How Should We Sacrifice to God?

Why did Paul write chapters 12-16 of Romans?

Why not stop after chapter 11’s marvelous conclusion:

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! … From Him, through Him, and to Him are all things! To Him be the glory forever! (From Romans 11:33, 36)

Or why doesn’t he proceed directly to his plans to visit them, discussed in chapter 15?

Because in Scripture truth always leads to change.

  • We don’t learn biblical truth so we can become Bible answer men
  • Nor do we learn biblical truth to satisfy our intellectual curiosity – what is God like? What is man like?

God breaths out Scriptural Truth that is profitable “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” – Why? – so “that the man of God may be” competent, perfected, fully “equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The structure of Romans reflects this. Paul applies the truths of chapters 1-11 in chapters 12-15.

Romans 12:1 is thus the hinge in the letter:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Let’s focus on four phrases from this verse:

1) Therefore, By the Mercies of God

“Therefore” indicates the application of the subsequent chapters is closely linked to the theology that Paul discusses earlier. We are to live our lives differently because we understand what God has done, because we have taken to heart Who He is. How we think is to affect how we act – every minute of every day.

Realize: This is not the case in many religions. There is theology on the one hand, and a moral code on the other. There is little or no link between them.

Note that of all the truth Paul has brought out so far in Romans, he emphasizes here God’s mercy. Romans has made clear: No one is righteous. All have sinned. The wages of sin is death. But God put forward Jesus as the atoning sacrifice by His death on the cross. So God declares His people righteous, He redeems His people as a gift – a gift that comes to us through faith in Jesus as our Savior.

Furthermore, Paul has said in chapter 11 that this is true for peoples as well as for individuals. God consigns all types of people to disobedience so that He might have mercy on all types of people (Romans 11:32).

So because of that great mercy, because of who God is and who you are, because He offers you salvation, indeed, Himself in Jesus, because nothing can separate you from the love He has for you in Christ Jesus, therefore respond, therefore live out Romans 12 through 15.

2) I Appeal to You, Brothers

Notice what Paul does at this point. He is an apostle. He has authority. He could say, “I command you.”

But instead he appeals to them to respond from the heart.

Why?

Because what he is going to tell them to do cannot be done in a perfunctory manner. It cannot be checked off as completed once you obey a rule or two.

He is going to tell them to do something that will characterize the rest of their lives – until they die.

So he says: “I exhort you. I encourage you. I appeal to you: Think of God’s mercy. Think of Who He is, who you are. Think of who Jesus is, what He has done on your behalf. Think of the promises of God – and respond! Act and, indeed, feel in a way consistent with these truths. Take these truths to heart and be changed by them.”

3) Present Your Bodies as a Sacrifice

Let’s unpack this appeal in four ways:

a) God Doesn’t Need Us

You may have heard people say: “We are God’s hands and feet to accomplish His work.”

What do you think of that?

God does indeed equip and use us to accomplish His purposes. He tells us to go and disciple all nations (Matthew 28:18-20); He tells us to let our light shine before men so they may see our good works and give Him glory (Matthew 5:16).

But you could infer from that statement that God needs us. We are to offer Him our bodies because He doesn’t have one.

No. God is not needy. He created us. He can create others. All our abilities, all our intelligence, every cell in our bodies is from Him. When we offer ourselves to Him, He gains nothing. We are the ones who gain.

b) Present as a Sacrifice

God instituted the sacrificial system to picture His work and our relationship to Him. That system includes several different types of offerings, including whole burnt offerings, grain or present offerings, sin offerings, and fellowship offerings (see Leviticus 1-7).

Christians are most familiar with the sin offering, rightly seeing Jesus as the fulfillment of that offering. An ancient Israelite would lay his hands on the living animal, identifying with it, and then kill it. Similarly, God transfers the sins of His people to Jesus on the cross. He became a sin offering for us.

But in Romans 12, Paul is not telling us to offer ourselves as a sin offering. The image instead is of other offerings – two of which we will consider here: the whole burnt offering and the grain or present offering.

The primary distinction of the whole burnt offering is that the entire animal is burned in the fire. The offeror or the priests eat at least part of every other offering.

The grain or present offering consists of their staple food, what the people effectively are made of.

Thus, considering the two together: I am to offer all I am to God – even all the details of my daily life.

Furthermore, note that both offerings are celebrations! The idea is not, “Oh, I’m giving up this expensive animal, or this food that we could use!” Rather, the idea is: “I belong wholly to Him. I am accepted by Him completely. Indeed, I am without blemish before Him. He has covered every stain, every sin in me. So like a spotless lamb, loved by Him, redeemed by Him, I can offer myself to Him – and He rejoices!”

So Paul’s exhortation here is not so much for commitment but for surrender, complete surrender.

That’s what Jesus did. In addition to becoming a sin offering, He is an example of complete surrender, offering Himself to God (see, for example, John 5:30).

c) Present Your Bodies

Why does Paul emphasize our bodies?

He clearly is not limiting the command to our bodies. Indeed, he speaks of the “renewal of your mind” in verse 2.

He emphasizes “body” because of the temptation in his day and ours to separate the body from the mind or soul, to think of our relationship to God as solely interior, and day to day life in the body as separate, even relatively unimportant.

So Paul is saying: “Present your entire person to God as a sacrifice – including your body” (see also 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

This has important implications for the way we live. That passage from 1 Corinthians emphasizes how we live sexually. But there are additional implications for how we eat, how we exercise, and, indeed, what we do with our bodies throughout the day.

One preacher summarizes this truth: “I must not regard even my body as my private property.”

Don’t we all tend to do that? Doesn’t our culture encourage us to think that way?

We are to offer our bodies to God – they are not our private property.

d) What Type of Sacrifice

Paul uses three adjectives to describe the sacrifice:

Living:

The point here is not that the Old Testament sacrifices were dead – they were alive when they were offered! Rather the point is that this is not a one-time event, a one-time offering and then we die. We are to offer this sacrifice day after day, continually – our entire life is an offering to God.

Holy:

Old Testament sacrifices had to be perfect, without blemish. We are stained, but as we noted we become unblemished because of Jesus’ work. So our offering of our bodies is holy.

Acceptable or Well-Pleasing

“Acceptable” is problematic here. Imagine as a student you work hard on an essay for English class. You’re pleased with the final version and you eagerly await your teacher’s response. When you get it back, the teacher has written across the top, “This is acceptable.”

How do you feel? Not happy! That sounds like your essay is barely good enough. You want the teacher to write, “Excellent!” or “I’m quite pleased with this!”

The Greek word means much more than “acceptable” in that sense. Thus some translations render it “pleasing.”

God is indeed well-pleased with our offering ourselves to Him in this way. He is delighted when we see Jesus as our Redeemer, and see ourselves as loved and accepted in Christ, and thus following Him with joy all our lives.

4) This is Worship, This is Life                   

Paul concludes the verse by emphasizing that our continually offering ourselves as a sacrifice to God is our “spiritual worship.”

The phrase is rather difficult to translate. The word translated “spiritual” in the ESV can mean “logical, rational, inner, genuine.” Thus the NET translates it “reasonable service.” One commentator suggests rendering the phrase, “which is the logical thing to do.”

So let’s try to tie together the living sacrifice idea with insights from this phrase. We’ll consider three negatives and then three positives:

First, as we’ve said, our offering ourselves to God is not an occasional or even regular act. We are to offer ourselves continually, every minute of every day.

Second, our offering ourselves to God is not an act of perfunctory obedience, just going through the motions. It must be inner as well as outer.

Third, our offering ourselves is thus not simply obedience to a set of rules, a set of behaviors to avoid.

Instead, fourth, our offering ourselves is rational, logical, reasonable, genuine. That offering is the right response to our understanding of His mercies!

Fifth, this offering is spiritual. Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well: “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23).

Finally, this offering of ourselves to Him is indeed worship. Worship is acting, thinking, and feeling in a way that reflects the glory of God. And the inner dynamic of worship is valuing Jesus far above all earthly goals, attainments, joys, and accomplishments.

Therefore, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God: Present your bodies to Him as a sacrifice – living, holy, well-pleasing to God. This is only logical. This is the way you worship Him: Seeing your entire life as His, and then living that out – to your great joy.

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee….
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine….
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee. (Frances Havergal, 1874)

[This devotion is shortened and edited from a sermon on Romans 12:1 preached January 7, 2018. You can listen to the audio of that sermon via this link. The quote from “one preacher” is from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: Exposition of Chapter 12: Christian Conduct (Banner of Truth Trust, 2000), p. 65.]

Be Very Diligent to Love God

Jesus tells us the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our being (Matthew 22:38). Joshua 23:11 tells us this is neither natural nor easy:

Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. (ESV)
So be very diligent to love the LORD your God for your own well-being. (HCSB)

Though God has given to all mankind “life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25), though, having given His Son on the cross, He surely will give His people all things (Romans 8:32), and though nothing will separate His people from His love (Romans 8:35-39), our love for Him comes and goes. In difficult times we are tempted to blame Him for our problems; in good times, we are tempted to ignore Him, to think and act as if we don’t need Him – like a teen who ignores the loving parents who feed him, clothe him, educate him, and pour out their lives for him.

Even when we know the Gospel and in our minds agree that we ought to love God, we often effectively slip into a pagan religion. While we would never be this blunt, our attitudes and actions can communicate: “I’ll attend church and small group, give money, read the Bible, help the poor, and speak the Gospel to others – then, God, how will you hold up Your side of the bargain?”

So Joshua speaks to us: “Be very diligent to love the Lord your God! Be very careful about this!” That is: “Don’t fall into such temptations! And don’t expect loving God to be easy – love is never easy! Work hard at it! Keep working at it day by day, week by week, year by year.”

One aspect of such diligence is to examine your heart – particularly when engaged in an activity you consider religious. Are you expressing and deepening joy in God, in Jesus? Or are you simply going through the motions?

But as important as the examination is your response when you fail! When you see yourself engaging in such perfunctory obedience, don’t fall for the lie, “If I can’t do this with the right attitude, I should just stop!” Instead, confess that lack of love to God (and possibly to other believers around you), ask God to incline your heart to Him – and continue in the task. Often, our Lord will give you a right heart as you persevere in that task.

For example, in the mid-1990s, our church in Massachusetts held two or three services every Sunday afternoon in the nursing homes in our town. If I had preached Sunday morning, everything in me wanted to go home, relax, and play with my kids. My heart was not right. I was not loving the Lord or acting out of that love. But when I went to the nursing home (often bringing children with me), prayed for a right heart, and opened up the Word, virtually every time God gave me love for Him and joy in Him along the way.

So be diligent to love the Lord your God! Fight the good fight to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

 

When Your Heart is Not Right

If our hearts are not right, should we avoid worshiping God publicly?

In Malachi’s day, the priests and the people were going through the motions of worship, yet all the while despising His Name (Malachi 1:6), thinking, “What a weariness this is!” (Malachi 1:13). So God says:

Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors [of the temple], that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 1:10-11)

God is great. And He is working together all the events of history to culminate in the grand, eternal, joyful worship of His Name by all peoples.

Worship today, in this age, is to foreshadow that final, glorious worship. But our perfunctory, going-through-the-motions worship does not do that. Instead, such obligatory worship degrades Him. Rather than the deserved honoring of the One who is holy, mighty, loving, and just, such worship makes Him look like some rich person who is not too bright, whom we need to fool and puff up so he’ll grant us what we really want. For we don’t want Him. Why should we? We just want what He will give us.

So God proclaims through Malachi that He would rather we not worship at all. He would rather board up the temple and cease all sacrifices. Today He would rather close the churches, disperse the choirs, and cancel Sunday School. We must halt any so-called worship that in effect distorts and dishonors His Name.

That leads us back to the opening question. We might think that we should apply this passage to ourselves individually, in saying, “I’m angry with God. I’m annoyed with Him. If I can’t get my heart right in time, I should just stay away. That’s what He would want. I shouldn’t be a hypocrite.”

But that is not what the passage implies. Indeed, the book of Malachi was written to change the hearts of those engaged in perfunctory worship. He deserves true, joyful worship – moving from perfunctory worship to no worship at all doesn’t solve the problem.

Rather, after recognizing that our hearts are in the wrong place, we must ask Him to change us: to change us through His Spirit working directly on us, through His Word showing us who He is, and through the songs, Scriptures, prayers, and preaching of our worship. We must beseech Him to enable us to see His greatness, to encounter His love, to be overwhelmed by His grace and justice. We must beg of Him to lead our hearts to respond rightfully to His revelation of Himself.

And time and again God graciously grants such requests.

So having a hard heart is not a reason to avoid worship. Rather it is a reason to seek His face, a reason to beg Him to change your heart. May He use our worship services to that end among us.

 

The Disobedient, Reluctant Ambassador and the Sovereign, Merciful God

The Apostle Paul tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ as God makes His appeal to others through us (2 Corinthians 5:20).

What happens when we fail to fulfill that role? What happens when we are disobedient and don’t speak of Him? What does God do in that case?

The book of Jonah tells us of a man called by God to be His ambassador to a people group that he hates. He is disobedient to the command. What does God do?

Let’s first of all look at four different ways that Jonah disobeys God, one way from each of the four chapters of the book.

God’s Disobedient, Reluctant Ambassador

God gives Jonah three commands in Jonah 1:2-3: Arise! Go! Cry out!

But how does Jonah respond in the next few verses? He does arise, but instead of going to Ninevah, he goes down again and again: down to Joppa in verse 3, down into the ship in verse 5, down into the hold of the ship in verse 5 – and then down into the sea in verse 15.  God tells Jonah to go one direction, to engage in cross-cultural ministry, and Jonah goes completely in the opposite direction.

It is easy for us to laugh at Jonah, and to judge him for failing to obey God. But who were the Assyrians? A cruel, ruthless, and powerful people – the major threat to Jonah’s country at this time. Less than 50 years after the time of Jonah this same Assyria will come and destroy the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Think hard now: What group of people do you dislike the most? What people frighten you, annoy you? What people would you least like to go stay with for several weeks? They are your Ninevites.

So how might we characterize Jonah’s disobedience in chapter 1? This is direct, defiant disobedience. God tells him to do one thing; he does exactly the opposite.

So now God gets the attention of His disobedient prophet by sending a storm and having the sailors throw him into the sea. Jonah thinks this is the end – but God appoints a great fish to come and swallow him. Jonah knows that God has spared his life miraculously.

So in chapter 2 Jonah prays. But does he repent? Read Jonah’s prayer (Jonah 2:1-9). What do you think? Does Jonah repent?

Amazingly, after God has performed miracles both to punish him for his disobedience and to save him, Jonah says not one word about repentance. He thanks God for saving his life, and he ends with the great cry, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” – but he never acknowledges that he was in the sea needing God to save him because of his own disobedience. Furthermore, while salvation does indeed belong to the Lord, the Lord is interested in the salvation of all people groups. Jonah is interested only in the people of Israel.

So Jonah’s disobedience in chapter 2 is a failure to repent.

Chapter 3 provides further evidence that Jonah has had no change of heart. He now comes up with a new way to express his disobedience.

Do you remember the three commands God gives Jonah in 1:2? “Arise, go, call out.” Note that in Jonah 3:2 God repeats those three commands. Does Jonah obey these commands this time? In chapter 1, he arises, but he does not go where God commands and never calls out. This time he obeys the second command: He arises and goes to Ninevah. And he does eventually call out. But  what does he say? Does he say, “Ninevah has defied the Lord God. Now repent! Or God will overthrow you!” No, that is not what he says. He gives no reason for God’s anger and he provides no opportunity for repentance. Indeed, he does not even mention the Name of the Lord! (Jonah 3:3-4)

Is this what God told Jonah to say? The next chapter clearly shows that God intended for the Ninevites to repent at the preaching of Jonah. That being the case, wouldn’t God have instructed Jonah to hold out the possibility of not being destroyed upon their repentance? Indeed, although the Old Testament is full of proclamations of judgment on disobedient nations, in every case there is a clear reason given for God’s judgment. Jonah’s preaching stands in stark contrast to that heritage. We must conclude that Jonah is preaching only part of the message God gave him.

In chapter 3, therefore, Jonah is displaying perfunctory obedience. Perfunctory obedience is when you obey in a grudging manner – you don’t want to obey and you don’t obey from your heart. Instead, you just go through the motions and, in actuality, are disobeying.

So Jonah has disobeyed God directly, he has failed to repent, and he has subsequently obeyed only in a perfunctory manner. Chapter 4 highlights one more way that Jonah disobeys God. In Jonah 4:1-3, Jonah is angry because God grants repentance to the Ninevites and does not destroy the city. Indeed, Jonah accuses God of being “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2).

So Jonah is saying that God is too merciful! He is angry at God for forgiving the sins of the Ninevites. He did not want to come to Ninevah and be the source of blessing for these people. And he always thought that God might grant them repentance – that is why he didn’t want to come.

So Jonah is angry at God for fulfilling His character and displaying mercy to the Ninevites. But remember: in chapter 2 Jonah praises God for being merciful! He cries out, “Salvation is from the Lord!” So Jonah wants God to be merciful to him and to his people – he just doesn’t want God to be merciful to others. He fails to see God’s heart for ALL nations.

So we can summarize Jonah’s sin in chapter 4 as a lack of faith in God’s Word. God’s Word says that He has a heart for all nations – indeed, God’s command to Jonah was further revelation on this topic.

Thus, God uses Jonah as His ambassador, even though he is reluctant and even though he sins again and again and again.

The Sovereign, Merciful God

But although Jonah is prominent throughout the book, the main character is God, not Jonah. This book shows God’s loving persistence in bringing the lost people of Ninevah to Himself – and also His loving persistence in bringing the reluctant prophet to Himself.

What does God do in order to bring the Ninevites to repentance?

  • He calls Jonah.
  • He sends the storm.
  • He sends the great fish to save Jonah.
  • He causes the fist to vomit Jonah on the shore – and not on any shore, but on a shore from which he can walk to Ninevah.
  • He calls Jonah again.
  • He changes the hearts of the Ninevites.

What is the lesson in all this? Psalm 67:3-4 provides it: “The peoples must praise you, O God; all the peoples must praise you! The nations must be glad and sing for joy.”

God will bring the nations to Himself – despite their hardness of heart, despite the inadequacies of His ambassadors. God has begun a good work in this world and He will, He must complete it. Why? Because of His passion for His glory. Habakkuk 2:14: “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

God’s desire to glorify Himself is at the root of His bringing the nations to Himself. He has stated that this must come about, and just as He performed miracle after miracle to bring about the repentance of the Ninevites, just as He brought about that repentance despite the sin and attempted sabotage of His chosen ambassador, God will one day bring those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation to Himself. It must happen.

Do you see how this is a great comfort? God gives us the privilege of being His agents in this great task – He chooses to work through us – but the outcome is certain. We cannot fail. Whatever our weaknesses, whatever our failings, God will break down all opposition and will bring the nations to Himself.

But God is just as intent upon bringing His errant ambassadors to Himself! Consider how He treats Jonah in chapter four. Jonah has just stated how disappointed he is that God has not destroyed Ninevah. Now, in the midst of his pity party, he says, “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:3).

Despite all his best efforts, Jonah has accomplished the task God set before him. God could have responded, “OK, Jonah, if that’s how you feel, ZAP!” And Jonah would be dead.

But God doesn’t do that. Instead He exerts the same loving persistence, the same sovereign mercy in bringing His prophet to Himself as He exerted for the Ninevites. Consider all He does just in chapter 4:

  • He sends a plant to sprout up and give Jonah shade.
  • He sends a worm to destroy the plant.
  • He sends a scorching east wind.

This leads Jonah to become even angrier, as he is upset about the death of the plant.

God then confronts Jonah with impeccable logic in Jonah 4:9-11: Jonah had nothing to do with bringing the plant into existence, and such a plant at most lives only a few days. But because it served a purpose for him, Jonah “pities” it, being sorry that it dies. But God created the Ninevites and had dealt with this city for hundreds and hundreds of years. Now at last the city is fulfilling the purpose for which He created it: to glorify God. Should He not pity them? If Jonah has any reason to pity the plant, God’s reasons for pitying the Ninevites are much greater.

So God pursues Jonah as He pursues the Ninevites: relentlessly, persistently, sovereignly, mercifully, until all opposition fails. God cares about us as individuals and pursues us until we come to Him; and God cares about us as peoples, and pursues peoples until all the peoples praise Him.

Jonah had no love for the Ninevites. Jonah had no desire to see God glorified through the praises of the Ninevites. So Jonah’s heart was not united with God’s heart.

What about you? Is your heart more like Jonah’s or God’s?

Don’t be disobedient. Don’t be reluctant. Don’t just give God perfunctory obedience. He is gracious and merciful to every type of person – even to those you intensely dislike, even to those who frighten you.

But know: Our God is sovereign. And He is merciful. In that sovereign mercy He sent His Son. And through that Son, He will bring all the nations to Himself. And He will bring to repentance all His reluctant ambassadors.

That is our hope. And that is our joy. Praise His Name!

(Much of this is taken and edited from a sermon preached March 16, 2003 – the first sermon I preached on a Sunday morning service at DGCC. You can read that sermon in its entirety at this link.)