LIVING SACRIFICE
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1
Dr. Elton Trueblood, a noted 20th-Century American Quaker author and theologian, once stated, “our faith becomes practical when it is expressed in two books: the date book and the check book.”[1] I love this simple and sensible assessment of one’s faith, for a relationship with Jesus should permeate every practical part of our lives (schedule, money, relationships, jobs, or time spent in front of the screen). There should be no compartments wherein one’s walk with Christ becomes removed from all other concerns and practices of life. Within the church of the first century, the Apostle Paul knew the tendency to hear sound Christian teaching without such practical application. This is why God instructed Paul with the urging of Romans 12:1, “a living sacrifice.” To make certain we capture the essence of practical faith, let’s consider this familiar verse phrase by phrase.
“Brothers and sisters.” What a meaningful address of endearment! (The Contemporary English Version and the Good News Translation render the simple interpretation, “my friends.”) Paul had just concluded an extensive theological summary of faith in Christ (chapters 1-11), and now enters into the life of his readers with a touch of love and firmness concerning the practical call of Christian living.
This call is issued by Paul’s personal unction, “I urge you by the mercies of God.” Paul ministered under the authority of Christ, and certainly had the platform to order Christians toward a life of consecration. But he rather chose to make a personal and heartfelt appeal. This reflects a message Paul once wrote to Philemon: “though I have confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you”(Philemon, verses 8-9). Paul urged the church in Rome to present their lives in consecration to the Lord as a living sacrifice. This gentle urging found motivation in none other than the mercies of God. A calling so necessary as personal consecration need not come by any other motivation than God’s mercies – the whole message of grace and love in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul instructed, “present your bodies a holy and living sacrifice.” In Christ, the individual becomes a free and living offering of love and service unto God. This contrasts the slain offerings Israel once brought to God ceremonially.[2] The call to present our bodies does not reflect drudgery, but instead freedom and joyful obedience. As a living sacrifice, we are therefore “holy and acceptable to God.” Israel heard God say, “whatever touches the alter shall be holy” (Exodus 29:37). When a believer who stands redeemed by Christ presents His body as an offering to God, the offering is holy and acceptable because of Christ. The Christian life, therefore, does not become a life wherein one attempts to merely fulfill a moral code. Instead, the highest order given-that the Father called to Son to lay down His life, becomes the opportunity for the child of God to offer his or her life back to God as a holy and acceptable offering. In this way, God is well pleased with our lives as we present ourselves to Him on the basis of His mercies demonstrated in Christ.
Paul concluded this powerful verse with the phrase, “your reasonable service.” The Hebrew nation knew “service.” They knew the rites and rituals, the festivals and ceremonies, the ordinances and precepts. While this was religious service, it was not reasonable in the fullest sense. The term “reasonable” is derived from the Greek, logike, which renders the meaning of that which is suitable or “from the heart.” Therefore, this call to present our bodies as holy and pleasing to the Lord does not stand simply as religious service. This call becomes a “reasonable” act of service, built upon the condition of our redeemed status in Christ. Our “being” in Christ (which is all the work of Christ) motivates our “becoming” like Christ (which represents the work of the Holy Spirit in us), as we present our bodies as a living sacrifice (our desire to honor Jesus with our whole self). This stands as our only appropriate measure for living.
Today, by the mercies of God -His undeniable grace and mercy given to you through Jesus, present your whole life as an honoring offering to God. You whole life! Every part.
No compartmentalizing. That’s only for the show of religion. Following Jesus far surpasses religious practice. God has given us everything through Jesus. How can we not give ourselves completely to Him?
Blessings,
Ken
[1] Elton Trueblood. Leadership, Vol. 11, no. 1.
[2] William R. Newell, Romans Verse by Verse (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House Publishing, 1987; originally published by Moody Press of Chicago in 1938), 449.
