Living Sacrifices
Download MP3
Speaker: Matt Carter
Scripture: Romans 12:1-2
August 3, 2025
Sermon Notes
Outline:
The call to offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices finds its motivational force in the mercies of God.
If the mercy God has shown you isn’t motivating you in the direction of offering yourself as a sacrifice, it’s likely that you’ve:
Been viewing your own sin as a small thing.
Lost sight of God’s holiness.
Or failed to recognize how much it cost God to pay for your sin.
Though on the outside, the concept of a living sacrifice may seem like a contradiction in terms, Paul has been making sense of it though out the book of Romans:
Romans 6 and Galatians 2 — We were identified with Christ, both his death and his resurrection though the waters of baptism.
1 Peter 1 — We’re owned by him because of the ransom paid.
Romans 8 — By the power of the Spirit we both put to death and are raised to new life.
The offering of our bodies reflects Christ’s sacrifices in two ways but is distinct from his in one very important way.
Like Christ, we are the ones offering the sacrifice.
Like Christ, we are offering ourselves.
Unlike Christ, our offering is in no way an atonement.
It is a reasonable act of service in response to the atonement already made — worship.
Like Aaron the high priest, we are made holy to the Lord by a sacrifice made on our behalf.
If we are offering our bodies (of which our minds are a part) it is a forgone conclusion that our minds will be transformed.
A transformed mind can discern God’s perfect will because a transformed mind is the mind of Christ.
