September 13, 2020
Morning Service

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

          Last week the title of the message was “Are you dead yet?”  As a Jesus follower, we have spiritually died in the waters of baptism (Rom. 6).  The “old man of sin” that we once were has been crucified on the cross with our Savior.  We have been offered a free gift to have our sins forgiven and to experience a close intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior.  As a result of accepting that invitation, our lives are changed forever; not because we have to but because we want to.  After our realization of how much Jesus loves us and all that He offers us, we die to ourselves and sin and live to God.  Following Jesus is not about a set of rules, but a choice to be faithful to the One who gave Himself for us.  Our greatest desire becomes to know God in a deeper more intimate way and to express our love to Him in return for all that He has made possible for us.  Jesus revealed how we can do that when He said this:

 

Joh 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.

          In order to express our love to our Lord and Savior, we simply have to faithfully follow the path that the Holy Spirit inspired scriptures lay out for us.  To be pleasing to our Creator and truly live in spiritual contentment and peace, study your Bible and do your best to line up with what you read allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you.  Let God’s presence in your life be the main focus of your heart.  Look how the Hebrew writer encouraged us to focus our perspective:

 

 Hebrews 13:5-6 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU."  (6)  So we may boldly say: "THE LORD IS MY HELPER; I WILL NOT FEAR. WHAT CAN MAN DO TO ME?"

          Jesus is the Rock that we stand on in times of peace and contentment and in times of storm and chaos.  He promises to “Never leave you or to ever forsake you!”  Let that knowledge anchor you to Him as you trust Him to guide you through this life knowing that He promises never to let you down.  He does not promise us a trouble free life, but a life in which when we go through trials He is with us and will take care of us.  He is always by our side.  We only get to that point in our faith by dying out to ourselves, or we could call it surrendering, and giving ourselves wholly and totally to God.  What does it take to get to that point in our walk with the Lord?  Let’s look at a very familiar passage from Romans:

 

Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  (2)  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

          When Paul references a “living sacrifice,” he is referring back to the OT where animal sacrifices were offered for the forgiveness of sin according to the Law.  An animal was chosen that without blemish and was given to the priest to be sacrificed upon the altar.  This act represents many of the shadows of OT which point to the new and perfect covenant.  One would be that there is a price to be paid for sin.  It was not easy to give one of your animals away for such an act of this, especially when it was your sin that caused the sacrifice.  This shadow points to the ultimate price paid by Jesus upon the cross for our sins.

  The shadow that we are looking at today, however, is that the animal was offered wholly and totally to God; nothing was held back.  Paul here commands us to “present our bodies a living sacrifice.”  We are to resemble the sacrificial lamb that gave its all, however we don’t give ourselves over to a physically die, but to really live for Him.  We are to offer ourselves as “living sacrifices” daily laying aside our own desires to follow Him, putting our energy and resources at His disposal and trusting Him to guide us.  Paul describes that life as “holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service.”  We are to seek to live a life of righteousness, faithfulness and obedience that reflects our love and commitment to our Lord and Savior.  The NLT translates doing this as a “reasonable service” as “an act of worship.”  I really like that perspective on this.  We worship God with the things that we do every day.  When you overcome a temptation and walk away, that is an act of worship.  When you help your brother in need, that is an act of worship.  When you go that extra step at work, that is an act of worship.  When you are obedient to any of Jesus’ commands, that is an act of worship. I love how Paul simplifies it for the us in the Colossian letter:

 

Col 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

          That pretty well covers it all, don’t you think?  We are to seek to do everything we do “in the name of the Lord Jesus” as an act of worship.  That covers you at home, at work, and everywhere you go.  Notice being a “living sacrifice” does not only mean only when we are at church, but from the time we open our eyes in the morning until we fall asleep at night.  We turn ourselves totally and wholly over to the leading of the Holy Spirit; loving God with all our mind, heart, and strength and loving our brothers as we love ourselves.  Jesus said that pretty well sums up what truly living as His follower looks like.  It becomes who we are, not what we do.  Our Christian journey is a process of dying to self and living to God.  To really live means we are removing those things that hold us back and embracing the things that help us grow.  Returning to Romans 12:2, Paul commands that we no longer “conform” to the ways of the world and “tolerate” certain sins in our lives.  Dying to really live involves changes in our life and lifestyle.  Again in Romans 6 Paul commands this:

Romans 6:12-14 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.  (13)  And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  (14)  For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

          Sin has no part in our lives.  As being “living sacrifices” to God we are to offer ourselves “instruments of righteousness to God,” not as “instruments of unrighteousness to sin.”  We must be sure that things we are doing are lining up with God’s Word and not “conforming” to what the world says is acceptable; being fully obedient.  We will visit sin in more depth later in this letter.

 Paul calls for us to be “transformed” by the “renewing of our minds.”  God has a plan and purpose for you.  He desires to allow you to live in the “newness” of life in fellowship with Him.  We are to die out to our old sinful self and begin a new, transformed life with Christ.  As we walk willingly and sacrificially along this journey with Jesus, we yield ourselves to be transformed into the person God desires us to be.  Jesus compared this transformation to pruning the branches on a vine.  I want to close today with this discourse from the Gospel of John.  Picture Jesus standing before you today and looking deep into your eyes down into your soul as He explains to you where your strength, nourishment, purpose and life itself comes from.

 

John 15:1-17 “I am the True Vine”

 

Heavenly Father prune us to become the faithful, fruitful followers you would have us be.