PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.
Jesus, We belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Romans 12:1–2 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
CONSIDER THIS
It was the late 1900s. The year was 1994 and I was about to begin seminary at the Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. I had just left my two jobs as a full-time youth pastor and a part-time lawyer. On my cross-country drive to Kentucky, I decided it was time to get serious about “rememberizing” Scripture. I had memorized a Bible verse here and there, but not much more. My starting point? You guessed it—Romans 12.
I have a name for Romans 12. I call it The Jesus Manifesto. I think I could write for twelve weeks on this twelfth chapter alone. At least I wish I had twelve days. And yes, if there is one chapter in the Bible I would commend to you for rememberization, it would be this one: Romans 12. Let’s get started.
THEREFORE. Anytime you see this word in Scripture (or any other literature for that matter), you should ask this question: What is it “there for”? Therefore serves as the great theological hinge on the massive door of the gospel unveiled in these sixteen chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans. The first 8 chapters unfold the glorious contours of the gospel of grace, who is Jesus Christ. Chapters 9 through 11 delve into the “I believe that we will win” conundrum of Israel. And chapter 12 tells us what chapters 1–11 are there for. Therefore opens the door.
I URGE YOU. Paul chooses the most flashing sign word he can find in the Greek language. The word is parakaleo. Here are some of the English equivalents: to admonish, exhort, entreat, beg, beseech, encourage, strengthen, summon; and last but not least—to call. And that’s just the “kaleo” part of the word. Here’s the interesting part. The “para” part means, “to come alongside.” So when Paul writes, “I urge you,” (I parakaleo you), it has the effect of Paul himself walking right up to us, putting his arm around our shoulder and loudly declaring, (brace for it)
WAKE UP SLEEPER! RISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL SHINE ON YOU!
BROTHERS AND SISTERS. Notice how Paul doesn’t say, “Jews and Gentiles.” Jews-and-Gentiles is the starting line. This is where we find people. They are either one or the other. Note also the goal is not to help Jews and Gentiles get along or even to become friends. He calls them “brothers and sisters.” The reality is family.
OFFER YOUR BODIES AS A LIVING SACRIFICE. There are at least two massive dilemmas here. If the Bible has a singular call to action it is contained in this phrase. For most of the years I read this, I read it like this: “offer your bodies as living sacrifices.” In fact, that’s the way my favorite bible translation translated it—the 1984 New International Version. They actually mistranslated the singular word “sacrifice” as the plural “sacrifices.” You’re seeing the issue, aren’t you? The text actually says, “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Bodies (plural). Sacrifice (singular). Many bodies—one sacrifice. The New Testament church, the one Jesus is building, is not a bunch of independent individuals running around trying to make Jesus famous. This is perhaps the greatest challenge of the church of our time—to become the body of Christ living the will of God rather than millions of individuated bodies doing their own thing in God’s name.
You have already spotted the other dilemma as well. The phrase contains an oxymoron (e.g., jumbo shrimp, working vacation, smartphone). It is a “living sacrifice.” A sacrifice, by nature, is dead. When a batter hits a pop fly to the outfield and the base runners advance to the next base, it is deemed a sacrifice. The batter is out. When a soldier jumps on a hand grenade to save others’ lives, it is deemed a sacrifice. The soldier is dead. What on earth is a living sacrifice? How on earth does a sacrifice live?
Well, the secret is held in the tiny phrase I skipped right over in my comments today. But you already saw that. It’s only the most important phrase in the whole chapter if not the whole book. We will cover it tomorrow.
THE PRAYER
Abba Father! Thank you for Jesus, the original living sacrifice, the crucified and risen Lord of heaven and earth. He has shown us the way to the life of a living sacrifice. Holy Spirit, fill us with the courage to walk this path of faith—to die before we die so we might truly live while we are alive and then gloriously onward into eternity! I want to be a living sacrifice, in union with my brothers and sisters in Jesus, for the glory of God. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.
THE QUESTION
So what was that little phrase I passed right over today? And why does it matter so much?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing a marvelous hymn that gets at the mystery of Romans 12:1–2 if not the whole chapter. It is “Make Me a Captive, Lord” and is hymn 587 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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5 Responses
I believe that you are referring to: “in view of God’s mercy “. In other words, in response to, or out of gratitude, because of God’s grace so freely given, do this. I strongly believe that we were all given our various grace gifts in order to fulfill this universal call to respond as one body in one Lord.
I thought it’s interesting that Paul urges us to offer our “bodies” and not our souls or spirits as a living sacrifice. Why? One would think he’d move to the spiritual instead of the physical, right? Paul wrote this is “pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
Yet, Jesus told the women at the well, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
Jesus says, “Spirit and truth.” Paul, “bodies.”
Which shows they are connected.
This I know, where the heart (desires) goes, the body follows. What our bodies do, is the evidence of whether we are a tree of life or still hanging from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus sacrificed his body so we could be sanctified in Him. Sacrificing our bodies is evidence that the self is crucified (sacrificed) with Christ, and sanctification is our new fruit.
A pastor once said, “I don’t need to be a mind reader to know what you are thinking. What you are doing tells me your thoughts.
Staying ???? ‘n Christ
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
“In view of God’s mercy” provided by Christ’s sacrifice (My hope is built on nothing less!)
If you are unwilling to view and accept the truth that you deserve and have earned God’s judgment, you won’t be aware of God’s mercy. Instead, you will falsely believe that you’re entitled to God’s favor and blessing.
Mercy is releasing someone from punishment that they justly deserve. Where there are demands and entitlement, there is no room for mercy. Pride never views mercy. It only sees entitlement.
The Beatitudes bring mercy into view. Those who are poor in spirit are aware of their great need God’s mercy. They humbly (meekly) mourn over their rebellion against God (in their actions and in their heart) and that makes their heart hungry and thirsty to fully submit to God’s kingdom authority and to always live according to His righteousness. They are comforted in their brokenness and their heart is purified so that they can continually view God and ever experience His mercy. They make peace with God and become His children as they are no longer led by their own desires but by God’s Spirit. Because they begin to obey God’s will and kingdom authority those who are rejecting God’s mercy will persecute them.
Should read: “Those who are poor in spirit are aware of their great need for God’s mercy.” (Please have mercy on me for leaving “for” out of the original.)
Love your response, with or without “for!”