The Offering: Leave it at the Altar (Rom. 12:1-2)

I recently saw a t-shirt which made for Christians.  On the front of the t-shirt is something that looks like a fire-fighter’s logo or crest.  Inside the crest are these words: “God doesn’t sell fire insurance.”  Beneath the crest are these words: “But he gives it away to his friends.”  On the back of the t-shirt is one more line: “Are you a friend of God?”  There, in three lines, is a t-shirt designer’s summary of the Christian faith: God doesn’t sell fire insurance.  But he gives it away to his friends.  Are you a friend of God?  Here, the Christian faith is all about “fire insurance.”  And what is “fire insurance”?  It refers to the fires of Hell.  Based on this t-shirt synopsis, the Christian faith is primarily “fire insurance” to save you from Hell.

 

 

 

The t-shirt focuses on a theme which is common in many summaries of the Christian faith—it focuses on life after death.  For many Christianity is a set of doctrines we believe or a small set of rituals we perform in order to secure a good life after death. 

 

 

 

For example when I was in college our campus ministry travelled to a rural area to help a church conduct an evangelistic campaign.  We were instructed to go house to house and to ask a question that went something like this: What if the Lord were to come right now; would you know for sure, nothing doubting, that you would go to heaven?  The entire Christian faith got summarized by that one question.  According to it Christianity concerned the one thing you needed to do (in this case, baptism) in order to get to heaven.

 

 

 

In light of this tendency to think of Christianity as focused primarily on life after death, we should listen one more time to Paul’s summary of the Christian faith in Rom. 12: 1 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 true 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.  (Rom. 12:1-2 TNIV).  When we began this series five weeks ago, we saw how this passage uses one image to describe what God does and what we do.  Christianity is a message about what God has done and what we do in response.  We saw how both parts of that message are summarized with one image: an altar. We may think of an altar as a place where someone gets married (she left him standing at the altar) or as a place someone goes to confess his sins (he responded to the altar call).  But the image Paul uses comes from the ancient world of offerings and sacrifices.  The altar would have been a common fixture in ancient religions—a sacred object on which animals were offered as sacrifices.  Paul uses that same image for his summary of the Christian faith.  Christianity is about an offering on an altar. 

 

 

 

Five weeks ago we heard how Rom. 1-11 describes what God did on the altar.  God offered his son on the altar.  That’s what Paul is referring to when he writes here about “God’s mercy”—in view of God’s mercy.  The Christian faith begins with God’s mercy shown on the altar.  But now, in response to God’s mercy, Paul calls us to present our own offering.  The Christian faith is an offering we present on the altar in response to God’s offering.  God presented the body of his son.  What do we present?  Paul calls us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

 

 

 

And one of the most noteworthy characteristics of our offering is the way it encompasses all of our life before death, the life we live right now.  We see this in the word translated “bodies”—offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, and in the phrase “pattern of this world”—do not conform to the pattern of this world.  For example, Paul chose the word “bodies” because our body is the way we interact in a concrete way with the world around us. [i]   There is nothing we do that we don’t do in our bodies.  It is through our bodies that we engage in every task and every event in the day—from breathing, to eating, to emailing, to writing reports, to taking tests, to talking, to sleeping.  When was the last time you did something without your body?  When’s the last time you rushed off to an appointment, walked in, and then realized, “Oh man, I forgot my body”?  When’s the last time you packed for a trip, arrived at your destination and realized, “Ugh!  I forgot my toothbrush—and my body”?  That just doesn’t happen.  Everything we do we do in our body.  Thus the word “bodies” ultimately refers to everything we do in our day-to-day existence.[ii]  Think of what you do every day in your body.  All of that is what is to be offered on the altar.  In response to God’s offering of his son, the Christian message calls us to offer every element of our life before death, everything we do in our bodies, on the altar.

 

 

 

Similarly the phrase translated “pattern of this world” refers to the way people in our culture live day to day.  Literally, the phrase is “habits of this age.”  “This age” refers to this present time.  “Habits” or “pattern” refers to the way that people live their day-to-day lives in this present time.  It refers to their lifestyle.

 

 

 

Thus in this summary of the Christian faith, Paul focuses entirely on life before death.  Christianity is not simply some set of doctrines we believe or small number of rituals we perform in order to get ready for life after death.  Instead, Christianity has something to do with everything we do in our lives before death.  Christianity is intended to impact everything that happens to us from sunup to sundown.  In response to God’s merciful offering, we are called to offer on the altar every aspect of our life before death.

 

 

 

The reality, however, is that our vision of the Christian life isn’t usually that comprehensive.  Even if we accept that Christianity is as much about life before death as it is life after death, for many of us, our Christian faith only impacts part of our day-to-day existence.  Our Christian faith only impacts part of what we do in our bodies day to day.  Paul points to that reality with his command in verse 2: Do not conform to the pattern of this world.  There are many parts of our life before death which we practice in the way the rest of our culture practices.  In many parts of our daily lives, we conform to the way the culture around us lives.  To use Paul’s image in vs. 1, there are areas of our lives which never make it onto this altar.

 

 

 

This became painfully apparent when I read recently about sociologist Phil Zuckerman.  Zuckerman spent 14 months studying Denmark and Sweden, the least religious countries in the world.  He wrote his findings in the book Society Without God.[iii]  Based on interviews, Zuckerman found that many in Denmark and Sweden are unconcerned with questions of faith, God and the meaning of life.  Yet contrary to our expectations, these godless societies enjoy low crime rates, social equality, and very low poverty.  By contrast, Zuckerman points out how religious the United States is and yet how the U.S. struggles with child abuse, domestic violence, systemic poverty, and inequitable health care.  Somehow America has embraced a form of Christianity that has little impact on day-to-day life.  We have far more people than Denmark and Sweden who believe in Christian doctrines or who have performed the rituals intended to save them from Hell.  Yet our Christian faith seems to have had little impact on the way we treat our spouses, deal with the poor, and approach the care of the infirmed.  Christians in America are living much of their bodily life, their daily life according to the pattern of the rest of the culture.  We’ve kept a lot of our life off that altar. 

 

 

 

In fact, we to like create distinctions between those parts of daily life that must go on that altar and those that really don’t have to.  Authors Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew write that one of the characteristics of religion in the Western world is dualism.[iv]  In our Western culture, we like divide life into “spiritual” and “secular.” 

 

Spiritual		Secular
	ACTIVITIES
Prayer Worship		Entertainment Intimacy
	PROFESSIONS
Minister Missionary		Journalist Politician
	SOCIAL SPHERES
Church Family		University Business

 

 The “spiritual” life consists of spiritual activities like prayer and worship, spiritual professions like becoming a minister or a missionary, and spiritual social spheres like church and family.  But our “secular” life consists of everything else: activities like what we do for entertainment and intimacy, our professions (if we are not a minister or a missionary then our profession has nothing really spiritual about it), and social spheres like the university we attend or the businesses we frequent.  There’s our spiritual life.  We’re used to putting those things up on the altar.  But then there’s our secular life.  Those things don’t really have to go on the altar.  Our Christianity doesn’t really have anything to do with those parts of our bodily life.  We keep them off the altar.  Paul’s saying that everything’s spiritual.  Everything goes in the spiritual column.  But we’d rather keep some things out.  We’d rather keep some things off that altar.

 

 

 

For many our Christian faith transforms how we spend three hours on Sunday morning.  We put that time on the altar and dedicate it God by attending worship services and Sunday School.  But our Christian faith may have little impact on how we spend the 40 hours during the week at the office.  The habits or patterns of our business culture end up influencing our behavior during that time. 

 

 

 

Our Christian faith may transform three or four percent of our income which we give to the church.  But it may have little impact on how we spend the rest of that money.  The habits or patterns of our surrounding culture end up influencing our use of that money.

 

 

 

Almost all of us have something we keep off that altar.  When I was in college I grew close to a spiritual mentor.  He worked for the university as a counselor.  And though he was required by the university to keep his Christian faith under the radar, his Christian faith nonetheless influenced how he practiced his profession.  He was generous with his time.  He would help students off the clock.  He made himself available at any hour.  He prayed often for those he was serving.  He invested in me, a new Christian.  He spent a great deal of time studying Scripture with me and praying with me.  It seemed that he had put everything in his life on that altar.  But one day he confessed the one area that had never been offered.  Shamefully, he confessed that he frequented “gentlemen’s clubs.”  He would slip in very late at night and indulge in lust of the eyes.  It was a part of his life he had never gotten on to that altar.

 

 

 

I think a lot of us are like him.  There’s that one thing we keep hidden from others.  There’s that one thing, that one relationship, that one behavior, that one sin we tolerate.  And it never makes it to the altar. 

 

 

 

So let’s return one more time to God’s vision: 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.  (Rom. 12:2 TNIV).  Paul is saying that when it comes to what we do in our bodies, when it comes to our daily lives, God has a will.  We could translate that word “will” as “wish” or “desire.”  Perhaps we could translate it as “dream” or “vision.”  No matter what aspect of your life before death we consider, God’s got a dream for it.  He’s got a vision for it.  No matter what you do during the day in your body, God’s got a dream for that.  He’s got a vision for that.  And, Paul writes, it’s a good dream.  It’s a pleasing dream.  It’s a perfect dream.

 

 

 

I like how Dallas Willard puts this: Spiritual formation in Christ is for the whole life and the whole person.[v]  God’s got a dream or a vision for your whole life and your whole person.  Let’s think for a moment about those two things: your whole person and your whole life.  Your whole person includes at least your mind—your thinking; and your emotions—your feelings; and your physical body.  God’s got a dream for each of those.  Your whole person is meant to go on that altar and become completely transformed.  What you think about goes on that altar.  What you feel and how you deal with your emotions goes on that altar.  Your physical body, your health and the way you treat your body goes on that altar.  God’s got a dream that includes the total transformation of your whole person.  It’s a good dream.  It’s a pleasing dream.  It’s a perfect dream.  But in order to live that dream, your whole person has to go on that altar. 

 

 

 

Now consider your whole life—Spiritual formation in Christ is for the whole life and the whole person.  What makes up your whole life?  Let’s consider just one week.  What makes up an average week in your life?  There are meals you eat.  There are meetings you attend.  There are phone calls or emails you handle.  There are television shows or movies you watch.  There are CD’s or mp3’s you listen to.  There are books and magazines you read.  There are schedules and to-do lists you create.  There are family members or friends you interact with.  There may be a loved-one you date or to whom you are married.  There are words you speak.  There is a bank account you withdraw from.  There is a home, car, and other possessions you utilize.  That and more makes up your whole life.   And God has a dream for all of that.  It’s a good dream.  It’s a pleasing dream.  It’s a perfect dream.  His desire is to bring transformation into all of those areas.  But to live that dream your whole life’s got to go up on that altar.

 

 

 

In his book Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis tells this parable.[vi]  Imagine that you are a house.  God comes in to rebuild the house.  Lewis writes: At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing.  He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.  But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.  What on earth is He up to?  The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.  You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.  He intends to come and live in it Himself.

 

 

 

That’s how it is with this altar.  God comes along and says “I’m here to burn up the junk in your life.  I’m here to transform the bad into good.”  Great, you think.  You could easily list three or four things about your person or your life you wish were better.  So God picks up your clock and tosses it on the altar.  That’s fine, you think, because you really were wasting a lot of time on You Tube each evening.  Your time-use could use some transforming.  Then, God grabs your Dad.  Your relationship with your Dad has been strained.  God tosses Dad on that altar.  Good, you think, that relationship did need some work.  But then God starts grabbing other things.  He grabs your credit cards and tosses them on that altar.  He grabs your Net Flix movie list and tosses it on the altar.  And before you know it, God grabs you and tosses you up on that altar.  His plan, his dream, is the total transformation of everything in your day to day life.  He wants to bring his kind of good and perfect change into every aspect of your life.  But to live that dream, everything’s got to go on that altar.

 

 

 

And when it does, life will never be the same.  Just ask Bill and Cathy Ivey who have constantly placed their marriage on this altar and are teaching others to do the same.  Just ask the sixteen teenagers and adults who put last Monday on the altar to help the Paragould Children’s Home recover from the disastrous ice storm.  Just ask Alan Moltz who once told a couple here at Highland—“Everything we have is yours; anytime you need anything of ours, it’s yours.”  When you finally decide to respond to God’s mercies by putting everything in your life on that altar, life becomes good, and pleasing and perfect.

 

We want to help you place your whole body, your whole life, on this altar.  Not as a way of earning God’s mercy.  But as a way of responding to it.  We want to do two things thing to help.  First, we want to give you just a few seconds of silence to pray and consider what in your life is not on the altar and what it would take to get it on the altar.  Is it a relationship?  Is it a sin?  Is it your career?  Before we sing this next song, take a few seconds to silently pray about this.  And, if you’d like us to pray with you about it, you can indicate that during the song by seeing one of the church leaders.

 

 

 

Our second way of helping is more significant.  You are invited to a self-directed time of prayer called “Leave it at the Altar.”  It will be held tomorrow at the church offices on Shelby Oaks.  This come-and-go prayer time will be held in the “Green Room” from 8:30 AM – 5:45 PM.  In this large and private room we’ll have an altar set up and some chairs.  You can come and pray silently about offering your whole life on the altar.  You can bring an object that symbolizes something in your life you want to offer God and you can leave it at the altar.  You can stay for a minute or an hour.  Most of the staff will be at the church offices as well and are available to meet/pray with you about your offering.  Just call for an appointment.