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YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE
I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2).
It implies that the action is a free and voluntary offering. Religion is free; and the act of devoting ourselves to God is one of the most free that we ever perform. We release all claim or right to it, and leave it to be disposed of for the honor of God. We are to present the vigorous, active powers of our bodies and souls to the service of God, not a service of death or inactivity. We are to consecrate to God our best faculties, the vigor of our minds, and talents, and time, not divided or separate but entire and complete. It is clean, free from sin. It is not to be a divided, and broken, and polluted service. It is only right that you should worship Him in this way, according to the grace of God, which is incomparable.
PRINCIPLES
Separated from the Sin and the World; Dedicated to God
1 Corinthians 6:9-11, "9 Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
2 Corinthians 6:14, 7:1, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness? And what partnership does light have with darkness?"
"Then having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilements of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
2 Timothy 2:21, "Therefore if anyone purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work."
Ephesians 4:22-24, "22 For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. 24 And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness."
Sanctified
- "Then He said, 'Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.' He takes away the first so that He may establish the second. By this will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:9-10).
- "in order to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:18).
- "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word" (Ephesians 5:25-26).
- "Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal: 'The Lord knew those who are His.' And, 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity!' " (2 Timothy 2:19)
- "But when the perfect thing comes, then that which is in part will be caused to cease." "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know even as I also am fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:10, 12)
Growing to Maturity
"But grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18)
"so that we no longer may be infants, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, in the dishonesty of men, in cunning craftiness, to the wiles of deceit. But that you, speaking the truth in love, may in all things grow up to Him who is the Head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:14-15).
A Renewed Mind
"For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." "So then they who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:6, 8).
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).
"For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Christ-like Attitudes
"For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not take thought beforehand for the lusts of the flesh" (Romans 13:14).
"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:31-31).
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
What You Say
"If anyone thinks to be religious among you, yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is vain" (James 1:26).
"1 My brothers, do not be many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. 2 For in many things we all offend. If anyone does not offend in word, the same is a full-grown man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold also the ships being so great, and driven by fierce winds, yet they are turned about with a very small rudder, where the impulse of him steering desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Behold how little a fire kindles how large a forest! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting all the body and inflaming the course of nature, and being inflamed by hell. 7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of sea-animals, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no one can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:1-8).
"Let not any filthy word go out of your mouth, but if any is good to building up in respect of need, that it may give grace to the ones hearing" (Ephesians 4:29).
"neither baseness, foolish talking, jesting, which are not becoming, but rather giving of thanks" (Ephesians 5:4).
"Let no one despise your youth, but be an example of the believers, in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12).
What You See
"I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. I have hated the work of those who turn aside; it shall not hold on to me" (Psalm 101:3).
"Turn away my eyes from seeing vanity; in Your way give me life" (Psalm 119: 37).
"I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin?" (Job 31:1).
What You Hear
"But I commanded them this thing, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you. But they did not listen, nor bow their ear, but walked in their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward" (Jeremiah 7:23-24).
"teaching us that having denied ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live discreetly, righteously and godly, in this present world" (Titus 2:12).
Where You Go
"choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he was looking to the reward" (Hebrews 11:25-26).
"Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever desires to be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4).
"Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:15-13).
Adornment and Dress
"Likewise, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that if any do not obey the Word, they may also be won without the Word by the conduct of the wives, having witnessed your chaste behavior in the fear of God. Of whom let not be the adorning of garments, or outward braiding of hair and wearing of gold, or of putting on clothing, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, the meek and quiet spirit, which is of great price in the sight of God. For so once indeed the holy women hoping in God adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands" (1 Peter 3:1-5).
"But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered dishonors his Head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head; for that is even the same as if she were shaved. For if the woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn. But if it is a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled. For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Nor was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. For this reason the woman ought to have authority on her head because of the angels. But neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so the man is also through the woman; but all things of God. Judge among yourselves: is it right that a woman pray to God unveiled? Does not even nature itself teach you that if man has long hair, it is a shame to him? But if a woman should have long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her in place of a veil. But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the churches of God" (1 Corinthians 11:3-16).
Care of the Body
"Abstain from every appearance of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
"Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
"And everyone who strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Then those truly that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." "But I buffet my body, and lead it captive, lest proclaiming to others I myself might be rejected" (1 Corinthians 9:25, 27).
"Then having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilements of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1).
"Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness," "envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before" (Galatians 5:19, 21).