Life As A Living Sacrifice

If you'd like a title to our message today, the title is Life as a Living Sacrifice. Life as a Living Sacrifice. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them up. We're going to begin at Romans 12, beginning in verse 1. Romans 12. We're going to read verses 1 and 2. Today, we're going to speak about your bodies. I trust everyone this afternoon has a body. I think I can assume that. To my relief, I don't see any floating heads out there. I can picture the floating head saying, really, Mr. Ledbetter? Floating out the door as it's upset at me. We are going to speak about your bodies. While this is a very familiar place to start, the Apostle Paul is going to speak about that very thing in becoming a living sacrifice for God. Just two verses. Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. Paul writes, 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. 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. Well, as we come to this first day of Unleavened Bread, my purposes are simple, and that is to remind us of something that we should never forget. In the shadow of Christ's sacrifice, I want to remind you now of this fervent appeal from Scripture here, remind you for your need to become a whole body living sacrifice to God. That's the simple emphasis here that we come to from Paul's words and our focus today, again, on this at the beginning of these great days of unleavened bread. And I'll start here at the beginning by saying, when I look out to a group like this, I can tell you that we have a group here that I truly believe has so much potential, so much potential today and in the years to come, representative of so much potential for God. And as your life is unfolding for you, again, I want to remind you that your life absolutely unfolds in the shadow of the Creator's sacrifice for you. And essentially, I'm here to say, don't waste this opportunity. What a dreadful shame it would be to have this wonderful opportunity before us here on this earth, then to find ourselves five, ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road and say, you know, I guess we were so brim-full of expectations, so much opportunity, so much potential. How sad it is that much of that potential was unfulfilled, unfulfilled for God.

And there's one thing we can say for certain. Those who have made the biggest impact for God are the men and women who have lived their life in complete sacrifice to Him.

That brings me to a quote. I've mentioned this quote many times before, but I love it so that I'll say it again today. This quote is from General William Booth. How many know who General William Booth is? Yeah, a few. General William Booth was the one who established the Salvation Army. And back in its day, the Salvation Army was a force for good in society. Let me give you the quote. William was asked this question at the beginning of his establishment of this. He was asked, how do you think it is that God has made such use of you since you're a fairly insignificant figure? And he replied in this way. He simply said, Jesus Christ has all of me. Jesus Christ has all of me. That's a remarkable statement. And again, this is what we want to consider today. Particularly with this passage and this appeal that's coming from the Apostle Paul here. Let me quote you J.B. Phillips' paraphrase of this beginning here of chapter 12. Phillips paraphrases this way. I think it's helpful. 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.

So let's consider this. Let's consider these two verses that Paul is putting forth here and this appeal, if you will. When you're looking at this passage description and this part of the letter, it's important to establish a few things as we begin to consider what it means and what a living sacrifice is all about. First thing to consider, number one, is to whom Paul is addressing here. Who is Paul addressing? Is he addressing just all those who are in earshot of his voice?

Well, not quite. Paul here is addressing the beloved, the called of God, the saints of God. Let me show you this. If you want to turn back to the beginning of the letter here, Romans 1. Go back to Romans 1. We see very clearly from Romans 1 beginning in verse 7 to whom Paul is issuing this call, the call of the whole letter, but also this call to become a living sacrifice.

Look at Romans 1 verse 7. Who is Paul writing to? Well, Romans 1 verse 7. Paul writes, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you, peace from God our Father. So that's an intimate relationship term there. And our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, to the beloved, to the called saints of God here. Again, this appeal there in Romans 12 where we began this appeal to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It's an appeal to the beloved, the called saints of God. So receive, receive chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 personally. This call is to you.

This call is to you today. So that's number one to consider, whom Paul is making this appeal to. Number two to consider today is Paul's concern. And Paul's concern here is with their bodies. Okay, so Paul's concern with the beloved called of God is his concern is with their bodies. And you actually see this flowing throughout this whole letter. Let me show you this. If you want to turn forward just a few chapters, Romans 6 verse 7 and 8. If you want to turn there for just a moment, Romans 6 verse 7 and 8. Paul speaks about the bodies of the beloved. And he addressed, this is his concern.

Look at Romans 6. Let's read verses 7 and 8. We're going to break into the passage here. Romans 6 verse 7, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that's Jesus, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died has made us freed from sin.

Now go down to verse 12 and 13. Verse 12 and 13. What about the bodies of the saints? 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, we could say present your instruments, your body, to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Okay, so let's stop there. All right, so right here at the very beginning, and understanding the fullness of what does it mean to be a living sacrifice, we know Paul is making this appeal to the beloved, called by God, and his concern is with their bodies. And if you want to turn back to Romans 12 verse 1, you can keep your marker there.

Romans 12 verse 1, we want to notice the third thing, which is Paul's tone. Okay, so we established the recipients, we establish his concern, and now let's let's think about his tone. What is the tone that Paul is putting forth here? Romans 12 verse 1, you'll notice it's kind of a pastoral tone. So, Pastor Paul, if you will, writes, I beseech you, therefore brethren. Let's stop there. So, I beseech you, brothers and sisters here. So, what's the tone?

If you look up the original Greek here, you will note that it's greater than a suggestion. Okay, it doesn't quite meet a command. All right, it's more of the context here, and the feeling of this is more of an urgent entreaty, if you will. There's an urgency here. But it's like an individual who would, Paul in a sense, is coming alongside his brothers and sisters, putting his arm around them and saying, come on, let's go.

Come with me. Let's not miss out on this opportunity that's before us here, he says.

So, the called of God, he's concerned with their bodies, and this tone, it's really an urgent appeal here. All right. That's first three things to notice. Now, fourthly, we might ask, what is the basis for this appeal? Okay, and this might be maybe the most important thing. What's the basis of his appeal? What does he base his appeal upon? This pastoral appeal concerning their bodies? Well, number four, the basis of his appeal is the mercies of God. Right? The mercy of God. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. This is the basis of his appeal here, by the mercies of God. This would have meant so much to Paul. Paul understood the mercies of God. We won't turn there, but when you look in the book of Acts and Acts 8, what you will find is that Paul comes on to the scene, and he comes on to this scene as a persecutor. A persecutor, specifically, of God's people. So the one who's penning this letter to the Romans of, I'm making an appeal to you on the mercies of God, this is the same one who went out on the streets as Saul of Tarsus, and going after God's people, going after the ones to whom he's making this appeal by the mercies of God. Paul understood the mercies of God. Paul was recipient of those mercies. Undeserved grace, undeserved mercy, here, is the one who's who's penning this. And therefore, you see Paul identify himself as the chief of all sinners. He never lost the gravity by which the fact that God poured his mercy upon him. And that's the basis by which he now makes this appeal to his brothers and sisters. I appeal to you, therefore, on the basis of God's mercy. And of course, God's mercy finds its apex at the crucifixion. Of course, that's the apex of God's mercy. So, to the called saints of God, concerning your bodies, I appeal to you by the mercies of God to do what? What's the appeal? Well, fifth to consider in this appeal, and these are the five things to consider, what is the appeal? Simply, the appeal is, number five, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Present your bodies as holy. Present your bodies as acceptable to God. That's the appeal. All right? In the shadow of Christ's crucifixion, recipients, brothers, sisters, recipients of undeserved mercy, I now appeal to you to do this. Will you present your bodies in this way?

In other words, that is our response to God's incredible mercy being poured out upon us by Christ's sacrifice, to present our bodies as living sacrifices, present them as holy, present them as acceptable to God. That's the appeal, the high appeal here. So that's why the Days of Unleavened Bread follow the Passover. You know, here's this, here's the mercies of God on full display as Christ gave Himself as the Passover lamb. And the Days of Unleavened Bread is our response. What are you going to do in light of that? How are you going to present yourself in light of that?

Our response is to live a life as a living sacrifice here. In other words, our response with the Days of Unleavened Bread is to put out anything that's unholy. Our response in the Days of Unleavened Bread is to put out anything that's unacceptable to God here, is to put out anything that doesn't honor what He did for us.

And all that's contained here in these two verses here. And again, when you start looking for it, you see you see that this is a major theme running throughout all of Paul's letters that he wrote to the various churches. I just want to show you one example of this when Paul wrote to those saints in his letter to the Colossians. If you want to keep your marker here, let's turn to Colossians 3 verses 3 through 5. I just want to show you this was a familiar theme all throughout Paul's writings. An appeal based on God's mercies regarding their bodies, regarding what they do with their bodies.

Colossians 3, let's read verses 3 through 5 here.

Paul writes to God's saints, called saints here, and he says, Colossians 3 verse 3, For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

So this is God's mercy here. Verse 4, When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Okay, so called saints. This is mercy here. Verse 5, Therefore put to death your members, the members of your body, we could say, which are on the earth. Fornication. What are we putting to death here on earth? Fornication, uncleanness, passion. That's the context of that passion is a sinful passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Let's start there.

So here's the theme throughout all of Paul's life. Because, let me remind you, your life is hidden in Jesus Christ. And the fact that he's made that promise to you that when he appears, he's going to bring you into glory. All right, this is a fact. This is a promise. This is mercy.

Will you then, using this imagery of the body, will you then put to death these things which are unholy, which don't represent recipients of his mercy? Would you put to death fornication, you know, sexual immorality? Would you put to death any uncleanness? Would you put to death passion or evil desires? Or covetousness, which is idolatry? So in light of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, he says to him, this is what you need to do with your bodies. You need to control them in this way. If you accept, if you took that bread a few nights ago and took it into yourself, and all that that body represents of Jesus Christ, well, here is the work you need to do.

And if you are ever going to make that commitment, this is what you're stepping up to here.

If you believe and accept Jesus took the punishment to his body, punishment we deserve, there at his crucifixion, to those under that grace, Paul says, I make this appeal to you, and this is what you need to do with your bodies.

Okay, when we turn back to Romans 12 and verse 1, Romans 12 verse 1, again, we see the fullness now, beginning to see the fullness of what it means to be a living sacrifice to God. And I want to move from the end of verse 1 into verse 2 here. To you, brothers and sisters in Christ, into verse 1. So Romans 12 into verse 1, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God. Of course, this is your reasonable service in light of in the shadow of this crucifixion. Continuing here in 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 the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So this is your reasonable service here, and do not be conformed to the world. All right? Do not be conformed to the world, the world which hated the one to whom has bestowed the mercy to you. So don't be conformed yet. You need to be conformed to the one who's just extended this mercy to you. And be transformed. Be transformed. Because I need you to show the proof. I need your body to show the evidence that you're recipients of this incredible mercy.

Live a life living sacrifice to Him. In other words, we could add a six-item here. How long does this last? Well, are you living? As long as you live, this is what you're called to do.

This is the work you're called to do for the duration of your life, each and every day.

And of course, it may go without saying, but Paul mentions it here. Our bodies, of course, carry our control center. What is our control center? Well, it's our minds. It's our brains which encompass our minds. All that we have. This is what Paul is talking about. Our bodies carry our minds. So everything we think, everything we feel, all the positive and negative influences we can exert on one another, all the differences we can make in the world, our body is the means by which we prove we're recipients of this mercy.

All right? Your mind and your body, everything, everything. Your commitment and the appeal is to be all in, all in, with everything.

That reminds me of... maybe I shouldn't tell you this. It reminds me of one of my favorite things to watch. Have you ever seen those western movies and it's the scene that revolves around a gambling table? Have you seen this? It's a great scene. Typically, there's about four or five and usually a couple of guys standing in the back. And boy, you can almost just smell that room through the television. You know, and these guys are all grummy and everything's kind of hot and sweaty and this five o'clock shadow and these guys are all there. And one of the guys has a huge mound of chips before him. He's got a stogie that's sticking out of his mouth, you know.

And the room kind of gets quiet and all of a sudden, you know, it's building the anticipation. And that man then goes down, he takes his two hands, he just pushes all the chips in and he says, I'm all in, you know. And you hear the, you know, someone's there with a flute. I don't know where that guy came from. You know, at that time you usually hear a gun, you know, that kind of thing. Forget that example. Let's not go with that.

Well, let's go with it. You know, all the chips, you know, all of you, all in, all of you, all in, you know. And, you know, when you look at society today, you actually see that there's all these things in society that legislate against these things and they're pushing against our young people in many ways. There's a new notion out there with contemporary spiritual teachings that somehow you can separate that of your convictions with that of what you do in this life. This is a prominent teaching today where they'll say, I'm a spiritual person, right? But it doesn't, that's separate. It doesn't matter what I do with my body, you know, and they try to separate the two. Well, Paul would have nothing of that and God the Father would have nothing of that. You know, he didn't send his son for anything else than a full commitment from us.

Full commitment, full sacrifice. We can't separate our commitment to God. We can't separate our conviction with that of what we do in this lifetime. Very important for our young people, you know, when you look at the issues of sexual immorality before marriage, God owns you and he owns that young man or that young lady.

And you're either fully committed or not, you know. Are you giving him your mind and your body? Everything to do to be that living sacrifice. To not participate in anything that's unholy, not participate in anything that's not acceptable to God. This is the gravity by which our commitment is based upon here.

Earlier, I read the J.P. Phillips paraphrase of verse one. Let me read you the J.P. Phillips paraphrase of Romans 12 verse two. I think it puts it well. Romans 12 verse two. This is the way J.P. Phillips' commentary puts it. I think it's helpful. Quote, don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but submit to God as he remolds your minds from within so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good. So your mind, your body, everything. Don't let it be squeezed into that of contemporary thinking of our time. So this is a mind-altering, a body-altering reality here. This changes everything, the way a man or woman thinks. It changes everything. This is a living sacrifice here.

Living sacrifice. Once God's Spirit is working with you, or once God's Spirit is given to you through baptism, it changes everything. It changes even the fundamental ways in which we think. Let me show you this. Romans 8 verses 5 through 8. If you want to turn back there. Romans 8 verses 5 through 8. So everything, when the Spirit of God is working with you, or when it has come to reside in you, and the Father lives in you, and Jesus Christ lives in you. Look at the mind-altering condition that occurs. 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, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

All right. So you cannot separate that which you think and that what you do in the body with this commitment to God. Continuing here, let's look at verses 9 through 11.

In light of Christ's crucifixion, we read these words. Romans 8 verse 9. But you, we could say, beloved, called of God, you are not in the flesh, but 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 raised 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. This is what we are proving. This is the evidence. We're showing the world Jesus Christ through us in everything we do, in everything that we say, in everything that we think.

You see, I want all of you, all of you, and I don't want to share you with any part of the world. He's saying. Be willing, be willing to be thought foolish by the world, by society.

I don't want you to share. Do not allow the world around you to squeeze you into its mold here.

This is the process of transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ here.

And if you'd like to turn there, let me just give you just a punctuation mark here, an explanation mark with regards to Jesus Christ's words. This is not just Paul. Turn over to Matthew 18, verse 8.

With regards to the body here in Matthew 18, verse 8, Jesus Christ makes quite a striking, overarching, serious statement here with regards to our bodies, our minds, everything.

This is how serious we need to take this. Look at Matthew 18, verse 8.

This is Jesus Christ saying this. It's symbolic, but it's striking. Look at this. Matthew 18, verse 8.

Christ says, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off, cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life, lame or maimed, rather than have two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. Let's stop there. So this is the whole connection here of moving our whole body into the kingdom. We need to move our whole body into the kingdom here.

And of course, we don't physically cut off our hands or our feet, but symbolically and spiritually, this is the seriousness in which we take this here. Being a living sacrifice, your body, everything about you. We are to spiritually cut off the things which are offenses to God.

These days of unleavened bread need to be those like none other previous. We've got a lot of work to do. We've got a lot of work to do personally. We've got a lot of work to do as a congregation to eliminate, to cut off those things which are unholy, those things which are unacceptable to God. And the way we begin is very encouraging because we can go to God and we can say, here's the parts of my body that aren't honoring you. And I'm sorry, and I want help, and I want to bring these to you. And I want, please forgive me. And He will. He will. That's the promise.

And then you can stand up and go forward, ask for God's special help in those areas, and He'll help you. Stand up whole-bodied again. A whole body forgiven, a restored body, with a new focus to live wholly and acceptable to God.

So as we begin to conclude, I want to ask you some questions toward this purpose.

Our minds, our thoughts, our attitudes, our motives. Let me ask you, our hands, let's begin with the hands. What do our hands do? Are they gentle and supporting?

What about our feet? What about our feet? Where do our feet take us?

Do they take us to places representative of being a beloved saint of God?

What about our eyes? What are we allowing our eyes to see?

What about our ears? What are we allowing our ears to hear?

What about our tongues? What words are we speaking?

Is our speech representative of being a living sacrifice to God?

What about our thoughts? What are we setting our affections onto that is not acceptable to God?

All this is connected, as Jesus states, all this has eternal considerations. So as we conclude, you, called saints beloved of God, we must collectively heed Paul's appeal here.

And our deep gut motivation to accomplish everything we need to accomplish is based upon the mercy of God, the love of God, the love of God.

And so this year, are you ready? We've got work to do. We've got work to do.

This year, more than ever, in a greater way, more than ever, are you ready and willing to become a living sacrifice for God, completely, total in mind, total in body? Are you willing?

And I will conclude and finish here by beseeching you, just as Paul did, by the mercies of God, brethren, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.