Sacrifices That Please God

Looking back at my life, I now realise how many sacrifices my parents

made for my sister and me. I wish I had appreciated that more at the
time. My parents came from a generation that was very familiar with
the idea of sacrifice. Many of their contemporaries had sacrificed their
lives for their fellow human beings and for their country. The whole
idea of making sacrifices, great or small, seems more alien to our
generation.

The vast majority of biblical references to ‘sacrifice’ are in the Old

Testament. These passages prefigure Jesus’ sacrificial death for us on
the cross. In the New Testament, almost all the references are about
Jesus’ sacrifice. The death of Jesus as the one perfect and complete
sacrifice fulfilling all the Old Testament preparation and prediction. We
do not need to make any sacrifices for our sins. Yet the New
Testament tells us that there are four sacrifices you can make that
please God.

1. Thank God for the Sacrifice of Jesus

Psalm 89:30-37
God is holy (v.35) and loving. God loved David. He said, ‘I will not
take my love from him’ (v.33).

God, in his love, made a covenant with David and his people. It was a
covenant of grace, but it required a response of obedience to the law.
But what would happen if they did not keep the law? If that happened –
‘If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they
violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands’ (vv.30–31) – a
penalty would be required (v.32).

The New Testament tells us that God came in the person of his son
Jesus Christ to take that penalty by offering himself as the sacrifice
for sin. Through that sacrifice, God’s love and holiness were both fully
expressed and satisfied and you need make no further sacrifice for sin.

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Thank you, Lord, so much for the sacrifice of Jesus on
the cross for me. Thank you that no further sacrifice is
required for my sins.

2. Make Sacrifices that please God

Romans 11:33-12:21
In this passage, we see four sacrifices that you can make in response
to Jesus’ sacrifice for you:

 Sacrifice of your lips

The writer of Hebrews says, ‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit
of lips that confess his name… for with such sacrifices God is
pleased’ (Hebrews 13:15–16).

Much of the first eleven chapters of Romans are about the

sacrifice of Jesus for us. Paul, having set out all that God has
done for us, responds with a sacrifice of praise (Romans 11:33–
36).

 Sacrifice of your life
Paul writes, ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view
of God's mercy [because of all that Jesus has done for us through
the sacrifice of himself on the cross], to offer your bodies
as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your
spiritual act of worship’ (12:1, AMP).

God wants you to offer all of yourself and all of your lives –

your time, ambitions, possessions, ears, mouths and sexuality –
as well as your mind, emotions and attitudes. Paul’s description
of a living sacrifice also reminds us that you have to go
on offering your life as a sacrifice to God, offering the whole of
your life for the whole of your life.

As Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message, ‘Take your

every day, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and
walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering’ (v.1,

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 MSG).

In Old Testament times, ‘living sacrifice’ would be a

contradiction in terms. The whole point of the sacrifice was that
it was killed. Jago Wynne writes, ‘Our act of worship is no longer
to bring a sacrifice, but to be one ourselves. We remain living. It
is all of us that is being offered. Worship is about what I say with
my tongue. It’s about what I watch… what I think… where I go
with my feet.’ 

 The sacrifice of your ‘loot’
Generous giving is another New Testament sacrifice. Paul
encourages the sacrifice of generosity in contributing to the
needs of others (v.8). We are to ‘share with God’s people who are
in need’ (v.13). This is another sacrifice the writer of Hebrews
says pleases God: ‘to share with others’ (Hebrews 13:16).

We are even to give generously to our enemies: ‘Our Scriptures

tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person
lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will
surprise him with goodness’ (Romans 12:20, MSG).
 Sacrifice of your love
In this passage Paul gives many examples of the sacrifice of
loving service (vv.9–21).

The writer of Hebrews says, ‘do not forget to do good and to

share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased’
(Hebrews 13:16).

‘Doing good’ means giving up things that are not good. ‘Don’t let
the world around you squeeze you into its own mould’ (Romans
12:2, J.B. Phillips). Although God only asks us to give up the bad
stuff in our lives, it can feel costly to do so because that stuff is
superficially attractive. Repentance is a very positive word, but
at the time it may seem sacrificial.

Sacrificial love involves allowing God to transform us by a

complete change. Our love must be sincere (v.9). The Greek word
for ‘sincere’ means ‘without hypocrisy’ or literally ‘without play
acting’ or ‘without a mask’.

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 Often relationships in the world are quite superficial. We all put
up fronts or masks to protect ourselves. When we see
governments doing this, we call it ‘spin’. When we do it
ourselves, we call it ‘image’; we are projecting something. In
effect we’re saying, ‘I don’t really like what I am inside, so I will
pretend I am somebody different.’ I certainly did this in a major
way before I was a Christian (and it carries on to some extent
afterwards – though it shouldn’t).

If other people are doing the same then there are two ‘fronts’ or
‘masks’ meeting. The sad result is that the two real people never
meet. This is the opposite of ‘sincere love’. Sincere love means
taking off your mask and daring to reveal who you are. When you
know that God loves you as you are, you are set free to take off
your mask. This means that there is a completely new depth and
authenticity in your relationships.

Paul urges Christians to live in harmony with one another and to

be generous (v.13), hospitable (v.13), forgiving (v.14), empathetic
(v.15) and to live at peace with everyone (v.18). It is a glorious
picture of the Christian family into which God calls us, beckoning
us into an atmosphere of love, joy, patience, faithfulness,
generosity, hospitality, blessing, rejoicing, harmony, humility and
peace; where good is not overcome by evil, but evil is overcome
by good (vv.9–21).

Lord, today I offer you my body as a living sacrifice. I am

available to you. I give everything I have to you again –
my life, time, money, ambitions, plans, hopes and
desires. Show me your good, pleasing and perfect will
(v.2).

3. Understand the Sacrifices in the Old

Testament

1 Chronicles 6:1-81

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In the Old Testament the priests were the mediators between God and
the people. ‘Aaron and his sons offered the sacrifices on the Altar...
They made atonement for Israel’ (v.49, MSG).

Priesthood was hereditary. The priests were descendants of Levi. The

chronicler lists the ‘sons of Levi’ (vv.1,16,46). We see that all those
who served in the tabernacle (later to become the temple) were
regarded as being ‘of Levitical descent’ (vv.1–30).

The chronicler stresses the importance of the temple. The temple was
a place of worship where God’s spirit dwelt. David put some of the
Levites in charge of the music in the house of the Lord – ‘These are the
persons David appointed to lead the singing in the house of God... They
were the ministers of music in the place of worship’ (vv.31–32, MSG).

Other Levites were required to present sacrifices on the altar –

‘making atonement’ (v.49). As we saw earlier, a simplified definition of
atonement is ‘at-one-ment’. In other words, God providing a means
through which people can be at one with him.

This was the pattern throughout the Old Testament. The need for
sacrifice and the making of atonement prefigured the final, complete
and sufficient sacrifice of Jesus. Such passages remind us of how
amazing it is that sacrifices are no longer necessary because of the
one true and perfect sacrifice of Jesus.

Thank you, Lord, that all that is required of us today is a

response to your sacrifice; to offer you the sacrifices of
praise, of our bodies, of doing good and sharing with
others. Thank you that with such sacrifices you are
pleased. I pray that you would pour out your fire on our
sacrifices.

Romans 12:21

'Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’

Doing good is the most powerful way to stop evil spreading.

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