Living Sacrifice and the Path of Humility
October 27, 2024 · 1:54:54 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
The service opened with worship and a call to holiness, then the first message, drawn from Romans 12:1 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, reminded the church that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, bought with the price of Christ's blood. Body and soul cannot be separated, so God asks us to present both, while we are still alive, as a sacrifice that is living, holy, and pleasing to him. Using the picture of a pen passed from one preacher to the next, the preacher showed that we are only instruments and that all glory belongs to the Master who uses us.
The main message, from Matthew 23:11-12, unfolded a universal spiritual law: whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Like gravity, this law works whether or not we believe in it. Pride begins in the heart, as it did with Lucifer in Isaiah 14, and always ends in a fall. Christ in Philippians 2 walked the opposite road: though equal with God he emptied himself, became a servant, and obeyed even to death on the cross, so God exalted him and gave him the name above every name.
The same law shaped Moses in the wilderness and Mary, the lowly servant through whom many nations are blessed. God searches not for the great or the clever but for the broken and humble who tremble at his word. So we are urged to clothe ourselves in humility, to lift one another up, and to let God raise us in his own time.
Key Points
- Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; you were bought at a price, so glorify God in body and soul.
- God asks for a living sacrifice now, while we live, given freely and never by force.
- We are instruments in the Master's hands; the tool boasts of nothing, for all the glory goes to God.
- Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted is a law for everyone, even angels.
- Pride starts in the heart and ends in a fall; humility always comes before honor.
- Christ humbled himself to death, so God lifted him above every name; the depth of humility measures the height of exaltation.
- God seeks the broken and the lowly; humble yourself under his hand and he will lift you up in due time.
Devotional
"Lord, my body and my soul were bought for you" is a prayer worth praying every day. Before God can lift us, he first leads us low, and the valleys we walk are not a sign that he has forgotten us but the soil where humility grows. Ask whether your life today is pleasing to him, whether you still hear his voice and follow his will. Offer yourself again as a living sacrifice, clothe yourself in humility, and trust him to raise you in his own time.
“God will not seize your body; he gave himself first on the cross and now waits for you to give yourself freely.”
“Pride never begins on the stage; it begins in the heart, and where there is pride a fall always follows.”
“The depth of your humility measures the height of your exaltation.”
