7) Sacrifice and Obedience

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In this final section we can get to the crux of what sacrifice really means: very simply, the Lord always looks on the heart and not the outward appearance. Jesus pointed this out in the case of the poor widow. We read:

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few pence. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. (Mark 12:41-43)

It is so easy to make a generous public show of something which is really just for the good opinion of others. In this instance, rich people made a public display of how much money they poured into the treasury box. But Jesus, looking on the heart of this poor widow, saw in her genuine praise and gratitude to God despite her poverty.

hypocrisy

For a case of someone rich who learned to be poor in heart through circumstances, we need look no further than King David. He was a rich man yet realised his poverty before God when he committed adultery and subsequently became genuinely repentant. In his Psalm of repentance, he realises what sacrifice really means declaring:

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17)

Genuine sacrifices can only come from genuine hearts. In another Psalm, God relates His thoughts regarding animal sacrifices. It states:

I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. … If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? (Psalm 50:8-13)

The frank truth is that everything in the world belongs to God and not to us – we are merely temporary stewards. We are not benefiting God by making sacrifices: our sacrifices are meant to reveal the true loyalty of our hearts towards God and His commandments.

A consistent theme of the Prophets was the hypocrisy displayed by those engaging in the rituals of sacrifice but motivated by an evil heart. God detests this situation as Isaiah wrote:

The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. … Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations – I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. … When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. (Isaiah 1:11-15)

Outward sacrifices can mask the deceitfulness of the heart which makes any offerings meaningless and worthless. We all need to ask if this is true of ourselves: is the practice of our faith genuine?

motive

Jeremiah also took up this theme and reveals what should be the correct motive behind our offerings to God. The Lord speaks through him in this way:

when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. (Jeremiah 7:22-24)

The priority of the Law of Moses was obedience to God’s commands. The sacrifices of the people were to be the fruit of that obedience. They were to love the Lord, to love His commandments, and to demonstrate this generous love through their sacrifices. As an example of the extremes of disobedience which were to be found amongst the people of God, Jeremiah prophesied this:

‘“The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. (Jeremiah 7:30-31)

Their disobedience and idolatry had gone as far as sacrificing their own children in pagan worship. No wonder they suffered such a severe judgment!

There are many other examples in the bible of hypocrisy in the offering of sacrifices. However, if we move on to a bible prophecy concerning Jesus, we can see what God really expects from us. Here is David again:

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire – but my ears you have opened; – burnt offerings and sin offerings 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.
(Psalm 40:6-8)

David was prophesying of the coming of Jesus and His perfect obedience to His Father. We are called to join Jesus in doing God’s will. We are called to take up our cross as He did; and make personal sacrifices, motivated from a worshipping heart. Jesus had to confront the religious people of His day about their hypocrisy. One time He taught this:

For Moses said, “Honour your father and mother,” and, “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God) – then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother (Mark 7:10-12)

The word ‘Corban’ means sacrifice. Here Jesus is showing that obedience to God’s commandments means giving to others the love due to them. We cannot avoid sacrificially loving others by pretending that we are giving sacrifices only to God. You see, the people Jesus was referring to should have given help to their parents AND given sacrifice to God. But by only giving to God, they were saving more of what they had for themselves.

worship

Jesus demonstrated how to be a sacrifice for God. Paul writes:

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

We live sacrificially by loving God and loving others as we are commanded to do. This means for us taking up our cross and following Jesus; for it was at the cross that Jesus became the perfect sacrifice, pleasing to God. Peter wrote:

‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’ (1 Peter 2:24)

Like the Old Testament worshippers, we follow the three steps of sacrifice:

1) Providing the sacrifice and presenting it

We present to God the sacrifice of Jesus which He Himself provided for us. By that faith in God's provision, we are confessing that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for our sins. In doing this, we are further confessing that we cannot pay any price or do any deed which would be a good enough to take away our sins.

2) Laying hands on the sacrifice as identifying with it

In faith we identify with the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. We are confessing that it was our sin and our choices, which made this sacrifice necessary; and it was our hands which crucified Him – it is personal.

3) Slaughtering the sacrifice as the one needing its benefit

Jesus was killed by human agents; the Roman soldiers may have crucified Him, but we were responsible for His death too! But unlike those soldiers, we repent of our sins, confessing that in His death He was taking our place.

When sacrifice was offered in the Old Testament it was meant to be a moment of cleansing and to mark an honest determination to obey God and not our sinful impulses. This attitude sets us apart from the world around who indulge in and approve of sin. This may well lead to our rejection by them, but in this we are merely following in the footsteps of Jesus, as we read:

The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:11-14)

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to make God’s people holy through His own blood. It is why holy living becomes a sacrifice acceptable to God. Paul writes:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
(Romans 12:1 ESV)

Giving ourselves, and especially our bodies, to holy living becomes our sacrifice and our worship. Through Jesus we become true worshippers offering acceptable sacrifices of ourselves. And not only must this be an acceptable sacrifice, it must also be a continuous one, as Hebrews says:

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)

We are not ashamed of Jesus and the sacrifice He made; and we shall always confess to that eternal truth whenever we have the opportunity, whether in word or deed!