Bible Study: A Living Sacrifice

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Today is Tuesday October 19, 2010 and we are reading through and studying the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of Mark, chapters 14-16. In these chapters we will read about, Jesus anointed by a young woman, His last supper on earth, His betrayal by Judas, Peter's denial, His crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection, and His command to all believers. If you would like to read today's chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this link onto your browser: imfollowingjesus.com/bible-october-19

Today's Message: A Living Sacrifice
The word sacrifice means to surrender something of value for the purpose of gaining something more desirable or preventing some kind of evil. The Bible says, “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. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” - Romans 12:1,2. Since God is the God of the living we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to Him. In other words when we become a living sacrifice we take the most valuable thing that we have, life, and we surrender it over to God for the purpose of not only gaining something more desirable, but preventing evil as well.

Being a living sacrifice is more than just asking Jesus to save us, while He is the only one who can save us and we do not have to go beyond asking Him to save us to be saved, if we want our lives to be transformed we need to go beyond asking and start surrendering our lives over to Him. There was a young woman watching Jesus as He was eating dinner, she was poor, unmarried, and all she had was an alabaster box, a precious, valuable box, full of ointment (perfume) that was to only be opened for her husband on their wedding night. Knowing that she would never be able to marry, she took that box, broke it, and poured the perfume on Jesus' head. When the people saw what she had done, many complained, even some of the disciples, but Jesus knew what her intentions were. “And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”- Mark 14:6-9.

This woman presented herself as a living sacrifice by doing all she could to show Jesus that she surrendered to Him, if it meant that she gave up her chances to be a wife, she did what she could. That is all that God asks of all of us, He knows that life is hard and that we are not going to completely change over night, He just wants us to give Him our all. Often, I will get people saying to me, “I just can not be like you and give up everything all at once.” What they do not realize is that I did not completely surrender to God over night, it took years and He is still working on me, but I do what I can to show Him that I do want to present myself as a living sacrifice to Him. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you....Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” - James 4:7,10.

Now, even when we do make the commitment to surrender our lives over to God as a living sacrifice that does not mean we are not going to have some falls from time to time. The strongest Christian can trip up once in a while, the disciples were witnesses to and walked with Jesus in the flesh, yet even they fell, but the amazing thing is that Jesus is still there to pick us back up. The even more amazing thing is that Jesus knows when we are going to fall and who will get back up, “And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.”- Mark 14:18-20,27,28.

Did you notice that all the disciples were questioning, “Is it I?” While we all do the best we can to live godly lives, when it comes down to facing Jesus we all wonder, “Is it I?” Thank God that when we do face Him He will say, “Thy sins are forgiven.” - Luke 7:48. Praise God! When Jesus got captured all the disciples did scatter, just as Jesus said, “And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him. And they laid their hands on him, and took him. And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled. And they all forsook him, and fled.” - Mark 14:44-50.

The disciples were scared, they feared that they too would be captured so they fled, Jesus was crucified and died that day and buried, but just as Jesus promised that He would arise and meet them in Galilee He did. “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him....And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.” - Mark 16:1,5-7.

Jesus knows we are going to have falls, but He is always there to pick us up, there may be times when we will have to wait out the suffering as Jesus suffered, but it is through the suffering when we learn that we need Him and it is time to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”- Mark 16:14-16.

Jesus gives a command to all who present themselves as a living sacrifice, to go out and tell the world about Him. To clarify what Jesus meant when He said, “ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ”, this does not mean that you have to accept Christ and be baptized to be saved, it means you must believe to be saved, being baptized just confirms our belief in Him. He continues to say, “but he that believeth not shall be damned.” You have to believe in and accept Jesus first or baptism means nothing. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:...Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” -Romans 6:4,5,9-11. Jesus died for us once, that means we need to only ask Him once, we are no longer dead, we are a live, a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God. Praise God!

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and week.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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