A Living Sacrifice Part I — George Verwer

Romans 12 and the Message of Total Commitment

I'd like you to turn to Romans chapter 12. I want you to understand something from the very beginning of our time together. What we give you, at least a lot of what we give you, one of the purposes is that you may go from here and give it to others.

You all know 2 Timothy 2. What you've heard of me among faithful witnesses, commit thou to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. That should be one of the main texts of this conference. In most of my messages, I'm going to give you a simple outline and any of you who know how to preach can go out with this outline and give the message in your own language, I hope better than I can give it.

The message I'm going to give you tonight, the outline is the message I was preaching when I was 18 years of age. I haven't given this particular message for many many years and yet the Lord brought this back to my heart as I was interceding and asking Him.

And I remember as a young man, I didn't know much about speaking. Going out and giving this simple message and almost every time seeing people stricken by the spirit and committing their lives to Christ.

The message is based on Romans chapter 12. The message is called the logic of total commitment to Jesus Christ. Some people have asked, what's the message of OM? It's hard to answer that in one sentence.

But certainly one of the answers is that the message of OM is the message of total commitment to Jesus Christ. It's the message of Romans 12 .1. By the way, in your discipleship manual, there's a group of chapters you're supposed to read every week until you have it memorized and the first chapter listed there is Romans chapter 12.

I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body a living sacrifice.

Presenting Our Bodies as Living Sacrifices

After eleven chapters of theological truth, Paul says now in the light of that, this is what you ought to do. After eleven chapters of theological truth, Paul says now in the light of that, this is what you ought to do.

You're to give your body, you're to give your life a 100 total commitment and surrender to Jesus Christ. You're to give your body, you're to give your life a 100 total commitment and surrender to Jesus Christ.

A living sacrifice. Immediately our minds go back to Abraham on Mount Moriah. Immediately our minds go back to Abraham on Mount Moriah. The great test in Abraham's life, to take his son Isaac and to offer him up as a sacrifice to God.

And as the knife flashed in the sun and he was about to give his only son to God, God stopped him. And as the knife flashed in the sun and he was about to give his only son to God, God stopped him. And God provided another sacrifice.

And I always think of that when I think of this verse that I am to present my body as a living sacrifice. I am to offer myself up to death and yet I live. If it wasn't for the fact that as a young man of 17 and again almost every year I made this commitment again and again and again of my body to God, I would have been wiped out years ago, I certainly wouldn't be here tonight.

And I yearn to see more of you young men and women as well out teaching and preaching this message of full commitment. And when you start preaching it and teaching it, it will also help you live it. And you know why some of us don't preach this message.

Because we are not sure whether in fact we have ever put our lives on that altar and whether we really are fully committed. And so how do you preach about commitment? And I believe the devil of course is very clever.

He is always condemning us, he is always trying to get us to feel that we are not good enough to speak, that we are not good enough for anything. That's the work of the devil. When I began preaching this, there were many things in my life that had to go yet.

It is a false teaching that full surrender and full dedication is a one shot experience or even a one year experience. Keith Miller in his book Taste of New Wine says the totally committed life is a life of continually committing one's problems and one's life to God as the difficulties are revealed to us from our subconscious.

And I don't know about you, but at the beginning of this conference I have already felt and I have just been praying the need for myself, George Burwell, to present himself again at the minute, sacrifice.

And that's what I want to do tonight. It says this is all reasonable service. In other versions it speaks about reasonable worship. I don't believe we can separate worship and service. They are together.

I hope you will get into this twelfth chapter. I was going to and I was praying about going verse by verse. But then the Holy Spirit brought this outline to my heart. Reasons why total commitment is the logical road for the believer.

God is reasonable, logical. He has sense to what he does. The first reason for the logic or why this commitment is so logical I have written down is the commands of God. I believe one of the greatest problems for most of us is the lack of authority the word of God has in our lives.

The Commands of God as Final Authority

What is the word of God? These commands, these instructions, these I beseech you, they are not to be played with. We are not here to get the word of George Burwood or anybody else. We are here to listen and to know what says the Lord.

And that's why we must open the word of God. And we must as we open the word of God realize this is the final and absolute authority for all conduct in the life of the believer. The church in many places in India today we know has lost its power.

Why? Because the word of God has been put to us and though it may be read it is not accepted as the final absolute immovable authority in the life of the believer. When we study Romans 12 all these commandments, all these instructions, all these exhortations it's a serious thing.

And if we come across any area where we feel that we have failed we immediately deal with it in our lives through repentance and calling upon the name of the Lord. Let me give an example. Look at verse 10.

We are commanded in verse 10 be, that's a command, kindly affectionate one to another with brother Leela in honor preferring one another. In other words to honor others, to esteem others better than yourself.

Now that's the word of God. And as I read that even now I'm convicted. Because I know that many times I am not kindly and affectionate to others. And so immediately if I am open to the work of the Holy Spirit immediately I will be convicted and immediately I will have to repent and cry out to God for forgiveness and renewal in that one verse alone.

But because the devil has deceived us we don't give enough importance to the word of God. And we don't really accept the authority of the word of God. We read these verses and we go out this very same day and do the same stupid things on our teams week in and week out.

Teams are known for the kindly affection, the brotherly love for one another. Preferring one another. The Hindiwala esteeming the Keralawala better than himself. The Keralawala esteeming the Bihari better than himself.

The foreigner esteeming the Indian better than himself. The Indian esteeming the foreigner. How much of this real biblical Christianity do we really have in our teams here in India? And it's because the word of God is not the final authority on our team.

We discuss these things. We argue about this and that. We defend ourselves. We justify ourselves. We say this is my personality, this is the way I am. But you see that pushes aside, that lays aside the authority of the word of God.

It waters down the commands of God. It makes void the grace of God and the word of God. And as we study the word of God in this new and this revolutionary way, the way we should study it. It is like a sword.

It is like a hammer. It is like a hot burning iron. And we will hardly ever get through our quiet time without repentance and brokenness and calling on the name of the Lord for cleansing and renewal. And when we start to do that, we'll start to know daily revival in our lives.

And so one of the reasons for the logic of total commitment is simply the commands of God. Simply the commands of God. In other words, God said it. That's it. God said it. When man says God said it, I believe it, that settles it.

Now the devil is very clever in this. He keeps Christians arguing about all kinds of things in scripture that are not very clear. And there are things in scripture that are not clear. But the scriptures concerning the major doctrines and the scriptures concerning the way you and I should be living, they are extremely clear.

Do you ever find anybody arguing over whether we should love one another or not? Do you ever find anybody arguing over whether we should love one another or not? We all agree on that. And then go have a fight over some petty issue.

And by doing that, we make void over 150 some verses on the subject of love. The commands of God. Jesus was very simple. Jesus would have never got along in some of our Bible conferences. He wouldn't have been invited back.

He was too simple. I mean, he gave such simple teachings. And he just…. He's just like, God, he's that deep in us. And as we look into the word of God and the teachings of Jesus, we're overwhelmed by the simplicity and one of the deepest things in all the world is the simplicity of Jesus Christ.

One of his simple statements was this, if you love me, keep my commandments. So simple, yet so profound. If you love me, keep my commandments. And so the commands of God are one of the first and main reasons why total commitment and total surrender is the logical way to live.

We could give so many verses, hundreds, that show that we should be totally committed to God. One of the best, one of the best is where Jesus said that the first commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

That's total commitment. The second reason is the example of Jesus Christ. Of course, there are so many pictures of the Lord Jesus and his life so totally given over to others. We all know, for example, in John chapter 13, after the Lord's Supper, verse 4, Jesus rose, he laid aside his garments, he took a towel, he dirtied himself and the next verse, he began to wash the disciples' feet.

The Example of Jesus Christ

I believe, I believe that many of our communion services are the most hypocritical thing that the church can ever engage in. We gather around the Lord's table. We take that cup and that wine and then we go away, living our same selfish life instead of taking up the towel and laying our lives down for one another.

We just live our same selfish life. That is the height of hypocrisy. And after Jesus washed their feet, we see what he said. Look at verse 14, if I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you should do and I have done to you. The example of Jesus Christ is one of the main things that motivates us to lay our lives down and to give our lives wholly to God and to his work.

And of course we know Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the 18th chapter of John's Gospel, we have Jesus in the Garden. It's recorded more clearly in some of the other Gospels how Jesus wet great drops of blood.

We won't take time to turn to it. You know the story. That cross, he said, you know, he didn't want it in himself. And he went through in that garden what many of us are going to go through as we contemplate a life of total commitment to Jesus Christ.

We will back off so that we may follow the example of Jesus. Not my will, but thy will be done, O God. Those are the words that flow daily from the life of the true disciple. Not my will, but thy will.

Let us not presume, let us not be fooled in the thinking that because we are on OM, because we are in Christian work, that we are totally dedicated to Christ. That is ludicrous. Many of us have not yet had our big test.

We are committed. Stage one. Praise God for it. And I just praise God for every one of you. I praise God that you've got this far. I don't believe you'd be here if you didn't mean business for God. We first came to India to talk to top missionaries, to talk to leading missionaries, to talk to leading Christians.

They said, this is all very nice, very idealistic, young men serving Christ all day, selling books, giving out gospel, village after village, week after week, this is wonderful. They said there's only one problem.

Nobody will do it. Only one problem. They said you will not get Indian young men to do this work unless you give them a salary. You will not get them to do it at least for more than a few weeks. It's too hard.

It does not appeal to people. There's no future in it. What future is it? After three years, somebody just calls you a bookwala? You have no house? You're living in a truck like a common tramp? Who is going to do this work?

And only by a miracle of God, he has slowly added to the numbers of people who are willing to go on in this work. Some of you who are new, and you may see the problems, you may see the weaknesses. But if you could have been here ten years ago, you would realize what a miracle you are looking at in this room tonight.

And the price that many Indian brothers had paid to be in this work, losing friends, losing homes, losing jobs, giving up sums of money, selling their possessions, Indians, to be a part of this renegade movement of people with no future.

And when you have been around ten years in India, my foreign brothers who are often very critical, then we will talk to you about stage one. Meanwhile, may you be a humble, broken listener for the glory of God.

Because as we've seen over the past ten years, that the Indian brothers, basically in the long run, spit at the job better than the foreigners. And with God, it's the long run that counts. It's the whole race.

It's not the spit and the fire at the starting line, and the bust of smoke that goes off as you kick your heels, but it's who gets to the end of the race. That's what counts with God. The truth of the matter is that ten years has proven that God is really no respecter of persons, whether you're Indian, or foreign, or Bihari, or Kerala, that really isn't the thing, it's what's in the heart that counts with God.

That really isn't the thing, it's what's in the heart that counts with God. So I believe I am speaking to committed people. But it's stage one. Or stage two. Or stage three. But there are many, many stages to go.

We're constantly developing. And for many of us, the big test has not yet come. The big test. And many of us, and most people in life, seem to come to a point where eventually they have a really big test, and then they go one way or the other.

For some it centers around their wife or husband. For others it centers around their family. For others it centers around a job. A good future. For others it centers around some fear. Everybody's different.

And we're all tested in different ways. What may be very easy for me is very hard for you. What may be very hard for you is easy for me. And so we are constantly in need of fresh, new dedication and commitment to the Lord Jesus.

Jesus is our example. The third reason is the death of Jesus Christ. We've talked about the life of Jesus Christ. Now the death of Jesus Christ. Was it C .T. Studd who once said, If Jesus Christ gave his life on a cross for me, is there anything too great to give to him?

If Jesus Christ dies on a cross for me, is there anything too great to give to him? If Jesus Christ dies on a cross for me, is there anything too great to give to him? Being nailed to a piece of what?

I think of the things we often complain about in OM. The hardships we have. The difficulties we endure in the back of the trucks. I would like to interview after the meeting those who have shed blood for Jesus Christ.

Very few of us. Then it may have been a scratch, maybe a stone. Our Lord Jesus Christ let those spikes go right through his beautiful, perfect hands. The pain beyond anything we can ever imagine. And was nailed and hung for you and for me.

And to me, that the man, surrender on my part. No, what blasphemy. The shame given today to one who bore our sins on the cross. What blasphemy. And we have been lost in a great barrage of words and deeper life feelings.

And Holy Spirit talk. We are lost in a jungle of words. And to find men today who are living these things, who are demonstrating these things. Where do you find these men? The death of Jesus Christ. Every day he should challenge us to lay down our lives.

Do you think much of what he saved you from? You know when we have these praise meetings. If Jesus was more real to us. When the leader said we are going to have praise. We have to run around pushing people down.

Wait your turn please brother. Wait your turn please. People would be leaping out of the chairs praising God. First of all for salvation from hell and death and judgment. I was talking to Dr. Schaefer about this.

And he says that we of this generation are so brainwashed. That we cannot respond to God like past generations. When Jonathan Edwards gave his message about men just being hung on a thin thread. Thread of God's mercy about to be dropped into hell.

People froze with fear. They wept. They fell down. They cried out. If he came and gave that message. Most people wouldn't think much about it. They certainly wouldn't weep. Do you see much weeping in the church today?

The church has lost her ability to weep. And because we have lost our ability to weep. We have lost a lot of other things with it. Salishia has stopped weeping. Jesus wept. Shortest verse in the Bible.

Paul wept. Again and again we read about Paul and his tears. What about us? We really really appreciate what God has done for us. Saved us from hell. He saved us from so much. Where would we be tonight if we didn't know Jesus Christ?

I can't imagine where I'd be. The trouble I was already in at sixteen. I don't know where I'd be today. And when I think about it. I just want to rededicate my life to him. I just want to come back to him.

And surrender to him. As an act of thanksgiving. There's a story about World War I. They were using gas in the war. And one man his mask was not working. Not functioning properly. And he was about to collapse.

When a friend took his mask and gave it to him. And this friend took the broken mask and fell to the ground poisoned. And the other man took the broken mask and put it in his mouth and died. The rest of his life he had to spend in a hospital.

But the man whose life was saved was given the good mask. He used to visit the hospital every day. He used to bring books. He used to read. He used to do all kinds of things for the man in the hospital.

And the nurses they wanted what? An amazing dedication. To this sick man. What was the reason? Because the man in that bed had taken his gas. Jesus Christ took the gas. He took the pain. He took the death.

That you and I deserve. And now we should just serve him. We should just give ourselves to him. Every day as an act of thanksgiving. To say thank you Jesus for bearing that sin. That death. That gas. That I deserve.

The Physical Condition of the World

The fourth reason. Why this total commitment is so logical. So reasonable. Is the physical condition of the world. You know there are even unconverted people. Who are very very dedicated. To others. Many of them make shame of Christians.

They see the condition of the world. The lack of food. Of suffering. The sick. And they give their lives. To serve others. I have met such people. I have read about such people. The conditions of the world.

Cause them to say as long as I have a healthy body. The most logical thing is to give myself to others. To serve others. And to try to leave the world a little better place. Than when I came into it. Some communists are like that.

Don't think of all communists as. Sort of heat filled. You know people with horns sticking out of their heads. If I had lived in the Soviet Union. In the days of Lenin. If I had to choose between Rasputin.

The religious maniac. And Lenin. I think my choice probably would have gone. Towards Lenin. Many of the most sincere. Committed. Young Russian men. Wanted to lay down their lives. In sincerity for their fellow men.

Many of them originally did not want war. There was one time. In Russia before the revolution. When a great number of these people. I don't know maybe 10 or 100 thousand. I don't remember. They marched on the palace.

Of the Tsar the leader of Russia. Who was a very religious man. And they only wanted to read a petition. Sincere dedicated men. Workers. They came down to see. Tens of thousands of them singing. They had no weapons.

They just wanted to read a petition. And after they stood for a while. The guards came out. One of the greatest. Slaughters of history. They slaughtered and killed thousands of children. And wives and husbands.

And they laid in a great pool of blood. Before the palace. That was the seed of a revolution. That swept the Soviet Union. And Lenin. With a handful of men. Dedicated men. Took over one third of the world.

And one of the reasons. Is because the church of Jesus Christ. In the Soviet Union. Years before that. Had left the way of Christ. And was so far. From dedication and commitment. That the words probably were no longer.

In their vocabulary. And that is a story. That the night Lenin was planning. One of the major moves of the revolution. The leading priests. Were in Moscow. Having a gigantic argument. And discussion. On the color and the length.

And the types of robes. They should be wearing. Behind the altar in the church. Now as believers in Jesus Christ. We also should have. And must have. Social conscience. The physical needs. Of the people of India.

Should break our hearts. Daily. To the foot of the cross. How can I possibly. Go around and waste money. When there are people. Who don't have enough food in this world. What twist of the mind. Must I perform to do that.

What selfish mental gymnastics. Do I have to create. In order to live loosely. And waste money. When millions have not food. Nor clothing. Nor homes. Nor anything else. What does the word of God say. About despising the poor.

About despising the poor. Not taking care of the poor. And you know it's amazing. If I go back to the west. As I do. And offend a few wealthy people. In the meetings. Who are supposedly good Christians.

Oh I really get taken to task for that. Oh my. Didn't do that. You're offending these people. These are good people. God has blessed them. God has given them their wealth. And how can you possibly speak that way.

And so if I offend one rich man. Especially if he's a deacon in the church. That is a terrible thing. But the fact that millions. Go to bed tonight in the gutters. Without food. And without clothing. Well you know that's just part of life.

What can you do. I can only say that if that is Christianity. If that is Christianity. I don't want any part of it. I'm not going to judge rich people. That's God's job. But my Bible is very clear. About these things.

And to me the world situation. The man told me. All my money. All my time. All my energy. Everything I've got. For others. To me that's as logical as ABC. But the fifth reason. The spiritual condition of the world.

The Spiritual Condition of the World

If the physical condition of the world should motivate us. What can we say of the spiritual condition. The Bible says men are lost. Men are on the road to hell. And that makes that gutter. In the streets of Calcutta.

That makes that almost. First class hotel. And if you told me I had to sleep in the gutters of Calcutta. For five years to avoid going to hell. I'm going there tomorrow night. And this is. The lack of understanding of this.

Is why the church so easily swung into. Socialism. And social gospel. And away from the real full message of the gospel. You'll find very people. Very few people. Caught up in the social gospel. Who believe in hell.

I don't understand hell. I leave that with God. But he has made it clear in his word. That no man would sin still on his heart. And that's all men can go into the presence of God. When we look out over this world.

When we look out over this world. All the people. Do you really believe they're lost? Do you really believe they're lost? All these people in Paradis. In all of Orissa. The masses of Bihar. Do you really believe they're lost?

If you say you do. Then the next logical thing is. The total commitment of your life. To rescue them. And to reach them. And to love them. And to share with them. The only. And the spiritual state of the church.

Keep that in the same category. Demand the full commitment. The sixth thing. That demands. Full commitment. Is the shortness of this life. Tell me your big thought these days. What you're going to do next year.

The Shortness of Life and Christ's Return

What does the word of God say? Take no thought for tomorrow. There's enough trouble today. And yet so easy it is to live. Live in the future. Many laborers in India. Live in the future. They don't really like it.

They don't really like it out here. They feel they'll finish the punishment tour. And one of the reasons they keep going. Is that they know soon it'll be over. And they can go home. And just forget about it.

Praise God there are many who are not like that. You may never get home. You have no guarantee you will be alive tomorrow. Not one guarantee. Nobody in this room. Life is so short. We think of that girl in Belgium.

Long girl. Life ahead of us. Goes into the bathroom. Five minutes he's dead. You have no guarantee. There's the grass that today is and tomorrow is gone. That's what the Bible says. So little time. Why waste any of it?

Why misuse? Why take any of it in half-hearted activity? And then of course his soon return. It could be at any time. We have the budding of the fig tree. We have the increase of knowledge. Prophecy after prophecy.

Unfulfilled. Jesus Christ is coming. What a challenge. To give all in the few remaining days. Most years that we have. Before we're with him in the glory. Never again. Never again. To work upon this beaten up earth.

And as we go around churches. How we see the things that Christians are doing. We see the way they spend their time. It is wondrous. If they really believed that we were probably going to live on the earth for eternity.

And all how we cling to the things of this world. You know it used to be when you came out of nowhere. There was only a few of us. Though there was no rule. I mean everybody just sold everything. That's the only way we can live.

And we just had so many possessions to sell. We didn't know what to do with. We just saw that life is short. The word of God needs to be printed. Bibles need to be printed. Everything needs to be converted into cash.

And into literature as soon as possible. This is just simple logic. Just ABC. Oh I'm sure some of it was culturally motivated. But today it's different. Today nobody asks any questions. It's a big movement.

You just keep your stuff at home. Leave your clothing at home. Leave your junk at home. Let your father watch it. You go and play discipleship for two years. And you go back and pick up where you left off.

And then such people wonder. Well after two years at OM. They never do find any reality. Because there is no reality. To the one who just comes to play around. Just to sniff and see. Just to taste. Reality comes to the man who puts his hands in the pierced hands of Jesus.

And says to die for you is my one desire. To live for you is my one birth. And if you're from India. Then your big desire is to eventually get a cassette recorder that you can send home to mommy and daddy.

And so instead of thinking what we can give. What we can forsake for the cause of Jesus. Many times it's what we can get. What we can have. What we can save. What can I get out of this after two years.

I'm not saying there are many like that. But it's a danger. It's a danger. May God open our hearts. Shortness of life. Causes me to want to make every day count. I have just two other points. Keep it short tonight.

You're tired. The example of secular men. I wish I could keep you here all night on this. I'd like to read this book to you tonight. That's what I'd like to do. It's one of the most unpleasant books I've ever read.

On this deck about one in the morning about two years ago. I got a hold of this book. And I read about dedicated men. I read.