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white heat of enthusiasm, but something that is calmly and quietly and thoughtfully
rendered--it is our "reasonable", or "logical", service. There is one sacrifice, and one
only, which has been offered to God that involved death, and that is the sacrifice of Christ
Himself. In that we can have no share--as it is written of the High Priest on the Day of
Atonement: "There shall be no man in the tabernacle . . . . . until he come out and have
made an atonement" (Lev. 16: 17). What is permitted, however, and what is enjoined, is
the yielding of our bodies as a living sacrifice.
What is involved in this "living sacrifice" may be gathered from the way in which this
aspect of service is referred to elsewhere.
"Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour" (Eph. 5: 2).
The believer's "walk" here is to partake of this sacrificial character, and just as the
Apostle stresses "the body" and "the mind" in Rom. 12:, so here, there follows
immediately the "but" of verses 3-5 with their reference to the sins of the body and mind,
leading up to a further parallel, in verses 8-10, with Rom. 13: 12-14:
"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children
of light . . . . . proving what is acceptable unto the Lord" (Eph. 5: 8-10).
Still further parallels are to be found in the exhortation to "awake" in Eph. 5: 14, and
the same exhortation in Rom. 13: 11; "the redeeming of the time" in Eph. 5: and
"The night is far spent" in Rom. 13:; and "understanding what the will of the Lord is"
in Eph. 5:, and "proving what is that acceptable will of God" in Rom. 12:
The sacrificial nature of service is further seen in Phil. 2: and 4: In the second
chapter we have the service of the Apostle, while in the fourth chapter it is the service of
the unnamed believers at Philippi.
"Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice
with you all" (Phil. 2: 17).
"I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which
were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to
God" (Phil. 4: 18).
The "things" described in this last passage could not have been of great size or value,
for they had to be carried many miles, and were to help the Apostle in his narrow
confinement. Yet, being given in the spirit of Christ, they were "acceptable, well
pleasing unto God".
Writing to the Hebrews, in an epistle in which "sacrifice and offering" had been set
aside once and for all (Heb. 10: 5-10), the Apostle says:
"By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the
fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But to do good and communicate forget not;
for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb. 13: 15, 16).