How to be a Living Sacrifice
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. (Romans 12:1)
Romans 12:1-2 are the first scriptures the Lord ever supernaturally quickened to me. They changed my life.
They are a recipe for finding and fulfilling God’s perfect will for your life. Notice the word “therefore.” That means this is a continuation and conclusion from the previous statement in Romans 11:36. God is all in all and therefore deserves our total submission to Him. This is our reasonable service. Paul pleaded with the people, by the mercies of God, to do these things. This reflects the fact that God’s plans for our lives are better than our plans for ourselves (Jeremiah 29:11). We have to present our own bodies to the Lord as living sacrifices. The problem is that living sacrifices keep crawling off the altar. This isn’t just a one-time decision. It may start with a one-time commitment, but then we have to follow through with that decision every day for the rest of our lives. That’s why it’s called a living sacrifice. The English word “acceptable” was translated from the Greek word “EUARESTOS,” which means “fully agreeable” (Strong’s Concordance). See 1 Corinthians 10:31. And notice that this isn’t asking too much. This is only our reasonable (Greek - “rational (“logical”)” [Strong’s Concordance]) service. Jesus died for us; the least we can do is live for Him.
Paul was speaking to us Christians. It is possible to commit our lives to the Lord for the purpose of salvation and yet not be yielded to the Lord in our daily lives. It is only when we make the total sacrifice of every area of our lives that we begin to see God’s perfect will manifest through our lives.
Paul used the mercies of God to encourage these Romans to give themselves totally to God. Today, most preachers use the wrath of God to try to drive people to God. Some people need the condemnation of the Law to make them aware of their need for a Savior, but as a whole, we could “draw more flies with honey than with vinegar.” It’s the goodness of God that leads people to repentance (Romans 2:4).
Notice that we are the ones who have to make this presentation of our bodies to the Lord. He will not do it for us. Some of us might pray, “Lord, You do what You have to do to make us serve You.” That is not a proper prayer. We cannot have someone lay hands on us to impart this commitment to us. We cannot just rebuke the flesh and expect it to disappear. We have to give our bodies to God as living sacrifices daily (see note 4 at this verse).
This sounds like a contradiction in terms. How can we be living sacrifices when sacrifices are always dead? This is speaking of the fact that offering ourselves to God is not just a one-time deal. We have to die to our own desires daily. This has to be a living, ongoing commitment to the Lord. The Apollo spacecraft traveled to the moon, but it was not just as simple as blasting off and landing on the moon. Course corrections were made every ten minutes or so for the entire trip. And then, they only landed a few feet inside the targeted landing area of 500 miles. Yet the mission was a success. Likewise, there has to be a starting place for this decision to be a living sacrifice. We have to “blast off,” or start our journey, sometime, but we don’t ever “arrive” in this life. We just leave and start toward the goal (Philippians 3:12-13). We may be making course corrections every ten minutes for the rest of our lives. You see, living sacrifices have a tendency to keep crawling off the altar. Every minute of every day, we have to reaffirm this decision to be totally separated unto God. This is what Paul was referring to by the term “living sacrifice.” .
Many Christians think that living lives totally consecrated to God is something that only preachers or a few laypeople do. They see it as “extra” and not “normal” Christianity. However, Paul said this level of commitment is our reasonable service. Jesus died for each one of us. Each one of us ought to live for Him.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)
Many of us would think that if we fulfill the conditions of Romans 12:1, then everything else would automatically work out. Yet Paul went on to state that we also have to renew our minds. Many of us who have made genuine commitments to the Lord but haven’t renewed our minds through God’s Word, have needlessly suffered many problems.
The Greek word that was translated “conformed” here is the word “SUSCHEMATIZO,” and it means “to fashion alike, i.e. conform to the same pattern” (Strong’s Concordance). This scripture is telling us that we should be different than the unbelievers. Most of us as Christians recognize this, but we seem at a loss as to how to accomplish it. This verse goes on to give us the answer. The key is our minds. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). If we think on the same things that the world thinks on, we are going to get the same results. If we keep our minds stayed upon God through the study of His Word and fellowship with Him, then we’ll have perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). It’s that simple.
The Greek word that was translated “transformed” here is the word “METAMORPHOO” and is the same word that we get our word “metamorphosis” from. It is describing a complete change, like that of a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. This word is also the same word that was used to describe Jesus’ transformation when His face shone and His garments became white as the light (Matthew 17:2). Making our thinking line up with God’s Word will affect this complete transformation in our lives.
When people are born again (see note 2 at John 3:3), they become totally new creations in their spirits. Their spiritual salvation is complete. They don’t need any more faith, joy, or power. They are complete in Him (Colossians 2:9-10, see note 3 at Matthew 26:41). However, it is not God’s will that we only be changed on the inside. He wants to manifest this salvation in our physical lives also. That takes place through the renewing of our minds. We each have a spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). As born-again believers, our spirits are as perfect as they will ever be in heaven (see note 1 at Romans 8:18). If we will change our thinking so that we believe what God says in His Word about who we are and what we have, then this agreement between our spirits and souls forms a majority, and our flesh will experience the life of God that has been deposited in our spirits. If we fail to renew our minds, we can live our entire time on this earth without experiencing the abundant life that Jesus provided for us (John 10:10).
The American Heritage Dictionary defines “prove” as “to establish the truth or validity of by argument or evidence…to be shown to be such; turn out.” Therefore, this is speaking of how to physically display God’s will in our lives. This is a promise that if we fulfill the requirements of these two verses, we will prove (not might prove, but will prove) the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Finding God’s will for our lives is not hard when we do what these verses instruct us to do. As a matter of fact, it would be impossible to miss God’s will once we commit ourselves to God as living sacrifices and begin to renew our minds. Finding God’s will for our lives only becomes hard if we are not totally committed to God.
There is a difference of opinion among scholars as to whether Paul was using “good, and acceptable, and perfect” to describe the will of God or if he was saying that there are stages in walking in the will of God (i.e., good, then acceptable, then perfect). Either of these cases would be doctrinally correct. God’s will certainly is good and acceptable and perfect. It is also true that people don’t move immediately into everything that God has for them, but there is always growth into the things of God.
This is a wonderful promise that we can prove God’s will in our lives (see note 10 at this verse ). The first step is to make a total commitment of our lives to the Lord (“living sacrifice,” Romans 12:1). Actually this is the will of God for us all. Our vocation is secondary. God’s will for all of us is to be living sacrifices to Him. Once that is accomplished, more specific direction will come as we renew our minds. If we try to find God’s vocation for us but don’t present ourselves to God as living sacrifices, then we are frustrating God’s plan. God doesn’t just want our service; He wants us. Once He gets us, He’ll get our service.
