The Living Sacrifice

Romans12:1-3

In the writing of Paul to the Romans, he appealed to the brethren to be a living sacrifice unto God. The very mention of “sacrifice” and “living” in the passage is the point of conflict to any rational and logical person and that is exactly what the Holy Spirit wishes to unravel for our comprehension today.

First we look as the characteristics of a sacrifice which are best explained by the following:

In Judges 11:30-31 Jephthah vowed unto God when he was to battle with the Amonites- And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,  Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering- Jdg 11:30 - 31 .  a sacrifice is a burnt offering.

In Genesis 22, God called his servant Abraham and commanded him to take his only son and offer him as burnt offering- And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of- Gen 22:1-2 

You will agree with me that for this to be possible the offering must be alive first,  and the  the sacrificed must have died.

Again in Genesis God called Abraham and commanded him Abram to bring certain animals and cut them in a particular manner in order to cut a covenant with him-  And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not- Gen 15:9-10

 we see here that sacrifice involves cutting which will let out blood

When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal, the bullocks demanded were to be cut in pieces and spread on wood. On his own part, He had to repair the altar of God before spreading the divided bullocks- Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:

And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.

And Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.

And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:

And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood- here again we can deduce that the sacrifice must be split on the altar and it must be set on fire and the fire must consume it.

For an offering therefore to become a sacrifice, it must become dead on the altar and be consumed by fire. God does not eat cold things, a cold meal does not produce any aroma. God has to smell the sweetness of the offering before he eats it- Num_15:3  And will make an offering by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock.

All the submissions so far seen seem to be pointing to the fact that a living sacrifice is impossible! So what then is God saying through Paul?

·         God expects us to present ourselves before Him as an offering. (2Co 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver, Exo 25:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering). For you to offer, you must make up your mind and offer (yourself) willingly and cheerfully.

·         He expects us to be dead: Indeed God expects that when we come to be sacrificed on His altar we must be dead and cut into pieces; our lives (blood) must be poured out so that He can fill us with His own blood and strength.

·         God expects us to be cut into pieces: This means that as we present ourselves to Him we must be fully surrendered and He does with us what He wishes and not what we wish.

·         He expects us to remain on the altar permanently: A sacrifice cannot leave the altar. It is a misnomer to find a sacrifice outside of the altar.

·         His fire must consume us: We must get to this zenith in our service with God and until we get to this point we have no guarantee of producing any kind of aroma at all unto God. His fire comes down to reveal the odour of our commitment to Him.

Do you still wonder why the answers you desire have not come; why the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not yet manifesting as desired; why things are nor working yet? It is because you have not surrendered fully unto God. You have not allowed His fire to consume you. Perhaps when the fire came down you have crept out of the altar- the place where you claim to have been sacrificed all because you are a “living sacrifice.

The Knife of Circumcision

Gen 17:11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

There is no evidence that you have a covenant with God if you have not been circumcised

Circumcision is the cutting of the flesh of one’s foreskin

We must allow the knife of God to pass through our flesh

During circumcision, pains are borne, blood is released, the circumcised becomes weak and feeble before healing comes. Are you circumcised; have you allowed the knife of God’s circumcision to pass through the foreskin of your flesh? Can you exactly the things that His circumcision cut away from your life- show the evidence! It is in this age that people get born again and nothing changes- both inwardly and outwardly. If nothing is given (sacrifice) nothing can be gained (heaven)

You cannot have your foreskin intact and confess to being a living sacrifice.

Circumcise your heart

Deu_10:16 circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

The circumcision God is demanding here is that of the heart. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life must be cut off.

The Issue with the Living Sacrifice

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth 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- Gal 2:20.

The issue God has with us as living as living sacrifices begins when we come to the consciousness that we as sacrifices still have life in us and we creep out from the altar of sacrifice to do our will or the will of the enemy. At this point heaven cannot but be disappointed in us and we risk losing many valuable things.

Here are some examples

·         David was an example of a living sacrifice who crept out of the altar many times but grace always brought him restoration.

·         Judas Iscariot was another living sacrifice who crept out of the altar and unfortunately he could not return. He got lost forever.

·         Saul was a living sacrifice who crept out through disobedience which led to envy and hatred- he could not return before God ended his life.

·         The children of Eli were children of the altar but did not die on the altar. They crept out and never returned.

The scripture is full of examples of many who mismanaged their office as God’s living sacrifices and they paid dearly for it. Some suffered losses while out of the altar; others like Samson lost their lives. It is disastrous for a living sacrifice to creep out of the altar.

How do I become a living sacrifice and remain?

The answers are found in Romans 12:

Present your body unto God holy and acceptable

Be not conformed to this world- kingdom standards run contrary to the world’s standards. There is always a culture shock when a Christian decides to compromise and conform to the world.

Be transformed- a changed life is the hallmark of true conversion

Renew your mind- Phil 4:8 counsels us on how to accomplish this- focus your mind, thoughts and meditations on the things that are noble, good, pure, of good report and things worthy of praise to God

Prove what is that good: James 1:17 says every good gifts come from God so take your time to wait on God in order to prove to the world that whatever He says He brings to pass.

Seek that which is the perfect will of God

Live a life of humility

Being a living sacrifice is also about your reasonable service- what you do for God is the only sacrifice that matters and counts.

Stop working for money. Stop working to earn a living rather work to serve God through humanity.

Let your service have a kingdom objective.

Expectations from the Living Sacrifice Rom 12:7-21 (emphasis mine)

 ministers to and teaches others; encourages others and gives to assist the fulfillment of their goals;  he Rules with diligence; he that she  shows mercy with cheerfulness; loves  without hypocrisy ; hates  that which is evil; cleaves to that which is good;  kindly affectioned;  in honour prefers others. He is Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serves the Lord;

Rejoices in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality; Blesses them which persecute him: blesses, and curses not. He Rejoices with them that do rejoice, and weeps with them that weep; has a pure mind  toward another. Minds not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Not wise in his own conceits; Recompenses to no man evil for evil. Provides things honest in the sight of all men. Tries at all cost to be at peace with others. Does not avenge himself and if his enemy hungers he feeds him; if he thirsts, gives him drink.  He learns to overcome evil with good.

If we do these by the grace and power of God, we would be unto God living sacrifices and like David be able to say that “I will dwell in the house of the Lord all my days in life.”

Altar Call

The call today is to the living sacrifices that have crept out of the altar; their calling, their place of sacrifice and the very reason for which they were created to return. It is to that child of God who is struggling whether to cling to the cross before him or embrace the world behind him - You require His grace to be able to finish well.

May the Lord strengthen us to do well in Jesus name.

Prayer

Father make me a living sacrifice indeed in Jesus name.