Living Sacrifice
March 12, 2025
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritualservice of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Our men’s Bible study has been reading Romans. This week we come to chapter 12. This chapter leads off with an apparent contradiction; “Living Sacrifice”. The primary meaning of “sacrifice” is to kill something, so how do you have “living sacrifice”?
The key is found in the word that follow; “spiritual service of worship”. Service implies time, so you can sacrifice your time. “Killing time” as it were, from giving time to worldly pursuits, to giving that time to service unto the Lord. That is a form of worship. Also there is the phrase “renewing of your mind” which suggests that you can sacrifice thoughts of selfish desires and redirect your thoughts to the will of God. By presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice, you are dedicating your time and thoughts to God’s things which leads to things which are “good and acceptable and perfect”.
Paul calls this whole process a transformation. By not being conformed to the world, but being renewed in service to a holy God, you reckon the old carnal man as dead, a sacrifice, and rise up in new life in Christ. It is a resurrection and transformation which is the miracle of the gospel message. What is impossible with man is possible with God. It is possible, indeed it is required, that you be transformed and renewed so that you can prove the will of God and thus present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice which is acceptable to God.
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