Consecration and Community

“Offer your bodies as living sacrifices.”
Romans 12:1 (NIV)

Joy! Pure joy!

We couldn’t see each other’s smiles, but we could see it in each other’s eyes and hear it in each other’s excited voices. We were back together and it was truly a joyous reunion. And all of a sudden, the disappointment, discouragement, and despair that had hung heavy over all of us during the last seven months of Covid isolation faded. The room was filled with light and laughter as the women excitedly caught up with each other while still wearing masks and practicing social distancing. At one point, I just stopped, looked around, and listened.  The only thing I could compare it to was the sights and sounds of Christmas morning when our children were little.

It’s been that way each Thursday morning over the last six weeks as we’ve met for our study of Paul’s wonderful letter to the early church at Rome. In Romans 1-11, the Apostle Paul defines and defends the gospel of Christ; outlines the essential doctrines of the Christian faith; deals with the questions surrounding Israel’s unbelief and rejection of her own Messiah; and answers the all important question of how sinful man can have a right relationship with a holy God.  Paul now turns his attention from doctrine to duty; from explanation to exhortation; and from the gospel to everyday discipleship.

“Therefore, 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. Do not conform any longer 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 (NIV)

With his words in Romans 12:1-2, the Apostle Paul calls believers to a life of holiness and a lifestyle of worship. Paul exhorts us to become living sacrifices, not to earn our salvation, but out of gratitude for God’s mercy and what Christ has already done for us with his death on the cross.  Old Testament worship was the bloody reality of a bellowing animal being slaughtered on the temple altar. Christ’s death on the cross was the Ultimate Sacrifice, the final once-and-for-all fulfillment of all the Old Testament sacrifices. The spotless Lamb of God sacrificed himself once for all to do away with sin. (Hebrews 9:26) Paul now calls us as God’s people to be holy and living sacrifices with consecrated bodies, renewed minds, and service to others. (Romans 12:1-8)

The Apostle Paul’s words are captured beautifully in the lyrics of Frances Harvergal’s 1874 hymn of consecration, Take My Life and Let it Be:

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise.

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.

We are all made in God’s image and wired to worship something or Someone. The question for each of us is, “What will I worship?” A quick look at our calendars and checkbooks will tell us where we are spending our time, talent, and treasure. And that will tell us Who or what we worship.

May the words from our lips and the cry of our hearts echo those of Frances Havergal’s: “Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee.”

Amen and Amen,
Donna