Sacrifice

Sacrifice: an act of offering to a deity that is precious and requires the death of the victim on an altar; the destruction or surrender of something for something else

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
    but my ears you have opened^[c]—
    burnt offerings and sin offerings^[d] you did not require.
 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
    it is written about me in the scroll.
I desire to do your will, my God;
    your law is within my heart.”

Psalms 4o:6-8 NIV

 

When I first read the first this passage, two things came to mind.  The first one is the famous Micah 6:8 passage of loving mercy, doing justice, and walking humbly with our God.  This passage gets quoted all the time and it implies that our faith requires some sort of action.  In essence there is some sort of standard of how we are to conduct ourselves not only with God but also with others.  The second thing that came to my mind is the Old Testament sacrificial system.  Not only did the nation of Israel bring gifts to the altar to recognize Gods goodness and protection, but they also sacrificed a spotless animal for the forgiveness of sin and so they could maintain a right relationship with God.  This is where the Day of Atonement comes in where the Hight Priest sacrificed a spotless sheep for the sins of the whole nation.  It got me thinking that God has a standard of not only how we interact with Him, but how we interact with others.  Here are some observations I have made.

My first observation is that God can not be bought off.  How often do we try and use good works or deeds to get on Gods good side.  It could be that we lead a small group, be a sponsor in some sort of recovery program, to dropping an extra twenty bucks in the offering plate/online giving.  This sort of sacrifice comes down to two things.  The first one is that we are trying to make ourselves look better than what we are.  We are trying to distract God and others from our issues,  addictions, and our quirks.  In essence, we are trying to earn our way into heaven.  The second thing that this form of sacrifice brings is this concept of karma.  If we do more good things for God and others than bad, this means we will get into heaven.  It does not work this way with Christianity, because we can not earn our way into heaven.  If we could, Jesus death and resurrection is pointless.  To borrow a little Marin Luther, salvation comes through grace, faith and Scripture. 

My second observation is that intentions matter.  How often do we sacrifice something to get what we want.  This often is a form of manipulation, because we are holding dirt on someone and we will release it until we get what we want.  In essence, we are using people to get things, and this is not very Biblical.  We often forget about truth, honesty and integrity, because we are more concerned about stepping on people to get what we want.  Is it destroying people get a job promotion or pay raise at work?  Or is it destroying the Ex so the family for friends will like you more than the other person.  True sacrifice is where our intentions is based not on the giving or the giving up of something, but point ourselves and others to the throne of Jesus.   

My third observation is that sacrifice is relational.  My question is, can we truly give up something great, if there is not relationship.  I think that is the direction of the Micah passage.  Our sacrifices either do not carry as much weight or becomes pointless if there is not a healthy relationship.  If we are only in relationships based on what we can give and receive from each other.  It is seeing people as things or transactions and not people made in the image of God.  This business way of doing life often makes us, lonely, jaded and bitter because we often feel that our sacrifices that we put out is greater than what we receive.  This sacrifice is more of what I can get out of life than what I can give. 

My fourth observation is that true sacrifice requires not just a part of us but all of us.  In the passage above, I think that God is railing on the Israelites because He wasn’t getting all of them.  They only had one foot in the boat, and the other foot was out to bail just in case things got bad or uncomfortable.  Our sacrifices become meaningless if we are not all in.  God is telling us through David that He wants all of us or nothing at all.  This reminds me of the Movie Happy Gilmore where Adam Sandler’s character gets into a fight with Bob Barker’s character.  How often are we like Sandler and become frustrated with God and ask Him if He wants a piece of us.  Bob Barker’s character responds, “I don’t want a piece of you, I want the whole damn thing.”  When something only has are partial attention or commitment, how often do we get wondering eyes and start looking else where and doing other things that distract and cause trouble with co and others.

To wrap up, when we sacrifice or give ourselves completely to God, our outlook, intentions and relationships all change for the better.  In essence, it is a realization that everything is Gods to begin with and that sacrifice is giving everything back to God, including our whole lives.  This is when we become a living sacrifice and not only does Gods power through the Holy Spirit change us from the inside, and empowers us to do great things.  Thins changes how we view and interact with people.  This only happens when we commit to God and His laws and desires become ours.  Here is a warning, when we are living sacrifices, it is easy to get off of the altar.  This is where grace and forgiveness comes in. 

Questions to Ponder

  What makes it difficult to be a living sacrifice?

   How do our intentions affect our relationships?

   What is that one thing that God is calling you to give up or to step out on?

   Why do we desire to manipulate God and or others?

Picking up my cross

  In a previous post, I discussed some of my observations from N.T. Wrights book The Day the Revolution Started.  There is one thought that I didn't explore in the post because in all reality, it deserves its own post and I will try and tackle it today.  The thought is that when Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 16, that if they wanted to follow Him, they needed to deny themselves and pick up their crosses.  This is a scary thought, not matter the time period, and what does it mean for us to pick up our cross and to bear it daily.  There are several implications to this phrase that scare me and here is the first one.

   The first implication is that the phrase "to pick up ones cross" has a totally different meaning in the first century then it does today.  The Romans were really good at finding gruesome ways getting rid of infidels and criminals.  The most gruesome way was the death by cross, because people died by suffocation when they were executed this way.  This means someone was going to die a long and painful death.  What made this phrase so revolting is that in the first century, you could find crosses up and down road with people being executed this way.    The imagery would of provoked great fear in to those who would of heard Jesus say those words and it is a realization that picking up ones cross would lead to humiliation, great pain, and eventually death.  What Jesus is really saying, is that following Him is not easy, pretty and it involves us dying to ourselves on a daily basis so that He may fully reign in us.  Essentially Jesus is drawing the line in the sand.  It is either our way or His way, and there is no middle ground.  Its an all or nothing type of deal and there are consequences for what we chose.

  The second implication that I realized is that as Americans, we don't handle death well.  Whether it is not talking about/to trying to put a positive spin on it or searching for the best medical attention we can afford or find.  In a book I am reading by Caleb Wilde, The Confessions of a Funeral Director, he makes the observation that when he is picking up a body from an institution for embalming, he is usually directed to the back door for pick up of the deceased body.  The  implication is that we like to hid death and if we hide it, that means it either didn't happen, or its not real or that we do not have to deal with it right now.  People deal with death in their own way, and I find some of them rather weird, especially in the planning of the service or at the funeral service itself.  In all reality, there are only two ways we leave this planet and the first and most popular one right now is by death. 

   The other part of this implication is that when we die to ourselves, it leads to a life better than we could have planned for ourselves.  In the spring time, if we want to see new leaves, the old ones need to die and to fall off either during the previous fall or during the winter.  But there always seems to be the pesky leaf or two that still holds on, and the only way it will fall off is if there is new life being coming in behind it.  In essence, if we want new leaves, the old ones have to die and fall off first.  This is the same way in life, we all want new habits, or a different outlook on life.  The only way this will happen is if we put to death the old, so we can have not only new life, but so we can have it abundantly.  To look at it this way, to die just to die is kind of pointless and maybe even a little vain, but are we allowing death to ourselves so that can shape us into the people He wants us to be. 

   The third implication is that picking up ones cross shows ones commitment level.  When Jesus tells His disciples and us for that matter, following Him is an all or nothing commitment.  We can not pick and choose what we want to follow or make some half ass commitment in following Him.  Jesus keeps it really real, and really simple.  To quote the movie Happy Gilmore, "Do you want a piece of me Bob" and Bob Barkers response is  "I don't want a piece of you, I want the whole thing." By the way, God is the same way, He doesn't want just a piece of us, but He wants all of us.  I know in my life, when I am not fully committed, I don't give it my all, and not only do I miss out on some really cool stuff, we are cheating God and others.  When we half ass it with God, we are really saying that we are either lazy, apathetic, or we are willing to only follow God on the parts we want to or until it gets rough.  In all honesty, we demand all of God, we demand all of other people, and yet we only require minimal effort from ourselves.  This does not seem right and it isn't

   The last implication is that in order for us not only to have eternal life, but a life worth living on this side of heaven is that we need to die to ourselves.  Are we willing to live our lives comfortably, or at be the king of our castle on this side of eternity and totally miss an eternity with God.  I get it, we all want to be like Sinatra and do things our way, but how often does doing things our way actually work out.  In my experience when we do this, our lives turns into a Michael Bay move with a lot of explosions, action, but the story line is lacking at best.  We have to be honest with ourselves and realize that most if not all of our ideas and motives are questionable at best.  Its really asking what is the point of having everything I want and or desire if it leads me to missing out on eternal life.  The last I checked, what God values is not only way better, but it is also better than anything this world has to offer.  So, how often are we picking up our cross and dying to ourselves so that we can seek Gods Kingdom and Righteousness first.  The last time I checked this needs to be at leas a daily thing if not a moment by moment decision,