There’s a true story of a church that had a parking problem. Right next door was a store that was closed on Sunday. So they asked the owner if they could use his parking lot. He said that they could use it for 51 Sundays out of the year but it would be chained off one week. They were happy with the deal, but curious why it would be chained off that one Sunday. He explained that he just wanted them to remember that it wasn’t their parking lot!
Today we’re going to be talking about sacrifices. In the Old Testament sacrifices were one of the major focuses of Jewish life. It seems that every day, sacrifices of one kind of another were offered continuously over and over again. Throughout the year, Israelites would offer all kinds of sacrifices - mostly bulls and sheep and goats. But there were also the doves and pigeons, and there were also drink offerings, and offerings of grain, flour, or corn.
Now, I’m not going to go too deep into the woods on this, but I thought this was interesting (and it won’t cost you anything extra). There were several different kinds of sacrifices offered throughout the year, but there were 5 major sacrifices offered on a regular basis. There was a:
• Burnt offering – this was a sacrifice you could offer to cover national sins; or as part of a prayer offered to God; or simply as an offering to please God (first-born male of herd or flock; or dove or pigeon).
• Sin offering –for forgiveness of a personal sin or ritual impurity (bull for priest or entire community; male goat for a community leader; female goat or lamb for a commoner; dove or pigeon for the poor)
• Guilt offering– often offered for personal sins requiring restitution (Ram of the flock or equivalent monetary value)
• Grain (or “meal”) offering – could be offered along with a burnt offering, but was often presented by the poor as a “sin” offering. (grain that was raw, baked, or fried mixed with oil and incense)
• And the Fellowship (or Peace) offering –a free-will sacrifice designed to celebrate God’s kindnesses or as an appeal to God for a closer relationship (male or female of flocks or herds)
(see footnote)
Now this last sacrifice (Fellowship) was the only sacrifice that the person who offered it was allowed to eat. Every other sacrifice was either entirely burned up on the altar or was partly burned up and the rest was given to the Priests for them to eat. But This Fellowship Offering was the only sacrifice the people who offered could partake of (eat). And this “Fellowship” meal was often shared with family and friends. Kind of like a potluck dinner or thanksgiving meal.
What’s interesting about ALL these sacrifices was that each offering cost the offerer something. The more wealthy were required to sacrifice part of their flock or herd. But the poor usually didn’t have flocks and herds, so they would sacrifice part of the grain they’d gathered or birds they’d caught.
And my point is this: no matter who offered up these sacrifices… it cost them something. That’s part of the reason we call them SACRIFICES. In addition, every sacrifice had to be the best that could be offered. No sacrifice was acceptable that had a blemish or deformity or a broken leg. It had to be a perfect sacrifice.
Question: WHY? Why did God want the Israelites to “sacrifice” anything? It wasn’t like God needed the food. In Psalms 50:12-13 God is angry at the sin of the people and He declares: “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?”
God didn’t need their sacrifices to satisfy his hunger. So why would God ask Israel to make these sacrifices? Well, one of the reasons He asked for sacrifices for the same reason that that restaurant we talked of earlier chained off their parking lot. That restaurant wanted the church to remember it wasn’t their parking lot. They didn’t own it!!!!
That’s one of the reasons (I believe) God asked the Israelites for sacrifices - to remind them they didn’t own anything. Even as a nation… they weren’t their own. All they had and all they were belonged to God.
Leviticus 20:26 (God told the Israelites) “You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” YOU BELONG TO ME!
The first of the 10 Commandments drives this home: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:2-3
In other words, I brought you up out of slavery I bought you and now you belong to me! And that’s very much what God says of us now. Once you were baptized into Christ “…your body (became) a temple of the Holy Spirit within you… You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” I Corinthians 6:19-20
However, as Christians, we’re no longer required to offer animal sacrifices. That’s completely an OLD Testament command
ILLUS: At the first church I served in Northern Indiana, I once received a phone call from a woman who lived in a local trailer park who said she had something she needed to ask me. When I arrived, I sat on her couch as she made small talk, and her small dog jumped up in my lap and enjoyed having its ears rubbed. After a little bit, the woman got to the point. She asked, “Does God still accept animal sacrifices?” I smiled and replied, “Like this little dog?” “Yes,” she replied. I had just been joking… but she was serious. It seems her daughter had a life-threatening illness and this woman was desperate enough to consider sacrificing her pet dog to ask God for healing. I understood her desperation, but we had a long discussion about God.
Because God doesn’t accept animal sacrifices anymore. When Jesus died on the cross the Old Testament sacrifices were no longer required. Hebrews 10:11-12 tells us “every priest stands daily at his service (the Temple in Jerusalem hadn’t been destroyed yet), offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had OFFERED FOR ALL TIME A SINGLE SACRIFICE FOR SINS, he sat down at the right hand of God.” That’s why, when Jesus died on the cross, He said “IT IS FINISHED” (John 19:30). He meant that the Old testament sacrifices for sins were FINISHED - they were no longer necessary. Jesus had made the final sacrifice.
But does that mean that we no longer need to offer sacrifices to God? Well… no. We just don’t need to make ANIMAL sacrifices anymore. The New Testament talks a lot about the sacrifices God asks for from us. For example, Hebrews 13:16 says “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such SACRIFICES are pleasing to God.”
In this congregation we have things like our coat ministry, the food pantry and our monthly free lunches. People who get involved with those kinds of things are offering sacrifices to God. There’s an old saying “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” And as Christians we should be known as a people who CARE. When a person is sad, listen to them and pray for them; When a person is lonely, call them and visit them; When a person needs a ride, drive them places. That type of thing happens a lot here.
When you do that you’re offering sacrifices to God! That’s why Jesus said that you should “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) Your good deeds are SACRIFICES pleasing to God
In Hebrews 13:15 we’re ALSO told “Through (Christ) let us continually offer up a SACRIFICE OF PRAISE to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”
Did you realize that every time you TALK about Jesus and every time you PRAISE God around someone else, God regards that as having the same importance and value as the Old Testament animal sacrifices?
ILLUS: This year the Dodgers just won the Baseball World Series. But this wasn’t the first time the team had done that. Back in 1988, pitcher Orel Hershiser led the Dodgers to win the Series and was asked to come on to “The Late Night Show” with Johnny Carson as a special guest. In the course of the interview, Carson asked Hershiser what he did to calm his nerves between innings, and the pitcher responded saying that he sang songs. So Carson asked him sing one of the songs he found so comforting. The song Orel Hershiser chose to sing that night had such a deep impact on Johnny Carson that Carson chose that segment to close his anniversary special. And what was that song? The Doxology. Sing it with me:
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him all creatures here below; Praise him above ye heavenly hosts; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
The song Hershiser chose to sing on Johnny Carson was a song giving praise to God. He sang “a sacrifice of praise” to God. And it was a song that made a deep impression on Carson
But that’s NOT the only sacrifice God asks of us. In fact, without this last sacrifice, what you do or so would have little meaning. This last sacrifice we can make is the most important. Romans 12:1 tells us we should “… present your bodies as a LIVING SACRIFICE, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” This is about more than just what we say or do. This is when we offer God US – everything we ARE and and everything we HAVE – to Jesus. It is being offered as a LIVING Sacrifice to God. Being a “living sacrifice” is when we are totally sold out for Jesus.
ILLUS: This is my wallet. To be a living sacrifice means that everything in this wallet belongs to God. My bank account and my IRA belong to Him. My clothes, my cell phone, my home, my car, my family – to be a living sacrifice is place everything I am and have on the altar before Christ. It’s all His.
ILLUS: You remember that woman in the trailer park I talked with? She was more than willing to offer up her favorite dog to get God to answer her prayers. But she never went to Church and Jesus was not important to her. She really didn’t want to DO anything for God, and she’d never have thought about praising His name. He just wasn’t that important to her. Granted, she was willing to sacrifice her favorite dog to get God to answer a prayer, but she had no intention of offering herself as a living sacrifice to God.
And why should she? Why should she want to surrender her life to God? Well, she wouldn’t want to… unless she realized how much God LOVED HER! God gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God SACRIFICED His only Son so that SHE could have everlasting life, but until she understood that – God wouldn’t be important to her. And that should be our message so people would understand why they should want to belong to Christ.
CLOSE: But here’s the thing: until WE understand how much God SACRIFICED for us, we’re not going to really going to want to place our own lives on the altar of sacrifice! We won’t truly be able to be a living sacrifice.
There’s an old hymn that tells us the reason we should want to do that. Sing it with me.
“You have longed for sweet peace, and for faith to increase, and have earnestly, fervently prayed; But you cannot have rest, or be perfectly blest, until all on the altar is laid. 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.”
INVITATION
Footnote:
There was more I could have said about these sacrifices (and would make interesting sermons in and of themselves) … but my intention was only to familiarize my audience with the offerings. More detail – while interesting - would have distracted from my point.
Burnt offering - Leviticus 6:8-13; 22:18-20; Numbers 15:1-16
Grain offering – Leviticus 2; 6:14-23; 7:9-14; Numbers 15:4,6,9,11-16
Fellowship offering – Leviticus 3; Exodus 24:5-8; Leviticus 7:11-34; 17:10-14; 22:21-30; Numbers 15:1-16
Sin offering – Leviticus 4:1-5:13; 6:24-30; 8:14-17; 10:16-20; 16:11-22
Guilt offering – Leviticus 5:14-6:7; 7:1-17; 14:12-18; 19:20-22; Numbers 5:5-10; 6:12.
