“Living Sacrifices”
June 13, 2010
Romans 12:1-8
1Therefore, 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. 2Do 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.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”
Romans 12:1-2 is one of the best loved and most often quoted Scripture in the Bible. I don’t know how many times I have read it, preached it and quoted it. But I want to approach it from a little different angle this time. I have been reading this section of Scripture in my daily devotions and looking at this great verse in the context of the entire book, or at least in context of the preceding few chapters – and that’s what I want to share with you this morning. In context, Paul connects God’s grace with our sacrifice, resulting in our service.
I want you to notice, first, that this Scripture begins with a ‘therefore’. Whenever you have a ‘therefore’ in the bible you have to ask yourself – “What’s it there for?” Usually it is connecting two thoughts or ideas or subjects together. In this case, it is connecting God’s grace with our offering our bodies as living sacrifices. Let’s look first at God’s grace. In Romans, chapter 10, Paul talks about salvation. He defines salvation pretty simply. He says,
“That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Romans 10:9-11
That’s pretty simple, isn’t it? Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. Salvation = belief + confession. But it isn’t as simple as it seems. It is easy to say something – but quite another thing to really believe it. Salvation starts in the heart (head or mind). You need to believe Jesus. You need to believe that He has risen from the dead. If you do, that infers that you believe He has power over death. If you believe that – you believe Jesus is God – because He said He was and because only God has power over death. If you truly believe in your heart that Jesus is God – it will change your life. If Jesus is God – that means you aren’t. It means HE is Lord. If He is Lord, you will, of course, confess it with your mouth. Furthermore, if you truly believe He is Lord – it will change your life. You will confess it and live it and express it in your actions. If Jesus is truly Lord – it will revolutionize your life. It did mine! It did Paul’s!
I think a lot of Christians today ‘confess Jesus is Lord’ but they don’t really ‘believe’ it in the biblical sense. Too many people today believe ‘intellectually’ but not spiritually. You can believe something intellectually without having it affect your actions or your life very much. James says,
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
James 2:19
Even the demons believe – but it is not a saving belief. James is pointing out that a lot of people believe Jesus is God, but it doesn’t do them any good. It is not spiritual belief – it is just intellectual belief. The difference is action. We can believe something intellectually, like it is going to rain today, and yet not have it affect our actions. If we really truly believe it is going to rain, we will get our umbrella or our rain coat. Spiritual believe invokes action. When you believe – it changes your actions. It changes your life.
So Paul, in Romans 10, talks about salvation, then in chapter 11 he talks about God’s grace. First, in how Israel rejected God’s grace and so God choose the gentiles to be saved – because they responded to His grace. You need to realize that you can reject God’s grace. Israel did. In spite of God’s grace and mercy they were disobedient and rebellious and obstinate. So God raised up another people. He says,
“…At the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” Romans 11:9
He says, “… because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles” Rom 11:11
Do you see grace is conditional upon our actions and choices? We can resist and reject God’s grace if we like. Paul, to the Galatians, says, “you have fallen away from grace.” (5:5). To the Corinthians he pleads, “we… plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” (2 Cor 6:1) To the Hebrews he cautions,
“Make every effort … to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God…” Hebrews 12:14-15
So Paul warns the Roman gentiles of resisting God’s grace as Israel did. He says,
“For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.” (Ro 11:21)
After warning them, Paul reminds these Christians that God is merciful and gracious and will not forget Israel. In fact, they (and we) are loved because of the patriarchs. God will have mercy on them – and on us. Then Paul concludes this chapter with praise to God for the depth and the riches of God’s wisdom and knowledge and power. Then he begins chapter 12 with ‘therefore’. Therefore – what? Therefore – we ought to offer our bodies as sacrifices. ‘Therefore’ connects God’s grace and mercy with his plea that we offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Since God loves us so much; since God is so merciful to us; since God is so gracious to us – that ought to inspire us to worship Him. And how do we worship Him? Paul says ‘the’ spiritual act of worship is to offer our bodies as daily, moment by moment, ‘LIVING’ sacrifices. This is the response to grace.
Some people would define that as ‘faith’. God reveals something to us, we respond by believing, trusting, and acting in the appropriate way. That IS faith and Hebrews 11:6 tells us that we can’t please God without it.
I would submit to you that if a person believes in God without walking in faith, which is holiness; if a person is not walking in holiness – they do not have a ‘saving’ faith. They do not have a saving belief. Their belief is much like the demons James talked about – who believe – but it is not a saving belief. The Bible is clear on how to please God. Hebrews 11:6 says,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
In the next chapter he says, “Make every effort to… be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Heb 12:14
Without faith you can’t please God. Without holiness you won’t see God. Why? Holiness is the result of faith. That state of heart purity is a result of putting your faith in Jesus. It is a natural express of love. When you confess your sin and ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life, the result is a pure heart. That pure heart will include a desire for purity of action and a striving for perfection of action – although in this life we will never achieve perfection of action. We can have a perfect heart, as a result of faith, and as Paul says, we will ‘strain’; we will ‘press on’ ; we will make every effort, toward the goal of holiness (Phil 3:13-16)
There is something else that is a result of faith, too. That is service. God’s grace plus our sacrifice or commitment results in service. Paul urges us to sacrifice ourselves, then again reminds us not to think of ourselves too highly (v3) as he did in the previous chapter, then he reveals that each of us are a part of one body. There is one body with many members and each member has a different function or service.
This process (or formula) reminds me of what Paul told the Ephesian church. He said,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10
Do you see the order? Grace from God, we respond in faith, the result is service or good works. And it needs to be in that order. Not ‘good works’ to get faith or grace or salvation. You can’t earn grace. It’s grace- faith – works.
In chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul again likens the church to a body and we are a part of it. Listen,
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Eph. 4:11-13
Do you see that the healthy Christian, the mature Christian, is the one who responds to the grace of God in faith, which results in service? Every Christian is a minister. Every Christian has gifts and talents he has been given for the good of the body – so we ALL can “reach unity, grow in knowledge of Jesus, become mature and be transformed into the image of Christ. It is not for our personal edification. It is not for our personal blessing. It is for the good of others. Every Christian is a minister; every Christian is servant of God. Every Christian ought to be contributing to the body of Christ in some way.
And Paul gives us a few ideas of how we can do that. He reminds us that we are not Lone Rangers. We are not Lone Wolves. We are a part of a body and each member belongs to all the others. You have a calling and a moral obligation to contribute in some way to the good of the fellowship.
Paul mentions a few of the gifts to the Roman church. Prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing finances, providing leadership, and mercy. To the Ephesians he mentions prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. To the Corinthian church the includes the gift of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, power to do miracles, prophecy again, the gift of discernment, the gift of speaking in an unknown or unlearned language, and the ability to interpret a language that is unknown.
There is a place of service for everybody. There is a place of service for every single Christian. Do you know what your gift is? Are you using your gifts for the good of the church? Paul never mentions the same list twice. Every church body needs certain gifts to function – like preaching and teaching – but there is a need for so much more. I’m praying for people with a gift of giving! We could use that! We could use people with a gift of encouraging. We all need so much of that! Amen? We need people with the gift of helps – and so on. It is up to you to discover your own personal gifts – and then implement them. If you are not sure – try a few of them. Experiment. God won’t get mad at you for trying – even if you fail. But He is not pleased with complacency or laziness or apathy or selfishness. Find a need and fill it. Use it – or lose it!
Paul said, “For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself.” (1 Cor. 11:23). He told Timothy, “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.” 2 Tim. 2:2
We sometimes sing a song entitled “Pass it on”. That’s a command, too. Do you have someone in your life you are mentoring or teaching? Paul said that what he had received form the Lord – he passed on to others. He instructed Timothy to pass those truths he had learned on to others – who would in turn pass them on to, still, others. We need to be doing that. We need to realize that principle, and choose to implement it in our lives. We are all so busy. We all have so much on the plate. This will not get done in your life unless you MAKE it happen!
God is a God of order. There is system in His ways. That is how many scientific discovers have been made – knowing there is order in our world. In the Christian realm, we see God’s grace results in our offering ourselves in a sacrificial way, which results in our serving others for their good. Let’s do it. Let’s make a difference in our world. Let’s make order of our chaotic lives.
Dear Jesus,
Forgive me for not living as you want me to. I confess I have been selfish and self-centered and need your forgiveness. Help me not to conform to this world. Transform me into the person you want me to be. I offer myself to you as a living sacrifice. Use me to serve your body. Work through me to accomplish Your will.
In Jesus Name,
SONG “Heart’s Courageous”
