Studying His Word and His Works

Listen to the study here: Romans 12:1-2

Read here: Romans 12

Review

• Calvin on the theme of Romans: “Man’s only righteousness is the mercy of God in Christ, when it is offered by the Gospel and received by faith.” Romans 1:17 and elsewhere.
• IMPORTANT: Paul wrote the letter to the saints (1:7), and the letter is about the gospel, which is a reminder we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily. 
• Luther: Simul iustus et peccator = At the same time, righteous and a sinner! Romans 3:23-25
• In Ch. 1-3 Paul shows us our unrighteousness, and God’s wrath against that, and then switches to Christ’s righteousness as our covering, the propitiation of our sins (Romans 3:25) as the final sacrifice for sin, fulfilling the promise to Abraham, who had faith before any works
• Faith being “counted” or “credited to our account” as righteousness is mentioned 11 times in Chapter 4! If “none are righteous” as Paul wrote in Romans 3:10, then this saving faith must be a gift from God.
• Ch. 5, We now have peace with God, access to God, and hope, because of what Christ did for us while we were weak(v. 6), sinners (v. 8), and enemies (v. 10). Christ did this “at the right time,” (v. 6), connecting Christ’s work on the cross and God’s plan of redemption to real history (not just a myth or legend).
  • Atonement(5:6-11): Jesus satisfying God’s wrath for us through His sacrificial death on the cross.
  • Ch. 5 and 6 describe federalism, this idea of one man making a difference, for righteousness (Jesus) or wickedness (Adam). 
• Ch 6 ended with lots of words pointing to the new road we are now on with Christ, the sanctification road.
  • Service is the key word, “slaves” used 8 times
  • “Present yourselves”(5), “Leads to”(5)
• Sproul: “our regeneration, our rebirth was the work of one Person, God. It was not a joint venture; but from the moment we take our first breath of regenerated spiritual life, it  becomes a joint effort.” the work of one Person is what salvation is about. The joint venture is what sanctification is about. Ch.6 ends and we continue into Ch.7 describing what this “sanctification road” looks like to walk down. We were on the sin road that leads to death, but now we are on the grace road that leads to eternal life.
• Chapter 8 is describing the assurance we have as Christians in salvation. Deus pro nobis – God for us. It is a reminder of God’s sovereignty over our salvation, and God’s infinite wisdom, in the creation, fall, redemption plan he has for not just us, but the whole world. Ultimately, God, not us, foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies and glorifies. There are many verses (Romans 2:4, John 3:16, etc) that point to God’s patience with everyone, His love for everyone, that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9), so I believe there is some free will in there somewhere, perhaps an ability to answer the call, or not. But, even if we answer the call, it is God who initiated. Even if we are crying out for God, “feeling our way to Him” like Acts 17:27 says, we are only doing this because He has already called. We are MORE THAN CONQUERORS, not on our own of course, but “through Him who loved us” from before time began. 
• Chapter 9 continues on the point of election, which, if you think about it, Paul has been discussing since Romans 1:1 when he said he was “set apart”. Paul continues to hammer the point that it is God’s free will, not ours, that matters most. It’s good to keep in mind the complexity of God, as he is not just electing, but he is doing a bunch of things simultaneously and eternally. He is electing, foreknowing, predestining, calling, justifying, glorifying, answering prayer, “giving them over to a debased mind” (Romans 1:28-32) while also being kind as a means to lead people to repentance (Romans 2:4), showing mercy to some and hardening others (9:18). It’s like God is working on an eternal and therefore infinite scale, but also an instantaneous and therefore infinitesimal scale. Pastor John Macarthur, who went home to Jesus recently, described this as a parallelism, God’s sovereign election running alongside the “whoever believes in Him will have eternal life” of John 3:16. It is Euler’s “every instant,” of God initiating, so the saved are always indebted to Him. And it’s also Paul’s “unceasing anguish” for the lost in 9:2, something we should ask God to give us, too. And something that clearly shows that God predestines us to a team, His team, and we are working with Him to save sinners. He’s just team captain and MVP. He gets all the glory!
  • Also remember that Paul references almost 50 OT verses in Chapter 9 alone. He is retelling Israel’s story in many places to serve as a reminder of God’s sovereign will over nations, but also individuals like Pharoah, Moses, Jacob and Esau, etc. Some want to say election is only about nations, or only individuals, but this is another both/and. 
  • Romans 9:6 is key (I think) to understanding a lot of Ch. 9-11. We need to keep going back to this, that “not all Israel belongs to Israel.” What Paul is getting at here is that true Israel are believers, regardless of nation or ancestry.
• Chapter 10 also discusses election, as well as Macarthur’s “parallelism”, or even the “3 strands are not easily broken” analogy in Ecclesiastes 4:12. That’s more what some of Chapter 10 is describing, because God could just yell the gospel down from heaven if wanted, but he chooses to use us, weak on our own but strong in Him. Ch. 10 describes a deep, personal bond God has with believers. Paul also describes Israel’s history of disobedience, how they did not hear the gospel, but in Ch. 11 again reminds that God preserves a remnant.
• Chapter 11, there is one tree, with branches being broken off and grafted in. One body of covenant believers, and broken branches are those who had the outward signs like circumcision (OT) or baptism (NT) but no belief, no Holy Spirit-given gift of faith, no imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Chapter 11 hints that God works through individuals of course, but also nations, and that He is not done with ethnic Israel. He used Israel’s “stumbling” to lead the gentiles to salvation, and these verses say he will eventually use the gentiles to lead Israel to salvation. Paul also reiterates that salvation is by grace, not works, that God is merciful in spite of man’s disobedience. Paul ends Ch. 11 with what Calvin called “finitum non capax infinitum,” meaning, “the finite cannot grasp the fullness of the infinite.” Stay humble, don’t think you have to figure everything out about God because you can’t! It’s also important to note Paul’s focus in Ch. 11 is to remind that God still has a plan for Israel. The only emphasis Paul makes in Ch. 9-11 is on their salvation, on a mission mindset, which is something Christian churches should refocus on. Getting away from blind political support for Israel, and praying for and getting the gospel to Jew and Gentile in Israel and everywhere. 

Intro

• Key words: God, your (3); you, acceptable, be (2). This is what you should be doing that is acceptable to God. Now that you’ve learned in Ch. 1-11 how incredible and merciful and just God is, what follows is how Christians should respond.
• Verse 1
  • Therefore
    • Sproul reminds that “therefores” in the BIble are signaling a conclusion, the sum of the matter. There are disagreements on what exactly is being summed up here, but it seems pretty clear that it is the first 11 chapters. Up to this point, Paul’s writings have been about describing who our triune God is:
      • A loving Father that adopts us as sons.
      • A Son whose righteousness is imputed to us.
      • A Holy Spirit in us as Christians.
      • A completely sovereign God who has ultimate authority.
        • Who is both just and the justifier.
        • Who predestines, calls, elects.
        • Who has now revealed the mystery of the gospel to us, spoken beforehand to Abraham, but who has not revealed everything.
        • Who has always had one tree, of His covenant people, some broken out of the tree for unbelief, grafting in Gentile believers.
          • One tree that is the visible church, that one day will be an exact match of the invisible church, the true believers.
          • No more branches broken, 100% believers.
      • That God chose us, directed his loving mercy to us and not to all, should be cause for humble adoration and daily repentance.
      • We must remember He didn’t have to choose us, but He did anyways, and because He did, there is now no condemnation for us.
      • The now-natural, Holy Spirit driven response is laid out before us in the remaining chapters.
      • Before we were Christians, we were incapable of responding in the ways Paul writes of here.
    • Sproul reminds that Ch. 1-11 showed us the true gospel: justification, sanctification, the doctrines of grace and election, perseverance, and the sweetness of God’s providential care. 
    • We might say that Chapters 1-11 emphasize sanctification, how God saves us and leads us to everlasting life. Chapters 12-16 emphasize discipleship, for which discipline is the root word. If Chapters 1-11 emphasize our vertical relationship with God, what He did for us, then Chapters 12-16 emphasize our horizontal relationships, what the outward response of a believer looks like as we grow and serve both Jesus and one another. And the therefore of verse 1 is the hinge on which Paul turns from vertical to horizontal relationships, all the while giving glory to God (Romans 4:20, Romans 11:36, Romans 16:27).
    • This verse 1 appeal to the brothers is of course not exclusive. Paul is referring to believers, to brothers and sisters, and it is an appeal by the mercies of God, or “in light of God’s mercy to us, now we can live for Him, so here’s some advice.”
      • In his commentary, Sproul reviews God’s mercies highlighted in Romans. The word mercy appears 10 times in Romans, and almost all are in Ch. 9 and 11.
        • We are justified by faith.
        • Our sins are forgiven through the atoning work of Jesus.
        • God works all things for our good.
        • God calls people to Himself.
      • It is by God’s mercy alone, His righteousness imputed to us alone, that we are able to follow Him at all. 
    • Verse 1 continues with the call to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, not a dead one! Not a human sacrifice like Hawaii of old or other cultures of that time, including and especially the Jewish sacrificial system. This is actually a really bold and clarifying statement for Jewish believers, who may have been confused at the time as to what they were supposed to do now regarding sacrifice, or for Gentiles who knew Paul was a Jew and maybe thought that animal sacrifice for sins was still the right thing to do. Instead, Paul says be a living sacrifice. What a massive difference that was!
      • The word appeal is also important in verse 1. It’s like Paul is saying, “Believers, listen! This is what walking the sanctification road looks like.”
        • Sproul uses verse 1 to explain the Old Testament history of sacrifices.
          • Adam and Eve’s sons began this, sacrificing produce and livestock on an altar, the earliest form of worship. See Gen 4:4. Before that, God himself sacrificed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve, a symbolic covering of their sins. Adam and Eve thought they could cover their own shame and made their own garments out of fig leaves, but God replaced those to show He was the only proper covering for their sins(Gen 3:21). 
          • The OT liturgical system, temple and altar, expanded on this original system.
          • The point of sacrifice is not about losing something, but about worshiping God.
            • Tithing is the same way, it is about the fact that we are alive and human and have a relationship with the almighty Creator of the universe. It is not primarily out of a sense of duty, it is primarily an act of worship. When you worship something you are submitting to it, you are in awe of it. You want to praise it, devote to it, spend time with it, you want to give it your all. God designed us to worship Him. Part of sanctification is restoring God’s original design, to worship with all you have. Worship is about singing to Him and about Him on Sunday morning. But it is also about simply being in awe that there is a church to go to in the first place and that there are other people who want to be there too. Worship is about all the things mentioned already, and more. Worship is having that Charlie Kirk “courage for my faith,” making that your legacy here on Earth. 
            • Paul is saying offer your bodies. In other words, all of you.
              • And to clarify further, Jesus DIED for our sins, a body and blood sacrifice of a sinless human, so perfect he defeated death.
              • Our bodies are a living sacrifice, which is radically different than what Jesus did. Sproul reminds that Jesus gave his life to redeem us, we give of ourselves as an act of gratitude and service. From the moment we are saved. 24/7/365, worship is now our natural response if the Holy Spirit is truly in us.
              • Sproul shared a story of what it meant for him to be a living sacrifice. His grandfather, RC Sproul, ran a corporate bankruptcy firm in Pittsburgh, inherited by his father, RC Sproul Jr. RC Sproul III, the author of the Romans commentary I reference a lot, was next to inherit the company. He turned it down. Other attorneys told him he was crazy. Now, that’s not necessarily the decision every Christian faced with a similar decision should do. For some, they need to take the job. But RC Sproul believed it was the right decision, that God had not called him to be an attorney.
    • Holy and acceptable– In the OT sacrificial system, animals were to be “without blemish” and produce was to be the “firstfruits.” It is interesting how, when our breadfruit tree starts to fruit, it often has a short burst of giant breadfruit, the biggest of the season, followed by a bigger burst of smaller fruit. The “firstfruits” are almost always the biggest and the best.
      • For believers, holy and acceptable means running hard and straight down that sanctification road, staying out of the ditches. Having humble, repentant hearts, a passion to know him and be the beautiful feet of the gospel He has called us to. Never thinking we have “arrived”, always seeking to do better, be less of the flesh and more of the Spirit. Legalism is the result when we think we have “arrived,” that by doing certain things we are now good. Only God is holy, so humility, repentance, a heart that wants to know Him and make Him known; being holy and acceptable is about getting out of the way, sacrificing our wills and fleshly desires. 
    • This is your spiritual worship, or “reasonable service.” Ka Baibala Hemolele translates as “wise religion,” which makes easily triggered evangelicals freak out and remind everyone “it’s about a relationship, not religion!” True, but religion does matter. Relationship>religion, not the other way around. James 1:26-27 gives the best definition of religion: to care for widows and orphans and keep oneself unstained from the world. The “unstained from the world” part is what Paul refers to in verse 2. Normally, when people freak out about the word religion, they are thinking of people conducting man-based religious rituals, about legalism, which of course we want to be less about those and more about Him.
      • Sproul says the best translation of your spiritual worship is “logical worship.” The most logical thing we can do (which is foolishness to the unbeliever) is offer “our whole selves to God in thanksgiving, praise, worship and adoration with the saints.” Amen!
      • If we understand the gospel, then indifference and apathy are irrational responses.
      • As we will see soon, our reasonable worship involves the mind, from where logic flows. Logic is immaterial, it is not brain waves or bones or even empty space. It is something incredibly unique, something atheists agree exists and they use, even though they only believe in the material. According to an atheist’s logic, it is irrational for them to use logic!
      • Sproul believed his reasonable service was to go to seminary instead of inherit his grandfather’s highly successful business. Leonhard Euler, whose father was a pastor and who many assumed would follow in his footsteps, believed his reasonable service was being a mathematician and raising a family. What do you believe your reasonable service is? Of course it is to glorify God in where He has you right now, but “where” could change. From these two stories of Sproul and Euler, being better for Him doesn’t necessarily mean you have to change a career path, but it could.
• Verse 2, Renewal of Your Mind
  • Whatever you call it, your “reasonable service,” spiritual worship, or “wise religion,” the mind is involved. When you are born again, your brain gets born again, too! The Holy Spirit opens your mind to renewal, restoration and transformation in Christ. 
  • Sproul used to host a daily radio program called “Renewing Your Mind,” which I’m sure you can find online somewhere. The program was based off this verse. YouTube is loaded with Romans 12:2 sermons, pastors everywhere love to preach on this topic!
  • Verse 2a provides a contrast. Don’t go this way, turn around and go the other way. Do not be conformed to the world’s standards, turn around and conform yourself to God’s standards.
    • I think it is important to note there is no immediacy in this, that it is a process. The turning should be immediate, not that way, this way, but the rest is a part of the sanctification process. It is a transformation, a renewal. It’s like taking an old house and restoring it. Or restoring an antique car. Or bringing God and history back into mathematics teaching.
      • Over the past 2 centuries or more, there has been a massive effort to separate faith and reason, which is ridiculous by the way. As a curriculum writer, I reviewed modern math courses and found they are skeletal, no acknowledgment of God or history. Some even frown on memorizing facts, emphasizing understanding (you need both). When I wrote Shormann Math, a goal was to restore mathematics, to bring God and history back into the conversation, to show how learning math is like learning any game or language, where you have rules that you need to know in order to speak the language or play the game well.
        • I’m still learning how to do this in the best ways. It’s a process, a journey. That’s what Paul is describing here and elsewhere with the Christian walk, the sanctification road. Walking that road is a renewal process, a transformation process. Salvation is immediate, the rest is a journey.
    • Studying Hawaiian history reveals this. The original Hawaiian culture, perhaps a little closer to God, or at least closer to His creation, were known for using the stars to navigate. This ability was lost over time, after a wicked warrior/king named Pa’ao came from Tahiti and took over. The Hawaiian population became dumbed down and focused much more on hate and perversion and wickedness. They didn’t even have a written language. But then, Henry Obookiah traveled to America, becomes perhaps the first Christian convert in all of Hawaii. Henry learns English, Hebrew and Greek, and starts writing the first Hawaiian language. He has a zeal for missions and to share the gospel with his people. See, he had the body and brain all along, but it was Christ in him that started renewing his mind and transforming him into the man of God he was intended to be. 
    • Conformity to the world is peer pressure, and Sproul reminds this is a huge thing for teens and adults alike. The desire to be part of the “cool crowd.” There is a balance here though, of not being so different that you are distracting and end up making things about yourself instead of about Jesus. For example, imagine if your pastor showed up wearing a giant pope hat. The Pope used to wear a hat called a tiara, worth millions of dollars. Imagine if your pastor showed up wearing that, it would be all people talked about. So, there are reasons for dressing in more “culturally normal” ways, but the goal should be to glorify God. Sometimes, the cultural norm, even at church, is ungodly. You may have to be the one to go against the flow. That happens too. You may have to be the dork or nerd or fool, for Christ. We will learn more about what Paul is describing here as we get further along in Ch. 12.
    • Paul is saying true Christians are nonconformists. But we don’t want to be nonconformists for nonconformity’s sake. That’s legalism. We are doing it for Christ’s sake. And this is where discernment comes in, the last part of verse 2.
    • Before Paul mentions discernment, he describes being transformed. The Greek word is metamorphosis. If Henry Obookiah had lived to return to Hawaii, he would have been almost unrecognizable, not just in dress, but in joy and love for his people, the same people who slaughtered his family in front of his eyes. He didn’t want to return to Hawaii for vengeance, but for the gospel. It was God and His word that transformed Henry, a Word that Henry knew so well it would flow from his lips in mid-sentence.
      • Remember what one of our key themes from Romans is? That our rebirth is a work of one man, Christ alone, but after that, it is a joint effort, us and the Holy Spirit. The joint effort is the transformation part, the sanctification part, and a big part of that is in our brain. Repentance is at the foundation of being transformed.
        • Greek for repentance = metanoia=change of mind
          • Without repentance, there is no real renewal of the mind. You are simply forming new habits with no deeper soul transformation, a true heart change. You can go from a heathen to a Pharisee instead of a heathen to an actual Christian. 
          • Sproul wrote that God gave us the book of Romans to teach us to begin to think as Jesus thinks and begin to approve what He approves, and despise what He despises. That’s discipleship.
    • Verse 2 ends with the topic of discernment. If repentance was at the heart of your conversion, and you know it, then you are saved and your mind is already being renewed. It is times like this right here, in Bible study, that can help you and me understand what being born again really means. That now, with Christ in us, we CAN discern between what is good and evil, what is acceptable and unacceptable, and what is His perfect will and what is not.
      • Why did God send a Flood? Because the mind of man was only evil continually, Genesis 6:5. What did Paul say in Romans 3:10-12? That none are righteous, and he was quoting the Old Testament. Only Christ can renew us from that. Only Christ can cause us to believe and repent. It’s always been that way.
      • And how do we discern? By testing. By getting out there and living and failing sometimes. How are you, a human, going to discern what is good and acceptable and perfect? And what is a test? When I give a math test, what is it? It’s a list of questions. So, bottom line here, you discern His will by asking questions. Some questions you will never know the answer to, but many, you will. So when someone asks you a hard question, or when you question something, what’s the best way to find the answer?
        • Study and know His word
        • Pray
        • Seek wise counsel
        • Know His works, he reveals Himself in creation (which includes humans), His power, His goodness, His design, the wickedness of man that is described in the Bible, etc. The whole Romans 1:20 thing, no excuse.
      • Ultimately, what is the will of God for you? Your sanctification (I Thess 4:3). That is the most abstract, broad and general answer. Within that of course are more concrete, particular points, like “What job should I take,” or “who should I marry,” or “should I have Frosted Flakes or Captain Crunch for breakfast?” We will get to that in Ch. 12, but for now, rest in the truth that everything that is and has and will happen to you is for your sanctification.
        • Mark 12:29-31 is a simple way to see what the will of God is. His will is for you to believe him, to believe He is God, to love him, to love others, and finally to love yourself. You are last in this.
          • One day, I saw a creepy sign outside a so-called “progressive” church in Hawaii Kai. The sign said “Love God, Love Self, Love All,” in that order. What in the world does “love all” mean, like love all that is righteous and wicked?
            • Simply by reading the Bible and asking questions, we could discern that there was something wrong with this sign, not to mention the rainbow on it that wasn’t there as a patriotic Hawaiian symbol or a reference to God’s covenant with Noah. The sign had a little truth, “Love God,” mixed with lies. This is Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church, on whose website I couldn’t find a single bible verse referenced. How sad! To discern God’s will you need to know God and the best way to do that is by staying in the Word. Pray for mind renewal at this ungodly church!
            • The late Voddie Baucham said that paganism has crept into church with people saying things like you will know God’s will when “you have a peace about it.” But Romans 5:1 reminds us that the only peace we need to be concerned about is peace with God, that we are no longer his enemies since we are justified by faith. Believers can only truly test and discern God’s will when His word is the foundation of this process.
• Up next, Romans 12:3-8