The Transformed Life
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

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All right, good morning Church. We want to welcome you to this venue. We have started a new venue next door and so, we have people watching on our video screen next door, including those that are watching our streaming service online. We’re trying new things today!

According to the report from the first service, it’s working. We’re happy about that; it’s working. Every week, we hope to sharpen and get a little better at it. It is just a way of reaching more people with the truth of the gospel. We’re excited to be able to do that.

Today, we are continuing our series through the book of Romans. We will be in Romans 12:1-2. We’ve entitled this message, “The Transformed Life.” Many would say that the first eleven chapters of Romans would be considered Paul’s “magnus opus;” his masterpiece of the doctrine of the gospel, understanding the gospel. Now, he will move from precept to practice; he’ll move from doctrine to duty. We’re moving into that section of romans now. What do we do about it, now that we understand the gospel? We’ve received the gospel; what’s next? What do we do about it? Paul is going to talk about that, beginning in verse one of chapter 12. You might be thinking, Gary, you’ve been doing about ten, fifteen or twenty verses, and today, you’re going to do only two? Well, you’ll see why in just a minute. These first two verses of chapter 12 are just so rich.

Would you say that you have given your life completely and fully to the Lord? Have you given every arena of your life to the Lord? Yes, I’ve done that. I’ve offered my life to the Lord fully. As a result, would you then say that you are experiencing the transformed life, that your life is not the way it used to be before you came to Jesus, it’s completely new and different ? In fact, even your family and friends have taken note of it. People have noticed differences in you; you are not who you used to be. If you can’t say that today, why not?

I would say that, today, one of the sad truths about the American church is that we’re not seeing lives that are being transformed. We’re seeing people pay “lip service” to following Jesus, but not fully and completely giving their lives over to Him. As a result, when the people outside the church look at us, their thoughts may be, Well, you look just like us. We don’t see any reason to be part of what you’re doing and what you’re believing, because you look the same as us.

I believe that if we begin to experience the transformation fully, letting the Gospel work its way through our lives and fully apply into every arena of our lives, life will be so attractive that we could build a wall around the church with barbed wire around the top and we still couldn’t keep people away. They would be so attracted to the transformation of lives that God would change if we would fully and completely give ourselves to Him. This is what Paul is talking about because God has done all of this for us. What will we do? Will we give our lives fully to Him?

In chapter 12 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he appealed to the believers to give themselves completely to God so that they might experience a truly transformed life. I believe that we can do that. We can offer our bodies, our minds, our wills fully to God and, as a result, experience the transformed life.

We are going to be looking for three areas that we can give to God to experience this truly transformed life. Let’s read these first two verses: 1 “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. 2 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.” This is God’s word. Amen.

How to experience the transformed life: 1. Present your body to God as worship.

In the previous chapters that we’ve been studying, Paul was speaking to Jews and Gentiles in separate categories, talking about how God had offered His gospel to each. He showed the distinctive and the different ways that God had planned. Now, in chapter 12, he calls us “brothers.” Do you see that? He says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers.” Gone is the ethnic differentiation between the two. We’re all one family; Paul is speaking to us as family. He’s going to talk about what we do now. How do we work this out now that we know Christ? Now that we’ve received the gospel, what’s the next step?

Dr. Mounce writes, “To teach that accepting the free gift of God’s grace does not necessarily involve a moral obligation on our part is a heresy of gigantic proportions.” For us to receive the gospel and then walk away unchanged is not what the gospel is supposed to do. When it works its way out in us, we are to offer ourselves.

Notice the word, “therefore,” in verse one. “I appeal to you, therefore…” What should we always ask when we see the word, “therefore,” in the text? What’s it there for? We should always ask, What’s it there for?, because it’s like an equal sign in mathematics, where whatever went on before equals what’s coming next. Paul says, after eleven chapters of explaining to you the gospel and the importance of how we must apply it to our lives, now respond like this. And then, Paul says, “I appeal to you.” Chuck Swindoll calls this a cooperative command.” It’s not in the command language. “I appeal to you.” Some translations say, “I beseech you.” I beg you to please do this. Paul doesn’t come at us saying this. It’s more like “consider” the mercies of God and what God has done for you. “I appeal to you in response to that to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” It just would seem wrong, at this point, to say it’s a command because we must cooperate with this. Jesus offered His body willingly for us. What would our response be to that? Receiving Him as our Lord. Paul says, “I appeal to you.” Literally, I’m coming to you, I’m entreating you, begging you, beseeching you. I’m coming along beside you and asking you to consider the mercies of God.

Notice that it doesn’t say the “mercy” of God. That would be referring to the character of God, that God is merciful. No, it says ”mercies” which points to that which His mercy has accomplished. These are actions that God has taken out of His mercy.

John Stott says, “Not the character trait, but the “varied manifestations of His mercy.” Chief among the mercies of God is the cross of Christ. Consider the mercies of God and chief among them is what Christ did on the cross for us, that He offered His body willingly. Therefore, brothers and sisters, how could we respond to that? What would be our appropriate response? He says to present your body as a living sacrifice. Your body is present. The word, “present,” has the idea of this whole segment, that which you would do in temple worship. This would have been very familiar to Jewish background believers. Gentile believers would have known about it from some of their false temple worship. It’s a little bit alien to us, this idea of offering a sacrifice, although we do offer tithes and offerings. We give offerings but it’s a little bit different here; it is saying, “present.”

If you come forward later, at the end of the service, and you bring your tithes and offerings in an envelope, you will drop it into one of our buckets. You don’t take it back with you. You don’t drop it in the bucket and then, Okay, that’s all I needed to do. I just needed to drop it in the bucket. Now I get credit. I’m going to carry it back to my seat. No; you present it and leave it there, or at least most of us do. (If you need help let us know; you don’t have to take it back. We will help you.) When you present your tithe, it’s almost like you’re going before a king, getting down on one knee and presenting your gift, your offering.

Paul says, “…present your bodies.” Now. This is an interesting Greek word. You’ve probably heard this word in the English language. It’s “soma;” if we say something is “psychosomatic,” we are saying that the mind is affecting the body. The idea of “soma” means the body. This doesn’t mean the sinful body because that would have been translated as the flesh which refers to the sinful nature; the old nature before Christ.

“Present your bodies” doesn’t mean spiritually. He means these hands, these feet, this body presented to God as a living sacrifice; presented to Him. Your body would include that definite commitment. It reminds me of how a bride and a groom commit their bodies to one another so that the two become one flesh. This is now the idea that now my body belongs to you and your body belongs to me and to no other. It’s similar in the sense that now you’re presenting your body to the Lord and saying, Now my body is Yours to do with as You will. Lord, I’m presenting my body to You. I’m glad it’s a living sacrifice because the Lord Jesus offered His body and died in our place. By the mercies of God, consider offering your body as a living sacrifice. The “ing” in living is a participle which means continuous activity.

Here’s the problem with the body. It tends to “crawl off the altar” because it’s living. It gets up the next morning, wanting to do what it wants to do. But, our body is a living sacrifice, which means that we have to constantly put it on the altar. We have to constantly remind ourselves that we’ve said, Lord, my body is Yours. My body belongs to You. It’s no longer mine; it’s Yours. I leave it with you. I present it as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable.

The word, “holy,” here has less to do with sinlessness or purity, although that’s in view. It has more to do with “being set apart for special use.” If they use the word, “holy,” in the temple and they say that this is a holy candle stick or this is a holy plate. It looks just like the plate outside the temple. What makes it holy? It is only used in the temple.The recipe for the incense that was burned inside the holy of holies was banned to be used anywhere else. It was set apart. This type of incense was holy unto the Lord, set apart for special use. So, when it says “holy,” here it is Christ that makes us sinless. What he means here to set your bodies apart as holy means to say, God, I’m going to use my body now for You. I’m using it for heavenly purposes now. To be holy means to be set apart for special use.

Paul, then, says, “acceptable as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable.” That could be translated as pleasing so that what I do with my body pleases God. My body is set apart for God and what I do with my body pleases God.

He concludes by saying, “which is your spiritual worship.” Now, the word, “spiritual,” has more the idea of logical. In fact, if you look at the original Greek word underneath that. It’s where we get the word, “logical,” which comes from “logos.” It’s the word logical or reasonable. In other words, since Jesus did all this for us, the only reasonable response is to give back to Him what He gave to you. It’s only reasonable. It’s only reasonable worship. Think about it, if He gave all of Himself for you, then wouldn’t you completely be inclined out of your love for Him?

It’s not a command. Remember, “I beseech you, I appeal to you by the mercies of God.” What He did for you, you should give your body back to Him. It’s only reasonable.

The word, “worship,” is the common greek word that’s always translated “worship.” The word is “proskuneo,” which means to lay face down before the Lord. To lie prostrate. But, it’s “latreian” here, which is often translated “to serve,” but then, sometimes translated worship. So, it’s appropriate to translate it worship. It’s also important to take into account that this is a particular kind of worship. It’s the kind of worship that serves; to serve God with your body as worship. That’s only reasonable; that’s only logical because of what He did. We’re getting into the understanding of what Paul is talking about. This is how you apply the gospel to your life. Give Him your body. After all, it belongs to Him because He bought it. He bought it with a high price.

Look what Paul says to the church at Corinth. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT) 19 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” Worship God with your body. He bought it, so present it to Him. When you do this, do it by pulling off your body’s use from other things. From things that you’ve been removed from. You are to be set apart.

Romans 6:12-13 (NLT) 12 “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselvescompletely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.” These hands, these feet, this mouth, these eyes, these ears, this body is yours, God. Your holy spirit lives in me.

What do You want me to do with this body? I offer it to You as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to You, This is the consecrated life, the transformed life that follows after You. Consecrate your life to Him. Have you set your life apart? Your feet, your hands, your mouth, your body completely to God?

Remember how Paul finished chapter 11? He climbed the mountaintop of the gospel explanation and then he broke into worship. He finishes with a doxology. He had these rhetorical questions which begged the answer. One of the questions was concerning whether or not you could give God a gift. The answer is in Romans 11:35-36 (ESV) “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Paul surprises us and says that there might be one thing you could give. There might be one thing that you could give Him that would really please Him. There might be one thing that you’ve been withholding from Him. You could offer Him your body, you could present your body and say, I’m yours, do with me as You will. I want to live for Your glory. Have you ever done that? Have you ever said, I present my body to You, my hands, my feet, my eyes, my mouth, my ears, everything, Lord. I present it to You, for my body is from You and through You and to You for Your glory.

How we view our bodies should no longer be through looking in the mirror at ourselves from our own perspective, but looking through the lens of how God sees us, If you offer your body to God, now, you’re seeing yourself as belonging to God, which changes the use of your body and the identity of your body as something holy and acceptable to God. This should change your self image. It will necessarily affect your self image. It will affect how you view gender. It will affect how you view sexuality. If you’ve given your body to the Lord, it will affect your identity and it will affect how you act out on those things. If you’ve given your body to the Lord, it will affect what goes in your mouth (food, drink drugs). It will affect what comes out of your mouth, blessings or cursing. It’ll affect what goes in your eyes, in your ears. It’ll affect your body the way you view it as belonging to God.

There’s not a person here that will be able to leave today, including me. Probably I should say, especially me, because this always gets me first. I’m not just up here telling you all something, I’m telling us something. This sermon is preaching to me too.

Is your body holy, given over to the Lord ? Does it belong to Him? Have you presented it to Him as a living sacrifice or do you still retain ownership and say no? Have you really surrendered, so that your identity issues, your gender issues, your sexuality issues, your appetites, the things you love to do, your hobbies, your expressions, everything that your body is involved in is marked by the fact that you’ve offered your body to the Lord. No one is getting out of here unscathed today. Including and particularly me. Have you offered your body to the Lord? We could stop there. We finished verse one . I told you these two verses were meaty. Let’s go to verse two.

2. Offer your mind to God for renewal.

Paul moves from the body to the mind. He used what might be an appeal,but now he moves to two imperatives. First, he states it in the negative, then he states it in the positive. It’s clearly seen in verse two. He begins with a negative command, “Do not be conformed to this world.”

The word, “conformed,” has the idea of an outward pressure pressing in with so much weight and so much heat that even when it’s removed, it has changed the form of your mind so that your mind follows that form of thinking. The Greek word is the origin of the English word. It’s the word, “schematic.” Now, you’ve got the schematic of worldly thinking. Now, you’re thinking it’s outward. You’re conforming to that which is pressing in from the outside .

Paul says that you don’t have to do that anymore. In fact, stop doing that because now you have the Holy Spirit living within you. You don’t have to do that and more. In fact, he immediately tells us the positive command. So, it’s not just stop doing that. He immediately tells us what to do instead and I think that’s important because if we just focus on the “stop” part, then that’s what we’ll be focused on, which will make us start wanting to do it because we’ve been wanting to stop so badly. So, stop doing this, stop being conformed to the world and instead be transformed.

Now, when he says the world, what does he mean? Stop being conformed to the world; don’t be conformed to the world. What does he mean by “the world.” Don’t conform to the earth? No, that’s not what he means, he means the generation, the age, the fallen culture. Instead of letting your beliefs, your practices and what you say and do being formed by the schematic of the fallen world’s culture. In fact, he particularly uses a word here. This is a very particular language by the way. I can’t help myself but reveal some of it to you.

He doesn’t say “cosmos,” which is the common word, translated as “world.” Here he says, “earth,” which is where we get the word, “eon.” It has to do with this age, this generation, so that you’ve taken on the thought life and the way of thinking. The idea of the way you think is marked by the way this age thinks. Stop that; instead, be transformed. How? By the renewing of your mind.

This word, “transform,” is beautiful. It’s where we get the word, “metamorphosis.” It’s the idea of a brand new mind; a completely changed mind, like a butterfly from a cocoon. A completely new mind change; , not from the outside in but from the inside out because it’s God at work in you, changing and rewriting your “hard drive.” Being transformed by the inmost nature.

Then, Paul says, “by the renewing of your mind.” By the renovation of your mind. When he speaks of mind here. he speaks of the intellectual faculty as well as the understanding and the emotional feelings of the mind. It’s a new way of feeling, a new way of thinking, a new way of understanding. Having a new mind.

How do we do this? Stop letting your mind be shaped from the outside in. Let your mind be shaped from the inside out. “Transform your mind,” which is to have a new mind, not just a mind that’s conformed, but from the inside out. It’s a new way of thinking.

So how do we do this? How do we pull it off and set our minds on new things and godly things? What Colossians says is helpful, Colossians 3:1-3 (NKJV) 1 ‘If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and and your life is hidden with christ in God.”

You might be saying, I didn’t know that I died. You did; you offered your bodies as a living sacrifice. Remember that we have already covered that? You’ve already said, I’m dying to self. I release control of being the god of my own life. Now, my body belongs to God. That old life is dead. I’ve offered it as a living sacrifice. You’ve died, but Christ lives in you; that’s your new life. “Therefore, set your minds on things above, not on worldly things.”

Did you set your clocks before you went to bed? We don’t have to really do it; we’ve got phones now that are smarter than us. I still have an analog watch here; I had to change it. I had to go through the house; my oven’s got a clock, my coffee maker has got a clock, so I still had a few that I had to change. For a week or two afterwards, you’re kind of groggy. That’s what happens for a couple of weeks. You kind of feel discombobulated from the time, but then your body catches up.

Here’s what Paul is saying about the way you think: You should no longer think in temporal ways, earthly ways, but in eternal ways, setting your mind’s clock on heavenly time even though you’re not there yet. Already preparing to think like you’re there and living appropriately on this day and thinking appropriately on this day. I’m thinking about where I’m headed and the God who saved me. I’ve reset my mind only on the things above.

Looking back at Chapter 11, Paul used in his doxology there, those rhetorical questions. He asked, “Who’s given a gift?” Then, he says, “But you could give your body” in chapter 12. “Who has known the mind of God?” The answer is, no one, but then, he says that actually you can have the mind. He can give you a new mind. It’s like he set us up, going into chapter 12; no one could, but he could give it to you.

In first Corinthians, Paul talks more about this, 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 (ESV) 15The spiritual person judges all things,but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” (That’s in quotations, he’s quoting Isaiah 40:13 again, just like he did in Romans chapter 11. But now, he surprises us and he says,) But we have the mind of Christ. We get this new mind. The spirit lives within us. We can think the thoughts along with Christ. He reveals His mind to us so that we can know what to do with our lives. We can understand what God is thinking on a matter; this is new, We can know this now.

How does he speak to us? He speaks to us by His spirit and He speaks to us by His word, so our minds can be renewed.

Notice what it says in Psalm 1:1-3 (NLT) 1 Oh, the joys ofthose who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. 3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” This person, instead of conforming to those outward voices, says, No, I’m going to read God’s word and meditate on it and let it shape and renew my mind. So, our minds are renewed by the Holy Spirit living in us, so that we have the mind of Christ on things. Our minds are being renewed as we hear the Word of God preached.

If you’re a believer, the spirit is living in you and you’re hearing the word of God preached. it has a renewing effect upon your mind, it begins to dilute and overwrite what the world’s been doing all week. Maybe we can make an observation here though: you’re spending a whole lot more time conforming than you are transforming. This won’t be enough. Check; I went to church Sunday. No, we must learn everyday. We must learn the discipline of putting good things in our eyes and ears so that it renews our minds, so that every day we are praying and reading.

I’ve been told that there’s been a recent survey (and this is something that so breaks my heart that I feel as a pastor, we must do something about it) of the mark of people today that call themselves Christians. Yet, they don’t know how to read the bible for themselves, nor do they know how to pray and hear from God themselves. They don’t realize what’s available to them. They don’t know how to read the bible for themselves and pray and talk to God and hear from God for themselves. My challenge for myself as a pastor is to equip you to do that so that you don’t need me. Let’s cut me out of the middle of that proposition. What you need is the holy spirit and your bible and your body and mind given over for you to hear from God. This way, you can get a renewed mind and a new way of thinking. Now, my role is to equip you to do that. Your role is to be equipped.

Have you ever heard of the acronym GIGO? It’s computer programmer term. It means “garbage in, garbage out.” If you put a bad program into a computer, it spits it right back out, bad in, bad out. Our minds are not unlike that.

Warren Wiersbe says that every Christian is either a conformer or a transformer, either living for and like the world or daily becoming more like Christ. Which one are you? Are you conformed to the world? Are you being transformed by the renewing of your mind? This is the dedicated life. Here’s the third area:

3. Submit your will to God’s will.

We’ve talked about the body, we’ve talked about the mind, lastly,submit your will to God’s will.

We’re in the latter part of verse two. Now, Paul ends this section with a purpose clause. You’ve given your body to the Lord; you’ve given your mind to the Lord. Now, here’s the purpose of this; this is what you can now do, as a result of having given over your body and mind to the Lord. You can know the will of God for your life. You can know it, but not only that, it’s not enough just to know it, you can do it.

There’s still a decision at hand here, though. Even though you’ve submitted and given your body, you’ve offered it, you’ve presented it and you’ve offered your mind, what is that part of you that’s called your will? It’s the part that talks back to you when you’re talking to yourself. It is the decision making part of you. You can say you’ve offered your whole body and mind to Him, but then your will will still say, I don’t really want to do that. Your will, too, must be submitted. Your “yes” is on the table before you even know what God’s calling you to do. Yes, I will do it. God, I will do what You tell me to do. I’ve decided to do it Your way, not my way.

Paul says this, “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” There is the idea of this testing, you may discern. It has the idea of how, when you test metal or prove it for its genuine nature, you have to heat it up. It has that idea here, that you can know that you’ve given your body to the Lord, that your mind is being renewed by the Lord. and that you’ll know God’s will. You’ll know when it is God’s will . You’ll have the “antenna,” as it were; the discernment to know that it is God’s will. You’ll grow in that as you grow as a believer more and more. You’ll know and you’ll hear God’s voice speaking to you, through the word and through preaching. Sometimes it is a quiet voice and you might say, I don’t want to do that right now. Lord, do I have to do that right now? You might be somewhere at a restaurant and the Lord says to you, I need for you to call that waitress back over and tell her… I need for you to say this to the clerk at Walmart . I need for you to go knock on your neighbor’s door and tell him this… That’s when you start finding out that the will is involved, because you start hearing what God wants you to do and then you say, But I don’t want to. Or, you do something that you shouldn’t have done and you sense the spirit of God saying, I need you to go to them and apologize. He wants you to submit your will to Him; let Him give you a new one too. The will of God is His desire for you.

The will of God is marked by three traits. Some would say these are three levels of God’s will and I would repudiate that view. God’s will is good, acceptable and perfect; C, B and A. I’ll settle for a C. Maybe I got a grade on the curve. I don’t want to do all of God’s will. Let me just have the good will of God. Some have looked at His will as three descriptions. I think that’s incorrect. I think these are three traits of God’s will, not three levels. I’ll take acceptable; that’s a B. I could get acceptable plus. No, that’s not what it means.

“…the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” “Good” is the first thing we question. Yeah, but God, I don’t know if that’s gonna be good for me. That will make me feel uncomfortable. God, that will make me feel embarrassed. God, I don’t have enough money to say “yes” to that. I don’t know if that will be good. There’s a single person sitting here and God’s giving you direction about your dating life and you like this person, but God says that it won’t be good. You think it will be good because you like that person. You follow God and you find that it was good.

What about “acceptable?” Yeah. I don’t know if I like that. I don’t know if that would be acceptable to me. Paul is telling us that if you do God’s will, it will please both of you. It will please God and it will please you.

God’s will is perfect. The Greek word in view here is “teleios;” it’s where we get the word “telescope.” It means to see the end from the beginning. God’s will for you has the end in view. It’s perfect for you. It’s whole. You can’t do better than doing God’s will. Even though it might (well I should say will) get you out of your comfort zone. It’ll scare you a little bit which will make you wonder, I don’t think that’s good because it scares me, but it’s going to be good. Just say “yes.” It will be good, but you have to say, “yes.” You have to say “yes” to God; it’s going to be good. It’s going to be better than good. It’s going to be “gooder” than good!

Young people, between the age of 15 and 25, have a lot of questions about what God’s will is for their life. The questions usually have something to do with dating, marriage, career or education. Should I go here? Should I go there? Should I do this? Should I do that? It’s very appropriate to ask God these things, but we also try to take a shortcut and we try to do things that God’s word clearly says not to do. Then, we try to pretend like it’s God’s will. Remember that I said it’s not the way that works. If the bible tells you something is God’s will and then you think, Well, but maybe He will make an exception for me, then you’ve misunderstood something.

Start with God’s word if you’re trying to determine God’s will. Let your mind be renewed by God’s word . He won’t go against His word; His will won’t go contrary to His word.

Here’s an example. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 (NLT) 3 “God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.” This is very helpful, because of the way it begins with “God’s will.” We’re talking about God’s will. So, if you’re thinking about taking a sexual shortcut, that’s not how you determine God’s will. If it clearly says in God’s word, that God’s will for you is not to do this and you do it anyway, your “yes” is not on the table. You’re doing your will, not God’s will. That’s like a “no brainer,” right, christians? We do what God’s word says. That’s how you know God’s will. It’s hard though, because you have to say “yes” to God and “no” to yourself. What if we don’t have a clear direction, because sometimes it’s a gray area? We can’t find a biblical prohibition against this. We can’t find where He tells us to do this or that. What do we do? God’s words are helpful with that, too.

Here’s one thing it says in James when you don’t have a clear direction. James 1:5 (ESV) “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” So, if you don’t have wisdom, ask God to tell you. He still speaks; he speaks to you through His word, He speaks to you through other christians, my goodness, He even speaks through donkeys. If you read the bible, He’ll speak to you if you’ll ask Him. Then, listen. You have to listen because He speaks with a quiet voice and He will not compete with the other voices in your head.

That’s why I often teach people to “pray yourself empty” before you “pray yourself full.” “Pray yourself empty” and take captive every thought by Christ Jesus and say, I give that to You. I give that to You until there’s a holy silence in your thinking. Then, ask God to speak to you. Often you’ll hear a whisper; He will tell you to go read something in the scripture. He will remind you of somebody that’s been talking to you. It might even be an audible voice. I’m not going to tell you exactly how it is going to be, but He’s alive today and He still speaks. He will speak to you. Ask Him and then He will give a confirmation through Godly advisors.

Proverbs 15:22 (ESV) “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” That’s what it says in Proverbs 15. This one’s kind of aggravating because I will be praying to God and then God will tell my wife the answer. She comes and tells me and then I have to listen to her. It’s kind of humbling, but sometimes that does happen.

Are you willing to listen to other Christians who will offer their discernment on the matter? They may say to you, It seems like you’re not taking God’s word the way it’s meant to be right here. Especially, go to Christians that are older than you in the Lord. I don’t mean biologically older but spiritually older in the Lord than you. Go to them and say, Okay, I’m reading God’s word. I’m praying about this. Do I go left or right? and then listen to them. The bible teaches this; get Godly counsel.

I often ask somebody that’s seeking God’s will, “Where are you at in your thinking around right now? Are you “hazy, lazy or crazy?” Hazy means you’re in a fog. Don’t make a decision in the fog. You’ll go off a cliff. Lazy means you’re apathetic. You wait until God energizes you a little bit. Crazy means that the world’s chaotic and you don’t know what to do. Sometimes you need to just pause. If you’re “hazy, lazy or crazy,” pause and read, [ray and wait on the Lord.

Ultimately, Jesus is our example of submitting our will. Remember how He prayed the night before He was crucified? Luke 22:42 (ESV) “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” This is our model. If you’ve offered your body as a living sacrifice and you’ve offered your mind for transformation and renewal, sometimes it means you have to say, Not my will, but yours be done. This is the submitted life, the consecrated life and the dedicated life. It will result in a transformed life. Oh Lord, may we be a church marked by transformed people. May it start with me? May you, each of you, be willing to present your bodies to Him as a living sacrifice of worship. Present your minds, offer your minds for His renewal. Submit your wills so that you become so attractive to a lost and dying world that they want to know Who we know.

Let’s pray. Lord, I pray for the one that’s here this morning that has never committed their life to You. Is that you my friend? Right where you are, maybe you’re watching online or you’re in the room next door, you’re sitting before the Lord Jesus. Visualize that. Would you be willing to give your life to Him right now? Pray, Lord, I’m a sinner. But I give my life to You. I believe You died on the cross for me,You gave Your life for me. You were raised from the grave and You live today. Come and live in me. Make me a child of God. Adopt me into your family and forgive my sin. I want you as my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer, believing, He will do it. That’s why He came. There are believers here that have done that. You’ve received Him. But your sacrifice keeps crawling off the altar. Where’s that for you right now? Where is that arena right now that you’ve taken back, that you’re doing life your own way? Where’s the place you’ve said “no” to God? He’s asked you to do something. God, I am sorry. I know You’ve already forgiven me, but I confess my sin to You. Now, cleanse me, Lord, and help me to give back, wholly, all that I am and all that I think. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.