Yes, I know that I just published a post declaring that all that sacrifice stuff was over. Jesus died as sin so that, in Him, our flesh and hearts and spirits could be made new and pure as well. But if you are reading this, you are still living on earth. And I think we'd all agree that, while our spirits have been made completely right before God in Christ, earth is still a nasty, nasty place, because "we do not yet see everything in subjection to him" (Hebrews 2:8).
As I said in my last post, because Jesus died and rose again, it is now unnecessary for anyone to die either spiritually or physically (aka resurrection bodies and heaven). But people still do. That is the reason for the Great Commission. That is the reason we don't immediately go to heaven when we become believers: so that, living this resurrection life, we may attract the broken, hurting, and dying and bring them to new life on earth and in heaven.
You can believe in Jesus and go to heaven when you die without much change on earth. You can assent to the deity of Jesus without submitting your daily life to Him. But that's half the gospel. And these days we have a Bride who has been deceived into believing that half of the cross is enough.
The fact is, you can live in as much spiritual death as you want. You can keep your mind full of worldly thoughts; you can refuse to address internal issues that cause sin; you can persist in negative, untrue beliefs. You can remain in fear.
As Paul addressed the Galatians: "You are no longer a slave, but a son" (4:7). But God will not force freedom on you if you don't want it. You can wander in the desert for 40 years if that's what you prefer. But I'm telling you there's a promised land that has already been bought by the blood of Jesus and paid for with His body, and it's got your name on it.
Jesus told an over-zealous Peter, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean" (John 13:10). Your spirit is completely clean if you are in Christ, and you're going to heaven. But if you want to reach a dying world with the "readiness given by the gospel of peace" as shoes for your feet (Ephesians 6:15), you have to wash them daily in the Word of God...that is, Jesus Christ and His truth. His sacrifice.
This leads me back to the sacrifice thing. Jesus was the once-for-all offering that killed sin forever. But the dust of sin's zombie corpse still clings to our feet because we live on earth. It whispers lies: that we are not good enough, that bad things will happen to us, that we will be tossed about in the world's whims. Sin--ours an other people's--argues with the Word of God in our lives. And even though we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and not of this world (John 17:16), we often believe these lies over the promises of God.
Like any good zombie, sin inspires fear. Fear is like one of those Old Testament sacrificial lambs coming back from the dead, creeping around your house bleating, "I'm baaa-aaack!"
Gross.
Not to be graphic, but part of New Testament sacrifice is laying your own unbelief and fear on the altar every day and cutting its throat. When that offering is burned in the spiritual realm, it gives off a pleasing aroma to God.
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.--Romans 11:36-12:2
Paul is addressing the Romans here. If you recall, the Romans were the ones who nailed Jesus to the cross. They understood the cost of sacrifice.
Whoever separated the Bible into chapters divided these verses, but I think they are better read back-to-back. I think you can't understand 12:1 without reading 11:36. From him and through him and to him are all things. ALL THINGS. That means EVERYTHING that you are. The totality of this statement should make the lines following it hit you with greater gravity: present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
We tend to think about these verses in terms of sacrificing your "body" by abstaining from sin, or becoming a martyr, or whatever thousands of other ways that law-oriented preachers have parsed it out. I support keeping your body from sin, definitely, and sacrificing your time, money, and talents to the church; and my personal opinion is that martyrdom is an honor. But I think these verses go deeper. Yes, living sacrifice is something much different from martyrdom.
A while back, I tried to explain "sacrifice" to a group of ESL fourth-graders who were unfamiliar with the word. After a lengthy discussion with many examples, they concluded that sacrifice is "giving up something you want for someone else." That's an over-simplification, but it rings true.
Sacrifice is submission to the Word of God in the face of the world's scare tactics. Why? Because it costs us something.
I think that, often, we want our fear. We believe that if we give up control of our lives to God, He won't come through for us. We still think we can manage things ourselves. We think all the weight of responsibility is on us. So we hold on to our anxiety, as if worrying about something or over-thinking it gives us control. (FYI: it doesn't. Not any more than unicorns can fly in the sky.)
So to lay fear and anxiety on the altar of God every day is sometimes the hardest thing we can do because it means releasing control. And that requires humility.
I think this kind of sacrifice applies to anything--pet sins, unforgiveness, hoping in romantic relationships over Christ, etc. But I am addressing anxiety specifically because it is personal.
I have been struggling with many worries as my first year of teaching approaches. I was also struggling with a negative attitude. To be honest, my internal emo negativity is simply a by-product of pride, because in my human heart I believe I deserve to be in control of my life and that, of course, everything should be easy-peasy lemon squeezy for me (to put it in elementary terms).
You can't imagine the relief I felt and the joyful intimacy with God that was born from submission to Him in these areas. Now that I'm gaining freedom, He is showing me more and more of who I am and what He can do in my life. I can't go back now. If the lies try to come back, I'll just put them back up there, fire up the blowtorch of the Father's love, and give them what they deserve as a criminal against the daughter of the King.
I think this type of sacrifice is what God really wants. Everyone struggles with anxiety and pride, but the beautiful news is that, as believers, we have the power to renew our minds every single day by completely rejecting the lies of darkness in the light of His promises.
Present your bodies holy and acceptable, Paul instructs us. The action word here is not "make your bodies holy and acceptable," but rather present. Because of Jesus, we already are holy and acceptable; it's our daily submission to that truth that makes a clean presentation. According to these verses, if we even want to know what is acceptable and good and perfect, we have to renew our minds to the truth.
The truth is Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. The truth is God's perfect love for you.
I challenge you to examine your heart to find areas of fear or negativity, then submit those areas to God in humility and intimacy. He will come through with fire from heaven to burn up the sacrifice.
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