Your reasonable service

In this episode, we reflect on Romans 12:1 and the call to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. The message explains why the body is our reasonable service: it reveals what the heart has chosen, gives us earthly operation, and becomes the vessel through which God displays His life. This is a call to daily availability, obedience, and purposeful living before God.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Your body is not ordinary. It is the visible expression of your inward surrender, your license to operate on this earth, and the vessel through which God displays his life to others. Good morning and welcome to this expression of igniting your day. I know you can account for many things the Lord has done for you. I know you are grateful to God. I also know that as much as it lies within your power, you would like to offer back to God something He can appreciate. Something that shows how grateful you are. And sincerely, the Lord loves a grateful heart. Psalm 50, verse 23 says, Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me, and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, I will show the salvation of God. So it is right to desire to express gratitude to God. It is good, it is fitting. But of the many things you can give in response to God's mercy, his salvation, his grace, and the riches of life in Christ, there is one offering that is considered your most reasonable. There is one that is considered your most proper. That leads us to an important question. Why is my body my most reasonable offering to God? Of all the things I can give to the Lord in response to his mercy, why my body? Of all the things I can offer him for the riches of life in Christ, why does scripture point to my body? Number one, your body reveals what your heart has chosen. Yes, the first reason your body is your most reasonable service is that it reveals where your heart lies. Matthew chapter 7, verse 16 to 20 says, You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns of figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Friends, by their fruits you shall know them. The fruit is visible, but the root is hidden. In the same way, the body becomes the visible expression of the hidden condition of the heart. Your heart may choose God, but your body reveals that choice through obedience, discipline, service, purity, compassion, and daily conduct. So when you present your body to God, you are saying, Lord, let my visible life reflect my inward surrender. Let my conduct, my speech, my service, my discipline, my purity, and my love reveal that my heart belongs to you. This is why your body is your most reasonable offering. It reveals what your heart has chosen. Number two, your body is your license to operate on this earth. The second reason your body is your most reasonable offering is that it is your license to operate on this earth. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 5 to 7 says, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. In bond offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Notice that statement. A body hast thou prepared me. Even the earthly assignment of Christ required a prepared body. He came into the world to do the will of God, and that will had to be expressed through a body. That means your body is not a meaningless container. It is your earthly platform. It is the means by which you act, move, speak, serve, build, pray, help, comfort, travel, write, give, and represent God in visible spaces. Without a body, you cannot operate on the earth in the way earthly life requires. Your body gives you access, mobility, presence, visibility, and function. So when you present your body to God, you are saying, Lord, this body is the earthly platform you have given me. I yield my hands, my voice, my feet, my strength, my time, my movement, and my presence to your will. Friends, your body is your license to operate on this earth. Number three, God needs vessels to display his divinity. The third reason your body is your most reasonable offering is that God needs vessels to display his divinity. God is spirit, but he displays his wisdom, his love, his power, his holiness, his compassion, and his glory through yielded vessels. Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7 to 11 says, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despire, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Did you catch that? The life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. The life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Friends, the divine life of Jesus is to find expression through human vessels. The treasure is divine, but the vessel is earthly. That means God wants his life to become visible through us. His compassion can move through our hands, his wisdom can flow through our mouths, his holiness can be reflected in our conduct. His love can be expressed through our presence. So, your body is your most reasonable offering not only because it reveals what your heart has chosen, and not only because it is your license to operate on earth, but because God needs vessels through which his divinity can be displayed. So, what do you miss if you lack this understanding? If a person does not understand that the body is their most reasonable offering to God, there are things they will miss. Number one, you will likely undervalue your body. Without this understanding, you will most likely undervalue your body. Some people do not take care of their bodies as they should, not merely because they are careless, but because they have not understood how much their body matters to God. For ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Matthew 5, 13 to 16 says, You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Friends, people may not immediately understand your private devotion, your hidden consecration, or your spiritual experiences, but they can see your good works, they can experience the fruit of God through your actions. So if you do not understand that your body is your most reasonable offering to God, you miss an opportunity to let your light shine before people in a way they can see, in a way they can receive, in a way they can appreciate, and in a way they can respond to. You miss the opportunity to do what people may call incredible, not because of your own power, but because God is expressing himself through a yielded vessel. 2 Timothy 2, verse 21 says, If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Friends, a cleansed vessel becomes useful to the master. A yielded body becomes an instrument of righteousness. A surrendered life becomes a platform for God. So if anyone misses the understanding that the body is their most practical, most logical, most fitting, and most reasonable offering to God, three things happen. They will most likely undervalue their body, they will miss opportunities to touch lives in ways people can appreciate, and they choose to live an ordinary, predictable life. What should you do going forward? The answer is simple, but it must become intentional. Yield your body to God every day. This is not something to understand once and forget. This must become a daily consecration. Lord, I present my body to you today. Yes, let my eyes, my mouth, my hands, my feet, my strength, my time, my presence, and my movement serve your purpose. Let my visible life reflect that my heart has chosen you. This morning, friends, we are going to pray for everyone that is struggling to yield. There are people close to you, there are people on your street, people in your city. They are able-bodied, they are healthy, yet some do not know how much God is relying on them in this world. Some do not know that their ignorance or refusal may be hindering the agenda of God for someone close to them. We see people every day, we smile at each other, yet many do not know that God is counting on them. Some do not know how much joy others are deprived of because they have not understood this truth. Some have resources, some have health, some have opportunities, some have strength, yet those bodies are not being consciously yielded to the Lord. How many people wake up, eat, walk, fulfill social and economic obligations and go to bed without the consciousness that God is counting on them. And then we say we want this world to be a better place. This morning, friends, the assignment is simple. Pray that people will come to the reality that God is counting on them. Start from your family. You may be doing well as a father, but what about your wife? You may be doing well as a mother, but what about your husband? You may be doing well as a parent, but what about your children? This world needs people who are conscious that God is relying on them. This world needs people who are daily conscious that there are miracles, that they rather are miracles going somewhere to happen. And they may be vessels God wants to use. If I reach out to you, it means God's mercy has arisen upon you. Why? Because I understand that I am a vessel of God's mercy. In the same way, everyone on earth needs to come to this realization, especially those who have given their lives to Christ. We need more people who are relevant to God on this earth. We need more people who have decided to activate their relevance to God on this earth. You may not have the resources to announce this to the whole world, but that brother close to you needs to know that God is depending on him. That sister close to you needs to know that God is depending on her. My dear friends, this is my encouragement to you this morning. Many times you are overburdened by the consciousness that there are questions in your own lives that you have not yet received answers for. And sincerely, I empathize with you. But there is nothing you desire for yourself that can be more worthy than what God desires for you. He made you, therefore, he understands your usefulness and relevance more than you understand it yourself. The Lord is saying to you this morning, that healthy body you have is for a reason. That strength you have is for a reason. That mobility you have is for a reason. That voice you have is for a reason. That access is for a reason. That aura you have and carry is for a reason. Take a moment this morning and say, Lord, I'm available to you. My will I give to you. Use me for your purpose in the name of Jesus. So, my friends, today do one intentional thing with your body as an offering to God. Use your voice, use your hands, use your presence, use your time to help someone recognize that God has not forgotten them and that He is counting on them too. I wish you an amazing day ahead today. God bless you.