Sacrifice and Reflection

Good afternoon, everyone. Happy Sabbath! Hope everyone's had a good week. Just talking with a few people before services. It's wonderful in the mornings to start seeing some daylight. I guess it depends on what time people are getting up, but I've talked with a few of the early risers, and it's nice to start seeing some sunlight in the morning, some light in the sky as the day gets started.

I want to start today with a question. Is the offering of sacrifices done away with as part of the New Covenant? And perhaps surprisingly, the answer is no. So today I'm going to talk to you about how to sacrifice a goat in your backyard. Of course, you know that's not the case, and that's not what I'm going to talk about.

But, giving of sacrifices is not completely gone with the coming of the New Covenant. What do I mean by that? Turn with me, if you will, to 1 Peter 2, verse 5. We know, of course, from reading the book of Hebrews, that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ replaces the sacrifice of animals. His blood was given once as a sacrifice for sin, to do away with our sins in a way that the sacrifice of animals could not. But there is the concept of sacrifice in the New Covenant, and that's what I'd like to spend some time talking about in this message today. Peter, writing in 1 Peter 2, verse 5, says, So Peter here leaves no room for doubt that the fact as Christians, we are to offer sacrifices. It's just in a different way than the animal sacrifices, and sometimes sacrifices of produce, that were offered under the Old Covenant. Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews 13. We'll see a little bit more detail attached to this idea of the sacrifices that we offer as Christians.

Hebrews 13, of course, is the same book where we read a lot about Jesus Christ, the superiority of the sacrifice that He gave, and the lasting nature of that sacrifice once for all of mankind. In Hebrews 13, verse 15, we read, Therefore, by Him, talking about Jesus Christ, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for which with such sacrifices God is well pleased. So we see this idea of sacrifices, of giving of something of value, talked about in a New Covenant context, separated, of course, from shedding the blood of an animal or giving specific physical sacrifices, but attached to how we worship God and how we go about doing the things that we do on a day-to-day basis as Christians. Perhaps some of you have thought of Romans 12, verse 1. Let's turn there. The last scripture that we'll use to set up this topic, Romans 12, verse 1, talking again about sacrifices in a Christian context, where Paul writes to the Romans, It's something that's expected of us. It's not an unreasonable thing that God asks of Christians for us to present our bodies, our lives, as a holy and acceptable sacrifice to God, to give of our very selves.

Now, these concepts of holy and acceptable are concepts that are woven all the way through the sacrificial laws in the Old Testament. We're not going to spend time digging deep into that, but if it's something you want to study in the future, I'd encourage you to take a look at that a bit. Because in the Old Testament, in order to approach God, there were washings, there were cleansings, there were a lot of lessons that involved also sacrifices in order to come before God. It was to teach the people that God's presence was holy. It wasn't something to be taken lightly to come before God. And so, specific steps in the Old Covenant had to be taken. Romans 12 puts these same concepts of being holy and acceptable in our Christian lives. And what does that mean? What is it that we should do? What does it tell us about how we should offer our lives today as living sacrifices?

The message today that I'd like to give is sacrifice and reflection. Of course, this is the time of year that we spend more time reflecting on our Christian lives, what it is that we do in our Christian walk, and how it is that we use God's Holy Spirit in our lives as we live. And so, I'd like to take a look today at a handful of accounts of sacrifices to God, and how they inform us of our lives and our conduct before Him. And there's a consistent theme that we'll see here as we look through these things, and that is sacrifice and careful thought or reflection are two things that are bound together over and over as we read through these different types of accounts in the Bible. So, let's look at three different sacrifices as we spend this short time together looking at what's written on this topic in the Bible.

I'd like to start in Genesis. We don't often think, perhaps, of Genesis as a place to look when we're thinking about offerings or sacrifices, but when we think of the first murder in the Bible, it was actually attached to the aftermath of giving sacrifices to God. We'll turn to Genesis 4, verses 3 through 5, and this, of course, is the account of Cain and Abel. Genesis 4, verses 3 through 5. In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. So, what is it that happened here? We know, of course, in the aftermath that Cain was so worked up about this that he, in the end, murdered his brother Abel and started a whole cascade of things that happened after that, including the curses that came upon him. But what was it about the offerings that they gave? There's not a lot of detail for us to go in the Bible, and it's hard to draw a specific and 100% certain conclusion, but there are a few things that we can figure out in terms of what's here. First of all, it's not an issue of the substance of the sacrifice. It's not the fact that Cain offered produce while Abel offered an animal. Because if we read on in Leviticus, you can see similar language in the original Hebrew that's attached to offerings of produce, like the grain offering. And when offerings of thanksgiving were given, it was not necessary to offer an animal.

So it wasn't the substance of the sacrifice. It wasn't the fact that he gave produce of the ground instead of giving an animal as an offering in this case. What's implied in the language is that Cain essentially just grabbed something. He had some produce around, and he grabbed some produce to give as an offering, which is in contrast to what it is that Abel did. Let's read this in the New Living Translation, which brings this idea out just a little bit more clearly.

In the New Living Translation, we read, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift, the best portions of the first-born lambs from his flock. So do we see the difference here between the offering that was given by the two of them? It implies when you look at the language that as Cain was bringing something forward—I'll be a little cavalier about this—he had some produce laying around. He grabbed some of it and said, here's my offering. Whereas Abel considered carefully, he looked at what he had. He took the first-born. He took the good offering, something that had great quality to it, and he offered that to God.

A very thoughtful offering, an offering of what he carefully considered to be his best to bring before the Lord. This is a concept that goes all the way through the different offerings. We're not going to read the huge wealth of Scriptures that there is around different offerings and sacrifices in the Bible. You can look at it yourself over the course of the week if you're interested in it. But let's look in one place. This one in Proverbs 3, verse 9. And we see a proverb that tells us how it is that we're supposed to approach God.

Proverbs 3, verse 9. Here it says, And so again, there's a thoughtfulness here. There's a need to look at what it is that you have and to offer from the first. Also, the best is something that comes through as a concept. Let's read about this further in Leviticus 22.

Leviticus 22 is part of the regulations around offerings that were given to ancient Israel. And we'll start in verse 19 of Leviticus 22. Here we see written, Remember what we read in Romans 12, verse 1. When it talked about the offering, it should be offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. And here in Leviticus, the same concept of what constitutes an acceptable offering is laid out. And it's to be an animal without blemish, one that doesn't have a defect.

In verse 21, There should be no defect in it. And then it gets a little specific and maybe a little bit gross. In verse 22, Maybe a little bit of a gross story. When I read that, I was on a business trip once and visited some old friends and they had a cat. I won't mention the name of the cat to protect the innocent. And this cat came by and my friend said, oh, there's our little cat, he's an acute. And it came up and this cat had dandruff all over it and kind of an open sore on its hindquarters. It was an outside cat and I think it had gotten in a fight.

It had sort of sheepishly just lightly patted on its head and then tried to wipe my hand off. So animals like that, animals get hurt. Animals aren't always in great shape. And there's something about us as humans, right? If we can get away with offering something up that doesn't really cost us anything at the end of the day, it's kind of a win-win situation is the way we look at it in a carnal sense, isn't it?

Well, that animal wasn't really much good anyway, so I'll just give that thing. Doesn't really hurt me, gets my offering out of the way and it's all good. That's specifically what God is saying here. When we bring an offering before God in the Old Testament, when it was an offering of an animal, there had to be thought given to it. There had to be reflection. You had to look at your herd and you didn't just take whatever was there, whatever you wouldn't miss, whatever was extra.

You had to actually go to the best of the herd, the best of those young animals, and sacrifice that one. You know, the other thing I thought of in this context, I've read articles before, that people write that work at second-hand shops or that do aid to foreign countries, and they'll write about the different clothing that's given away as people do clothing drives. And the accounts of the types of things that get thrown in these clothing bins is just crazy, and the things that they have to sift through.

When you think of threadbare clothing, dirty clothing, ripped things, single socks with no mate, things that are really worthless. And it's as though people are saying, well, I'm either going to throw it away or I'll give it away to charity, so I'm just going to give it to charity, even though it's not really usable anymore. And it goes completely against this idea that we read in the Bible, doesn't it? Of when we give a sacrifice, we contemplate what's best, and we give that, and we lay that before God.

So what does that mean as we look at our lives as Christians? Because we're not offering up animals. But as we reflect on the things that we give as living sacrifices, whether it's our praises to God, whether it's the things that we give to others, the things that we share with others, the way that we help others, with the resources, with the time that we have, what is it that we put in front of Him?

This can apply in all kinds of different ways, and this is what I'd like to encourage everyone to think about as we enter this time of contemplating before the Passover. When it comes time to pray, to read our Bibles, when does it happen? Does it happen when we're wiped out, we don't really have the focus or the concentration to do anything else, we sort of half fall asleep and get a prayer in? Or do we think of, when am I best in the day?

When is my mind the most fresh and active? When do I have the best thoughts and energy to bring before God in praise and in learning from Him, from His Word? When we're giving to other people, do we consider and contemplate what it is that's best in our lives, the most valuable things that we can lay out there in order to help other people? Thoughtful reflection, that's what makes our sacrifices wholly unacceptable.

So we think of this idea of Cain and Abel, the difference between the sacrifices that they gave. It's a question that each of us has to ask ourselves as we look at the things in our lives that we bring before God. Whether it's when we're directly interacting with Him, or when we're interacting with other people, using His Spirit and spreading it in the things that we do on a day-to-day basis.

Let's look at a second example and see what else we can pull out of this in terms of reflecting on the sacrifices or the offerings that we give. For the second example, let's go to the Holy Day sacrifices. We're told that an offering is to be brought before the Lord on the Holy Days that we see written about in the Bible. Let's turn to Deuteronomy 16. For many, this will be a familiar passage, one that you've heard read as we talk about giving offerings on the Holy Days. We'll read verses 16 and 17. This is the second concept that comes through as we consider what we put before God. Deuteronomy 16, we'll start in verse 16, where we're told that three times in a year, all males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses. Of course, we understand this was written to a patriarchal society where the male represented the family. Today, that's not exactly the same case. All of us, as baptized members, as Christians, appear before God, and we give offerings to him. It talks here about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the fact that we should not appear before God at those times empty-handed.

Verse 17 is where I want to focus, though, and that is that every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he's given you. Again, there's thought here, isn't there? Because we're told to give as we're able and to give according to the measure of how we've been blessed. And so, if we were to think back to the idea of Cain and Abel, it's not just, you kind of, okay, I've got to go give an offering, sweep something up on your way out the door, and you go. It talks about thought here. You have to consider, what do you have? What do you have available to give? How have you been blessed? And you give from those things. There's another scripture we often read in this context. That's in Luke 21, verses 1-4.

And it also stands for similar proposition, expanding a bit for us to understand that at the end of the day, it's not the amount of anything that we give that matters. It is actually that thought that's gone into it, and the fact that we've given from the best, from the substance of what we have. Luke 21, verses 1-4. Here Jesus is speaking. He looked up, and he saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And he also saw a certain poor widow putting in two mites, who I think of in terms of a couple of pennies. And he said, That was not significant, and that amount didn't matter to God. He didn't say, That widow only put in two mites, the other ones put in a whole bunch more. Well, sort of even things out. He didn't say that. He said her offering was worth so much more because he valued it. He looked at it in an entirely different way. Because he looked at the thought that went into it, what it was behind it, how a right spirit and a right mind, a mind of generosity and giving and willingness to sacrifice was working within her. This is consistent with a whole lot of other things that we read in the Bible. Joe mentioned in the first message the parable of the talents. And this is at the core of the parable of the talents, isn't it? One's given five, one is given two, one is given one.

The one who gained two talents doubled what he was given, just like the one who was given five talents. They both were treated the same way by the master. The one who had gained two had doubled what God had given him. God said, you're a good and faithful servant. He didn't look at the fact that this one gained two, that one gained five. He looked at the fact that each of those servants had something and doubled it.

It didn't matter if it was much, it didn't matter if it was little, they took what they had and they increased it. And that's what it was that he was looking for. It's also consistent with the idea of spiritual gifts. If you want to look back at the parable of the talents, it's Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30, if you want to spend time in that later. This is also consistent with the idea of spiritual gifts. You know, we read Romans 12. If you go on in Romans 12, verses 3 through 8, we talk about different gifts that are given by the Holy Spirit to people that God calls. There's a command in there along with the gifts, and it says, let them use them. So things that were given as gifts by the Holy Spirit, which are different from individual to individual, we are supposed to use.

And so again, that's a responsibility thoughtfully with reflection. Look back, consider what it is that you have, what it is that you've been gifted with, and how you can use it as an offering, as a sacrifice, as you live your Christian life, to enrich the lives of others, to show God's love, to use His Holy Spirit.

There's one other thing I'd like to point out in this context as well while we're on this topic of the Holy Day sacrifices, which really stands for the proposition of giving out of what you have, and the fact that the amount doesn't matter as much as the attitude that you bring to the table. And that's Leviticus 27, verse 32. We don't really think much or talk much about this, at least in my experience when we talk about tithing, but Leviticus 27, 32, I find instructive, too, in terms of what it is that God expects of us as human beings. Here it talks about the tithe of the herds. We know that in the Old Testament children of Israel gave a tithe of what was produced by the land that God had given them, as well as the livestock that was on that land. It's easy to subdivide a bushel of corn or grain, right? You take the bushel, you take a tenth of it, you can very easily pull it off. So what do you do with an animal? What if you only have one animal? Do you take a tenth of it, you kill the animal, and take a tenth of it and give it? So God gives an instruction here in Leviticus 27, 32. And he says, concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. So what is it that's happening here? What they would do at this time is, as they had the young animals, they might have them in a pen, they would create a narrow opening coming out of the pen, and one of the people would have a rod, and it was a way of counting the animals, I guess counting sheep, but they weren't falling asleep when they were doing it. And they would come out of the pen, and they'd use the rod to count one, two, three, all the way up as those animals were coming through. And they would take a red dye, an ochre, and they would dip a rod in there, and the tenth one that came out, and they would put a red dye on that, so they knew that animal, because there were very specific directions here in the Old Testament, that it didn't swap animals out, it was the tenth one that came out, and you put the dye on it, and that one was devoted to God and was given as a tithe. The thing that I find interesting here, though, is God does not say, the first one that comes out is mine. He says the tenth one.

So if you had 19 animals, how much would you give in tithes? You'd actually give one. If you had 29 animals, you would give two. I see this as God being reasonable in terms of, He wants us to give, He wants the tithe, but He also recognizes the fact that we have to have substance to live with. And just as we see this idea of giving to God out of our abundance, giving as we're able, giving as we've been blessed, this is another way that shows that God both wants us to give, and He's not looking to harm us or hurt our livelihood in the process. And one of the things that we have to exercise as we go through life and consider how and what to give is actually what we have to give. And that's part of the reflection that we do as well. Now, those of us who have been around the church for a long time recognize there are sometimes people who actually give too much. They take time away from their families that actually their families need, and they use it instead to get wrapped up in other things that they feel like maybe they should do, whether it's in serving the church or doing other things, sometimes to the neglect of their families. I've seen it happen over the years. Those are the things that we have to reflect on as well. I think sometimes we consider this idea of examining ourselves as we go towards the Passover, and we think of examining ourselves as all about all the things we should be doing more of. But the fact is, if we look at it in this context in terms of giving of what we have been given, giving out of our blessings, it's a matter of thinking, what is the right amount to give and why? God wants to see that reasoning happening within our lives. He wants us to care for our families. He wants us to have abundant lives. And He wants us to give. How we do that in balance, how we put that all together in a way that's led by His Spirit and reflects His values in His way, is what we need to think about in order to give properly and set things before Him properly. So wrapping up the thoughts on this example of the Holy Days and the offerings that were asked for there and commanded, God expects us to give according to what we are able and how we've been blessed. Not more, not less. And He expects us to give careful thought to it and consider what it is He's given us. Abilities, resources, finances, time, different things for every one of us in different measures at different times of our lives. There are times in our lives because of children, families, other events going on, health, that we have different types of things that we're able to give. Maybe we've got a lot of time but not a lot of energy. Maybe we've got a lot of energy but not a whole lot of time. Maybe there's a little money thrown in there or lack of it. And we reflect on that mixture of resources of what we have and we're asked to give out of that blessing in a way that's appropriate for us as individuals.

Not looking at the person next to us, not looking at the person behind us, but considering our own lives and what it is that we have and that God is moving us to give. And let's look lastly then at a third sacrifice. And not surprisingly, that'll be the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as we look forward, of course, to the Passover that comes up and we consider a lot the sacrifice that Jesus Christ gave for us.

There are many elements to this and as we think about it, I'm just going to draw out one in the message today. We'll hear a lot more about this in weeks to come, I know. Turn with me, if you will, to Romans 5, verses 6 through 8. Romans 5, verses 6 through 8. Here Paul, writing to the Romans, says that when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So there's a difference here in terms of sacrifice and expectation, isn't there? As human beings, I know when I look at myself, one of the key things that often comes to mind is what's the condition or the worthiness of the person on the other side of us giving? If we're all honest about it, I'll lay myself out there. If I'm honest about it, that comes to mind sometimes when I see a need or when I'm thinking maybe I should give something here. I immediately start to think, well, what did they do to bring this on themselves? What should they be doing differently? We think about Jesus Christ and sacrifice that he gave. That's not what he said. He was willing to put his life down before we did anything. In fact, as we know, without God calling us, we can't do anything. We can't approach him. And so there's a difference here. This giving of sacrificial love that Jesus Christ exemplified. He gave because that's what he is. That's what's in his heart. That's his approach to mankind, to all of his creation that he made. And that's the nature that God wants to have living in us. And so one of the questions that we've got to ask is, what is it that motivates us to give? Where do we not give to others or not help others or not be willing to sacrifice for them? Because for whatever reason, we don't think they're worthy. Maybe we don't think they were grateful enough. You know, I think of the differences that come between people, the conflicts that come between people. They often have to do with not being thanked. Actually, some pretty simple things, right? How often have we individually thought or had people to express to us, you know, I did this for person X. They didn't even thank me. I'm never going to do that again.

Then we compare that to what we see from Jesus Christ. He gave because of the plan that was there, because of the heart that was in him and what it was that he wanted to do for mankind. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's at the center of his mercy and the way that he approaches others. This parable is borne out further in the parable of the sheep and the goats.

You might remember in Matthew 25, we'll read verses 35 and 36 and verse 40. But here, Jesus Christ is giving this parable about the end time, where everyone is gathered together. And he talks about the sheep and the goats, those who are accepted and those who are not accepted by God. In verse 35 of Matthew 25, he lays out the characteristics of those who are accepted, the sheep. And he says, Again, it shows that selfless attitude of seeing people who have a need and being moved through God's Spirit in us to help to address that need in whatever way we're able to do upon reflection according to what God has blessed us with. And if you remember, the goats on the other side of it said, How is it that we never helped you? We never helped you. We never helped you. We never helped you. We never helped you. We never helped you. We never helped you. We never helped you. We never saw you. In fact, if we'd seen you, Jesus Christ, we would have helped you. And of course, what does he say? You saw people in need and you didn't help them. It's not about whether you saw me. It's about whether you recognized a need and whether God's Spirit was in you working to help serve that need. So if we're honest, this idea of quid pro quo, of getting something back for what we get, tends to be at the center of how we work as human beings, even if what we get back is only a thank you. And I know as I'm thinking about this and working on this message and thinking over the upcoming weeks, that's one of the things I'm reflecting on as well. What is it that I expect to get back when I give? Should I? Or should I be looking more specifically at the fact that God's Spirit just needs to be working within me to give, to sacrifice, to offer, and the rest will come as it does. Because it's not about what comes back. It's about that spirit of giving that exemplifies what Jesus Christ is doing within us. So wrapping up just this thought, one element of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we of course spend time right now on thoughtful reflection of His sacrifice and what it means for us.

His sacrifice was one of a pure motivation of love, expecting nothing in return, but knowing that His sacrifice had value, and it exemplified what His mind is all about. And we have to consider to what extent that same mind is operating within each of us. So in conclusion, we most certainly don't offer physical sacrifices as Christians. We all know that. We read in Hebrews how the blood of bulls and goats does not wash away sin, but Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice was given once for many, wiped away sins for all time. But we are still, as we see in Romans 12, verse 1, to offer holy and acceptable sacrifices to God in the way that we live our lives, in the way that we praise God, in the way that we do things for other people. And careful reflection cannot be separated from the concept of sacrifice. As we saw in all three of these examples, sacrifice involves thought. We have to consider the things that we are given, and we give them in an appropriate and in a godly way. As Cain and Abel in that example shows, we have to consider, do we give of the best that we have, or do we just kind of grab something from the leftovers in order to give to God? When we consider the Holy Day offerings and some of the other examples that go around them, do we, when we give, give according to the blessings that God has given us, giving out of our abundance? Whether that's a lot, in terms of actual quantity or not, that attitude of giving according to what we have been blessed with.

And then lastly, as we look at the example of Jesus Christ, as one of the many elements of the example of His sacrifice, do we give out of a pure expression of mercy and love, expecting nothing in return? So as we enter this Passover season, let's spend time reflecting on the sacrifices offered in our Christian lives, what it is that we put before God holy and acceptable that we can continue to grow in the quality of our sacrifices.