Surrender to Romans 12 and you're there

“A magnificent chapter,” writes Henry Halley in his classic Bible handbook from 1924. “In tone, it reminds us of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.”

Among the chapter's “earnest exhortations,” says Halley, is mercy, forgiveness, humility of spirit (specially for church leaders), brotherly love, hatred of evil (specially within ourselves), diligence, joyfulness, patience, prayerfulness, hospitality, sympathy. He writes, “Concern for that which is Honorable. Peaceable. Without resentment.”

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“If you typed into Google or Bing, ‘Give me a profile of a mature grace believer/what the grace life looks like,’ it would come back, “Become a Romans 12 Believer,” says Preacher Richard Jordan, who summarizes the chapter as “Intelligent Living.”

“Romans 12 is designed to be for you a template that demonstrates the specifics of what the grace life looks like in practice. It’s a profile of what spiritually mature believers look like and it’s the path to the transforming power of grace in our life. When God’s Word works effectually in you that believe, there has to be something in God’s Word that you’re thinking about.

“Many years ago I discovered that when I was in need of guidance and instruction about what to do in areas of life, I could sit down and read Romans 12 (as well as Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3) and find specific instructions that were specific to the point and to the issue I was dealing with.

“Romans 12 is always enough. I can’t think of an issue I’ve faced in my memory that I didn’t find the clear instructions about attitudes and actions I should take that I didn’t find in Romans 12.

“Romans 12 is Paul’s gathering together of the issue of, ‘Here’s the description of what the impact of God’s grace is designed to look like in the lives of Believers.’

“The details of your service for Christ don’t really begin until you come to Chapter 12. It’s the idea of, ‘Okay, let’s get busy being who we are in the details of life.’

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Romans 12:1-2, which Jordan says compares to Hebrews 12:1-2, reads, [1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2, written by God Himself, reads, [1] Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
[2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jordan explains, “It all comes down to, ‘For me to live is Christ.’ Paul is saying, ‘I beseech you, by who God has made you in Christ and all you’ve learned in the first 11 chapters of Romans about what God’s accomplished for you through the finished work of His Son . . . on that basis, I beseech you that you present your bodies a living sacrifice; that you present yourself to Him just as who you are.'

"The issue there is to surrender. It’s a presentation of yourself in an offering and in a surrender.

“Paul’s not telling you to go out and make your life holy. You and I have tried that. I quit counting a long, long time ago; after about 30 tries. Every time I tried to be holy I failed but I found out God already made me holy.

“I Corinthians 1:30 says, [30] But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

“He’s MADE my sanctification and holiness. I AM holy; He’s just saying, ‘Just be who you are, acceptable unto God.’

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“Do you know, the only logical thing to do is to be who you are? It’s the only thing that makes any sense. You ever read that verse in II Timothy 2 where Paul talks about those ‘who oppose themselves’?

“That’s somebody trying to be somebody they aren’t. You know who the biggest hypocrites in the church are? Believers living like unbelievers, like they don’t belong to God. When you go out and live like you belong to yourself and you’re going to do it your way, why, you hypocrite!

“Paul says, ‘And be not conformed to this world.’ Don’t let the world system be the way that controls the way you think. Don’t just coast along, but be transformed.

“The divine principle that exists in the godhead among the trinity is each one living for the other. That’s fascinating, isn’t it? ‘For me to live is Christ.’ It’s not living for me but it’s having God’s great, loving, giving heart live through me.

“II Corinthians 3:18 says, [18] But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

“Sit down before God and say, ‘Lord, I want to honor you with my body and renew my mind. I want to live in light of who I am and not let the world decide what my life is about. I’m going to cherish who you’ve made me and I’m going to look at myself and evaluate myself on an ongoing basis and see how I can make a contribution, how can I most effectively contribute, and then get on with it!’

“I hope you’re writing this down. This works, folks! All of a sudden, you don’t wonder what a profile of a mature believer would look like if He lived in my skin; you can make it yourself. If you’ll by faith take this plan, you know what you’ll find? You’ll find the joy that it produces.

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“Romans 12:12, which simply says, ‘Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer,’ is really, in a lot of ways, one of those encapsulized Bible statements right in the middle of a passage that sort of gathers together a description of the Christian life.

“Verse 12 is in the context of how we relate to other Believers. Verse 9 says, ‘Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.’

"In other words, the focus in our relationship with others is going to be on love. Let love be the real thing. Don’t ‘diss’ somebody when it comes to love. Be genuine.

“When Paul says, ‘Let love be without dissimulation,’ that’s a negative way of saying a positive thing. He’s just saying, ‘Be real. Don’t put on a face.’ When you simulate something, you model it. If you ‘diss’ it, it’s a phony.

"Don’t be a phony; be real. I mean, take off the mask, and if you take off the mask, and you’re real, Paul says, ‘Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.’ ” You have a bent toward wanting what’s right in God’s eyes.

“One of the most wonderful things in the Christian life for me, and it’s kind of scary because it’s difficult and a lot of folks never get here, is the ability to take off the mask and be real. It’s the ability to hurt when you hurt and let other people know you hurt because they’ll hurt with you.

“It’s the ability to rejoice when you rejoice because other people, instead of being jealous, will rejoice with you. That’s what I Corinthians 13 talks about charity being.

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“I John 4 is very clear: ‘If God so loved us we ought to love one another.’ Your love for others HAS to be based upon an understanding of God’s love for you. 

"The reason the world can never love their fellow man . . . you see the world thinks if they can get rid of the differences between people you can get rid of conflicts. Consequently, you have an egalitarian society where everything’s equal. We call it ‘multi-culturalism’ and all that kind of stuff.

“The only way you get rid of conflict is to get rid of sin. The only way you deal with the sin issue is the Cross. The world thinks the Cross is foolishness so they reject the ONLY answer that’s really there.

“That’s why I’ve said to you for years that you can’t abandon the world you live in. If you want to have some impact and influence in the culture you live in, go out and preach the gospel, the truth of God’s grace, and get people saved and then they’ll know and understand how to love people. Otherwise they NEVER will!

“ ‘Abhorring evil and cleaving to that which is good’ is essential to love. Love doesn’t mean you just think everybody and everything’s the same. Love takes divine viewpoint and says, ‘This is good and that’s evil.’ God told Israel, ‘Woe to them that call good evil and evil good.’

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“You get to verse 12 and you’ve now got this dominant theme of love just kind of echoing in your mind. That’s why it’s essential, by the way, that you go back to verse 2 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

“Verse 12, under that banner of love, is, while I’m serving my brother and brethren, while I’m not being slothful in business, my attitude in it is I’m going to be rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation and I’m going to be instant in prayer.

“I’m going to be continually, constantly in prayer, all for the sake of loving others and loving our enemies as we ought. This is how Christ is designed to become visible and more real, and frankly more convincing to those who are about us. His life becomes a tangible reality.

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“II Corinthians talks about that living epistle; the epistle of Christ written in your heart and that life of Christ living our through you.

“You see, grace isn’t just a theology and what he’s saying here is, ‘This is the way you think through . . . that renewed mind thinks through how to deal with the issues of life.’

“Romans 5 says, ‘And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
[4] And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
[5] And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Tribulation ashamed.’

“Our joy, hope, patience--they’re not found in freedom from trouble; they’re found in the midst of the difficulties.

“Tribulation works patience. So the tribulation has done its work. It’s taught you that there’s no other place to go but the truth of God’s Word. Patience is something that sustains you; keeps you there.

“Paul doesn’t just tolerate tribulation; he says God takes this tribulation and makes it serve you. First, you’re rejoicing in hope. It’s important to understand what the hope is.

"The verse is telling you your hope is based in hope. Hope is the rock in which joy is rooted. It’s the soil out of which the rejoicing comes. The ground of our hope and the goal of our hope are all in Christ.”