Life as a Living Sacrifice

For a title for our second message today, the title is Life as a Living Sacrifice. Life as a Living Sacrifice. And if you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them up again, and let's turn to Romans chapter 12. We're going to begin in verse 1 and 2. Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. Today we're going to talk about your bodies. Now, I gotta tell you, I'm very relieved to look out and see that from what I can tell, everyone here has a body this morning. You know, I was worried we would have maybe a floating head. I don't know. And he responds from the crowd, really, Mr. Ledbetter, our bodies, you know, and there he floats out the door. But here, in turning to Romans 12, we come to a very familiar passage of Scripture, very familiar two verses regarding becoming a living sacrifice. And we're going to talk about your bodies here, as Paul does. Paul begins this part of his letter by saying, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Verse 2, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let's stop there. And my purpose is today, as we begin with this passage of Scripture, is just to remind you of something. I want to remind you of something that you should never forget. In the shadow of Christ's sacrifice, I want to remind you now of this fervent appeal in Scripture, the need for you yourself to become a living sacrifice to God. That's the appeal here, that's the emphasis here, and it's a wonderful emphasis to come to here in these great days of unleavened bread. You know, as I was preparing this message, I believe in the very depths of my heart that we have a group here, here now, that has so much potential, so much potential, not only today, but in the future, so much potential for God and in the future to come. And as we think about the rest of your lives unfolding before you, I want to remind you, again, that your lives unfold in the shadow of the Creator's incredible sacrifice for you. And I'm here to essentially tell you today, do not waste this opportunity. It would be a dreadful shame for us here, with such a wonderful opportunity before us here on Earth, to say to one another, you know, five, ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road, well, I guess we were so full of expectations, so much opportunity, so much potential, how sad it is that so much of that potential was unfulfilled, unfulfilled for God. There's one thing we can say for certain, that those who have made the deepest impact for God are the men and women who have lived their life in full sacrifice to Him.

That brings to mind a quote, I've mentioned this quote several times, but it's an absolutely wonderful quote, and it comes from General William Booth. Many of you know who General William Booth was. He was the one that established the Salvation Army. In the Salvation Army, in its day, it made an incredible impact in the community around it. And when asked, General William Booth, when asked, how do you think it is that God made such use of you since you are fairly an insignificant figure? And he replied in this way, and he simply said, Jesus Christ has all of me. He said. That's a remarkable statement. Jesus Christ has all of me. And we want to consider this in light of Romans 12 here. J.B. Phillips paraphrases this first part of this section. I think he does so in a very helpful way. Quote, With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers and sisters, as an act of intelligent worship to give him your bodies. All right? So as we consider these two verses, there's a few fundamental foundational aspects that we want to lay down here with regards to Paul's appeal here. The first to acknowledge, number one to acknowledge, is that Paul is absolutely addressing the beloved, those who are called to God. So he's not, this isn't an appeal to those who are just within earshot of him. This is actually to the beloved. Let me show you this. If you want to turn back to chapter one of Romans here, chapter one in verse seven, we can see to whom Paul is issuing this call to be a living sacrifice. Very clear here. Romans one, verse seven.

Paul begins this letter by addressing Romans one, verse seven, to all who are in Rome beloved by God, called to be saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father's, that relationship there, the Father relationship, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so to the beloved, he says, to the called saints of God, this appeal to you is to present your bodies a living sacrifice. So the first thing to consider here when we come to this appeal is to whom Paul is writing. So it is to the beloved those called to be saints. So this appeal is being made to you. You here today, all those who are part of the beloved, recipients of God's grace. So I want you to know these words are spoken to you. Number two to notice when we're coming to this appeal is to notice his concern. What is the concern of Paul? Well, it simply stated his concern is with your bodies. Okay, if you want to turn forward a little bit here, Romans 6, verse 7 and 8, Romans 6, verse 7 and 8, Paul speaks about the bodies of the beloved. Here he speaks about the bodies of the called to be saints of God. Here it is Romans 6, verse 7 and 8. Breaking into the thought here, Paul says, knowing this, Romans 6, verse, well, let's look at verse 6 here. Let's break in here. Romans 6, verse 6, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that's Jesus, that the body of sin might be done away with his sin, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, for he, verse 7, for he who has died has been freed from sin. And then allow your eyes to go down to verse 12 and 13 here. Paul continues with regards to the bodies of the saints. He says, verse 12, therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust, and do not present your members, your members of your body, as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members, your body, your members as instruments of righteousness to God. I'll stop there. So again, right here at the beginning of our focus here, we know the recipients of this appeal is to the beloved, the saints of God. Paul's concern is with their bodies.

And perhaps number three to notice here is the tone. What is the tone by which Paul is making this appeal? Well, if you turn back to Romans 12 verse 1, we notice here there is a tone, and we could say it's sort of a pastoral tone. This is Pastor Paul, we might say, Romans 12 verse 1. He says this phrase, I beseech you, therefore brethren. So let's stop there. So in other words, this appeal to my brothers and sisters, it's this beseeching here. It's not a, it's stronger than a suggestion. Okay, this is not just merely a suggestion. It's not necessarily a command in its definition, we could say. But the tone here, if you look at this original wording, it's really an urgent entreaty, we could say. There is an urgency here, but it's almost as if this is an individual who comes alongside you, puts his arm around your shoulder, and says, Come on now, come on now, let's make sure we're not missing out on this opportunity. Come with me, I appeal to you. I beseech you in this way. So the recipients, the called of God, the concern, their bodies, the tone is an appeal here. And fourth to notice, perhaps right up front here, and perhaps the most important part here, number four, the basis of the appeal. Let's notice and ask what is the basis of this appeal? Well, number four, the basis of this appeal, of this pastor appeal concerning their bodies, it is a basis of this appeal is the mercy of God. Okay, the mercies of God. Again, the basis of the appeal, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, by the mercies of God. Now, when you think about this writer, Paul, we could certainly say he had a comprehensive understanding of the mercies of God. Absolutely. We won't take the time to turn there, but it's all there in Acts 8. There is the writer of Romans now, remarkably, at the forefront of persecution of the ones to whom he's riding now. You see, there back in Acts 8, there was Saul of Tarsus. They're going out, chasing down, looking to imprison, and rough up those who named the name of Jesus Christ. There he was. And though the mercies of God really had just grabbed a hold of Paul, where later on in his writings, of course, we have him acknowledging that he is identifying himself as the chief of all sinners, but by the grace of God, his mercy. Paul understood the mercies, the deep mercies of God. So he says, I appeal to you therefore on the basis of that mercy. And, of course, the mercy of God finds its fulfillment. The mercies of God finds its apex in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, of course.

So, to the called saints of God concerning your bodies, I appeal to you by the mercies of God to do what? Number five, we could say and ask, what is the appeal? What is the appeal? Well, number five, to consider, he says, I appeal to you very simply and straightforwardly, present your bodies a living sacrifice, present them holy, and present them acceptable to God. Right? Your living sacrifice to God, present your bodies holy, present them acceptable to God, and allow that motivation, that deep gut motivation to respond to this appeal, allow that to flow from the fact that our Father has bestowed upon you incredible mercies by the giving of the life of his Son.

Our response to the Passover is to live a life, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. So, we see the fulfillment, we see the proof, we see the evidence that we have accepted that sacrifice, we see the evidence of that in our activity displayed in the Days of Unleavened Bread. We are going to honor those mercies bestowed upon us by living holy, right, and removing all those things that aren't acceptable to God. Very simply here. And again, this is a major theme, if not the major theme, in all of Paul's writings. Once you begin to look for it, you will see it all throughout. Let me just give you one example to turn to. Colossians 3, if you'd like to keep your marker here in Romans 12, let's turn to Colossians 3, verse 3 through 5. Again, here when he's writing to the church here in his Colossians letter, we see another example of the appeal on the basis of mercy to affect the bodies of those who are recipients of this mercy. Colossians 3, let's look at verses 3 through 5 here. Colossians 3, verse 3 through 5. Paul picks up on this same instruction.

Colossians 3, verse 3. For you, beloved, call to God, you and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Here's the mercies. When Christ, verse 4, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. That's incredible mercy there applied to us. Verse 5, based on that mercy, therefore, verse 5, put to death your members, your body, which are on the earth, which include fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. So let's stop there. So because you have been given the grace and mercy to have your life hidden with the Son of God, because he is prepared to raise you up at his appearing, you must therefore I beseech you, I want to make this appeal to you, to present your bodies, your members here on earth, as acceptable to him, and get rid of, put to death, such things as sexual immorality, fornication, any uncleanness, any evil desire or evil passion, covetousness, which is idolatry, and so on. So he's laying out the nature of God's mercy, the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, and therefore you must do this with your bodies. If you accept Jesus Christ, his spilled blood, at his crucifixion, if you acknowledge that you are the recipients of that love, and that he took the punishment in his body, punishment we deserve, to those who are recipients of that mercy, Paul says, I make this appeal to you now, with regards to your bodies. Let's turn back to Romans 12, verse 1 and 2. So we have the recipients, we have the tone, there's an urgency here, we have the the appeal and the basis of that appeal, the mercies of God, and continuing here into verse 2, the second part of verse 1, Romans 12, the second part of verse 1 into 2, present your bodies, Romans 12, at the end of verse 1, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And then verse 2, further instruction with regards to our bodies, verse 2, and do not then be conformed to this world, verse 2, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove, that you may show evidence, what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Okay, let's stop there. So you, saints, recipients of His mercy, do not allow your bodies to be conformed to this world, the world which hated Jesus Christ. Do not be conformed to that which is against the one who's given you this mercy. Rather, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, he says, so that you may show the evidence that you are the recipients of His mercy. Okay, so this is the call, and if I fail to say it later, this is the call to be a living sacrifice with your body's living commitment every day for the duration of your life. Perhaps this is an opening prayer that you should give every morning. Father, renew in me this desire, this help me fulfill, this appeal to be a living sacrifice today, you know. And just so you know, it also includes the control center of your bodies, you see. Our minds, of course. It goes without saying, but Paul punctuates it here. It's our bodies and our minds, even the control center, especially the control center of our mind, we could say. So all that we have, what we think, you know, our bodies carry around this control center, you know, our minds. So what we think, what we feel, all the positive and negative influence that we exert on others, all the differences we make in this world, our whole body and mind are the means by which we prove or show evidence that we are the recipients of His mercy. All of you. So this is an appeal for all of you. Are you all in?

That reminds me, I've mentioned this before, maybe to my detriment, I love those Western scenes where they're around a gambling table. Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh, it's the best because there they are. There's these usually about maybe about four or five guys and boy, it just looks so hot and it looks like it smells, you know, and these old Western cowboy looking guys are, you know, they have the shadow, the five o'clock shadow happening and just grit and dirt on their face and they're all, yeah, they're sweating, you know, there and they're all around this gambling table and it's all building to that moment, you know, and you kind of lean forward into the television set and there's the one gentleman who looks them all in square in the eye and he has a stogie, you know, that's sticking out of his mouth and he says, I'm all in, you know, and he pushes all the chips in, you know, and then you hear that, you know, someone's there with a flute. I don't know where the guy with the flute came from, you know, he's there. Inevitably, you hear the the cocking of a gun at that time, you know, forget that analogy, that's not gonna happen.

Well, we'll stay with it. Okay, all your chips in. Are you all in for God? You know, that's what's being asked for here. All of you. You know, there's a notion that's been going around for some time now in society, and you see it on display today, if you watch any kind of psychological commentary on society today, there are those that try to push the notion that somehow you can separate your religious commitment, your spiritual commitment, with that of what you actually do, you know. And what they'll say is, you know, this whole idea of, hey, I'm a spiritual person, but that doesn't affect what I physically do, you know. But you cannot get to that notion at all here with Paul, you know, that somehow or another I can separate what I am in terms of my attitudes or my minds or the actions of my body. I can somehow separate that from the spiritual part of me. Not so. In fact, Paul says it is by our bodies, it's by our minds with God's Spirit that we show the evidence that we are called by Him. And that's what it says there in verse 2, you know, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

And Paul's very clear here. Let me give you the JB Phillips paraphrase here of the second part of Romans 1 verse 2. Quote, don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mold, but submit to God as He remolds your minds from within so that you may prove in practice that which is the plan of God, which is good for you. Unquote. So your mind is part of your body. Don't allow any part of you to be squeezed into the contemporary thinking of this world. In fact, what Paul's beseeching us to, it's a mind-altering reality here. It changes everything of how a man or a woman thinks here. This living sacrifice here includes the mind, the body. You cannot separate it. Once God's Spirit comes into you, God has all of you. Turn to Romans 8 verse 5 and 8, just to punctuate this point. Romans 8 verse 5 and 8, you know, to our young people, don't be fooled somehow from society's education. That sometimes, somehow it doesn't matter what you do with your body, or matter what you think, or matter what you say. It does matter. Once you've been recipients of God's mercy in his Spirit. Look at Romans 8 verse 5 through 8.

Paul writes Romans 8 verse 5, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit we could say set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded, fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Verse 7, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Verse 8, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God, he says. So again, to the called saints, don't rationalize somehow that you can separate what you think or do in this body from that which is the call of God here. We must prove that we are recipients of God. And staying here in Romans 8, look at verse 9 through 11. Romans 8 verse 9 through 11, but you, and I could add, beloved, beloved, you are not in the flesh, verse 9, but in the Spirit. So today you are in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raises Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit which dwells in you. Let's stop there. So this is the radical distinction. It's the mark of those who are in Christ. You now live a life in your body, in your minds, and it's a life that that which is the Spirit of God dwells in you. It's shining from you here. You've been raised now to the Spirit is life because of righteousness now. It changes everything. It changes all everything that we do, everything the way we think, motivations, all of it. So we cannot compentulate to the world's thinking. Don't let it conform you. And in fact, we won't take the time to turn there, but it's so serious that Jesus Christ picks up this imagery. For your notes, it's Matthew 18, verse 8. Matthew 18, verse 8. And Jesus Christ picks up this picture and he says, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, this body imagery, cut it off and cast it from you. It's better you enter into life, lame or maimed, rather than have two hands or two feet and be cast into everlasting fire. So this is the symbolism, the high symbolism that Jesus Christ picks up and is calling for. It's the seriousness by which we're considering today to be a living sacrifice. We are to spiritually cut off these things in our life which are not acceptable to God. You are now a living sacrifice. Show the evidence of it. And if there's any part of your life that's not showing that evidence, you need to approach it with this seriousness as if we're cutting off a part of a member of our body that's offending. It's offensive. Go to God, ask for forgiveness, ask Him to cut that part spiritually off from you, stand up, ask God to make your body whole again, and be ready to go forward. A commitment to God.

So as we begin to conclude here, I just want to ask you a series of questions here and give you a series of statements to consider. Is everything in your life in line with this living sacrifice, a daily living sacrifice? Our hands, our hands. What do our hands do?

Are they gentle and supporting? Our feet. Where are our feet taking us? Do they take us places representative of being a beloved saint of God? Our eyes. Our eyes. What are they being allowed to see? Our ears. What are your ears being allowed to hear? Our tongues. Our tongues. What are the words we speak? Are they representative of being a living sacrifice to God?

We must heed Paul's appeal to consider the mercies of God and allow God's merciful grace to be the motivation to which we give our whole bodies. Our whole bodies. Our minds. What are we allowing our minds to contemplate? What are we putting our affections on that are affections that are not acceptable to God? You see? So everything. Everything. And so, this Days of Unleavened Bread, I think I can justifiably say we have work to do. We have work to do. From this day forward, are you ready this year, in a greater way, more than ever, to completely give God your whole mind and your whole body? Are you ready and are you willing?

Well, beloved and God, let me finish by beseeching you, as Paul did today, by the mercies of God that you replace. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.