I am beginning this blog publishing some church bulletin messages I wrote some years ago. I trust you find them beneficial and a spiritual blessing. I believe their abiding relevance will be proven.
JULY 2003
Romans 12:1,2
From The Pastor's Heart
True spiritual life includes your body. "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." We are used to the request for our blood to be donated to the blood bank so lives can be saved. We are used to being requested to donate our organs or bone marrow for lives to be saved. But this is something in another league altogether - your entire body is being requested here! This is a devotion that extends beyond mere words of praise and gratitude to include the reality of living practically in sacred devotion to God. It means that He wants us to give our bodies directly to God in order to be used in any way He sees fit as a sacrifice. It means God takes complete control of your body, and you hand it over to Him. A sacrifice is something that is expensive. David declined the opportunity to worship in a cheap, convenient fashion. When given the opportunity he said, "Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing." (II Samuel 24:24) There is a religion that is aptly called "easy believism". It avoids cost in worshipping God and retains control over the life by the flesh refusing to deny self or to demonstrate the power of Jesus Christ in a changed life of holiness. It wants convenience and comfort and the approval of the world. Are you an "easy believer"? Are you holding out on God by refusing to give him the right to have control of your body? This is completely foreign to someone like David. We need to embrace this way of devotion that won't hesitate to give our own bodies to God as a sacrifice. This is even more costly than giving your money. It means if God wants your voice, you'll give it to Him. If he wants to use your hands, you'll give them, since you've sacrificed them to Him. If He wants you to dress in a way that is different than worldly fashion or what your will wants, He has the right to do that, since you've sacrificed your body to Him. If He wants you to change your diet, or fast and pray, you will. His ways aren't our ways. He will bring glory to Himself through you in every realm, including your body. If your body is healthy, he wants it. If it is diseased and weak, he wants it. He can do tremendous things with your body if you will sacrifice it to Him. If your body is sacrificed to Him He has the right to do whatever He wants to with you. Do you trust God enough to do that? Do you love Him enough to do that?
What can you expect to happen when you do this? The best example of this is seen in the life of our Lord Jesus, who lived in complete and total devotion to God the Father always. His body was a living sacrifice in every sense. No body was purer than His. No life had such eternal importance and value. No life was lived with greater worship and fruit for God. No life was more full of joy and sacred delight. No life had more love. The apostles also illustrate this principle in practice. They gave their bodies to travel, to suffer, to speak, to write, to work, to serve, to do anything the Lord wanted them to. They were at His disposal. What a tremendous change if everyone gave their body to God in true worship. No more fornication or adultery. There would be no market for alluring dress and suggestive clothing. No pornography or perversion. Drug and alcohol abuse would cease completely. Major diseases that result from lifestyle choices would be virtually eliminated. Tattoos and body piercing would be stopped. Godless music would be gone. Violence would end. Laziness would be stopped. People would always tell the truth. The world would be impacted with lives on fire with devotion and holy living. What would all the lawyers do?
God established this plea on the basis of His mercies. Having seen in the previous portion of the book of Romans God's mercies freely given to us sinners, how does He want us to respond? Not only to believe that his mercies to us are real and genuine, but to respond in practical devotion by giving our own bodies over to Him to have full control of them. If you do this, you won't be living according to the pattern the rest of the world is living by. The world we live in believes that our bodies belong to us and we have the right to do whatever we want to. Most people act as if they didn't have to answer to anybody or consult anybody for what to do with their body. But God tells you he wants to have full control over your body by a conscious act on your part.
How can you do this? By simply telling God in prayer in your own words that you so thankful for his mercy to you that you give your body as a holy sacrifice to him, and really mean it. Tell him you now give your body entirely into His hands to do whatever he wants to with you. He will receive it as a love-gift of devotion to Him, and will do wonderful things in your life that are impossible apart from this act of devotion. This isn't extreme. It is your reasonable service. It makes sense in light of what God has done for us in giving us His only-begotten Son, Jesus. Won't you give Him your body right now? What else would you do with it?
Your loving pastor in our wonderful Lord Jesus,
Ed Sager
"Nothing less than a living sacrifice is demanded. Not a loan, but a gift; not a compromise, but a sacrifice; not our poorest, but our best. Not a dead but a living offering. Each drop of our blood, each ounce of our energy, each throb of our heart, we must offer to God."
Joseph Pearce
"Too many Christians are stuffing themselves with gospel blessings while millions have never had a taste."
Vance Havner
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