자료실영어채플
영어채플
A Living Sacrifice on the Altar
조회 990
김봉경 2011-04-18
Scripture Lesson: Romans 12:1 (로마서 12장 1절)
“I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”
“그러므로 형제들아 내가 하나님의 모든 자비하심으로 권하노니 너희 몸을 하나님이 기뻐하시는 거룩한 산 제물로 드리라 이는 너희가 드릴 영적 예배니라.”
Since the days of the Exodus, wherever a tabernacle or temple stood, faithful Jews would bring the best of their flocks and herds to a priest standing at the altar of God.
It was an act of devotion, a commandment handed down by God Himself.
There were various reasons for the command:
The offering would, at times, serve as a symbol of sin and its ugly consequences; as a sacrifice of gratitude, acknowledging that every good gift comes from God; or as an act of devotion and worship, a gift from a loving heart.
Regardless of the reason, the origin of the sacrifice was always God – human beings clearly never created a ram or a bull – and the sacrifice was always a reminder of horrible gap between the Creator and the created.
God bridged the gap with His ultimate sacrifice, of course – the body of Jesus on an altar made of Roman lumber.
The wages of sin were paid in full.
There are no more guilt offering.
All that was left for us to do is to place our lives in Him.
Never before had such a gift been given, and never since.
Those who accept it have no sin to work off, no condemnation to dread.
We’re left standing with nothing but our gratitude.
There is, however; an appropriate response.
It has nothing to do with merit or guilt, but only with the thankfulness that should naturally flow down from a redeemed heart.
It is or spiritual act of worship.
The response is for us to walk to that tabernacle or temple as the Israelites did in days of old, approach the Priest, and hand Him the sacrifice that we brought out of our gratitude: ourselves.
We are to envision our Priest doing His duty by taking the sacrifice, placing it on the altar of God, and accepting it in His name.
But unlike the old sacrifice lives.
It lives a dedicated life, an altar life.
It now belongs to the Priest.
We are in His hands.
What does it mean to lay our lives on God’s altar?
Imagine a scene from the movies:
In some distant trial culture, one man saves another’s life.
According to custom, the saved now belongs to the savior.
And why not?
If not for the rescuer, the rescued one would be dead.
His life rightfully belongs to the one who preserved it.
He might as well spend the rest of his days for the one who actually gave him the rest of his days.
So it is with Jesus and His sheep.
We were lost, and for all practical purposes, dead.
That’s not our preferred assessment of ourselves, but it’s what the Bible says.
Without Jesus, we’d be forever lost and lifeless.
But He rescued our days – the days He mercifully gave us – for Him.
That’s what being a living sacrifice is all about.
It means that when Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, we don’t have the right to say, “No, not this time.”
When Jesus tells us to give all we have – our time, our talents, our money, or even our deepest desires – to some aspect of His work, we don’t have the authority to decline.
We are not our own; we have no claim on our own lives.
We were bought with precious, heavy price.
We were saved for the One who saved us.
Just as Jesus laid Himself on God’s altar for our sin, we are to lay ourselves on that altar for His righteousness.
We don’t earn His righteousness, of course.
But practically, God puts it into us – He works it into our spirits – to the extent that we lay down our tainted lives in exchange for His resurrected one.
The implications of that relationship are astounding.
Radical.
Relentless.
It was an “everything” purchase for a “forever” promise.
Living sacrifices don’t live for themselves.
They live for Another.
That’s their service of worship.
“I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”
“그러므로 형제들아 내가 하나님의 모든 자비하심으로 권하노니 너희 몸을 하나님이 기뻐하시는 거룩한 산 제물로 드리라 이는 너희가 드릴 영적 예배니라.”
Since the days of the Exodus, wherever a tabernacle or temple stood, faithful Jews would bring the best of their flocks and herds to a priest standing at the altar of God.
It was an act of devotion, a commandment handed down by God Himself.
There were various reasons for the command:
The offering would, at times, serve as a symbol of sin and its ugly consequences; as a sacrifice of gratitude, acknowledging that every good gift comes from God; or as an act of devotion and worship, a gift from a loving heart.
Regardless of the reason, the origin of the sacrifice was always God – human beings clearly never created a ram or a bull – and the sacrifice was always a reminder of horrible gap between the Creator and the created.
God bridged the gap with His ultimate sacrifice, of course – the body of Jesus on an altar made of Roman lumber.
The wages of sin were paid in full.
There are no more guilt offering.
All that was left for us to do is to place our lives in Him.
Never before had such a gift been given, and never since.
Those who accept it have no sin to work off, no condemnation to dread.
We’re left standing with nothing but our gratitude.
There is, however; an appropriate response.
It has nothing to do with merit or guilt, but only with the thankfulness that should naturally flow down from a redeemed heart.
It is or spiritual act of worship.
The response is for us to walk to that tabernacle or temple as the Israelites did in days of old, approach the Priest, and hand Him the sacrifice that we brought out of our gratitude: ourselves.
We are to envision our Priest doing His duty by taking the sacrifice, placing it on the altar of God, and accepting it in His name.
But unlike the old sacrifice lives.
It lives a dedicated life, an altar life.
It now belongs to the Priest.
We are in His hands.
What does it mean to lay our lives on God’s altar?
Imagine a scene from the movies:
In some distant trial culture, one man saves another’s life.
According to custom, the saved now belongs to the savior.
And why not?
If not for the rescuer, the rescued one would be dead.
His life rightfully belongs to the one who preserved it.
He might as well spend the rest of his days for the one who actually gave him the rest of his days.
So it is with Jesus and His sheep.
We were lost, and for all practical purposes, dead.
That’s not our preferred assessment of ourselves, but it’s what the Bible says.
Without Jesus, we’d be forever lost and lifeless.
But He rescued our days – the days He mercifully gave us – for Him.
That’s what being a living sacrifice is all about.
It means that when Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, we don’t have the right to say, “No, not this time.”
When Jesus tells us to give all we have – our time, our talents, our money, or even our deepest desires – to some aspect of His work, we don’t have the authority to decline.
We are not our own; we have no claim on our own lives.
We were bought with precious, heavy price.
We were saved for the One who saved us.
Just as Jesus laid Himself on God’s altar for our sin, we are to lay ourselves on that altar for His righteousness.
We don’t earn His righteousness, of course.
But practically, God puts it into us – He works it into our spirits – to the extent that we lay down our tainted lives in exchange for His resurrected one.
The implications of that relationship are astounding.
Radical.
Relentless.
It was an “everything” purchase for a “forever” promise.
Living sacrifices don’t live for themselves.
They live for Another.
That’s their service of worship.