We now come to the great 12th chapter of Romans. This writer certainly could never do justice to this sublime chapter, but there are some concepts, developed here by Paul, which the serious Christian needs to have stressed over and over again. The importance of these concepts is indicated by the emotionally intense word with which the Apostle begins this chapter. He uses the word translated "beseech" in the King James version, which is a much more powerful word than the word for "ask" in the Greek language. It combines the ideas of desire, exhortation, entreaty, and prayer. Paul was intensely interested
in having the readers pay attention to the things he was about to say.
He also begins the paragraph with the word "therefore". It is a word full of both reflection and anticipation. In other words, "Because of what I have been saying, I earnestly desire that you heed the following admonitions." In the first eleven chapters, Paul has defined the
Gospel—the "good news". He has emphasized that the Gospel does not consist of a series of commands to be obeyed, or laws to be followed, as the religion of the Jews dictated, and as many religious leaders insist on today. No matter how exactly we follow the rules, they cannot make us righteous, nor forgive our sins. The "good news" is that God is willing to forgive us, and make us righteous, if we will turn to Him in absolute faith, and accept Jesus Christ, His Son, as Lord of our lives. I grew up being told to "obey the Gospel", but the Gospel is not something to be obeyed. It is something to be accepted in absolute faith, and in surrender to God as the author of all that is good, and the complete director of my life.
The original sin of Adam was rejecting God as the owner of the world, and the one who alone had the right to make the rules. The only way we can escape the consequences of such is to reject our own will, and accept God as our creator and Father, whose will is always perfect. It is HIS world, not mine.
Having established this in the first eleven chapters, Paul now says, "In the light of this, and because God's mercy has left the door to heaven still open for us, in spite of our unworthiness, I beseech you to turn your whole life over to Him". You do this not because of some moral code of righteousness, and in order to be morally good, but because of God's mercy to you. It is not to achieve some sense of self-righteousness, but just because He is merciful to you. Doing good then becomes an act to help others, not to make you more righteous.
The King James version says this is "your reasonable service". The New International version translates it as "your spiritual worship". Both of these translations are saying that living a life that is holy and pleasing to God is your
total purpose, and your only hope. I like the term "spiritual worship". After more than six decades as a minister and teacher, I find myself more and more worried by our attempts at worship. Worship does not consist of a group of planned exercises which we perform together in the church building. It is the gathering of people of deep faith, who in concert present their adoration to the transcendent God of Heaven. However, it should be a continuation of lives which daily are dedicated to His service, and which glorify Him in word and deed every day. We cannot improve the "worship service" by adding elements, improving performance, or moving the rituals around. Only when the congregants bring dedicated lives into the service, and are acutely conscious of being in the august presence of God together, will the worship achieve higher
levels of spiritual success, and give blessings to those who assemble.
Finally, Paul, in this first paragraph, recognizes that most of us have our lives molded by the environment in which we live, and the cultural mores of family and friends. With the pressure of the media bringing current customs and popular thinking more and more into our homes and consciousness, it is imperative that Christians take control of their own lives, and not be persuaded by that which is popularly acceptable, or politically correct. My father's favorite poem was Kipling's "If", and he often quoted the first lines to me. "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...". Paul says the
only way you can do this is by "renewing your mind". In other words, Christians must stop just imitating their forebears' traditions, following the rituals, and going through the motions of their religion. They must get their minds involved, seek God for themselves in personal study, spend private time with Him in prayer, and develop a personal abiding faith to guide their lives. Paul says if you do this it will prove to you that God's way is the best.
