Separation -

Living Sacrifice

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1

The Christian life is a service for the glory of God. I have rarely heard pastors talk about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. Do we really know what this means? The Hebrew word for sacrifice is [zebach], which refers to the act of slaughtering an animal. It can also mean the act of offering something of value to God. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was worth the whole world. We cannot fathom the value of God’s Son. For God so loved the world that He gave us His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. The apostle Paul is speaking to the Roman Christians about what is acceptable unto God. Have you ever noticed how Paul presented himself at the beginning of the chapters of Romans? “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.” [Romans 1:1]. Remember that Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes [see Romans 1:16].

Now we move to Romans chapter 12, and the apostle Paul is declaring to the Christians in Rome to present their bodies as a living Sacrifice that is holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. [see Romans 12:1]. Presenting our bodies as our reasonable service is something we are not accustomed to doing. We need a different mindset to even understand what this means.

For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. Ye are bought with a price; 1 Corinthians 7:22-23

Take note of the word freeman, which means a person who is not a slave, or a person who is entitled. We are now Christ’s servants because we have believed in Him. Christ sacrificed himself for our salvation. He has bought us at a great price. That means we as humans are valuable in God’s eyes. To present our bodies to God is to follow Christ’s example of giving up His own body for us. We are to dedicate ourselves to God in everything we do. This is not a partial dedication; this is a full dedication and decision to follow God by giving Him our bodies since we belong to Him. Through His love, He gave us Jesus Christ, His Son. God sees us through His Son; therefore, we have full inheritance and entitlement to all the promises of God.

As we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, we are separating ourselves from the world. Look at verse two of Romans chapter 12. Paul states, “Be not conformed to this world.” Conformed means not to adopt the form of those around you. We adopt instead the form of Christ and his character. Our mind is transformed into Christ. We are members of the body of Christ, and we do not all have the same office. It is God who gives each person a measure of faith. If you lack faith, you can ask for more. The apostle Paul mentions that the gifts differ according to the grace that was given us. He mentions prophecy, ministry, teaching, and exhortation [see Romans 12:3-8]. We are not to be high-minded above others in the gifts that we receive. These gifts are to edify the body of Christ. Love is the key to serving one another.

Through love, we are truly able to serve one another. As we become living sacrifices, we will learn to serve one another through the gifts that He has bestowed upon the members in the body of Christ. Then in verse 12 of Chapter 12, of Romans, we will be able to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and continue diligently in prayer. Are you praying with care and conscientiousness? Are you in fellowship with the Father God? These are questions to meditate upon, especially if you are not praying diligently every day. The days we are living in are evil, and we should be praying to God to keep us from all evil. We are to overcome evil with good. Some say this is not easy to do. In the flesh, yes, but in the Spirit of Christ we stand in victory. As we present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God, we are conscientious in knowing who we are in Christ.

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”

2 Corinthians 3:3

We are living representations of Christ. Think about this and ask God through the Holy Spirit to move upon your bodies to do good unto others. Let us be separated from the world and be consecrated to God. We each have a spiritual purpose. We each have an inheritance through Christ. Let us walk in it every day and prove what the perfect will of God is by renewing our minds and presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to the glory of God.

Sanctification Through Christ

“We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10

Sanctification is through the body of Jesus Christ. The body of Christ on the cross is the final sacrifice for the remission of all sin. There is no other sacrifice but Christ, and He sat down on the right hand of God, [see Hebrews 10:12]. The death of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. We cannot within our own self achieve justification, sanctification, or glorification. These three processes are worked through the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. This can only be achieved through the body of Jesus Christ who died for our sins and won the victory over death. Jesus said, “it is finished.” Sin and disease are finished in the name of Jesus.

Back in the 1980’s, I had written in my Bible the definition for sanctification. I did not fully understand what it meant, and I wondered how many Christians or Believers truly understand its meaning. I feel that somehow the meaning has been lost through the years of watering down what it means to be Holy before the Lord.

Sanctification is to separate from the world and consecrate oneself unto God.  To sanctify means that it belongs to God.  Sanctification is through the redemptive work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  From Inge's Bible notes.

Sanctification is the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. In otherwards, we cannot accomplish this in our own self-will. The work is done through faith in Christ Jesus. To be Holy is to be separated unto God. Thus, sanctification is separation from the world to dedication unto God. Through faith, a person becomes partakers of the divine nature of God. In 1 Thessalonians chapter four verse three we read the following:

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:”

1 Thessalonians 4:3

Sanctification is the will of God, and we should know how to hold ourselves in the process of becoming a vessel of honor for God. A vessel of honor is one who is pure in their mind and heart. They do not withhold any imperfections of sin before the Lord. They communicate and surrender all weaknesses to God through prayer daily. All is open before the Lord and nothing is withheld. Thus, they are clean before the Lord. Myer Pearlman stated, “cleanliness is a condition of holiness.” Israel as a nation was sanctified by the blood covenant sacrifice through the priesthood of Aaron’s sons.

“And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.” Leviticus 8:12

The sons of Aaron who were chosen had to go through a washing, sprinkling of blood, and be anointed with oil before taking the office of a priest, [see Leviticus chapter 8]. Today, through the blood of Jesus we are made clean in order to have fellowship with God. As believers in Christ, we are also sanctified. We are washed clean of all sin, and this is where many stop in their consecration to God. Many do not move ahead in surrendering their all to God. However, God wants us to follow Christ and be sanctified. To be a clean person and have an open dialogue with God.

An open dialogue is talking to God on a daily basis. This is what prayer is all about. It is not a ritual or law; it is the freedom of an open dialogue with God. It is open communication with God. It is being consecrated to the service of God. Brother Lawrence, a French monk, practiced this daily and one can read about it in his book titled, “The Practice of the Presence of God. God has called us unto holiness and not uncleanness, [see 1 Thessalonians 4:7].

Sanctification involves possession by God, for we were bought with a price through the blood of Christ. Sanctification changes our position to being a child of God whereby we can cry “Abba” father. Sanctification is progressive in that we follow Christ and are in the process of taking on the divine character into the image of Christ. Sanctification is practical in righteous living every day for the glory of God.

Sanctification is the work of Grace to be free from sinful habits. What you cannot do God through the Holy Spirit is able to make the change within you. How wonderful this is to be free and holy before our Lord God. We must believe that it is finished. It is finished, because Christ died on the cross and has given us the victory over sin and death. We are sanctified through the word of God, and we are one in the Lord. Just meditate on this and read what Jesus said in John 17:16-22.

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

What House will you Build

Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. What house will ye build me? saith the Lord.”
Acts 7:49

What house will you build for the Lord? Did not the Lord make all things with his hand? Maybe we forgot that God has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of His hands [see Psalms 102:25]. Yet in verse 26 of Psalms 102, it states it shall perish, but thou will endure. How is it that we will endure, but the earth will perish. What is the meaning of the Lord asking what house you will build me? Here in Acts chapter seven, we have Stephen who was full of faith and power and did miracles among the people [see Acts 6:8]. Stephen is addressing the Sanhedrin on Israel’s past and what God has done. In 1st Kings chapter five we read that because of wars on all sides that the house of the Lord could not be built. There had to be a time of rest for the Lord’s house to be built. A time where peace will reign without adversary or evil occurring. Can you imagine what that would be like? Yet, God promised there will be a new heaven and earth and those who belong with Him will have peace for a 1000 years, which is known as the Millennium.

Isaiah, apostle Peter and John have all stated that a new heaven and earth will be created, and the former earth will not be remembered [see Isaiah 65:17]. Some call this a supernatural act of God, yet this is what the apostle Peter said that he was looking for. The promise of the coming new heavens and earth where righteousness dwells [see 2 Peter 3:13]. Peter said this after explaining how the Lord will come like a thief in the night and the heavens will melt with fervent heat along with the earth. Then Peter asked, “what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” What manner indeed! Where is the house of the Lord? It is not in the many buildings we call churches. Churches are a place for Christian religious activities. Church buildings are not the house of the Lord. Churches are to be a place of worship, but they are not the house of the Lord. This may be shocking to hear, but the house of the Lord is where the Holy Spirit resides in individual hearts.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
2 Corinthians 5:1

The earthly house is our physical body which will dissolve, and we will have a new body that is not made with physical hands but with the hand of God. Our physical body is temporal whereas our heavenly body is eternal. Remember the Spirit of the living God is to reside in the stony heart of flesh and not in stone tablets or buildings. It is the Spirit that gives us life [see 2 Corinthians 3:6]. The ministration of the Spirit is to be more glorious in those who have believe. God has given us the earnest of the Spirit which now resides in our heart. This is eternal and it is the new building of God. It is the spiritual house that is being built up in Christ. This is a holy priesthood, a birthright for those who believe in the son of God. They can now have access to God through Jesus Christ. That is why the apostle Paul implores us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. This is total surrender to the will of God and allowing His Spirit to dwell within our physical body.

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5

A spiritual house that is acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Every believer is born of the Spirit and indwelt by the Spirit of God to where the believers body becomes a temple of God. That is why the apostle Paul exhorted to the Corinthians, “know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” Because you were bought with a price through Christ death. Christ died for our sins and through Christ resurrection we receive eternal life. We must not defile the temple of God. We must be separate from those who are unclean. God is calling us to be separate, a people of God who through the Spirit has mortify the deeds of the flesh [see Romans 8:13]. We must not deceive ourselves, for the temple of God is holy, which you are [ 1 Corinthians 3:17-18]. We must allow the Holy Spirit to teach us and have His way within our hearts. Let us not become stiff-necked like the Israelites under Mosses. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,” [Romans 8:14].

I found it interesting to note that in 2 Chronicles chapter 6 in verse eight God told David that even though He desired to build a house for the Lord, that David did well in that it was in his heart. It was in his heart the house of the Lord. This is the key of where you will build your house for the Lord. Yes, our God knows the secrets of the heart of men.

Trust not in oppression and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.”
Psalms 62:10

Whatever happens in the world today, we can have the peace of God within our hearts. It is Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God and our Father [see Galatians 1:4]. Now is the time to cleanse our house from all fleshly desires and separate ourselves unto God. That we may be a building of God. We must become living stones desiring the word of God and growing by the word that we may be rooted in good solid ground. We must present our life, our bodies as a spiritual sacrifice that is acceptable unto God. Asking God to purify our minds and to guide us with His Spirit is the will of God. Allowing his Spirit to help us to hear the word of God will change us from glory to glory, this is sanctification.

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 3:18

May we witness the ministration of the Spirit under the law of Christ which has hath made us free from the law of sin and death. Let us build our house on the foundation that is on a rock, which is Christ Jesus. May we grow into the living stones chosen of God and precious in His sight.