Keep Crawling Off the Altar

A family in Rome, gathered to pray. 

Scripture:

Rom. 12:1   I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Observation:

Therefore — we bear in mind all the preceding 11 chapters of Romans. They have brought us to this moment in time, and we celebrate all that Christ has done for all of us, Jew and gentile alike. Because of his great work and mercy, we come before him and offer our bodies as a sacrifice. This sacrifice is profoundly different from that of the world and pagan worship where the sacrifice is dead. Our sacrifice is to be living, holy and acceptable. All of this becomes our spiritual worship before God. 

The first-century Roman world had an understanding of sacrifice, and also a culture which was thoroughly embraced. Worship of the gods was a way of life, and participation in that worship was considered a reflection of your citizenship. Paul’s call to the Christians of Rome is radical. The followers of Christ had a new citizenship, and therefore they were not to look, nor to act like the citizens of the world, but were to be transformed. 

This transformation began with the mind which was renewed in Christ. Only through this renewal would they be able to discern what God’s will was. The voices of the world were too loud and overbearing much of the time, but it was possible to know the mind of Christ and thus the will of God. The result was a lifetime of being a living sacrifice, and as a result, living into what was good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God. 

Application:

Some have suggested that this is transformation is an optional, second step, after salvation, however, that does not seem to be what Paul is indicating here. The language is that of an imperative. If you respond to the gospel, there will be transformation. This transformation is all wrapped up in the virtues of Christ, with the over-arching expression of love, lived out in the community (Greathouse & Lyons, NBBC). While we as individuals present ourselves before God, the transformed life is to be lived within community. This is a community filled with those who have died to themselves and are, together, living in newness of life. 

What matters most in the life of the believer is the work of the Holy Spirit as the change-agent. “To be conformed is to fit comfortably within the present age. To be transformed is to be fitted by God for the age to come. Consequently, Christians are often misfits in the world’s eyes” (Greathouse & Lyons, NBBC).

This is where we don’t always feel comfortable. Who wants to be a “misfit?” It could almost be the name of a game-show, and yet, I doubt many would want to participate. The pull of culture and society has always been great, and that’s why this radical transformation through the presence of the Spirit is so astonishing. This wasn’t just a head-game type of Christianity, it was a full-body consecration. As such, “the bodily obedience of Christians was for Paul the essential expression of worship to God the Creator in the world of everyday” (Greathouse & Lyons, NBBC).

Sadly, far too often we try to separate out our “secular” and “religious” life. Paul would never have recognized this type of a spiritual life because it is the whole of the human which is transformed, even in this lifetime. The result is a total transformation in worldview, one that is ruled by righteousness and the presence of the Spirit.

All of this sounds wonderful, and it is very good. But if this is true, then why doesn’t the church, and therefore the world, experience more of a transformed Christianity? The problem is that living sacrifices can keep crawling off the altar! We can’t just climb up on the altar on Sunday morning, but spend the rest of the week somewhere else. The call to the Christian life is the call to lifelong transformation, but that requires daily placing ourselves upon the altar. The greatest temptation we will face is to climb off that altar for a day, or maybe just a week, then a month, and suddenly a year goes by and you are a long way away from where you had been. 

Prayer:

Lord, may the presence of your Spirit draw me close to the altar day after day. May you continue to do your work in and through me, for I know there is yet much to be done. Amen.