We Are Living Sacrifices

At one point in my ministry as the pastor of a growing suburban congregation I was quite caught up in the fervor of the Church Growth Movement. I wanted to provide leadership to the people I served. I wanted them to discover their spiritual gifts so that we might work together to promote the kingdom of  God—and, of course, grow the numbers of our congregation.

For myself, I believed I had gifts of leadership, teaching and compassion. In turn, I wanted the members of my parish to learn what their gifts were and find joy in using them in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. To assist them in their discovery, we made wide use of spiritual gift discovery tools. One member discovered that he had the gift of leadership. Another discovered that she had the gift of mercy. Yet another discovered that he had the gift of evangelism. And so it went. 

Now many years later I must apologize for my failure to study the Scriptures with diligent care. I must apologize for my inadequate interpretation and teaching about this vital issue.  All I can say is that I was not alone. For a detailed history of the spiritual gifts inventories in the context of the church growth movement, turn to Spiritual Gifts, a 1994 pdf. document developed by the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod's Commission on Theology and Church Relations. As the study says,

"proponents of the Church Growth Movement assume that certain gifts have already been given to all Christians at some point in time. They maintain that every Christian possesses at least one gift and that many have several gifts in varying numbers, degrees, and variations. This is the basis for the belief that if the church can mobilize its people to discover, develop and use their particular gift(s), it cannot help but grow in numbers and vitality." 

There it is. Discover, develop and use and your church cannot help but grow in numbers and vitality! What church would not want such a thing? It was an out and out formula for success!

But is that what God's Word teaches? In my next posts I invite you to join me as I take a second look at four critical spiritual gift passages. In the Church Growth Movement it is customary to speak about the two 12's and two 4's: Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and I Peter 4. Let's look at them one at a time, starting with Paul's letter to the Romans. Here's how he starts out chapter 12:

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. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. - Rom 12:1-5 ESV

 The therefore is based upon Paul's celebration of God's mercy in the previous chapter: "How unsearchable his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" His conclusion is based up a conflation of several OT passages (Job 36:22; Isa. 40:13; Jer. 23:18). He concludes

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. - Rom 11:36 ESV

Therefore, based upon this inscrutable, unsearchable and incomprehensible mercy, what can believers do but present their bodies as living sacrifices? Whatever is that? Ordinarily sacrifices in the OT rituals were animals like an unblemished sheep from a man's flock. For instance, if a man touched the carcass of an unclean wild animal or the dead body of any person, if he found something lost and lied about it or robbed someone or swore falsely he must bring a sacrificial offering. The sheep or goat was then killed and parts of it burned on altar. The rest of the animal belonged to the priest (cf. Lev.12-13; Leviticus 19:21-22).

So what's with living sacrifices? The writer to the Hebrews clarifies this. He points out that all the gifts and sacrifices of the Old Covenant were symbolic of the present age. They were parables, acted out demonstrations. Believers were to see, feel, taste and smell the death of these animals and so conclude that the animal's death was what they deserved. But instead they received mercy (Hebrews 9:9). He then concludes,

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. - Hebrews 9:11-15 ESV

Christ's sacrifice of His own body is a fulfillment of all the Old Covenant pointed to. God's mercy has now been clearly revealed.  Therefore a believer is to present his body as a living sacrifice. This body is God's creation, bearing the very image of God (Gen. 1:27-31). This body is not in contrast to the soul, as in Greek thought, and therefore somehow inferior. No indeed, this body is joined to the LORD Jesus, one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:14-17). And this body refers to the whole person, the self. It is interchangeable with the concept of the whole man. Thus when Paul urges us believers to present our bodies, he is urging us to present our whole lives, everything we do, say, think and feel as living sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to our great High Priest, Jesus Christ.

Notice further that when he speaks about living sacrifice, he does not use a word for mere biological existence. No indeed this verb (zaoh in Greek) refers to the life of God, that life created by the Holy Spirit, in believers baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the life that empowers the believer to say with Paul,

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Gal. 2:20 ESV

Our entire persons are thus set apart for God as living sacrifices. The undeserved yet very real life we have, this life of God's Spirit at work within us, this bodily life, we offer back to Him. This is the only thing that makes sense now. This is truly the way to worship God—with all our heart, soul, mind and body, our entire existence. To quote another translation of this passage,

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. - Rom. 12:1 NLT

OK, now Paul wants to drive this home by way of illustration and example. And notice that he does not present an inventory of so-called spiritual gifts. Granted, we are all different, but each believer is made alive by the working of God's Holy Spirit. So we take what we have and who we are and offer it back to God by sacrificially serving the other members of Christ's body. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Here are some examples:

• if you prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you
• if service is your gift, serve
• if you teach, teach well
• if your gift is to encourage and exhort, be encouraging
• if it is giving, give generously
• if you have leadership ability, take your responsibility seriously and lead with zeal
• if you have the gift of kindness and mercy, do it gladly
• let your love be genuine; love one another as brothers and sisters
• contribute to the needs of the saints and practice hospitality

And so forth and so on. Do what you can. Listen to your heart. Use your whole life to serve. Offer your bodies as living sacrifices and humbly walk in faith, trusting in the guidance of God's Spirit. "We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other" (Rom. 12:5).

Notice again that the Apostle does not propose the use of some tool to discover your own personal spiritual gift(s). He rather simply and profoundly urges that we open ourselves to the transforming and renewing power of God's Spirit. Then we will be able to discern what is God's will and what is good, God pleasing, perfect and complete. Above all he urges us to remain humble, thinking of ourselves soberly, measuring ourselves by the faith God has given (Rom. 12:2-3).

We move on to the second 12 next time.