Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
In this episode of Wifey Wednesdays, Emily explores what it truly means to be wholly sacrificed—completely surrendered to Jesus, not partially devoted or spiritually half-hearted. Using Scripture from Romans 6 and Colossians 3, this episode lays the foundation for a season focused on full devotion to Christ and the impact that devotion has on our marriages.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Creators and Guests
What is Wifey Wednesdays?
Wifey Wednesdays: A show for women that focuses on the Titus 2 principle: learning to love our husband and our children, and being the keepers at home that God intends for us to be. Wifey Wednesdays, hosted by Emily Hatfield, is released every Wednesday.
Hello and welcome to Wifey Wednesdays, a podcast for women who are seeking to be the best wives they can be. I’m your host, Emily Hatfield, and this is the show where the plan is always to do things God’s way, especially our marriages.
As we mentioned last week on the introductory episode, this week we are going to be talking about what it means to be wholly sacrificed. I know the title might seem a bit strange, but as it relates to our season’s theme and what it means to be completely dedicated to Christ and following after Him, it felt like the right place to start.
I need a Savior. I have made terrible choices; I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And you have, too. Romans tells us we all have. And I cannot save myself. I can’t do enough good stuff to make God love me more or obligate Him into saving me…there’s nothing I can do. I am completely and utterly helpless without Jesus.
But I’m not without Jesus. I have submitted my life to Jesus, and I’m guessing if you’ve come to a podcast like this then you have, too. Or at least you want to. But what does that mean? What does it look like? What is Christianity, really?
I want to look at a couple of passages today that I think will help us understand this idea of being wholly sacrificed. Let’s start with Romans 6. Romans 6:3-8 says this - Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.”
Notice a few things here. First, we died. Not physically, no. I’m still here. This is not a ghost hosted podcast. But in a spiritual sense, we let our old man of sin die. We did that at a certain point - Paul writes that it is when we were baptized into His death. We joined ourselves to His death by choosing to die in a watery grave. And, when we came up out of the water, we were spiritually alive - a new us was resurrected. And that new us, it’s no longer a slave to sin like the old us was. Now, we are joined to Christ because we died with Him and He raised us into a new life.
But look at the imagery here. We died. We were buried. Our old self was crucified. Question — how many of those things are partial? Do you sort of die? Are you sort of buried? Was anyone ever semi-crucified?
These are total, all encompassing thoughts. And these are the expressions given to mark the birth of a Christian. The old us was one way, but that way died. That person was buried. That person was crucified. We put them to death. And now, we are completely and totally different.
Let’s add onto this thought a complementary passage that I think will help us as we expand our understanding of being wholly sacrificed. Colossians 3, starting in verse 1.
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Let’s pause here for a moment. The chapter begins with a statement — ok, are you a Christian? Did you die with Christ in baptism? If so, then you were raised with Christ to seek Christ. You were raised to set your mind somewhere higher, not on the earthly things anymore. The old person, the flesh-driven, world-focused person died, and now our life is tied to Christ’s. Our life is hidden with Him, and He IS our life.
Now let me ask again, how much of that is partial? How much of that is yes/no, one foot in one foot out? No, the text says - Christ IS your life. Your desires and dreams and wishes and wants aren’t the focus - Christ is your life. Not part of your life. Not the biggest part of your life. Not the most important part. The whole part. Jesus is everything.
So, the text goes on to say, put off worldly stuff. “Put to death what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away; anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.”
Ok, so once you have died to self, you have died to things that you yourself once enjoyed participating in. Maybe some of those things or all of those things once had a grip on you. But now, we have died to those things and we do not let them near our Christ-focused, Christ-imitating lives. We don’t watch it or read it or practice it; we don’t talk like that or harbor things like it in our hearts. We are completely rid of these things because…because we have been wholly sacrificed.
See, when it says that we died - it isn’t that we were murdered. It isn’t that someone killed us. It isn’t that someone took action against our will and put to death that old man. No, WE offered OURSELVES as a sacrifice. We submitted. We said - I will place my desires and my wants and all of me on the altar - God please change me. Please cleanse me. Please heal me.
You don’t offer a partial sacrifice. You don’t place the sacrifice up there on the altar and then hope that some of it comes out unscathed at the end. You kind of understand that, at the end of the sacrifice, the whole animal is gonna be gone…the whole grain offering is going to be burned up…nothing that I put there will be the same.
And so it is of us. Now, it’s different because we’re living sacrifices. But it’s the same in that we don’t come away from the sacrifice unchanged. When we offer ourselves as a sacrifice, we let God transform us. We let Him completely change who we were into someone who is cleansed and pleasing to Him - someone who is whole in His sight, and made holy by His Son’s blood.
This is why we have to focus on what it means to be WHOLLY sacrificed…WHOLLY devoted to Jesus…WHOLLY invested in this Christian life. What are we doing if we’re just in it a couple of times a week? What are we doing if it’s just a beginning of the year resolutions type thing? God has called us to be a sacrifice — to DIE to our old self so that our new self can live forever with Jesus. But it’s an all in thing. You are either wholly devoted to Jesus, wholly sacrificing yourself to Him, or you aren’t. You’re putting on a mask - playing a part. Saying you are one way when you’re around certain people and then living however it is you want the rest of the time. And you can mask it if you want — you can hide your heart and your true intentions from just about anybody — friend, spouse, parent, co-worker, elder, preacher….but all things are naked and open before God. He is not ever fooled by actions when the heart is not in it. Didn’t He tell Samuel - you look on the outside, but I am looking at hearts. You can play a part all you want, you can check all the boxes, you can be the biggest Christian influencer you can be…but at the end of the day, if you’re not wholly sacrificed to Jesus, you’re just a clanging symbol - all show, no substance.
And that isn’t what God wants.
Is it what you want? Do you want your spouse to say they love you and show up with flowers and clean the house and take you on fancy dates — and on the inside resent that they have to do that, feel like it’s a check box and now they don’t have to do anything else? That’s not how relationships work. And the God of this world - the Creator of all things - our perfect and Holy Father is asking for our hearts to be wholly sacrificed. Not just our externals. Not just the outward obedience we’ve been trained to do. He wants us to truly sacrifice ourselves to Him - to give Him our will and let Him shape it and mold it and make it more like His. He wants us to sacrifice ourselves, ridding our lives completely of anything that would make our offering impure or off-putting. He wants us to be holy. He wants us to be pure. And He wants us to be His. Completely His.
This is what I want. This is why I needed to make this the theme of the season. We need more followers of Jesus who are true disciples, not just blessing chasers. Jesus rebuked those who followed Him across the sea because they were just seeking another free meal. He wanted followers - people who would wholly sacrifice themselves for Him. And that’s what He still wants. That’s what He still expects. As He told the Laodiceans, because you are neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Lukewarm makes Jesus sick. Half-hearted Christianity makes our Lord sick. And really, half-hearted Christianity ISN’T. To be a follower of Christ is to be all in; wholly sacrificed. Dead to the old you and alive to Him and His ways and His calling for you.
May we pray today that we will be wholly sacrificed, and if there are any parts that are trying to crop back up in our lives, may God help us put them to death. May He help us have the strength to discern between His life-giving resurrection and newness of life and Satan’s deceptive schemes and abilities to lure us back to that old man we used to be. Let’s let God be the one in the resurrection business. I don’t want to be digging up the old me and living like that anymore.
That’s why I want to be wholly sacrificed. I want to give my whole self to God, because I trust that He is the only one who will do what is best for me. He will do better than I can. I had gotten myself into a mess. Thanks be to God that He redeems from that when we submit to Him.
As we continue through the season, may we be encouraged to live for Christ and to let Christ be our very life. May every action and reaction and word spoken be one that honors and glorifies Christ, because we belong wholly to Him.
Thanks for being with me for this episode, I hope you’ll join me again next time as we talk about what it means to be wholly centered on Jesus. Thanks again for listening and until next time remember - love God, love your husband.