Sacrificial Stewardship

Romans 12:1

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

The second Bible metaphor that helps us understand stewardship in the Old Testament is the picture of sacrifice. The people of Israel celebrated three special feasts every year. Everyone who was able travelled to the special place of worship bringing everything they would need for worship.

These festivals involved physically reorienting oneself around the Lord and his covenant. Each man brought with him an offering for the Lord, usually in the form of livestock. Sacrifice was central to Old Covenant worship. It was a complex picture of giving to the Lord a portion of what was God’s already. Sacrifice was meant to remind the worshipper that all the person owned had come from God. The offered sacrifice belonged exclusively to the Lord, to be used as the Lord intended.

Paul found the idea of sacrifice a useful way to describe our response to the grace of God and the love of Christ. The difference between Old Covenant worship and Christian worship is that in the past the worshipper offered part of his belongings to God for his use. But our worship is to offer it all. As God’s offering, you and I no longer belong to ourselves. All we have, all we are, all we own – everything is placed on the altar for God to use as he desires. 

This is not what we usually experience in our various services on Sunday morning. Many of us are just doing our religious duty, offering our token bits, then going about our lives once we get home without truly grasping the gospel or its implications for our lives. But we are called to place ourselves on the altar in what Paul calls an act of spiritual worship. Our worship is not to offer a part of what we have or who we are, but to offer it all!

Reflection Questions

Read Romans 12:1-5 again. Ask the Spirit to guide you as you consider if you have trusted God with all you have and all you are. Ask God what one next step of surrender he wants you to take today. What is he asking you to place on the altar?