One other important item from Romans 12:1-2 is “a living and holy sacrifice”. Two fascinating verses to me are Psalm 51:16-17, “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
God prescribed as a matter of obedience a series of sacrifices in Exodus and Leviticus. There were a host of tedious requirements and steps the priests and people were to take when they brought sacrifices to the Lord. It all seems very technical and ritual when reading through the laws on worship, sacrifices, and offerings.
Then, in Psalms 51, it is all reduced to nothing. “You do not delight in sacrifice … You are not pleased with burnt offering”. How can God require very detailed and technical sacrifices and offerings, and then not be delighted in or pleased with them?
The answer lies in our own hearts, according to the Psalmist. In verse 17, we read that true sacrifice is “a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart”.
We should understand that ritualistic obedience to law is not what God desires. God prescribed sacrifice, not so He could then disown those sacrifices, but because He is holy. We cannot approach Him in our sin but must bring a sacrifice for our sin before we can approach His throne. However, God does not delight in mere ritual.
The book of Malachi in the Bible discusses this in detail, how even the priests had become dead in their hearts and only went through the motions. This is not pleasing to the Lord. Instead, He desires a broken and contrite heart.
All of the laws from the Old Testament were outwardly tedious and technical. Many of these laws were internalized to the heart upon the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. In the same way that we would take great care to follow the outward law, God desires that we take great care to allow Him to soften our hearts and root out sin, beginning with the heart.
I once worked for Jewish attorneys, and one day, one attorney’s wife was explaining the leaven. Once a year, they would dust and clean every inch of the house. All furniture and household items would be moved to allow for cleaning. While she stopped there, it is clear that this same approach to cleaning our homes and ensuring our physical spaces are free from dirt is to be applied to the heart. Unfortunately, this is where we, like her, often stop short.
We can accept a clean home and outward rituals. But a perfect attitude toward God in the heart?
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Isaiah 30:15 “For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you were not willing.”
When we read the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter 4, we begin to understand better that sacrifices and offerings are a matter of the heart. Abel brought a blood sacrifice, symbolizing confession and repentance, which begins in the heart. Cain brought a grain sacrifice, acting out of mere ritual and obligation and overlooking a heart broken and contrite before God. Both men brought sacrifices to the Lord, but only one had a heart which was open to God.
In Romans 12:1-2, our acceptance before God does not consist in presenting ourselves to God or working out acts of righteousness. True acceptance before God rests in a heart aligned with Christ, a heart broken over sin, a heart of humility before God, and a heart truly intent on fearing God.
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