Made a Living Sacrifice

I was listening to a sermon a while ago (cannot manage to remember who it was by to listen to it again) that was talking about Romans 12:1 and the idea of "offering ourselves as a living sacrifice." He said something simple, yet it echoed deeply:

"Imagine, you and I, able to offer ourselves as living sacrifices."

Let's put aside for a moment that we are commanded to offer ourselves, and realize that we are able.

In the Old Testament, there were many sacrifices required by the people of Israel. Whether the prized calf or first of the crops, none of these offerings were made without cost. Yet they were all met with even greater reward.

Let's be realistic, the favor of the Lord far outweighs the loss of a few spotless sheep, even if they are your livelihood. "The things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). Nothing we give up can ever outweigh what He is as our Reward. "At His right hand are pleasures forevermore" and "in His presence there is fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11).

These sacrifices were costly for a reason. God would not accept something that you do not value, because the willingness to give is relative to the value you place on Him.

He is utmost, and because He is utmost, what was given had to be of the highest quality. Without spot or blemish. Perfect.

That's not us. 

Yet this is what we're commanded to be.

And, it's so unthinkable, it's what we are made able to be.

The book of Hebrews says Christ was a sacrifice to God by God. As each sacrifice is outlined in the Old Testament, the Father foreshadowed His Own extremely burdensome sacrifice of His Son. He knew that those temporary sacrifices were not enough. They had to be offered over and over again as we continue to sin.

But one day, He sent His Son.

They have been in perfect fellowship from the beginning, but Jesus died a sinner's death. Why? For those who half-heartedly, begrudgingly gave only as much as they could before it became uncomfortable.

But God offered His Son, a perfect, enduring sacrifice. And now He commands us to act as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. But on our own, we can't. As we've already established, we are in no way holy and pleasing, and in no way a suitable offering. On our own.

Through Christ, we are able.

How? Because He was spotless. He was blameless. He was undefiled. And when He died, His blood spoke a "better word" than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). Abel's blood cried out "guilty" against his brother Cain. Christ's blood cries out "justified" and brings us in, making us brothers with Him, heirs in Him of eternal fellowship with the Father. His blood makes us able to "draw near to God" and have the promise that "He will draw near to us" (James 4:8).

This nearness is where the "holy and blameless" comes in, because Christ did not stay dead on the altar. It is through His resurrection that we are saved forever; that the justification remains efficacious eternally; that He became the High Priest, making intercession for us.

It is through His resurrection that we find the ability to not only die to ourselves, buried with Him, but to be raised to walk in new life, as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

Holy and pleasing to God.

Imagine!