True and Proper Worship

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

“Therefore,” because of all God’s graciousness and mercy Paul has described in the previous chapters, let us offer our living bodies (our whole persons) to be at the disposal of the Holy Spirit. “True and proper worship” can also read “reasonable, logical service.” We’ve seen this principle stated before in Romans 6:13. We have that choice. Remain instruments of sin and live under constant discipline and frustration, or represent God boldly and accurately in everything we think, speak or do. This is a much more fulfilling life.

Having instructed the Church in the great doctrines of total depravity (all are sinners), unlimited atonement (Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection paid the penalty for all sins) and universal grace to all humanity (eternal life is freely given to all who believe in Jesus Christ), Paul now launches into a lecture on practical theology, or application of grace doctrines for the Body of Christ. In order to grow spiritually, the believer must be oriented to God’s grace. God deals with us in grace because of His character, not because of ours. We are totally undeserving; that’s what makes it grace. The one in authority is the dispenser of grace. All we can do is receive what is freely given.

The more we learn about the character of God, the more grace-oriented we will become. Grace mental attitude is what we must develop to live the Christian Way of Life. The Christian Way of Life is not a competition. We each must learn to live our own lives as unto the Lord, with a “let live” (relaxed) attitude toward others. My own life. That’s the one I’m responsible for, and verse 2 tells me how to get that one on the right spiritual track:

“Do not be conformed to the worldliness of this age.” “Conformed”… fashioning yourself after “this world" describes a mental attitude of human viewpoint. Human viewpoint is the thinking of the unsaved man, who has no Holy Spirit guidance within his soul. Human viewpoint caters to the old sin nature. Pursuing the lusts of the flesh. Practicing mysticism. Occultism. Making decisions based on emotion (emotion cannot think!). Allowing nay-sayers and skeptics to influence our beliefs. Being ashamed to acknowledge Jesus Christ publicly. Compromising true doctrine to appease our fellow man. Allowing legalists to bully us into a works system. Worrying about circumstances we cannot change. Being intimidated by the judgment of unbelievers and spiritually stunted, neutralized Christians. That’s worldliness.

We are no longer of the world, so our way of life needs to reflect a new attitude: Grace. Love. Confidence. Peace. Faith-Rest. Let’s represent our Lord’s character. Here’s how:

“Be transformed”…changed. Oh, yes we can. That’s the whole plan. This cannot happen before you are saved, it happens after we receive the Holy Spirit and begin to learn and grow in grace under the leadership of a responsible, knowledgeable pastor-teacher and with the supportive mentoring of like-minded believers. It happens through the “renewing of your mind.” A continuous process of prayerfully submitting to the teaching of the Word of God. We learn to discern what is divine viewpoint (the mind of Christ) and why it is so superior to human viewpoint (childish self-indulgence, emotional do-goodism, counterfeit moral code, aren’t-we-wonderful mentality). We learn to know about God’s absolutely righteous, acceptable, and perfect (complete) will.

James 4:4 “…don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

As believers in the Church Age, we are permanently IN CHRIST. That is our eternal position from the moment of salvation. When we believed in His perfect atonement on the cross, we were spiritually sanctified (set apart unto God) forever. To realize a life of purpose and definition in our physical bodies (experiential sanctification), this personal transformation Paul is teaching about must be our priority. We have been freed from the enslavement of sin and the world. We are now free to fashion our minds after the Lord of the Universe, our Savior Jesus Christ. It is of utmost importance that we remember Whose we are.

God gave us His Word in writing. That is our standard for truth. Anything we see, hear or read that is contrary to God’s written Word is simply false. Any prophetic pronouncement that is unverifiable in scripture is false. Don’t waste your time on someone’s dreams and visions and feelings. If God wants us to know a principle, it is in His Word. We humans are easily deceived, but we don’t have to be. We have the provision of the Bible, we have the Holy Spirit teaching our human spirits to know the person of our God, Who is the source of everything in life. Knowing Him, loving Him and soaking up the doctrines of His Word, daily, are the means of renewing our minds so that we can think like Christ.