This week’s lesson was a good continuation of last weeks lesson. The big lesson learned from last week was a believer living the Christian Way of Life. We talked about the importance of a believer learning accurate bible doctrine, to strengthen their Relationship with God. While they strengthen their Relationship with God, they should apply the doctrine to their life and strengthen their Relationship with Others. Continuing that cycle a believer will be living the Christian Way of Life.

Lessons:

Chapter 12 verses 1-2

Chapter 12 verses 3-8

Chapter 12 verses 9-13

Chapter 12 verses 14-21

What I learned:

Since I really see this last lesson as a continuation of the last week’s theme, and it concluded Romans Chapter 12, I am going to go over everything I learned in Chapter 12 to establish what I learned, and now have to continue to apply.

Chapter 12 versus 1-2:

One of the most important things I learned in this lesson is that Chapter 12 is actually a continuation of Romans Chapter 8. The verses for this lesson were Paul’s perfect way of beginning Chapter 12.

Verses:

1 I urge you therefore, 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. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

For me this lesson was a perfect setup to the lessons I have already discussed. The first part of verse one points out that a believer should offer themselves to God, by executing the Christian Way of Life, under the filling of the Holy Spirit. The second verse details how a believer begins that process with the renewal of their mind. This is not something that happens automatically, but something that a believer must work on, by learning and applying accurate bible doctrine in their life.

Prior to salvation, a believer thinks with Human Viewpoint thinking, and their actions are the result of it. Paul is telling the believer that now their responsibility is to rid themselves of that Human Viewpoint Thinking, and replace it with Divine Viewpoint Thinking. Fortunately, for us Paul did not just stop by telling us our responsibility, he continues the chapter with specific methods for a believer to execute the Christian Way of Life.

Chapter 12 versus 3-8:

These verses discussed how each spiritual gift has an important purpose in the church. Paul spent time talking about how not all believers have the same spiritual gift(s), and why that was important. If you recall the football play example, not every believer can be a quarterback (QB).

We should not be arrogant due to the abilities they have been granted, but instead remember that we are just another important member of a large team. For that team to function properly, and work together to reach the common goal, we all must fulfill our function(s) with zeal! Remember, just like the football example each believer needs the other members with their gifts for the church to grow, and glorify God. A single believer cannot do that alone, just like a single member of a football team cannot win a game without the other members of their team helping in some manner.

Chapter 12 verses 9-21:

The final versus of Chapter 12 really detail specific methods for a believer to have a Relationship with Others, and live the Christian Way of Life. Remember, in order live that life the believer must strengthen their Relationship with God by learning accurate bible doctrine. The believer must apply what they have learned in their Relationship with Others, and in doing so they can live the Christian Way of Life.

Summary:

So for Chapter 12, Paul began by telling us that we have to change our Human Viewpoint Thinking to Divine Viewpoint thinking. He then shows us that we each have a very important role in the church, and we should use our spiritual gifts to the best of our ability. Finally, he details specific methods for us to change our former Human Viewpoint thinking to our new Divine Viewpoint thinking, all so that we may live the Christian Way of Life!

Hopefully, I have written something here that you can learn and apply to your life. As always, please read and study the complete passage, and the lessons are available to aid you.

The lesson this week is a continuation of Romans chapter 12, this week focused on verses 9-13. The lesson last week focused on believers using their spiritual gifts to their fullest potential, and the importance of different spiritual gifts distributed amongst believers. The lesson this week continues from last weeks lesson and focuses on believers and how they should conduct themselves in life.

The entire lesson can be found here

Verses:

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal; be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

What I learned:

The biggest take away for me from this lesson, is a believer executing the Christian Way of Life. To explain that concept I will use a graphic that my pastor-teacher uses in church. The first step in living the Christian Way of Life is to have and maintain a Relationship with God. This begins with learning accurate bible doctrine, and maintaining a constant prayer life. To not confuse this situation, this does not mean that an individual should be praying for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. What it does mean is that one should maintain a consistent prayer life. For example, one could fulfill this by praying when the wake up in the morning, spending time praying during the day when available, and closing every evening out with prayer.

Learning accurate bible doctrine is an extremely important step, because a believer really needs to learn how they should interact with others, before they can have the appropriate Relationship with Others.

The second step in living the Christian Way of Life relies on a believers’ Relationship with Others. Earlier I mentioned the importance of studying accurate bible doctrine in regards to maintaining a Relationship with God. Applying that doctrine to a believer’s life results in having a Relationship with Others.

If you put the Relationship with God, and the Relationship with Others together the result is the Christian Way of Life, which ultimately serves the Lord. So if we return to the verses of the lesson today they are really related the Relationship with Others. However, they are teaching the believer how to have an appropriate Relationship with Others, thus taking us back to the first step with the believer learning the accurate bible doctrine. Therefore, we are completing the Christian Way of Life. The believer learns the accurate doctrine and strengthens their Relationship with God. While learning the doctrine they learn how to have a Relationship with Others, and applying that learning the believer strengthens their Relationship with Others and lives the Christian Way of Life.

So these are the things I learned from the lesson this week. If you saw my post on the Importance of Context, I talked about learning verses in the full context. This lesson is a perfect example of using the full context when learning bible doctrine. I learned what I did in the lesson from using the full context of Romans Chapter 12 verses 1-13. I encourage you to also start at the beginning, review the lessons for Romans Chapter 12 verses 1-2, and Romans Chapter 12 verses 3-8 to have the full context. Finally, this weeks lesson Romans Chapter 12 verses 9-13 completes the context up until this point. Of course, you shouldn’t just stop there, study the bible verses and continue your own learning!