In other words...Sacrifice

Why do most of us sacrifice? Why do we really give things up? There is a common saying that answers that: “No Pain no Gain; No guts no glory”. People give things up so that they can gain something. In other words, we have to sacrifice things to get what we want.

Sports guys talk about how hard they have worked to get to where they are. News people love heralding people who have tried so hard to get somewhere. And there is nothing wrong with working hard and trying to get ahead. The problem is that when we equate this concept with Biblical sacrifice we miss the whole concept. This is a selfish sacrifice. It implies or states that we will get a return for our sacrifice. WIth this in mind, here are a few important points regarding Christian sacrifice.

Biblical sacrifice is the goal not a means to an end. We sacrifice to be a sacrifice, not to get something. The goal of godly sacrifice is to better others or to be right with God. Return is not in the nature of sacrifice. It is the end. It is participating with God. The reason God requires the best/firstfruit offering is so that we can participate in the same way with what God is already doing. He has given his best. He asks us to give our best. It is not the item we give, it is the process of giving your best and having people receive it. If we are going to participate as God participates, it will require our best. The activities that God wants are the activities that He is already doing.

Sacrifice is giving over to God what is costly and valuable. The story of the widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44) clearly portrays this. Jesus commends the woman because of her sacrifice, not her gift: “She, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” In faith she and we act and sacrifice that God will honor our gift.

There are different forms of sacrifice for everyone. It is not just about giving money. Leviticus 5:7,11 lays out different gifts that people can bring based on their situation in life: “If he cannot afford a lamb, he is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord as a penalty for his sin—one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. If, however, he cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, he is to bring as an offering for his sin a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering.” This reinforces the last point. God doesn’t just want lambs. He wants sacrifice. And the form of sacrifice will be different for different people. What is costly to one is not costly to another.

The giving of gifts is a cyclical process. Though a gift is free, there is a matter of indebtedness that comes about. We have been given a gift. We sacrifice it back to God in worship. He blesses us again. We sacrifice again. Romans 12:1 focuses on this idea of being a living sacrifice. Sacrifice often focuses on death, making this statement oxymoronic. But perhaps it is actually paradoxical—in order to be living you must be constantly in the cycle of being given life and then laying it down again only to take it back up. I think this is what Jesus was getting at in Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The Final Word—An important question for us to answer is the following: “What does sacrifice look like to us in an age of such wealth and prosperity? What do you have to sacrifice to participate in the lifestyle that Jesus calls us to? From Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell:

“Very few people in our world are offering up anything worth dying for (or even working for). Most of the messages we receive are about how to make like easier. The call of Jesus goes the other direction: it’s about making our lives more difficult. It is going out of our way to be more generous and disciplined and loving and free.” (169)

Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son because God asked him to. What are you willing to sacrifice? When God had finished the test, he said, “Now I know you fear God.” Not that he was afraid, but that he revered God and God’s will for his life. When we sacrifice we show God that we revere his sacrifice for us. True Christianity is one of sacrifice.