I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Living Sacrifice
Beloved of the Lord......When we think of the word sacrifice, what usually comes to mind? When we think of a sacrifice we usually picture something that has to die. In the Old Testament there were thousands upon thousands of animal sacrifices commanded by God. They were living sacrifices for a moment, but then they were killed, slain, sacrificed to God. In this way, by commanding animal sacrifices, the Lord taught the Jews something very important. Sin brings death. Sin takes away life. And sin cannot be atoned for, except there be shedding of blood.
Naturally all the sacrifices of the Old Testament didn’t really take away sin, but these sacrifices pointed ahead to the one and only sacrifice which redeems us from sin. His name is Jesus Christ. But knowing His sacrifice, each believer then becomes a Living Sacrifice for His sake. We don’t kill or slay ourselves, but we must kill and slay and constantly fight our flesh within, by doing good instead of evil. We also sacrifice to God, when He takes something away from us which we treasure, but we accept His will by faith and so suffer loss. In that way we may sacrifice some or all of our wealth, a wife or husband, son or daughter, a mother or father, or house and home. The sacrifice can be anything in life we treasure, but the living part of sacrifice is faith, our faith alone. Only faith can give to God and only faith can accept when God takes away. Let us now begin.
Naturally all the sacrifices of the Old Testament didn’t really take away sin, but these sacrifices pointed ahead to the one and only sacrifice which redeems us from sin. His name is Jesus Christ. But knowing His sacrifice, each believer then becomes a Living Sacrifice for His sake. We don’t kill or slay ourselves, but we must kill and slay and constantly fight our flesh within, by doing good instead of evil. We also sacrifice to God, when He takes something away from us which we treasure, but we accept His will by faith and so suffer loss. In that way we may sacrifice some or all of our wealth, a wife or husband, son or daughter, a mother or father, or house and home. The sacrifice can be anything in life we treasure, but the living part of sacrifice is faith, our faith alone. Only faith can give to God and only faith can accept when God takes away. Let us now begin.
I. How our body is to become a living sacrifice. In today’s lesson the Apostle Paul is preaching to the congregation at Rome. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” To beseech means to beg or earnestly implore, even plead from the heart. Paul is saying, “I earnestly plead with you, beg you my brethren, now that you know the great love of God which has shined upon you through God’s only-begotten Son, now that you understand the great mercy He has shown to this dying world: now be sure to present to God your own body as a living sacrifice! Live for Him and not yourself! Worship God truly from your heart by faith, doing all that is good and holy, “acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Note how Paul says this is reasonable. Let’s give an example. If in this world you were in great debt on the verge of bankruptcy, and the sheriff was about to throw you into a miserable prison, but then a great benefactor came alone, had mercy on you, and paid all your debts thus setting you free, how would you live thereafter? For the rest of your life you would only speak good of your benefactor and tell others all he did to save you. You might also try to serve him by good works of deed and love, for how could you not be continually thankful!
How much more then is it reasonable, right, and holy, knowing that the Son of God laid down His life upon the cross to save us from the eternal prison of hell! How much better is Christ than any benefactor, for Christ didn’t give money to save us, by He shed His own blood, He gave His own precious life as a ransom for our sins! Each believer who knows this experiences joy and thankfulness in their own heart, and they can’t but help to praise Him by good works and holy living. Even so Paul writes, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 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.” Rom. 6 Just think of that, we are “alive from the dead.” We were like Lazarus in the tomb, until Christ called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We now have new life by His grace and love, His forgiveness of sins. We have new life by our Baptism, and new food also, the Body and Blood of our Savior, which brings remission of sins. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
All things are new because we live daily in God’s grace, where the Law cannot condemn us. Knowing Him who loved us and still loves us, and knowing Him who will be with us always even unto the end of the world, we have by faith a constant thankfulness of heart which cannot cease doing good works. His commandments are no longer a burden, but obeying and doing God’s will becomes our greatest joy. God has given us a way to show our thankfulness to Him, by love and the joyful obedience of His commandments. Where there is true faith of Christ in the heart, we no longer want to live for ourselves, but we live for Him who died for all. This is why Paul says we should present our bodies to God as a Living Sacrifice. But how is this done?
It’s done primarily in two ways, strength and weakness. Let me explain. FIRST our bodies become a living sacrifice, when we use our intellect and strength in employment, on the job. It pleases God, it is acceptable to God, when we employ our bodies to have an income so we can feed and clothe our neighbor, and do good things for them, both the family and the stranger. Ephesians 4:28 tells us why we should work. “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” If you work only to get rich and have a comfortable life you are sinning and selfish. But if you work and sacrifice your body by faith, you work because you want your family to eat and survive, and you want to have extra to help the occasional stranger or neighbor who might be in need. Our bodies also become a living sacrifice, when we use our strength to take care of the sick, a family member or stranger. A mother’s body is a living sacrifice when she feeds and clothes her children, or takes care of them when they are sick. A child also becomes a living sacrifice, when they use the strength of their bodies to help out their mother or father at home by chores or obedience, works of love. Even the elderly can serve the Lord though their bodies are weaker. Don’t be idle in retirement. You haven’t earned the right to waste your life as so many young people do today. In our elderly years the strength of our bodies should be employed in works of love for our neighbor. We can volunteer, bring the Word of God to others, or visit friends or those who need help, or whatever else is good and to God’s glory. Remember Jesus said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
But let’s speak now about how to be a living sacrifice when our bodies are weak by physical illness or frailties. How is this done? First, rarely is a body so incapacitated that it can do no work at all. Certainly whatever strength we have we should use to help our neighbor. But the point is even in sickness and weakness our bodies can still be a living sacrifice by accepting God’s will and chastening without complaint. We are a living sacrifice, when we accept the hardship by faith and prayer praying Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This also is pleasing to God, acceptable. This really is the beauty of our last hymn today: Jesus, I My Cross have Taken. Verse four says it well, Take my soul, thy full salvation; Rise o’er sin and fear and care; Joy to find in every station, Something still to do or bear. Think what Spirit dwells within thee, What a Father’s smile is thine, What a Savior died to win thee; Child of heaven shouldn’t thou repine?
Note how Paul says this is reasonable. Let’s give an example. If in this world you were in great debt on the verge of bankruptcy, and the sheriff was about to throw you into a miserable prison, but then a great benefactor came alone, had mercy on you, and paid all your debts thus setting you free, how would you live thereafter? For the rest of your life you would only speak good of your benefactor and tell others all he did to save you. You might also try to serve him by good works of deed and love, for how could you not be continually thankful!
How much more then is it reasonable, right, and holy, knowing that the Son of God laid down His life upon the cross to save us from the eternal prison of hell! How much better is Christ than any benefactor, for Christ didn’t give money to save us, by He shed His own blood, He gave His own precious life as a ransom for our sins! Each believer who knows this experiences joy and thankfulness in their own heart, and they can’t but help to praise Him by good works and holy living. Even so Paul writes, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 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.” Rom. 6 Just think of that, we are “alive from the dead.” We were like Lazarus in the tomb, until Christ called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We now have new life by His grace and love, His forgiveness of sins. We have new life by our Baptism, and new food also, the Body and Blood of our Savior, which brings remission of sins. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
All things are new because we live daily in God’s grace, where the Law cannot condemn us. Knowing Him who loved us and still loves us, and knowing Him who will be with us always even unto the end of the world, we have by faith a constant thankfulness of heart which cannot cease doing good works. His commandments are no longer a burden, but obeying and doing God’s will becomes our greatest joy. God has given us a way to show our thankfulness to Him, by love and the joyful obedience of His commandments. Where there is true faith of Christ in the heart, we no longer want to live for ourselves, but we live for Him who died for all. This is why Paul says we should present our bodies to God as a Living Sacrifice. But how is this done?
It’s done primarily in two ways, strength and weakness. Let me explain. FIRST our bodies become a living sacrifice, when we use our intellect and strength in employment, on the job. It pleases God, it is acceptable to God, when we employ our bodies to have an income so we can feed and clothe our neighbor, and do good things for them, both the family and the stranger. Ephesians 4:28 tells us why we should work. “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” If you work only to get rich and have a comfortable life you are sinning and selfish. But if you work and sacrifice your body by faith, you work because you want your family to eat and survive, and you want to have extra to help the occasional stranger or neighbor who might be in need. Our bodies also become a living sacrifice, when we use our strength to take care of the sick, a family member or stranger. A mother’s body is a living sacrifice when she feeds and clothes her children, or takes care of them when they are sick. A child also becomes a living sacrifice, when they use the strength of their bodies to help out their mother or father at home by chores or obedience, works of love. Even the elderly can serve the Lord though their bodies are weaker. Don’t be idle in retirement. You haven’t earned the right to waste your life as so many young people do today. In our elderly years the strength of our bodies should be employed in works of love for our neighbor. We can volunteer, bring the Word of God to others, or visit friends or those who need help, or whatever else is good and to God’s glory. Remember Jesus said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
But let’s speak now about how to be a living sacrifice when our bodies are weak by physical illness or frailties. How is this done? First, rarely is a body so incapacitated that it can do no work at all. Certainly whatever strength we have we should use to help our neighbor. But the point is even in sickness and weakness our bodies can still be a living sacrifice by accepting God’s will and chastening without complaint. We are a living sacrifice, when we accept the hardship by faith and prayer praying Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This also is pleasing to God, acceptable. This really is the beauty of our last hymn today: Jesus, I My Cross have Taken. Verse four says it well, Take my soul, thy full salvation; Rise o’er sin and fear and care; Joy to find in every station, Something still to do or bear. Think what Spirit dwells within thee, What a Father’s smile is thine, What a Savior died to win thee; Child of heaven shouldn’t thou repine?
II. Don’t be corrupted by the world, but change for the better by the renewing of mind. Briefly verse two says, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” So we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice, live for God and not self, and we should be careful not to conform to this world, namely do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the people of this world. The Bible says “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” This is similar to saying, “one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.” If we Christians keep bad company, that one rotten apple will soon corrupt us. We will take on their bad habits and words, and our minds and hearts will quickly fill with their corruption. We should be friendly with the world, yet the world can never be our friend. Proverbs 22:24 says, “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go.” James also declares, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Rather than conforming to the world, the Bible teaches “but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” You must counteract the world’s corrupting, by the renewing power of God’s Word and Spirit. This is why we go to church to hear God’s Word and be sharpened in our knowledge. The Law tells us what is good and evil, so we will be corrected and rebuked, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ renews our faith and spirit so we can give thanks to God in our heart, for all Jesus has done.
Beware then as the Bible says, “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” To think soberly means your thinking should agree with God’s Word. Sin is serious business. It’s not a joke. Our sins merit death and everlasting hell, and we cannot earn heaven by our good works. Jesus paid our price with blood, and the Son of God had to die on that cross in order us to rise to live by the forgiveness of sins. Think soberly then, and do not exalt yourself in your mind, for “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” But what does this mean that we should think soberly, “to the measure of faith?” This measure of faith means God has measured out to each believer, their own faith, which does not rests upon its own laurels, but proper faith is built upon the Rock of Jesus Christ. Not only is His salvation free, but whatever gifts or talents you may have, that also is God’s gift to you freely given, so how can you brag or be vain, when it was only given you and not earned? It was measured out to you, nothing more.
Finally beloved, Paul’s last point, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” The many members of our body are our arms and legs, our eyes and ears, each portion of the body having its own gifts and purposes. The legs have muscle and mass, and can run with great speed, but if the eyes do not work at the same time, where can the legs run and take you? Would you like to run as fast as you can, if you were blindfolded and could not see? In this same manner each Christian in God’s Kingdom, though we have different skills and talents, must all work together as one for God’s glory. So we “being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Let’s work together and not apart. Our common cause is the Gospel, our common glory is Jesus Christ, the Son of God our Savior. Therefore let us not be proud or vain, or lifted up with our own glory, but rather let us present our bodies a living sacrifice, “holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Amen.
Beware then as the Bible says, “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” To think soberly means your thinking should agree with God’s Word. Sin is serious business. It’s not a joke. Our sins merit death and everlasting hell, and we cannot earn heaven by our good works. Jesus paid our price with blood, and the Son of God had to die on that cross in order us to rise to live by the forgiveness of sins. Think soberly then, and do not exalt yourself in your mind, for “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” But what does this mean that we should think soberly, “to the measure of faith?” This measure of faith means God has measured out to each believer, their own faith, which does not rests upon its own laurels, but proper faith is built upon the Rock of Jesus Christ. Not only is His salvation free, but whatever gifts or talents you may have, that also is God’s gift to you freely given, so how can you brag or be vain, when it was only given you and not earned? It was measured out to you, nothing more.
Finally beloved, Paul’s last point, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” The many members of our body are our arms and legs, our eyes and ears, each portion of the body having its own gifts and purposes. The legs have muscle and mass, and can run with great speed, but if the eyes do not work at the same time, where can the legs run and take you? Would you like to run as fast as you can, if you were blindfolded and could not see? In this same manner each Christian in God’s Kingdom, though we have different skills and talents, must all work together as one for God’s glory. So we “being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Let’s work together and not apart. Our common cause is the Gospel, our common glory is Jesus Christ, the Son of God our Savior. Therefore let us not be proud or vain, or lifted up with our own glory, but rather let us present our bodies a living sacrifice, “holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Amen.
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