A Living Sacrifice

Good morning, everyone. The reading this morning is from Romans chapter 12, verses 1-2.

Romans 12:1–2

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.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Good morning, everyone.

I can't help but to feel overwhelmed this morning, but what a privilege it is to feel this.

Please pray with me.

Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us together this morning.

And thank you for your word.

Father, as we open your word together now, we pray that you would open our hearts to hear it.

Help us not just hear the words, but understand what you're calling us to do with them.

Remind us of your mercy towards us.

Help us look again at all that you have done for us in Christ.

And let that shape the way that we hear your call to live for you.

Lord, we pray that your spirit would be at work among us now, renewing our minds and turning our hearts towards you.

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So a couple of years ago, I went on a camping trip with a few friends from high school.

We're still friends today.

It's been over 10 years now.

We see each other almost every other weekend.

So in all that time, we've talked about anything and anything that you can talk to people about.

Except there is one topic that has almost never come up in, at the time, about a decade.

The topic of God just never came up, or faith, or anything in that region.

It seems pretty impressive.

I don't know if we were all trying to intentionally avoid it.

But anyway, this trip, it wasn't long after I had sincerely become a Christian and was baptized, and I wanted to talk to them about God.

So I prayed before the trip that somehow, naturally, a conversation would just turn to the big questions so that I wouldn't have to force it on them.

And that I could talk to them about God.

And honestly, as I was praying, I doubted that it would happen, which seems silly now.

I thought, how's God going to pull this one off?

But in his kindness, he answered that prayer, and the conversation turned that way.

And we were able to talk about it and debate about it, which was wonderful.

I don't remember the specifics about the debate now, but I remember how honest we all were together.

Particularly one friend, this was towards the end of the discussion.

He said, I think God is real, and I even think Jesus existed, but I would never become a Christian, because I know what I'd have to give up.

He said, I know what I'd have to sacrifice.

I've thought about that conversation a lot over the years, and particularly this past week.

I guess what stuck with me is that for him, becoming a Christian wasn't like for most of my other non-believing friends.

It wasn't about whether God is real or Jesus is reliable.

It was about what following God and believing in Jesus would mean for his life.

I wanted to say, in hindsight, to my friend, I didn't get the chance then, but I wanted to try and show him that what believing in Christ and following Jesus would mean for his life

is far greater than what rejecting him will mean for eternity.

In our passage today, Paul shows us two options, really.

Two ways to live.

One way to live.

One way to live.

One way to live.

One way to live.

This chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans is a transition point.

For 11 chapters, Paul has unpacked the gospel.

He's shown us who God is, what Christ has accomplished, what that means for sinners.

He has explained our sin, God's grace, justification by faith, our adoption as God's children,

his faithfulness to his people.

He's shown us the many mercies of God.

I'll go through a few of them now.

I'll just read through three sections of Romans so that I don't lose you.

Where I think God's mercy is just so well displayed.

First Romans, you can flick through or they'll be on the screen.

Romans 3, verse 21 to 26.

Romans 3:21–26

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith

in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

There is no distinction.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift.

To the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood,

to be received by faith.

This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 5, verse 1 to 5.

Romans 5:1–5

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have a peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into his grace in which we stand.

And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame.

Because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Finally, Romans 8, verse 1 to 4.

Romans 8:1–4

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do,

by sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.

He condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us,

who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

There are so many more examples of God's great mercy shown to us throughout the book of Romans.

There's so many examples of God's mercy in here.

If you woke up today, and I can see that many of you are awake.

God's mercy has been shown.

God's mercy is shown.

God's mercy is shown.

God's mercy is shown.

God's mercy is shown.

God's mercy is shown.

shifts from instruction to exhortation. And he begins like this, chapter 12, verse 1.

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers. He begins with an appeal. I think NIV will say, I urge you.

The idea is the same. He's appealing to brothers, that's Christians who know the gospel. He's

writing to believers, urging us to respond rightly to God's grace. Paul believes that

Christian living is not something that should be or could be done on autopilot. He urges

us because God's grace doesn't make our response unnecessary. Rather, God's grace calls forth

our response. And he backs up with his appeal with a reason, a big reason. I appeal to you,

therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God. Paul's inviting us again to look back over

everything we've already seen in Romans. Every page has been another reminder of God's mercy.

There's a pattern throughout Paul's letters. First, he tells us what God has done.

Then he shows us how God's people should live. And that is because Christian obedience doesn't

stand on its own. It always grows out of truth. The gospel comes before the command. Grace

comes before obedience. It's easy to reverse that order. Paul is saying, in light of everything

God has done, now you must decide how you will live. Every Christian eventually reaches that point,

or should. There comes a time where the question isn't just, do I believe these truths? But then,

what difference will these truths make to my life? The gospel always pushes towards that question.

And Paul's doing it here. He's saying, look at what God has done. Look at the mercy he has shown.

And then ask yourself, what is the only fitting response?

That's the Christian life. We're not trying to repay God's mercy. We never could. We're not trying to earn

more mercy. We already have it. But we're responding to mercy with grateful obedience.

And again, getting that order right is important. Because if we lose sight of God's mercy,

obedience quickly becomes duty. But if our obedience grows out of God's mercy,

it becomes an act of worship. If a parent or a spouse or a friend regularly gives their time to you,

gives their energy, care and love to you, probably don't respond by, as Dave pointed out in the kids

talk, you probably don't respond by thinking, well, I guess I have to repay them now.

And you respond because you love them and you're grateful for what they've given you and the love

that they've shown you. Their love changes the way that you want to respond to them.

In a much greater way, God's mercy gives us a reason to offer ourselves to him.

How are we to offer ourselves to him? Paul helps us out.

Present your bodies, verse 1, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Now, sacrifices were well understood to Paul's original readers. They weren't something symbolic.

People knew exactly what happened to a sacrifice. An animal was brought to the altar. Its life was given.

It belonged entirely to God. That's the kind of sacrifice that Paul is talking about.

He's talking about complete surrender. And he says present. He's calling us to do something here.

He's appealing to our wills. There's a decision to be made.

He's appealing... He's asking us to willingly place ourselves before God.

But he adds a surprising word. Living. A living sacrifice.

Someone observed that the difficulty with a living sacrifice is that it always tries to climb off the altar.

Isn't that true of us?

Every morning we wake up with a temptation to take control of our lives again.

To pursue our own kingdom instead of God's.

To reclaim what we've already offered to him.

That's why each day we must remember God's mercy and present ourselves again.

Because our hearts constantly need reorientating toward him.

Every day we continue offering ourselves to him.

It's not a one and done moment that maybe happened years ago.

It's a life-long posture.

A living sacrifice.

Paul explains how we are to do that.

He says present your bodies.

Now taken very practically that might seem very narrow.

Why doesn't Paul say present your hearts?

Or present your souls?

Well throughout scripture the body represents the whole person lived out in everyday life.

Paul isn't limiting the command to our physical bodies.

But our bodies is where our faith becomes visible.

We serve with our bodies.

We worship with our bodies.

We work, live, speak, suffer, endure and obey through our bodies.

But God is asking for all of those things.

He's asking for our whole life.

Tomorrow morning some of you will sit behind a computer.

Some of you will sit in lectures or in classrooms.

Some of you will change nappies.

What a joy.

Some of you will go to medical appointments.

Paul says every one of those moments.

Even ordinary ones.

Can become worship when they are offered to Christ.

God isn't interested in a Sunday faith that never reaches Monday morning.

He wants every part of our life to come under the lordship of Christ.

That means our work, our ambitions, our use of time, our sexuality, our words, our thought life.

Nothing sits outside of this call.

Because the Christian life is no longer our own.

We have been set apart for God.

Our lives now belong to him.

That's what holy means.

Set apart.

Belonging to God.

And I'll point out that Paul isn't saying that we must perfectly become holy before we present ourselves to God.

If that were true, none of us could come.

We come because of God's mercy.

We come trusting Christ.

And as we continually offer ourselves to him, God continues his work of making us holy.

It's not, well, clean yourself up, then you can come.

No.

God says, come to me and I will continue the work that I have already begun in you.

I don't know about you, but I find that very encouraging.

Particularly as someone who believed that they weren't good enough for God for a very long time.

And I mean, every Christian knows the struggle and the frustration of still seeing sin present in their lives.

Paul doesn't write to perfect Christians.

He writes to ordinary believers who are still being transformed.

My point is, holiness isn't the entry requirement.

It's the direction.

We are not yet what we will be.

But by God's grace, we are no longer who we once were.

Paul knows from experience that there is no better incentive for holy living than the contemplation of the mercies of God.

This is our fitting response.

Or how Paul words it, our spiritual worship.

Worship that is more than an hour on Sunday.

It's worship that encompasses our whole lives.

A few verses ahead in chapter 12, Paul shows us what this looks like in practice.

He gives us some examples of how we are to use the particular gifts God has given us in service of others.

I'll just read verse 6 to 8 of chapter 12.

And think back with me for a moment to the early chapters of Genesis.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Chapter 1 and 2.

We're given a picture there of humanity living in God's good world.

In relationship with him and serving him.

As we know, sin fractured that relationship.

Turned us away from God.

In Christ, God is restoring himself to us.

When Paul calls our whole life worship, he's showing us what salvation is moving us back towards.

That picture in early Genesis.

Lives that belong to God and are lived for his glory.

I can't wait.

If we're going to offer our lives to God and we haven't already,

then we have to ask what is shaping our lives?

What is forming the way that we think, the way that we live?

Verse 2.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

There's two options there that Paul presents us.

Conform or be transformed.

The world and the gospel tell two very different stories.

One says life is about self.

The other says life is about Christ.

Christ.

Make much of self.

Make much of Jesus.

Those two stories are competing for our hearts.

I mean, most prevalently nowadays on our phones,

go through social media and you'll see all these people telling you what you should look like,

what you should want, what success looks like,

what you should be offended by,

what you should care about.

It's unlikely that after each swipe,

we're reflecting on whether what we're consuming is changing the way that we're thinking about the world.

It just happens as you keep taking it in.

Thinking outside of our phones, there's people around us, if you can believe it.

The people around us, we're shaped by our friends and colleagues.

Their motivations rub off on us.

Their priorities become our priorities.

Conformity, the word conformed means the idea of being moulded or shaped into a pattern.

It's important to note that it's a passive word.

You don't have to deliberately choose to conform.

You just have to stop paying attention.

Because not conforming is not just avoiding bad behaviour,

but it's refusing to let the world define reality for us.

As Christians, we are swimming against the tide.

And I guess my point is, if you let it, the tide will take you.

Or be transformed.

The word Paul uses there is where we get our word metamorphosis.

It describes a transformation from the inside out,

an inward change that becomes visible outwardly.

Conformity involves defining reality for ourselves.

Transformation begins with truth.

We're seeing reality the way God sees it.

Conformity lets me remain the author of my own life.

Transformation means surrendering that authority to Christ.

And discovering that the life Christ gives me is actually far better than any I could construct for myself.

Paul tells us how we are to be transformed, as we read on,

by the renewal of your mind.

Think about how every sinful pattern begins.

Maybe even think about Genesis 3 now.

Before we sin with our hands or with our mouths,

we've already believed something false in our minds.

We've believed that sin will satisfy us.

That God is holding something back.

That we'll be happier our own way.

Every temptation begins with a lie.

Transformation begins with replacing lies with truth.

With allowing God's word to reshape how we think,

how we see the world,

how we see God.

God's word is his means for our transformation.

Our minds are renewed as we sit under God's word.

God's word is his means for our transformation.

As we meditate on it,

dive deep into it,

continually learning.

As we remind ourselves daily of the gospel,

God's spirit takes his word

and changes us.

God's word changes us.

Both in developing our understanding generally,

but also how we preach to ourselves.

Gospel changes.

It makes us better at preaching to ourselves.

As our minds are renewed,

we learn to recognize what pleases God

and increasingly want to live that way.

We become better able to make wise and godly decisions.

Better able to love well,

particularly to those who are hard to love

or have hurt us.

As we read on,

Paul asserts the purpose of our minds being transformed.

That by testing,

you may discern what is the will of God,

what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Good and acceptable and perfect.

Those aren't three categories of God's will.

As if some decisions are good,

some are acceptable

and there are a couple that are perfect.

It describes together the kind of decision

that a renewed Christian learns to recognize.

That is something that is good,

pleasing to God

and in keeping with his wise purpose.

An example,

imagine you're choosing between two jobs.

Both are legitimate.

Both could provide for you.

But one pays significantly more.

While making it almost impossible

to be involved with the church

or properly care for your family

or have any meaningful time to serve others.

A renewed mind does not ask,

well, no brainer,

I'll go for the one that pays more.

A renewed mind asks,

in light of God's mercy,

what would be the wise and godly way to live?

Now that's a pretty big life decision,

that example.

And the answer is not always very clear.

So we weigh the circumstances,

pray,

seek wise counsel,

consider God's word,

and then make a decision.

But the Christian life

is fueled by the mercies of God.

And those mercies renew the way

that we see God,

ourselves and the world.

after reflecting this week

on what my friend said

on the camping trip,

I don't want to become a Christian,

but I'd know,

but I'd have to give up.

I understand why he felt that way.

Yeah.

It makes sense

if

you view

giving your life to God

through the lens of a

cost-benefit analysis.

I think that's a mistake.

Let me try and show you why.

First with a story about

a missionary and explorer,

David Livingston.

Born in 1813,

he gave his life

to serve Christ

and in the exploration of Africa

for the sake of creating

access to the gospel.

He was there for 33 years

over in Africa

and during his time

he suffered repeatedly

from malaria,

of which his wife also died.

He was attacked by a lion,

leaving his arm

permanently damaged.

He endured financial

physical and logistical difficulties,

hunger.

He spent long periods

in isolation.

We're talking years

in loneliness.

He experienced the death

of several of his children.

Impressively continued his work

despite years of hardship

and suffering.

When he returned to England

in 1857,

1857,

he gave an address

at Cambridge University

when asked about

the sacrifices

that he had made.

This is what he said.

For my own part,

I have never ceased

to rejoice

that God has appointed me

to such an office.

People talk of the sacrifice

I made in spending

so much of my life

in Africa.

Is that a sacrifice

which brings its own

blessed reward

in helpful activity,

the consciousness

of good doing,

peace of mind,

and a bright hope

of a glorious destiny

hereafter?

Away with the word

in such a view

and with such a thought.

It is emphatically

no sacrifice.

Say rather,

it is a privilege.

Anxiety,

sickness,

suffering,

or danger,

now and then,

with a foregoing

of the common conveniences

and the charities of life,

may make us pause.

And cause the spirit

to waver

and the soul

to sink.

But let this only be

for a moment.

All of these

are nothing

when compared

with the glory

which shall be revealed

in and for us.

I never made

a sacrifice.

Livingston,

I don't think he discounts

the suffering

that he went through.

He explains

the experiences

later

of anxiety,

sickness,

suffering,

and danger.

But he's speaking

comparatively

when he insists

that all of these

are nothing

when compared

with the glory

which shall be

revealed

in and for us.

And I'll just point

this to scripture

as well.

In Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10,

the young man

turns away

from following Jesus

because he had

great possessions.

Verse 22 to 30.

Peter realises

Jesus' call

for radical sacrifice

in Luke

Luke 14:33

chapter 14

verse 33.

Any of you

who do not

renounce all

that he has

cannot be my

disciple.

That is why

in verse 25

Peter says

it is easier

for a camel

to go through

the eye of a needle

than for a rich person

to enter

the kingdom of God.

Now in response

to Jesus

Peter announces

that he

and other disciples

have made

the necessary

sacrifice.

Verse 28.

See,

we have left

everything

and followed you.

And then what

Jesus said

to Peter

and the others

who had left

everything.

Verse 29 and 30.

Truly I say

to you,

there is no one

who has left

house

or brothers

or sisters

or mother

or father

or children

or lands

for my sake

and for the gospel

who will not

receive a hundredfold

now in this time

houses

and brothers

and sisters

and mothers

and children

and lands

with persecutions

and in the age

to come

eternal life.

John Piper

in an article

about this story

said,

in the bright shadow

of David Livingston's

suffering

I could see

the point

of Jesus' words

more readily.

following me

you do not

make a sacrifice.

My point is

with all of that

as we continue

offering ourselves

to Christ

we become people

who increasingly

delight

in giving

our lives

to him.

And if you believe

that God

really is as

merciful

as

Paul has

shown

to us

and God

has shown

to us

and if you

believe

that Christ

really did

die for you

then what

better response

could there be

than to give

him our lives?

please pray

with me

heavenly

father

we have been

reminded

of your mercy

towards us

we have been

reminded

of what you

have done

for us

through Christ

that while

we were

sinners

you did

not leave

us to

ourselves

but gave

your son

for us

and so

Lord

help us

not leave

this

to leave

this morning

simply having

heard something

that is true

Lord help us

to respond

help us

to take

what we

have heard

and bring

it into

our own

lives

tomorrow

morning

the morning

after that

and the

morning

after that

Lord where

we have

been conforming

to the

world

renew

our minds

where we

have been

holding

something back

from you

help us

to surrender

it

where we

have been

living lives

for ourselves

turn our

hearts

back

towards

Christ

Lord

may our

lives

increasingly

become an

offering of

worship to

you

and when we

look back

on all that

you have

done for

us

may our

response

simply be

how great

is our

God

we pray

this in

the name

of Jesus

Amen

may may