How Can I Be a Living Sacrifice?
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Christ also declared no one could take his life from him. “I lay down my life that I might take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:17-18). Since he is God, with absolute authority, he had to choose to submit to the Father’s will. Not an easy choice, as the Gethsemane narrative reveals (Matthew 26:36-46).
As part of living as a sacrifice, Jesus lived in complete obedience to the Father, moment by moment. He resisted temptation. He overcame the flesh in a complete and perfect way to become the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world, and the High Priest who could relate to us in every temptation and teach us how to overcome (since he himself did).
Jesus died willingly for several reasons. He loved and submitted to the Father’s redemptive plan. He loved humanity and also shared the desire to reconcile sinful people to God. He also believed and acted upon the reality that he would rise again and be rewarded for his faithfulness with a name above all names.
This teaches us how to live.
In one sense, an important one, Christ became a sacrifice because no one else could. His finished work accomplished something no sacrifice had the ability to do.
Yet he also lived as a sacrifice in order to show us how to follow him.
The Bible calls us to live in the pattern of Christ. We are called “Christians,” or little Christs, little messiahs and anointed ones. This includes the willingness to suffer, sacrifice, carry our cross, and act as a kingdom of priests to intercede and pray. Jesus didn’t only save us. He gave a model for how to live. Our discipleship will and must include surrender, endurance, and faithful obedience, even and perhaps especially when it brings hardship.
Jesus tells us to follow him to the cross, dying to self.
In the Roman world of his day, the cross represented shame, being a second-class citizen, suffering. When Jesus used this picture, he’s calling us to a life of radical surrender. This is for any who follow him, not a professional pastor or a select few. We place God’s will above our personal comfort, reputation, desires, and safety.
The apostles continued this teaching. Peter reminded us how Christ suffered as an example for us to follow (1 Peter 2:21). Paul described the Christian life as participating in Christ’s suffering. Paul wanted to know Jesus and “the power of his resurrection, and participation in his sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). Here, we see how Paul connects sharing in the power of resurrection with suffering.
God doesn’t call us to this because he likes to cause pain for its own sake. Suffering is part of God’s refining and maturing work, to make us more like Christ, who suffered more than anyone. James encourages us to “count it all joy” when we face trials. Not because we like hardship but because the testing produces greater endurance and a stronger faith (James 1:2-4). Paul further says we are “heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).
Unlike the rest of humanity, or unbelievers, followers of Jesus have Christ’s eternal hope in the midst of suffering, giving each moment of our life — good or bad — meaning and redemptive purpose.
The Bible calls us to live as a sacrifice, not physically dying necessarily, but with a spiritual mindset. Instead of offering animals on an altar, we offer ourselves. In Christ, we live as a sacrifice and a priest, interceding for others before the throne of God in heaven.
Living as a sacrifice involves complete submission to Christ as Lord. This sacrifices our desires, our pride, our intelligence, everything unto him. This feels like death, the denial of self. But the denial of self doesn’t mean we punish or abuse ourselves; it means we honor God’s will and desires over our own. In the process, we deny our own plans, ambitions, and control over our lives. We trust and submit our desires and decisions to his goodness and life. This daily surrender forms the heart of sacrificial living.
This dying to self must be done willingly, choosing to give God our lives because we trust he cares for us and will give us an even greater reward in the future.
Next, our submission includes daily and constant obedience. Instead of following our impulses, we listen for the Spirit’s voice and choose to obey. The Spirit guides our actions, corrects us, comforts us, and leads us to righteousness. As we surrender to him in every step, we place our lives on the altar.
We also live sacrificially through generosity and charity. When we give freely to others, we reflect God’s love. And yet this will also require sacrifice of time, money, and energy, using these things to bless others instead of ourselves. The early church modeled this lifestyle by caring for those in need, in the church and the wider community. Hebrews 13:16 says, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
Just like Jesus submitted to the Father, knowing he would rise again to glory, we surrender to God with the hope in the resurrection and eternal reward. Jesus endured the cross looking forward to the joy set before him (Hebrews 12:2). We live sacrificially because we trust God will restore, redeem, and reward every part of our lives, including and perhaps especially hardships.
We cannot live as a sacrifice without the eternal perspective. Otherwise, we use our pain as religious manipulation or we lose hope thinking nothing matters in this life. Resting in the eternal reality is the only way to willingly be a living sacrifice as Christ did and be resurrected anew in the age to come as he promises.
Peace.
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