HARVESTERS EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY- SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON 2011

2011 THEME: MAKE READY A PEOPLE PREPARED FOR THE LORD – LUKE 1: 19
TOPIC: OUR DUTY TO GOD I
TEXT: ROM 12:1-21. MEMORY VERSE: ROM 12:1

Introduction: We have been tasked by the Lord Almighty to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, like John. But before we can effectively execute this task, we have to be ready ourselves. We must first give our own selves unto the Lord, 2Co_8:5. This is here pressed as the spring of all duty and obedience, Rom_12:1-2. The body must be presented to him, Rom_12:1. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body, 1Co_6:13-14.

The duty pressed - to present our bodies a living sacrifice, alluding to the sacrifices under the law, which were set before God at the altar, ready to be offered to him. Your bodies - your whole selves; so expressed because under the law the bodies of beasts were offered in sacrifice-1Co_6:20. Our bodies and spirits are intended. The offering was sacrificed by the priest, but presented by the offerer, who transferred to God all his right, title, and interest in it, by laying his hand on the head of it. Sacrifice is here taken for whatsoever is by God's own appointment dedicated to himself- 1Pe_2:5. We are temple, priest, and sacrifice, as Christ was in his peculiar sacrificing. There were sacrifices of atonement and sacrifices of acknowledgment. Christ, who was once offered to bear the sins of many, is the only sacrifice of atonement; but our persons and performances, tendered to God through Christ our priest, are as sacrifices of acknowledgment to the honour of God. Presenting them denotes a voluntary act, done by virtue of that absolute despotic power which the will has over the body and all the members of it. It must be a free-will offering. Your bodies; not your beasts. The presenting of the body to God implies not only the avoiding of the sins that are committed with or against the body, but the using of the body as a servant of the soul in the service of God. It is to glorify God with our bodies (1Co_6:20), to engage our bodies in the duties of immediate worship, and in a diligent attendance to our particular callings, and be willing to suffer for God with our bodies, when we are called to it. It is to yield the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness, Rom_6:13.

(i) Present them a living sacrifice; not killed, as the sacrifices under the law. A Christian             makes his body a sacrifice to God, though he does not give it to be burned. A body    sincerely devoted to God is a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice is, inspired with the         spiritual life of the soul. It is Christ living in the soul by faith that makes the body a living sacrifice, Gal_2:20. Holy love kindles the sacrifices, puts life into the duties.

(ii) They must be holy.
There is a relative holiness in every sacrifice, as dedicated to God.           But, besides this, there must be that real holiness which consists in an entire rectitude         of heart and life, by which we are conformed in both to the nature and will of God: even     our bodies must not be made the instruments of sin and uncleanness, but set apart for        God, and put to holy uses, as the vessels of the tabernacle were holy, being devoted to     God's service. It is the soul that is the proper subject of holiness; but a sanctified soul          communicates a holiness to the body it actuates and animates. That is holy which is         according to the will of God; when the bodily actions are no, the body is holy. They are    the temples of the Holy Ghost, 1Co_6:19. Possess the body in sanctification, 1Th_4:4-5.