FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
RENEWING
THE MIND – II
THE WILL
OF IAUE
…..
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of IAUE, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto IAUE, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of IAUE.
Knowing and doing the will of IAUE is our
purpose in life. It is why we were
created; and it is what Messiah’s life and death was intended to restore to us. If we are not actively involved with the Holy
Spirit to transform our lives by renewing our minds, we WILL conform to this
present evil age; and we will fail both our Creator and our Master. This is what life in Messiah all boils down
to…a new life form on the earth that does the will of IAUE.
* *
* * *
Our
first order of business after becoming a “living
sacrifice” is to understand what that means. We can say “I have presented my body to IAUE as a living sacrifice,” but if we
do not understand the ramifications of that comment, it is without any value
either to IAUE or to ourselves.
So,
what is a living sacrifice? To answer
that question, we first must ask, what is a sacrifice? A sacrifice is something that is killed. It is often something that is killed in the place
of another, a substitute for that which should have been killed. A sacrifice always
is something that dies. Now, that
appears to create a conflict with the idea of a “living” sacrifice? What does it mean for our bodies to be a
living sacrifice? It means that we are
dead to our own bodies. We offer our
bodies unto IAUE for Him to use as He pleases, and we relinquish our right to
use it for our own purposes. We
understand that we have as much right to our bodies, now, as does a dead man.
This
is a transfer of “wills.” The soul of
man is his mind, will and emotion. With
his mind, he thinks, contemplates, evaluates, considers. With his emotions, he feels. With his will, he chooses what he will and
will not do in his body. A living
sacrifice is a transfer of the will that controls those decisions.
Does
a dead man (imagine a corpse lying on a slab in the morgue) have any concern
over how cold it is in the room? How hot
it is in the room? What he wears, where
he lives, what he does, how much money he has?
No, No, No, No, No and No. Why
not? It is because HE IS DEAD. Nothing matters any more. This is exactly how we should feel, not just
about our physical bodies, but also about our entire life after becoming a
disciple of Yahushua. Our lives should
be utterly abandoned to IAUE’s purposes.
So,
the first step toward renewing the mind is to have the right kind of body. If we are not purposed to renew a mind that
is resident within a living sacrifice, we are not going to succeed at
fulfilling the purpose for which we were created.
Like
“The Lists” which we have discussed in the early part of this blog (See WBS.006, June 2, 2013),
it might be best just to stop right here to give time to process what we have
already said. Really, how many people do
you know that profess to be believers/disciples would willingly offer the total
right and control over their bodies to IAUE?
How readily would you? And yet…Paul
says this is our “reasonable service of worship.”
How can we properly presume to worship IAUE at all if we deny Him that which is
reasonable? He EXPECTS this of us.
Step
#1, therefore, is to begin by offering our bodies a living sacrifice to IAUE,
so He may use it, live in it, walk in it, talk in it, do as He pleases in and
to and through it.
Step
#2 is to recognize the purpose for renewing the mind; and that is that we might
be able to PROVE the will of IAUE, that it is good, perfect and
acceptable. How do we prove the will of
IAUE? We do so by obeying it and seeing
the fruit of our obedience. We believe
in His will; speak and do His will; and in so doing, we participate in the
miraculous outflow of His love and power toward all men.
For
example: Mark 16:17-18 says that the
believer would cast out demons, would speak in tongues, and would heal the sick. Are these things happening in your life? Do you believe it is the will of IAUE? If you do, and it isn’t happening…your mind
needs to be renewed so that the good and perfect and acceptable will of IAUE may
be “proven” (demonstrated/revealed) through your living sacrifice.
Most
believers today have entered “the faith” through a false message; or at the very
least, an incomplete message. Enticed with the forgiveness of sins and eternal
life in Heaven when they die; new believers will eventually confront the
original message of the gospel (“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”);
and for most, that message is met with a serious lack of appreciation and
willingness to comply. Why bother if I
have already secured a place in Heaven?
They are not introduced to IAUE properly; and they are not instructed
that it is our created purpose to do IAUE’s will. They are still permitted to entertain that
there is nothing wrong with pursuing and doing their own will.
The
first time the will of IAUE is mentioned in the New Testament, it says this:
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Master, Master shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven.
This
passage, as you well know, goes on to say that many will rely on having done
miracles and wondrous deeds in the name of Yahushua as an appeal to the Master
to reconsider their entrance to the kingdom of heaven; but his reply will be: “I never knew
you. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.” (Matt 7:23) Were these evil
people? No. Remember when the disciples
forbade someone from casting out demons in Yahushua’s name because he was not
travelling as a part of their group?
Messiah told them not to forbid him because one doing miracles in his
name will not readily speak evil of him (Mark 9:38-39). The people in this verse above were
doing good deeds in Yahushua’s name. The
problem was, they were not doing it in obedience to the will of IAUE. They were pursuing their own will; and that
simply is NOT permitted in the Kingdom of Heaven.
In
his old age, the apostle Peter explained to the believers:
1 Peter 4:1 Forasmuch
then as Messiah hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
2 That he no longer should live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of IAUE.
Peter
uses Yahushua as our example. When he “suffered for us in the flesh,” Peter was referring
to the brutal treatment Messiah received when he was beaten before his impaling,
and his subsequent death on the stake…his “sacrifice.” The one who has died has ceased from
sin. Following this example, we are to
live as dead to our own bodies that the will of IAUE may be the guiding direction
of the rest of our “time in the flesh.” Paul tells us that “the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
that will be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18).
Paul
told the disciples in Ephesus:
Ephesians 5: 15 See then that ye walk
circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the
days are evil.
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of IAUE is.
Understanding
and doing the will of IAUE permeates Paul’s writings. It was also the focus of Yahushua’s life on
earth.
John 4:34 Yahushua
saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment
is just; because I seek not mine own
will, but the will of the Father which hath
sent me.
John 6:38 For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of
him that sent me.
Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book
it is written of me,) to do thy will, O
IAUE.
Yahushua
was utterly dedicated to doing the will of IAUE, never permitting his own will
from being exercised. When we become his
disciple, he is in us and we are in him.
Do you think he is going to want to do his Father’s will any less once
he is inside of us?
The
central focus of the message of the New Testament is doing the will of IAUE. The church, today, has supplanted that
message with “receiving forgiveness and going to Heaven when we die.” Christians, today, live their entire lives
without having any concept that they were born to do the will of IAUE; and since
man who is born of the seed of man is incapable of doing His will; we were born
again to make it possible; and thus fulfill the purpose for which we were
created.
Next
week we will take up the corruption in the contemporary gospel message. If we are going to renew our minds; we must
begin at the beginning.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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