"Living Sacrifices" pt.2

[A series of thoughts on Romans 12:1-2]

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers,

in view of God’s mercy,

TO OFFER YOUR BODIES AS LIVING SACRIFICES,

holy and pleasing to God…”

(Romans 12:1)

Sometimes we have the opportunity, or the necessity, to give up something. Several years ago we gave our couch and love seat to our daughter Kellie who was moving into a house with some girls at college. They needed some furniture, we were looking to get rid of some furniture, it worked out great. But it wasn’t really a sacrifice on our part. It didn’t cost us anything (except for the backache of moving it for her). Last summer I had to make one of the most difficult decisions of my life: to give up a job that meant everything to me for the sake of my health and the future of the church. It cost me a lot and still brings a sense of grief when I think about it. Sacrifices costs us something.

Romans 12:1 says that we are to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices”. It says that we are to do this in response to something. “In view of God’s mercy” or “because of God’s mercy” or “in light of God’s mercy”. [See previous post, ‘First Responders’ for more on this.] No matter how you phrase it it still means the same thing. Something has happened that we must respond to, and the most appropriate response is to sacrifice (give up) something of value. If it doesn’t cost us something it’s not really a sacrifice.

Sometimes the things we sacrifice (give up) are not necessarily positive things. We may sacrifice our health because of bad habits; our job because of irresponsibility; our children due to neglect or indifference; a relationship because of an inappropriate word or response. On the other hand, some of our sacrifices are more positive, even commendable. We might sacrifice our time in order to help someone; we may give sacrificially to something (giving more than we can afford) so someone can be blessed; we might give up a dream job in order to take a lesser job because it is better for the family. To sacrifice is to intentionally give up, or lose something, that is of value to us. Sacrifice costs us something.

When King David’s prayer was answered that a plague against Israel would be stopped he went to purchase the place where the angel of the Lord had brought about this miracle. At this place there stood a barn and David made an offer to the owner to buy the barn and the land in order to build an altar of thanksgiving to the Lord (the future sight of the Jerusalem temple). The owner tried to give it all to David along with an ox so that he could offer a sacrifice to the Lord. But David said, “I will not sacrifice an offering that costs me nothing” (1 Chronicles 21:24). Interesting concept: it seems that the nature of the offering is not nearly so important as how much it cost. In other words, what is it worth to the person making the sacrifice?

If you are in need of a car and can’t afford one it’s not a sacrifice to me if I give you my neighbors car (other than possibly some jail time). But if I give you my car, it’s a sacrifice. If you need someone to take you to a doctor’s appointment it’s not a sacrifice for me to say, “I’m sure my daughter Brianne would love to take you.” If a missionary needs a new roof for an orphanage in a poor village in Africa it’s no sacrifice on my part if I go and ask my friend Bill to give to this project because he has lots of money (Bill’s name has been changed to protect him from you going and asking him for money.) These things may be well and good but they don’t constitute a sacrifice on my part.

Paul says we are to offer “our bodies” as living sacrifices. Our bodies are very important to us. You may not like how it looks or how it is performing right now but they are still very precious to us. They house our mind, spirit, and soul. They allow us to do what we do in this life; go where we go, enjoy relationships, hobbies, nature, etc.. We can’t do any of this outside of our bodies and what they offer us. This is why ill health, old age, and disabilities are so frustrating and even devastating for some. They limit our bodies from allowing us to do what we want to do. Our bodies are precious. To offer our bodies as a living sacrifice is to willfully and intentionally give up our rights and ownership of them to someone else. We do this because of (“in view of”) God’s mercy. God’s mercy is the result of the greatest sacrifice of all because it cost Him His only Son. We are to sacrifice (give up ownership of) our bodies, our whole selves, to God and His purpose for our lives.

This sacrifice that we give up is a “living” sacrifice because it is on-going. In the Old Testament if you sacrificed an oxen you only did it once (makes sense doesn’t it?). The sacrifice we make to God is an on-going, daily, regular sacrifice, not done once, but done as a life-style. It’s like breathing. We don’t say, “Yeah, I breathed once when I was born and I haven’t needed to take a breath since.” Likewise, we cannot say, “Yeah, I sacrificed myself to the Lord back in 1981 so I don’t really need to do it again.” It’s a living sacrifice, meaning it’s on-going.

This kind of sacrifice, one that is of great value to us, one that is on-going, one that costs us something, is a sacrifice that is “holy and pleasing to God” . And that, after all, is all we really need to know, isn’t it.

[More on our sacrifice being our "spiritual worship'

in the next posting.]