LIVING SACRIFICE

Ro 12:1
 

12:1 I beseech {1} you therefore, brethren, {a} by the mercies of God, that ye {b} present your {c}
bodies a {d} living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your {e} reasonable service.

     (1) The fourth part of this epistle, which after the finishing of the principal points of Christian
     doctrine, consists in the declaring of precepts of the Christian life. And first of all he gives
     general precepts and grounds: the principal of which is this, that every man consecrate himself
     wholly to the spiritual service of God, and do as it were sacrifice himself, trusting the grace of
     God.
     (a) By this preface he shows that     (b) In times past the sacrifices were presented before the altar: but now the altar is everywhere.
     (c) Yourselves: .
 
I beseech you...(parakalo) asking earnestly,  eagerly to beg.

The word therefore comes from what had been said in the previous chapter.  We saw  chapter 11 ending with the absolute sovereignity of God,  God is not depended on us and he is not indebted to us and on the other hand the dependence and the debt of obligation are all on our side. God's glory is the utmost goal of everything we do. Oh! the depth and the riches of God,  his amazing grace saving a wrethed sinner like you and me.  Oh how we fear his judment but now adore his love and mercy!

The key word here is “sacrifice”  He is begging us to sacrifice.  Sacrifice what?

Our Bodies.

First we will see the nature of the sacrifice and then we will see why God wants our bodies as the sacrifice.

Sacrifice belong to the priest.

This is the first most important step in our relationship to God.  Who presents a sacrifice?  It is the work of the priests. This is addressed to priests,  and we are the priests of God.

1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

It’s Nature.

The priest do not come to God empty handed, there has to be a sacrfice.

Heb 8:3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.

Christ’s sactifice was a sacrifice of atonement for our guilt and our sins, and it is a blood sacrifice Our sacrifice is a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise

Bodies as a living sacrifice

Not beating your bodies.

Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

In the beginning Adam and Eve was naked in their fellowship with God.  Their flesh was pure not infected with sin.

Ge 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

 But when sin entered,  they lost the fellowship was God and they were guilty before God and they were affraid of their nakedness,  meaninig guilty and ahamed.

Ge 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
 Ge 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

 Job 31:33  If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

We offered our body to sin. We used our mind not to the glory of God but to sin. We used speech not as praise to God but as a curse,  with gossip, back biting, slandering, and with viciousness. We used all other instruments of our body for destruction.  Well we are very good covering our nakedness like our fore father,  make up, hairdo,  latest designs.  Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
 But we need to realize that our body is getting older because of sin.
Mt 26:26  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

Christ came to sacrifice his body,  so the offended party the law giver and the judge will accept the sacrifice.  The divine justice was satisfied,  with the sacrifice of Christ.

Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Jesus offered himself, meaning the entire person of himself.  He is holy, undefiled, a lamb without a blemish and separate from sinners.  What about us. Woe is me.  Our bodies are carnal, nothing good dwell in this body, nothing but corruption, undone and unclean.  So how can we present our bodies as a living and a holy sacrifice?

Ga 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

We need to be confident we are crucified with Christ, dead to the law and alive to God. We are freed fron the curse and the guilt of the law. We were crucified, buried (bury only dead people) and to be risen with him.  Ro 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Now I live in the power of Christ, as I am in Christ and Christ lives in me and governed by the Holy Spirit.
 

Ro 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

His ministry is our ministry as he and us are one,  unseparable. When he presented his body as a sacrifice he presented you. He presented himself crucified for you. He presented you as crucified with him. Now you present to God not only yourself but Christ in you. We become partakers of his holiness.

Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

The Conditions

Is God going to accept your sacrifice?  On what conditions is he going to accept your sacrifice?
when we offer our thanksgiving of praise to God it is a sacrifice of faith. That means God requires spiritual worship

Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Ro 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
 Ga 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Christ reconcilled us to God, and we are his children.

It must be not dead and unholy,  but living and holy.

Living - there has to be life. We all have life.  We are talking spirirtual life. The quality of the Christian life and our right standing with God. Completely enjoying his grace and love.

 It’s motive

I beseech you,  I beg you,  I appeal to you,  earnest  request, urging you. What is the motive. “by the mercies of God.”

We as Christians need to understand how much we owe to the mercy of God,  unless we understand this, we can never worship him from the bottom of our hearts,  nor can we stimulated to obey and reverance him.  Some may force to obey him but not in cheerfulness and in love.

Ps 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Ps 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
 Ps 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Without reservations we need to present ourselves to God in sacrifice of praise. Do not lie to God. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.  Do not be like Ananias and Sapphira. Give all without reservations, it is not the amount you give but do not lie to the Holy Spirit. Do not offer sacrifice of praise in compulsion of duty but in love and joy. Follow the Lord wholly,  give all you have.