Daily Sacrifice

Paul provides guidelines for living as redeemed people in a fallen world, moving from the theological to the practical. We are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to Christ, to follow the law, to love our neighbors, and to especially care for the faithless.

In the Old Testament, priests had to sacrifice animals to atone for one's sins. However, on the Cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ became the ultimate sacrifice for all of humanity. Now, we are to be a LIVING sacrifice.

The Call:

“I beseech you”

• This means to request earnestly

• Paul is saying “listen to me, this is very important.”

• Lay aside earthly desires

• Romans 6:12-13, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

The Consecration:

“Present your bodies a Living sacrifice”

• This means to be dedicated to a sacred purpose

• To devote irrevocably to the service of God

• No longer sacrifice animals for atonement of sins

• Christ paid the price for us

• We can sacrifice/offer something of ourselves - time, visit the sick and afflicted, witness more, etc.

• 1 Samuel 15:22, And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

• Ephesians 4:21-24, If so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

The Charge:

“Which is your reasonable service”

• Worshiping God, witnessing, etc.

• Follow the Holy Spirit - wherever He leads

• Do the work set before us

• Consciously choose to center our lives on Christ

• Follow the Spirit and not the flesh

The Challenge:

“Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed”

• Live as a new person

• Trust and obey

• World’s values or God's values

• Render ourselves - all we are, all we have, all we can do

• Conversion and sanctification are the renewing of the mind

• Die to sin, live righteously

• Romans 8:5-6, For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

• Micah 6:8, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

• Titus 2:12, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.

We are to lay aside our earthly desires daily and follow Him.