If you could pick anyone in the world to spend one day with, who would that be? Likely it would be someone that you greatly admire or someone you love. It could be someone famous. It may be somebody obscure. Perhaps it would be a politically powerful individual or someone who's influential in the history of the world. Or perhaps someone near life's end who is in weakness.
What if I could offer to you the opportunity this morning to spend a day with the most powerful, yet incredibly kind and wise and loving person who has ever lived. Would you like to do that? Of course, all of us would. And the fact is that every child of God does live in the presence of that very person. Not just for one day, but for every day of his life. It's wonderful to know that we're not merely tolerated by him, but that we are indeed embraced by him, desired by him.
We are requested to come to him. I'm talking about someone who knows the real you and who loves you and who is with you in every moment of every day. I received a letter recently from a man in the Twin Cities who has become a believer and who is dying of AIDS. He writes, last night I spent an hour in the cold evening air shoveling my sidewalks clear of snow. It was so peaceful. The air was clear and brisk.
The moon shadowed my every movement with brilliant constancy, a silvery angel guarding my way. It was a singular event. The starry moonlit sky, the crispness of the air and the snow all combined to flood my heart with the glorious joy of being alive. How my heart is enlarged by such moments, exhilarated. For an instant I glimpse the reality that truly pulses beneath my seemingly ordinary days.
God's love and mercy thrum a powerful counterpoint beneath and around my insignificant life, imparting meaning, power, and hope to an otherwise mundane and ordinary world. God is so good. Only God knows who I am in truth. Only God can reveal myself to me. The world tells me a million times of my failures and my lack, yet God tells me who I am in Him and who I am to be. He is not troubled by vision that cannot see the not yet. He looks with unclouded eye upon the good and the bad.
Nothing escapes Him. I am but a vapor before the unblinking eye of eternity. But God loves me, and He has put His name upon me. God knows everything about me. If you are one who has placed your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, like this man whose words we have just read, you too are a new creation, a new person with purpose and meaning in life. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has all passed away, and all has become new.
But the new you, who you are in Christ, needs definition, needs description, so that you can understand the true significance of who you are now in Him. So we've been talking about that for the last several months. The new you, who are you? God knows, and God wants to show you who you are, and He does in His Word. The new you is a part of an ordained priesthood. I invite you to open your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 2 as we look again at some verses we began with last week.
1 Peter 2 verse 4, And coming to him, to Christ, as to a living stone rejected by a man, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Last week we talked about the background of the priesthood in the Old Testament, and the fact that you and I serve in a new priesthood, and what that means in the New Testament sense.
And we had time just to mention the privilege of the priesthood, and that is that we live every day in the very presence of God, whereas the priest under the Old Covenant could go but into the Holy Place, and the high priest into the Holy of Holies, but once a year we have the privilege of coming into the very presence of God boldly, as we sang this morning. And to do that any time that we wish, let us come boldly to the throne of grace.
We as a priesthood, a holy priesthood, have sacrifices to offer to God, just as did the Old Testament priests. Their sacrifices were all prescribed. Their duty is laid out for us in books like Leviticus, which is really a manual for the Levitical priesthood, thus its name Leviticus. But we also have sacrifices to offer. They entered the presence of God with offerings and sacrifices that were appropriate for their time.
And in a somewhat similar way, but then again in an entirely different way, we also have appropriate sacrifices to offer to God in our time. Peter refers to these in verse 5 as spiritual sacrifices. Sacrifices that cannot be defined in terms of animals and grain, but sacrifices that can be defined generally, spiritual sacrifices. And so the question I want to address as we begin this morning is what are these spiritual sacrifices?
The first is found in the book of Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, familiar verses to many of us, where the apostle Paul, after describing the mercies of God, says to all of us who know that mercy, I urge you, brethren, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And the NIV puts it this way, offer yourselves a living sacrifice to God.
That's really the idea in offering the body, because you see the body is understood as a vehicle or a vessel for all that we are. All of our powers, our capacities, our potential, our abilities, our gifts, our decisions, our choices, focus upon the body in which we live. And so he says, present your bodies, which represents the total you, all that you are to God.
It might be helpful to remind ourselves that although our bodies are still indwelt by the principle of sin, the body itself is not sinful. It is capable of either performing sinful actions or righteous actions, depending upon our choice. And of course, it is the latter that pleases God. When we choose to do what is righteous, a living sacrifice. In the Old Testament, animals were killed and their blood was shed. And then the body was disposed of in some sort of way.
Sometimes it was burned, sometimes it was thrown outside the camp, other times it was butchered and eaten. Whatever, it was a sacrifice of death, not life. The Lord Jesus has fulfilled all of those pictures of a sacrifice of death by the offering of himself on the cross for our sin. Once and for all, he has paid the penalty for our sin. Thus he has made all of those sacrifices of death obsolete. They're meaningless now.
They have no longer any significance to God because the sacrifice has been offered forever in Christ. And so he tells us not to offer sacrifices of death, but a living sacrifice, which is ourselves. The word sacrifice in this verse is from a verb that means literally to go up in smoke. You may remember about a month ago we talked about the burnt offering sacrifice described in the book of Leviticus. In that sacrifice everything went up in smoke.
And so often the word in the New Testament that is translated sacrifice comes from that concept. It's that which is totally consumed. The point of the apostle is that the living sacrifice we are to make is to be complete and irrevocable. Just as much as was the burnt offering sacrifice of the Old Testament. We are to present ourselves. It's our responsibility to do that. We cannot present others, but we can present ourselves. We can bring ourselves to the altar.
The word that he uses here is the technical term for presenting to God a sacrifice. It means to place beside the altar the sacrifice. You and I are urged by the apostle to do that. It means to put ourselves at the disposal of God. That's what it means. So the first sacrifice that we are to offer is the sacrifice of ourselves. He says it is a reasonable thing that we should do this. He calls it, you notice, a spiritual service of worship.
The word spiritual there is sometimes translated reasonable because the Greek word is logikon. And you hear in there, don't you, our word logic. The point of the word is that it is the conscious, intelligent, logical, mindful, deliberate act of worship to God. It is reasonable, quite in contrast to those animals of the Old Testament that really had no choice.
They were selected and they were brought to the altar and there they were bound and they gave their lives not because they chose to either, but the living sacrifice is one of choice. So he says in light of all that God has done for you, it's fine to sing and can it be that I should gain, but get beyond that point to say therefore I will sacrifice all that I am to this Savior. What does it mean to do that?
It seems to me verse 2 goes on to elaborate because he says and do not be conformed to this world. Do not be conformed to the world. Don't let the world system out there squeeze you into its mold for you. But on the other hand he says be inwardly transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may test and prove the will of God, what it is, and find that it is good, acceptable and perfect. The offering of ourselves to God means that we say Lord your will for my life.
Lord I put myself at your disposal. It may not be what I would choose, but work in me to make me willing. Philippians says that. Paul says it is God who works in you both the willing and the doing. If we will simply say God I am at your disposal, he will cause our minds to be transformed and renewed so that we are willing to do the will of God and that is the most blessed experience that we can have in this world.
Some of us have bought the idea that the will of God must surely be what will make me unhappy and miserable all of my life. God will make me do that to test me, to make sure I am sincere. What a lie. Sometimes the will of God is difficult and involves pain, but the will of God is always good ultimately and acceptable and it is perfect always. We need not fear the will of God. Indeed the thing to fear is to miss the will of God.
Present myself as a living sacrifice means to commit myself irrevocably to whatever the will of God is for me. Have you come to that place fellow priest? Where you have given yourself to God in this complete sense as though you were a burnt offering that yet lives in this world to experience the will of the Lord. Both of our spiritual sacrifices can be found in the book of Hebrews the 13th chapter. And indeed here the apostle is going to mention a couple to us.
Verse 15 he says, through him, through Jesus then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God always. That is, he says, the fruit of our lips continually confessing his name, giving thanks to his name. Let us offer up sacrifices to God. We do that when we come together for worship. As a body of believers this is why we come together, to offer unto God a sacrifice. We are not here to be entertained. I love the music, don't you? But we can't come to be entertained.
We come to participate in the music. We come to offer from our lips praise to the Lord confessing his name. That's a spiritual sacrifice fellow priest. And so when we come to worship let's come with our hearts prepared. If there is any time in the week when you are guaranteed a spiritual battle it's before you get to church to worship. Satan will do everything he can to make sure we are not prepared to offer to God this sacrifice. So how diligently we must be prepared to come.
And then he says in verse 16, and do not neglect doing good and sharing for with such sacrifices God is pleased. And so now we have something more tangible under this heading of spiritual sacrifice. Doing good is used only here in the New Testament. It means doing deeds of love and charity to others. He perhaps elaborates upon it by saying sharing. The word here is fellowship. Coenoneus. Fellowshipping. And obviously he is talking about material things. Money.
Things that we have to give and share. But we can also apply it to our time sharing that. Giving of our influence on behalf of others. Paul wrote to the Philippians several times in the book, thanks God for their fellowship with him in the gospel. What is he talking about? The monetary gift they had sent to aid him in his ministry. And in chapter four of the book he calls it in fact a sacrifice to God. This which they have given to him.
Dr. George Truitt who was for nearly half a century the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. He's out preaching one day in a struggling congregation helping them to raise finances for their church building. They still needed $6500 which in that day was a great deal of money for a whole congregation. Truitt in his typically bombastic and eloquent way talked to them about how important it was to give to this goal of the church together.
And as he did so they took some sort of a promise among them and it totaled $3000. And so he got up to them and says what do you expect? He says you are $3500 short of your goal. And then someone in the back, a lady stood and looking at her husband who was seated on the platform and recording the pledges she said to him with a quivering voice, Charlie I wonder if you would be willing for us to give our little home. We were offered $3500 cash for it yesterday.
She said if the Savior gave his life for us wouldn't he be pleased if we made this sacrifice for him. Truitt as he told the story said that the fine fellow behind him responded with equal generosity and said yes Jenny I was thinking the same thing. Truitt says turning to me with tears in his eyes he said brother Truitt if it's needed we'll raise our pledge by $3500. Silence reigned in the congregation for a few seconds and then there was a breaking and someone and then some several began to cry.
Those who had 15 minutes before refused to give anymore to do anything additional. Now we're either offering their names to the list for the first time or increasing their donations so that according to Truitt's testimony by the time they were finished Charlie and Jenny didn't have to give their home. The sacrifice of doing good, of sharing, of giving of what God has given to us. But our spiritual sacrifices don't stop there.
I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 15 and notice with me another of these sacrifices. In the 16th verse the apostle Paul is writing about his ministry and God's calling in his life. God's call me says be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles ministering as a priest. Notice that ministering as a priest doing priestly service with the gospel of God that my offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
It seems to me the apostle Paul is saying here that converts the people that we win to faith in Jesus Christ become a sacrifice on our part to God. He is saying I am offering to God as a priest the Gentiles that I have led to faith in Christ. He says it is pleasing and acceptable to God being cleansed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Have you ever looked upon your witness that way?
All the importance of our being a holy priesthood offering to God our testimony to others, praying, working diligently that others may come to faith in Christ, though as it were then we may offer them to God as a spiritual sacrifice. One final sacrifice mentioned in 2 Timothy chapter 4. For now the apostle is near death and he says verse 6, I am already being poured out as a drink offering.
Very interesting picture here because some of the Old Testament sacrifices involved the pouring of wine over what was laid on the altar. It was a libation offering, a drink offering. That was a way of further giving to God in this sacrifice. The apostle Paul says I look upon my death as my last offering to God. He says what I am going through right now is like being poured out. The cup has not been emptied yet, but I, my life is being poured out upon the altar of God. His death.
Have you ever thought about your death that way? To see that as your final act of sacrifice to God. In Paul's case it was a martyr death. I think it need not always be a martyr's death to be a sacrifice. Sometimes it is. We as a priesthood are offered to God spiritual sacrifices and to do our work of intercession. The apostle pleads the Colossians pray for me. Earlier in the chapter he says devote yourselves to prayer. What does he mean?
He means that you and I are to follow the example of our great high priest whom the scripture says ever lives to make intercession for us. Robert Murray McShane, great saint of God in Scotland in the last century said if I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room I would not fear a million enemies. Can you agree with that? But he goes on to say yet the distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.
He is praying for us today and we are to follow his example as a holy priesthood and to offer to God prayers of intercession. Let me just give you a simple way to do that. It is not original with me. A Sunday school teacher taught it to her children years and years ago. She held up her left hand and she said here is my prayer list. She said I start with my thumb because it is the digit that is closest to me and it reminds me to pray for those who are near me, my family, my friends, my neighbors.
Moving on she went to her index finger. She says when I was in school my teacher often pointed that finger at me and sometimes the preacher does too. So she says when I come to that finger on my hand I pray for those who are teachers and preachers who have pointed others to Christ. The children were listening to see what she would say.
She said my middle finger is the largest one and it stands above all of the rest and so it reminds me to pray for rulers and for those who are in authority over others. She said then this finger is the weakest one. She said it reminds me to pray for the helpless, the sick and the poor. And then my little finger is the last one. Because it is little I see it standing for me and so I finish my praying by asking for those things that I believe I need.
The children never forgot the prayer list on her hand. Beloved you and I are to be a praying people. God's called us to that. To be a people of prayer. Oh what a holy calling God has given us. The priests of the Old Testament were brought before Moses. Sacrifices were made and then according to God's word blood from the sacrifice was placed upon the earlobe of the right ear. And then upon the thumb of the right hand. And then upon the large toe of the right foot. Signifying here obedience.
Works. Walk. All of it cleansed by the blood and set apart as holy unto God. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has been shed for us to set us apart also as a priesthood. That our lives may be lived in obedience as redeemed people. That our hands may be involved in works as redeemed people, a holy priesthood. That our walk may be as a redeemed people, a sanctified people. Remember who you are.
And as you go out to your duties for the rest of this day and through this week, remember that God has laid his hand upon you child of God to be a priest. To be a part of a holy priesthood set apart for service to him. Let's pray. Sing with me this chorus. I think most of you know the words. I'll live for him who died for me. I'll live for him who died for me. How happy then my life shall be. I'll live for him who died for me. My Savior and my God. Would you stand with me please?
Before we go, let's give ourselves to the Lord to be as priests. If we have not been offering unto God the sacrifices appropriate for our priesthood, we have not been interceding according to God's plan for us, then let's commit ourselves at this moment. To begin performing the duty of the priesthood that he calls holy. Lord today, we recognize that we are redeemed by precious blood. That blood has cleansed us from our sinfulness and sanctified us unto holy work.
And so in the energy that you give us by the Holy Spirit, enable us this week to be your priests and offer unto you the sacrifices and prayers appropriate for those who are set apart to this holy purpose. In Jesus' name, amen.