Epiphany 1 2009
A Living Sacrifice. In this day and age, sacrifice is something difficult to see, difficult to
find. Sin against God at its foundation denies giving unto others. Sin shuns and does
everything possible to avoid sacrifice. Without sacrifice, a person becomes prideful and
really hard to deal with on any level. Without sacrifice, a man and a woman in their
marriage will fall apart and be torn asunder. Without sacrifice, a family will fall apart.
Without sacrifice, a community eventually will fall apart due to sinful crime. Without
sacrifice, a nation will fall apart. In the ancient Roman Empire toward its end, the citizens
were less and less inclined to sacrifice for the Empire. One indication of this was the high
amount of servants and slaves that lived in Rome to see to the everyday needs of the
citizens. In addition, at the end the citizens no longer wanted to even SERVE or
SACRIFICE in the army. So, the Empire relied on men from conquered territories to fill the
army. In time, this lack of sacrifice ended in the fall of the Empire. Do we lack in sacrifice in
Jesus Christ as people, as married couples, as families, and as this Parish as the rest of
our country lacks as we speak? Let us look at sacrifice as our duty toward God and each
other this morning.
Be Not Conformed to This World
First, being a living sacrifice means in the words of St. Paul from Romans 12 that we be
not conformed to this world. Being conformed to this world causes us to cease giving of
ourselves for God and for one another. Conforming to this world means we are thinking of
self first rather than the needs of those Jesus tells us we should be concerned about in
this life. Conforming to this world means we will ignore the needs of others, most notably
those closest to us.
When we hear these simple yet profound words from St. Paul, we should really reflect
on this phrases meaning for our lives. Every organization on the planet has certain
stipulations or rules in which one has to conform in order to be part. As Christians, we by
definition conform to Christ and His Word. We cannot conform to this world as well. The
world may try to tempt us by telling us that to commit this sin or that sin is not really bad
after all. Yet, in the end, such behavior and conforming to sin tears us from living as
Christians.
In every instance I have ever had the misfortune of seeing people turn their back on
Christ; it always involves giving up sacrifice in order to feed selfish pride and sin. As the
people of God, coming to the Lord’s Table every week in divine worship should be a time
to see if our lives are indeed a living sacrifice to those we encounter and live with on a
daily basis. In our culture, being living sacrifices indeed is difficult because it is simply too
easy to be conformed to this world.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the time we have is too short to waste on seeking the
things of this world. Living a life of conforming to this world is a life that in the end will be
empty and devoid of meaning. When we conform to this world, we are in effect looking out
for ourselves while only giving lip service to the idea of sacrifice.
Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind
The second aspect of being a living sacrifice according to Romans 12 is the next line
after Paul tells us to not be conformed to this world. St. Paul tells us that we need to be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. The way of Jesus Christ is to not conform to
this world AND to be conformed to Him, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in
Him by the power of the Holy Spirit and the conforming to His Word.
A beautiful expression and prayer that we participate in during our Communion service
is the prayer of Oblation with the following, “And here we offer and present unto thee, O
Lord, our selves, our souls, and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto
thee …” We pray this prayer during the Communion service to remind ourselves of the
ultimate sacrifice Christ made on the Cross for us. We are not to just reflect on His
sacrifice as something nice to think about to then NOT SACRFICE OURSELVES in a living
manner when we leave Church. The point of coming to the Lord’s Table is Covenantal
Renewal. Now, renewal means we are fed, refreshed, and prepped to go do something
worthy of Christ. Communion helps us all remember the Covenant and Sacrament of
Baptism, our entrance into Christ and His Body.
Remembrance though is not just a passing thought to then be stuffed away to not heed
in the rest of life. In the Old Testament, remembrance and renewal went hand in hand.
When the people sinned against God and fell for idols and all kinds of immorality, they did
so because they ceased to participate in Covenant Renewal on a REAL level or at all.
Often, they would go through the motions of the ceremony without making the connection
to life. At its core, their fall from God amounted to a lack of sacrifice for GOD and each
other, sin.
So, renewal was often in the form of gathering all the people to hear the Word of God
that had been ignored READ ALOUD IN ITS ENTIRETY so the people would know how
they were to live. We do this in worship with Communion. Yet, sometimes we can make this
service something of just a rote tradition that over time becomes less and less of a
Covenantal Renewal and more of just going through the motions with little to no impact in
the way we live. Sometimes, we have to be stirred up a bit to appreciate Covenant
Renewal in Jesus Christ just as the Hebrews of old.
We live in a time where we are taught to look out for self while shunning sacrifice and
the ways of the Lord. This is the time for Covenant Renewal, to once again look deeply
into what it really means to serve Jesus Christ and each other in every part of life.
Renewing of the mind in Christ takes our time and devotion, sacrifice. More and more
Christians fall prey to this world due to a lack of real knowledge of who they are in Jesus
Christ. Yes, we may have all the right theological answers. This can take us only so far.
Nothing compares to conforming to Christ and His Word by immersing ourselves in it to His
glory.
Yet, we can talk about immersing ourselves in the WORD. It is quite another thing to
actually do it from time to time. It is indeed a sacrifice of our time given to the Lord when
we read and meditate upon His Word. If we are not in the practice of reading His Word,
then we will not be in the practice of renewing our minds. Our Epistle speaks of knowing
the perfect will of God. This is important. Knowing the will of God for your life entails
knowing what His Word says.
On this Sunday where we are celebrating the Epiphany, the appearing of Christ to the
whole world, we are looking at a trait hard to find. Yet, in the celebration of this Season,
we reflect on how wise men sacrificed greatly in search of the Christ child by their diligent
trekking of a new star in the heavens. How is our level of sacrifice? We do not have to
travel great distances to find Christ as those wise men did so long ago. Yet, the call to
know Christ through prayer and His Word still entails the sacrifice of our time to Him and
His Word.
Beginning in a few weeks, in the spirit of what the people of God have always done at
times of distress for the Body, as a Parish we will embark on a journey together of
Renewal. For our Sunday school, we will go through a course that our Church is
encouraging all members to participate in to read through the Bible together as a Body in
90 days, 3 months. This will entail giving 40-45 minutes a day or so of reading God’s
Word. Believe me, this will entail sacrifice for Christ and for each other in doing this
together.
If you are throwing up objections, I understand. Yet, think about all that you do in a
given day and begin to see where you can sacrifice time for Him and His Word as opposed
to watching television, a movie, or reading a novel. I think this would be a healthy and
needed endeavor not just for mothers and fathers, but the entire family, for everyone in
the household. We live in dire times for the Church and we need to get back to basics. We
need to hear His Word and read His Word in its entirety as a Body to be refreshed
together.
Conclusion
Let us in the next few months learn what it means to sacrifice for God in this area of our
lives, of knowing Him better by His Word He has given us. We are called as the Body of
Christ to give of ourselves as living sacrifices. We are not talking about some complicated
set of rules or new approach. We are talking about DOING something tangible
TOGETHER as one body in Christ. Let us grow together now as we come to His Table. Let
us grow together as we prepare our hearts to seek Him in His Word, cover to cover
together in His NAME. Let us be living sacrifices to His glory. AMEN.