Title: Spiritual Drill Sacrifice / Romans 12:1-2
Contents Spiritual Drill Sacrifice / Romans 12:1-2 Daegu First Church
Therefore, I beseech you, brethren, in the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual worship. Don't be conformed to this generation, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in words, so that you may discern what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Looking at some statistics, I have introduced the percentage of Korean Christians participating in worship. About 65% of those who go to church regularly attend weekly worship services, 78.9% of them attend only Sunday services, 24% of those who attend Wednesday night worship services, and 14% of those who attend Friday prayer meetings. , the number of people who attend the morning prayer meeting is 13%. Looking at these statistics, I thought that our church was still below average. In fact, it is very difficult to participate in all worship services. Nevertheless, those who participate with the love of God are very precious people.,
Today's Word expresses the nature of that worship in this way. Let God be pleased, holy, and live worship. There are three adjectives attached here. An adjective is something that better describes its content than a simple fact. For example, rather than saying, 'Eat an apple,' you might say, 'Dear, would you like to eat this delicious looking and colorful apple?' If you say so, it will make your mouth salivate even before you eat it. Likewise, the three adjectives describe the nature of worship that is truly to be offered, making us think, 'Oh, that's how worship should be!' make you think.
Giving our bodies to please God and offering holy, living sacrifices does not refer to an hour of worship per week. Rather, it means worship throughout our lives. That is why Karl Barth, who wrote a famous commentary on Romans, once pointed out that it implies a life that contains the Christian holistic ethics.
What kind of sacrifice is it that pleases God by offering our bodies? As we use the word 'sacrifice' here, some people may think it negatively. However, it is safe to think of this as 'worship'. To rejoice here means to be satisfied. Worship that God is satisfied with must be worship that is truly what God wants. This is because it is the subject that God receives.
There was only Jesus in this world who completely pleased God and became the object of complete joy from God. When did Jesus bring joy to God and become a man pleasing to God? This was when he was baptized. When Jesus was baptized in the water and ascended, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended, and a voice from heaven was heard saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Those who please God! This must be the one who truly brings joy to God. Even in his life, Jesus is introduced as the one who is pleased with God. Matthew 12:18-21 describes it this way:
Behold, my chosen servant, my beloved, with whom my heart rejoices. … He will not quarrel or quarrel, and no one will hear his voice on the road. I will not break a bruised reed, nor quench a smoldering wick, until I judge and overcome.
It was not because he took his own joy that Jesus became a giver of joy to God. This is because like a bruised reed, it does not break but builds up those who are suffering from physical illness, and like a dying wick, it knows the sorrow of the dying and saves their lives. This is the kind of life that Jesus was prepared for from the moment he was baptized. It must be very painful to bear all the suffering of those who suffer in this world. But Jesus did just that by proclaiming forgiveness to sinners. Living with these pains is an attitude of worship that pleases God by offering our bodies.
When we follow Jesus' example, we too can offer our bodies as a sacrifice pleasing to God. It means that we can offer worship that pleases God. Many seniors of faith have endured this kind of life. Pascal lived in pain from the age of 18 until he died, but in the midst of that pain, he wrote 'Pangse', an ideological confession about God. Helen Keller suffered triple hardships since she was a baby, blind, deaf, and speechless, but did she not live a life that gave thanks and glorified God more than anyone else? Sister Teresa of the 20th century also suffered from high fever and chronic headache accompanied by paralysis, but she was able to live a life that glorifies God by sacrificing for women in India who suffered more than herself. .
What I have to do in this church is to live like Jesus. I am in charge of declaring God's words of comfort on this altar to share your pain, and serving under the altar to share that pain. If I don't share the suffering of the various saints, I too will not be able to offer worship that is pleasing to God.
What does it mean for all the saints to have worship that pleases God? We often come to God to find our own spiritual peace and peace of mind. Of course we cannot deny this. If we do not receive peace and grace from God, we will find little reason to come before Him and worship Him. This would be the easiest level of religious attitude. True worship means more than that.
For example, why do church school teachers work so hard? Someone really spends a year of vacation at work for church school summer Bible school or summer retreat. Wouldn't he like to go to the mountains with his family and enjoy the sea? However, it is sacrificing one's own. What is it, other than dedicating precious time to young children so that they can be spiritually born and grow in God because they are so grateful that they have been saved as God's people? Here comes the pain. But it's fun. It becomes joy when we think and believe that it is service for God.
When we receive a more important office in the church, it does not mean that we should rejoice in that office itself. To receive the post of perseverance means to decide to share more and more suffering with those who are weak in faith. The characteristic of the church, which is not very different from the gatherings of the world, is that there are many people who struggle hard for important positions in the church, but when they become permanent officers, they are behind the scenes. However, a church that truly pleases God is a church in which more and more people serve and dedicate themselves to their positions.
In fact, even though he was in the permanent positions, especially the older ones, he did a lot of service and hard work. So personally, I don't think I have the strength to do it anymore. However, ordinary believers have more expectations for those who have a lot of years of experience. It's really hard without a lot of effort. Even if our body is weak and we cannot do what we can when we are young or when we are at our peak, we must continue to serve, toil, and sacrifice within what we can afford. The more people in important positions in the church humbly serve and move hard, the more they move, the more the church becomes a living church.
Now we must present our bodies as a holy sacrifice to God. Just as it was important to offer holy sacrifices to God when offering animal sacrifices in the Old Testament times, now we are offering our bodies as the most flawless and purest offering. This was a way for us to express our greatest reverence to God.
This belief has been passed down for a long time. The prophet Samuel in the Old Testament also said this to Saul. 1 Samuel 15:22 declares, "Does the LORD take delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as the obedience of his voice does? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hear is better than the fat of rams." The offering of a holy sacrifice is not just a visible material offering. This is what it means to give with a heart that is truly obedient to God.
Our Lord Jesus also offered his body as a holy sacrifice to God. Didn't Jesus always try to sanctify God through his teachings? Jesus taught his disciples to pray, 'Hallowed be your name in heaven.' If he truly became one who sanctifies God through his life, he himself threw his body on the cross as a holy sacrifice to God before God and became a sacrifice to save us from sin.
That's why Hebrews 9:14 says: “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” It means that we can live a clean life through the atoning blood of Jesus. Just like these words, we too can offer our bodies as a holy and blameless sacrifice to God.
It is very important that we become holy gifts without blemish to God. First of all, the people of the world run towards what they see and live. If we have an attitude of obeying the invisible God, wouldn't it be possible to live a flawless life?
Of course, there are many people living like this in our country, but there is a famous restaurant called Sato Yobe in Japan. The restaurant's owner, Sato Yobe, was a devout Christian, a rare find in Japan. He studied the Bible and decided to live according to the Word of God. So, in front of the restaurant, 'We are closed on Sundays. We never sell alcohol in our house.' On the other hand, ‘what if all the guests run out? What should I do if customers hate me?’ Still, he decided to treat his guests honestly, with conscience and kindness, and put the restaurant's fate on the taste of the food. Then, people who came to this house and tried the food once liked it so much that they couldn't eat it anywhere else. Rumors spread, and rumors spread. Every city has a branch. What started as one restaurant has grown to 12 branches.
In the same way, I believe that God will bless those who obey God's word and offer living sacrifices to God, several times or even twelve times.
It is even more difficult to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. What does it mean to live in a state of constant sacrifice? It means to live every moment of our lives with a martyrdom attitude. Living worship means always living with an attitude of giving your all to God.