Introduction: the believer is to be devoted to God. Everything he is and has is to be dedicated to the worship and service of God. Anything less than total devotion is short of God's glory: it is sin. Therefore, when discussing the believer's relationship to God, Scripture is strong in its exhortation. Without equivocation, Scripture urges total devotion.

1. Devotion urged (v.1).
2. Present your bodies to God (v.1).
3. Be not conformed to this world (v.2).
4. Be transformed (v.2).
1. (12:1) Dedication— Commitment: devotion is strongly urged. The word "therefore" launches a new subject for discussion. It connects what is about to be said to what has been said. What has been said is this:
1. The world desperately needs to get right with God (Romans 1:18-3:20).
2. The way for the world to get right with God is now clearly revealed through God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The way is justification: believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and having God count one's faith as righteousness (Romans 3:21-5:21).
3. The believer in Christ can now be sanctified, that is, set apart to God and set free from sin to life eternal by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:1-8:39).
4. The believer or the church, not Israel, is now God's choice to carry the gospel of His Son to the whole world (Romans 9:1-11:36).
This is the glorious message of how much God loves us and of what God has done for us. This is what is meant by "the mercies of God." The mercies of God are overflowing; they are beyond anything any person could ever desire. Just think about what God has done for us. God has...
• met our desperate need to get right with Him.
• provided the power to be set free from the terrible bondages of this life and to live eternally.
• given the most glorious purpose to life: that of proclaiming the news of God's Son, of how to be set free from sin and death and to live eternally.
Therefore, in light of the mercies of God, of all this that God has done for us, we must devote ourselves to God. We must dedicate and commit ourselves to Him.

Note the words "I beseech you"—implore you, urge you, beg you—devote yourselves to God. Note a significant point: what is about to be said is not being said to the world, that is, to the lost. It is being directed to brothers in Christ: "I beseech you therefore, brethren." Devotion to God is strongly urged. The believer is to do the things covered in the next three points of this outline.

2. (12:1) Body— Dedication: the believer is to present his body to God. The importance of the human body cannot be overstated. The one thing upon earth that is abused more than anything else is man's body. Man abuses, neglects, and ignores his body...

• by overeating
• by becoming inactive
• by being too active
• by cursing, fighting, and killing
• by partaking of harmful substances
by caring for the external abusing the internal
• by getting too much or too little rest
The list could go on and on, but just the mention of these few sins clearly strikes the point home. If there is an exhortation in Scripture that must be heeded by Christian believers, it is the exhortation of these two verses.
1. The believer is to present his body as a living sacrifice to God. Note three facts.
1. God demands the believer's body. God is not only interested in man's spirit; He is vitally interested in man's body. His interest could not be any stronger nor made any clearer. This is clearly seen by contrasting the world's view of the body with God's view.
2. The believer is to present his body to God. The dedication...
• is not to be made to self: living as one wishes; doing one's own thing.
• is not to be made to others: living for family, wife, husband, child, parent, mistress, companion, sexual partner, or employer.
• is not to be to something else: houses, lands, property, money, cars, possessions, profession, recreation, retirement, luxury, power, recognition, fame.
The body is to be offered to God and to God alone. God demands the body, demands that it be presented to Him. God wants the body to be sacrificially living for Him.
3. The believer is to present his body to God as a living sacrifice. Note the believer's offering of his body is to be sacrificial. This is the picture of Old Testament believers taking animals and offering them to God as sacrifices. The believer is to make the same kind of sacrificial offering to God, but note the profound difference. The believer's offering is not to be the sacrifice of an animal's flesh and blood. The offering and sacrifice of the believer is to be his body: he is to offer his body as a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice means at least four things.
• A living sacrifice means a constant, continuous sacrifice, not just an occasional dedication of one's body. A person does not sacrifice his body to God today, and then take his body back into his own hands and do his own thing tomorrow. A living sacrifice means that a person dedicates his body to live for God and to keep on living for God.
• A living sacrifice means a sacrifice of a person's body wherever the body is. A particular place is not needed. The sacrifice of the body is a living sacrifice; it can be made while the body is living right where it is. And the offering of a living sacrifice is to be made right now while the body is living.
• A living sacrifice means that the body sacrifices its own desires and lives for God. The body lives a holy, righteous, pure, clean, and moral life for God. The body does not pollute, dirty, nor contaminate itself with the sins and corruptions of the world: neither the lust of the flesh, nor the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life. The believer's body is sacrificed for God and dedicated to live as He commands.
• A living sacrifice means that the body lives for God by serving God. It means that the body sacrifices and gives up its own ambitions and desires, and it serves God while upon this earth. The body gives itself to the work of proclaiming the love of God and of ministering to a world reeling in desperate needs. The body sacrifices itself to serve God and Him alone. The body is dedicated to God as a living sacrifice.
In summary, the believer is to dedicate his body to God as a living sacrifice in the home, church, school, office, plant, field, restaurant, club, plane, car or bus. No matter where the believer's body is, his body is to be sacrificed for God. Sacrificing to God is not something that is transacted in a church. Sacrificing to God is transacted in every act of the human body. The world, that is, the whole universe, is the sanctuary of God; and the believer's body is the temple of God. Therefore, every act of the believer's body is to be an act of service to God.

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:20).

• The reasons why the believer is to present his body to God are twofold.
1. The dedication of the body to God is acceptable to God. The word means well-pleasing, approving and extremely satisfying to God. God accepts and joys and rejoices over a body that is dedicated and living for Him.
Thought 1. This is the very thing for which believers should seek: to be acceptable and well-pleasing to God. We should seek to cause Him to joy and to rejoice in our bodies. Our bodies should be so dedicated—so pure and holy and clean, and so committed and involved in helping people—that God's heart is just flooded with joy and rejoicing.
Thought 2. Note: the believer's body is either causing God's heart to feel pain and hurt or joy and rejoicing.

"Wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him" (2 Cor. 5:9).

2. The dedication of the body to God is the believer's reasonable service.
• The word "reasonable" means rational, intelligent, logical. It is an act of the mind thinking and figuring out what and how to do something.
• the word "service" means worship, ministry.
The idea is that the believer is to use his mind in dedicating his body to the service of God. He is to study the Scriptures, and intelligently think about how to best serve God as he walks through life day by day. Thought 1. Note how this indicates a worship time in God's Word and in prayer every day. The believer must be constantly seeking to know what is allowed and what is not allowed for his body. The believer's body must know what it can eat, drink, and do; therefore, rational and intelligent study and decisions must be made about what to allow the body to do. (What an enormous difference from the way most of us conduct our lives and treat our bodies in this life!) This is borrowed by copying, and the rest of the study will be given, so check the site...will be along soon.
- C. M. Lewallen