Lesson 26: A Living Sacrifice – 12:1-2
The Desirable Effects of the Gospel on Everyday Life – 12:1-16:27
 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

With this lesson we enter the fourth section of this book. We have seen the need for justification, the results of justification, and the regrets to those who refuse this justification. This section will teach us the effects of justification.

The effects of justification are not automatic. They do not just simply appear in our lives. They require us to act by choice to make them true and real in our life.

The effect of justification in our verses today is that we choose to become a living sacrifice to God. Remember, no sacrifice that had ever been made in all the thousands of years before this had been a willing sacrifice – until Jesus became the willing sacrifice for our sin. He was not beaten into submission when they tortured Him the night before He died for us. Jesus chose to be our perfect sacrifice before the world was created (Philippians 2:6-8, 1 Peter 1:19-20 and Revelation 13:8). His sacrifice was made through His death so we can have life. Our sacrifice, a living sacrifice, is through our lives so others might find Him and escape eternal death.

Jesus asks this sacrifice of us; He does not demand it. He wants us to be as willing to be this living sacrifice as He was to be ours.


This living sacrifice is not something we do once and then move on to something else. The living sacrifice is a moment-by-moment choice we must make for the rest of our lives here on earth. To make this possible, we must allow Him to transform our minds into the same way He thinks (Philippians 2:5 – let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…).

What was Jesus’ mind? He chose to give up everything He had in Heaven with God the Father, and came to earth just to be this sacrifice for our sin. He did not seek or receive glory or honor until His task was completed. He did not seek the “good things” of a life here on earth. He was scorned and rejected, bruised and beaten, all without a single complaint. When His task was completed He returned to Heaven where He received more glory than He had ever had before.

The moment we are saved by Jesus, our mission here on earth changes from all that is temporary – job, home, comfort, recognition, pleasure, money, and everything else in this world – to what is eternal. Our mission is no longer for ourselves; it is to bring others to Him by whatever means He makes possible.

*Memorize Romans 12:1-2.