𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 (𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯) 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘎𝘖𝘋’𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 

𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘕𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘓𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘋𝘦𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘩’𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦, “𝘚𝘜𝘙𝘙𝘌𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘙: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘎𝘖𝘋 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘴” (𝘔𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟹, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟻).

𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

.   .   .

2025 SURRENDER SERIES (no. 4)

The Whole of Our Lives: A Living Sacrifice

.   .   .

A few weeks ago our family was shocked by the sudden loss of my Dad’s best friend.  He and his wife have been the closest friends to my parents for their entire adult life.  Just one day prior, the two men met at the local park, something they did weekly, to unburden their hearts and pray for one another, their families, and their local church body.

This man’s homecall to heaven was totally unexpected.  He seemed strong, vibrant, working heartily for the LORD’s work, as he had always done.  He was a full-time gospel preacher, Bible teacher, counselor, and friend to countless people throughout the country and in other parts of the globe.  His own father had devoted his earthly life to telling others the good news of the gospel – salvation through JESUS CHRIST – but had gone home to glory at the young age of forty-one.  His son was determined to carry on his father’s work that seemed cut short so prematurely.  

This man’s prayer was to give everything he could, every moment of every day until his dying breath, to lead others to the Savior.  Many loved ones, on many occasions, expressed concern that he was working too hard, that he should slow down and rest, but he never did.  In the shock of this loss, his dear wife and family (ourselves included) take great comfort in knowing the LORD answered his prayer!  He had given his life in service to the LORD and it was the LORD’s choice alone to bring his earthly journey to its end and call him Home to eternal rest at the Savior’s side.

His life was by no means perfect.  He was human like the rest of us.  But no one denies that his days were dedicated to the LORD, his heart focused on reaching others with the gospel.  His was an all-consuming passion, bringing with it great personal sacrifice – to himself and to his family who lived long stretches of time without him when he traveled.  No cost was too much to ask.  The stakes were too high.  Lost souls needed to hear about the Savior who loved them, who died for them, who gave everything to rescue them from the power and penalty of sin, to reconcile them to GOD.

Few of us can say the same – the whole of our lives given to the Master’s service.  Nothing held back.  No sacrifice too great.  The entirety of ourselves and our days surrendered to His will, His direction, His purposes.

This one life, of a dear family friend, vividly portrayed the heart of this fourth lesson in our surrender study, “the whole of our lives, a living sacrifice.”

.   .   .

How does this level of devotion compare to the average Christian’s devotion to CHRIST and His kingdom?  How does it compare to your own values and priorities? (p 183)

At one time or another, we have all observed passionate endeavors that are not CHRIST-centered – in ourselves and in the lives of others around us.  It is commendable to be “100-percenters in a world of 50-percenters” (p86), to work hard, to earn an honest living, to meet practical day-to-day needs.  But we can be so easily swept away by professional goals, the lure of the American dream, the pursuit of the bigger, better house or other material gains, or to live in such a way that we are always reaching for the next milestone.  

Sadly, these efforts can be exhausting and unfulfilling, fueling in us a spirit of discontentment and distracting us from GOD’s heart and His eternal purposes.

Our GOD calls us to wholeheartedly love and serve Him, to choose allegiance to Him alone.   As recorded in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both.”

So, how can our priorities reflect true devotion to CHRIST?  What does all-in, all-consuming service to GOD mean for us?  Nancy Wolgemuth took us to the Old Testament to look at one key picture of a fully consumed sacrifice to GOD – the burnt offering (pp 88-89):

“The Scriptures provide a number of word pictures that help us understand what it means to be a true follower of JESUS CHRIST.  One of the most compelling images is that of a burnt offering. … Ultimately, all those [Old Testament] offerings were pictures intended to point people to their need for a Savior – an innocent One who would sacrifice His life as a substitute for sinners, making it possible for them to have fellowship with a holy GOD.

The burnt offering (Leviticus 1) was so-called because the sacrificial animal was placed on the altar and totally consumed by the fire.  Burnt offerings were intended to express the worshiper’s total dedication and consecration to the LORD.  They pictured complete surrender to the will of GOD.”

An online search provided additional insight from gotquestions.org:

“The Hebrew word for “burnt offering” actually meansto “ascend”, literally to “go up in smoke.”  The smoke from the sacrifice ascended to GOD, “a soothing aroma to the LORD” (Leviticus 1:9).  Technically, any offering burned over an altar was a burnt offering, but in more specific terms a burnt offering was the complete destruction of the animal (except for the hide) in an effort to renew the relationship between Holy GOD and sinful man.

A person could give a burnt offering at any time.  It was a sacrifice of general atonement – an acknowledgement of the sin nature and a request for renewed relationship with GOD.  The ultimate fulfillment of the burnt offering is in JESUS’ sacrifice on the cross.  His physical life was completely consumed, He ascended to GOD.  Most importantly, His sacrifice, once for all time, atoned for our sins and restored our relationship with GOD.”

The burnt offering was of the offeror’s free will.  The offeror gave the best of his herd or flock, in perfect condition.  The sacrifice was costly, representing a significant sum, possibly his livelihood, but was freely offered to GOD, to be totally consumed.

How did CHRIST fulfill this Old Testament picture?  How does that picture help us understand what it means to be a true follower of JESUS CHRIST?  How is the sacrifice of our lives different than the Old Testament burnt offerings? (pp 183-184)

Our Savior’s sacrifice was the fulfillment of this Old Testament picture.  He gave His life.  His blood atoned for our sin.  It had to be Divine blood (completely pure) to accomplish His once-for-all work of redemption for us.  In the truest sense, JESUS was “all-in” until the work the Father gave Him to do was ALL done and He declared, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

To follow CHRIST is to adopt His whole “lifestyle,” to emulate Him in every way, which was wholehearted devotion to the Father.  He never moved a muscle without the Father’s direction.  Even as GOD, He yielded His own desires to those of the Father, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42).  Although His sacrifice for sin was once-for-all, JESUS lived His entire earthly life according to the Father’s plan.  When we offer ourselves to GOD, it is an ongoing commitment to align with the Father’s will, to “live given”:

CHRIST offered Himself to GOD as a perfect sacrifice for our sins (Heb 9:14), by the power of the eternal Spirit.  “You have given Me a body so that I may obey You… I have come to do Your will, O GOD” (Hebrews 10:5-7).

“In view of all He has done for you, give your bodies to GOD, a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to Him” (Romans 12:1).

.   .   .

Nancy Wolgemuth shared this additional insight (pp 92-93):

“One preacher illustrated the ongoing, daily dimension of sacrifice and surrender this way: ‘We think giving our all to the LORD is like taking a $1000 bill and laying in on the table – ‘Here’s my life, LORD.  I’m giving it all.’  

But the reality for most of us is that He sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1000 for quarters.  We go through life putting 25 cents here and 50 cents there.  Listen to the neighbor kid’s trouble instead of saying, ‘Get lost.’  Go to a committee meeting.  Give up a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home.  Usually giving our life to CHRIST isn’t glorious.  It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time.’”

As part of the lesson, she asked:  Share some specific sacrifices you can recall GOD asking you to make.  Would you agree that, regardless of their size, “the sacrifices GOD asks of us are never pointless” (p 94)? (p 184)

We agreed that the preacher’s illustration provided a beautiful analogy of the little sacrifices we make everyday as busy wives, moms, professionals, church members, neighbors, and friends.  This picture also provided a wonderful way to describe an ongoing sacrificial life to our kids – every day, in the mundane, seeking the LORD’s face, offering simple acts of obedience and trust.

One member of our group mentioned that enduring a difficult task or navigating a difficult relationship could be pictured in this way:  one small step at a time, one simple act of obedience and love for the LORD at a time, trusting Him to carry us through and to bless our efforts with a promising outcome (even if we don’t see it right away, or ever).

Another member of our group declared what we all heartily agreed with:  we can’t outgive GOD!  His storehouses never run dry.  What He has placed in our hands to give away, He can always replenish.  We can feel free to forego something we might have enjoyed or could have used to meet someone else’s needs or desires ahead of our own.  We can trust His Spirit to prompt us to do what may seem insignificant to us but, unbeknownst to us, will be deeply meaningful and personal to the recipient.

One seemingly simple example was shared:  an unexplained craving for a dinner of flounder filet was unknowingly met and supplied by a random interaction with a neighbor who “happened to have” extra and decided to share!  It was just fish, but the dear one who received it felt seen and known and intimately cared for by her heavenly Father.  What a joy we can know when He uses us in these seemingly simple, but deeply touching ways, as His ground angels!

His directives may escape our logic.  Our finite minds may never know the “how” or “why.”  But when we sense His leading and respond in obedience, He is honored and His will is accomplished!  Nothing GOD asks is ever pointless.  His will is always exact and eternally purposeful.  

Have you ever felt that something GOD was asking of you seemed unreasonable?  What perspective does Romans 12:1 give to those sacrifices?  How does CHRIST’s sacrifice for us affect the way we view our sacrifices to Him?

We agreed that GOD does often ask us to give or do hard things, but none of it is unreasonable.  As it says in Romans, in view of all He has given to us, and the acknowledgment that with His sacrifice, He bought us back to GOD, it is the most reasonable/logical thing to do to surrender to Him what already rightfully belongs to Him – all of me, my days, my life journey, my mind, body, and soul.  

Nancy Wolgemuth shared a moving testimony (pp 97-98) from “Willis Hotchkiss, a pioneer missionary in East Africa in the late 1800s who made what we would consider extraordinary sacrifices for the sake of CHRIST.  He concluded, ‘It is no sacrifice. In the face of the superlative joy of that one overwhelming experience, the joy of flashing that miracle word, Savior, for the first time to a great tribe that had never heard it before, I can never think of these forty years in terms of sacrifice.  I saw CHRIST and His cross and I did this because I loved Him.’”

We see His cross and we say “yes” again and again, because we love Him.  In those terms, it seems so simple.  There is no decision to be made.  But, we also agreed it is hard to explain exactly why it seems so difficult to understand what that “yes” looks like in real time.

What might it mean for you this week to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to GOD?

This is exactly our question!  A few quotes helped frame our thinking:

“To be a living sacrifice is to live in such a way of openness and availability and abandon to GOD’s will that it reflects how much we are trusting the loving sacrifice of JESUS. … Out of GOD’s love, He saved us.  Out of our salvation, we love others.” (Jared C. Wilson, thegospelcoatition.org)

“Total commitment to GOD is our “spiritual worship” in this sense: if the Son of GOD has died for me, then the least I can do is live for Him.” (William MacDonald, “The Letter to the Romans”, Emmaus Worldwide, 2020)

As we shared ideas around the table, several prayers emerged:

• may we make ourselves available to serve Him in any way He prompts us
• may we be obedient to those nudges
• may we not be driven by fear or control, but compelled by love for GOD and others
• may we recognize and remove any barriers to a resounding “yes” to GOD
• may we not follow the world’s example, but be transformed by GOD’s truth (Romans 12:2)
• may we acknowledge the hand of GOD in all things
• may we turn to His Word for guidance as we encounter challenges
• may He teach us what it looks like to release any and all ownership of the story we are living and simply wait for His direction and enabling

Nancy Wolgemuth included a lengthy quote from Dr. Helen Roseveare, a missionary doctor in Belgian Congo during the 1950s and 1960s (pp 95-96):

“To be a living sacrifice will involve all my time.  GOD wants me to live every minute for Him in accordance with His will and purpose. … No time can be considered as my own, or as “off-duty” of “free.” 

To be a living sacrifice will involve all my possessions. … My money is His.  He has the right to direct the spending of each penny.  I must consider that I own nothing.  All is GOD’s, and what I have, I have on trust from Him to be used as He wishes.

To be a living sacrifice will involve all of myself.  My will and my emotions, my health and vitality, my thinking and activities all are to be available to GOD, to be employed as He chooses, to reveal Himself to others. … All rights are His – to direct my living so that He can most clearly reveal Himself through me.

To be a living sacrifice will involve all my love. … I relinquish the right to choose whom I will love and how, giving the LORD the right to choose for me. … I must bring all the areas of my affections to the LORD for His control, for here, above all else, I need to sacrifice my right to choose for myself.

I need to be so utterly GOD’s that He can use me or hide me, as He chooses, as an arrow in His hand or in His quiver.  I will ask no questions; I relinquish to Him who desires my supreme good.  He knows best.”

To be a living sacrifice is to sign a blank contract (an echo from chapter two).  It is a complete dedication of one’s life to GOD’s plan, not ours.  It means we surrender our hopes, dreams, and as we will consider in the next chapter, even our fears to GOD, endeavoring to live in a way that delights rather than grieves His heart.  

. . .

Our Savior gave all of Himself to redeem us, to see the Father’s eternal plan to completion.  He was “all-in” until it was ALL done!  He stood in our place, as our Substitute, bearing the wrath of GOD against our sin.  

As sinners saved by His grace, our heart’s response is to give all of ourselves to love and serve Him in return.  In this case, there are no substitutes – the only one who can give our earthly life into GOD’s hands is each one of us!  

Each redeemed child holds immeasurable value to GOD.  Each life offered to Him becomes a treasured gift and a wealth of possibility, another channel through which He can make Himself known … and glorified!  

Let us not miss the chance to give all of ourselves to be used for His best purposes – every moment of every day until our final breath!  May we hold nothing back.

I have been crucified with CHRIST and I no longer live, but CHRIST lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of GOD, who loves me and gave Himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20)