Today’s Passage: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
Yesterday, our lesson focused on Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God, and the question of whether or not we sacrifice ourselves to the Lord daily as we should. The lesson today will focus on what sacrifices God finds pleasing.
The sacrifices under the Mosaic Law foreshadowed Christ’s coming. As we studied yesterday, we saw that the animal sacrifices were requirements by the priests for the sins of the people, but they did not of themselves take away sin. It was not until Christ died, was buried and rose again that the true forgiveness of sins could take place.
After Christ died and arose, the Mosaic Law was fulfilled by the new law, the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25) based upon love and forgiveness and the desire of the heart to obey God. The new law took into account the fact that we could never perfectly obey the old law and gave us the hope of salvation through faith and obedience to God’s Word and the cleansing of our sins by the blood of Christ our Savior.
Yet although the animal sacrifices and food offerings were replaced by Christ, we are still commanded to give offerings to God. What are the sacrifices that God expects of us today? Based upon various Scriptures on sacrifices, I’ve outlined below the types of sacrifices we should give. Because of the lengthiness of this study and the large number of passages regarding sacrifice, tomorrow’s lesson is planned to continue the study of sacrifice and is expected to cover the attitude with which we are to do so.
Sacrifices Required of Us by God:
1. A repentant, humble and conscientious spirit: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
2. Mercy and acknowledgement of God: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6
3. Present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to the Lord:
“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.” Romans 12:1
4. Imitate God and live a life of selfless love as Jesus did: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2
5. Offer praise to God and confess His name: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.”
Hebrews 13:15
6. Do good works and share with others: “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:16
7. Offer ourselves as spiritual sacrifices, ensuring that we are acceptable to God through Christ: “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” I Peter 2:5
This study has truly been an eye-opening one as I did not realize until I began to dig deeper into the Scriptures that the New Testament is full of references to the sacrifices required of Christians today. Just as the sacrificial lamb was chosen by God to be a foreshadowing of Jesus, so also did the offering of sacrifices by the Mosaic priests serve to prepare us to offer spiritual sacrifices as followers of Christ today.
It is easy to think that we are merely required to offer money into the collection plate periodically as opposed to all of the thanks and grain offerings, tithes and animal sacrifices of the old law, but as we begin to think about every part of God’s plan from Creation to the coming of Christ as well as Jesus’ role as our eternal sacrifice, we should begin to see that much more is required of us today. The priests had many duties in God’s service in order to atone for the people’s sins but we as Christians are the royal priesthood under the new law. This reality should create in us an enormous sense of reverence, awe and spiritual fear whenever we approach God in prayer, worship or throughout our daily lives.
Just as Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, offered sacrifices in a way that had not been approved by God in Numbers 26, so we too should remember that God requires of us the same respect for His Law. Even more so, we are under the Law of Christ, who was God’s only Son, sent to die for us. How much more will God require us to follow the Law of Liberty made available only through the purchase of blood that was poured out by Jesus on the cross of Calvary?
As I note the current manner of some in society to reduce God to “a good friend” and Christ to “a buddy” without thought of the awesome and terrible force that is our Jehovah God, I feel a sense of uneasiness and repulsion at the move toward such disrespect. It is then that I am reminded of Hebrews 10:31 and Paul’s unmistakable reminder of what happens when we forget who our Lord and Master truly is: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” May we always keep in mind this passage and the seriousness of its message.
