Romans 12:1-2
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Presenting our bodies a living sacrifice -- Wow. Takes a heart for God. You want to prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God? Start out with aliving sacrifice in your body -- and that is not a huge thing in God's eyes, as He calls it your reasonable service. And when we have done those things that are required of us -- our duty -- we are unprofitabe servants. (Luke 17:10) Ouch.
And we haven't even spoken of not being conformed to this world, and the transformation that can bring. Nor have we said anything about a renewing of the mind -- changing the way you think and react. These things are all covered under the 1.) Good, and 2.) Acceptable, and 3.) Perfect will of God.
Doing our duty and following the Lord's instructions (called commandments in Luke 17:10)) is Good, but there are no rewards to the unprofitable servant, and the Lord expects a higher level of devotion to get to the "acceptable" level.
Acceptable service is better than good service, but it is not perfect. Perfect will of God is doing exactly what the Lord wants done exactly when he wants it done and in the way he wants it done. To get the perfect will of God, you need a body that is a living sacrifice -- a holy sacrifice -- an acceptable sacrifice. Back in the Old Testament, the sacrifice had to be without spot and blameless -- a holy sacrifice, for it to be acceptable to the Lord.
Is he finding that in you? Are you proving what is not only good, but acceptable, and perfect within the will of God?
Rewards come for acceptable and perfect service -- 1Cor 3:12 -- "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;"
The foundation is Christ -- verse 11. You build on that, and the rewards are gold, silver, precious stones. The precious stones are easy -- those are the ones you have had a hand in bringing to Jesus Christ. (Mal 3:17)
The silver represents the purity of the word of God -- Psalm 12:6-7. Silver you get for the times you do something at the bidding of God based on the scriptures alone -- no "feelings" no spine tinglings
.
The gold is representative of the deity of Jesus Christ. You get gold when you do something just because of your love for the Lord. You get no recognition down here, and most people don't even know you've done it, and maybe it costs you something like the scorn of the brethren, a demotion at work, but your love for the Lord encourages you to do that special thing, at that special time BECAUSE YOU LOVE HIM!
Have you been there yet. Done something you haven't drawn attention to for self recognition. Didn't get paid for it, maybe even costed you some cash and certainly some time to get it done?
This IS the will of God, so that he gets the glory, and NOT ME!
Amen!
