Submission To God's Will

Present Your Bodies As Living Sacrifices

Two Living Sacrifices in the Bible

The Bible mentions only two living sacrifices. Most sacrifices are dead. We see this in the Old Testament. People would bring certain animals to the temple to be killed, so that their sins would be covered for a certain period of time. 22 And according to the [a]Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

The Idea is that the animal is taking the place of the person that has committed the offense toward God. Death is the penalty for sin. For the wages of sin is death

A living sacrifice is one that surrenders itself to the will of God. Isaac is the first living sacrifice that the Bible mentions. 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Isaac willingly laid on the alter and was willing to give his life if that is what the Lord required of him. We see no evidence of Isaac struggling with Abraham. He knew that the Lord would take care of him in death or in life. The trust that Abraham and Isaac placed in the Lord was credited to them as righteousness.

The second living sacrifice the Bible mentions is Jesus Christ. Only this time God did not stop the knife. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. However; He did something that no one else had ever done. He rose from the dead to live forever. Jesus was willing to give His life because he knew that it was the will of God., 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.

4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 He is not here, but He has [a]risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

Jesus knew the will of the Father was that He give His life for all those that would believe in His name. Jesus lives forever and will never die again. He is the true living sacrifice.

Application

The bible instructs us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. What does this mean? As we look at the other two living sacrifices we see the answer. They were willing to give their will, mind, and body to God. This is what a living sacrifice is. Isaac trusted God in his will. He had such an intimate relationship with God that He wanted what God required of Him. He set in his mind to lay on the alter and trust God with what was to come next. Ultimately, he put offered his body up to be sacrificed to satisfy what God required.

Jesus went through the same progression, however we see a little more in his circumstance. First we see the the struggle of the will. In His humanity he wanted the cup to pass before him. He did not want to go through what was required of Him, because in his humanity it was too much to handle. However; He found that in the Spirit He was able to achieve what God wanted and was willing to do it. This is why Paul writes to us and says, 26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

The first step is to allow the Spirit to conform our will to the Will of the Father. This is why we pray, “Thy will be done!” The more we love and trust the the Lord the more willing we will be able to surrender our will to His.

We see that Christ had His mind set on doing the will of God. 21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

The second thing we see is that Jesus set His mind on doing the will of God. Peter was encouraging Him to do what was right in the eyes of man but not in the eyes of God. Peter wanted to preserve the life of Jesus, but God required the life of Jesus. Jesus knew what the will of God was and set His mind to do it. This is what we must do as well. Once we know the will of God, we must set our mind to do it. Regardless of what other people may say, we must have confidence in God’s will!

Finally we see the Jesus and Isaac ultimately giving their life for the will of God. They both lay themselves on the altar of God!

Though most of us will not be required to lay down our lives physically for our faith, we must be willing to do so for the cause of Christ. Whatever God calls you to, you must be willing to offer yourself as a living sacrifice. Go through the progression.

1. Allow the Spirit to conform your will.

2. Once you understand the will of God, resolve in your mind to do it.

3. Offer yourself as the living sacrifice for the cause of Christ.

Transform Your Mind By Renewing It.

Three positions of the mind

Conformed to the world and don’t know the will of God.

He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

People that do not have faith in Jesus Christ have a mind that is set on the flesh.

14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

A person that does not have a relationship with Jesus can only focus on the things of the flesh. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The lost person thinks about the tings that are listed in the list above. All these attributes are things that are appealing to the flesh and destructive to the soul. This person is so consumed with the world that the things of the Lord are irrelevant to them.

Conformed to the world and does know the will of God

This is the person that we would refer to as a carnal Christian. They know God and what His word says, but they choose the things of the world over the things of God.17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

This is the person that has a religion and not a relationship. This is the type of person that knows the Bible and understands its principles, but refuses to live according to them. They often rely on their wisdom in the circumstance rather than the instruction of the Lord in the circumstance. They live their lives void of God until something goes wrong or they perceive they have lost control of a situation. They will get very religious until things get better or they don’t get what they want from God. Their heart is on what they want rather than what God wants.

Your mind is transformed and you are living God’s Will.

7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

This person abides with Jesus

Jesus Words Abides in this person.

This person has a successful prayer life.

This person brings glory to the Father by producing fruit.

This person Loves Jesus and the Father.

This person obeys Christ’s commandments.

This persons joy is full.