ourselves.” In
Touch Magazine, September 2014, P. 51 (Atlanta, GA: In Touch Ministries Inc.)
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