I’ve been going through Romans with my wife and noticed that Romans stabs right at the heart of what true Christianity should be. What follows are my thoughts as I read this verse (yes, I often think in third-person, preaching to myself).
Paul appeals to the people of the church in Rome, addressing them with a familial term (“brothers”) to convey his care and concern for their well-being. What he is going to say is meant to better them and is CRITICAL for every believer in Christ to understand! Paul invokes the “mercies of God” in his appeal to the believers, calling to mind the mercy God had in saving them from His judgment and enmity via the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Messiah. The mercy of God should precipitate humility, thankfulness, and a general desire to hear and listen to the godly appeal of Paul.
Note that it is the believer’s responsibility to present the sacrifice. Every believer must act on their faith; what good is a faith that is unfruitful? It is of no benefit. This is a warning to EVERY PERSON who thinks that a merely conceptual understanding of Christian doctrine will save them from God’s just wrath. James talks extensively of how true faith produces fruit that is good (holiness, truth, love, kindness, etc.) not evil (lies, gossip, slander, murder, sexual immorality, sexual perversion, etc.). Your identity CANNOT simultaneously be Christ and what Christ opposes, at least not for very long. You cannot claim, “Christ saved me from my sins” and turn around and say, “I am living a sinful lifestyle.” Those positions represent two mutually exclusive identities; they cannot coexist indefinitely. Paul is calling the believer to ACTION.
Sacrifices typically involve killing something or someone. The definition of “sacrifice” means “an act of slaughtering… or surrending… as an offering to God.” Thus the juxtapositioning of “living” and “sacrifice” should immediately cause us to slow down and consider exactly what is asked of believers. We are told to present our bodies (representative of our whole person) as a living sacrifice to God. We are to surrender ourselves to God as an offering. We are to be “living” in that we were made alive in Christ. We are to LIVE AS SACRIFICES to God. Our lives are not our own. Christian, STOP living as if your sole purpose in life was to fulfill your own hopes, wishes, dreams, and desires. You will NEVER find fulfillment and meaning in pursuing self-gratification and selfish desires. You can only find true meaning and purpose in living for God.
Paul clarifies that our bodies, the living sacrifice, should be holy and acceptable to God. Ask yourself, “Am I living a life that is set apart and dedicated to God? Or is my every thought consumed with all the fun I’m going to have as soon as I’m done with work, chores, school, etc.?” The life that is drenched with sinful, impure behavior is NOT acceptable to God. To be holy is to be set apart specifically for God, not yourself. It is the life that is NOT characterized by gossiping, slandering, sexual immorality (including pornography, homosexuality, fornication, pre-marital sexual relationships, etc.). If you are identified by, or your name is synonymized with, any sort of sinful behavior, seek to rid yourself of it completely.
In actively seeking to be separate from sin (to God) and surrendered to God, an acceptable offering to the Lord, you are worshipping Him. True worship is not just singing songs at church (though that can be a part of it), nor is it merely speaking words of praise of God. True spiritual worship of God is what every Christian should strive for and desire.
Christian worship is acting on our understanding that it is by the mercies of God alone that we are saved from judgment and that it is only by Christ’s work we are able to surrender our lives as a holy and living sacrifice that is acceptable to God.
This Christmas season, remember the mercy of God. Remember the hope we now have in the Messiah, God with us. Live a life of worshipful surrender to the God of all mercy!
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