A Living Sacrifice

Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.

Present your body.  In Heb 10:5-7, we see something about the Lord Jesus Christ that explains this point to us.

God prepared a body for Jesus, Heb 10:5.  And in that body, Jesus came “to do thy will, O God”.  His sacrifice for us was only one part of the will of God that Jesus came to do, Lk 22:42.

He presented his body to do his Father’s will all the time.  At twelve, he was about his Father’s business, Lk 2:49.  About his earthly ministry, he said, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me”, Jn 5:30.  He said to the Jews, “the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him”, Jn 8:29.

You must present your body to God to do his will.  This includes everything from doing the written will of God (repentance, sanctification, transformation, thanksgiving, submission to every ordinance, and service as to the Lord), and the plan of God for your life, to the moment by moment will of God in every direction the Lord leads you throughout each day.

As a Living Sacrifice.  Sacrifices were always presented to the Lord to be killed.  So, how can we be a “living” sacrifice?

Jesus presented himself as a sacrifice to God.  He “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever”, Heb 10:12.  To do this he had to die.

Yet, after he died he rose from the dead.  Rev 1:18, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore”.  So, today he is living to die no more, Rom 6:9.

When we get saved, “The old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed”, Rom 6:6.

Yet, “like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life”, Rom 6:4.  We’re dead now, but we’re alive now.

And until “we live with him” so that we are alive for evermore like he is, Rom 6:8, we must “die daily”, 1 Cor 15:31, to live daily.

We reckon ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord”, Rom 6:11, simultaneously.  We are crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live, Gal 2:20.

We have to be a sacrifice that dies so that we can live unto God.   If you don’t reckon yourself to be dead unto sin, you’re not a sacrifice.  And if you don’t reckon yourself to to be alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, you’re not living.  But when you do both of these, then you are a living sacrifice.

Holy, Acceptable to God.  When Jesus Christ offered himself to God for our sins, he was without spot, Heb 9:14, and without blemish, 1 Pet 1:19.

He gave himself for the church, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should holy and without blemish”, Eph 5:25-27.

As Christ was holy and without blemish, so he desires the church to be holy and without blemish, as well.  And we will be up in heaven, for sure.

What Paul wrote in Rom 12:1 is this.  Start being holy, acceptable to God now.  And he wasn’t talking about looking holy or acting holy like the Pharisees did.  He was talking about being holy like Jesus is, 1 Pet 15-16.

Paul told us to put off the old man (he’s dead) and put on the new man (he’s alive) “which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness”, Eph 4:24.

According to Rom 12:1, the living sacrifice must be acceptable to God.  And for us to be acceptable to God, we must be holy.

We are made holy and acceptable to God, through three things:

• The shed blood of Jesus which purges our conscience, Heb 9:14, and cleanses us from our sin, 1 Jn 1:7-9.  To do this, ask God to search your heart and try your thoughts.  When he shows you the wicked way in you, then confess that sin and forsake it.  And let him lead you in the way everlasting.
• The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor 6:9-11. As Paul wrote, “such were some of you: but”.  “He saved us by the the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”, Titus 3:5.  The Holy Spirit in you is going to transform you.  Rom 12:2, “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind”.
• The cleansing power of the word of God, Jn 15:3, Eph 5:26.  As you read and obey the word of God you, clean up.  But you have to do what it says to become holy.

Conclusion: you might think this to be hard.  But Paul said that it is “your reasonable service”.  Reasonable is “not extreme or excessive”, like a reasonable request.  He’s not asking to do something unreasonable.

Some people are glad Jesus presented his body but they don’t want to present theirs. Some want to present their body on limited terms but not as a living sacrifice.