A living sacrifice…wait, what?

“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.”

Romans 12: 1

Man, Christians like to quote this passage A LOT! It’s kind of a go-to passage. But some believers toss it around so flippantly — as if it is something easily done — that I really think they don’t get what it means.

Before I continue, let me issue a disclaimer: I don’t think I really get this passage either.

But, I think I understand the concept of sacrifice.  I understand what we think it means today and I think I understand what it would’ve meant to the original recipients of this letter back in their day.

And whether I apply today’s standards to ‘sacrifice’ or the standards the Romans would have applied, I’ve come to the conclusion that this ain’t something that’s easy to do.

But I want to try to get this living sacrifice thing down, because the results sound pretty good to me in the following verse.  So what does it mean?

It was written to people whom Paul had just explained (in Romans 11) were brought into God’s grand plan thanks in no way to anything they deserved.  That fits me.  And Paul is telling them that, in light of God’s mercy toward them in that regard, it was a reasonable think to urge them to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice and a worship response…an act of thanksgiving for what He’d done on their behalf.

But what was it about their bodies that they needed to sacrifice?  Was it giving up something that benefited their bodies in order to gain something better?  I don’t think so.  Paul was never an ‘abstain-for-abstention’s-sake’ kind of guy.  He was more of a ‘meats-for-the-belly-and-the-belly-for-meats’, ‘a-little-wine-for-the-stomach’s-sake’ or ‘better-to-marry-than-burn’ kind of guy.

So I don’t think Paul was calling these people to a life of physical self-denial.

Instead, it kind of sounds like they were being asked to give up their rights to whatever they felt they had the right to feel, think, do or be.  I think he’s basically telling them they need to change their mind about what their priorities were.

That idea is magnified when you look at the rest of the chapter where, immediately afterward, he tells them to be transformed or changed completely by renewing their mindset.

Then he goes on to make the point that they’re all now kind of a team.  They’re all part of a body with a specific function for their specific ‘body parts’.  He writes about functioning well within that body and, in doing that, serving the other ‘members’ of the body wholeheartedly.

Then, the chapter finishes with a little instruction about putting faith into action:

• Love sincerely
• Hate what is evil
• Cling to what is good
• Be devoted to one another
• Honor others above yourself
• Share with the Lord’s people who are in need
• Practice hospitality
• Bless those who persecute you
• Live in harmony with one another
• Be willing to associate with people of low position
• Do not be conceited
• Do not repay anyone evil for evil
• Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
• As much as you can, live at peace with everyone
• Do not take revenge

That’s a pretty good-sized laundry list.  It is all emotional self-denial stuff too.  And it’s all stuff that doesn’t come naturally to me.

That’s the bad news.  It almost seems like it’d be easier to see stuff and categorize it as good or bad and the give up the bad stuff.  But it seems like God, through Paul, is telling these readers (and us) that He’s not really concerned as much about what we physically deny ourselves as He is with what we emotionally and mentally deny ourselves of.

And maybe that’s where I start sacrificing…the emotional stuff I think I’m entitled to.

So, I think it’s pretty simple. I’ve got to start living my life like a team player, part of a bigger unit. I’ve also got to start radically changing my mindset in some specific areas.  Sharing, showing hospitality, living in harmony, doing the right thing, being at peace with those around me…

It IS simple.  It isn’t easy.