Living Sacrifices

The book or Romans is often divided into two sections: Chapters 1-11 and 12-16.

“What God has given to us” (Rom. 1–11) gives way to “what we are to give to God” (Rom. 12-15)

“What we need to know” (Rom 1-11) gives way to “what we need to do” (Rom 12-15)

As we jump into chapter 12, we enter the “yes but how?” section of the book YBH.

• How do I live for God in a way that honors him?
• How do I make sure I am not taking advantage of God’s grace?
• How can I truly consider myself dead to sin and alive to God?

All of the statements that Paul made in the first 11 chapters left the hearers with questions as to “yes, but how do I ….” and that is what Paul is going to cover. And these first two verses of chapter 12 are the pivot point.

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. ² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

We are going to process these verses pretty thoroughly:

THEREFORE:

In conclusion of the previous 11 chapters we have studied – the things we can know and prove academically…

There is a big difference between knowing and doing.

So far, Paul has focused on the “knowing”. We KNOW these things are true because….

Now, Paul is going to focus on the DOING part of things.

This was a common way of approaching philosophy in the Roman arena during the writing of this letter. The “stoics” were a groups of thinkers and philosophizers. One of their big thinkers was Seneca, and here is what he had to say about knowledge and action:

“Virtue is divided into two parts—into contemplation of truth, and conduct. Training teaches contemplation, and admonition teaches conduct. And right conduct both practises and reveals virtue.”

Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales), Letter 94, section 45 — the letter titled “On the Value of Advice.” https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter_94

Roman philosopher Musonius Rufus, also active during Nero’s time, said this: “Isn’t being self-controlled and prudent about all one’s actions much better than being able to say what is involved in prudence or self-mastery?”

Musonius Rufus, Lecture 5, §4 — “Which is more effective, theory or practice?” (Πότερον ἔθος ἢ λόγος), in Cynthia King’s translation, Musonius Rufus: Lectures and Sayings (ed. William B. Irvine, 2011).

What they are both saying is that you can know about something, but it is far more valuable to DO SOMETHING with what you know, then to just talk about what you know.

So Paul’s approach of teaching and then application is one that the Romans would be familiar with.  Paul methodology borrows from the stoics pattern because it is from that era. However, the stoics believe people could be virtuous through string training and a disciplined life. Paul teaches that the foundation for virtue, the foundation for living a “good life” is not found in man, it is found in God and specifically the redemptive work of Jesus for humanity.

And Paul is saying…

We know what GOD has done so now we know how WE ought to do.

WHAT DO WE KNOW?

Romans 12:1 CSB

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

“in view of God’s mercies”

Therefore because we now know and understand “the mercies of God”.

What are the mercies of God that we have covered so far?

• we have been justified freely (3:24)
• we have peace with God (5:1)
• Jesus died for us, while we were still sinners (5:6)
• we have been spared from God’s wrath (5:9)
• we have eternal life (5:21, 6:4,23)
• we are no longer slaves to sin (6:4)
• we stand uncondemned (8:1-2)
• we have God’s spirit in us (8:9)
• nothing can separate us from God’s love (8:33-39)

We have experienced mercy on top of mercy. So, SINCE we know about the mercies of God and are experiencing them, Paul says,

Romans 12:1 CSB

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

“I URGE YOU”

Have you ever had the urge to do something?

I remember as a teen walking past my mom and every now and then I would get a right jab into my arm. I would look at her and she would say she had an “urge”. We might have an urge to get ice cream, or the urge to give someone a call. When we use this term it can mean a one time whim.

The meaning Paul is taking on is much stronger than that kind of urge.

CSB, NIV, NASB all use “urge”.
ESV uses “appeal”
NKJV uses “beseech”  – which is probably not a word you have in your everyday vocabulary.
CJB uses “exhort”

The word is translated “beg, plead, exhort, encourage, admonish…” It is more than a suggestion and less than a demand. It is someone who has experience and authority speaking to someone who has to make a choice.

Parent speaking to a child that has a choice ahead of them? Went to a market with our granddaughter and she has some money to spend on items for herself. Laura and I “urged” her, multiple times, to view all of the different vendors to see what they had and then come back to the ones that she wanted the most. We did not force her, but we “encouraged” her strongly.

In the case of what Paul is talking about, there is a lot more on the line than some pocket change.

When you think of all that God has done for us, when you think of the price that was paid for YOU, when you view all of the mercies God has showered upon you… I urge you to….

DO THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES SENSE: God yourself back to God as a sacrifice.

Romans 12:1 CSB

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

Present your bodies. Paul is certainly talking about the physical body, but he is not talking about ONLY the physical body. he uses the word “soma” for body. If he just meant the physical body he probably would have used a term he has used a lot in the book of Romans, sarx or “flesh”. Body is the word used to talk about the “body of Christ” meaning the church. We are all members on one body, etc.

Romans A Thank Offering

We think of sacrifice as the giving away of something of extreme value. There is an element of that in biblical sacrifice, but the primary point is not that we should lose something but that we should express something. The whole principle of giving to God is an expression of worship.

Present your entire being -> Give God your entire personhood. We often quote a verse about this very thing:

Mark 12:30 CSB

³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

For all of the Roman/Greek people, and for the Jews/Hebrew people:

Deuteronomy 6:5 CSB

⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Whether you consider people made up of body and soul, heart, soul and strength, or heart, soul mind and strength, your entire being is what Paul is referring to when he urges you and me to “present our bodies” as a sacrifice to God.

Romans 12:1 CSB

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

SACRIFICE:

There are multiple facets of this sacrifice. It is:

living

We have already been killed AND raised to new life. So the sacrifice is not one of dying, but of living. Positionally, we cannot die again, we have been raised to new life in Jesus Christ into an eternal life.

Romans 6:4 CSB

⁴ Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

We have been given new life, and because of that we are to offer back to God the life we have been given:

Romans 6:12–13 CSB

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body [soma], so that you obey its desires. ¹³ And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.

We are to LIVE for God, not just die for him.

Honestly, it is much easier to die for a cause than to live for a cause. To die for a cause is a one time act, and it is over, often in the blink of an eye. To live for a cause means to make decisions that will reinforce your belief, attempt to persuade others of the value of the cause, to make perpetual sacrifices of time, resources, and energy to that cause.

You and I are called to be living sacrifices for THE CAUSE – the one who was and is and ever more shall be.

set apart

The word holy means set apart for God’s use.

Temple elements, the utensils, the offerings, the priests were all consecrated and set apart for the work of God.

Exodus 30:26–29 CSB

²⁶ “With it you are to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, ²⁷ the table with all its utensils, the lampstand with its utensils, the altar of incense, ²⁸ the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. ²⁹ Consecrate them and they will be especially holy. Whatever touches them will be consecrated.

These were inanimate objects. Pieces of furniture and utensils. They are set apart because they are only to be used in service to God. And THAT is the point. WE are to dedicate our lives to be used for service to God.

NOTE: this is the counter to the “easy believism” that can come from believe and you will be saved because “be saved” means are you to be set apart to live for God’s purposes.

pleasing to God

Doing the things that make God smile.

How can I know what pleases God? In many ways it is a discovery!

There are certain black and white things, right? Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Those are part of the big 10 – so we get that. But there are a lot of areas where we WISH we had a text from God that says, “Do this” or “Don’t do that”.

That is when it comes down to understanding the heart behind the command, the reason for it. When Jesus summed up the Law & Prophets he said they could be boiled down to 2 commands:

• Love God with all you have.
• Love your neighbor as yourself.

That gives us a world view to filter everything we do by. So then you have to process those unknown situations through -> Is this something that pleases God or not?

So, what makes God smile? What pleases God? Here are some examples:

Hebrews 13:16 CSB

¹⁶ Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.

Colossians 3:20 CSB

²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

1 Timothy 2:1–3 CSB

¹ First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, ² for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. ³ This is good, and it pleases God our Savior,

These are just a few that show the crazy variety of ways that we can please God. What pleases God is living in such a way that we demonstrate the nature and character of God to others in the body and those that are not a part of the family yet.

Those are the three characteristics of how we are to be sacrifices for God:

• living our lives for Him
• set apart from the world for his purposes
• doing the things he commands

PAUL will be getting very practical about how we can live to please God, to be set apart for him and to truly live for him in the chapters to come. But it starts with the mind – a change in the way we think about life, our life that God has given to us.

The Letter to the Romans (Second Edition) V. The Transforming Power of the Gospel: Christian Conduct (12:1–15:13)

For if we take to heart the truth of the gospel that he has presented, we will have a transformed worldview that cannot but affect our lives in uncounted ways.

So how do  present our lives as living sacrifices? Paul’s provides a foundation:

Romans 12:2 CSB

² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

In typical Pauline fashion there is a “DO NOT” followed by a “DO”

Do not be conformed to this age.

That is not a old person joke. That means we are not to try to fit in and become a part of the things that the world around us thinks are important – the things particularly that are contrary to God’s ways.

• Don’t be pressured into
• Don’t make them your goals and ambitions

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 10: Romans through Galatians A. The Appeal for Dedication of the Believer (12:1, 2)

The believer has been delivered from this present evil age (Gal 1:4), which has Satan for its god (2 Cor 4:4). He lives by the powers of the age to come (Heb 6:5), but his heavenly calling includes residence in this world, among sinful men, where he is to show forth the praises of him who called him out of darkness into God’s marvelous light. He is in the world for witness, but not for conformity to that which is a passing phenomenon (1 Cor 7:31).

If you are going to be holy, then it means you are set apart from the common. If that is the goal, then we must be set apart from the carnal as well. WE must not look or act like that which is not holy.

• The world says you can have sex whenever you want with whomever you want, and if you get pregnant just abort the baby.
• God says that sex is a beautiful gift that is meant to be shared with one person, after marriage, and getting pregnant is a gift from God – a life that is not to be taken.

That is just one example.

• The world says, “I want to get paid in cash so I do not have to report the income.”
• God says to give to the govt what belongs to the govt and to God what belongs to him (which is YOU!).

The list can go on and on.

Galatians 1:4 CSB

⁴ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

Jesus gave his life to rescue us from this present evil age. What a slap in the face for us to then embrace is and become like it. It nullifies the very work he did for us.

Our nature is to see what we can get away with. Gods standard is to see what you can give away!

We are to look and act differently because of who we are in Jesus.

That is hard! How do I do it?

Romans 12:2 CSB

² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Be transformed!

The Greek word Paul uses in verse 2 for “transformed” is metamorphosis. We use that word to describe the transition a caterpillar undergoes in order to become a butterfly.

The word indicates a radical change of form. Therefore, the goal of the Christian life is not merely nonconformity, which is the easy part, but transformation, which is a lifelong pursuit.

So how does real change, real reform take place? Where does it begin?

By renewing your mind.

Romans 12:2 CSB

² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

How do we renew our mind? Some of it comes from thinking about what WILL come. Someday we WILL be with Jesus. Someday this world WILL be gone and we WILL have our new bodies. But that means we have to THINK about those things. It starts in the mind:

Philippians 4:8 NIV

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

In another one of Paul’s letters he says,

Colossians 3:2 CSB

² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

This “reprogramming” of the mind does not take place overnight but is a lifelong process by which our way of thinking is to resemble more and more the way God wants us to think.

Honestly, it is work. And it needs to be done in community with others.

We need to live out our new life within the community of believers (12:3–8, 10, 13a, 16) and among their unbelieving neighbors (12:9, 11–12, 13b, 14–15, 17–21) with a humility and love that reflects God’s sincere and unconditional love for us.

And the end result?

Romans 12:2 CSB

² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

“Approving” the will of God means to understand and agree with what God wants of us with a view to putting it into practice: “discern-and-do the will of God.” That Paul means here by “the will of God” his moral direction is clear from the way Paul describes it: this will is that which is “good,” “acceptable [to God],” and “perfect.”

The goal of our lives SHOULD BE that we live in such a way that we demonstrate what God’s good, pleasing and perfect will looks like.

This is in contrast to Romans 1:28

Romans 1:28 CSB

²⁸ And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.

Those that DID NOT acknowledge God were given over to a corrupt mind so that they cannot do right.

WE ARE called to holy – set apart for God to DO the things that are right. We have a renewed mind, not a corrupt mind. We acknowledge God, not reject God. We think it is not just totally worthwhile – it is the only thing that makes sense. It is our TRUE WORSHIP:

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. ² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

True Worship

THIS is our “true worship”, or our “spiritual service of worship”, or “true and proper worship”.

The Greek word in this phrase has been one translators have struggled with. It is λογικός (think of the word “logical”) and I think the most literal translation is what the LEB and NKJV provide: “reasonable service”. It means “reasonable”. I just makes a sense. It is logical. It only shows up two times in the NT.

Reasonable is a fuzzy term. There is nothing concrete about it. What is a “reasonable amount of coffee one should consume daily?” 1 cup, 1 pot, 1 pound?

When you think of all that God has done for us, what would be a “reasonable” response? He paid a great price for our lives, so what could we give back to him but that very life?

However the, the translation of “service” is incomplete. There is service in the NT like serving others, and there are multiple words that describe that kind of service. And then there is THIS form of service which is temple service – which only appears 5 times in the NT. That is why many translations define it as “worship”.

So, literally, it might read, “which is your reasonable temple service”.

Romans 12:1 CJB

¹ I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical “Temple worship” for you.

Our REASONABLE RESPONSE is to offer our lives in service to our God. And the answers to the Yes But How’s are coming in the chapters ahead. In essence, the rest of this book is how to do this.

In the meantime, I want to encourage you to answer the question:

What is reasonable to give back to God considering the mercy I have received from him?

Meditate on that this week.