The Gospel & Salvation: The Obedience of a Living Sacrifice

The Obedience of a Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1

 It is good to be back in the pulpit this morning. I don’t often get two weeks away from the pulpit, but that is how long it has been this time. I appreciate the opportunity to take a break once in a while, but to be honest with you I miss being here. As much as I like taking a break, I love preaching God’s word even more. I’m very thankful to be back this morning.

Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 12. Today I want to share a message on the subject of “the obedience of a living sacrifice”. As you are turning there I want to remind you of the current series and explain how this fits with what we have been doing for the last seven months. We are in a series on the gospel and the work of salvation. We have looked extensively at the problem of sin and the problems caused by sin. We can all relate to the problems caused by sin because we live with them. The problems caused by sin remind us that the sin problem is one from which none can claim exemption.

Since we are plagued with the sin problem we need to understand the solution. We have also looked closely at the solution. We have explained the problem with the religion of human achievement, which seeks to solve the sin problem through human effort. The only effective solution has been provided through the religion of divine accomplishment. Christ is the solution. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was hated and rejected by those He came to save and was crucified. On the Cross He endured the wrath of God for sin. He died and was buried and rose from the dead. God’s just wrath was satisfied. We can be forgiven and set free from sin’s dreadful penalty.

The solution is appropriated to the individual sinner by simply repenting and trusting in Christ’s saving work on the Cross. We have studied repentance and faith. We have learned of the great exchange of salvation. God takes our sin and clothes us with the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ we stand before God justified because we have been credited with His perfect life. This is why salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

In the recent weeks of this series we have been learning of the results of God’s work of salvation. We are looking at what salvation accomplishes in us. We have seen that we are made to become new creatures in Christ. Old things pass away and new things come. We are regenerated through the new birth. A heart of stone is removed and we are given a heart of flesh. We are made to become worshippers. In the most recent messages of this series we have been learning that salvation produces obedience in the life of the one who is genuinely saved. We are obedient to follow the Lord in baptism. We looked at that when we baptized two of our young people.

In the last message a few weeks ago, we saw that salvation produces the obedience of a slave. Salvation makes us to become people who rightly relate to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Jesus is Lord. The Greek word is “kurios.” This means the Jesus is the One with all the authority in our relationship. He is the One who calls all the shots. He is the One to whom I must submit. He is the One who alone has the right to command. He is the One whose commands we must obey. He alone is the Boss. Jude 4 identifies Jesus as the “only Master and Lord.” He is not only Lord but He is Master. The Greek word is “despotes” from which we get the word “despot.” A despot is an absolute ruler. To believe in Jesus is to trust Him as the absolute Master to be obeyed. The work of salvation brings us to the place of humble submission to the absolute authority of the One who has saved us.

The idea of living as a slave is difficult for us. We live in a culture that emphasizes our freedoms and personal rights. We value our autonomy. As we will learn from the second verse in our text in Romans 12, we are not to let our thinking be conformed to the thinking of this world. We are slaves of Christ because He has purchased us with His blood. We are not our own. We belong to Him and He has the right to tell us what we are to do. We are to be obedient as slaves. The picture of a slave is a vivid illustration of what the salvation makes us to become as followers of Christ.

Our text in Romans 12:1 presents for us another metaphor for the Christian life that goes even further and requires more than does the picture of a slave. If you think that our Lord is asking a lot of us by calling us to live as obedient slaves, how much harder do you think it might be to obey as a living sacrifice? Let’s read Romans 12:1-2.

For much of the modern church the goal of the Christian life appears to be to get as much as one is able to get from God. There isn’t much preaching on the sacrifices of the Christian life. We tend to love the idea of being happy, comfortable, and satisfied. We like our comforts. The idea of being secure is attractive to us. Somehow, having abundance is seen as one of the ways we achieve a certain measure of security. We are willing to sacrifice, so long as the sacrifice doesn’t threaten our plans, or take away from our goals and objectives, or push us into an uncomfortable situation. We are, without a doubt, a people who, to much too great a degree, allow our thinking to be shaped by what the culture defines as “normal.” 

For Christians, our objectives in life and our objectives as followers of Christ should be one and the same. There is no dichotomous reality in the life of the Christian. We don’t have a secular existence that is separated from our spiritual existence. We don’t live as one person while away from church, and then live as another person when we come to church. We live from day to day as followers of Christ. As we follow Christ we are to be obedient as slaves, as we learned last week. And as we follow Christ, we are to be obedient as living sacrifices. Living as an obedient living sacrifice is a tall order.

We might like to think that this is an optional reality for the Christian life. Can’t we just believe in Jesus and live a comfortable life and make it to heaven? Signing up for the Christian life isn’t like buying a car. When you buy a car you can opt for the additional features if you are willing to pay the price. Presenting ourselves as living and holy sacrifices to God isn’t an optional feature of the Christian life. It isn’t reserved for the few who are willing to go serve on the foreign mission field. It is for all believers.

Look at what Paul said. He said, “I urge you, brethren.” Now I think we understand that Paul is not urging us to do something he has not done himself. It is easy to look at the life of Paul and see that he knew well what kind of commitment he was calling us to make. It was the very same commitment he had made of his own life as a follower of Christ. From the day he met Jesus on the road to Damascus until the day Nero separated his head from his body, the Apostle Paul lived as an obedient living sacrifice to God. And Paul says here, “I urge you, brethren…”

The word “urge” is “parakaleo.” The Holy Spirit is the “paraklete” the One who comes along side. The word is a compound word that literally means to call to the side of. It is a call to someone to do something. It is an exhortation and an admonishment to do something. It means to beseech with a sense of urgency. The same word is translated “implore” in Ephesians 4:1 where Paul tells the Ephesians, “…I implore you to walk in a manner worth of the calling with which you have been called.” It is translated “exhort” in 1 Thess. 4:1 where Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to excel still more in their walk to please the Lord.

Paul could have used any number of Greek words if he was making a simple request. He chose this word because it is more than a request of his “brethren.” It is an urgent appeal. Paul knew that when the difficulty of that to which he calls us is understood, it would require more than a simple request. It would take some encouragement, some exhortation, a certain level of urging and imploring to bring us to the same level of commitment. It is a commitment to absolute submission to Christ. The challenge Paul is issuing is a call to come and walk as he walked. Paul lived as an obedient living and holy sacrifice.

I think Paul would acknowledge this as one of those instructions that fall into the category of “says easy – does hard.” Paul knew how influential the culture can be on the thinking of the Christian. That is why he warns in verse 2 against being conformed to the world. Paul knew that in life we all are prone to avoid hard things. A life as a living sacrifice is no easy thing. Paul knew the power of our flesh and the pull of residual sin in the flesh of the redeemed Christian. He acknowledged it’s reality in his own life in Romans 7. Nobody knew better than Paul how difficult a thing it is to live as a sacrifice.

But Paul also knew that the way to glory was through death. He knew that the way to exaltation was through humiliation. He knew that the way up is down, and the way of greatness is through service. He knew that Jesus had called us all to deny ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow Him. This is a call to you, brethren. This is a call to me. This is a call to every person who claims the name of Christ. We are all called to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God. We cannot look at the request of this verse as an option for some and something that can be opted out of by others. This is a call to all of Paul’s Christian brethren.

Paul is not alone in this call. Turn to 1 Peter. Let’s read 1 Peter 2:1-10. We, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Paul gives us the metaphor of a slave and a living sacrifice. Peter gives us the metaphor of a stone which becomes part of a spiritual house.

God calls us to be slaves, sacrifices, and stones. None of those images are attractive to our natural impulses. The world would tell us that none of these are good. Let us not forget that we live in a world that loves to call evil good and good evil. We live in a world that lies in the power of the ultimate liar and deceiver, Satan. These pictures of us as slaves and sacrifices and stones does not that we are invaluable or expendable or unimportant. Rather, they simply picture the desired heart attitude which indicates our willingness to live a life of submission, surrender, and a willingness to serve the purposes for which God has saved us. The work of salvation makes us to become a people who will die to self and live as an obedient slave who does the will of our Master, a living sacrifice with no agenda of our own, and a living stone who will be part of what God is building in this world.

To present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, is to bring our entire being to the altar of God and lay it down in surrender to the will of God, dying to self and living to please Him. This is a picture of the Old Testament practice of bringing the sacrifices to the priest to be presented on the altar. The animal presented as a sacrifice died. Because we don’t literally cease to live, we find it necessary to keep on presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.

I think this leads to a legitimate question we should all be willing to ask ourselves. I won’t ask you to answer it out loud to me. But we all must answer in our hearts to God. What am I willing to sacrifice to do the will of God? Along with that question is this one. What does God expect me to be willing to sacrifice? I urge you brethren to present you bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God. Presenting our bodies is more than just a physical sacrifice. It is the presentation of our entire being to God.

Presenting our bodies as living sacrifices would easier if it simply involved death. I am not saying that death is easy. But once we die our struggles are over. This isn’t necessarily a call to die the death of a martyr. For some that is what God requires. But for the vast majority of us this isn’t a call to die for the cause of Christ, it is a call to live for the cause of Christ. It is a call to live as though all that matters is Christ. Like Paul, we should be willing to consider all things as loss compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus. Everything in life is refuse compared to Him.

Presenting our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God is to live a life of full surrender. We sang a hymn by that title today. I asked Caleb to include it in our song service because it speaks to the call of this verse. It is only through obedience as a living sacrifice that we will come to experience the fullness of God’s presence and power in this life. There are blessings we will never know until we are willing to lay down our lives in full surrender and live obediently as a living sacrifice. I’m not just preaching to you. This is something I myself need as much as anyone.

Notice that we are to present our bodies as a living and “holy” sacrifice. We have seen this word before. It is “hagios” in the Greek. The fundamental idea is separation, consecration, and devotion to the service of God, while sharing in God’s purity and abstaining from earthly defilement. The word includes the idea of something without blemish.

This is language from Paul’s Jewish background. It refers to the O.T. sacrifices brought to be presented at the altar in the Temple. Only animals which were free from defect were acceptable to God. God would not accept the blind, sick, or lame. Anyone bringing a defective sacrifice was presenting a defiled offering. The only reason anyone would do this was so they could get rid of the defective animal and keep the good animals for themselves.

I ask you. If we are not presenting our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, are we not resisting for the same reason. We offer God less than our total being because we want to hold on to life for ourselves. We want to live life on our terms rather than His. Listen, Paul does not tell us to present our bodies as a conditional sacrifice, or a partial sacrifice, or a part time sacrifice.

This is emphasized in the phrase “acceptable to God.” The word “acceptable” is from a compound word in the Greek. It combines the word “eu” which means “well” with “aresko” which means to please. Literally it could be translated “to well please.” The offering of our bodies to God as a living and holy sacrifice is to be done in such a way that God is “well-pleased.”

I see some people’s approach to the Christian life, and sometimes I even see it regrettably in myself. We seem to try to present enough to get by. We want to know just how much God will require of us so we can decide if it is worth it. We want to know the minimum standard of acceptable sacrifice. If this is our attitude, God is not well-pleased. God doesn’t want only partial surrender. He wants full surrender. Hebrews 10:22 challenges us by telling us, “let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

If we are to present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices which are acceptable to God we must present holy sacrifices. I am not presenting to God a living and holy sacrifice if I am indulging in secret sins or I am allowing my heart and mind to be polluted with the garbage of this world. If I am going to present God a holy sacrifice, acceptable to Him, my private life must be pure and free from defilement.

We really should consider the implications of the presentation of this sacrifice as a sacrifice offered to God. I presented myself to this church this morning. All I had to do was shower and shave and put on some nice clothes. As long as I show up and look and act in a manner reasonable for a pastor, everything is fine. I am acceptable to you.

It is a little harder to present myself to my wife in an acceptable fashion, or in a well-pleasing manner, at least with 100% consistency. It is harder than presenting myself as a pastor at church because she sees me for who I truly am. We are who we truly are when we are at home. Even though it is somewhat harder to do this at home rather than at church, I manage to do a good enough job that she isn’t laughing at me the whole time I am preaching.

It is one thing to present myself to this church in a way that meets the standard of expectation. It is another thing to present myself at home in a way that meets the standard of expectation. But with God it is a whole different story. God looks not at the outward appearance, but at the heart. God knows every word that enters my mind, even if they never cross my lips. God knows every thought that enters my mind. It isn’t until I see that I present my body as a living and holy sacrifice to holy God, and it must be acceptable to Him, that I fully comprehend the extent of the sacrifice necessary. God isn’t just looking at my outward presentation. He knows all things.

This is why one of the verses I have come to utter frequently is Psalm 19:14. “May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.”

One of the obvious challenges we should take from this verse is our commitment to a holy life that pleases God.

There are a couple more phrases in this verse we need to consider and I have put them off to this point in the message because I believe they are somewhat connected. Paul says, “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God…” We haven’t talked about the mercies of God. This speaks to that which serves as our motivation to present ourselves as living and holy sacrifices. We are to do this “by the mercies of God” or “because of the mercies of God.”

The word “mercies” is “oiktirmos” in the Greek. Allow me to quote from the Greek scholar Spiros Zodhaites. “This word describes the pity or compassion which one shows for the sufferings of others. It is used in reference to God as the Father of mercies (2 Cor. 1:3) showing His character as that upon which believers can depend as they make their bodies a living offering to Him.”

We have learned much of the mercies of God in this series on salvation. We learned that our merciful Father withholds immediate judgment when we sin. His mercies extend even to those who reject His offer of salvation. He gives them time to repent. And the greatest expressions of God’s mercies are revealed in Christ and the work of redemption. Because God’s mercies are seen clearly in the work of salvation, no creature of all God’s creation can understand, appreciate, or respond to His mercies like a redeemed person can. Only those who have been born again by God’s Spirit have this capacity.

By virtue of God’s mercies, which are new every morning, we can and must present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices, acceptable to God. Listen to this great question posed in Psalm 116:12. “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits?” For all His benefits, for all His mercies, there is but one appropriate response. We are to present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices, acceptable to God.

The final phrase is at the end of verse 1. Paul says that the presentation of our bodies as living and holy sacrifices acceptable to God is “your spiritual service of worship.” I will remind you that we have already learned that the work of salvation makes us worshipers of God. Presenting our bodies, our entire beings, as living and holy sacrifices, acceptable to God, is our spiritual service of worship. It is the only appropriate response for all He has done to save us. This is why the KJV translators translated this “for this is your reasonable service.”

The word “spiritual” is “logikos.” It is the word from which we get our word “logic” or “logical.” It describes that which pertains to reason and is therefore reasonable. The commitment to present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices acceptable to God is the logical and reasonable response to God’s saving work. 

All we need to do is to consider the blessings of forgiveness of sins and we can see that the reasonable thing to do is what we have been challenged to do in this verse. Salvation has rescued us from the eternal wrath of God. More than just delivering us from eternal damnation, salvation has made us object of God’s eternal love, mercy, and grace. How often do we just stop and consider the wondrous blessings of salvation? We should make it a habit so that we are constantly reminded of our duty. Because of the great work of salvation detailed in the first 11 chapters of Romans, “therefore” pivots to our great duty. Our duty is to present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God. This is our reasonable, spiritual service of worship. It is the logical, reasonable thing to do.

I would like to close today by singing Hymn 366 in the green hymnal. The title of the hymn is “I Surrender All.” I would like to ask you to sing it as a prayer of commitment to God and an expression of your desire to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.