Individual Change / Romans 12:1-2
Introduction: The Gospel on Display in the Individual
Well, welcome to church. It’s good to be with you again this week. If you are new around here, you picked a great week to be with us. We are wrapping up a three-part series on gospel transformation—what the gospel lived out in our daily lives really looks like.
Over the last two weeks, Brad has walked us down through what you might call a funnel. We started at the top of the funnel at the macro level: the gospel on display through the church and what we are called to do as a corporate body of believers. Last week, we narrowed that funnel down a bit and talked about the gospel within the context of our church community, specifically through the vehicle of Life Groups—smaller bodies of believers gathering together. What does the gospel on display look like in that avenue?
Today, we are arriving at the narrow end of the funnel: What does it mean to put the gospel on display as individuals? What is our personal responsibility?
I would contend that if we miss this, everything else we have talked about over the past few weeks is for nothing. The church is simply made up of individual believers; that is what forms the body of Christ. Life Groups are the same. If we do not get this right at an individual level, and if we do not feel both the personal responsibility and the immense privilege to live this out, then we miss something very dear that God desires for us.
As we discuss this concept of the gospel on display in our individual lives, I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 12. We are going to look at Paul’s admonition to the church in Rome through two very simple yet profound verses. What Paul says, in words far more eloquent than mine, is that a transformed heart will ultimately lead to a transformed life.
Romans 12:1-2 (NASB)
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.
Contribution vs. Commitment
I came across an old story that many of you have probably heard before. A chicken and a pig are walking down the street, and they pass a supermarket. In the window, there is a sign that reads: “We’re out of bacon and eggs.” The chicken looks at the pig and says, “Hey, let’s go help them out!” The pig looks back at the chicken and says, “Are you crazy? For you, that’s simply a contribution. For me, it’s a total commitment! You just lay an egg, but I have to give my whole life to make bacon.”
As we read Romans 12 and reflect on what Paul is admonishing us to do, it begs the question: Is our Christian life merely a contribution we make to God? Is it an afterthought—a postscript where we say, “Lord, thank you. Your grace is amazing, and I love Jesus, but I’m just going to give You a portion of my life while keeping the core of who I am for myself”? Or is what God calls us to a full-body, whole-life, total commitment?
As we look at these words from Paul, we will see that he is calling us to a radical, life-changing, all-surrendering commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ based entirely on what God has already done for us.
The “Therefore” of God’s Mercy
The very first word in Romans 12:1 is “Therefore.” In seminary, they teach you that whenever you see the word “therefore,” you have to ask what it is there for. It marks a major pivot in the entire book of Romans. Paul is making a plea to the church at Rome, but he is making it based on everything he has laid out over the previous eleven chapters.
In Romans 1, Paul declares that he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. He says the greatest, most powerful message humanity has ever heard is the gospel.
Romans 1:16 (NASB)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Then, in chapters 1 through 3, Paul lays out the universal reality of human sin. He demonstrates that whether you are Jew or Gentile, morally upstanding or completely irreligious, all of humanity stands condemned before a holy God. There is nothing any of us can do on our own to stand before God in our own righteousness and say, “Lord, You owe me something.”
Romans 3:10 (NASB)
as it is written, ’THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
It is a devastating diagnosis. But immediately following that, Paul proclaims the good news: God has declared us righteous through faith in Jesus Christ because of Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross, which fully satisfied the demands of a holy God against sinful humanity.
Romans 3:21-26 (NASB)
But now apart from the Law [the] righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even [the] righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. [This was] to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, [I say], of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
In chapter 4, Paul explains that this salvation is a free gift—not something we earned by works, and not something we could ever pay back. In chapter 5, he shows that because this gift was freely given and not earned, you cannot lose it. You are secure in Christ. In chapters 6 and 7, he acknowledges that we will still struggle with indwelling sin and battle the flesh. Yet, in chapter 8, he proclaims the glorious truth that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1 (NASB)
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Even though we stumble and fail, we are covered by the blood of Christ—past, present, and future. Then in chapters 9 through 11, Paul magnifies God’s sovereignty and wisdom in choosing us and drawing us to Himself before the foundation of the world.
After eleven chapters of magnificent theology detailing the holiness of God, the depravity of humanity, and the breathtaking grace of Jesus, Paul arrives at chapter 12 and says, “Therefore…” In light of all this truth, Paul says, “Church, I want you to live differently. I don’t want you just to believe rightly; I need this truth to show up in your daily lives.”
Paul writes, “I urge you.” That is the strongest language of appeal Paul can use. He is pleading with them. He moves from deep theology to radical practice. As he writes in Ephesians 4:1, he implores us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. Proper orthodoxy must lead to proper orthopraxy. What we do is fueled by what we truly believe.
Notice the foundation of his appeal: “by the mercies of God.” Mercy means we did not get the condemnation we deserved; instead, we received the lavish grace of a Savior who gave His life for us. When you truly understand your own depravity and God’s immense grace, the only proper response is: “Lord, I deserve nothing, yet You gave me everything. Here is my life.”
Command #1: Present Your Bodies as a Living Sacrifice
In Romans 12:1-2, Paul gives three distinct commands: two positive and one negative.
The first positive command is found in verse 1: “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
The word “present” means to place at someone’s disposal for their complete use. Paul uses a verb tense indicating not just a one-time surrender at conversion, but a continual, daily yielding of our lives. Every morning we wake up, we remember what God has done and say, “Lord, today I present myself to You again.”
Paul says to present your bodies—the totality of who you are. Your hands, your feet, your mind, your talents, your resources, your career. Everything is to be placed on the altar.
The Roman believers understood the imagery of sacrifice. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, an animal was brought to the altar, slain, and consumed by fire. It was a complete offering. But Paul does not call us to die physically; he calls us to be living sacrifices—to die to our own selfish ambitions, our own will, and our own rights.
Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
’I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Paul saw himself as a bondservant of Christ—a servant who, having been freed, loves his master so much that he willingly chooses lifelong service in his household.
Tom Landry, the legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys, once said: “My task is to get a group of men to do what they don’t want to do, so they can achieve what they’ve wanted all their lives.” He understood that grown men had to die to their individual statistics and personal glory for the greater good of the team. In the same way, we must lay down our self-centered pursuits for the glory of Christ.
Paul calls this our “spiritual service of worship”—or our reasonable service (from the Greek word logikos). When you consider what Jesus did for you, living entirely for Him is the only logical conclusion. What else is worthy of your life? Money? Fame? Possessions? A bigger house? In light of eternity, those things pale in comparison. You are both the priest and the offering, placing your life on the altar before God.
This is possible only when we recognize that God owns us. We are not our own; we were bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NASB)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
God did not come to rent your life; He came to own it. When my oldest daughter turned sixteen, we leased a little Fiat 500e electric car. It was a blast to drive, but because we were renting it, I treated it differently than my truck. My truck stays in the garage, well-maintained and cared for. The leased car stayed outside because I knew it was going back. When we realize that God owns us completely, our posture toward our lives shifts from entitlement to complete stewardship.
In Luke 14, Jesus looked at the enthusiastic crowds following Him and laid down the cost of discipleship.
Luke 14:26 (NASB)
’If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
Jesus was not advocating emotional hatred toward family; in Jewish idiom, He was speaking of ultimate allegiance. If anything or anyone—even your family or your own life—holds higher priority in your heart than Christ, you cannot be His disciple. Our love for Him must be supreme.
Mark 8:34 (NASB)
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ’If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
To deny yourself does not mean giving up chocolate or coffee for a season; it means renouncing your claim to the throne of your own life and letting Jesus reign supreme.
Command #2: Do Not Be Conformed to This World
What keeps us from living as wholehearted sacrifices? Paul gives us the negative command in verse 2: “And do not be conformed to this world.”
To be conformed means to be pressed into an external mold. The world is relentlessly trying to shape us into its image, selling us the narrative that money, status, comfort, and self-gratification are what truly matter.
Think about playing with Play-Doh. As kids, we had the toy sets where you would take a lump of dough, push it into a press, and squeeze the handle until it came out in the shape of spaghetti strands. The dough was conformed by external pressure into a specific mold. That is precisely what the world attempts to do to our hearts and minds every single day.
I meet weekly with a group of high school guys from Clovis North. Recently, they were sharing how difficult it is in the locker room when everyone around them is talking about girls, partying, or drinking. When they choose not to join in, they feel like they are standing in an uncomfortable spotlight. Even as teenagers, the pressure to conform and fit into the world’s mold is immense. But Paul tells us: Stop allowing the world to squeeze you into its pattern.
Command #3: Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind
Instead of being conformed from the outside, Paul gives the second positive command: “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.”
The Greek word for transformed is metamorphoo, from which we get the word metamorphosis. Think of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. That change does not happen because someone presses the caterpillar into a butterfly shape from the outside. It is a miraculous, internal transformation that completely reshapes its nature from within.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
When we place our faith in Christ, we become new creations. But there is also an ongoing transformation that must take place in our daily walk. Can you imagine a butterfly emerging from its cocoon and choosing to crawl on the ground like a caterpillar, refusing to use its wings? We would think that is tragic. In the same way, it is tragic when a believer, made new in Christ, goes back to crawling in the patterns of their old life.
This ongoing transformation happens through the renewing of our minds. No one else can do this for you. I cannot change what you think or believe, and you cannot change what I think. While God alone provides the power through His Holy Spirit, we are called to actively cooperate by saturating our minds with God’s truth.
As we fill our minds with Scripture and truth, our desires begin to align with God’s desires. The cheap things the world offers begin to lose their luster, and the things of God become our greatest joy. We begin to discern and prove what God’s will is—discovering that His path is truly good, pleasing, and perfect.
Psalms 16:11 (NASB)
You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Living as Everyday Sacrifices
When this transformation takes root in an individual life, everything changes.
I have a friend whose manufacturing business frequently takes him to a foreign country that is deeply hostile to the gospel. He is an ordinary businessman, but he is fully committed to Christ. Before a recent trip, he told me, “Mike, please pray for me. I’ve packed a bag full of Bibles to take with me. I know what could happen if I get caught, but the people I’ve worked with there for decades are my family, and they need Jesus.” He used his everyday business platform as an avenue for the gospel.
I know a teacher and coach up at Clovis North High School. When I asked him how he likes teaching math, he laughed and said, “Math is fine, but honestly, it’s just an excuse for me to build relationships with kids and point them to Jesus.” He understands that his career is his mission field.
I see business owners, stay-at-home moms, healthcare workers, and students who view their daily routine through the exact same lens. They recognize that their primary purpose is to be salt and light right where God has placed them. They have laid their lives, their vocations, and their families on the altar as living sacrifices.
Conclusion: The Call to Surrender
This message is not meant to lay a guilt trip on anyone. It is a heartfelt appeal, just as Paul appealed to the church in Rome, to look at the cross, look at the empty tomb, and consider what Christ has done for you.
If your response to this call is, “Well, total surrender is for pastors, missionaries, or elders, but not for me,” then perhaps you have not yet grasped the depth of God’s mercy toward you. When we realize the magnitude of His grace, laying down our lives is not a burden; it is our greatest joy.
As the missionary Jim Elliot famously wrote: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Your greatest joy in this life will be found in fully surrendering your heart, your mind, and your body for the sake of the gospel.
What is God calling you to surrender today? How is He asking you to put the gospel on display in your everyday life?
Let’s pray together.
Father, we thank You for these challenging, convicting words from Paul. We know that we are deeply loved, secure in Christ, and declared righteous through His sacrifice. But Father, we want our lives to reflect that reality. We want to live distinctly in light of the lavish mercy You have poured out on us. Give us the courage to resist the mold of this world, to have our minds renewed daily by Your truth, and to present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices that are pleasing to You. We love You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.