Dedicated and Renewed to Do God's Will

'A distinctive generation modelling righteousness in the nations.'

EYC 2014 was a great week of learning about God and experience Him to be equipped to live out our conference theme. In the midst of corruption, sin and decay, we must know that 'God is for the righteous generation' (Ps 14:5b NASB). Our efforts to live pure are not in vain. God is looking for a people who live in righteousness. But growing up in a sinful society, we are all shaped, to different extents, by our environment and need renewing of the mind. The Apostle Paul has this to say to us:

Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

--Romans 12:1-2 NASB

There's a lot in these two verses; let's unpack it step by step.

Firstly, there are God's mercies. Paul had just elaborated for eleven chapters on the great salvation of God's mercy in Christ Jesus. God had given His everything in Christ and with it everything He has and is (8:32). This is ample evidence that God is for His people (v 31). Although all humanity is under sin, God provided a plan of redemption and that plan is in Christ. By faith in Him people can be saved. That Gospel must be received as people hear it. Once born-again, people must learn to live by the Spirit and get rid of fleshly, sinful lifestyles. In all this, the Spirit empowers us to please God. Based on all these great mercies of God in Christ, Paul urgent the believers to be dedicated to God as 'a living and holy sacrifice.' In terms of the Temple, a sacrifice was a dedicated item of worship. It belonged to God alone and serve a sole purpose. Because Christ was the substitutionary sacrifice for our sin in His death on the cross, we are living sacrifices to God. We must only die to sin and can live for God. Christ sets people free from sin to live for righteousness  But we must choose to live in this way and can do so by the Spirit (see Romans 6--8). In fact, true worship is such a lifestyle. Most people think about music, instruments and songs when they hear 'worship,' but for Paul it was a lifestyle acceptable or well-pleasing to God, a lifestyle of righteousness. Only a life in the Spirit and in holiness can please God; flesh and sin cannot. That life in the Spirit is a life of righteousness and holiness. Hence, Paul wants us to be dedicated!

Secondly, there is a crucial step we need to commit to: renewal of the mind. We cannot be a distinctive generation without realising how wrong the worldly patterns and values are and change if there are any of them in us. We cannot be an example to the world and live like them. We cannot 'Christianise' worldly stuff and think the outsiders will be drawn to Christ - it's not going to happen. We are called to be different. We are not to be conformed to this world, but to be renewed to become like Christ. Our highest calling is to be like Christ (see Romans 8:29). In fact, the purpose of election and predestination is conformity to Christ (cf. Eph 1:4). While theologians forever argue what predestination is, we forget its very purpose: to be holy and blameless.

Another aspect of the renewal of the mind is the ability to understand God's will. In fact, it's impossible to understand God's will with worldly thinking. Paul makes clear that the direct outcome of a renewed mind is the understanding of God's will (Rom 12:2). Only a renewed mind that thinks with divine patterns can understand the will of God. It is therefore crucial to find the ways our mind can be renewed. Our primary source of truth is, of course, the Bible itself, as it reveals the nature and ways of God. Together with the Word we have God's Spirit as His active Agent who teaches us and leads us into all truth (Jn 16). Only the truth can set us free (Jn 8:32) and that truth is found in the Word and teaching of Christ (v 31) and the Spirit is our primary Guide. Word and Spirit in us is the covenant commitment of God towards His people (Isa 59:21). 

Thirdly and finally, being dedicated to God and being in the process of renewal, means little if it doesn't lead to doing God's will. We are to be doers of the word, else we would deceive ourselves (Jas 1:22). People who think they are doing God's word but in fact are not, are indeed deceived. It's nothing more than a mental perception which leads to deception if we don't act and live according to God's word. But renewal of our mind through His Word and Spirit is, of course, the key to make us able to obey Him and live a lifestyle pleasing to Him. God Himself empowers us to live the way He wants. And only that kind of obedience will make sure that our lives are indeed built on a solid foundation, so that the storms of life cannot drag us down (see Mt 7:24-27).