Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
– Romans 12:1
The apostle Paul could have ended his letter known as Romans with the first eleven chapters. They are a spectacular work of systematic theology. We could read those chapters and marvel at the “depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of God” (11:33), and celebrate the good news that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1). Paul, though, does not stop once his theology is unpacked. He presses on to practical application. If we want to know what the “Therefore” is there for (I know, it’s a preposition violation), review all of what Paul has said prior to this. Simply put, because of the gospel of Jesus Christ we are “urged to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.”
Does this seem odd? If so, join me for a moment as I am led to remember my younger years of growing up in the church. Somehow I came away with the idea that being a Christian was just a matter of the heart. You ask Jesus to live in your heart, you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died and rose again on Easter morning, and by faith (believing) have the privilege of calling yourself a Christian. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that this is all my church taught. What I am saying is, this is all I heard. What that produced was a person who would have gladly told you that he was a Christian, but also who lived as if the body could be used in whatever fashion was most pleasing to him.
I have grown to understand the problem with such a view. Not that the view isn’t attractive. Make no mistake; it is attractive! What it is not is an accurate representation of Christianity. It would be kind of like saying that the living room and the kitchen of my house belong to me, but the bedrooms, baths, closets and garage belong to the bank. Anyone who has a mortgage on a home knows very well that if the bank owns any part of your house, it owns all of your house. Until that house is all yours, none of it is yours. We would not presume to try such logic on a bank. Why would we think it makes sense with our faith?
As I have allowed this verse to permeate my mind in recent weeks, the implications have been nearly overwhelming. Honestly, it is hard to know where I should begin bringing myself into alignment with these words. “Present your body to God as a living sacrifice.” This means I will be subject to the direction of the Holy Spirit for all of my waking activities. I recently heard a person say that he sees himself as “God’s Uber driver,” ready to take God wherever He wants to go. I like that!
Offering my body as a sacrifice to God means that I should take seriously the stewardship of my body. The Bible says my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). As such I think God would want me to keep my body in usable condition to the greatest extent possible. God would also have me make choices with my body that demonstrate my submission to Him. If my choices with my body convey dissonance with the desires of God, then my sacrifice will surely not be very pleasing or acceptable.
In short, what I do with my body matters.
Someone may say that I am off base, or taking this a bit too far. I don’t think so on either count. I know that our salvation is by grace through faith, not because of works. I know that there is freedom in Christ from a legalistic view of righteousness. But with all of this, I am also willing to receive the challenge of God’s word inviting me to present my entire physical self as an offering surrendered to God day by day.
And with that, Romans 12 is out of the starting blocks. See you along the Winding Path.
The Winding Path 