Serving as Living Sacrifices
And Why Antagonisms and Condemnation are Excluded
More and more Christians living in the U.S. realize that the influence of Christianity in society has diminished greatly. Whether or not the U.S. was ever a “Christian nation” seems like a debate without end and does nothing to change the present circumstances. That said, Christianity was certainly very influential in this country at one time but no longer has such sway.
Following the same trajectory as Western Europe, American society has entered a post-Christian reality. That is, most people's beliefs, values, and practices are formed by a vision of pluralism, relativism, and secularism that shapes their pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. People are free to curate their own spirituality, identities, and meaning to life in how they live and express themselves. Although there remains a significant population of professing Christians living in America, of which I am one, society reflects little of the traditional beliefs, values, and practices of Christianity. Hence, the post-Christian reality we now live with.
Lament if you must but this new reality is not about to suddenly reverse course. The path from a society once influenced by Christianity to a post-Christian reality did not happen in a short period and therefore any Christian renewal among people is unlikely to come quickly. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking there is some quick-fix solution. You might advertise free beer and pizza on the marquee sign outside your church building and you’ll certainly draw a crowd but all you’ll have is a party. Vote if you wish but don’t think voting will suddenly usher in a new Christian era of America. And embracing Christian nationalism is to make a Christian society out of America by legislation, and even force, if necessary is an effective way of ensuring that Christianity is rejected (please note that any form of coercive power is antithetical to the power of Christ-crucified).
If you want to see the Christian faith flourish as I do, then allow me to suggest learning again how to live as Christians in a society that is not Christian. In that regard, we have much to learn from Scripture because much of the writings in both the Old and New Testaments were originally addressed to people living in pagan cultures. The only difference is that for the earliest followers of Jesus, Christianity was a new thing that was unknown to the larger society. Whereas in our time, the Christian faith is known but people have rejected the sort of Christianity they have encountered—sometimes for good reason.
So what can we learn from Scripture about living as Christians in a society that does not share our Christian faith? Well, that is a big question that one could write several books on and still not exhaust the subject. But one place to start that might help us answer the question is found in Romans 12:1-8:
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. 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. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.1
This text begins with “Therefore” because everything Paul writes in the above passage is based on what the first eleven chapters say about salvation in Christ. Because we have received the grace of God in Christ, we should serve as a living sacrifice to God.
Paul doesn’t specify what it looks like to serve as a living sacrifice to God. Instead, Paul believes that through the renewal of our minds, we will have the wisdom to discern what God’s will is and then put his will into practice as a living sacrifice. For clarity, keep in mind that serving as a living sacrifice is about participation in Christ, which involves letting go of the past “ways of thought and life.”2 We cannot participate in Christ while still living like the rest of society on either side of the aisle. Instead, we submit ourselves to Jesus Christ and allow the Spirit to transform our lives together as one community whose allegiance is to Jesus Christ. Then we can serve by discerning the will of God so that our lives will reflect the beliefs, values, and practices of Christ whom we have been united with in baptism. This is our way of embodying the gospel.3
When we embody the gospel, space opens for proclaiming the gospel in words that have meaning because of the way we are serving as living sacrifices.
Further guidance on how to serve as a living sacrifice comes from recognizing that God has given every Christian different gifts to serve. By using the gifts God has given to us as we discern the will of God, we demonstrate why the gospel is good news. In other words, we are able to amplify the gospel in a manner that allows our words of gospel proclamation to make sense and have integrity.4
By serving as a living sacrifice in accordance with the gifts God has given us, we are then able to tell the gospel story in both word and deed as the church of Jesus Christ. What is never suggested in Romans 12 or anywhere else in scripture is that we confront the unbelieving world with antagonistic criticisms and condemnation. This is something that cannot be stressed enough because the trajectory of the post-Christian reality will not be reversed by fighting a culture war. As long as Christians continue trying to fight a culture war that combats the beliefs, values, and practices of society at large, Christianity in America will lose. The result of such loss is that the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is hitched to us, is seen more and more as a problem that is irrelevant to life rather than a hopeful alternative to pluralism, relativism, and secularism that is commonplace today.
So the tantalizing meme that takes a jab at people who vote differently than you is not how we serve as living sacrifices to God. Virtue signaling and sharing vitriolic posts that label people with pejoratives do not reflect Christ. Such antagonisms and condemnation are excluded from serving as a living sacrifice. On the other hand, serving as a living sacrifice does mean joining your local church in showing mercy to expecting mothers, refugees, and victims of human trafficking. Caring for the elderly in your church, taking a meal to a family facing a crisis, and giving to help people affected by devastating storms are ways of serving as a living sacrifice. Such expressions amplify the gospel or, as I like to put it, such expressions embody the gospel as the good news of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. When we embody the gospel, space opens for proclaiming the gospel in words that have meaning because of the way we are serving as living sacrifices.
And one last but important caveat. Paul never says a word about conditioning our service as a living sacrifice on the temporal results. Instead, we trust God that by doing his “good, pleasing and perfect will” the results God desires will follow even if we never see them in our lifetime. As people who are baptized into Christ, our life is now serving as a living sacrifice—period.
All scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Ellen T Cherry, By The Renewing of Your Minds: The Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 44, “Stripping off the old and taking on a new self, becoming a new creation, was not literary hyperbole; it was literally true and personally threatening. New life in Christ required a decisive act of separation from the past and participation in the new present reality.”
K. Rex Butts, Gospel Portraits: Reading Scripture as Participants in the Mission of God (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2022), 55-56.
Matthew W Bates, Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2019), 33, writes, “Our good deeds can amplify the gospel message, but the message itself must first be verbally proclaimed by someone in order for our actions to reinforce it.” Of course, I agree with Bates that the gospel must be proclaimed in words and any proclamation without words is lacking. But I also want to stress that without good deeds or with deeds that do not embody the gospel, our proclamation of the gospel with words lacks integrity and becomes meaningless. And frankly, the lack of deeds that embody the gospel among Christianity in America has contributed to the emergence of a post-Christian reality.