Sermon: Romans 12:1 – A “Living Sacrifice”
This sermon was actually delivered on November 23, 2008 – the last Sunday before Advent began. Now that I’ve resumed the series on Romans, I am putting this sermon up as well, which actually covers just the first verse of Romans 12. It also includes a summary of what’s come before – a good way to get re-oriented to where Paul has been and where he’s going.
Introduction: A Change in Tone
Today’s text marks a changing point in our walk through Romans. A very important couple of words at the very beginning of today’s passage signal that something different is coming.
“Therefore… in view of God’s mercy” – in light of all that has come before
“I appeal to you” – Here’s what we should do about what we’ve heard
Paul has done with his theologizing. We’ve heard 11 chapters of all kinds of theology:
- How our sin has separated us from God
- That all of us are without excuse
- That in God’s eyes, we are all on level ground, no matter the type or number of our sins – all of us have sinned, and all of us have fallen short
- But God did something to make matters right – he sent his only son as a sacrifice in our place.
- Jesus’ work is powerful enough to save any who will rely on him for their salvation.
- So we have been set free from our old master, sin, and are now free to serve a new master
- Therefore, if God has done this for us, we should not be afraid of anything – for “if God is for us, who can be against us?”
Now Paul moves from his theological section to the practical matters. Most scripture – most writing of any sort – is arranged in this way.
- Here are the facts.
- Here is the explanation of the facts.
- What should we do then, about the facts?
The Image: Sacrifice
12:1 Therefore, 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.
“Sacrifice” is a strong word to us – it invokes images of blood, violence and death. It’s hard for us to understand, in our culture, what Paul is talking about.
The act of a sacrifice is to take something that is valuable to us, and to give it up for someone or something else. A quick look in the definition yields the following basic facts about religious sacrifice in particular:
- WHO – the devotee of a particular god
- WHAT – Something valuable – crops, wine, valuable animals, etc.
- WHEN – A sacrifice occurred at a particular time – usually surrounded by ritual and prayer.
- WHERE – A sacrifice occurred in a particular place – on an altar, in an important spiritual place like a temple.
The basic idea of a sacrifice is to say, “This is what I’m willing to do for something or someone that’s important to me.” When you sacrificed an animal, you said that the god you worship is of greater value to you than the animal you’re sacrificing. When you took the best of your crops and burned them before God, you said that God was more important to you than the profit that could come from those crops, and that you trusted God to provide for your needs in place of those crops.
The more important the item offered, the greater the sacrifice and the greater the statement you made about the person or thing you were sacrificing to.
It became, over time, a way to satisfy an angry god, or to ask for something you needed – more rain for the crops, for instance. It moved from saying “This is how much I value you,” to “This is what I’m willing to give you – what will you give me in return?” Or sometimes it was used as a kind of spiritual “thank you” note – a way to tell a god “thanks” for something good that had happened.
That’s why eventually, people were willing to sacrifice the most important thing they had – their children. What more valuable thing could you give to show your devotion to a god? And what would a god NOT give to someone so devoted to him?
But God absolutely forbade this practice because it was against his nature to destroy human life, and because this kind of sacrifice was selfish – designed to get something in return.
And for the Jewish people, sacrifice had become their core act of worship. They made the long trip to Jerusalem each year – but not to sit in a worship service and hear a Revival preacher. They offered prayers while they were there, but their primary action, and the thing that all other acts of worship revolved around, was SACRIFICE.
But this was not the original intent of sacrifice, though. The original idea was to declare how valuable God is to us by giving up something important. And in using this important word, Paul is signaling a return to that original idea.
We don’t kill animals on an altar anymore. But we still practice sacrifice today, though we may not view it that way. When we tithe and give offerings – we’re not “paying” God, we’re saying that God is more important to us than money (at least, that’s the concept). That’s a big statement to make – especially as Americans who value money so highly.
Living Sacrifice
So now that we’ve looked at the word “sacrifice,” what is Paul saying about it?
“…to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship”
A better translation for “your spiritual act of worship” would be “your reasonable act of service.” It’s a term that implies the central and most basic act of worship. Like the sacrifice to the Jewish people, this was to be the primary action of people who worship this God.
And what is this action? It’s still sacrifice, but a different kind of sacrifice.
“Offer your bodies…” – are we to throw ourselves into the fire? Commit suicide? No, because he uses the word “living sacrifice.” By “bodies,” Paul is speaking figuratively of our lives – our every moment of every day.
HOLY and PLEASING – this is to be “offer your lives as a LIVING, HOLY, and PLEASING sacrifice.”
Our most important sacrifice – our central act of worship – is not bringing our tithes. For most of us, the amount we give is not enough to cause us undue anxiety. Neither is our sacrifice the hour we spend here on Sunday mornings. It’s no real sacrifice to be here on Sunday mornings… an hour is no big sacrifice for us most of the time.
No, our real sacrifice is the 167 hours we live the rest of the week. Living every waking moment of every day in a “holy and pleasing” way. That is the ultimate cost for us.
Wow! How in the world can we achieve this?
We want to believe that the way to follow God’s will – being a holy and pleasing sacrifice – is to know all the rules so we can follow them rightly in each situation. But the problem is, you don’t always know all the rules, and you don’t always know how they apply to each situation.
So how do we do it? Paul only gives us a hint:
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.
We’ll have to wait until the next sermon to figure out together what this means!
