What we can find in regard to the Colossians is that they were not motivated by truth to do this. They were not motivated by faith in God to do this. Does this mean, then, that sacrifice is of no account? Asceticism is a sacrifice. Keeping the Sabbath is a sacrifice. Tithing is a sacrifice.
We see here in a place like Micah "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself down?" "What should I bring to God?" Then he mentions sacrifice. It can lead the unwary to thinking that God does not want sacrifice. No, no, no. That is not true at all! The day of sacrifice is not over, as Romans 12:1-2 very clearly shows.
We are going to put this together now with the lesson of Colossians. Sacrifice, asceticism, giving things up, giving time up, or whatever it might happen to be—sacrifice without the right motivation, sacrifice without truth, is of no value. It may profit the body for a little while. But in terms of relationship with God, it does not help at all.
Here we see Paul giving the church their marching orders, so to speak. It is our sacred duty to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. That is, our bodies, our minds, our actions so they will align with God's purposes. This requires that we submit our desires, our plans, and even our fears. We are to live a life set apart from this world that we may be pleasing to God, to be transformed and shaped into His character. Like I said, there is no doubt, maybe whoever wrote this read Romans 12.
