Sacrificial Living

Romans chapter 12. You may be embarking upon some
kind of new experience, because I don’t know that I’ve ever opened
before with Bob Dylan. Years ago, Bob Dylan. That same
Bob Dylan, the 60s singer. made a profession of faith. He
claimed to have been born again, became a Christian, and I don’t
know exactly how many songs or albums he put out as a Christian,
but one of the first songs that he put out as a Christian had
just a really simple line in it, but sung inimitably as Bob
Dylan only could. He said, you’re going to have
to serve somebody. It may be the devil, it may be
the Lord, but you’re going to have to serve somebody. I don’t
know the rest of Bob Dylan’s theology, but he nailed that
one. Because we’re either going to serve the Lord Jesus Christ,
we’re going to serve God, or we’re going to serve sin and
self and the devil. It’s that simple. Paul, in a
sense, calls us to that truth here in Romans chapter 12. In
Romans chapter 12, Paul says that you’re going to have to
serve somebody. And he calls us to a particular
kind of service. The first 11 chapters, Paul has
been laying out the deep, doctrinal, spiritual truths He began, as
you know, with sin. He transitioned to salvation,
to God’s plan of salvation, that of Christ’s righteousness that
is bestowed upon the sinner by faith. Paul then began a lengthy
discussion of sanctification, and we have just concluded a
detailed discussion of God’s sovereignty over the nations.
Paul laid out the deep truths of doctrine there in those first
eleven chapters. Along the way, in chapter 6,
Paul begins to draw a conclusion that the man who is placed in
his faith in Jesus Christ, the man who has taken up the command
to be obedient to God, finds an explicit command in chapter
6. How can those who have made a
profession of faith go on sinning? They can’t. I mean, we will stumble
in many ways, but we don’t live in it. We don’t embrace it. It isn’t part of our life. It’s
not supposed to be anymore. Sin doesn’t reign here anymore. And instead of allowing sin to
go on unchecked in our lives, we are supposed to fight the
good fight. We are supposed to put it to death, a daily mortification,
a daily putting to death the sins. were so easy, so much a
part of our life before. We are supposed to be as those
who are alive from the dead, as Paul would go on to say in
Romans 6. And our life from that point
forward involves a life of service. Just as it had in the past, we
are in service, but we are no longer in the service of sin.
We are in the service of a new master. A new master has taken
control of our life. A new master has called us to
a new kind of living. We’re either going to serve God
by a life of righteousness, a life of growth and grace and sanctification,
or we’re going to revert. We’re going to go back to the
old way, and we’re going to continue to serve sin. It’s that simple. Paul has closed out the doctrinal
part of the epistle. He’s laid the groundwork for
all that we need to know. And it’s not that doctrine is
completely absent from the rest of this epistle. Paul will continue
to bring up doctrinal points along the way and insert them.
But the primary focus from chapter 12 on is very practical. In fact,
it reminds me very much of the book of Ephesians, where, for
three solid chapters, Paul lays out deep doctrines, the deep
doctrines of the Christian faith. And then, in chapter four, verse
one, Paul suddenly says, Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord,
implore you to walk. Very practical exhortation. Walk
in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
He told them about the calling. He told them about the work of
God. and now he calls them to a practical application of those
truths. The same thing is true here with
Romans. Paul made it clear that we knew that we were sinners
in the first three chapters. Paul made it abundantly clear
that we knew the way of salvation, that it’s through faith in Christ
alone that we must have Christ’s righteousness. Paul made it abundantly
clear that this life of salvation, this life of Christ that we live,
is not just a momentary cleansing, but it’s a life of growth and
grace and sanctification. Ultimately, we saw that God is
in charge. God the Father is in complete
charge. God the Father is the one that
laid the foundation and ordained all of these things. The foundation
was Christ. The sustaining grace was the
Holy Spirit himself. Paul says, because of all of
that, there’s a practical exhortation for the believer. You see, we’re
never given doctrine. We’re never given knowledge.
We’re never given spiritual truth just so that we can have more
head knowledge, just so that we can simply say that we know
it. We are taught and given things. And as the word says, we are
given much. We are taught and given things
so that those things can be put into practice, so that it can
change and transform our lives, so that we can live a new and
different life. It’s not just there for head
knowledge. Paul, in his writings, always
bases duty upon the foundation of doctrine. In other words,
Paul always lays the groundwork of what God has done and then
calls us to respond to what God has done in our life. As one
said, he traces life to belief. He shows that character is determined
by creed. In other words, what we believe
forms the foundation, but the foundation must continue forth
in practical living. Paul wants to begin a new section. It’s a section of exhortation.
And it’s built upon the eleven chapters. that he’s already provided. If you would, so that we can
take a forecast of where Paul’s headed for the next several weeks,
I wanted to have you look at the first eight verses of chapter
twelve. We won’t make it today, mind
you. I’ll be happy if we make it through
verse one. Sacrificial living, if you would, beginning in verse
one, where Paul writes, 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.
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 through
the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to
think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to
think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a
measure of faith. For just as we have many members
in one body, and all the members do not have the same function,
so we, who are many, are one body in Christ and individually
members one of another, and since we have gifts that differ according
to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly.
If prophecy according to the proportion of his faith, if service
in his serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he who exhorts
in his exhortation, or he who gives with liberality, he who
leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Some good, good exhortations
lie ahead for us. Let’s turn, though, to the first. Where Paul turns his attention
to sacrificial living, to the practical application of all
that he’s laid out in Chapter 11, and he begins really with
the word therefore. And he wants to call us back
to consider what that particular word is calling us to consider. That word therefore can be just
a transition particle, and a lot of times we don’t even pay attention
to them. Those little words, therefore, for, because, even
and, we tend to read as if they’re unimportant. But this word is
crucial, if nowhere else, absolutely so here. Because what it’s pointing
to is everything that Paul has already said. The Christian,
in his obedience to God, is built upon what has already been done
for the Christian in Christ. In other words, what Saul points
to with this little word, therefore, is essentially an expression
of gratitude on the part of the Christian. If God has taken a
sinner and he’s given him the righteousness of Christ, he’s
given him faith and he’s called him to a new life. And he begins
this process, God does, of cleaning him up in a process called sanctification. If God has done all of that,
God’s done it all, really. If God has done all of that,
what is the response of the Christian to be? That’s what Paul’s saying
here in Romans 12. As one said, the source from
which effort springs is neither a humanistic desire for the enhancement
of the self by the attainment of moral superiority, You see,
those are the do-gooders, that is the secular humanists, that
we do good simply for the sake of doing good. Nor is it, as
he goes on, the legalists’ hope of putting God under obligation.
So, in other words, there’s either this legalistic idea for doing
good, that if I only do enough good, I’m going to earn favor
with God, and He owes me even salvation. Remember, that was
the whole discussion of the law. If we could only live according
to what God has already laid down by our own strength, we
do it perfectly, then God owes us salvation. That’s what God
said. Do this and you will live. The humanist just takes it a
different way and just says life is about doing good and I’m a
good person because I do good. Well, the Christian The Christian
has a completely different thought pattern. The Christian’s thought
pattern is God has given me everything. God has given me forgiveness.
God has given me a savior who paid for that forgiveness. God
has given me an abundance of grace and mercy. He has saved
me. He has given me eternal life.
And because of that, I must respond. Our doing good is built upon
not trying to earn salvation or please our neighbor or anyone
else. He merely is an expression of
gratitude to God. In view of everything that God has
done, in view of all that he’s given us, including his own son,
how are we to live? Paul has built the argument that
God has taken away sin, that he’s accepted the guilty sinner
because of what Christ has done. Paul’s laid the groundwork In
the view of everything that he’s done, how are we to live? What is our response? That’s
what he means by that little word, therefore. But what I’ve
done is back away and look at this one little verse. That’s
all we’re going to tackle today. This verse that points to sacrificial
living. And he’s talking about sacrifice,
and we’ll get into it in a moment. It is. It’s a hard discussion. to entertain. But, I want to look first at
the command to sacrifice. It’s there, it’s plain. We are
commanded to sacrifice. Paul says, I urge you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living
and holy sacrifice. Let’s take this a piece at a
time. When he says, I urge you, it’s
one of my favorite words in scripture, parakaleo. And it could have
the meaning of giving help, rendering some kind of an aid, but ultimately
it came to have this meaning of exhorting, admonishing, it
can even mean encouraging. It means essentially to call
someone, para, call them, beside you, to call them near to you,
almost to call them side by side, to instruct and encourage and
even exhort. I’ve told you this before. When God saw our great needs,
Jesus looked at his own disciples and said that I will provide
for you a helper, a paraplese. I will provide for you the clothes
alongside them to help you. The Holy Spirit comes next to
us to not only exhort and admonish, but also to encourage. And Paul
essentially says here, brothers, let me let me call you to a response. Let me exhort you to a proper
response of what God has called us to. Let me come along and
encourage you to live as God would have you to. And he points to his brethren.
He points to those who are brothers and sisters in Christ, and I’ll
tell you more about that in a moment, but it’s only those that can
respond. It’s only those that are truly in Christ that can
do what he’s called them to do, and I’ll make that clear in a
moment. Paul says, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. Now, comes the word sacrifice
in just a moment, but there’s no doubt what he’s talking about
here. Even the word present is a word that was essentially lifted
from the office of the priesthood, and it’s talking about sacrifice. It’s talking about the placement
of the sacrifice. Paul used it already in Romans
chapter 6 verses 13 verse 19. But here he uses it as a technical
term to remind everyone about religious rights. Where the sacrifice
was placed on the altar, and he basically says, place yourself
on the altar. Present your body as a sacrifice. Now this is shocking terminology.
It’s shocking to us, but it was equally shocking to first century
Christians. First century Christians, we’ve
probably never even seen an animal sacrifice. Perhaps a video or
perhaps some kind of cartoon representation of it, something
in Sunday school material perhaps. We’ve never seen an animal sacrifice
that they had. To them it was a very real image. And for them, for Paul to suddenly
suggest, place your bodies on the altar as a sacrifice was
a shocking thing. that little word presents. Paul
is saying, play the office of a priest, Christian, play the
office of a priest and present an offering before God and not
just any offering. He said, present your bodies. Now, by the little word bodies,
Paul isn’t just meaning our flesh. Paul’s meaning everything in
us, our soul, our heart, our mind, our strength. Everything
that the Old Testament likewise pointed to when it called believers
to a life of obedience and faith and worship. The body is merely
the house, if you will, the tent of the mind and the spirit. But
Paul says, when he says, present your bodies before God, he means
everything. God wants everything. It isn’t
just what? Your flesh. One pastor said it
this way, the soul in the present state works through the body.
Its action for its master can take effect only through the
dedication of the body to him. Hands, feet, eyes, tongue, and
brain. I didn’t even need to prompt
my brother as to which hymn to sing. my life and let it be. And if you follow the hymn, it
goes through exactly those things. Take my feet and let them move. Take my silver and let go. Take
everything in me and use it for your glory. See, the body isn’t
pointing just to the skin and the bones. It’s pointing to everything
within us. God wants our minds. God wants
us to think biblically. God wants our tongues. God wants
us to speak properly as Christians. God wants our minds, our tongues. He wants our eyes. He wants us
to look at pure things only. He wants everything. He wants
everyone. And that’s exactly what Paul
points to when he says, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice. That’s your response. Don’t get
the wrong idea. This doesn’t take away anything
at all from what Christ accomplished on the cross, nothing, nothing
whatsoever. We are not adding to the sacrifice
of Christ. Paul is using this metaphorically. He’s not calling anyone to come
and die, because if every one of us died, every Christian in
the world, if they died at the same moment, wouldn’t save a
single soul. They wouldn’t add one drop of
blood to the blood of Christ, which was already shed for sinners.
Wouldn’t do it. This word sacrifice can either
speak of the act of sacrificing or the material, that which is
sacrificed. And here it’s pointing to the
actual victim itself, to the material of the sacrifice. Put
your bodies on the altar is essentially what Paul says. And that, as
much to us as to the first century Christian, but to them a shocking
metaphor. To us, we can look back. We can understand that sacrifices
were very real. God had instituted the sacrificial
system for one reason only. It’s not that dogs and sheep
and goats and bulls, that their blood was inherently holy and
could take away sin. What God was doing in instituting
the sacrificial system was showing them how terrible, how utterly
terrible sin was. that it had a cost, a mighty
cost, and that only through the shedding of blood would there
be forgiveness. God says sin is serious, and sin is only
going to be dealt with by means of sacrifice. And He built the
entire sacrificial system in order to point out to us the
deadly and destructive nature of sin. And it wasn’t until Christ
came, the Lamb of God, that Christ would come and would give His
blood, that all other sacrifices now became unnecessary. We don’t need another sacrifice.
We don’t need another sin offering. Then why, Paul, would you say,
place your bodies Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. The difference is that our bodies
placed as a sacrifice to God are not atoning. They don’t pay
for anything. It is merely our response. It’s
metaphorical. Paul isn’t telling us to kill
anyone, thankfully. Paul uses this imagery in other
places. Philippians 2.17. Just listen. Even if I am being poured out
as a drink offering, and he calls to mind the Old Testament ritual
of pouring out libations before God. Even if I’m being poured
out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of
your faith, he says in a very real way, I am being used as
a sacrifice for God. Now, Paul, in his death, in his
suffering, in his difficulties of life, Paul didn’t save a single
sinner by his blood. That wasn’t it. Hebrews 13, the
writer of Hebrews, uses this language as well. Hebrews 13
says that through him then, through Christ, let us continually offer
up a sacrifice of praise. God says, you know, in a very
real way, when you worship, you are sacrificing to him. You are
giving back to him what is his due. Let us continually offer
up the sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of the lips that
give thanks to his name, and do not neglect doing good and
sharing. For with such sacrifices, God
is well pleased. You see what he says? Not only
is our worship a sacrifice to God, but even doing good and
sharing is a sacrificial act. It is giving to God what is already
His. 1 Peter 2, Peter uses this imagery
as well. You also as living stones are
being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. Peter nails it there. You can’t possibly take this
literally, because Peter says they’re spiritual sacrifices.
We’re built up as a spiritual house. You can’t see the visible
church of God. You can’t see the visible temple
of God’s people. It’s a spiritual temple. It’s a spiritual house for a
holy priesthood, and it’s all designed to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, whatever. It’s us. It’s our bodies. Basically, Paul says here that
because of the mercies of God, which we’ll get to in a moment,
we don’t serve God in order to gain His favor. I mean, if we
mull over any truth today, Think of that one truth. We don’t earn
God’s favor ever, even after we’re saved. Even after we’re
saved, we don’t earn favor. We don’t earn favor. We’ve already
gained His favor. We’ve already gained His gratitude.
One pastor said, the living activities of the man and the condition
of his life on earth are devoted to the service of God by service
of man as a thank offering. That’s how we thank God. That’s
how we respond to the truth laid out in Romans chapter 1 through
11. That’s how we respond to God
for the grace that he’s given to us, for the mercy that he’s
shown to us, for the salvation that we enjoy. He goes on and
says the type of sacrifice implied is not expiatory, it doesn’t
take away sin, but thanksgiving. The sacrifice is not negative,
it is not self-denial and surrender. You talk to the average person
about sacrifice and they’re going to think personal sacrifice.
I’m going to give up my Starbucks latte, extra grande foam, I’m
going to give it up as a sacrifice so I can give more to the missionaries.
You can tell I don’t drink extra grande or whatever. The hard
stuff for me. Espresso, just plain. See our bodies, our bodies are
to be presented as a gift. That’s the sacrifice. It’s not
that we sacrifice the good things of the world. It’s not that we
become ascetic and begin to mistreat our bodies because they’re flesh
and bone, as some kind of a creepy ritual that earns God’s favor. We present our bodies to God,
in here and now, for His use. In other words, we say, take
me God, let me be used for your glory. Take my life and let it
be. And what that involves is a change
of mind, as we begin to see next week. We used to give everything
to the devil. We used to cater to the flesh
and please ourselves. What Paul says is no more. No
more. Now that the truth is in, now
that the facts are in, now that God has weighed in on the matter,
we can’t live that way any longer. Sacrificial living includes not
just a command to sacrifice, but it provides the way of sacrifice. And we’ve touched upon it. Look
down at the verse. I urge you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God. And that’s why I said before
that unless you’re a brother in Christ, brother or sister,
unless you have placed your faith in Christ, unless you have enjoyed
the mercies of God. And the only way to really have
enjoyed the mercies of God is to be forgiven for your sin.
to have come to the realization that you’re a sinner and that
Jesus Christ, faith in Jesus Christ, is the only way. That’s
why I said, if you’re not one of the brethren, if you’re not
one of the children of God, you haven’t tasted the mercies of
God. That’s the motivator. That’s the way, that’s the means,
if you will, of sacrifice. Paul gives us the motivation
when he talks about the mercies. It’s Paul’s appeal, if you will. Paul says, look back at all that
God has done. Look back at the judgment against
your sin that God withheld. Look at how God provided for
that judgment in a Savior. You see, it’s because of God’s
goodness. It’s because of God’s undeserved mercy towards us in
sending us a Savior who died in our place rescuing us from
sin and from ourselves, calling us to a right and restored relationship
with Him, forgiving us, saving us, and beginning the process
of changing us. It’s because of all of that.
That’s the mercy that Paul points to. John Calvin said it this way,
very plainly. He said, men will never worship
God with a sincere heart or be roused to fear and obey Him with
sufficient zeal until they properly understand how much they are
indebted to His mercy. Do you understand? We’re never going to worship
like we ought, like we should. We’re never going to be stirred
up to serve our fellow man. We’re never going to fear God
in reverence until we really realize How great the price,
how great the mercy. The compassion of God. The compassion
of God in so many ways, especially to the nation of Israel, was
something that they took just as axiomatic. It was expected.
In Exodus, the Lord passed in front of them and proclaimed
to Moses, the Lord God is compassionate and gracious. slow to anger and
abundant in loving kindness. We tend to take it for granted,
too. We tend to think, well, we kind of deserve God’s mercy. I’m certainly glad that God showed
me mercy, but he got a pretty good deal after all. I am his
servant. That’s how we think, right? God’s mercies are great. David said, I am in great distress,
but I’ve fallen into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies
are great.” If there’s one place that it’s good to be, if you’re
in trouble, even as we’ve said and read in Psalm 6, if you’re
in trouble, if you’re in distress, if there’s one good place to
be, it’s in mercy before God. It’s in trouble before God. That’s why David said, it’s good.
I’m glad that we’ve fallen into the hand of the Lord. I’m glad
that God have us, because his mercies are great. Paul would
not have us linger long there. He’s making his point that it’s
only for those that have tasted the mercy of God. But Paul wants
to tell us also about the nature of the sacrifice. In considering
sacrificial living, not only is there a command to sacrifice
and the means of sacrificing is the mercy of God, but the
nature of the sacrifice. And I want you to glance down
for a minute because it’s somewhat complicated. Paul weaves a number
of words together that really need to be considered individually. Paul says, present your bodies
a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God. He defines the sacrifice
in three different ways. The sacrifice is living, the
sacrifice is holy, and the sacrifice, thirdly, is acceptable to God.
See, it’s living, first of all. The
Jews, when they would offer up a sacrifice, they wouldn’t have
dared bring what we call rope kits. wouldn’t dare bring a dead
animal to a sacrifice. It lost the entire purpose of
what sacrifice was. The sacrifice was to grow up
in the home. It would become almost like the
family pet, the lamb. It was to be part of the daily
life. It was to be of a certain quality.
No one would dare think of bringing a dead animal to a sacrifice,
but the animal would be brought A living animal would be brought
to the priest, and the priest would promptly slay the animal,
and the whole purpose, mind you and remember, was to remind him
of the terrible nature of sin, the terrible cost of sin. God
was laying the groundwork for a consideration of His Son, His
only begotten Son, to die on the cross for us. The priest
would kill the animal. He replaced the animal on the
altar as a sin payment for the one that brought it. Those sacrifices
are no longer needed, are they? Those sacrifices aren’t needed
any longer because God sent His Son, the Lamb of God, and the
Lamb of God paid once and for all for the sins of sinners. The Lamb of God did that. But
in the meantime, Paul says there is to be a kind of sacrifice,
and it’s a different kind of a sacrifice. This is a living
sacrifice. This is not an animal that’s
put to death. This is a person who is called to new life. This
is a person who is new and living a vibrant life in Christ. And
he comes before God and he lives, not just a life that is to be
snuffed out by means of a blood sacrifice, It’s a life that is
to be lived for God’s glory. It’s a life, it’s a living sacrifice.
That’s what Paul says. One described it in these terms,
the living, pardon me, the sacrifice is described as living in contrast
with the ancient sacrifices of the life of which was taken before
offering this place on the altar. Our bodies and spirits are to
be animated by the new life which comes from faith in Christ. That’s why I said this verse,
I’m sure, to the 1st century Romans, they’ve seen animal sacrifices. The Pope to bring this up, to
present to God as a living sacrifice? Close point. We’re not killing. But the animal sacrifices world,
this is a new kind of sacrifice. This is a living sacrifice. In
a sense, a perpetual sacrifice. A sacrifice that goes on daily
living for God’s glory. Daily recognizing what God has
done for us in all that we do. It’s a perpetual sacrifice that
is constantly renewed before God. Constantly. drawing upon
God’s grace to live out what God has told us to do. But not
only is the sacrifice said to be living, it’s said to be holy. I urge you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice. Now, in its basic meaning, the
word holy just referred to something that was consecrated, set apart
to God. And you could set aside the firstborn
as consecrated to God and holy unto God. You could set aside
an offering, a bull or a calf, that was consecrated to God. But the Word also, obviously,
and you know where I’m going, has an ethical intent to it. It has an ethical reference to
it. And it’s talking about our lives. That our lives are supposed
to be different. And that’s why we so aggressively
examine our lives before God in prayer. And when we read across
something in the scriptures that points to the fact that we are
in sin, we confess it. We shouldn’t be surprised. We
shouldn’t hide. We shouldn’t pretend like sin
couldn’t exist in us by not reading God’s Word. We should presume
that it does exist in great abundance, and all we have to do is examine
our hearts in the power of the Holy Spirit. And when God, and
He will, when God brings it to our mind, we confess it. We shouldn’t
be surprised by it. We shouldn’t be astounded at
all. No big surprise. We confess to
God. We agree with Him about what
He says about life and sin. And we ask Him for help. We want
to present before God a holy sacrifice, something that’s new
and different, really and truly set apart to God, not just the
same old stuff, not just the same old run-of-the-mill sell. See, that’s what Israel did.
And that’s where Israel got in deep trouble. They lived one
way, and they claimed to live another. They were hypocrites. They lived hypocritical lives.
They likely went to church, just like we do. And for an hour or
so, they would come and they would put on their Sunday or
Saturday vests, and they would present themselves as having
been cleaned, purged of all sin and defilement. And it wasn’t
true. They had filthy hearts. They
had filthy attitudes. Their behavior wasn’t what it
was supposed to be. They were not holy unto the Lord. You were not consecrated to God. Turn to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 10. Moses reports, Hear the word
of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the instruction of
our God, ye people of Gomorrah. What are your multiplied sacrifices
to me, says the Lord. And you know you’re in trouble
right there, right? You’ve been going along, going
through the motions, you’ve been bringing your sacrifice every
day, a living animal, half-broke, killed, bringing it up, bringing
it before the Lord, and God says, What are you doing? And you’re thinking back in your
mind’s eye, well, I’m doing exactly what the law prescribed. You
told us what to do for sin. What are your multiplied sacrifices
to me, says the Lord? I’ve had enough of burnt offerings
of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I take no pleasure in the blood
of wolves or goats or lambs. When you come before me, who
requires of you of this sampling of my force? He says, why are
you even in church? Kind of a Hebrew translation
of it. Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination
to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling
of assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and
the solemn assembly. He doesn’t tell them, don’t come
to church. He just says, don’t come to church this way. Don’t
come to church as hypocrites. Don’t come to church in an unholy
manner with a blackened heart and come to church and put on
your Sunday best and act like everything’s okay, when it’s
not. I hate your new-moon sabbats, your appointed feasts. They become
a burden to me. I’m weary of bearing them. So
when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes
from you. Yes, even your multiplied prayers,
I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
And then it gives them a merciful solution to their problem. Wash
your hands. Make yourselves clean. Remove
the evil deeds from thy sight. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
good. Seek justice. Reprove the worthless. Defend the orphan. Pray for the
widow. You see, Christianity, pleasing God, it has practical
outworkings. Do something. Serve them. Be who you claim to be. be who God would have you to
be. See, God says, I’m not going
to take just any sacrifice. He didn’t take it in the Old
Testament. He wouldn’t take a spotted animal. He wouldn’t take a lame
animal. He wouldn’t take a dead animal.
He wouldn’t take just any sacrifice, and He won’t take it now. And
so when Paul says here, present your bodies as a living and holy
sacrifice, He means business just as he did in the Old Testament. He doesn’t want a second-rate
animal, and he doesn’t want a second-rate Christian. Because everybody
is a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God. What’s acceptable to God? Well,
the sacrifice that is living and holy. Those are the things
that are pleasing to God. We read in the Old Testament
sacrifices that the aroma as it went up was a fragrant, a
pleasing aroma to God. And the light lived, the light
presented, the day-by-day light that is given to others while
given to God, a holy light, is an acceptable sacrifice to God
and is welcomed to Him and sweetly received by Him. 2nd Corinthians 2.14 said it
this way, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in
Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge
of Him in every place. Everywhere you go, if you are
a Christian endeavoring to live by God’s grace, everywhere you
go, you don’t even have to put on perfume ladies, you bear a
fragrant aroma of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s powerful. It’s
incredible. That fragrant aroma is pleasing
to God. God likes the way you live. And
man, it isn’t just for the ladies. It’s for us too. Everywhere we
go, we live a life that proclaims Christ and testifies that the
work is finished. And the work is at work in our
lives. And that sacrifice is acceptable.
It’s pleasing to Him. Paul says, not only in this consideration
of sacrificial living, is there a command and a way, a means
to sacrifice, look at the nature of the sacrifice, but why do
we have to pause and scratch our head? Why a sacrifice and
look at the past? 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.” It’s because of worship. It’s an act of worship. Everything that the Christian
does in response to all that God has done becomes a life of
worship. We tend to think of worship,
we break it down so far that worship really is only the singing,
right? We come to church, and we worship, and then we listen
to the preaching. We come to church, and we pray, and then
we sing a hymn. That’s the worship. That’s not the way God looks
at it. That’s not the way God looks at the worship service,
and it’s not the way He looks at my worship. It’s all that
you do in response to all that God has done. That’s what Paul’s
saying. that are presenting our lives as a sacrifice, as an act
of worship before God, just as was the sacrifice of all those
animals. This word spiritual, a spiritual
service of worship, it could, depending on what translation
you have, it could be translated reasonable, rational. In other
words, God looks at us as reasonable, rational creatures. Creatures that have a spirit
and a soul. Creatures, that’s what differentiates
us from the animals. And it allows us to look up and
respond to God like no other creature. It’s the right thing. It’s the right thing to do. It’s
the only reasonable thing that a believer can do after all that
God has done. This is our reasonable, rational,
spiritual service of worship. In the word service, it’s sad
that so many have taken it to be almost an appendage to it,
this attitude of work, or drudgery, or labor, as if the service of
the Lord is ever drudgery. The word, this word service,
was always used as service to God or gods, if you were an idol
worshiper. service to your God in the act
of worship. And it was personal. This wasn’t
just left to the priesthood. Anyone could offer that kind
of service before God. Remember, Paul calls it a spiritual
service of worship. And that offering, that offering
of relax is to be a daily offering. The offering is supposed to be
our active worship. It’s all that we do and all that
we are, living before Almighty God, living as He would have
us to live. One pastor said, the true worship
which God desires embraces the whole of a Christian’s life from
day to day. It implies that any worship which
is not accompanied by obedience in the ordinary affairs of life
must be regarded as First Peter said it very similarly, and I’ll close. First Peter 1, verse 14, Peter
said, as obedient children, and that’s what a Christian is, he’s
called to a life of obedience. As obedient children, do not
be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance,
but like the holy one who called you, Be holy yourself in all
your behavior, because it is written you should be holy for
I am holy. And if you address as God the one who impartially
judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear
during this time of this day upon the earth, knowing you are
not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from
your fetal way of life inherited from your forefathers. for the
precious lives of a man unblemished in stocks, the blood of Christ. Shabbat shalom, and let it go. Oh, Lord God, we pass before
you, and we are reminded again of the great price that was paid
for us. It wasn’t the price of a marketplace
bag of gold, paid for a simple slave. This was the blood of
the Lamb, the Lamb of God that was shed for us. Lord, how can
we not pursue a life that pleases you? Great is the grace, Father,
to not only examine our life, but to sort of put ourselves
on a course, examine, confessing, calling out to you for grace,
If the sacrifice of our own bodies were true, we would be pleasing
Him. We thank you and we praise you
in the name of Jesus. Amen.