Have you ever set aside that which was important to you for something greater? Time spent on you instead given to another. Fifty dollars that you needed was given to someone in need. Maybe it was more than setting aside, it was you willfully losing forever that precious part of your life? No one took it from you but you gave it by your own choice for the greater good. Can you remember such a time?
This is a manner of service the Christ follower can engage in, confidently knowing he is following in the steps of Jesus.
We remember the words of instruction from The Servant:
“If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
Mark 9:35
Again, this is the second of Jesus’ key teachings on what life looks like as a disciple. And this is quite logical because one of the central statements in all of the book comes in Mark 10
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.“
Mark 10:45
This is a life goal of the Captain of our faith, therefore, it is to be a pattern of life: to serve.
In part one we explored what it looked like for Jesus to be The Servant who submitted to his Father. Then in part two we looked at how The Servant suffered. In both of these we follow his example and live in such a way among the brethren.
Here we will dive into how service to Christ and others entails sacrifice.
Servanthood: Sacrificing
The idea of sacrifice is not far removed, if at all, from the suffering we looked at in the last post. We will certainly see both a continuity and discontinuity between suffering and sacrifice. And it is ok that we have overlap for as we see above in Mark 10:45 Jesus’ greatest suffering was in the form of sacrifice. What is noteworthy is to see that Jesus’ suffering came about from a mindset of the willingness to sacrifice.
Let me illustrate this idea of mindset leading to action. This demonstration is actually informative for us because it comes from the same portion of Mark, so that it enforces our foundation. In Mark 9:35 when Jesus said,
“If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
He is here giving us this paradigm of action and mindset. We are to think of ourselves as last of all. That is to say that everyone else is more important than you. This mindset is foundational to following Jesus. When this is dismissed and no longer an informative part of how we operate we will lose effectiveness in following Jesus. This mindset is important for it sets up the follower of Christ to live out the life pattern of Christ: servant. When we think of everyone else first, we then naturally seek to serve. The mindset of others first compels us to ask: How can I serve others today, and thus be a servant to all.
Now back to the similar relation of suffering and sacrifice. Jesus had a mission to be the sacrifice and ransom for “many” therefore he endured the suffering of the cross. And this is not altogether separated from the illustration I just gave of mindset leading to action. For to sacrifice is hand-in-hand with thinking of others first.
The Sacrificing Servant
I paused and delayed here in considering what way to approach the suffering of Christ. The Bible has a seemingly infinite amount to say about this. However, for reasons which will become more clear when we come to the next section below I want to speak of Christ’s sacrifice as we see it in Romans 3.
justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood
Romans 3:24-25
This has clear overlap with Mark 10:45 where Jesus says he will give his life as a ransom for many. We might pose the question: What does Jesus mean? And we could answer by pointing to the details of Romans 3:24-25. So let us see in more detail the sacrifice of Jesus:
- 1) Justified by his grace as a gift: To be justified as Paul speaks of it is to be made right with God and before God. This is what we also call being righteous by God. Hence the reason it is said to not only be done by his grace but “by his grace as a gift.” Paul might as well shout at us: It is given, given, given…grace…gift…given!!!! You relationship with God is given you by God as a gift. But how…
- 2) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: He we take a peak into Jesus role in the believer being made right and acceptable to God. It was by an act of God setting free the slave to sin (Hebrews 2:14-15). Jesus was the man sent for the job…the agent you might say. By Jesus came about redemption, freedom. But how…
- 3) whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood: Here is the sacrifice we have been speaking of. The ultimate and infinite sacrifice. True enough it is the ultimate sacrifice for it is the only one which gives hope, yet also it is ultimate in that there was never a greater one made. Christ shows us the greatest act of submission and suffering to have ever been. We know this from the concept of propitiation. The word itself can mean to extinguish or absorb. Furthermore, the biblical concept seen here and in Hebrews 2:17 & John 2:2, is to show Jesus as the one who received and absorbed the just anger of God agains the very sin and guilt he had taken upon himself at the cross. That is to say, Jesus was curse by God, damned and judged by the righteous retribution of the LORD (Isaiah 53:10). On the old rugged Roman cross Jesus was laid bare to the hot and holy weight of God’s judgement for the sin of his people. He underwent the greatest of unimaginable suffering under the hand of his Father.
It is biblical and needful of our attention that Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief from the moment he entered Bethlehem to the moment he entered his glory. However, we must see from scripture that his suffering culminated in his redemptive sacrifice.
From this we can look to Jesus’ life as one to imitate as we pursue being men and women who sacrifice for others. Yet in the greatness of his suffering in the sacrifice we can have confidence that he who strengthens us for sacrifice knows what it means to suffer in the greatest sense.
Following the Sacrificing Servant
We will stay in Romans as we go on to look at how we should live in light of the redemptive work of God. Namely we will give attention to Romans 12.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
This will not be a full teaching on these verses but I will reference this text in my two sub points below. But first let me bridge the gap from 3:24-25 to 12:1-2. As a whole Romans is broken between chapters 1-11 & 12-16. The first portion teaches us of redemption in Christ gives life while the second portion teaches us how to live in this new life.
Sacrifice is a Choice: Paul appeals to our reason in calling us to live in a particular way. He calls us to consider the mercies of God as displayed in Romans 1-11, and for that merciful love to compel us on to obedience (2 For. 5:14). The specific call is to “present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and accepted, which is your spiritual worship.” This may be rightfully understood as: Constantly live out every day in ways that are acceptable and holy before God. Here is where we make a choice; this is when intentionality must kick in. We daily choose to love our brothers (12:9-21) for this is acceptable to God. Our decisions are dictated by the question: Does this bless God and benefit the brethren? Decisions are not navigated upon the basis of me at the center but my Triune Lord, my Redeemer’s desire, and for my brother’s good. We decide to live in this body in consistent service to others by sacrificing.
We must see sacrifice in light of Romans 12 as worship to God and service to others first and foremost. Then we may rightly see what it means to give up that which is precious in service to God. Now, if you are like me and fail at seeing sacrifice biblically, not to mention living it out…let us see where such a life grows from.
Sacrifice as a Mindset: In the new life we are given a new mind. When one is born again a whole new view of reality, life, and eternity, and God himself is given the redeemed. As a new mind with new affections are worked out in us by the Spirit of Christ we view sacrifice differently. It is Christ like (3:24-25). Therefore it is both honorable and desirable. That is not to say it is easy or fun. But the mind brought about by the Spirit of Christ in us teaches us to see sacrifice differently. So before we make intentional decisions to give up preference and comfort in service to God and neighbor, God is already training our mind. And we can put ourselves in a position to be more readily sanctified by God when we thoughtfully read the scriptures. Psalm 19:8 states, “the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes…” Our perspective is restored by God’s mercy through the truth of the word. Hear Jesus’ words in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” Put yourself in front of God’s word to be enlightened and sanctified so that your thoughts about sacrifice in the service of God and brother may be more desirable.
The mindset is God’s work in us transforming us to wish to live as a constant sacrifice.
The Reforming Raker 