“A Fitting Sacrifice”
2 Corinthians 8:1-5
David P. Nolte
We all make sacrifices in many areas of life.
Parents sacrifice for their children, and children for their parents.
Spouse sacrifices for spouse.
We make sacrifices for our friends.
We make sacrifices for our church.
We sometimes make sacrifices for those we don’t know personally when we help out, or donate to, the soup kitchen or Helping Hands Ministries, or FISH, or Adult and Teen Challenge.
We are all called on to sacrifice for Jesus, too. Not to earn or pay for salvation, but to thank and serve Him. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” Mark 8:34 (NASB). The song asked the question, “How could I make a lesser sacrifice when Jesus gave His all?”
Nothing we can offer as a sacrifice could suffice for salvation and pales into nothing compared to what Jesus gave up.
One of the most touching narratives of genuine sacrifice is found in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, so consider this text: “Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.” 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 (NASB).
There are three factors in that text that make our giving and doing a fitting sacrifice.
I. A FITTING SACRIFICE MUST COST SOMETHING:
A. Note the Macedonians’ condition: They were in a great ordeal of affliction and deep poverty.
1. They couldn’t really afford any gift!
2. Anything they gave would be something they would have to do without.
3. Anything they gave would be missed.
4. Anything they gave would represent a genuine cost.
5. Anything they gave would be a true sacrifice.
B. Sacrifice must cost us. We see that in 2 Samuel where we read about a great pestilence among God’s people. David was told by Nathan the prophet to make an offering to abate the plague. He went to a man named Araunah to get the wood ad oxen for the sacrifice. Hear the scripture from that point, “Then Araunah said, ‘Why has my lord the king come to his servant?’ And David said, ‘To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be held back from the people.’ Araunah said to David, ‘Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.’ And Araunah said to the king, ‘May the LORD your God accept you.’ However, the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the LORD was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.” 2 Samuel 24:21-25 (NASB).
1. Had Araunah's noble offer been accepted, it would have been Araunah's sacrifice, not David's.
2. It would be like a teenage boy saying, “Say, Dad. Can I have $100.00?” “Why do you want $100.00?” “Well, Dad, it’s your birthday and I want to get you a present.” “For $100.00? Why so much?” “Well, Dad – I don’t want to look like a piker !”
C. If you stop to think about it, whatever you sacrifice has been first given you by the Lord.
1. Some may protest: “But I worked hard for that money – it didn’t just drop from heaven!”
2. Well, who gave you the skill to work? Who gave you the ability to get and keep your job? Oh, you went to school for that – so who gave you the intelligence?
D. There is a direct correlation between what cost our sacrifice represents and the blessing it returns to us: “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” 2 Corinthians 9:6 (NASB).
E. Sacrifice mut represent a cost. A young man met with his pastor and requested, “Pastor, my business is going well, and I want to make a commitment to tithe my profits. Will you say a prayer for my business to continue to prosper?” The pastor prayed, the business prospered – so well that a couple of years later the young man came back to his pastor and said, “Pastor I have tithed my profit regularly. But now I am making so much that the tithe is huge. Is there a way to terminate my commitment?”
The pastor said, “Well, your commitment was to God, not to me so I don’t see any legitimate way to drop it. But let’s pray.” And he prayed, “Lord, would you see fit to bring this brother’s income back down to a level where he feels like he can afford to keep his commitment.” The man said, “I get the point, Pastor — and I will keep my commitment no matter what it costs!”
A FITTING SACRIFICE HAS TO COST SOMETHING! AND
II. A FITTING SACRIFICE MUST BE OUR BEST:
A. The Macedonians may have had little, and it may not have been the most expensive or desirable – but they sold or gave the best they had. You can bet on that!
B. When we give to God, let’s give our best!
1. The Lord said to ancient Israel, “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, 'How have we defiled You?' In that you say, 'The table of the LORD is to be despised.' But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" Malachi 1:7-8 (NASB).
2. Some may say, “If I had better stuff I would sell it or give it away. But my stuff is pretty shabby. I’d be embarrassed to offer it!.” Paul said, “For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.” 2 Corinthians 8:12 (NASB).
C. To make a fitting sacrifice, give your best! Your best, not someone else’s best.
1. The song asks, “How could I make a lesser sacrifice, when Jesus gave His all?”
2. And we sang, “Give of your best to the Master!”
D. What is your best? What would be a real sacrifice for you to give up?
1. Not necessarily your most expensive, but it is your most cherished.
2. Not necessarily your rarest but it is your most valued.
3. Not necessarily something most people would like to take from you, but it is something you find it hardest to give up.
E. To be a fitting sacrifice we need to be willing to give up what we consider the most important, what we deem the most desirable, what we consider to be our best. Sometimes people are like a man who had nothing … and God gave him ten apples. He gave him three apples to eat, three to trade for shelter from the sun and rain, and three apples to trade for clothing to wear.
He gave him one apple so that the man might have something to give back to God to show his gratitude for the other nine. And He was going to do this every week.
The man ate three apples. He traded three for a shelter from the sun and the rain. He traded three for clothing to wear.
Then he looked at the tenth apple. It seemed bigger and juicier than the rest. He knew that God had given him the tenth apple so he could return it to God out of gratitude for the other nine. But the tenth apple looked so good and so appealing and so much better than the rest. And he reasoned that God had all the other apples in the world … so the man ate the tenth apple ... and gave God back the core. Hardly his best.
SO A FITTING SACRIFICE IS ONE THAT COSTS US, AND IS OUR BEST. AND
III. A FITTING SACRIFICE MUST BE GIVEN WILLINGLY:
A. The Macedonians “according to their ability, and beyond their ability, gave of their own accord, begging with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints.”
B. Some one has said, there are three kinds of givers -- the flint, the sponge and the honeycomb.
1. To get anything out of a flint you must hammer it. And then you get only chips and sparks.
2. To get water out of a sponge you must squeeze it, and the more you use pressure, the more you will get.
3. But the honeycomb just overflows with its own sweetness. The Macedonians were honeycomb givers – they gave willingly.
C. A gift given grudgingly, no matter how great the gift, is like vinegar in a glass of milk! It’s like a bug in your bowl of soup! It’s like a cold stethoscope!
D. Some say that while “God loves a joyful giver, but He will accept it from a grouch.” WRONG! If you resent giving it don’t give it! It isn’t worship or praise or an offering of faith and love!
E. There are those who give grudgingly, or minimally, or not at all. Two stories illustrate that:
1. I read recently about a church that asked its members to pledge what they would give over the next year. Two or three of the members, who were quite capable of giving their pledge, reneged. One of the men on the church board volunteered to write to those members reminding them of their commitment.
Within a week all the pledges came in, and one came with this letter: “I am sorry yo have been remiss with my pledge. But would you inform Brother Smith that there is only one ‘r’ in ‘dirty’ and no ‘c’ in ‘skunk?’”
2. A rich man was approached to contribute to a major financial campaign. The urgent need and compelling case were stated, and the call was made for his support. The man responded: "I understand why you think I can give fifty thousand dollars. I am a man with my own business and, it is true, I have all the signs of affluence. But there are some things you don't know.
Did you know that my mother is in an expensive nursing home?" Well, no, we didn't know. "Did you know also that my brother died, and left a family of five and had almost no insurance?" No, we didn't. "Did you know my son is deeply religious, has gone into social work, and makes less than the national poverty level to meet the needs of his family?" No, we hadn't realized. "Well, then, if I don't give any of them a penny, why do you think I'll give it to you?”
A FITTING SACRIFICE HAS TO COST SOMETHING; IT MUST BE OUR BEST, AND IT MUST BE WILLINGLY GIVEN. What sacrifice are you making?
PRAY / INVITE
There is no sacrifice as great the sacrifice of self. Paul wrote, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2 (NLT).
So, Instead of living for this world, or for self, or for honor, live for Him! That’s a fitting sacrifice! How could you offer a lesser one when Jesus gave His all?
