Rom.12:1

- illustr. - little girl and offering plate

Q. Are you sold out to Jesus, or have you sold out to the world?

The answer to that question is in your response to Romans 12:1-2 (read)

v.1 - “therefore” in view of God’s mercy

- a reasonable response to God’s provision of our salvation

Q. What has God done for me? What does his mercy entail?

- justified me freely by His grace - he has given me a pardon from my sin and made me righteous.

- he has given me eternal life - a home in heaven.

- he has adopted me into His family, and made me a child of God.

- he has given me His Spirit to indwell me and give me the power to live the Christian life.

- he has promised me that nothing can separate me from Him and His love for me.

In view of all this, it is only logical and reasonable for me to want to yield my life completely to Him.

v.2 - the enemy of total commitment to God is conformity to the world.

- do not be conformed - literally, “pressed into the world’s mold”

- Cain - Gen. 4 - built a city - the beginning of the world system, under Satan’s control, opposed to God.

- the world offers an alternative lifestyle that is not according to the will of God. “You can find happiness, success, fulfilment apart from God.” So we have to make a choice.

1 John 2:15 - Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world.

- our problem is that we succumb to the pressure of the world that makes us want to hold back certain areas of our life from God’s control. We want to work both sides of the street. We’re willing to give God 95% of our lives and our devotion if only we can keep back that 5% for ourselves.

“The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar.”

Suppose you had a 1000 acre ranch and somebody offered to buy it. You agreed to sell the land except for one acre right in the middle that you wanted to keep for yourself. In most parts of the country, the law would allow you to have access to that one lone acre by building an access road across the surrounding property. You would actually diminish the usefulness and the value of the surrounding property by having that one piece in the middle. The new owner’s plans for that property would be affected. He would not have free rein with what he could do, because you are still holding on to that one piece in the middle.

If we make less than a full surrender of our lives to God, you can be sure that the devil will build access roads to reach any uncommitted areas of our life. When this happens, our testimony and our usefulness for God will be severely diminished. God will not be able to use us and bless us in the way He wants to.

The antidote to conformity is transformation.

- as our minds are saturated with the Word of God, they will be transformed, so that we will not only know God’s will, but prove it in the way we live.

- it is God’s goal to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ.

Rom. 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

2 Cor. 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.