Influence me

But don’t let sin control your life here on earth. You must not be ruled by the things your sinful self makes you want to do. Don’t offer the parts of your body to serve sin. Don’t use your bodies to do evil, but offer yourselves to God, as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used for doing good. Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace. (Romans 6:12-14)

I know sin doesn't seem to just leave us alone - there are opportunities to compromise at every turn in the road and more than we might seem to recognize. When we welcomed Christ into our lives, we actually 'died' to sin - meaning that sin has no control over us any longer. We all know that temptation is real. We all realize the appeal of certain 'habits' don't just disappear. We have to put forth some effort to resist - to 'repel' sin's pull. What we might not recognize is that by offering our bodies to God daily, we are actually asking God to help us resist or repel those urges to do what we know we shouldn't be doing any longer.

The sad truth is that we actually 'offered' ourselves to serve sin. We might not realize how often we do this, like when we engage in just a bit of gossip about another individual. Is that information you are receiving honorable? Not usually. It isn't as though you have the best interest of the other individual in mind when you are taking it all in. You just want the juicy tidbits! We 'offer' ourselves to sin by listening when we have no business knowing what is being shared! Sin has a way of luring us in, creating a sense of 'ease' for the moment, but later we find that we aren't feeling all that good about what we just did, said, or are now thinking about. We let sin have an entrance and now we deal with the guilt.

What does it mean to offer ourselves to God. I can only share what it means to me, so let me begin by saying I offer my thoughts to him repeatedly throughout the day. I know how carried away my thoughts can get when they are left to their own devices and influenced by all the stuff around me, so I need his help to keep me 'on task' with him and able to resist those 'influential thoughts' that come at me. I also ask him to guide my words so they will be spoken in a gentle, healing, and wholesome manner. Does that mean I always succeed with my thought life and my speech? Not always, but I soon recognize when I am not in a 'safe place' with both areas because he brings little moments of conviction that turn me around quickly.

Perhaps offering ourselves to him means we take time to ask him where we struggle the most. I know my thoughts and words create the majority of issues in my life. So, I start there! Your struggles may be a little different, but you get the idea. When you offer yourself to him, he will show you where he needs to 'influence' your life the most - then all you need to do is allow him to do it! Just sayin!

He doesn't want this

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

Back in the day when Paul penned these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the church goers would have understood all about 'sacrifices'. As was the established custom under the Law of Moses, Israelites would bring various sacrifices to the Temple as an act of worship - especially during certain seasons of the year. It was in addition to their 'tithe' of their harvest, flock or herd increase. The sacrifices were specific such as, for atonement (dealing with the sins of the nation), while others were for 'jubilee' or celebration. Even the 'pagan' religions of the times brought 'sacrifices' to their pagan gods - burning them on the altar of their pagan gods. We don't have the same form of 'sacrificial offerings' anymore - because Christ's death did away with the need for those burnt or grain offerings of the Law of Moses. That doesn't mean God doesn't still desire 'sacrificial' dedication to his teaching and his direction for our lives.

Today's sacrificial offerings can still be 'tangible' - you can bring a sacrificial offering of a sum of money to the 'storehouse' known as your local church - something above and beyond your tithe. Some offerings are what we might refer to as 'intangible' - those would be more like the gift of your heart in loyal dedication to the principles God teaches. God's hope is that each of us finds our way to his altar through his Son, Jesus Christ - no other sacrifice being necessary in order to approach his holy altar. In approaching his altar, we may begin to sup with him, enjoy his presence, and 'keep company' with him. At times, he may ask us to 'lay down' something we have been holding onto right there at the foot of that altar. I don't know what it may be, but you likely do. Whatever we are holding onto may actually be what is keeping us from fully trusting God with some area of our lives. This is why he asks us to offer it at the foot of the altar - to lay it down and allow him to 'dispose of it' once and for all - so we can enter in a depth of trust that brings us deliverance from our fear, anger, bitterness, or other plaguing sin.

The altar was always a place of sacrifice - a place to see things 'dealt with' through the means of 'laying down' something of great value and importance. If the offering was a blood sacrifice, such as a lamb or dove, that life was of great value and importance to the one bringing it. It was to have been without blemish - making it one of the most valued parts of your flock or herd. It was to be of a specific age - such as a newborn or yearling - not some old, haggard animal that had outlived its usefulness to you. Today, we bring our 'offerings' to the altar, not so much as 'without blemish', or even all that 'valuable' to us. In fact, we bring our sins, worries, dashed dreams, and even our unholy thoughts. These things have definitely 'outlived their usefulness' in our lives - they aren't exactly those 'unblemished' sacrifices of great value, are they? Yet, God doesn't turn us away - in fact, he instructs us to lay them down so he might fill us with greater things in their place.

The 'prized sacrifice' has already been made by Christ, in order that we can bring the things that need to find their way to the healing of his altar. Many of us think we have nothing to bring that is 'of value' to God. The next time you think you have nothing to give to God, you might begin by asking if there is anything that has outlived its usefulness in our lives that needs to be left at the altar. You could just be surprised at what he points out! In bringing what needs to be 'laid down' at the altar, we could just find he is opening us up to realize there is something of 'utter beauty and worth' he puts in its place, making our presence with him the greatest 'sacrifice' he desires. Just sayin!

Consumed, Cleansed, and Consecrated

My neighbor is getting ready to move. He has been busy cleaning out his garage and backyard shed - places where we know things 'gather', sometimes without us even noticing! He is getting it ready to be purchased - knowing the new 'owners' won't want all his excess stuff just hanging around when they take ownership. When we are bought with a price, there is an exchange of ownership. This exchange of ownership is to have an effect on us. The first thing we should notice is that there is a desire for cleansing. We want to have things in our life that are not honoring to God dealt with and removed so that we can move on. 

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it's now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness. (Romans 3:25-26)
The place of cleansing is often referred to as the altar in the scripture. The altar had various purposes in scripture, but there is a lesson to us in each purpose.

· It was a place that required something to be placed on it – an empty altar is nothing more than ornamentation. The only way something can be affected by the altar is to be placed there - for the purpose of sanctification - cleansing. There is an action of submission that must occur if something is to be 'placed' upon the altar.
· It was a place that consumed what was placed upon it – we yield or submit to the work of the altar; Christ does the work of consuming the sacrifice that is placed there. In the Old Testament, the altar sacrifices were consumed – either by the fire, or by the one tending the fire (the priest). In the case of the “spiritual altar” we are called to embrace, there is a yielding our hurts, sins, fears, failures, etc. to God, so that the fire and the one tending the fire are both able to do their work in our lives. What is touched by the fire of the altar is never the same again – even a sacrifice not fully “touched” by the fire has noticeable evidence of having been in the fire!

The altar is a place where we can yield all to God and he will take our “all”, in turn, he cleanses it. The blood of Christ has both the power to cleanse and the ability to keep us clean. When a vessel is cleansed at the end of one use it is so the vessel can be of use to transport something new. We are cleansed at the altar in order that we might be of use for another purpose – instead of responding to our sin nature, we begin responding to the Spirit of the Lord. At the altar, we find that we are changed – filled up with something that takes the place of that which was once so evident in our lives. We are filled up with the Spirit of God in the place of that sin, failure, fear, etc. To be filled implies that we receive a full compliment of what is needed. To be filled also implies that as much as can be put into our spirit is put into us until our spirit is not able to contain any more. We walk away from the altar satisfied.

A life invited to the altar is one that is tenderly transformed – we are received there in order to be transformed there. Once we are cleansed by the Spirit of God, we are also filled. In that filling comes the ability to be open to his leading and direction. Direction implies that we are willing to have the way pointed out to us – having our activities regulated in such a manner that we are energized by another. The fire has done its work. We are transformed. We have been invited to come to the altar. There we will find transformation awaits the yielded soul. The purpose is sanctification – the be in the place of cleansing. What is God asking you to lay on the altar today? What needs to be affected by his fire? What is in need of his consuming touch in your life today? Surrender it on the altar of his grace and mercy – be affected deeply by the fire of his love – never to be the same again. Just sayin!

Saying "yes"

We probably have heard at one time or another of the responsibility we have of presenting our bodies as "living sacrifices" unto God - something described as "holy and pleasing to God".  I don't know about you, but this idea of being able to present anything to God which is "holy and pleasing" just seems a little bit too much out of my control!  I have tried this "holiness" living for a long time now and guess what?  I stink at it!  As much as I put all my self-willed effort into trying to produce holiness within me, the worse I feel in the end.  Why?  It is not my "job" or "role" to produce this "holiness" by any "self-willed" means!  It is God's business to provide this holiness through the blood of Jesus, and then to see produced within each of us the transition from self-willed performance to the reliance upon his grace upon grace in transforming us into holy and pleasing creatures.  Sure, he wants us to expend some effort to see this holiness "worked out" in our lives - it is called obedience!  Not "performance" or "attainment", but purely "obedience".

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.  (Romans 12:3 MSG)

It stands to reason in considering our passage today that we have to look at the verses just prior to this one to see what our writer is saying.  It basically says we are to present our bodies to God - as pleasing and holy sacrifices - in true submission to him and without being in submission to the things this world would have us so wrapped up in.  A sacrifice in the Old Testament was something the believers of Paul's time would have been very familiar with. The lamb, bull, or goat was brought to the priest alive.  You didn't choose one you "cleaned up" to remove the blemishes - you chose one which already was without blemish.  Then it was presented for sacrifice.  In terms of what our writer is asking, he is saying we bring the sacrifice which IS without blemish (Christ within us).  We present our lives as living, breathing, and thriving sacrifices (because of the work of Christ within, not because of anything we have produced there ourselves).  The warning given to the believers is that of being very cautious about being so affected by our "culture" that we miss this magnificent grace he has provided - simply because our "culture" is all about "self-help" and "self-will".

This brings us to our point of study today:  "Living THEN, as every one of you does, IN pure grace, it's important that you NOT misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness TO God."  Since God has been at work in our lives through this mysterious thing called "grace", we are to not be fooled into thinking what we offer is anything of our doing - it is all his!  For we cannot do anything more than embrace grace and allow it to produce within us the healing and restoration only it can bring.  I highlighted a few words because they are relevant to our study.  We live in the NOW - not in the past.  It is an established fact that grace brings us "out" in order to bring us "in" - we are no longer anchored to our past.  We live IN Christ's grace - not because we deserve it, but because we have been embraced into it.  We are NOT the holy ones - it is God within us making us holy.  We don't bring this goodness TO God by any effort of our own - we merely allow him to exchange our unholiness and self-effort driven lives with his grace, love, and mercy (his goodness manifest).

The crux of our study today deals with us understanding these facts - really laying hold of them with our hearts, not just with our minds.  As long as we are just allowing these facts to be something we try to understand with our minds, we will miss out on what grace really is - for grace is not fully understood by our minds, it is connected to God's heart by our heart, his Spirit by our spirit.  We don't connect with God in our minds - this is impossible. We connect with him on an emotional and spiritual level - "feeling" his grace, "embracing" his love, "submitting" to his touch.  We connect to him, not in the rules we can make with our mind, but with the grace we can embrace with our hearts and spirits!  We often don't make it past this "works-oriented", "self-willed" performance kind of living until we are willing to make this connection on something other than a "mental" plane.  

We first have to understand - something which comes because the heart finally connects the mind to the truth being embraced.  I don't truthfully "get something until my heart "gets it".  I have to have some other investment in it than mental knowledge.  I can know my strengths, but until I really allow God to show me how to take those strengths and use them for his glory, they are just nice thoughts.  I can realize my weaknesses, but until I allow God to point them out and show me the way he desires to turn them around in my life, they are continual stumbling blocks in my path and nothing more.  You are probably no different than me - you have the same "strong-suit" you rely upon and the same "stumbling blocks" you trip over repeatedly!  We need grace to connect the dots - strengths becoming something he uses to further his work of grace within us and weaknesses becoming the things he uses to further give evidence of changed lives to those in the world around us.  As his grace touches our places of weakness and our stumbling blocks are removed, others will take note of this transformation and this brings others into a place of understanding the work of grace in a "submitted" life - the work of "holiness" being produced apart from anything we can do ourselves.

So, here's the upshot of all this:  God doesn't need our sacrifice, but we do! It is this "presenting" action which helps us to lay down our self-willed, effort-driven, let me fix it myself kind of life.  Submission is not just laying down and crying "UNCLE" - it is choosing to say "yes" to something other than yourself!  Just sayin!