LIVING SACRIFICES
LIVING SACRIFICES
According to the Old Testament, sacrifice was a key way to access, worship, and interact with God
What was God teaching them through those sacrifices? For one thing,
He was teaching them the seriousness of sin. Sin isn’t insignificant or easily excused; blood must be shed to atone for it.
God also was teaching them that He is holy and pure, and sin must be judged.
But God was also teaching them about His grace and mercy, because instead of being put to death for their own sins, He was willing to accept a substitute
There are five main types of sacrifices, or offerings, in the Old Testament.
The burnt offering (Leviticus 1; 6:8–13; 8:18-21; 16:24),
The grain offering (Leviticus 2; 6:14–23),
The peace offering (Leviticus 3; 7:11–34),
The sin offering (Leviticus 4; 5:1–13; 6:24–30; 8:14–17; 16:3–22),
The trespass offering (Leviticus 5:14–19; 6:1–7; 7:1–6).
3 Voluntary Sacrifices
The first was the burnt offering,
A voluntary act of worship to express devotion or commitment to God.
The second voluntary offering was the grain offering,
The purpose of the grain offering was to express thanksgiving in recognition of God’s provision and unmerited goodwill toward the person making the sacrifice.
The third voluntary offering was the peace offering, which consisted of any unblemished animal from the worshiper’s herd, and/or various grains or breads.
This was a sacrifice of thanksgiving and fellowship followed by a shared meal.
These pieces of the offering were called the “wave offering” and the “heave offering” because they were waved or lifted over the altar during the ceremony
Mandatory Sacrifices
There were two mandatory sacrifices in the Old Testament Law.
The first was the sin offering.
The purpose of the sin offering was to atone for sin and cleanse from defilement.
The other mandatory sacrifice was the trespass offering, and this sacrifice was exclusively a ram.
The trespass offering was given as atonement for unintentional sins that required reimbursement to an offended party, and also as a cleansing from defiling sins or physical maladies.
WHEN SACRIFICES LOOSE THEIR TRUE MEANING AND BECOME A RITUAL
Amos 5:21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE?
Micah 6:6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Matt 9:13 (NIV) “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
PAUL IS SAYING THAT WE NO LONGER HAVE TO BRING A SACRIFICE; WE BECOME ONE.
Rom 12:1-2 NIV
12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
IN THE FIRST 11 CHAPTERS OF ROMANS, PAUL IS TELLING THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN ROME—AND US AS HOW WE SHOULD LIVE.
Offering ourselves as living sacrifices is to choose daily to lay down our desires and to live our lives honoring and obeying Him.
It is trusting in the perfect plans He has for us. In other words, we offer all the parts of our bodies- eyes, ears, lips, hands, feet, heart, mind, in service to Him.
True Christian service and living must begin with personal dedication to the Lord.
The Christian who fails in life is the one who has first failed at the altar, refusing to surrender completely to Christ.
The motive for dedication is love;
Paul does not say, "I command you" but "I beseech you, because of what God has already done for you."
We do not serve Christ in order to receive His mercies, because we already have them.
We serve Him out of love and appreciation.
True dedication is the presenting of body, mind, and will to God day by day.
It is daily yielding the body to Him, having the mind renewed by the Word, and surrendering the will through prayer and obedience.
Every Christian is either a conformer, living for and like the world, or a transformer, daily becoming more like Christ
2 Cor 3:18 tells us that we are transformed (transfigured) as we allow the Spirit to reveal Christ through the Word of God.
2 Cor 3:18 NIV
18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
It is only when the believer is thus dedicated to God that he can know God's will for his life.
God does not have three wills (good, acceptable, and perfect) for believers in the way that there are three choices for merchandise in the mail order catalogs ("good, better, best").
We grow in our appreciation of God's will.
MOST RELIGIOUS TEACHERS FOCUS ON OUTWARD LIKENESS OF DRESS, MANNER, CUSTOMS, ETC. THIS, HOWEVER, IS NOT ITS TRUE SIGNIFICANCE.
Conformity to Christ does not mean dressing as he dressed, speaking the language that he spoke, eating the same kind of food that he ate, or observing any of those externals hat went to make up his life.
In the true meaning of the word, conformity goes deeper than externals.
Two things may look very much alike and yet be very different in their natures. Iron Pyrite looks so much like gold that it has deceived many a person into thinking that he had found riches. For this reason it is called “fool’s gold.”
The real transformation is a thing that begins on the inside and works a vital change in the spiritual condition and character.
When this internal change is wrought, it gives a new quality and direction to the whole range of thought and activity.
It manifests itself in new desires and aspirations, in new habits and customs, in newness of speech and looks and behavior.
Conformity to Christ means conformity in character.
It means purity of desire, so that our hearts reach out for only those things that are pure, and we are moved by pure motives and actuated by holy purposes.
It means that we have a conscience toward God in whatever we do.
It means to put his will before everything else.
It means that the dominating purpose of our life will be to please him in every detail, and not ourselves.
What Are the Qualities of a Living Sacrifice?
Naturally, our next question may be, “How do I live my life as an offering or service to God?”
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul says this, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
In a spiritual sense, Paul’s old self and the life he lived for himself died with Christ. His life now is given to him by Jesus. Therefore, Paul lives every day through faith in the life-giving power of Jesus.
From this verse, we can discern the basic elements of a living sacrifice:
1) Not conformed to the ideals of the world
2) Transformed by an inward renewal that works outward
3) Living for and by the power of God
A living sacrifice as an act of worship to express our devotion or commitment to God.
A living sacrifice to express thanks for God’s provision and unmerited goodwill
A living sacrifice of thanksgiving and fellowship
A living sacrifice for Gods atonement for our sins
A Living sacrifices to represent God in this fallen world
A living sacrifice to bring peace, and beauty to his fallen world
A living sacrifice to become the image of Gods likeness
