A Living Sacrifice

Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 51 views
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

Romans 12:1,2

A Living Sacrifice

I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

F

ew sermons seem ever to be delivered on well-known passages of Holy Scripture.  Perhaps preachers are intimidated by the challenge demanded by exegesis of familiar passages.  Such preparation demands intense investigation and careful thought.  Because the passage is so well known, even a slight deviation from popular thought is recognised and challenged mentally by those occupying the pews.  Yet, these popular passages are loved precisely because they do speak so pointedly, challenging each individual who seeks to honour God.  The whole Word is given by the Lord God to be employed in the building up of the Body.  Thus even these well-known passages are to be declared and sound exposition is demanded for the people of God. 

Our text this day is such a well-known portion of the Word.  I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Without exception the people of God recognise the words.  Though not all could perhaps turn to the text if challenged to find it, they would nevertheless recognise the words and confess that they have often struggled to apply the injunction in their lives.

The Plea for Sacrifice is the first matter to which I call attention.  Christian’s are called to self-denial.  One of the deeply moving passages of the Word of God states the Apostle’s view of life under the Lordship of Christ.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me [Galatians 2:20].  The impact of those words must surely have been different to those who first read the affirmation than it is for us of this day.

Think with me about that issue.  A crucified man is never coming back; he is dead to sins.  Having picked up his cross and exiting the city, he knows there is for him no future … the cross is his future.  As the crucified man left the past, there was no possibility that he would ever return to what was behind.  Whenever a professing Christian ceases to live a godly life and goes back to the sordid life previously lived, we know without question that that one was never crucified.

A crucified man can look in only one direction.  As a young Christian living in the southern United States I used to hear a song which avowed:

I’ve come too far to look back; my feet have walked in the valley.

My soul is rejoicing, and a new day I see.

As I’m nearing the home shore, Heaven’s angels are singing.

And my loved ones are waiting; I’ve come to far too look back.

The challenge is nothing less than practical application of the Master’s challenge: No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God [Luke 9:62].  A crucified man does not look back longingly to what might have been nor what is past.

A crucified man has empty hands.  When one is crucified, the arms are stretched out and the hands are emptied.  That one can no longer grasp for the tawdry baubles of this perishing world.  There is no clinging to what once attracted that one’s attention.  Though the allure of the things of this world may be as powerful as ever, there is no possibility that a crucified man will again grasp money or things or position or pleasure.

To those first readers it was apparent that a crucified man has no will of his own.  The cross imposes its will on the one who is crucified.  Just so, when we have determined that we will live a crucified life, a life of sacrifice, we surrender our will to Him who alone is worthy of receiving our highest devotion.  I have said before, and I shall say again, either Christ is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.  No one can say they live the crucified life if their will prevails over the will of Him who calls each of us to life.

I observe further than a crucified man must die alone.  However much we may wish companionship in the act of dying, sacrifice is personal.  The cross is a lonely instrument.  Your wife cannot die with you, men.  Your husband cannot die with you, ladies.  Your parents cannot die with you, young saints.  You must die alone. 

This act of sacrifice is demanded by Christ’s own challenge issued to each of us.  If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me [Luke 9:23].  The demand is urgent and insistent, and we cannot evade being confronted by it.  Will you answer?  How shall you respond?  I suggest that you should respond through careful examination and determined application of Paul’s words in our text.

The verb which is translated by our English phrase to offer is a Greek aorist infinitive.  The practical impact of this information is that this refers to an action which is performed once.  In other words, this speaks of an act of dedication.  Among evangelical Christians it is somewhat common to hear a call to rededicate one’s life to Christ.  May I say plainly that if we will dedicate our life it is sufficient.  You need not rededicate that which is dedicated to Christ, for dedication is seen as a permanent action; Christ receives our dedication.  The reason so many of the professed people of God think it necessary to rededicate their lives is that there has yet to be a dedication of life to the Master of life.

When the Word issues a call for dedication of our bodies, the call is to submission of the totality of our life and activity to God.  It is nothing less than a call to serve Christ with radical abandon … an action which is rare in this day, but which was commonplace within the life of the early church.  The call is to consider oneself dead too personal desires and alive to Christ’s will.  That is the message of this day.  That is the message which must again be heard if God will be seen in each individual life, in the life of the congregation, in the daily action of the people of God within a dying world.

Let me park here for a moment, pointing out a rather helpful piece of information.  In his Philippian letter Paul commends a man from Philippi named Epaphroditus [Philippians 2:30].  Epaphroditus is commended because he risked his life for the cause of Christ.  That Greek verb which is translated risking his life is derived from the verb parabavllw.  In the early church, those who ventured out to carry the message of Christ beyond the immediate safety of the church were known as parabavllwnai.  They were risk takers, hazarding their lives for the cause of Christ.  These early servants were denoted as those who did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.  They dedicated all to Christ.

Before considering the means, the method and the measure of this sacrifice, consider one other issue of vital importance.  This sacrifice to which God calls Christians is rational and reasonable.  By this, I mean that God does not call us to abandon our minds; we are to act rationally.  The phrase which is translated your spiritual act of worship is a translation of the Greek phrase th;n logikh;n latreivan.  A somewhat literal translation would identify that it is your logical liturgy which is in view.

Each child of God is expected to act with determinate reason as he or she rationally chooses to from this point forward present his or her life as a living sacrifice.  Each of us is responsible to choose to live fully for Him, if such living is to be witnessed.  To be spiritual is to be rational.  To be godly is logical.  Spiritual worship is logical worship; it is rational and reasonable.  It is the darkened minds of this fallen world which are illogical, irrational, even insane.  Latreiva refers to any ministry performed for God, such as the ministry conducted by the priests and Levites.  What is in view, then, is our worship which we offer up as priests of God [cf. 1 Peter 2:5,9].  Underscore in your mind this vital truth: each Christian is a priest and together we form a royal priesthood.  Our united ministry as a people is our spiritual act of worship.  Such understanding can change worship from mere emotionalism to solid, reasonable service.

The Means of Sacrifice – We are called to live a life of sacrifice, presenting our bodies to Him who redeemed us.  The offering of our bodies for His service is to be voluntary.  There shall be no coercion either from Christ or from His church.  Christ does call us to a life of sacrifice, but He shall not compel us.  If there is compulsion, it will be the love of Christ which shall compel us to offer ourselves to Him for His service.  If there has been a dedication of life to the cause of Christ at some previous time in your life, perhaps you need but consider the importance of your surrender at that previous time.  Again implement the steps which you began that earlier time that you may again move toward the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus [cf. Philippians 3:14].

Whenever I am privileged to speak with one who has come to faith in Christ, I will point to Christ’s call for open confession of His Lordship.  If He is King of life, there must be a coronation ceremony.  The coronation ceremony which God has appointed for each Christian is open identification with Him in baptism.  There is one baptism, just as there is one Lord.  This is a voluntary act of submission; thus we do not baptise infants.  Nor do we conduct this coronation ceremony in order to make Christ King, but rather we obey Him because He is already King of life.  In a similar way, the sacrifice of one’s life is a unique action made but once and then continually carried out in practise.

There is no ceremony for surrender of life which is outlined in the Word of God.  It may be assumed that this act of dedication results with quiet determination in the lives of those who have decided that they will offer everything to Christ.  The impact of that decision will be seen in one’s daily life, and yet there is no doubt great value in open declaration of such surrender.  It is surrender to the Spirit’s call and open declaration of that surrender that will likely serve to encourage others to take a similar step of faith.  Those who witness an individual’s surrender to Christ’s call will no doubt wish to enter into that step through their prayers for the individual and through their own words of encouragement as the pilgrim moves forward in the sacrificial life.  Of this we may be certain, those who openly aver their commitment to present their bodies a living sacrifice will be marked as committed to Christ.  They will not readily return to what once was.

The offering of our lives through the presentation of our bodies as living sacrifices is to be holy and pleasing to God.  Since we are presenting our bodies as living sacrifices, it is appropriate that we insure that the sacrifice is holy.  Our life must be pure.  Unclean animals were not to be offered on the altar of the True and Living God; only those animals which were declared to be clean were to be presented before Him.  The Old Testament is quite clear in noting that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit [cf. Psalm 51:17]; mercy and acknowledgement of Him as God is preferable to sacrifice [cf. Hosea 6:6].  Even so, that individual who is invited to ascend the hill of Lord and who is likewise invited to stand in His holy place, must have clean hands and a pure heart [cf. Psalm 24:3,4].

What we endeavour to do must be worthy of Him to whom we present ourselves.  The knowledge that our actions are to be worthy of Him will keep us from deliberate sin.  Southern saints say: it is never right to do wrong in order to get the chance to do right.  There are those professing Christ who imagine they are serving God through evil acts.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Unrighteousness among God’s people never serves to promote righteousness, except as God judges that wickedness and thus reveals Himself as holy.  Sin is an offence to Holy God and a disgrace to His people.

As a young Christian I witnessed a movement which burst like a pipe bomb on the United States religious scene.  The Jesus Movement was in full bloom during those heady years of the early seventies and The Jesus People were prominently seen.  A number of young people identified themselves with a movement known as The Children of God.  Some of them came into the church where I was then serving as a new-born Christian.  When they came to us I cautioned my fellow worshippers against uncritical acceptance.  My plea for vigilance was their arrogance despite a lack of solid doctrinal grounding.  They verified their understanding of the Word by their experience instead of submitting their experiences to the Word.  Such action is always dangerous to the people of God.

If you are aware of The Children of God and of their leader, David Mo Berg, you will recall that in time they quietly implemented a practise which they called flirty fishing.  The young woman of that group would go into bars and night-clubs and there they would prostitute themselves with the men they picked up there.  Their justification was that the men who responded to the flirtations of those young women might be seduced into joining the movement.  Furthermore, the money the young women received for their services (or which they stole from the unsuspecting men) would support the movement.  That movement descended into gross immorality as the adherents of that movement justified their sordid actions by stating that men might be converted to Christ through sex.  God cannot, indeed shall not, employ filthy vessels to the praise of His glory.  As an aside, if the minister of Christ ignores the teaching of the Word and prays over a brewery dedication or marries an unbeliever to a believer, will God use such a man?

Sacrifice of life as sought and as taught in our text will never lead the individual to be unholy or to be displeasing to God.  Instead, sacrifice of life will always glorify God through presentation of the life of the child of God as holy and pleasing before Him.  In the years of my service to Christ I have heard Christians attempt to justify lying, manipulation, extortion, and deceit in order to advance what they imagined to be the cause of Christ.  The individual who presents himself or herself as a living sacrifice will never deliberately dishonour God through unrighteous living.  It is precisely because one presents himself a living sacrifice that he is set apart to God’s use.  How can that vessel presented to Holy God be impure if He is to employ it to His glory?

The Method of Sacrifice – Consider for a brief moment the method of sacrifice.  There is a negative aspect and a positive aspect to the method of sacrifice which Paul presents.  Within our world are those whose eyes are blinded.  Each year during Passion Week scores of Filipino men permit themselves to be nailed to a cross.  They hope by this step to present themselves as a sacrifice to God.  They imagine that God delights to see their suffering.  Throughout Europe and South America during this same period men and women flagellate themselves with whips fashioned from thorn bushes as an act of sacrifice.  Many people deny themselves during the Season of Lent and Ramadan, fasting and refusing to sleep in their normal beds.  Others pierce their bodies with needles and pins as an act of sacrifice.  Man imagines that sacrifice will secure divine mercy, but it is mercy which leads man to a life of sacrifice.  The puny efforts of these religious zealots are futile and worse than futile since they are offensive to Holy God.  It is by one sacrifice [that Christ] has made perfect forever those who are being made holy [Hebrews 10:14].

The sacrifice which God requires of His own is two-fold.  The first portion requires some negative thinking, being a refusal to conform to the pattern of this world.  Inhabitants of this world like to think themselves positive in outlook.  We need the Power of Negative Thinking.  We must refuse some actions, among which is conformity to the pattern of this world.  We are to resist becoming like the world, either in our actions or in our thinking.  We are to stand firmly opposed to becoming one with the world.

This present world honours the powerful who command others and impose their will on the weak; we who would honour Christ are to be servants to all.  This dying world esteems wealth; we who would glorify the Lord God are taught that all we hold is a stewardship which is to be administered to the glory of God.  This perishing world focuses on self and says that we deserve a break; we who are Christians realise that we deserve condemnation, but we have received mercy.  This world which is destined for dust prizes youthful beauty; we who will glorify Christ seek the beauty which can never fade away.  The English prelate J. B. Phillips gave the world a marvellous translation of the New Testament some years back.  His translation of this passage admonishes us, Don’t let the world about you squeeze you into its mould.

We struggle against thinking as the world thinks and against acting as the world acts.  There is no room among the people of God for a power broker.  There is no room within the Body of Christ for vain displays of wealth.  There is no place in the church for exaltation of self.  We must critically review every thought, every passion, every attitude, bringing all into captivity to Christ the Lord.  The Apostle’s words in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 are humbling and powerful.  Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The Greek word which is translated conform in our text is a present, passive imperative verb.  Although none of us perhaps wish a lesson in grammar, I raise the point because it is important to realise that the Apostle’s use of this particular verb form implies that we are to continually refuse to be conformed to the pattern of this world.  In other words, we are in conflict with the world about us and we dare not embrace the attitudes which mark this world.  This is not a struggle which will be fought once, but it is a continuing battle.  Though we determine once forever that we will present our bodies as living sacrifices, we realise that our determination is but the beginning of a crucified life.

There is a positive aspect to the sacrifice to which we are called.  We are to be transformed by the renewing of the mind.  Again, the verb chosen is present, passive imperative.  As with the other verb, the importance of this bit of obscure knowledge is that the word means that we are to keep on being transformed by the renewal of the mind.  That verb which is translated be transformed is a familiar word – metamorfovw.  We obtain our English work metamorphosis from this Greek word.  It is a word which is usually translated by our English word transform or change.  The word implies a change which is evident but over which we have scant control in so far as the process is concerned.  Though we have input into whether the transformation shall occur, the change is beyond our control.

We can look to the Spirit of God to change us into Christ’s image, but we cannot make ourselves like Jesus.  We become Christlike through applying the Law of the Spirit, as we walk in the Spirit.  Paul speaks of we, who with unveiled faces … are even now being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory [2 Corinthians 3:18].  We anticipate that one day salvation will be complete.  Now, our soul is saved and we have received a new spirit, but we yet possess a fallen body which is subject to the effects of sin.  There is a day known only to God, when Christ shall return and our salvation shall be complete.  In that day we will be transformed into His likeness.  Salvation will be then be complete and we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is [1 John 3:2].  On that day our Saviour shall return and by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, He shall transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body [Philippians 3:21].

Yet there is a transformation over which we exercise a measure of control now.  As we endeavour to renew our minds, we shall be transformed … our attitudes shall be changed and we shall witness the transformation of our lifestyle.  This is total change from the inside out.  God never demands simply that we give up anything; He practises a replacement therapy, replacing what is surrendered with that which is better.  As we refuse to be conformed to the pattern of this world we embrace those attitudes, thoughts, feelings and actions which are godly.  This is precisely the impact of Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:22-24.  You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

If you are easily irritated with the actions of others, become gentle and seek patience.  If you are manipulative and controlling, practise humility and seek to become malleable.  If you depend upon your own abilities and strength, practise obedience and learn to be dependent upon Christ.  This is the import of the apostolic injunction found in Philippians 4:8,9Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.

If you feed your mind on the thoughts of this world, do not be surprised if you reflect the world.  The music of this world emphasises exaltation of self.  The constant theme is gratification of one’s own desires even though it should injure another.  The literature of this world emphasises rebellion against the Divine.  God is mocked by the literati of this world who defy God and laugh in the face of holiness.  The entertainment of this world ridicules humility and gentleness.  Television, movies and plays value the quick retort or the cutting remark, as cynicism is elevated to an art form.  If your mind feeds on these ideas, do not be surprised if you reflect the same in your daily walk.

Would you be godly?  Would you truly be righteous?  Would you demonstrate dependence upon the Lord God instead of nursing your own hurts and bruised feelings?  Power with God and power with man are the result of an accurate estimate of self.  Humility before God and courage in the face of man’s opposition to godliness results from having stood with God in the holy place.  It is as we practise the injunction to offer our bodies, to present ourselves to God, as living sacrifices, that we cease conforming to this perishing world and we are thus transformed.  It is only as we discover who we are through discovering who God is that we are transformed before Him.  Our mind will keep on being made new by spiritual input of God’s Word, prayer and Christian fellowship.  Thus shall our lifestyle keep on being transformed.

I would not wish to be deliberately cruel, but the surest evidence that few contemporary saints have understood the import of this command is seen in the fact that too many contemporary Christians are indistinguishable from the world.  If the Spirit of God were removed from the world today, would your family know it?  If the Spirit of God were to no longer reside within you, would your friends realise that you were different?  Either His presence makes a difference … or we are just like the world.  The call arising from this passage is a call to be different, both because of the presence of the Spirit of God and because of your conscious decision to live a crucified life.

The Measure of Sacrifice – How will I know that my sacrifice has been acceptable to God?  The Apostle offers the corollary that we will be able to test and approve God’s will.  The Christian who presents his own body as a living sacrifice will discover God’s will, proving in a practical manner that His will is genuine.  The one living a crucified life will prove the quality of the divine will through his own testing.  Just as trials demonstrate the reality of one’s faith [cf. 1 Peter 1:3-7], so transformation of the mind proves God’s will to be genuine.  His will is put to the test and discovered to be good, pleasing and perfect.

Focus once again on a matter of grammar.  Good is not an adjective as our translation makes it out to be; good is a noun.  The three qualities which are listed are not attributes of God’s will, but rather God’s will is what is good, well pleasing to God and perfect.  God’s will is what is good for the believer.  God’s will is what is pleasing for each of His children.  God’s will is what is perfect for His own people.

As the child of God is transformed in mind, he is made more like Christ.  As he is changed into the pattern of Christ, he comes to approve and desire God’s will instead of seeking his own will in life.  As he desires God’s will more and more, he discovers that God’s will is what is good for him, and that that will is pleasing to God, and that by doing that will he is complete in every way.  The will of God is all he needs.  Only by being renewed spiritually can the believer ascertain, do and enjoy the will of God.

The message this day is quite simple, it concludes with a call to each Christian to determine to live the crucified life.  Frankly, it is of small moment whether you make an open declaration of intent to begin to live crucified, but I would be remiss should I fail to remind you that there is great value in open declaration.  You will have openly identified yourself with the work of God’s good Spirit.  You will have invited others to take note of you and to join you in praying that God will be glorified in your life.  You will have positioned yourself as one who cannot be content with matters as they have been.  Instead you will have declared yourself to long for the power of God to be seen in your life.  There is great value in open declaration of intent to practise the crucified life.

Some among us have lived quite long enough without concern for the will of God, their own will having prevailed as is evident from a variety of sources.  I invite you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices.  Some among us have yet to accept the challenge of a crucified life, less because of resistance to the Spirit of God than out of ignorance of the will of God.  Now that you know the will of God, prove that will through living for Him.  Others among us are even now living in a state of rebellion to the Spirit of God and the very fact that I speak in such pointed terms offends and angers.  Accept my words as the gentle rebuke they are meant to be and cease your opposition to the work of His Spirit.

I have spoken pointedly to you who listen this day.  Some of you are advanced in years, yet God has a place for you in His service.  Others of you are in middle age, at the peak of productivity and potential.  God may well be speaking to you to give Him all that is left.  Others of you are yet in the strength of your youth.  Whatever your situation and however God may be speaking to you, I urge you to make Him Lord of What’s Left.  Lord of What’s Left speaks of a full surrender to Him that He may be seen in each of us.  Lord of What’s Left says clearly that we are willing to die to self that He might live.

Now, who comes today to say they are no longer content with the status quo?  Who among us this day says that by the grace of God they shall begin to live the crucified life, offering their body as a living sacrifice?  Is it not time to begin anew, to mean business with God, to even now invite Him to begin a gracious, new work which will reject conformity to the pattern of this world even as you are transformed through the renewing of your mind?  Who will be first to come, declaring himself as one presenting his body as a living sacrifice?  Which of us will declare that her body shall be presented to Christ as a living sacrifice?  Come, and angels attend you in the way.  Amen.

Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more