Seeking God's Will

In a previous post, Savior and Lord, we worked through the beginning of Romans.
This is Paul's explanation of the Good News.  He describes the saving grace of Jesus and our new life with Jesus as our Lord.
Romans continues with specifics about how to live for Jesus.  He offers many challenges to the church about how to continue in Christ's love.

Romans, to me, is a great extension of Jesus' words in Matthew.  The Pharisees were questioning Him, trying to trap Jesus into saying something against the law.  They asked Him what is the most important commandment.
Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important:  Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."   Matthew 22:37-40

I love this so much.  I wish I could have witnessed that moment.  Jesus always had the perfect responses.  The truth wrapped up inside those verses speaks to the freedom, but also, the weight of joining the Kingdom of God.  
Forget your lists of wrongs and rights.  You don't need a page full of laws.  God is calling us into His love.  There is so much freedom in that.
But, at the same time.  Wow.
Love God with everything.
Love others as yourself.

So, Romans works through this message that Jesus brought.
We learn about loving God and giving all to Him.
Then, Romans chapter 12 steps it up with specifics - reality.
If everything is for God.
If we truly are going to love others...
I plead with you to give your bodies to God.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind He will accept.  When you think of what He has done for you, is this too much to ask?  Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.  - Romans 12:1-2

So, yep.  We get words like holy, sacrifice, transform.
We are offering ourselves to God.  We are giving Him control.  This is part of the Lordship of Jesus, but there is so much more to take from this passage.
Holy
We're going to spend some time with this, because holy is huge and feels huge.
Holy means to be set apart.
God is holy.  Nothing is like God or can compare to God.  He is truly perfect and to remain perfect must be separate from anything that is not.
Yes, so... we are called to live a holy life.  - We'll come back to that some more in a bit.

Sacrifice
Old Testament sacrifice meant giving an animal, an offering, in an act of repentance.  It was a way God made for His people to make temporary payment for sins.  A sacrifice was more about the heart than the physical, but the people were required to give of their best.  A sacrifice is supposed to dig in to what's yours, the parts you prefer to keep.  Sacrifice is not sharing from abundance, but giving from the core.
Jesus became the ultimate, once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins.  As the perfect Lamb of God, God giving from the very core of Himself, He covered us.  Period.
Now, in return and in response, we are giving ourselves back to God.  Not to earn salvation, but because of it.  Not just Sundays, not just the fringe of life, but our whole selves - to the core.

This is big. This is hard, but God is in the midst of it.  And God can be trusted.  God loves us beyond comprehension, and giving yourself over to Him is the BEST thing you can do for yourself.
God - the omniscient, omnipresent - will guide your steps.

Jesus said, If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it.   But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. - Luke 9:24

The giving is hard, but the result is awesome!

Transform
Transformation is not going to come naturally.  It will come by choosing God.  The verse begins with a warning to not be conformed to the behavior and customs of this world.  So, basically the things you see around you, and possibly even your first inclination, could be wrong.  God is going to change the way you would normally do things.  Your actions and goals will likely look different than the common around you.  Paul says God will change the way you think - some translations say by the renewing of your mind.  Our days and lives are driven by our thoughts.  God wants to give us a new perspective, a new plan, a new vision.

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All of this is then followed by a beautiful promise.  -It's one of the most sought after things of Christians - and actually all people. 
Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.
God's will.  His purpose for your life.
How many books have been written on this?  How many sermons spoken?
People are always seeking God's direction and leading in their lives.

Give your life to God and walk in obedience.
Obedience is the one piece of God's will we are clearly given.  Paul says once you have given yourself to God; when you are walking in that holy, transformed life, you will know.  
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So, I'm thankful for this.  I want this.
But,
But - Holy.
The bar is clearly too high.
Right?
Well, God does not expect holiness to come out of our own efforts.  He is with us. We are in pursuit of this holy life.  The transformation is ongoing.

Holy = set apart.
One example we have of this is Daniel.  
God's people in the Old Testament were more or less "set apart" as a group.  God's nation was separate, and lived apart from others to follow God's laws.  When they were faithful to Him, He protected them from other nations.  When they were not obedient, He removed His protection. 
Daniel is an example, though, of a godly man who had to make his own choices to remain holy.
Daniel and other Jews were taken captive in Babylon.  Daniel was among a group of young men chosen to come and learn and work for King Nebuchadnezzar.

Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.  The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.  - Daniel 1:3-5

Daniel's discipline and work ethic must have been obvious, because he was easily selected.  This deal at the palace would mean a big lifestyle change for these Jewish men.  The king's food would alter the diet these men had faithfully followed.  It likely even included meats that were prohibited by God's instructions.  Daniel requested a separate meal plan for himself and his three friends.  He convinced the attendant to do this for a trial period so Daniel could prove the diet would be beneficial.

At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.  So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the rich foods and wines.  God gave these four young men and unusal aptitude for learning the literature and science of the time.  And God gave Daniel a special ability in understanding the meaning of visions an dreams.  Daniel 1:15-17

Key points -  
- Daniel maintained obedience right in the middle of some tempting alternatives.  I'm sure whatever food the king was serving was yummy.  Daniel knew from experience why he needed to continue following God's plan.  His previous faithfulness gave him the willpower he needed in a more difficult situation.  God had prepared him.
- God's directions proved to be the healthier choice.
- God blessed the men, because of their obedience.  Their efforts were multiplied, and He gave them favor as they worked and studied.  Daniel even received a new ability that God would need him to use later.  (This is very similar to Jesus' parable of the talents in Matthew 25)

We see Daniel use this new talent in Daniel 2.  Daniel interprets the king's dream, because God reveals to him what it means.  Daniel continues to show his obedience and dependence on God by quickly giving God all the credit for the revelation:
"While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events.  The revealer of mysteries has shown you what is going to happen.  And it is not because I am wiser than any living person that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wanted you to understand what you were thinking about." - Daniel 2:29-30

We see holiness in Daniel, because of his reliance on God.  His choices are directed by God, and he never even claims his success or talent as being his own.
Holiness and transformation are about emptying ourselves and allowing God in.  God is not going to mix and mingle with our selfishness.  When we clear away space for Him, He fills it.
Holiness is about being a vessel.

Daniel continues to show his faithfulness to God, and later in the book we read how others around him were jealous.  God protected and blessed Daniel, because of his obedience.  The king chose Daniel for more leadership, because Daniel was strong and trustworthy.  Jealousy made the other leaders look for something to bring against Daniel,
but they couldn't find anything to criticize.  He was faithful and honest and always responsible.  So they concluded, 'Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the requirements of his religion.' - Daniel 6:4b-5

Reputation.  As Christians, we should have this kind of reputation.  We are not going to be perfect.  We will make mistakes, but our reputation at work and with peers should be like Daniel's.  Faithful, honest, trustworthy.  Christians should be known for these qualities in all areas of life.  
To challenge Daniel, they would have to challenge his religion.  His life had demonstrated that that would be the only way he would falter.

So, as you know, Daniel does not falter.  He goes all the way to the lion's den for God.

Back to Romans

Paul gives us some specifics - not as a list of rules - but as a practical picture of what this living sacrifice, this holiness, will mean.
Romans chapters 12 - 15 are packed full of expectations.  
There are lots of example of loving others and putting others first.
He describes serving enthusiastically and not being lazy, being patient, staying in prayer, not arguing, not being judgmental, overcoming evil with good, respecting authority.
There is a lot packed into these 4 chapters (not going to type it all in here), but..

We have a high calling. Our commitment should set us apart.  The love of Christ inside of us should be evident.  Relationally, geographically we are not and should not be apart, but our choices and the depth of our love should be a light in a dark world.  (Matthew 5:14-16)

And, remember the promise:
Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is. - Romans 12:2