Sacrifice

Introduction:

Throughout the Old Testament, God has commanded His people to sacrifice to Him. This was emphasized more when the Law was given by Him through Moses. In the first seven chapters of Leviticus we see the instructions God gave the Israelites concerning offering sacrifices, mainly animal sacrifices. He went into detail on what kind of sacrifice it would be, what animals to use, how to offer them, and what to do with anything left over from the offering. God spared no detail in these instructions. We as Christians today are commanded to sacrifice as well, however it is not the offering of animal sacrifices as it was for the Israelites. We are going to look at three ways we as Christians are to sacrifice today. First, we must sacrifice possessions; second, we must sacrifice time; finally, we must sacrifice self.

Thesis: We must sacrifice daily in the ways the Father has commanded us.

Sacrifice Possessions

We must sacrifice the best of what we have.

God commanded that the Israelite’s offering was to be without blemish (Lev 22:19, 20; Ex 12:5; Lev 1:3).

As Christians, we ought to give the best of what we have to God and the work He has for us (Heb 13:15; 1 Pet 2:5).

We must sacrifice material goods.

We see an example of someone what they had while under the old law (Lk 21:1-4).

We also have an example of someone who refused to give of their material goods (Mk 10:17-22).

We ought to follow the example of Barnabas who was willing and ready to give what he had for the work of the Church (Acts 4:36, 37).

We must sacrifice status.

In Paul’s letter to the Church in Galatia, he says he was more zealous than any other of the Pharisees for the traditions (Gal 1:14).

However, he was willing to give up his high status in that crowd for the cause of Christ, and we should also be willing to do so (Phil 3:8).

Sacrifice Time

1. We must sacrifice time for others.

In the Gospel account from Luke, we see Jesus give us a perfect example of sacrificing our time for others in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37).

We should look to this parable as a good example for what we should do when others are in need.

2. We must sacrifice time for family (Job 1:4, 5; 29:5).

We see in the book of Job that, even though he was a busy man, he sacrificed time for his family (Job 1:4, 5; 29:5).

We must make sure we take time in our lives for our family, to grow together and teach one another about God.

We must sacrifice time for God.

We see the early Church follow a pattern of meeting together and worshipping God (Acts 2:42-47).

We are to sacrifice time for worshipping God until the day of judgment (1 Tim 4:13).

Sacrifice Self

We must be a living sacrifice.

Paul speaks of being a living sacrifice in his letter to the Church in Rome (Ro 12:1).

Being a living sacrifice means to put off the old man and put on the new man (Eph 4:22-24).

To be a living sacrifice, we must be like Christ in all our ways (Gal 2:20).

We must sacrifice with the right attitude.

David knew he should have a right attitude and did not want to give anything to God that was worth nothing (2 Sam 24:24).

As Christians, we must not give to God because “we have to” but because we want to!

We must be prepared to sacrifice our physical lives.

Paul knew that we would be persecuted for serving God, and it could lead to our death.

Even to that point, we must be ready to sacrifice our lives for Him (Ro 14:8).

Paul was ready to lay down his life (2 Tim 4:7, 8).

CONCLUSION:

The Lord has always demanded sacrifice since the beginning of time. He instructed the Israelites on how they were to sacrifice, and He has shown us as well how He wants us to sacrifice to Him correctly through His Word. We are to sacrificing our time, possessions, and ultimately ourselves for Him if it comes to that. Are you sacrificing for God today?