Identity Series (7)

God’s mercy is offered to the disobedient

Romans 11:30–32, explanation;

Romans 11:30–32 NIV

30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

“Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy… For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”

Paul reminds both Jews and Gentiles that nobody earned salvation. All have been disobedient, and everyone must depend upon God’s mercy. Therefore, our surrender in Romans 12 is not an attempt to earn mercy—it is our response to mercy already received.

God’s mercy moves Paul into worship

Romans 11:33

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”

When Paul considers God’s saving plan, he breaks into praise. Theology becomes worship. The mercy of God is so deep and His wisdom so great that Paul can only respond with wonder and surrender. Everything already belongs to God

Romans 11:36, NIV

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Everything comes from God, is sustained through God, and exists for God’s glory.

That truth leads directly into

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

1 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. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

“Therefore… in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice…”

Paul is saying: Because you have received mercy, and because your whole life comes from God, through God, and exists for God, place your whole life back into His hands.

Church, Paul does not begin Romans 12 by demanding a sacrifice. He begins by reminding us of mercy. In Romans 11, he tells us that we were disobedient, but we received mercy. Then he becomes overwhelmed by the wisdom and grace of God and declares, “For from him and through him and for him are all things.” Then comes the “therefore.”

Because everything is from Him, my life came from Him. Because everything is through Him, my life is sustained by Him. Because everything is for Him, my life belongs to Him. Therefore, in view of all that mercy, Paul says, “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” The altar of Romans 12 is not where we go to purchase God’s mercy. It is where we go because His mercy has already purchased us. True worship begins when a heart overwhelmed by mercy says, “Lord, because You gave everything for me, I now give all of myself to You.”   Step one is responding to the mercies of God (explained in chapters 1–11) by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. That means complete and total surrender. It’s the difference between what a chicken and a pig bring to a bacon-and-egg breakfast. The chicken makes a contribution; the pig gives everything. What we often try to do with God is give an egg here and an egg there, but God wants sacrifice—the ham and bacon.

~Only total surrender can be called true worship.

Romans 1–11 explains what God has done: He found me guilty but showed me mercy. He justified me by faith, united me with Christ, freed me from sin’s mastery, adopted me into His family, gave me His Spirit, and removed my condemnation. Therefore, Romans 12 does not begin with me trying to earn a new identity. It begins with me surrendering because God has already given me a new identity in Christ.

That changes the meaning of the sacrifice. I am not placing my body on the altar so God will accept me; I place my body on the altar because, through Christ, He has accepted me. I am not surrendering to become His child; I surrender because I am His child. I am not trying to purchase mercy; I am responding to mercy. Complete surrender is what happens when my life finally agrees with my identity.

This is where the chicken-and-pig illustration becomes powerful. The chicken makes a contribution, but it can walk away from the breakfast still belonging to itself. The pig gives everything. Too often, we give God contributions while maintaining ownership of our lives. We give Him a Sunday morning but keep Monday through Saturday. We give Him a song but keep our desires. We give Him our public behavior but keep our private habits. We give Him our problems but keep control of our plans. We want Jesus to be Savior without allowing Him to be Lord.

But a living sacrifice says,

“I no longer belong to myself.”

My body belongs to God. My mind belongs to God. My sexuality belongs to God. My relationships, ambitions, abilities, money, time, future, wounds, and desires belong to God. Christ does not simply become part of my identity; He becomes the center from which every other part of my identity receives its meaning.

Paul calls the sacrifice “holy and pleasing to God.”

Holy

means set apart for God and belonging to Him. That means holiness is not merely a list of things I avoid. Holiness is the identity of someone who has been completely claimed by God. My hands are holy because they belong to Him. My words are holy because they belong to Him. My body is holy because it belongs to Him. My life becomes worship when everything I am is made available for everything God desires.

This is why partial surrender produces a divided identity. I cannot keep saying, “I belong to Jesus,” while protecting areas where I still insist, “This belongs to me.” The altar settles the ownership question. A living sacrifice is a believer whose confession and conduct finally agree: “Jesus is Lord, and I am His.”

The world tells us that freedom means belonging to ourselves. The gospel tells us that true freedom is belonging completely to the One who created and redeemed us. Surrender does not destroy our identity; it frees us from every false identity so we can become who God created us to be.

The mercies of God answer the question, “Whose am I?” I belong to Christ. The living sacrifice answers the question, “What does belonging to Christ look like?” It looks like all of me placed into His hands.

So true worship is not merely the song coming from my mouth. True worship is the ownership of my life. It is not giving God an egg here and there while I remain in control. It is climbing onto the altar and saying:

“Lord, You gave all of Yourself to save me. By Your mercy, I now give all of myself to You. I am not my own. I was bought at a price. My identity, my body, and my whole life belong to Jesus.”

That is complete surrender. That is holy identity. That is true worship.

CLOSE;

Church, the people in Rome understood sacrifice. They had seen animals brought to altars. They knew that once a sacrifice was offered, it no longer belonged to the person who brought it—it belonged completely to the god to whom it was given.

But Paul says, “I am not asking you to bring God another dead animal. In view of His mercy, bring Him yourself. Place your living body on the altar. Let your hands belong to Him. Let your feet belong to Him. Let your mouth, mind, desires, relationships, habits, and future belong to Him.”

The sacrifice is living because God is not calling us to die physically on an altar. He is calling us to live every day under His complete ownership. And unlike pagan worshipers, we are not offering ourselves to persuade an angry god to show mercy. We offer ourselves because the true God has already shown mercy. Jesus offered His body to save us; now, in grateful surrender, we offer our bodies to serve Him.

The altar has moved into everyday life. Every act of obedience becomes worship. Every temptation resisted becomes worship. Every word surrendered becomes worship. Every part of life placed under Christ’s lordship becomes worship.

A living sacrifice is simply a Christian whose entire life says, “Because Jesus gave Himself completely for me, I now belong completely to Him.”