What is the Will of God?

[Christsfreeservant]

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)​

To appeal to is to call to, to exhort, to encourage, to beseech, to entreat, and to admonish. In this context it is a holy urging to us to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, to do what is acceptable to God according to his word, and to do what meets with his divine approval. So this is not a mere suggestion nor just a recommendation, but this is an insistence that the will of God must be done in how we live our lives on a day to day basis.

And Paul wrote these words to his fellow believers in Jesus Christ. And his appeal to them (to all of us) was that, on account of God’s grace and mercies to us, we are to present (prove or exhibit) our bodies (our whole beings) to God as living sacrifices, prescribed by God and acceptable to God because offered on His terms and not on our own terms of what we might think is acceptable to God or that meets with his divine approval.

For God’s grace to us is not just in forgiving us our sins so that when we die we get to go to heaven and not to hell (Titus 2:11-14). God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training and instructing us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s soon return. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

And God’s grace to us, and the faith to believe in the Lord Jesus, are gifted to us by God, and this is not of our own doing – not of the will nor of the flesh of man – so we don’t get to determine what that grace and what that faith look like, either. Only God does! And “faith” means to be persuaded of God, for we cannot even come to faith in Jesus unless God first persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to repent of our sins and to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands.

Now if we sacrifice our bodies to Christ, as living sacrifices, it still involves death, but it is death to sin and to self, and it is being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Therefore we are no longer to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, to obey its passions and desires. For if sin is what we obey, in practice, it leads to death, not to life everlasting. But if obedience to God is what we obey it leads to sanctification and its end is eternal life.

[Heb 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Jn 1:12-13; Jn 6:44; Acts 26:18; Rom 6:1-23]

And our lives (our bodies), as living sacrifices to God, are to be holy and acceptable to God, i.e. which meet with his divine approval (dead to sin and in walks of obedience to will). And to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ, by God, as we cooperate with God in his work of grace in our lives, and as we submit to his will and purpose for our lives.

For this is our reasonable (by God’s standards) and acceptable (to God) service of worship of God, to surrender our lives over to the Lord to now follow him in his ways in obedience to his commands in holy living and to no longer be conformed to the ways of this sinful world. So, although singing and the lifting of hands may be a part of our worship, by themselves they are not worship of God unless our lives are given to God as living sacrifices.

Therefore, we as followers of Jesus Christ are no longer to be conformed to the ways of this sinful world. We are not to take on the character of the world and we are not to live our lives as those do who are without God/Christ in their lives. But as followers of Jesus we are to be transformed in heart and mind away from living in sin and for self to now surrendering our lives over to the Lord to obey him and his commands in holy living.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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