Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”(NIV)

All early Christians came with a background of sacrifice.  They knew that sacrifice always involved some living thing dying.  Gentiles were involved in pagan sacrifices, and the Jewish Christians came from a background of Old Testament sacrifice.  Now Paul is introducing them to a new type of sacrifice, a living sacrifice.  A living sacrifice is the only sacrifice that is now acceptable to God.  The last sacrificial death that God ever considered pleasing and holy was the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  From that day forward, sacrifice of life for sin is abhorrent to God.  Christ did not die in order that there might be more death; Christ died in order that there might be life.

Before we knew and loved Him, Christ loved us. Christ made his sacrifice because of love and mercy, and his sacrifice gave us life.  The more we know Him, the more we love Him, and the more we love Him the more we worship Him.  We worship Him with song, praise, prayer and communal fellowship.  All this is pleasing to God.  However, Paul makes the point that true and proper worship is not limited to meeting together a few times a week.  True worship is 24/7 every week of the year.  When we live a life that is devoted to living in right relationship with God and the world every moment of everyday, then we create our lives as living sacrifices.

Before Christ, people’s unrighteousness forced them to make sacrifices.  Christians are righteous by faith, and do not need blood sacrifices.  Christians make sacrifices to do the right thing.  We make sacrifices to help others.  We sacrifice for the sick, the poor and homeless.  A living sacrifice is a life of giving for others.  A life of living sacrifice recognizes that God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others.  We do not sacrifice because we have to; Christians sacrifice because we want to.