So last time we started to look at how presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice is an act of worship; today we will continue on looking at what it looks like to be this living sacrifice. The passage we have been looking at has been Romans 12:1-2, “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.” In verse one Paul mentions that we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice; in verse two he gives us a glimpse of what this looks like.
Do Not Be Conformed
The first thing Paul mentions in Romans 12:2 is that we are not to conform to the ways of this world; this is the biggest part of being a living sacrifice. You see as men we are told by the world we have to live and act a certain way. The world tells us we need to do what we need to do to get ahead. Do you need to lie to get a promotion, the world tells us that it is okay. The world often tells us to do things that are contrary to what is right. This is because the biggest thing that the world tells us is that we are number one. We are told that we should view ourselves as the most important thing around, the world is all about pride.
To do as Paul states and not conform to the world we need to step away from pride, and take on humility. We need to understand that there is someone out there greater than we are and we need to place our focus on Him; for while the world tells us that we are to look at anything other that God as being the most important thing in our lives, God states that He is to be our all in all. The world tells us to look to ourselves and find strength in ourselves; God says to look to Him and find rest as He will be our strength. We live in a society where what God calls us to do is often looked at as weakness; our society and culture states that pride is good, to be humble is weak, and to be weak is bad. This is why not conforming to the world is a sacrifice, because we are willingly making ourselves look weak in the eyes of the world.
Be Transformed
It doesn’t just stop with turning away from the ways of the world; because as we stop doing what the world tells us and start looking toward God we find that we eventually change. In Psalm 37:4 we are told, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” When we go after God rather than the world God changes our heart, He makes it so that we start to desire more the things He wants. This is the renewal of the mind Paul tells us about. You see we cannot renew our mind to focus on the things of God when we are following the world and being focused on ourselves; this includes even noticing the constant blessings that God bestows on us.
Discern God’s Will
It doesn’t end with us having a renewed mind, renewed desires; as our mind and desires become more in line with God’s we are better able to discern God’s will. This is because as we look more to God and our desires are changed they become more along the lines of God’s will; we start asking how certain decisions will bring glory to God rather than the world’s question of how those decisions would bring glory to ourselves. You see through not conforming to the world and transforming our minds we are offering ourselves to God in an act of submission stating “rather than looking to glorify myself, how can I bring glory to Your name Lord?” This is what it means to be a living sacrifice and this is in one basic sense how we are to worship God.
