Getting Job-ed
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 ESV
We will continue to explore what Paul means by our lives being a “living sacrifice” by moving to Romans 12:2. The trail of logic Paul is taking says that in order to be a living sacrifice, this is accomplished by not conforming to this world but rather being transformed by the renewing of our minds. What does that mean and how do we do this? I’m going to give seven observations that I see from Scripture on how ‘renewing our minds’ drives us to be a ‘living sacrifice.’
1. Regenerated Heart
For most, this may sound obvious, but I encourage you to really read this part. Becoming a living sacrifice is not just a “try harder” campaign; it’s not about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps for Jesus. This starts as a condition of the heart. We can’t love God unless He draws us to Himself (John 6:44). We have to hear His voice, and our hearts must change in order to be able to love Him (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 36:22-36, John 3:1-21). The ability to love Christ is not in our ability but by Him that creates a new heart for us to be able to respond to God (Ephesians 2:1-9). See the articles on ‘What is the Gospel?’ Do you hear God’s voice calling you? Respond. That’s for sure the first step in becoming a true ‘living sacrifice’ for Christ by ‘renewing our minds.’
2. Know God
Most folks would say this is obvious also, but it’s not well-practiced, even in the Christian realm. God gave us a book that spans over 6,000 years (and counting, aka Revelation) of history and how God interacts with His creation. If you’re just starting on your journey of being a ‘living sacrifice’ and ‘renewing your mind,’ Scripture is a great place to start. If you’re seasoned in the faith, hopefully, you know how vital reading Scripture is. It’s literally the ‘breath’ and ‘word’ (‘logos’ in Greek- word, wisdom) of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and is a weapon to fight the darkness of this world (Hebrews 4:12). Most of us would say that God does not always communicate audibly with us, that’s not an excuse. He’s given us a book about Himself that has been studied for thousands of years. He has for sure been speaking to us and that knowledge is there!
3. Prayer
Another obvious one, but keeping in close contact with God throughout the day is pivotal. Of course, I set aside devoted time in the morning and at night for prayer, but what about keeping in connection throughout the day? Check out our article called Prayer:30. Prayer is so vital and so important for renewing our minds, we need it constantly throughout the day (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We are in a constant spiritual war throughout the day and we need this connectedness to God (Ephesians 6:12). We need to bend our hearts to be constantly dependent on Him. If not, it will be all about our effort and that’s not a great place to be.
As a side note, much of Scripture’s verbiage about ‘knowing God’ is similar to how a husband and wife know each other. How do we even begin to fathom having this relationship with a person without communicating with them?
4. Believe in Objective Truth
This connects with #2, but we have to have a belief in objective truth. Relativism is deadly, and I would argue the culture, although they preach this and ‘tolerance,’ does not really believe it. We have to have an ultimate, definitive truth that has authority over our lives. This is the standard for judging right and wrong and how to walk in our lives. If you have a God, who is of infinite value and holiness, He gets to call the shots on truth. You will sacrifice much in a culture that hates ultimate truth. Renewing our minds is about conforming to this ultimate truth (Aka the Word of God). This leads us to the next point.
5. Submit and Conform to His Will
The obvious flow of logic is that if there is truly a standard for objective truth and we can recognize that we are fallible, then at least somewhere in the process of renewing our minds is submission and conforming to this truth. To be a living sacrifice is about dying to ourselves and sin and living for something greater. God is not calling us to something less glorious but actually more beautiful and more satisfying than anything else we could imagine (John 10:10)! Submission to the Will of God should be constantly a mark in the life of sacrifice. The disposition of our heart should constantly be “not my will but your will be done” (Luke 22:42). Conforming to the image of Christ has to be constant in our lives: hating evil, loving what is good, loving God, loving people, etc.
6. Killing Sin
The life of Sacrifice has to be marked by killing sin and turning to God. We will sin until we are renewed in Christ in the future, but how do we handle this? 1 John 1:8-9 ESV,
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Do you see the issue here? The solution is not to say we don’t sin and cover it up. The solution is to confess our sins and turn to follow Him more closely. This ties right into dying to ourselves and living as a sacrifice for something more.
7. Living with Purpose
Interestingly, the verbiage in the Bible of how God rescues a people for Himself that were slaves to sin and death (Ephesians 2:1-9, and throughout the Old Testament) is, historically, very connected to how kings long ago would conquer another king/land and then they would devote their loyalty to that conquering king (Suzerain-Vassal Treaty). Our only rightful response is complete devotion to this King. Our lives, relationships, jobs, dreams, desires, hobbies, bank accounts, free time, and private time should be devoted around Him. The rightful response of those that have been rescued is utter devotion to the movement of God in our lives and the spread of His Kingdom. No situation is by accident or by chance, everything has a purpose. Everything is about advancing the movement of the Kingdom of God— this is the mission given to the church after Jesus’ resurrection and it still holds true today (Matthew 28:19-20). This ties right into being a ‘living sacrifice’ and ‘newing our minds’: get our purpose here on earth in line with what God says our purpose is.
Conclusion
How do we be ‘holy’ (set apart) and a ‘living sacrifice?’ Renew your mind. The more we become ‘holy’ and a ‘living sacrifice,’ the more our minds will be renewed. All of what we talked about has an interconnectedness, a reliance on each other. I hope this can be of some use to you in your walk to be more like Christ!
-Austin
