The following video came from the YouTube site: Got Questions Ministries
In the following 3 minute, 30 second video, Pastor Nelson provides an understandable, scriptural answer to the above question. The answer is relevant to the lives of every born-again believer.
Video text: Romans 12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Question: What does it mean to be a living sacrifice as in Romans 12:1?
Romans 12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. [LSB]
Highlight points from video [bracketed statements, underscoring and emboldening are mine]:
- SACRIFICE: anything consecrated and offered to God
- How do we consecrate and offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice?
- Under the old covenant, God accepted the sacrifice of animals; but those were just a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ
- Because of His ultimate, once for all time sacrifice on the cross, the OT sacrifice became obsolete
- For those who are ‘in Christ’ [united to Christ] by saving faith, the only acceptable worship is to offer ourselves completely to the Lord
- Under God’s control, the believer’s yet unredeemed bydy can and must be yielded to Him as an instrument of righteousness
- Concerning Jesus ultimate sacrifice for us, this is only reasonable
- Living sacrifice in a practical sense: Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.
- The world:
- 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world
- Lust of the flesh: anything that appeals to our appetites, involving excessive desires for food, drink, sex…; anything that satisfies physical needs
- Lust of the eyes: mostly involves materialism; coveting what we see that we don’t have; envying what others possess…
- Pride of life: any ambition for that which puffs us up and puts us on the throne of our own lives
- How can believers not be conformed to the world?
- By being transformed by the renewing of our minds – that is primarily done by the power of the word
- We need to hear, read, study, memorize and meditate on scripture
- The word of God, ministered in our hearts by the Holy Spirit is the only power on earth that can transform us from worldliness to true spirituality
- It is all we need to be made complete:
- 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work
- Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect
For those who might want a little more information, the following video excerpt was recently posted; it explains the idea of self-surrender in terms of the mindset required to accomplish it; which is certainly related to the above:
Sermon (excerpt) HIGHLIGHTS:
- How are we going to stand for righteousness in a world that calls us to compromise in order to be accepted, to get ahead…?
- Three things to note:
- One: God’s sovereignty in all circumstances – He knows what you are going through… His plan for you
- Two: You must know the scriptures. Situations we face are rarely black and white. In such gray situations, we must also lean on God for guidance
- Three: Be willing, if necessary, to pay any price to remain a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ
- Some were called to be martyrs
- Some other things, we value as much as our lives, must be sacrificed: reputation; esteem of friends and family…
- An example from the Gulag Archipelago that explains Christ’s requirement of His followers to deny self, pick up cross and follow Him
- Solzhenitsyn speculated as to why some prisoners survived in the Russian prison system and why others did not, he concluded the following:
- As one enters the system, he must say to self:
- My cozy life is behind me; my life is over; I am doomed to die, sooner or later, better sooner
- My family is of no use to me; my possessions are of no use to me; even my body is alien to me
- Nothing now matters to me but my soul…
- Only the prisoner who has renounced everything will gain the victory
- You and I are servants, slaves, prisoners of Jesus Christ
- The only way we will be able to stand against the world, is if we give up everything to follow Him
- Why would we be surprised, that is what Jesus did
- Is that tragic?
- Not at all, that is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith of Jesus Christ
Link to 35-minute sermon from which the excerpt was taken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIS8b705cIU&list=LL&index=1
Link to Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals YouTube video page: https://www.youtube.com/@Alliance-Video/videos