Romans 12:1 (CSB)
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.”
This Scripture has been such a pivotal text in my journey of faith. I can remember reading his for the first time and just feeling an overwhelming sense of encouragement and clarity! See, when we talk about worship it is subjective in many ways (i.e. how to pray, what to sing, where to attend church, and so-on), but this text offers an objective view of worship. For someone that loves practical information to base my faith upon, I love that Paul included this text into his letter to the Romans! Let’s take a look at this verse together.
In view of God’s mercies
These are acts of undeserved kindness by God upon our lives that have been laid out in the book of Romans so far, like:
- Faith, Hope, Righteousness, Freedom, Peace, Justification, Salvation, Adoption, Love, Forgiveness, Redemption, and so-on.
This helps us in our perspective and motivations as we serve and worship the Lord. It gives us the “because of” motivation rather than the “in order to” motivation. Remember that right thinking leads to right living, and if the motivation for our worship, service, behavior, etc. is done in order to receive the mercy of God then it will lack authenticity and will be done purely as a religious exercise that has very little passion behind it. If we do things out of the spirit of gratitude for the things that we already have in Christ, then our passions and intentions are pure and full of conviction and meaning!
Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.
A living sacrifice is able to get off of the altar, yet willingly stays on the altar as a surrendered and willing offering of praise and obedience to its master. This is exactly what is acceptable and pleasing to God – surrendering our lives over to Him and allowing Him to do whatever He wants in and through us.
- What does it mean to be holy?
A holy life is one that is intentionally set apart for the purposes of God. Our lives were bought with a price and we return this life back to the one who purchased it, namely Jesus Christ, giving Him complete Lordship over it. This is what I believe it means to have a holy life – it is one that is completely transformed and not willing to compromise on righteousness. To be set apart for the purposes of God. Paul is urging us as Christ followers to set apart all of our beings to fulfill the purposes of God in our lives.
- What is acceptable and pleasing to God?
Surrendering our lives over to Him and allowing Him to do whatever He wants in and through us is acceptable to God. 1 Peter 2:5 says,You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Again, Hebrews 13:15-16 says, “Through him (Jesus) then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, acknowledging his name. And do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.”
So, every act that we do now that is rooted in gratitude for Christ and His love for us, and mixed with faith is pleasing and acceptable to God. Christ came and made the ultimate sacrifice, once for all, and when He did that, He cleared off all of the dead sacrifices on the Altar of God. Now we are the sacrifices that are presenting ourselves unto Him as alive in Christ and surrendered to Him as Lord. Our lives are spent praying, reading His Word, giving thanks, being kind, sharing the Gospel, and so-on. These are the sacrifices that are pleasing and accepted to God.
The death of the one “Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world,” has swept all dead victims from off the altar of God, to make room for the redeemed themselves as “living sacrifices” to Him who made “Him to be sin for us”; while every outgoing of their grateful hearts in praise, and every act prompted by the love of Christ, is itself a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savor.
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 252). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
This is your true and proper worship.
Worship goes far beyond the confines of a sanctuary and how we conduct ourselves on Sunday mornings during the music portion of the Worship Service! True and proper worship is seen in our lifestyles, the way we conduct ourselves and the level to which we have surrendered ourselves unto the Lordship of Christ. Worship begins and ends with our understanding of God and what He has done for us. Worship is always a response to revelation! And our response is in the way we serve God and conduct ourselves in righteousness that is by faith.
So, through this verse we can see that God’s perfect picture of worship for us is to live lives that are passionate about holiness and righteousness, and that offer themselves up to Him for use. Whatever we need; to get rid of, to add, to renounce, to continue in, etc. in order to offer ourself up to God as a pure sacrifice is what we need to do in order to please Him in our worship.
This might mean that instead of standing around at lunch with my co-workers telling dirty jokes, or speaking unwholesomely about the politics of our country, we choose to get alone somewhere and pray or read the Word of God for that 15-30 minute break, or talk to our co-workers about what God has been doing in our lives (in view of God’s mercies). I am not suggesting that we become completely un-relatable to our friends and co-workers, but there should be a level of separation (holiness) that they feel from us who claim Christ as our Savior and Lord!
Our bodies are reflective of our minds and hearts in worship. We offer up our bodies once we learn what is true of God, and so my question to you is: What is our body saying we believe to be true as we conduct ourself in the exercise of worship? When we sing are we engaged? When our Pastor preaches do we take notes or listen and follow along intently? When there are opportunities to serve, do we get involved? Are we praying? Are we tithing when it’s time to give? Do we understand that what we believe about God is what should compel these acts of sacrificial service? These are the things that we should consider when we look at Romans 12:1.
Most of the information in this post has been drafted, or slightly modified, from the Sermon I preached on 12/1/19 at Eagleville Bible Church. You can watch that full Sermon here; or you can get the audio version here;
God bless you!
BTW – We will look at the next verse (Romans 12:2) in my next post as a sort of follow up to this post. These two verses (Romans 12:1 & 2) go hand in hand in giving us an excellent picture of what we need to do as Christians to please God in our worship, and daily activities. Hope you tune in to the post on Monday!
