A Living Sacrifice
Romans 12:1-2;
Hebrews 10:1-18
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice..."
(Romans 12:1, ESV)
The New Testament makes abundantly clear that Christ's sacrifice of Himself on the cross renders obsolete the Old Testament sacrificial system. No more blood of animals now needs to be offered because the Sacrifice to which they pointed has finally been made, cleansing the consciences of God's worshippers (Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.). It is finished.
While animal and grain sacrifices have ceased, that doesn't mean Christians don't offer sacrifices. We don't slaughter a bull when we sin, but God still does expect a sacrifice - a different one - from His people. First, we are the sacrifice. Notice that Paul exhorts us to offer our "bodies" (plural) as "a living sacrifice" (singular). When the church gathers to praise our Redeemer, we are offering a pleasing sacrifice to God. Second, we are a living sacrifice. Unlike the sacrificial animals, we remain alive. Also, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds into people who can know, delight in, and obey God's will for us. He is our all-sufficient sacrifice!
INSIGHT
"Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears. The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears."
(Charles Wesley, 1742)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezekiel 19-20
Psalm 140
Colossians 1-2
Romans 12:1-2;
A Living Sacrifice
1 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. 2 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.
Hebrews 10:1-18
Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’"[a]
8 First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them"—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16 "This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds."[b]
17 Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."[c]
18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Footnotes:
a. Hebrews 10:7 Psalm 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)
b. Hebrews 10:16 Jer. 31:33
c. Hebrews 10:17 Jer. 31:34
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