Sacrificial Devotion
Luke 1:26-38
In Luke 14:33, Christ declared, “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Christ’s call to discipleship is one of sacrificial devotion. Is your commitment to Christ only token or completely total commitment? If Christ called on you to give up everything you treasured or to go through extreme hardship or difficulty how would you respond? How committed would you remain? Truthfully, how devoted to Christ are you? The lives of Mary, Abraham and Paul provide us with examples of what it means to be sacrificially devoted to God.
I. The example of Mary’s sacrificial devotion to God.
A. Mary was an ordinary Jewish girl when the angel came to her.
B. Jewish girls lived under their father's authority were taught to protect their father's honor. In public, young women were to dress according to their social standing, behave according to good manners, and spoke to men only when spoken to. A Jewish woman's words didn't count - everything had to be supported by male witnesses. Every day, the Jewish man thanked God that he had not been born a Gentile, a slave or a woman. Women received little education and were not taught the Law of God. In public, they were veiled; an uncovered head could result in divorce. Their social relationships were confined to other women. They did not eat with male guests, and men were discouraged from talking to women. When they left the house to go shopping, they were usually accompanied by a suitable companion to protect her husband's name from mistakes they might make. At puberty, daughters were expected to marry, and suitable husbands were found by the parents. Daughters had no choice in this, otherwise they would bring shame on the family. Marriage age was low -- 18-24 years for the man, 13-16 years for the girl. It was a patriarchal society which placed women in the same category as one's ox, donkey or possessions. Mary was engaged to Joseph, the contract probably being arranged by their fathers and finalized in a public ceremony in the town square. If the husband-to-be wanted to break the betrothal, he had to get a bill of divorce. – adapted from George Hawke, Grace & Truth Magazine, Danville , IL, USA
C. Mary is confronted by an angel who makes a startling announcement.
D. Luke 1:30-33 ““Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
E. This creates a great dilemma.
F. Luke 1:34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
G. Consider the situation with which Mary was confronted. To be pregnant outside of marriage was disgraceful. To be pregnant while engaged was scandalous. If suspected of unfaithfulness a woman could be divorced or even put to death as spelled out in Deuteronomy 22:13-30.
1. There would be the loss of reputation
2. There was the great fear of rejection. Mary might not be believed by her fiancé.
3. She faced ostracism by and expulsion from her family.
4. She stood the chance of losing all of her friends who would not want to be associated with a loose woman.
5. Realistically, she could be branded for life with the stigma of being an unwed mother and her child considered illegitimate.
H. But how would she respond? What would her answer be?
1. Luke 1:38 "I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me as you have said"
2. Mary says, “Behold, I am the bondservant of the Lord”. Mary calls herself a slave, the Lord’s “doulos”. Humbly she yields herself before God and then yields completely to God saying, “let it be to me according to your word”
I. Mary did not understand all that God was doing in her life and through her life but she knew that what God said He would do, He would do. Mary was willing to let God have His way completely with her and in her humble obedience became an important part of the fulfillment of God’s purpose to save humanity through the cross of Christ. – copied
II. The Example of Abraham’s sacrificial devotion to God.
A. Genesis 22:1-2 “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”
B. The Lord God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain that God would later show him. Isaac was the son God had promised to him. The child through whom God said scores of descendants would come as the sands of the sea. These descendants would form a great nation and inherit the land of Canaan. And now God is asking him to slay his own son. How can this possibly be?
C. How could these promises be fulfilled if Isaac died?
D. Albert Barnes wrote concerning Abraham being tempted by God: “It does not mean here, as it often does, to place inducements before one to lead him to do wrong, but to subject his faith to a trial in order to test its genuineness and strength. The meaning here is, that Abraham was placed in circumstances which showed what was the real strength of his confidence in God.” - Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes’ NT Commentary, Bronson, MI: Online Publishing, Inc., 2002
E. How would he respond to be asked to sacrifice family? How would he respond to being asked to sacrifice his future? How would he respond to being asked to as it were killing the dearest thing to Sarah’s and his heart?
F. Instead of questioning God's sanity, Abraham goes immediately to fulfill the commandment.
G. We read in Genesis 22:3, 10 “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him... And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.”
H. Abraham had every intention to carry out God’s request no matter how much in cost him. He never questioned God.
I. According to Hebrews 11:17-19, Abraham believed that God would do what God said He would do. He would in sacrificial obedience do what God had asked of him believing that somehow God would keep His word: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
J. The story of Abraham’s sacrificial devotion reminds one of Christ’s words in Matthew 10:37, “He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
III. The Example of Paul’s sacrificial devotion to God.
A. The Apostle Paul before giving his life over to Christ was known by his Hebrew name Saul. He was a high-born Jew from the tribe of Benjamin (Phil 3:5-7). Saul received the best rabbinical education being tutored by Gamaliel. Gamaliel was regarded as one of the greatest rabbinical teachers who ever lived (Acts 22:3). As a young man, he was promoted to an important place in Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council (Acts 8:1-4; 9:1-2). Saul was zealously dedicated to eradicating Christianity.
B. Paul’s conversion is recorded in Acts 9. In verse 6, Paul, having met the risen Christ, asks “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
C. In following Christ, Paul would have to deny himself, his heritage, his position, his career, and his associates; and forsaking everything else abandon himself to following and doing whatever Christ wanted.
D. Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
E. Again listen to Paul’s commitment to Christ and his whole-hearted sacrificial devotion in Philippians 3:8 “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,”
F. Paul had no regrets that he exchanged a life of privilege for a life of hardship. He said that he counted all his losses as dung that he might gain the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
G. Because Christ was the supreme Lord of his life it was no problem for Paul to say in Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”; for he had done that very thing himself. It was not do as I say but do as I have done.
IV. Are you sacrificially devoted to God?
A. God calls us to lay down our lives at His feet for His use as He pleases.
B. Luke 9:23-25 “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away.”
C. Mary was willing to give up her reputation, her fiancé, her family, and her friends. Abraham was willing to give up his son of promise, his future. Paul was willing to surrender his position, his career, and his associates. Are you sacrificially devoted to Christ? Are you willing to lay down everything for Christ?
D. We are not talking about a requirement for salvation. If you are unsaved what God wants is your acceptance of His salvation by repenting of your sin and an acceptance of Christ’s work on the cross for you. You cannot be saved by your sacrifice; it is only Christ’s sacrifice that procures your redemption.
E. We are talking about becoming a fit vessel to be used by God as He sees fit.
F. Listen to the words of a two men of God sacrificially devoted to Christ.
1. God has had all that there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, even with greater opportunities, but from the day I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of what Jesus Christ could do with me and them, on that day I made up my mind that God should have all of William Booth there was. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life. - William Booth
2. Charles Spurgeon one moth after being saved wrote the following prayer of consecration: O great and unsearchable God, who knowest my heart, and triest all my ways; with a humble dependence upon the support of Thy Holy Spirit, I yield up myself to Thee; as Thy own reasonable sacrifice, I return to Thee Thine own. I would be forever, unreservedly, perpetually Thine; whilst I am on earth, I would serve Thee; and may I enjoy Thee and praise Thee forever! Amen. Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 235
G. At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, summed up sacrificial devotion when he offered the following prayer : “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”
H. Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest, And have peace and sweet rest, As you yield Him your body and soul. - copied
