A Sacrifice Should Cost

Our message this evening is entitled, “A Sacrifice Should Cost.” A “sacrifice” is defined as “an offering made to God . . . as an acknowledgement of His power and provision.” It’s also defined as “surrender or loss made or incurred for gaining some object, or for obliging another.”(1) Based on this definition, sacrifice is all about acknowledging God’s power, and giving up something lesser to obtain something greater.

Many times in life we will encounter situations in which we will feel that life is spinning out of control, and that we’ve lost our handle on things. What we are going to discover this evening is that we have to let go – or rather, sacrifice - our control on life, and then acknowledge God’s power and His provision in order to thrive in the midst of life’s difficult circumstances.

In order to receive a spiritual breakthrough we might have to make a sacrifice, but we often avoid sacrifice by any means necessary. We tend to pursue the path of least resistance and look for the easy way out of our circumstances; however, the easy way is not always the best way. What we will learn this evening is that if we desire a breakthrough, then we might have to make a sacrifice, and a sacrifice must cost us something; for we can’t cheat the Lord and expect Him to bless us for it.

David Was Asked to Make a Sacrifice (vv. 18-22)

18 Therefore, the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20 Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat. 21 So David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground. 22 Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the Lord. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”

We read here that David was required to erect an altar to the Lord, meaning he was required to make a sacrifice; and we also see the mention of an angel. So, what’s going on here? I think this is a good time to share the background behind these verses, which can be found in the first seventeen verses of this chapter.

In 1 Chronicles 21, verses 1-6, we find that Satan had moved David to sin against the Lord by taking a census of the people and all the available fighting men in Israel. Taking a census was a sin, because David was placing his trust in the number of soldiers he had instead of placing his confidence in God’s power to fight for Israel; meaning that he trusted in people more than he trusted in God.

In verses 7-16, we read that the Lord punished all Israel for David’s sin by sending a plague that killed seventy-thousand men. The reason why we see mention of an angel is because the Lord had sent an angel to destroy the entire city of Jerusalem; however, God changed His mind and stayed the angel’s hand, and the angel sat in wait over the threshing floor of Ornan until the Lord could see David’s response.

David responded by dressing in sackcloth and falling on his face in mourning over his sin, and for the disaster that he had brought on the people of Israel. In verse 17, we read that he accepted responsibility for his sin; which brings us to our main text where the Lord was asking David to make atonement for his sin, and to prove his repentance by constructing an altar and making a sacrifice.

From the background, we learn a valuable lesson concerning our faith in God. How many times have we taken a census, or numbered our resources, in a moment of crisis or in a time in which God was asking us to walk by faith? How many times have we trusted in, and relied on, human reasoning over God’s infinite wisdom? How many times have we sought advice from people instead of going to the Lord in prayer? Like David, we often trust in people more than we trust in God.

We sometimes feel that human beings have the intelligence and reasoning ability to solve their own problems apart from God; and this is a prideful spirit. Whenever we become proud then we have a difficult time in being obedient to the Lord, and walking in submission to His will and His authority. If we possess this kind of self-sufficient attitude then the Lord will ask us to repent, and He could even ask us to make a sacrifice. “But why a sacrifice?” you may ask.