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. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

ROMANS 12:1-2

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

HEBREWS 13:15-16 

BODIES: Not My Own

• Love starts when we stop trying to fit people into OUR preferences…
• WHAT DOES GOD WANT FROM US? 

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.

ROMANS 12:1-2

“THEREFORE, IN VIEW OF GOD’S MERCY…” 

“Whereas the heathen are prone to sacrifice in order to obtain mercy, biblical faith teaches that the divine mercy provides the basis of sacrifice as the fitting response.” 

HARRISON

GOD WANTS EVERYTHING.

It is best to see the body here as a reference to our entire being. Whatever we say about our spirit, soul, flesh, and mind, we know that they each live in our bodies. When we give the body to God, the soul and spirit go with it. Present your bodies means that God wants you, not just your work. You may do all kinds of work for God, but never give Him your self.

David Guzik

GOD WANTS YOU. EVERY SINGLE PART OF YOU.

SPIRITUAL VS. NATURAL

“It is so easy to compartmentalize God, regulating him to “Christian activities” around church and our spiritual disciplines without thinking of Him in the way we navigate our marriages, discipline our children, spend our money, enjoy our recreation, or even study for exams.”

Peter Scazzero

 And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction[a] all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

1 Samuel 15:1-3

7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves[b] and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

1 Samuel 15:7-8

19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said,

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
     as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
     and to listen than the fat of rams.

23 

For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
     and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
 Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
     he has also rejected you from being king.”

1 Samuel 15:7-8

WORSHIP GOD IN EVERYTHING

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 

5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

1 PETER 2:5

21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 

O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!

    Give ear to my voice when I call to you!

2  Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,

    and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

PSALM 141:1-2

EVERY HEART, A CHURCH. EVERY PERSON, A PRIEST. EVERY PLACE, AN ENCOUNTER.