Living Sacrifice
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Romans 12:1
Paul turns the corner in the book of Romans in chapter 12. He had been talking about some of the most profound and deep realities of the Christian life. All men are sinners and cannot save themselves. They are helpless and hopeless, only deserving judgment and punishment. But God sent his Son, born of a virgin, to live a perfect life and die on the cross as the sin substitute for us! To everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, and the Holy Spirit will take up residence in his life. The Spirit will empower the believer to turn away from sin and to live a life truly pleasing to God. Even though we have remaining indwelling sin that wages war against our souls, the Holy Spirit is able to give us grace and strength to turn away from sin and walk with Christ. This wasn’t God’s afterthought but was a part of his mysterious but perfect plan from before the foundation of the world to use Israel to usher in the Messiah so that all who turn to him receive eternal life and the hope of heaven. Whew! That’s a lot!
Here Paul says, “Therefore.” In other words, considering everything we have just read in chapters 1 through 11, what kind of people should we be? How should all this truth impact us? He appeals to us based on the mercies of God. In other words, think about all that God has given you in Christ. You deserve judgment but God has given you forgiveness. You deserve to hell, but God has given you heaven. You deserve to be abandoned but God has adopted you into his family and has called you his own child. If God did nothing else after saving us that would be enough, and it should overwhelm us. But God didn’t stop there. He gave us Jesus and he promises to give us everything else we need to live for him and glorify him. He gives us mercy upon mercy.
His love ought to motivate us in response. He tells us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. Theologians argue if this is a one-time event. As if somehow, we could make one all-encompassing sacrifice of ourselves to God and never wander, stray, or falter in our commitment. If this were the case, we would have to redefine our understanding of sin. I don’t know about you, but I sin every day. Not that I want to, but it happens anyway. I also am not as committed as I should be. Some days I feel on fire for the Lord and other days it feels like it is an act of the will. Again, not saying it should be like this, but it is.
There is an old saying, the problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar. Probably not what Paul had in mind, but it does remind us that our commitment to God needs to be renewed over and over again every day. Notice it is our bodies we are to present. Why is that? Some religions thought it didn’t matter what you did with your body if your heart attitude was good. Paul would have none of that. He says God wants all of you, body and soul.
He answers two final questions, what kind of sacrifice is this and why would we do it? He says that it is a holy and acceptable offering to God. Even though we never obey God perfectly and we always have mixed motives even in the best things we do, because we are sincere God is pleased to accept them as pleasing to him. Why do we do this? It is your reasonable service. The word Paul uses here that is translated “spiritual” carries the idea of intelligent. He says, in light of all that God has done, doesn’t it make sense that we would respond in worship and service to him? What else would even make sense? It is the only reasonable response.
