Sacrificial Lifestyle

As a teenager I remember one business meeting when our church was voting on the Vacation Bible School Director. The Nominating Committee presented one of the women for the position. Several men were very upset that a woman was going to serve in a leadership position (I attended a very conservative Mississippi Southern Baptist church). Since the men were opposed to a woman serving as the VBS Director, the pastor asked which of the men would volunteer to be the Director. After a long silence one elderly man spoke out and said, “As long as she does all the actual work, I will agree to be the Director.” He was elected as the VBS Director and never lifted a hand to help with VBS.

The era of volunteerism in churches has been in a decline for a long time. Church leaders have moved beyond advertising or asking for helpers and have now found it necessary to beg for help in many ministry areas. Begging often encourages people who don’t really want to, and, very likely, are not called to serve in that particular ministry.

Perhaps pastors need to start urging our members rather than begging them. What’s the difference? Begging means asking others to do you a favor. To urge is the act of compelling someone to do something. It shows that you see a need and that you believe they can help fulfill that need. Through this action, you are expressing the urgency of the need.

Paul shows the necessity of urging believers on toward ministry in the book of Romans. Paul spends the bulk of this letter speaking about the need for salvation (1:18-3:20), the way to receive salvation (3:21-4:25), and the victorious result of salvation (5:1-8:39). Then after assuring his readers that God is faithful to keep all that He has promised (9:1-11:36), Paul explains the urgency of obedience to Christ (12:1-15:13).

“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.” (Romans 12:1, NIV)

After all that he has taught them through the first eleven chapters, Paul is compelling, pleading, directing them to become the people that God has called them to be. I like the way The Message translation puts it:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”  (Romans 12:1, The Message)

Paul’s audience would have understood the meaning of a sacrifice perhaps more than we do. It was common for people of many religions during the first century to present sacrifices to their gods. These sacrifices were supposed to be something that had great value to the individual or represented their livelihood. A shepherd might bring his prize sheep, a fisherman might bring his best catch, a farmer might bring his best crops, a rich man might bring a precious jewel, and a poor man might bring one of his children. The sacrifice that was given was consumed by a fire or destroyed in some fashion. It was understood that they would never get that item back once they presented it to their god.

Paul was asking people to present themselves as a sacrifice. He was not asking them to place themselves on an altar to be burned or killed, for he wanted them to understand that they were to be living sacrifices. As such, their very lives no longer belonged to them. They were to present them to God and He alone would have the authority to determine what is done with those lives.

I knew a missionary that worked with a Native American tribe. He shared about his experience in trying to bring the message of Jesus to their tribe. He spent many years witnessing without even a single person accept Jesus. He learned through his interactions with the tribe that if he was to ever get them to accept Jesus he would have to convince the chief of the importance of accepting Jesus as his savior. But the chief resisted him continually. One day the chief was riding his horse through the forest and stopped by a stump in a clearing. The chief had been troubled for some time and came to this clearing hoping to find peace. Remembering the stories that the missionary had shared with him, the chief walked over to the stump and placed his peace pipe on top of it as he looked up toward heaven and cried out, “Jesus, Chief want peace.” He waited, but felt no peace. He then took the blanket from his horse and placed it on the stump as he once again cried out, “Jesus, Chief want peace.” Nothing. The chief then tied his horse to the stump and called out even louder, “Jesus, Chief want peace.” He still felt nothing. After thinking about this for a while, the chief walked over to the stump and laid across the stump as he called out, “Jesus, Chief want peace.” He instantly felt the peace he had been seeking.

Jesus does not want a ceremonial sacrifice, not even if it held the bond of a peace pipe. Jesus does not want our things. Jesus wants us. All of us. Every last fiber of our being. He wants you to place yourself on the altar as a sacrifice with the understanding that when you rise you are no longer in charge of your own life. As such, Paul instructs, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2a, NIV84). As living sacrifices you can no longer base your life on what the world determines is the way to do things. You are now to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2b). Paul further explains that once your mind is renewed you will be “able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2c).

What type of volunteers do we want in our ministries: someone who has to be begged to participate or somebody who has been urged by their shepherds to live a sacrificial life for Christ? I encourage church leaders to begin urging members to become living sacrifices. This is not something that will instantly get volunteers for your ministry, which is why pastors sometimes resort to guilting their members into service. Paul spent half of his letter in explaining salvation to his audience and another fourth of the letter reminding them that God’s Word is faithful and trustworthy. You must be willing to put in some time and effort toward enlisting, educating, encouraging, and equipping your volunteers.

This is part 1 in a study of Romans 12. Continue to part 2 here.