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Romans 12-16

11/17/2015

1 Comment

 
​Today we read the closing 5 chapters of Romans. This part of the letter by Paul, is him showing how the theology of chapters 1-11 should play out in action. You could say that chapters 12-16 is Paul’s discourse on how to make better disciples. I find it interesting that Paul lays out the Gospel for his readers in the first part, then shows in the second part how the Gospel must affect the life of a convert. 12:1-2 is the opening lines of the second half of the book. These 2 verses are also a broad heading for everything else that follows. Let me give a few examples…
 
“Living sacrifices…belong to everyone else in the body and are not their own” (12:1, 12:5)
 
“Living sacrifices…are subject to the authorities God has placed in their lives” (12:1, 13:1)
 
“Living sacrifices…consider those who are weaker in the faith” (12:1, 14:1)
 
“Living sacrifices…accept one another as Jesus does” (12:1, 15:7)
 
“Living sacrifices…do not cause divisions in the body” (12:1, 16:17)
 
So Paul in the section we read through today is telling us what it means to be living sacrifices. Jesus is the greatest living sacrifice and if we claim to love Him, we must look like Him and also be living sacrifices. We need to ask ourselves today, does every action and word I do, show to the world around me that I am a living sacrifice and an image bearer of the greatest Sacrifice? 
1 Comment
Bruce
11/20/2015 03:06:27 am

I find that I am trying to work on verses 12:17-20 and admittedly failing at times. (Verse 20-17: Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.) I try to do these things in my daily life and at times win over what I would have said, thought, or even done in the past, but I still have such a long way to go.

Even more interesting is I find myself thinking that this life means little, if I make it to heaven, as pastor has said in past sermons. Verse 12:20 sums up my thinking exactly, (12:20: on the contrary: " if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head".) I have used this thinking in this simple way: God will pay them back for the trouble they cause!!! If I think like this, then I need to remind myself to treat others better, so they are not heaping burning coals on my head... Great life lesson in these four simple verses.

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