Present Your Bodies As a Living Sacrifice to God

let's pray together thank you father for coming and meeting with us by your spirit because of your son and I asked that you would have mercy to remain with us now for this message I pray that I would speak words that are faithful to the Word of God the Bible I pray that I would not turn to the right hand or to the left hand but would stay on the path of truth and that I would be humbled under it and made a servant of your people Lord we are many of us in this room ripening for heaven and it is getting closer every day we want every day till we meet you to present our bodies as living sacrifices holy acceptable to God which is our spiritual service of worship so that we worship our way right through the gate of paradise into its consummation forevermore Oh Lord if there any in this room who are not a worshiping person grant it tonight Christ would come subdue their rebellion and bring them into a sweet submission to Jesus and make them living sacrifices holy acceptable to you as a worship from now through eternity but come I pray in the service downtown Sunday morning come Lord on those sitting here in this room Sunday morning now and meet them in power I pray this in Jesus name Amen so here we are at verse 1 of Romans 12 you have a Bible I invite you to keep it open I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God and a word of summary from last week build your life on something I appeal to you therefore because of chapters 1 to 11 I appeal to you build your life on chapters 1 to 11 build your life on the mercies of God I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God I sum up chapters 1 to 11 by the mercies of God in Jesus Christ he died for us he rose again he brought us to faith he poured out his Holy Spirit who shall bring any charge against God's elect it is Christ who died yes who is raised who is at the right hand of God interceding for us the whole point of the first 11 chapters is God has found a way to be merciful to sinners in Jesus Christ and he means to bring about his merciful purposes in the world so build your life on that that was last Sunday's sermon now today Paul does something in verse one before he gets to the mercy of this chapter you may remember this chapter is saturated with a call to be merciful show mercy with cheerfulness let love be genuine give to the Saints bless those who persecute you weep with those who weep associate with the lowly repay no one evil for evil never avenge ourselves if your enemy is hungry give him something to eat if he's thirsty give him drink this chapter is saturated with come on now Christianity means a merciful lifestyle but before he calls us to be merciful he calls us to be worshipful this is absolutely crucial to see the order in which Paul defines the Christian life let's read verse 1 again I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God and he's thinking I'm going towards radical mercy but not first I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God and what I mean by this is this is your spiritual worship this is absolutely crucial to see before he calls the Christian life merciful he calls the Christian life worshipful and if you get that backwards you can't be merciful you cannot be a merciful person if in and through all of your deeds of mercy you are not making much of Jesus because in the end the bottom-line need of every human in the world whether you're going to Senegal or Mexico or Romania or wherever the bottom-line need is mercy from God through Jesus and if you are not making much of that delighting in their treasuring that in your acts of mercy with a design to display that in order that they may come to taste it and live in it you're not a merciful person it is not merciful to make people more comfortable on the way to hell without a design in your mind that the comfort you are providing as a nurse or a doctor or a bricklayer building a church that the mercy you are providing is designed to display Jesus to them if Jesus and worshiping him is not the source and the goal you're not a merciful person they putting a bandaid on a cancer and nobody's going to call that mercy therefore this order I want you to be a mercy I mean a worshiping people first verse 1 and then I'm going to show you how to be a merciful people if you trade off the one against the other you will degenerate into a mere social agenda and I say the word mere consciously I think social agendas are hugely important in the Christian calling but mere social agendas that are not rooted in worshipping God as the most valuable treasure in the universe and designed to display God through the agenda with words to interpret the agenda that is not a merciful lifestyle and so we have hit upon something tremendously important here we must be a worshipping people in order to be a merciful people so what does he mean by this life style of worship let's read verse 1 again I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is and the which refers to that whole thing not any one thing the presenting of your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God that is your spiritual worship it must happen as worship or it won't happen as mercy what does it mean well the first thing he says is your worship is the presenting of a sacrifice to God present your bodies as a sacrifice to God now that's the language of the Old Testament right that's the language of a bull or a sheep or a goat brought to a bloody altar throat slit blood poured out God satisfied because it represents God's willingness to take a substitute on behalf of a sinner so I'm a sinner I cannot be accepted by a holy God something must bear my punishment he has said offer an animal kill it pour its blood out I'll take that in your place for now and every saint in the Old Testament knew the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin every saint in the Old Testament knew this animal represents something bigger greater what will it be when will it come we do not know for sure but there's got to be a bigger better sacrifice on my behalf because no animal can bear my moral guilt and we all know what it was pointing toward and they do too now is pointing towards Jesus so that Paul says in first Corinthians 5:7 Christ is our Passover lamb and he has been sacrificed or Hebrews 10 12 puts it most decisively when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of God so Christ brought to an end all those Old Testament sacrifices because his sacrifice of himself on the cross atone covered perfectly all the sins of all of his people past present and future no additional sacrifices for atonement can be dare be offered unless we belittle the ones for allness of the sacrifice of Jesus so what does it mean in verse 1 when it says that our worship consists in our presenting our bodies as sacrifices there are four words used to describe what it means bodies living holy acceptable to God let's take those one at a time and unpack what your life of worship is to be so I don't know whether you've ever thought in the categories my bodily life what I do with my hands my feet my lips my ears my arms what I do with my bodily life is worship or it's useless in this world I don't know if you've operated with that category worship is not something you do in a room that's called corporate worship let's call it corporate worship don't say let's go do worship you're doing worship right now where you are cutting potatoes changing a diaper punching Keys or there's no point in going to that house I don't know whether you've operated with that but let's now if you haven't open your heart to receive all right Lord teach me what my life is supposed to be in terms of a lifestyle of worship so here's the first word bodies present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is this presenting of your bodies is your spiritual worship so think about bodies with me for a moment this is a big deal don't check out here he is not saying God is calling for your bodies because he's indifferent to your heart mind soul no no I think the point is give me your bodies I'm going to make it real clear in verse 2 I want your minds don't be trance don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds I'm going after your minds in verse two right now I want to avoid the misunderstanding that Christianity is somehow a plate on spiritual thing that does not involve fingernails toes arms lips sex food leisure clothes in other words he's saying right up front your whole being body included we're we're prone to say Christianity's heart of course God must have my heart coming to my heart heart heart heart God says yes yes yes and body I think that's the point of stressing the whole you I want for my self now to this unless there be any misunderstanding I can imagine though it's hard I can imagine someone saying why would he want my body its overweight or underweight it's wrinkled blotchy achy diseased impulsive nervous unattractive lazy awkward disabled nearsighted hard-of-hearing stiff brittle what kind of sacrifices that he wants sheep without flaw I don't measure up now that kind of thinking totally misses the point and yet we need a linger here a minute the sacrifice of our bodies is not a sacrifice for sin that's done the perfect ideal flawless lamb there was only one has offered himself in my place and died precisely so that God might find lousy no-good bodies like ours acceptable in fact listen to the very words of Peter in 1st Peter 2:5 speaking this very same language and making something very clear that Paul leaves unsaid here this is first Peter 2:5 where he says offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God and then he adds through Jesus Christ acceptable same phrase as in Romans 1 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ so this body that we have to offer up imperfect as it is is acceptable as an offering through the perfect body the perfect lamb Jesus Christ there's another way this response misses the point the offering of our bodies is not meant to be a statement that God is interested in our looks and what we're offering is our looks that is not what Paul means when Paul says I what's your body's ID once your body's he means I want your behavior I want what you do with your hands what you do with your feet what you do with your lips and your tongue your ear your eyes your sexuality I want your behavior as mine we know this we know this he wants the beauty of our mercy not the beauty of our faces we want to make Christ visible the reason you have a body in the world that could be seen touched is to use it to make the beauty of Christ known and what was the beauty of Christ listen to Isaiah 53 he had no form or majesty that we should look at him no beauty that we should desire him he was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief the beauty of Christ is the beauty of love not the beauty of looks the beauty of Christ is the beauty of sacrifice not the beauty of skin God does not demand your body because he wants models for madamoiselle or planet muscle he wants models of mercy let me say that again God says I want your body I want you totally your body just like it is I want your body not as a model for Mademoiselle or Planet muscle but as a model of mercy whatever its shape that's the beauty to which I look you find this all over the Bible the beauty to which God looks is not external it is the beauty of love it's the beauty of mercy it's the beauty of patience and kindness and meekness and joy and self-control you can be big or little tall or short bad complexion good complexion hair falling out or hair stay Indian you can be any kind of body and be absolutely gorgeous morally as the spirit brings you into conformity with Jesus Oh that we could get this embedded in our young women and increasingly young men because I do believe with all my heart if we could embed this truth early on in our girls and boys then the massive difficulties that we're having with eating disorders would have at least a partial antidote if we could just breathe into our little ones and then model for them parents how you dress and how you think about the body and help them to monitor what they're watching and doing and and then just drive it in day after day day after day there is one beauty that God cares about do we love each other are we merciful I can probably name three to five girls from my high school senior class of 300 and Cheryl is one of because Sheryl was probably the heaviest girl in the class and the happiest and kindest most patient person in school perhaps had her own private pain and I've learned long ago to be slow to judge the book by its cover there are dynamics you know nothing of in people's lives and I learned early on that there's a beauty that goes way beyond the external you have a body for a purpose and the purpose is not to be a Britney Spears or a mr. world it is to be merciful with your hands and your face and your lips and your feet that's the first of the four defining features of this worship its bodily here's the second one living present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship so visible lived out physical actions of mercy you are not sacrificing yourself to die it may be that some who are going out on missions this summer will never come home except in a casket that may happen there have always been martyrs there will be more martyrs at Bethlehem that's not what this text is talking about this text is saying you're alive and while you live offer your body up to God as living sacrifice let your living display the worth of God let your living bodily behavior show what you treasure most namely Christ that's the point of saying living lest we think he's calling us to come and just physically die for Jesus he may not be at all he's calling you to live for Jesus with your body at your job and in your home and in your neighborhood third the word holy first body and living now wholly present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship you know the best verse to define what he means here I think if I were you I would write in the margin beside verse one of Romans 12 6 : 13 to refer back to Romans 6 13 and I would write besides Romans 6 13 12 : 1 let me read it for you and see if it doesn't sound like an exposition of the Holy Sacrifice of your body Romans 6 13 do not present your members now that means your hands and feet the members of your body do not present the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life living sacrifice and your members to God as instruments for righteousness that's what I think he means by holy present your body to God holy that is for purposes that I design especially righteousness accomplished righteousness with your body and give you three examples where the New Testament describes the action of the body as a sacrifice to God Philippians 4:18 Paul says I have received from Pafford itis the gifts you sent so the Philippians had collected money put it in the hands of a peffer Titus senator Rome gifts you sent a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God this was bodily people exerting bodily labor to earn physical money that you can hold in your hand putting it in a physical bag handing it to hands of and the Pafford itis who put it in his belt around his stomach and walk with his feet or in a boat all the way to Rome took it out with his hands with a bright face and put it in the hands of the Apostle Paul that's body's doing righteousness and mercy and it's called a sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God that is worship he's on the boat he's throwing up because he's seasick on the way to Rome that's worship throwing up here's the second example Hebrews 13:15 through Christ then let us continually offer up the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips fruit of lips this is my body with which I am now making words and he says get your body into your praise oh it's right to have a heart that sings with praise filled with all these spirits release it through lips he's saying and then he calls it a sacrifice pleasing to the Lord one more example the next verse in Hebrews 13 verse 16 do not neglect to do good and share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God doing good with your body taking the things that you've accumulated that our physical holdable siebel hear about and sharing them with other people is what it means to worship God with your body in a holy way finally number 4 the phrase acceptable to God first we looked at body then we looked at living then we looked at holy finally we look at the phrase acceptable to God present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is when you do that it is spiritual worship now my question here is this we draw toward a close what does the phrase acceptable to God add to the word holy because if something is holy it's acceptable to God that's the meaning of holy it's acceptable to God so is anything added to calling our bodily behavior as worship holy is there anything added by saying acceptable pleasing to God and at least this is added God is made explicit God is made explicit which is so important because it's all moving to the end of the verse which is your spiritual worship and God is the center and focus of worship that is life and therefore it's fitting that you define holiness as acceptable to God yet God is your orientation when you're thinking about the holiness or the acceptable nosov your behavior so let's go back to where we began now I began by saying yes build your life on Mercy at all with that therefore and that by the mercies of God means look back to chapters 1 to 11 and revel in the mercy of God and in Chapter 12 mercy as a lifestyle I am going to push on you and we'll be in it all fall we won't finish almost well till Christmas we'll be pushing on each other to be a merciful people all the way through but first let us define the Christian life not as merciful but as worshipful let us make clear at the beginning of the Christian life that as you build your life on Mercy and you undertake now to spin yourself all over the world this summer that you become a worshipful person that you make much of Jesus as you serve Him we close with two statements from the Apostle Paul oh how he lived this out oh how he lived this out let me give you one word from his testimony and one word from his exhortation and then we'll sing together here's the testimony from Philippians one 20 my eager expectation and hope that Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death there it is did he live it oh how he lived it the catalogue of his sufferings and his self-denial testify my body is in existence to show I value Jesus more than any comfort on earth and the displaying of that value for others that they might come to see him that's why I have a body that it might if necessary suffer to make Jesus look good and I promise you Americans the world does not come to Christian faith because America is prosperous and you are comfortable nobody truly comes to Jesus like that the world will come to Jesus when Americans lay aside their comforts lay aside their ease take on some measure of denial of ease and denial of comfort that they might show to the world Christ is my treasure then he might look attractive to the poor for himself here's the other word from the Apostle Paul it's an exhortation to me you it's 1st Corinthians 6:19 and 20 you are not your own you were bought with a price so glorify God in your body glorify God in your body you are not your own your body belongs to another you are a renter temporary in this body on earth and it will be stripped off from your soul made new and put back on your soul if you're a Christian someday you have it now in order to use it in a way that makes Jesus look more valuable than life does that make sense we have a living body to use in a way that makes Jesus look more valuable than food clothing family security comfort job ministry and life now you proceeded to use that body as acts of worship to make his value known let's pray Oh God here go ninety seven of us stretching beyond their comfort zones into a place of uncertainty and that is simply beautiful it's just one small way of saying Christ matters to me his beauty matters to me I want people to see Christ in me on me through me here and there the same is true for all of us who are at home who dream a dream of some little stretching this summer by which we just might show somebody the worth of Jesus so god grant us not to think mainly of our bodies as useable to avoid sins though that's important help us to think mainly of our bodies as instruments of righteousness instruments of mercy instruments of meekness instruments of peace and so make us worshipping people with our bodies uh pray through Christ amen

Channel: Desiring God

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Keywords: Sermon, John Piper, Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Christian, Christianity, Church, Bible, Jesus Christ, God, Scripture

Id: sS7AC7fIUoI

Length: 38min 3sec (2283 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 01 2013