Sacrifice!
Introduction…Baseball Illustration…
Does anyone here today like baseball?
I used to not care much about baseball at all. I think it all stems from some of my childhood memories concerning baseball. I remember living in Arizona and playing baseball at school during P.E. classes one day. I was playing way out in right field. Well, this boy came up to bat.
Now, I have a hard time remembering people’s names. I even get my kids mixed up all the time, but this boy from the fourth grade, well, I remember his name. His name was George Bates. Well old George hit a fly ball and it came straight out to me in right field.
Now, it is a long way from the batters box to right field, but I distinctly heard George say,
“If you catch that ball, I’m going to get you after school!”
Yes, I heard that.
Well, being the athletic type person I was, I did not let his remark deter me in any way. I actually caught that ball.
And he actually caught me after school.
And I never actually cared much for baseball after that.
Well, for a few years now my kids have been playing ball during the summers…
I helped coach my sons team one summer.
And I have started to enjoy baseball…maybe not professional ball, but I like to watch the kids play..
I enjoy talking to the boys when they have played the best they can.
You know, sometimes the boys will get a good hit when there is a man on third. They will run as hard as they can for first base but the ball beats them there by just a fraction of a second, and they are out.
They are so disappointed.
But A lot of times I could look at them and say, hey, that was only our first out, or that was only our second out.
Your hit allowed a man to score even though you did not get on base.
You helped the whole team.
Then they feel a little bit better.
There is a term used in baseball that refers to basically the same thing I was just talking about.
The definition is, “ an outfield fly in baseball caught by a fielder after which a runner scores.”
They call that ...... a sacrifice fly.
There is also a sacrifice bunt.
One person sacrifices,
One person gives up something for the good of the whole entire team.
Now, the word sacrifice is defined in Webster’s dictionary as,
To suffer loss of, give up, renounce, injure or destroy for an ideal, belief, or end.
So, really, we all know that to sacrifice is to give up something for a specific purpose.
Now, the Bible talks about sacrificing and sacrificial offerings unto God. It starts talking about it in Genesis and goes all the way through the Bible.
Sacrifice.
Now, Paul had something to tell us about sacrificing. He had something to say that most people of his day and many people today do not want to hear.
Turn with me please to Romans 12:1
Read Romans 12:1
Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.
The word sacrifice is used 218 times in the Bible in 205 different verses.
People had been offering sacrifices to God all of their lives.
People had been giving up their best animals and their first fruits to God.
Now Paul was throwing something different out there.
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
As Christians, our bodies are the temple of the holy spirit. The Bible plainly tells us this in 1 Cor 6:19-20
Let me read it for you.
Read 1 Cor 6:19-20
We are to give our lives,
We are to give our activities,
We are to give our expressions,
We are to give our bodies as a sacrifice to God.
What is so valuable to us that we can not give it up to bring a lost soul to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?
What is so valuable to us that we can not give it up to keep a soul from going to hell?
The great missionary Mr. C.T. Studd said, “If Jesus Christ be God, and gave his life for me, than no sacrifice is to great for me to give him.”
This is a ministry in itself folks.
The Christians offering of his total life as a sacrifice to God is a sacred service.
Now, I know many of us that say, well, “I am doing a great & sacred service for God.”
“Every day I give up something for God.
Yesterday I did this,
last week I did that,
Two years ago I gave up this and that to do something else.
I have sacrificed my time,
I have sacrificed my money,
I have sacrificed my mental and Physical health all for this sacred service.”
Hey, I have felt the same way. At times I have felt like I have given up so much.
But you know, I am afraid that we are misunderstanding what sacrificing to God is all about.
Let me read a few passages of scripture.
Isaiah 1:11
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
Well, look at that.
How about Hosea 6:6
Hosea 6:6
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
How about 1st Samuel 15:22
1 Samuel 15:22
22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
And even king David had something to say in Psalm 51:16
Psalm 51:16-
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Ok, so this is the part here where some people would say,
“ Well, there you go, the Bible is contradicting itself again, in some places it says to sacrifice and in other places it says that God does not want our sacrifices.”
Well folks, there are no contradictions in the Bible. We just misunderstand at times.
I am going to read that verse again and then I am going to continue on and read the very next verse.
Psalm 51:16&17
Psalm 51:16-17
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
I can look back over all of the sermons I have preached over the years. And there is one theme,
One cord,
one central thread that intertwines every single sermon together.
OBEDIENCE.
Did God need the animal sacrifices that the Israelites were commanded to present in the Old Testament?
No.
Did God want the fat of the beasts and the blood of the lambs?
No.
Did God want the grain offerings so he would not go hungry?
NO!!
God wanted obedience.
We see this quite clearly in the passages of scripture we just read.
But apostasy had crept into the Israelite nation.
A falling away from the faith had come to the people.
The Israelite nation came to where they no longer sacrificed because of their faith in God,
They no longer sacrificed for obedience,
they no longer sacrificed to please God,
No,
they sacrificed out of tradition.
It is what they had always done,
It is what their forefathers had always done.
Tradition.
And God is saying here in these passages of scripture,
He is saying,
“ I am not interested in your lambs,
I am not interested in your sheep,
I am not interested in your blood sacrifices as much as I am interested in your obedience.
I am interested in your complete and total surrender to me.”
You know friends, apostasy has crept into our nation also.
Oh, it is nothing to be surprised about. The Bible tells us that this will happen in the last days.
Let us as a body of believers not fall into the same category as the Israelite nation.
“I sacrificed and gave my money to a good ministry”
Ok, but was it the ministry that God wanted you to give your money to?
There are a lot of people giving to those who proclaim the health and prosperity moment…. And I just don’t see where scripture backs up what is being taught by those people…
“I sacrifice every weekend and go do this work. Now, I don’t like doing it, I get upset and ill when I do it, but it needs to be done”
What was that last verse?
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise...............
“Well on October 10th 1979 God told us to do this , and we have done it every year on October 10th since that time.”
But have you heard from God this year, or has it just become a tradition?
Friends, do not misunderstand me,
I am not saying we do not need to do these things,
I am not saying we do not need to sacrifice,
But, I am going back to the scripture.
God wants our obedience above our sacrifices.
If we are sacrificing for a good cause, but it is not what God wants, then we have missed the mark.
If we are sacrificing because we have done it every year, but we have not heard from God this year, then we have missed the mark.
As a body of believers we need to understand and realize what we as a church are all about.
Now, the organized Church has many functions.
We need to come together for worship and prayer,
we need to come together to support and uplift one another,
We should be helping those in need.
We should come together to fellowship with on another.
And many other things,
But let us not forget “The Great Commission”
Matthew 28:19
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
If we spend all this money to do all these things but then we never lead anyone to Jesus Christ,
If we spend all our time to do all these things but we don’t witness to the lost,
If we have all these programs to do all these things but we never see a soul saved,
If our main goal is to have a place of fellowship,……
Then have we not failed?
I have something I would like to read to you…..
Read Illustration, “Are we fishermen?”
As we go back out into the world this week, I want us to be challenged to be absolutely certain that the sacrifices we are giving, are in obedience and accordance with God’s will.
I want us to be sure that what is happening all over America does not happen here.
Do not loose sight of what the Church is all about….. Leading lost souls to Jesus Christ.
Will sacrifices need to be made?
Absolutely!
But if the sacrifices are not in obedience to God, then they are in vain…
I remember watching part of a professional baseball game one day, and I don’t get into it enough to know who is who or anything like that…, but I heard the announcers say about a man that was coming up to bat, that this would only be his second time to bat in the major leagues. And he wasn’t going to be real happy because the coach had told him to make a sacrifice bunt, to bring a man in to score.
What do you think the batter did?---- He sacrificed.
You see, there was someone in charge that kept up with the score and the inning.
There was someone in charge that was looking out for the good of the entire team.
Now if there had been two outs and the batter had decided to make a sacrifice bunt on his own without the coach telling him to, then it would have been in vain.
Oh, he still may have called it a sacrifice, but he actually would have cost the team an inning. He would have taken away the possibility for the team to advance even farther.
Friends, We have someone in charge that knows the score, and the inning we are in,
We have someone in charge that is looking out for the good and welfare of the entire team….. And he is on the winning team!
Don’t make a sacrifice that God does not want, but be willing to sacrifice when he asks.
In Matthew 26:39 Jesus Christ said,
..............O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
We may not be jumping up and down to make the sacrifice that God wants of us,
but we can learn from our savior, Jesus Christ.
“Not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
Jesus Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice, not just by his physical pain and anguish,
not just by his death,
but also by taking the sins of the world,
My sins, and your sins, upon his own shoulders.
That is the sacrifice, that God wanted him to make…..
Would you bow your heads for prayer please….
There may be someone in here this evening that needs to pray or settle something with God tonight……
Maybe you realize that you have been willing to sacrifice…. But only if it suited you…
Maybe you are willing to sacrifice your time…. But God may want your finances….
Maybe you are willing to sacrifice your finances…. But oh…. don’t let God ask for your time…..
Obedience is the key my friends…..
Are you willing to place yourself upon the alter, as a living sacrifice to God?…
Are you willing to do what God has in store for you today??
Can you truly say with all of your heart oh father…. Not as I will, but as thou wilt……..
If you are here today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,
If you do not know the Jesus of the Bible,
Then you can come this evening,..
The Bible says all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved….
And you can do that tonight…
Prayer…..
