Sacrifice.
noun.
An act of slaughtering an animal or person or surrendering a possession as an offering to God or to a divine or supernatural figure.
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear that word?
Odds are, you either thought about the Old Testament priests offering the seemingly hundreds of different sacrifices for a multitude of different things, or you thought of giving something you want or have up to someone else. You think of losing something. You think of not having exactly what you want. The word has a negative connotation.
I think we’re wrong.
A sacrifice shouldn’t be about you. A sacrifice is about God. It’s about the other member of the exchange. When you give someone a gift on Christmas, you don’t think about how you’re losing that possession, you think about how the other person is gaining something. They get to receive a gift from you. You are happy and want to give them a gift.
We need to start sacrificing again.
Don’t call me crazy. We need to be offering sacrifices to God. I don’t mean slaughtering animals and burning them at the alter or something Levitical like that, but the Bible does urge us to offer sacrifices even today.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Hebrews 13:15-16
Under the covenant brought by Christ Jesus, God wants the sacrifices of praise and of thanksgiving of His sons and daughters instead of sacrifices of animals or grain. He just wants our praise, our love, our thankful hearts.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—that is your true and proper worship.
Romans 12:1
Obviously, in the old testament, God accepted and commanded the sacrifices of dead animals, but after Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross, those Old Covenant sacrifices are no long of any effect. Now we are commanded to offer ourselves completely to the Lord. We must yield ourselves to be an instrument of righteousness.
You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5
As New Testament believers, we are all priests. We share a number of characteristics with the Old Testament priests:
1. Priests are cleansed of sins
2. Priests are anointed for service
3. Priests are ordained to obedience
4. Priests are to honor the Word of God
5. Priests are to walk with God
6. Priests are to impact sinners
7. Priests are messengers of God
8. Priests have direct access to God
We as believers aren’t that different from the priests under the old covenant. I believe that means we should be offering sacrifices as well. Sacrifices can take many different shapes forms. We can sacrifice something in the form of a fast, or by praising God, doing good works, sharing what you have with the needy, making disciples, giving up your own desires for the good of others, thanking God, or simply praying. Sacrifices don’t always look the same and they don’t look like they used to look. We should want to sacrifice. It’s an act of worship, an act of love. We love God so we sacrifice to Him and for Him.
How will you sacrifice today?
