This week's message is part 1 of a 2-part discourse on submitting our lives as a living sacrifice unto God. 

As we go through our life, we see many examples of people who have all the outward signs of success.  But, when we look closely at these people, we discover that many of them make destructive, and oftentimes, fatal mistakes.

Such contradictory behavior is usually rooted in the fact that people do not understand their own humanity and subjection to guidelines and rules of fair play.  In other words, there are people who destroy their lives by breaking the law – simply because they do not understand the law.

More than anything else, people in today’s society do not understand that their lives are not their own to do with as they please.  They can’t grasp the truth of 1st Corinthians 6:19 and 20 that says:

“19 What?  Know ye not that that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God’s.”

1st Corinthians 7:23, goes further and tells us, “Ye are bought with a price:  be not ye the servants of men.”

I need to stop right here to make it plain that this morning’s sermon is not directed at people who don’t know the difference between right and wrong.

• Today, I’m focusing on people who believe that they are holy and righteous.

•  I’m talking about people who know all the rules – but their own greatness makes them believe that the rules don’t apply to them.

•  I’m talking about those who profess to be following Christ.

•  I’m talking about those who talk the bible but walk in a different direction.

•   I’m talking about the devout churchgoers, who, when you examine their lives, show that going to church doesn’t have much effect on them.

We see these people everyday.  They claim to be Christians.  They go to church every Sunday – But Monday through Saturday, they are card-carrying members of  Satan’s Hell’s Angels Club.  So, it is because of these kinds of people that Paul saw the necessity of writing to the Church at Rome.  And, if anyone was qualified to write on this subject, it was Paul.

You will recall that, before Paul was changed on the Damascus Road, he was determined to destroy the church.  But, after his transformation, Paul became a Living Sacrifice in his commitment to spread the Gospel throughout the world.

You can see that, when Paul wrote this letter, he was definitely aware of the problems that existed for Christians in his day.  He recognized that even though people accepted Christ, it did not mean that they always understood the difference between what was wrong and right. Paul also understood that people did not automatically quit doing what was wrong. This is probably what inspired Paul to write to the church at Rome with an earnest and sincere plea, based on the mercy that God had shown them.

So, in this scripture, Paul says,  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.

The image of a living sacrifice that Paul uses in this scripture comes straight out of the Old Testament.

Imagine for a moment that you are an ancient Israelite.

• You believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

•  You try to live, as best you can, by God’s law.  But you are honest with yourself!

• You know deep, down in your heart that you have failed to do the right thing – not once – but time and time again!

The problem you’re facing is what do you do about it?  You know what the law requires. This is the procedure of that day.

• You go out to your herd of sheep or calves and pick out an animal for sacrifice.  It should be the best animal that you have.

• Let’s just say you chose a lamb.  You take that “sacrificial lamb” to the priest.

• The priest sacrifices the lamb on your behalf.

• Once the lamb has been slain and its life has been offered up to God, you return to your home, having made your peace with your Lord.

Now, as we can see from this scenario, the Israelite sacrificial system had a lot going for it.

• It reminded people of their duty to God.

• It demanded that they give their best.

• It allowed them to feel that they had re-established their relationship with their creator.

From this, we can see that this sacrificial system was good!  But, believe me, it had some real flaws!

The main flaw was that – no matter how much these Israelites sacrificed, they always came home feeling like it wasn’t much of a sacrifice when you consider all that they had done wrong.

Of course, the Lord himself knew that this “ceremony” of sacrifice was flawed, and we could never make a sacrifice that would cover the multitude of our sins – so one day he made the ultimate sacrifice for us.  He sent His Son to die to demonstrate the real meaning of sacrifice. The sacrifice of God’s Son showed us that, if we would accept His sacrifice, we would never have to make animal sacrifices again. And, a lot of us accepted the sacrifice of Christ, and foolishly called it EVEN!

Here is where the problem comes in.  Paul says, calling it “even” is where we make our mistake. 

Some people say that, “If God himself made the ultimate sacrifice, then there is nothing left for us to do.  That is why they call it ‘even’.”  Paul says that this way of thinking is WRONG.  We can never call it EVEN. 

The message for us is that sacrifice is just as important today as it ever was.  Only now, it is the sacrifice of our lives and it is a sacrifice made out of love and gratitude  -- instead of a sense of duty.  Let me say that again – today we are called to sacrifice our lives for the cause of Christ and that sacrifice is made out of love and gratitude  -- instead of a sense of duty.    You need to say, because God cared enough to send His Son down to die for my sins, I will give him the best of my service. The life that we offer to God is to be as spotless and as blameless as that perfect lamb that was offered up by the early Israelites.  Our lives must be the best that we can offer.

I’m sure some of you may be thinking – Rev., this sounds good, but “How do I offer my life as a living sacrifice?” 

Well, there are some things to consider:

• First of all, we cannot conform to this world.

The Word says, But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Now, in this age in which we live, being a conformist is much easier than being a NON-conformist.  Living in today’s world is not easy and there is a danger in allowing our lifestyles and life choices – morally and ethically – to conform to those of the world. 

One thing that causes problems among church people is that we often depend on others to set the standard for our living.  Unfortunately, the standard and tone for living are mostly set by people outside the church. 

Perhaps if our standards were set by great missionaries or statesmen, we might not have so many problems.  But the reality is that most of our standards of behavior are set by celebrities and people  who believe that the highest priority in life is the attainment of fame and fortune.  And even those who base their lives on wealth – don’t really want it for the sake of being wealthy.  They want wealth because it sets the stage for the fake lives that they live based on what they can buy, who can have the most facelifts, tummy tucks, and look the best.  They want wealth because it allows them to live in huge houses and drive fast cars.

We live in a world where the greatest virtues are to have fame, fortune, and beauty.  We live in a world where the greatest sins in life are to be POOR and UNATTRACTIVE.

But, Paul tells us that we can’t have it both ways.  You can’t allow yourself to conform to the standards of this world, and still hope to present your body as a living sacrifice to God. Now I’m sure that you realize that I’m not talking about wealth in the sense of financial stability.  Nor am I talking about your body in the physical sense.  I’m talking about the spiritual YOU, in terms of your mind. It is not enough that we refuse to conform our actions to this world.  That leaves us pretty much in “neutral” territory.

Paul says, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  Isn’t it interesting that Paul says that our minds will have to be changed?  Surely he was saying to us that, no matter how much we change our outward appearance, until we make up our minds that a change is going to take place, a change will never come for us.

Becoming a living sacrifice takes a complete change of mind.  A person who has not had his life transformed by the renewing of their mind will never know peace.  Paul said this himself in another context.  He said, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 2:5).

Church, the only mind that brings peace is the mind of Christ.  Until we have the same mind in us as the mind of Christ, we will never really be able to make our lives the living sacrifice that God would have us to make.  Amen.