Worship through Sacrifice
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Good morning.
Last week we began a series called A Life of Worship. Often when we think of worship, we think of music, and we are going to talk about worship through singing next week. But, we learned last week that worshiping the Lord is not just about singing, or about feeling moved by God, or about what just comes out of our mouths. Real worship is certainly expressed in those ways, but it is also expressed in our actions.
The Bible talks about several ways that our worship of the Lord should be expressed and this morning we are going to take a look at Worship through Sacrifice.
In the book of Isaiah, when the Lord prophecies about a time when Egypt will worship the Lord, he says in
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Isaiah 19:21
So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings
Making sacrifices before the Lord is a way we worship Him. When we make sacrifices, we are saying that what or whom we are sacrificing for is worth more than what we are sacrificing.
For instance, if I make a sacrifice for my kids to go to college, it speaks about how I value my kids and a desire for my kids to be able to obtain a good education to help them in their future more than I value what I could spend those resources on for myself.
When I make sacrifices to help accomplish the Lord’s will ahead of my own desires, I say that God’s will is more important, worth more, than my will or desires.
That speaks worship.
Now, I think that most of us can understand that making a sacrifice can be a form of worship.
But does it matter what I sacrifice or how I do it?
It does in so far as it reveals your heart.
For instance, what if a friend of yours came and said to you, “I just don’t get my wife. We just celebrated our anniversary and I took her out to eat and we to see a move and she is mad at me. I can never please her and the things I do are never enough!”
But then you find out that he took her to a hot dog stand, and told her to pick out a movie on Netflix because he didn’t want to spend so much because he is saving for a new rifle.
All of the sudden, you begin to understand why his wife is upset and questioning his love.
The level of what is spent and the time that is given compared to the things he wants reveals where his heart is truly at.
He was not thinking about her or what she wanted, but what he wanted.
So, we can see that what we sacrifice and how we sacrifice matters as far as it reveals our heart.
So this morning, I want us to take a look at some Scriptures that help us to understand better why sacrifice is worship and what the sacrifices we make reveal about our heart of worship for the Lord.
Why is Sacrifice Worship?
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Worship through Sacrifice draws us closer to God
Listen to what Jesus says about where we store our treasure and what it does.
Matthew 6:19-24
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
That could also be translated as “You cannot worship both God and Money.”
As we talked about worship in general last week, we said that we all worship something and that we could determine what we worship if we stopped and assessed where we spent our money, our time, or thinking, etc.
If we do not think about our sacrifices, our sacrifices will reveal selfishness.
That is because our nature is selfish.
To overcome that and to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, we need to respond to the things we know.
Look at verse 21. It does not say, where your heart is, there your treasure will be also. It says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We need to lead our hearts to sacrifice for what we know is right. And when we do, our hearts are drawn closer to the Lord.
That is one reason why sacrifice is worship, it says God you are worthy and I want to do the things that draw me closer to you and if sacrificing for your will does that, I will make those sacrifices.
Sacrifice is also worship because
Worship through Sacrifice demonstrates Faith
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Hebrews 11:4 - By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did…And without faith it is impossible to please God…
Cain and Abel were the first 2 children of Adam and Eve. Abel’s sacrifice was by faith, while Cain’s was not, and his sacrifice was not accepted because it was coming from other motives, from motives that were not expressing faith.
The sacrifice of Cain and Abel is a great example of how we should sacrifice. I am going to ask that you turn their in your Bibles to Genesis 4, because we are going to take a closer look at this story so we might learn how to Worship through sacrifice.
But first and foremost, we must realize that for sacrifice to be worship, we must make sacrifices in faith, trusting the Lord
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Genesis 4:1-7
4 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
How is Worship Sacrifice
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Ok, in this text we learn a couple of things about how our sacrifice can express our faith and be worship to the Lord.
Now we see that both Cain and Abel made sacrifices to the Lord, but only Abel’s was accepted because it was by faith.
We know this because of the Hebrews passage we read earlier, but knowing that, we can see some differences in their sacrifices that gives an indication of what worshiping through sacrifice looks like when it is by faith.
First,
Sacrifice is worship when we sacrifice the First & Best
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This Scripture tells us that Cain made a sacrifice of “some of the fruits of the soil” (v. 4:3), but Abel sacrificed “fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock” (v. 4:4).
The fat portions were the best parts.
So Abel brought the best of the first part of what the Lord had provided as a sacrifice to the Lord, while Cain just brought some of what he had, not from the first, not the best parts of what he had.
If we make sacrifices to the Lord of the leftovers, what does that say?
Does that say, we trust you?
Does that say, Lord we worship you!
Does that speak worship to the Lord?
Listen to what the Lord says in Malachi about those who were sacrificing “leftovers.”
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Malachi 1:6-8 - …where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
"But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?'
7 "You place defiled food on my altar.
"But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?'
"By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible.
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8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.
They were trying to worship the Lord with the animals that were left over, that they did not need or want.
This goes back to the story I told earlier about the husband who took his wife out to get a hot dog to celebrate their anniversary.
His ‘sacrifice” did speak something, but it was not, you are worthy.
When we offer sacrifices to the Lord of the things we don’t want or does not cost us, it does speak worship, but it speaks worship of ourselves rather than worship of the Lord.
When we give God the first part of what we make, that speaks faith.
It is saying, Lord, I trust you to provide for my needs. I am going to give the first part of my check to you and trust you to live on the rest.
If I say, that first, let me pay my bills and buy the things I need, what I am saying is that Lord, you are worthy of my leftovers, of the money I have left at the end of the month, I will give you a part.
That is not the first and best.
That is not worship of the Lord.
And it is not so much about the actual amount as it is about how much it is relative to what you have.
In the gospel of Mark, Jesus was in the temple watching the crowd make sacrifices to the Lord in their offering. It says that many rich people gave large amounts out of their wealth, but a poor widow came and threw in 2 coins worth less than a penny. (Mark 12:41-44)
Then He said that the widow put in more than all the others. How could that be?
Because she put in all she had, even though it was not much, but they gave only parts out of their wealth.
It is not the actual amount that matters, but how that is relative to what we have.
Tithing
In the Bible, there is a principle of giving called the tithe. A tithe means 10%. Now I don’t believe the tithe is something that is mandated for New Testament believers, though I do think it is helpful as a place to begin so we have a better understanding of what the first and best portion for myself would look like.
In giving the first 10% of what I earn, I am saying Lord, I trust you to live on the remaining 90% and if there are things I can’t afford, then I will take that to mean they are things I don’t need.
Apply
How do you worship the Lord through your sacrifices?
Do you pay your bills and buy the things you want and see what you have left?
Do you just “worship the Lord” by pulling out a few singles thinking I am not sure I will have enough to live on if I give more.
Or do you worship the Lord in faith, by sacrificing in proportion to what you make and trusting Him to provide for you?
Sacrifice the first and best part in worship to the Lord.
Transition
But not only should we sacrifice the first and best, but we should do it cheerfully!
Sacrifice is worship when our Sacrifice is Cheerful
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2 Corinthians 9:7 - Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Cheerfully? How can we sacrifice cheerfully when we sacrifice the first and best part?
It is because we are acting in faith in the God who is able. The next verse after this in 2 Corinthians 9:8 says,
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“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
It is faith that even though we sacrifice, God is able to provide all that we need, and we trust Him that all that we have is all that we need. When we believe and know that, we can give cheerfully from the first and best part, by faith so that it is truly worship to the Lord.
Do you give cheerfully?
I was thinking about this for my family. Do we give cheerfully? I know we certainly don’t give sadly or under compulsion, but is it cheerful?
I think a lot of the time it has just become what we do. I write out a check each week and just drop it in the offering.
I think we could be more cheerful if we prayed over our offering, recognizing that it is going for the purpose of seeing God’s will be done and seeing His Kingdom expanded.
I am going to try and do that and help all of us do that in a better way so we can make our sacrifices cheerfully.
One final way we can test our sacrifice to see if it is worship is to see if it is costing us something.
Sacrifice is worship when our sacrifice is Costly
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Now I spoke about tithing a moment ago. Giving 10% of what we make. I said that I don’t think the tithe is mandated, but I believe the tithe is a place to start.
When we are tithing, I think we need to be asking is it costing me.
Honestly there are those who earn a lot, who could give a tithe and it really not cost them anything.
Our sacrifices are worship when they cost us.
They may cost us our ability to go on a vacation every year.
They may cost us from buying a new car when we want.
Now, I don’t think we should never take a vacation or never buy a new car. But if my giving doesn’t cost me something, or require me to wait on something, then it really isn’t worship.
David, when he was going to build an altar to the Lord, he was told to build it on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:18).
So David when to Araunah and requested to buy his threshing floor.
Araunah offered to give it to him to build the altar and to provide the wood and animals for David’s sacrifice.
But David said,
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2 Samuel 24:24 - "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."
If your sacrifice is not costing you something, it is not worship.
Application
So, are you worshiping the Lord in your sacrifice?
Are you giving the first and best part of what you make?
Are you giving cheerfully?
Is your sacrifice costing you something?
I know we have many here who are worshiping the Lord in their sacrifices.
Paving the way update
Not only do many tithe regularly, but as we took steps to connect to sewer and water so we could add parking to reach more people, many committed over 2 years to make significant additional sacrifices to help that get paid for.
We are still paying for those improvements and we still need to pay IDOT to $70,000 for the left turn lane that will be put in so people from the west can enter onto our church property without having to make a u-turn at Butternut Creek.
People are making these sacrifices so that we can continue to reach this community with the gospel of Christ. It is not so we can have a nicer facility, but so that we can continue to fulfill our commission effectively to the glory of the Lord.
So people are making sacrifices to do that.
The total costs of the improvements to enable us to better minister were about $325,000 including the $70,000 for the turn lane.
The people of Hickory made commitments to give $275,000 of that over and above their regular giving over 2 years starting back in April of 2011. That commitment will finish up at the end of April next year.
About 70% of the way through that campaign, we have collected about 70% of what was committed, or about $195,000.
Finish Strong
If you have made a commitment, I want to encourage you to finish strong as you worship the Lord through this Sacrifice.
Invitation to join with us
If you have come during this past year and a half and haven’t yet had the opportunity to join with us in this sacrifice, I would ask you to join with those who have in worshiping the Lord through sacrifice so these improvements that will help us fulfill our commission can be paid for by the end of next year.
But perhaps this whole worship through sacrifice thing is new to you.
Focus on how your sacrifices can be by faith as you give the first and best part of what the Lord has given to you, and you can give it cheerfully even as it is costly.
Conclusion
This morning, we are going to end a little differently. We are going to end in an opportunity to worship through sacrifice.
I am going to invite the worship team up now. They are going to lead in a song, “Jesus Paid it All” as we worship through our sacrifices.
We didn’t take our offering earlier, because I want this to be more than just dropping a few bucks into the basket, but truly an act of worship to the Lord.
How is it that you can worship the Lord right now through making a sacrifice through this offering?
Is it by writing a different check than you have written?
Is your sacrifice the leftovers, or are you making a sacrifice of the first and best part?
Is your sacrifice cheerful?
Is this sacrifice costing you something?
Ask yourself those questions.
As the worship team plays, prepare your sacrifice.
There are some envelopes in the chairs if you want to use an envelope.
If you need to write a check, you will have a few moments to do that.
Otherwise, just take this time to thank God for the opportunity to worship Him in this way by making a sacrifice.
In a few moments, I will come back up here and invite you to come, to actually get out of your seat and to worship the Lord through sacrifice by coming and dropping your offering in the baskets that will be at the front.
Take a few minutes now to prepare your sacrifice and your heart as the worship team plays.
Come back
I want to invite you to come and make your offering to the Lord as an act of worship realizing that He has given us so much through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Worship Him as you come.
Finish song.
