Living Sacrifice was a great band. I think in many ways we held them high in the magazine and rallied around and/or "championed" them as a stellar example, like: "Yeah, THIS is what we cover!" In some ways I wonder if we took them for granted. I don't really think so (3 cover stories, posters, and always keeping up with them), but maybe as fans we took them for granted. I don't know. It's too bad they never broke big-time in the mainstream. They seemed a faithful and excellent band, though, who certainly did all you could ask of a band.
Romans 12 calls offering your body as a living sacrifice to God as "a spiritual act of worship." A living sacrifice is a good way to describe "giving yourself over to God." Sometimes in prayer we do not know exactly what to do, but we can ask and we can listen. Sometimes it becomes obvious what we're to do, but it's just not what we want to do. Being obedient to God is not always convenient, but it is blessed...sometimes in ways we can't tell. There are probably many times where we may do something that we feel like God has put in our path, but we don't hear a confirmation and we step out and do it anyway. Sometimes these things don't achieve any sort of instant blessing or proof that it was a "God thing," but it was nevertheless. Maybe we'll find out one day about all those little deeds and their worth. Who knows?
Even though being a living sacrifice can be kind of vague, Paul gets pretty practical in Romans 12. He talks about the group of believers (refered to as "the body") has many different parts and functions. Each one of us is different and has a different role. One role, like teaching in front of people, is no more important than another, like serving or mopping up the Sunday school rooms. It's all good and it should all be done "cheerfully."
"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."
He starts to sound like Jesus in the next few sentences:
"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited..."
If I was going to speak those words to myself, I'd probably add: "Do not argue with them" to the first sentence. I think that's what I did early on in my walk. I argued or talked when I should've kept my mouth shut. But we live and we learn.
In Romans 14 we hear Paul very strongly talk about gray areas. This is always an area where it's easy to get into an argument. It's funny how some people see gray as white and others "see" it as black. I like what Paul says: "Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another." The word "therefore" is preceded by the statement that "each of us will give an account of himself to God." It's not what other people think that matters...it's what God thinks.
I remember having a conversation with a very mature and wise man many years ago. This was the guy that "led me in the baptism of the Holy Spirit." He played an important role in my life, but he said something kind of stupid in this conversation. He was looking at my tape collection and mentioned that I may want to pray about removing some albums from my house. I can't remember why, but I knew he was talking about The Wall by Pink Floyd cassette that I had. I had already prayed and sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit about my record collection and, while I was not above making a mistake or overlooking something, I was confident that this particular tape was not an issue. My friend, who had some experience in exorcism, probably had a strong feeling inside about the attitudes, imagery and lyrics about that concept album. It was probably something that he should never have in his house or listen to. For me, I could not give a pile of dog poop about that album. I could've thrown it away and maybe he would've patted me on the back or something, but I just kept quiet. I'm kind of amazed that the behavior or "walk" of some very important people didn't throw me for a loop. Maybe that's proof that God is at work in my life.
Think of all the people that used to feed off the teaching of Jimmy Swaggart. I bet you that practically none of them "fell off the deep end" when Jimmy did. It's good to know that we have a connection with God that's not really dependent upon any other man. While it's good to have teachers and friends that love the Lord; and it's smart for those influential people to use caution in the examples they set, it's not the be-all, end-all connection to God that we live through. It can break our hearts when friends fall, and sometimes we can have the privilege of lifting them back up, but our foundation needs to be on something that isn't going to change or falter. I praise God that somehow (and I really don't know how) the behavior of others can't steal away or destroy that lifeline of faith that the Spirit gives us.
Romans 14 concludes with:
"So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God."
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at December 13, 2005 09:12 AMI was reading some heavy metal book at Barnes & noble once, I can't remember the name. But in the back, it had the top 100 metal albums of all time. So, there was a Metallica album, Guns 'n' Roses, Ozzy, etc. And then - Living Sacrifice - Reborn. My eyes popped out of my head. I ran to find my wife to show her the list. She didn't care, of course - because she hates metal. But obviously someone out there also noticed.
Posted by: Matt at December 13, 2005 01:59 PM