Sermon Tone Analysis

Spiritual Worship: A Living Sacrifice

[ KJV] "1 I beseech you therefore,[dia [dē ŏ’]], brethren, by [dia [dē ŏ’]] the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable(well pleasing) unto God, which is your reasonable (logikos [lo-gē-ko's]) service (latreia [lä-trā'-ä]).

διά ( Strong's G1223 - dia [dē ŏ’] )

through

of place

of time

of means

through

the ground or reason by which something is or is not done

by reason of

on account of

because of for this reason

therefore

on this account

[ KJV] "25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.

Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

[ KJV] "22 And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."

[, KJV] "6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

... 58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief."

λογικός ( Strong's G3050 - logikos [lo-gē-ko's] )

pertaining to speech or speaking

pertaining to the reason or logic

spiritual, pertaining to the soul

agreeable to reason, following reason, reasonable, logical

[ KJV] "2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:"

λατρεία ( Strong's G2999 - latreia [lä-trā'-ä] )

service rendered for hire

any service or ministration: the service of God

the service and worship of God according to the requirements of the Levitical law

to perform sacred services

(rewritten)

Because of what I have written so far, (on account of the mercies of God,) I appeal to you, brothers, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

What has he written so far?

(outline of )

Mankind is guilty before God.

()

The Gentiles are Guilty ()

The Jews are guilty ()

All the world is guilty ()

(The verdict for the entire world comes back and he makes it clear.

Paul says: “We are all guilty before God.”)

The mercy and love of God demonstrated by justification by faith in Christ.

Paul says: (What I have written so far is summarized in these words, “The mercies of God.”)

Therefore… present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Here’s how I see this phrase: (Write on board)

brothers, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

brothers, present God your spiritual worship

and… here’s what spiritual worship looks like.

present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God

Question:

What does it mean to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God?

First: (clarifications)

We see that we are presenting a sacrifice to God.

Now the word sacrifice is referring to sacrifices, like, in the Old Testament.

Paul is drawing a parallel between Old Testament Worship, and what we are to me doing today.

When someone came to God they brought a sheep, or a bull, or a pigeon and sacrificed it on the altar as an offering to God.

There were different kinds of sacrifices but all these different sacrifices come down to the fact that sin demands punishment.

Now, did the sacrifices take away the sin?

No! () all the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin.

These sacrifices represented God's willingness to accept a substitute.

They pointed beyond themselves to Christ, who was the final sacrifice for sin.

Paul said in , “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

That was the final sacrifice for sin, because it was perfect and sufficient for all who believe.

Most clearly of all says, “When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

So Christ brought to an end the Old Testament sacrifices for sin.

He finished the great work of atonement.

His death cannot be improved on.

All we have to do now is trust him for that great work.

We do not add to it.

So when Paul says that our worship is to present our bodies as a sacrifice he does not mean that we die and atone for our sins.

Let’s take the four words he gives and see what each contributes to understanding a lifestyle of daily worship: bodies, living, holy, acceptable to God.

Four points about our sacrifice to God (Spiritual Worship)

Bodies.

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

The point here is not to present to God your bodies and not your mind or heart or spirit as he says in verse two because he is going to say very clearly in verse two: “Be transformed in the renewal of your mind.”

The point is to stress that your body counts.

You belong to God soul and body, or you don’t belong to him at all.

Your body matters.

Someone might think: Why would God be interested in my body?

It’s overweight, or underweight, wrinkled, blotchy, achy, diseased, impulsive, nervous, unattractive, lazy, awkward, disabled, nearsighted, hard-of-hearing, stiff, and brittle.

What kind of sacrifice is that?

The Old Testament demanded a flawless sheep.

I don’t measure up.

That kind of thinking totally misses the point.

The sacrifice of our bodies to God is not a sacrifice for sin.

That is done already in the sacrifice of Christ.

Which is why bodies like ours are acceptable.

Peter makes this really clear in where he says something similar to : “Offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God” — then he adds these words: “through Jesus Christ.”

It’s because of Jesus that our sacrifices to God are acceptable.

So don't think that your body will ever deserve acceptance with God.

It won’t.

If you are acceptable, it is “through Jesus Christ.”

Through his perfection, not your perfection.

But that kind of thinking misses the point in another way: The offering of our bodies is not the offering of our bodily looks but our bodily behavior.

In the Bible the body is not significant because of the way it looks, but because of the way it acts.

The body is given to us to make visible the beauty of Christ.

And Christ, at the hour of his greatest beauty, was repulsive to look at.

describes him: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

The beauty of Christ is the beauty of love, not the beauty of looks.

His beauty was the beauty of sacrifice, not skin.