There is a “reasonable service” which is required of us as brethren of Christ, and it is spoken of in Romans, chapter 12, verse 1 The “reasonable service” requited of us is to present our bodies a living sacrifice, isn’t it? Just what does it mean to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God? The apostle Paul goes on in Romans 12 to prove to us what it means In the first place, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds When we believe the Gospel, understand it in its true light and are baptized into Christ, we are transformed into a new type of mortal creature by the renewing of our minds We are shown this in Romans 6 6 When we are baptized into Christ, our old man of lust and service of the flesh is crucified on the cross with Christ, so that we should serve sin no more This is what Jesus and His Father and ours desire of us This, in a nutshell, is the “reasonable service” required of us, the crucifying of our old man on the cross and transformation of ourselves into new beings which serve not sin, but rather have a very peat desire to serve God only.
Our first step toward putting off the old man and putting on the new is not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12 2) The world is interested only in pleasing itself and not in pleasing God We must especially realize at this time so near to the coming of Christ that it has been prophesied that at the time of the end the sinful state of the world would be compared to the condition of things lust before God destroyed the world in the flood (Matthew 24 37) If we look at Genesis 6 5 we can see lust how the world looked in God’s eyes This is the reason we are not to be conformed to the world, because in these days also the imagination of the thoughts in the heart of man is only evil continually, and once again God is going to destroy the works of the flesh, together with all who are taking part in any of them Paul continues in Roman’s 12:9.
Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good When we examine the ways and trends of mankind on earth today it can easily be seen that man has uppermost in his thoughts the fulfilling and satisfying of his own personal desires Does man invent a great number of devices or ways that better enable him to serve the Lord God ? Of course not What few devices man could make use of to spread the Word of God probably do more than a thousand times as much damage as they do good by being used for pleasure, entertainment and degrading excesses But man has invented a very great number of ways to spend his spare time, very much of which is wasted if a person desires eternal life And there are many ways that men, and especially women, can alter their appearance so as to become more attractive, and what we must remember is that man judges from the outward appearance but God judges from the heart If the kingdom of God is our greatest desire we will see that it is very foolish as well as a waste of t me to dress to extremes and conduct ourselves like the worldly people around us They have not time to seek out their Maker and worship Him Their time is almost completely taken by one form of entertainment or another when they are not actually busy earning the money it takes to live on and pay for these pastimes.
This is why Paul tells us not to be conformed to this world, because there are so many distractions around us that they can easily take all of our spare time, time which could be spent on things concerning God We are bought with a price (1st Corinthians 6:20), and Paul beseeches us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our ‘reasonable service” There seem to be many ways in which the people of the world are doing good, and outwardly keeping the commandments of God, but where are their hearts? Are they those spoken of in Matthew 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me?” Jesus goes on to say in verse 9 that they worship Him in vain Their seeming good is of no avail, so we can have no fellowship with them They do not believe in and worship the only true God who will soon restore His kingdom on the earth.
Solomon tells us that all is vanity except our service to the Lord (Ecclesiastes 1:2) He also tells us in Ecclesiastes 12 – 13, 14 that to fear God and keep His commandments is the whole duty of man. All else is vanity, aside from the bare necessities of life All else is empty, useless and futile as far as helping us toward the kingdom. This is why we are to be separate from the world, and why Paul tells us the ‘ reasonable service” expected of us s to present our bodies a living sacrifice, because the world and its ways will never get us there When we give in to the desires of the flesh through the temptations everywhere present in these times, no matter if it is only watching some of the better TV programs or reading a good novel, etc, we are being dragged just that much closer to the world.
James 1:27 gives us another view of what is expected of us He says we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world So, in view of these facts, let us each do our level best to cut all the unnecessary ties between us and the world, thereby giving ourselves just that much more to our Father in heaven And, remember, if we come out of the world regretfully, looking back on all those seemingly desirable things, the fate of Lot’s wife could be ours We must realize that the world or the work of men’s hands is evil, therefore we are commanded to come out of it and keep ourselves unspotted from it.
In Romans 12 3 Paul then goes on to say that we should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to, but to think soberly, for the meek shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5 5) These virtues are in direct opposition to the ways of the world where nearly everyone thinks he or she is just as good if not better than the next person This shows very plainly in just about all phases of life, from sports and games in school, to big-time commercialized sports, to business advertisements, to politics and of course to war itself Nearly everyone has the ‘big me’ attitude and is out to cut his neighbor’s throat, whether figuratively in sports and business or literally in war This is another reason why we are to come out of the world and be separate from it, because the people of the world do not display a meek and gentle attitude to one another on the whole, and the kingdom of God will not consist of the haughty and the high-minded (for thee is much spoken against them in the Scriptures), unless, of course, they should repent.
We who desire eternal life can clothe ourselves with virtues which are in the sight of God of great price We are shown this in 1st Peter 3 4 Peter was, of course speaking primarily to the women, but I am sure this meek and quiet spirit applies to all the brethren And we are told that this spirit is an ornament which is in the sight of God of great price This then is a very desirable virtue to acquire And to acquire it we must be separate from the world, a peculiar people, a people distinctly unique, zealous of good works Paul in his letter to Titus mentioned this (Titus 2 14, 15) This is how we can present our bodies a living sacrifice, and it is such a people the Lord desires in His kingdom
Another way we can help ourselves perform this service to our Father in heaven is to do all things to the best of our ability, for with the same measure we mete it shall be measured to us again (Matthew 7 2) This is something we can practice in our home life, at work, in our contact with friends and neighbors, and in our ecclesial obligations In our ecclesial obligations we should remember that no matter how insignificant the office we hold may seem to be, we are all members of one body, with each member depending directly upon the function of all the other members (just the way our own personal body does), and therefore each member has the same obligation to perform as any other member of the ecclesia, with the thought that the least member can receive the same reward as the greatest, and he who might seem to be great is actually to be a servant to all, as Christ Himself was a servant
If we do not give ourselves fully and completely to God in everything we do, we are a poor investment as it were, and may not be considered a faithful servant The measure of service given by Ananias and Saphira, his wife, shows what will happen to those who hold back part of what the Lord expects of them In the 5th chapter of Acts it is told how Ananias and his wife kept back part of the price (after claiming what they gave to be the entire price), and it was account ed a terrible sin which was punished by death Whatever their reason for doing this, it was selfishness both to the brethren and to God and it is a very good lesson to us Are we holding back part of what belongs to the Lord?
We can also help ourselves perform this service to Him by practicing the commandment of Jesus in Matthew 5:41.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain This is something we can practice in many phases of our daily living, at home, at work, in our contact with friends and neighbors, those who are in need of help, etc We can practice this at home by going more than our share of the way toward keep mg a pleasant atmosphere And here once again we have a virtue that is in opposition to the way of the worldly We have all heard, I expect, that a marriage is supposedly a fifty, fifty proposition This could be one reason why the divorce rate is so high in this country, because, while the one thinks he is doing his or her fifty percent, that fifty percent may be in the eyes of the other only forty percent Therefore we should forget about the halfway mark where we think our spouse should meet us with his or her fifty percent and do as Jesus says, “go twice as far toward keeping the peace and harmony in the home These thoughts all concern ways or virtues with which the brethren of Christ must be clothed, hence the necessity for coming out of and being separate from the world which does not practice these virtues We must draw a line in our minds on one side of it are all things that are honest, pure, of good report, etc , things that will glorify the name of Yahweh, this being the side on which we will strive to stay But across the line are all kinds of excess and sin, things that do not glorify the Lord, but rather are designed only to satisfy the desire, of the flesh We must push these thoughts right out of our minds
The day we were baptized was the day we took our first big step toward separating ourselves from the world, wasn’t it? But the older we become and the more we grow in the Truth, the more we realize that the words of Solomon are wise indeed when he says over and over again that all is vanity and vexation of spirit apart from our worshipping the Lord God Almighty and thinking on he things concerning His everlasting kingdom
As a closing thought, if we do not perform the reasonable service required of us, that is, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice unto the Lord, if we do not crucify our old man of sin on the cross with Jesus, or, having done so, if we let him come back to life within us and rule our being, the pleasures and satisfaction we get out of partaking of the things and ways of the world may be our only reward.
Let us read Philippians 4 8 “Finally, brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things’ We would do well to have this verse written on a plaque and hung in our homes where we could see it every day.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One