“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1)

The worship of God by the people of Israel was to be filled with sacrifices and offerings where they would seek God’s forgiveness and ask for His leading. They were to be brought before God in the demonstration of their obedience to God. If they would follow God’s directions, He promised to be with them. “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” (Leviticus 26:12)

The problem was that the people continued to disobey God and turn to false gods. This would bring God’s judgment where He would punish them for their sins and disobedience. With God’s judgment, He continued to call the people back to true worship and thus they could again receive God’s blessing. Even in His judgment, God would offer hope. “Gather together, gather yourselves together, you shameful nation, before the decree takes effect and that day passes like windblown chaff, before the LORD’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the LORD’s wrath comes upon you. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.” (Zephaniah 2:1-3)

Through Jesus Christ, God comes to us in order to be the offerings and sacrifices for our sins that He can now walk among us and be our God. “’Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them’—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do your will.’ He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:8-10)

It is with God’s action, we can now stand justified before God and He can live with us and dwell in us. “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25-26)

We can walk with God living a life of worship. Our worship can be pleasing to God because we can worship as Jesus directed: in spirit and truth. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

While it was Jesus who fulfilled all the sacrifices of the old covenant, we bring to God our sacrifices, which is our lives. We live this life as sacrifices to God. Paul writes, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2) We give ourselves to God who will transform us and show us His will. We can now learn to love God with all our mind. He will show us His will which brings to us God’s best. His will is good, pleasing, and perfect. As we follow Him, we can truly worship Him as living sacrifices.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block