A Life of Sacrificial Worship

Romans 12:1-2

Who loves a good cookout?

There’s something special about gathering around the grill, smelling that meat cooking, and anticipating a good meal. But did you know that God actually instituted the first church cookout?

In the Old Testament, sacrifices weren’t just about atonement—they often involved a meal. The priests were allowed to eat part of the sacrifices that were offered on the altar (Leviticus 7:31-34). It was a way of sharing a meal with God, a form of fellowship.

In Deuteronomy 14:22-29 God was instructing the Israelites how to give their tithes each year, and He said make sure you buy whatever meat you want and celebrate with your household and don’t forget the Levites.

But in Romans 12:1, Paul takes this ancient image of sacrifice and flips it upside down. He tells us that we are not just bringing the sacrifice—we are the sacrifice. Not a dead offering, but a living one.

Worship is not just a song we sing. Worship is not just something we do for an hour on Sunday. Worship is a life we live. And just like those Old Testament sacrifices were placed on the altar, our lives must be laid down before God.

In the Old Testament, the altar was a place of sacrifice, but it was also a place of transformation. When an offering was placed on the altar, it was consumed by fire—symbolizing a complete and total surrender to God.

Paul uses this imagery in Romans 12:1 when he says, “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.”

Just as the fire of the altar changed the sacrifice, worship changes us. True worship isn’t just about gathering for hour on Sunday—it’s about surrendering ourselves completely. It’s laying down our ambitions, our sins, and our self-will before God.

Are You on the Altar?

The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar. We surrender to God on Sunday, but by Monday, we start taking back control. We say, “God, I give you my life, just as I am, I surrender,” but then we resist when He starts to refine us.

Imagine a blacksmith’s forge. The metal is placed in the fire, hammered, and reshaped. But transformation only happens if the metal stays in the fire. Worship is where God reshapes us—but only if we stay surrendered on the altar.

Throughout Scripture, fire represents God’s refining presence.

Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:2)—God’s presence was revealed in the fire.

Malachi 3:2-3—God is described as a refiner’s fire, purifying His people.

Acts 2:3—The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost with tongues of fire.

Sacrificial worship invites God’s fire—not to destroy us, but to purify us because our worship should be costly. Gold is only purified when it’s put in the fire. Likewise, true worship will cost you something—it will cost our comfort, control, and selfish desires.

Look at these candles; they can only give light as long as they sacrifice themselves. Worship is not just receiving—it’s giving ourselves to God in love.

In the Old Testament, sacrifices were dead. Once they were placed on the altar, they were gone. But Paul calls us to be living sacrifices. This means our worship is not a one-time event but a daily offering of our thoughts, actions, and bodies to God.

Paul echoes this in Romans 6:13 when he says, “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.”

There are two examples of living sacrifices in the Bible that help us understand this: Isaac willingly laid himself on the altar, trusting God. He “died” to himself, yielding fully to God’s will. When he got off that altar, he was a living sacrifice, fully surrendered to God.

The other was Jesus Christ. Jesus actually died as a sacrifice. But He rose again and now lives as our High Priest and Advocate (Hebrews 4:14-16, 1 John 2:1).

He is the perfect example of a life completely surrendered to God. And He is the one we are called to follow, to emulate in our walk.

Just as Jesus Christ had to take on Himself a body in order to accomplish God’s will on earth, so we must yield our bodies to Christ so that He might continue God’s work through us. We must yield the members of the body as “instruments of righteousness” (Rom. 6:13) for the Holy Spirit to use in accomplishing God’s work.

When we come to God, we should offer Him a living sacrifice. That living sacrifice is our own body yielded to Him out of appreciation for what He has done. Your body is the temple of God, the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, your body has been purchased. You are no longer your own. When you give your body as a living sacrifice, you are laying down your life once and for all, and then daily for your God.   

And as we die to ourselves, we are allowing Christ through his Spirit to live through us. So what do you say to God when you, as a Christian, present your body to Him as a living sacrifice?  

Say something like this. 

Lord, here is my mind to think as you would have me to think.

Here is my heart to beat only for you.

Here are my eyes to see what you would have to see.

Here are my ears to hear what you would have me to hear.

Here is my mouth to speak for you and to speak and sing praises to you.

Here are my arms to embrace others in love.

Here are my hands to serve you in doing good.

Here are my knees to bend to you in prayer and adoration.

Here are legs to stand righteously in this world.

Here are my feet to go wherever you want me to go. 

My friend, you can not truly worship God unless you are truly surrendered to God. 

All too often people practice Christianity for what they can get out of it.  Many people have taken out what they think is a “fire insurance policy against hell.” 

People often come to church for what they can receive.

People measure a church by how good the choir, special music, worship team, or preacher are. 

People make being blessed the main goal of worship. And one of the great excuses for leaving a church has been, “I didn’t get anything out of it.” 

I submit to you today that being a blessing to God should be your first goal in church. Being a blessing to others should be your second goal. Colossians 3:17 reminds us: “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God.”

Will You Be a Living Sacrifice?

🔹 Worship is responsive—we respond to God’s mercy.

🔹 Worship is renewing—it transforms our minds.

🔹 Worship is resolved—we commit to proving God’s will in our lives.

Will you step onto the altar today and say, “Lord, I am yours”?