Chico Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
“Sacrifice”
Review
Every Christian serious about a deeper walk with God and greater impact in our world must incorporate spiritual exercises as a way of life.
Silence and Solitude
There can be no quality relationship without quality time so I will spend time with God without distractions and take time to devote to developing the other habits of a higher walk with God.
Submission
God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble so I will take time each day to remind my self to keep God first in EVERYTHING and continually embrace His agenda over mine.
Confession
Rebellion (sin) breaks intimacy and dull s the heart so I will continually allow God to expose and transform every area of my life and admit my desperate need for daily grace and forgiveness.
Scripture
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and the truth sets free so I will devote time to the study and interaction with the Word of God.
Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please God and whatever is not of faith is sin so I will take the time to learn to act upon (apply) the truths I encounter in God’s word with complete trust and obedience.
Thanksgiving
Ungratefulness is a sure sign of a self-centered focus so I will continually cultivate a thankful response of worship and give thanks in everything for this is the will of God for me in Christ Jesus.
Prayer
God instructs us not to worry about anything but pray about everything. Since there can be no deepening of relationship without communication I will seek to continually increase the quality and quantity of my prayer life.
Sacrifice
God has called us to a life of sacrificial service as Jesus gave His life for us, so I will learn to offer my time and resources for the good of others and the sake of the Kingdom.
The current exercise in our study is sacrifice. The attitude and action of sacrifice is the core of a healthy relationship with God. In reality, sacrifice is the core of any healthy relationship.
I. What is sacrifice?
Sacrifice is a willingness and sometimes even eagerness to give up something valuable for something or someone we deem more valuable. There is a joy in the struggle because of the strength of the relationship. It is required of any marriage. You sacrifice watching a great football game for a chick flick. You sacrifice browsing the tool section of sears for helping you wife pick out a new dress. You sacrifice quiet time for chaos time with the kids.
Sacrifice is the glue that cements meaningful relationship. Such is our relationship with God.
Out of great love, He sacrificed for us – we sacrifice for Him because of our love for Him. By definition a decision must cost to rise to the level of sacrifice. Giving up rotten tomatoes for apple pie is not sacrifice. Giving meaningless surplus is not sacrifice. Offering leftovers is not sacrifice.
King David went looking for a place to offer sacrifice to God.
Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the LORD. Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. And Ornan was threshing wheat. As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out from the threshing floor and prostrated himself before David with his face to the ground. Then David said to Ornan, "Give me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to the LORD; for the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be restrained from the people." Ornan said to David, "Take it for yourself; and let my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I will give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I will give it all." But King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing." So David gave Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site. Then David built an altar to the LORD there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to the LORD and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. The LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath. 1 Chronicles 21:18-27
When it comes to sacrifice, if it doesn’t cost, it doesn’t count.
II. Why is such a sacrificial lifestyle necessary?
A. Sacrifice validates the true reality of our commitment
B. Sacrifice demonstrates the true reality of our faith.
C. Sacrifice demonstrates the depth of our love and gratitude.
D. Sacrifice exposes selfishness and complacency
E. Sacrifice brings true freedom and blessing
So how can we incorporate the discipline of personal sacrifice in our everyday life?
III. How do we practice regular sacrifice?
(Go on a D.I.E.T.)
A. Dedicate your life to kingdom purposes
This is closely tied to surrender.
The surrendered heart is a sacrificial heart.
Surrender is the foundation for sacrifice.
In such dedication of my life to God I give up my personal agenda and dreams and aspirations to eternal things.
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
B. Invite God to search motives
Since our heart can be deceitful, we must be willing to allow God to expose a self-deception about who is really in charge of our life and our real agenda.
C. Evaluate or establish your values
Why do you do what you do? What are you working to achieve on this earth? Everything we do is for a reason. What is it? I just want to feel better! I want to be free from pain! I want to live comfortably! I want recognition!
I want respect! I want power and control!
Most of the time we can trace the purpose for what we do to Self-promotion, self protection or pleasure
Is God the center or the fringe? Am I seeking the kingdom and His righteousness first or last?
D. Transfer control / ownership to God
• Family (Dedication)
One way to demonstrate a sacrificial heart is the intentional dedication of our family to God.
Are we willing to give what we cannot be kept to gain what cannot be lost?
The act of trying to save results in loosing what we so desperately desire to save.
We need to learn to hold the things of this life and the people in our life loosely.
Reluctance to do so may illustrate a self-focused purpose and a lack of trust in God.
Conscious dedication Spouse, parents, grandparents, children.
Father,
Thank you for my family. I acknowledge that ultimately I cannot save them, protect them from pain and death, change their life or control their circumstances. Only you have the power over those things. I dedicate myself my, spouse, my children, my parents my pets to you for whatever purpose you have for them. I refuse all of Satan’s purposes but embrace whatever you may bring about in their lives to bring about Your kingdom purposes. I intentionally relinquish the desire to control them. I acknowledge their place in my life as a privilege to be cherished not a right to be clutched.
• Time (Observance of a Sabbath and service)
Everyone has 168 hours every week to spend. It cannot be banked but it can be wasted.
40 hours of work 56 hours of sleep 35 hours for personal needs (eating, hygiene) That leaves 37 hours of discretionary time to spend (little over 5 hours a day) A tenth would be about 4 hours a week.
Where will we invest that time?
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15-17
David prayed to make the best use of his time.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Psalms 90:10-12
One of the most disturbing realizations we will encounter when the end comes is what we did as opposed to what we could have done had we properly invested the time God gave us.
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10
One way to regularly sacrifice our time is to embrace a weekly Sabbath.
Isaiah recorded God’s idea concerning the true nature of a Sabbath observance.
We must come to the point where we call the Sabbath “a delight”
"If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word… Isaiah 58:13
…Then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." Isaiah 58:14
It is not until we sacrifice for the sake of honoring God will we learn to take delight in Him.
As long as we throw him the leftover time we will not progress.
A regular Sabbath helps to break our addiction to busyness and activity.
It breaks our addiction to audio/visual stimulation.
It reminds us that we need God’s rest.
Solitude and silence
Sacrifice and service
Consider offering God a tenth of your free-time.
Will you sacrifice a portion of your “free” time for the sake of the kingdom?
Time to spend with God
Time to spend for God
• Treasure
Money (Tithes and offerings)
There is more said about money than most every other subject I the Bible. We will take time to devote more time to the subject later.
Possessions (Simplicity)
Then Jesus said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." Luke 12:15
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3
Pleasure (Fasting)
God is not against pleasure He designed us to experience pleasure.
It depends on whether our pleasure is based in the flesh or generated by the Spirit.
"He opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they return from evil. If they hear and serve Him, They will end their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures. Job 36:10-11
You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalms 16:11
"The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. Luke 8:14
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Titus 3:3
Power and prestige (humble selfless service)
• Talk (Silence)
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16
Are we ready to go on a D.I.E.T.?
Every believer can experience a deeper walk with God by incorporating the spiritual disciplines into their life.
Sacrifice positions us for deeper relationship with God and a more dynamic ministry with people because it graphically reminds us who we serve and why.
Sacrifice is a willingness and sometimes even eagerness to give up something valuable for something or someone we deem more valuable.
If it doesn’t cost, it probably doesn’t count.
A heart willing to give all to God is the fertile ground in which a deeper walk can be cultivated.
God established several ways to validate a sacrificial heart through intentional acts.
Dedication, Sabbath, selfless service, tithes and offerings, self-imposed simplicity, fasting, God centered worship all reminds us to seek the kingdom of God first.
