The Sin Problem
A Living Sacrifice
Romans 12:1-2
For any Christian who is serious about their walk with God, there is a constant awareness of how many opportunities there are on any given day to disobey God. The temptation might be to do something we shouldn't do or not do something we know we should. It might be in an inner attitude or an outward action or word.
But for anyone who really wants to walk with God and live their life in keeping with the word of God, there will be this struggle between right and wrong, or to use Paul's words from the book of Romans, sin and righteousness.
And just because you've walked with God a long time and been a Christian for years, that doesn't mean the temptation is less. In fact it probably means it has increased because you've become more familiar with what sin really is and how subtle are its attacks.
Sin is a very real problem, not just before we are saved, but it continues after we are saved and intensifies along the journey. So how do we effectively battle sin?
Well, so far in our series, we've learned about the nature of sin. It was passed along to us from our parents and if you track back far enough, you discover it originated with Adam in the Garden of Eden, and it left humanity in a mess. We are separated from God, depraved in our thinking and heading for an eternity in hell.
But God, motivated by His love, intervenes in human history and in an act of amazing grace sends Jesus to earth to die on a cross and offer Himself as a substitute for our sin.
And just as one act of sin committed by Adam had far-reaching effects, so also, the one act of obedience by Jesus also reaches us with God's grace. In fact, what Jesus did accomplishes much more than what Adam did.
God accepts what Jesus did on our behalf, and not only are our sins forgiven, He actually changes our position from being a sinner to being a perfect child of God. We are justified.
And even though we still have to struggle with sin in our human flesh, the real us, the child of God living in the flesh is in perfect standing before God and we are seen as absolutely righteous. And one day, when we die or when the Lord returns for us, we will leave this sinful flesh behind and eventually be remade into a body just like that of Jesus. Then, our body will catch up with our spirit and we will enjoy that existence forever in the presence of God.
In the meantime, we have to struggle with the flesh and along with Paul, sometimes we do what we don't want to do and sometimes we don't do what we should. And to deal with that effectively, we must continually be reminding ourselves of some unchanging truths.
For instance, we were crucified, buried and resurrected with Christ and because of that we are freed from the slavery of sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life.
Those are unchanging facts, established by God and forever settled in heaven. And the best thing I can do to help me deal with sin is accept them as true. Paul uses the word "reckon". We consider them to be as declared, and in that knowledge, we yield ourselves to God instead of sin.
Today, I want to develop this idea of yielding a little more by considering a very familiar passage of scripture in Romans 12 that I touched on last week.
verses 1-2
As we approach this text, we need to keep in mind that Paul has just presented 11 chapters of doctrine about salvation. And with the exception of a few encouragements in chapter 6 through 8, this is the first application he makes. And the very first thing he say is to present yourself a living sacrifice to God.
In other words, your response and mine to what God has done for us should be to give to God a spiritual offering, and not just any offering, but ourselves as an offering. Notice, the nature of the offerings is described as “a living and holy sacrifice.”
Now obviously, this is priestly language. It takes us back to the Old Testament and the sacrificial system where the priest would kill an animal, put it on the altar and offer it to God. And just to be clear, priests offered dead sacrifices that pictured the sacrifice of Christ paying the penalty for our sin.
But that's not what's pictured here. Instead, we’re called on to offer living sacrifices, not dead ones. Why is it different?
It is different because that system is gone. It died with Jesus and the proof is that God ripped open the Holy of Holies indicating that access to Him was provided through the sacrifice of Christ. So there is no longer any need for anything or anybody to die so we can get to God. The only sacrifice that was necessary was Jesus.
Now, there is a new kind of sacrifice and it is a living sacrifice. It’s not an animal. It’s you and me and we are to place ourselves on the altar before God as an offering to Him. And when we do that, we are offering a "reasonable service". We'll talk about that more in a moment.
So if we read the entirety of the book of Romans, we will spend 11 chapters exploring the nature and foundation of our salvation. But in chapter 11, we step into the picture and the text is no longer about what God has done for us, but instead what is our responsibility because of what He's done?
And the expected response is that we would present ourselves as holy, living sacrifices. And contained in these two verses we find some very practical help for overcoming the sin problem on a daily basis and living in obedience to God. In other words, here is how we stop yielding ourselves to sin and start yielding ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness, as we read in chapter 6
According to these verses, there are four elements involved in presenting yourself a living sacrifice, and granted, they overlap and intertwine, but, they are still easily seen and identified. Let's look at them.
First, being a living sacrifice involves
1. The Soul
By "soul", I mean the inner person and we're talking about salvation. Notice, Paul begins the verse by addressing it to the brethren. That indicates he is writing to people who’ve already given their souls to God. They’re saved. And it's obvious he is writing to Christians because he encourages them to think about the "mercies of God" they have encountered.
The verse and what follows hinges on the word "therefore" and the mercies of God that have been previously mentioned. For 11 chapters, the apostle Paul has been talking about the mercies of God.
Now "mercies" are things given to us that we don't deserve. And based on these undeserved gifts of mercy, we are to present our body as a living sacrifice because those mercies have to do with the salvation of the soul.
That’s what salvation is all about. You come spiritually bankrupt in sin, needing forgiveness, wanting heaven and not hell, you give yourself to God, put your trust in Jesus Christ, turn from your sin, and receive the gift of eternal life. That’s your soul being placed on the altar.
So what does Paul have in mind specifically when he mentions the “the mercies of God”? I would guess he talking about everything that’s a part of salvation that he's mention in chapters 1-11.
Everything God has to take care of man’s sin problem is wrapped up in that word. For instance,
One of the mercies of God is His love being given to an unworthy, undeserving sinner. To that we could add grace. Obviously, we should include mercy. And we can't leave out faith. Twenty times in the opening eleven chapters, we are told that “faith” is granted to us, and in particular, the faith to believe and be saved.
You find “comfort,” chapter 1, verse 12; “power,” chapter 1, verse 16; “hope,” chapters 5 and 8; In chapter 9 and through chapter 11, another mercy that God extends to us is “patience” – patience, forbearance. Another mercy that God extends to us is “kindness,” chapter 2, verse 4.
Another mercy that God extends to us is a “share in His glory,” chapter 2, chapter 5, chapter 8, chapter 9. These are all the mercies of God. God shares with us, also, His “honor,” chapter 2, verse 10, and repeated again in chapter 9.
So let me go back over that – love, grace, the Holy Spirit, peace, faith, comfort, power, hope, patience, kindness, glory, and honor. All of those are the mercies of God all laid out in this marvelous book of Romans and throughout the New Testament, but we’re not through.
We find “Forgiveness” in chapter 4; “reconciliation,” chapter 5; and then 15 times, “justification” – justification literally being declared before God as just. Another mercy is “security.” We are secured forever by the Holy Spirit, chapter 5, chapter 8. Another is “eternal life.”
Another is “freedom” – freedom from the power and penalty of sin. Another is “resurrection,” chapter 8.
Another is “sonship,” adopted as sons. Another is “ongoing intercession” by, both, the Spirit and the Son, chapter 8.
I mean this is a massive list of all the elements that relate to salvation, and they are the mercies of God.
And as far as the sin problem is concerned, maybe the top of the list is “righteousness.” That’s the theme starting in chapter 1 and running all the way through, chapter 10. The” righteousness of God is credited and imputed to us.
It is this overwhelming list! So much so that in verse 33 of chapter 11, Paul makes this conclusion:
Romans 11:33-36
And it is that thought that leads him to the conclusion he makes in chapter 1. Why should you present yourself a living sacrifice ? Here's why! It’s an act of thanks and worship in response to this massive array of mercies that has saved your soul!
Second, being a living sacrifice, involves
2. The Body
That's what verse 1 says. : “...present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice". By the way, he's talking about everything that makes up the physical you. The body, which is tangible and visible, as well as all the invisible components of being human. That includes how you think and how you reason, everything that makes you a human.
And notice, it is stated in temple terms. The word “present” is a temple term and it means to surrender up, to yield up, to offer up, and that is to hold nothing back. It's the same word we explored last week in chapter 6 where we are told to no longer yield or present our members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but instead, present them to God.
And just like a priest who brings a sacrifice and lays the whole thing on the altar, you put your body on the altar, and by doing that, you are saying, “I give You, God, my body and everything about me.” That’s not hard to understand.
Listen: As I said a couple of weeks ago, you have nothing to do with your salvation and nothing to do with your glorification, but the process between the two, sanctification, you've got a lot to do with. That means salvation is not some passive doctrine that you observe.
It is a command and it involves action and surrender and duty. We are urged to present our bodies! Listen: Your obedience to God and victory over the sin in your life is dependent upon you getting a hold of your body and your appetites and your actions and presenting them to God.
Is that easy? Obviously not! Elsewhere Paul would write about beating his body into submission so he doesn't become disqualified to preach the gospel.
God wants your body as a sacrifice offered to him in holiness. And before you classify yourself as being a spiritual person just because you come to church or read your Bible or know some verses, you need to check out how you live and act and respond and react because God wants, not just your spirit and your mind, He wants your body, too. So how are you doing on that side?”
First Thessalonians 5:23 says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely.” What does that mean? Your spirit and soul and body. That’s what God wants – a living sacrifice.
Think about Abraham and Isaac going up on the mountain. Isaac was about to be a dead sacrifice, but Abraham, who offered Isaac, was making a living a sacrifice. What was he sacrificing? His son, his beloved son, the promises of God, the covenant of God, his heir, his hope, his future – everything, but he was willing to do it out of obedience. That’s a living sacrifice.
What does it mean to offer yourself to God to be a living sacrifice? You give everything you are to God. That's what is acceptable to God. God is not satisfied to have a soul given to Him and then the body withheld.
Third, to be a living sacrifice includes
3. The Mind
Obviously, these are all interconnected. After all, if you don't give your mind to God, you're not going to be successful in giving your body to God. You might be okay for a while.
The excitement and enthusiasm of being saved will kick in and you'll run on sheer adrenalin for a while.
But, eventually, how you think will take over what you do with your body. So how do we correct that?
verse 2
What do I do when I decide to change my behavior and what I'm doing with my body? How do I gain victory over temptation? How do I control my body with all of its attitudes and all of its thoughts and all of its actions, and give it to God?” What do I do when all my good intentions fail?
Listen: If you don't program your mind correctly, your body will crawl off that altar. This is just part of reality. The mind is critical. So how do we deal with the mind?
Paul gives two instructions, The first on is
- Negative
Do not be conformed to this world.
And keep in mind, this world is the fallen, unredeemed system of Satan with all of its ideas, thoughts, opinions, views, religions, philosophies, theories, speculations, impulses, aims and temptations.
In this regard, the world is the tool that Satan uses to promote his goals, his aims, his ends, and his ambitions, and he is relentless about that.
So if you're going to present your body a living sacrifice to God, you're going to have to make sure that your mind, which dictates how your body functions, is not completely absorbed into this world system.
The purposes, ethics, standards, and morality of the world are all satanic. Don't think like that! Instead, on the
- Positive
You must be transformed. Better said, you have been transformed. Remember, you are dead to sin and live to God, raised to walk in newness of life and that is a fact, not an experience.
You have been removed from the world. You have come out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Because of that truth, now you must present your body by reprogramming your mind to think differently from the corruption of the world.
By the way, that verb translated “transformed" is the word used to describe the transfiguration, where Christ who was standing there in a human body was literally transfigured into glorious form.
That's what you and I need to happen. We need to be transfigured into glorious form. Your outward image, who you are, must come from heaven and not hell. Let yourself be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How do you renew your mind? We don't have time to develop all of that, so let me just mention one primary key.
First and foremost, you renew your mind through the Word of God. The Word of God is the source of renewal, 1 Corinthians 2:16: You have the mind of Christ.
Colossians 1: “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects.”
You're going to do that when your mind is saturated with divine truth, and there’s no shortcut to this. The soul is redeemed. The inner man is right with God. But there's some work that needs to be done on the body and it begins with the mind.
Any decision to give your body to the Lord always hinges on the mind because the mind is battleground for the control of your body. We must be reprogrammed to think correctly as a child of God and that education must come from the Word of God.
That’s why, way back in Deuteronomy 6, when God was establishing His people, He said, “I am who I am. The Lord is one, and I’m telling you you’ve got to be faithful to Me, so talk about this when you stand up, walk, like down, wherever you go, all the time. Your mind must be committed to this.”
The soul is given to God, and then the body can be given to God. And that living sacrifice of the body given to God can be sustained as an offering to God when the mind is constantly being renewed by the truth of the Word of God.
Finally, being a living sacrifice involves
4. The Will
Once the mind is informed, the will must put it into action. After all, most of us know what we should and shouldn't do. We know right from wrong. We just don't do what we should. Isn't that what Paul said? “I don't do what I should do. I do what I don’t want to do.”
The will is a very important reality and to be a living sacrifice, I must renew my mind so that I can demonstrate the good and perfect will of God.
How do I overcome sin? The answer is right here in two short verses. Verse one tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, to live for Him, and verse two tells us how to do it.
As a soul saved by the grace of God, I present myself as a living sacrifice that seeks to do God's will based on what my mind knows so my body can follow, and I do it in grateful worship as one overwhelmed by the mercies of God.
And notice, it is your reasonable service. I know there are lots of translations that say this is your spiritual act of worship or something like that, and that is true, but I'm not sure that really captures the intention of what Paul writes.
It seems to me he is saying, "When you consider what God has done for you, the only reasonable response is to present yourself as a sacrifice to Him. This is expected because it is logical and reasonable."
And I will tell you one of things that has amazed and perplexed me through more than 30 years of ministry is to watch someone be diagnosed with a fatal disease or have a tragedy in their family or be facing a dire situation of some sort and they call on the Lord and ask the church to call on the Lord, and by His grace and mercy, God steps in and completely changes the outcome.
Cancers go into remission or disappear. Suddenly an unexpected check shows up in the mail. A rebellious child repents and comes home. A marriage is saved.
But instead of praising the Lord, instead of growing in their commtment and faith, those who are involved take it for granted, never show any outward signs of appreciation, and go on their merry way as if God owed them what He gave.
I will never understand how those to whom God has been merciful can stay away from church, never give an offering or sing a song of praise or stand up to testify of God's mercy.
It should be a given that those who have been shown mercy would give everything they are and have to return their praise and worship to the God Who provided it.
I find it interesting that the idea of sacrifice is found often throughout Scripture, but this is the only place where we, as New Testament believers, are asked to make a sacrifice. And because of that, it's difficult to go back to the Old Testament sacrifices and find an illustration of what a making a living sacrifice means because in the Old Testament, sacrifices were always killed.
And we know the sacrifice was never what the Lord was looking for. In fact, on more than one occasion He voiced His displeasure with His people merely giving sacrifices, but never changing their behavior. It was very seldom that they made the connection between the sacrifice and their lifestyle and choices.
But there is one exception where the Israelites make what could be described as a living sacrifice or a commitment to live for God and it is found in the book of Nehemiah. We don’t have the time to go through the entire account, but I want to point out parts of it, and I would encourage you to read chapters 9 and 10 in their entirety.
It is a beautiful tribute to God as His people praise Him and remember His mercy toward them. They start with Abraham in chapter 9, verse 7 and make their way through Hebrews history thanking God for His amazing, abundant mercy. In particular, listen to
Nehemiah 9:16-21
On and on they go, remembering how gracious and merciful and patient God has been with them.
Then,
verses 30-33,38
As these people thoughtfully and honestly remember the past, they pour out their souls to God. They verbally declare their dependence upon Him, and then they seal it by making a covenant, which they document in writing. They were really serious.
So that everyone would know they meant business, they committed it to writing. In fact, so serious are they that in Nehemiah 10:1-27 you will find 84 names listed as signers to this covenant. Nehemiah’s name is first. Then come twenty-two priests (vv. 1-8); seventeen Levites (vv. 9-18); and forty-four others who were called leaders or heads of homes (vv. 10-27).
Look at
Nehemiah 10:28-29
Two thing in particular characterize the people whose names appeared on the document. First, they had separated themselves from all the heathen and their lifestyle unto the law of God.
And second, they understood what they were doing. Anybody that put their name on that document knew that their signature meant they would be distinctively unique and unlike the pagans surrounding him.
Not only would they commit themselves, but their commitment included their wives, their sons, and their daughters. They did it as families working together .
And although the names of some sons and daughters appeared on the document, not all the names were listed because verse 28 begins “Now the rest of the people….” That means there were some who were not willing to make that commitment. They were not going to make that break with the pagans around them.
So why was it important for those who signed to da that? It was important because it symbolically drove a stake in the ground that day. They erected a written monument that said in effect, “This is our promise to you, O God. This is our constitution, our declaration of distinction.
We don’t care if anyone else in the world lives by this. We will live by it. It will be our guide. Our homes will be distinct. Our philosophy of life will not be like that of those who live outside the walls or even of some who live within the city’s walls. This is something, Lord, that we want to carry out before You.”
And in that regard, it was a living sacrifice… a vow, a commitment to live for Him. It would be evidenced in a lifestyle that would set them from those around them.
And that's what these verses in Romans 12 are all about. God expects that kind of commitment from us as well. Even more, He deserves that kind of commitment. And we do it because of His mercy, not in a historical sense, not as the children of Abraham and Moses who look to our rich national heritage and give God thanks, but as New Testament, blood-bought children of the King.
We don’t have to draw up a document and sign our names to it. We just need to present our bodies, our souls, our minds and our wills as a living sacrifice—to be faithful, constantly living for him to the best of our ability. It is the only reasonable thing to do.
Let's pray.
