THE LIFE OF SACRIFICE

ROMANS 12:1

          The Book of Romans is unique among the writings of Paul.  This is because it is the only letter written to a church that was not in response to some immediate trouble, some pressing situation, some current error or some threatening danger.  When Paul wrote to the Church at Rome he was writing to a Church that he had not founded and with whom he had no personal contact at all.  Though Paul had always desired to go to Rome, he had never been there when he wrote this letter.  Why then was Paul writing this letter?  Paul was something of an adventurer.  He would have been the Captain Kirk from Star Trek of his day.  He always wanted to search out new regions wherein he could spread the gospel.  He had always dreamed of going to Rome and now literature and cultural ideas from west of Rome, specifically Spain, were coming into Asia.  To Paul this opened up new areas to preach the Gospel.   He saw the whole west lying in front of him, virgin territory to be won for Christ.  But if he was to launch a campaign in the west he needed a base of operations.  Thus he needed the church at Rome.  He was sure the Church at Rome knew he was, but he was not sure what they had heard about him.  So he wrote this letter to lay out for the Roman Church the essentials of what he believed.  He wanted to open the lines of communication between him and the church in the hopes that the roman church would become base of operations as he reached west into Spain.  There are 3 major focuses that Paul uses in this letter.  First he discusses the need for righteousness.  Next he talks about the Jews as God’s chosen people.  Finally he deals with practical questions of life and living.  Paul begins this section on practical living with Romans 12:1-2 where he encourages a life of sacrifice.  The title of today’s message is “A LIFE OF SACRIFICE”. 

          If Paul is going to talk about living a Christian life it is only natural to talk about a life of sacrifice.  Though these gentile Christians did not have the sacrificial laws practiced by the children of Israel they still understood the use of sacrifices as a part of worship.  So when Paul says “present your bodies as living sacrifices” this is not a foreign concept to them, nor should it be foreign to us.  As Christians we are called to a life of sacrifice.  A life of sacrifice must be

1.     Individual – Hebrews 9:6-7

          What we see here is that in the Old Testament times the priest acted as an intermediary between God and man.  The ordinary priest took care of the temple and offered many of the required sacrifices.  All the people had to do was to present themselves to the priest with the required offering and the priest did the rest.  Once a year the high priest went into the Holy of Holies (the very presence of God) to offer the atonement offering for the people.  During this time the high priest to all the risk on him.  If God was pleased with the people then all went well for the priest.  However if God was not pleased then the priest was in trouble. 

We learn from the Book of Hebrews that animal sacrifices had in themselves no real value or power. They were only the “shadow of good things to come,” and pointed the worshippers forward to the coming of the great High Priest Jesus Christ, who was offered once for the sin of all.”

HEBREWS 10:19-23

          Now because of the work of Christ we as individuals have access to God and we have to take the risk of standing before God on our own. Jesus by offering his own flesh and blood open the way for all mankind to come before the presence of a Holy God. But verse 22 lets us know that we are to come with a true or pure heart, having turned our hearts way from walking after our evil conscience, being clean both in body and in spirit.  Now we are to offer ourselves as sacrifices to God.  No one can make the offering for you.  No one can sacrifice on your behalf.  The death of Jesus and the opening of the doorway to God made a life of sacrifice a personal choice for and responsibility all.  In the Old Covenant the high priest bore the responsibility of standing before God for the people and offering sacrifice to him.  However, with the New Covenant, Romans 14:12 clearly declares “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”  A life of sacrifice is now an individual requirement.

2.     Offering of oneself as a living sacrifice must be done willingly

HEBREWS 13:12-17

     Jesus was willing to suffer death and be and be treated as a criminal and outcast so that he might gain a people who would be set apart for God.  Because of what Jesus has done for us Paul encourages us to be willing to go outside the camp and suffer for his sake.  In other words we are to be willing to be treated as the outcast, the unappreciated, and the unloved for his name sake.  We are to give until it hurts, while continuing to utter praises to God; recognizing that God is well pleased with such sacrifices offer by us.

PSALM 51:17

     A broken and contrite spirit is one that is yielding and penitent.  Such a spirit is willing to admit his wrong to God, submit to the chastening of God and surrender his will in sacrifice and obedience to God.  To find such a heart as this in us pleases God.

3.     To live a life of sacrifice is costly 

          I CHRONICLES 21:22-24

          David understood that in order for it to be considered a sacrifice it must cost us something.  If he had allow Onan to give him the land and the oxen then the sacrifice would have cost David nothing, which then would have made it not a sacrifice at all.

MATTHEW 8:19-20

          Following Jesus is not always easy or comfortable. Often it means great cost and sacrifice, and many times with no earthly rewards or security. Jesus didn’t have a place to call home. You may find that following Christ costs you popularity, friendships, leisure time, or treasured habits. But while the cost of following Christ is high, the value of being Christ’s disciple is even higher. Discipleship is an investment that lasts for eternity and yields incredible rewards.

MATTHEW 19:21-22

          This young man came inquiring about the requirements for eternal life.  It is likely that this young man believed that he had already met the requirements.  He boldly proclaims that he has kept all of the commandments since he was a young boy.  No doubt he was proud, believing himself to deserving of eternal life.  This rich young ruler wanted what Jesus had to offer but he was not willing to sacrifice all that he had acquired in order to follow Jesus.  This brings me to my next point.

4.     A life of sacrifice must be complete.

     What do I mean by that?  You see the rich young ruler was living to do part of that which was required but he was not willing to go all the way there.  Believe it or not we are much like this young ruler.  We are willing to give God part of our heart, part of our life, part of our desires, part of our money, part of our time, but oftentimes not all of any one of these and certainly not all of each of these.  We claim to want to follow Christ and we know that Jesus said in Mark 8:34-35 “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.”  Yet we, just like the rich young ruler struggle with denying ourselves, giving all for the cause of Christ including our own will and desires.

LUKE 14:26-27

To emphasize that discipleship is difficult, Jesus said that one must hate his own family and even his own life in order to be His disciple. Jesus did not mean here that one should literally hate his family.  Literally hating one’s family would have been a violation of the Law.  The stress here is on the priority of love. One’s loyalty to Jesus must come before his loyalty to his family or even to life itself.  There is nothing that we should not be willing to give or do for the sake of Christ.  There is no part of our lives that we should hold on to refusing to offer it in sacrifice to God.  We are to place all of ourselves and all that we own on the altar of sacrifice as an offering to God.

II CORINTHIANS 5:14-15

          Paul says that when we were dead Christ who was alive died so that he could give us life.  He says that if we recognize this we then who are now made alive should live no more seeking our own will and desires but rather we should live carrying out the will and desire of him who gave us life.  Recognizing the need to sacrifice all that he had and all that he was for the sake of Christ, Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  What Paul is saying is that he is alive to do that which Jesus desired of him.  As Christians this is the life of sacrifice that God requires of us also.

5.     Living a life of sacrifice must be a daily offering

     If you will look back in Numbers 8 you will find that along with all the ceremonial and sin offerings presented to God there was also a daily offering.  Living a life of sacrifice is not something that we do every now and then.  It is not something that we do when we feel like it.  It is an everyday all day requirement.

LUKE 9:23 – Take up cross and follow Jesus daily.

ACTS 17:10 -11 Searched scriptures daily to see if the teachings were true.

How can we live a life of sacrifice?  Paul gives us the answer to this question when he said in I Cor. 15:31 “I die daily”.   To live a life of sacrifice we must daily die to ourselves and choose to live to and for God.