The two brothers walked slowly across the field, each one lost in his own thoughts and each one asking the same question, Why? The question keep coming back to both of them. What made the difference. Why was one acceptable and one not? Was one better then the other? And the more they thought about it the deeper their emotions ran. For one it was emotions of joy of knowing that he had pleased God. For the other brother, it was jealousy and anger that swirled across his mind, until finally it erupted in a murderous rage.
Do you know the story? It’s found in Genesis 4:1-8 Adam and Eve had a son. Then Eve said, "I’ll name him Cain because I got him with the help of the Lord." 2 Later she had another son and named him Abel. Abel became a sheep farmer, but Cain farmed the land. 3 One day, Cain gave part of his harvest to the Lord, 4 and Abel also gave an offering to the Lord. He killed the first-born lamb from one of his sheep and gave the Lord the best parts of it. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, 5 but not with Cain and his offering. This made Cain so angry that he could not hide his feelings. 6 The Lord said to Cain: What’s wrong with you? Why do you have such an angry look on your face? 7 If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling. But you did the wrong thing, and now sin is waiting to attack you like a lion. Sin wants to destroy you, but don’t let it! 8 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let’s go for a walk." And when they were out in a field, Cain killed him.
Have you ever wonder why Abel’s sacrifice pleased God? Was it because God preferred meat to vegies? Or maybe it was summed up in verses 3 & 4, listen to them again. 3 One day, Cain gave part of his harvest to the Lord, 4 and Abel also gave an offering to the Lord. He killed the first-born lamb from one of his sheep and gave the Lord the best parts of it. Did you catch it? Cain gave part, Abel gave the best parts.
The author of the book of Hebrews had a different theory in the scripture that Raya read this morning he wrote Hebrews 11:4 Because Abel had faith, he offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did.
You ever wonder about sacrifice, what is it, how does it happen, who does it apply to?
It must be somewhat important, the Bible speaks about it in one form or another over 800 times in the Old and New Testaments. But sacrifice isn’t a big word in the nineties is it? Sacrifice isn’t a real popular concept today, is it?
American Heritage Dictionary 1. a. The act of offering something to a deity in propitiation or homage, especially the ritual slaughter of an animal or a person. b. A victim offered in this way. 2. a. Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim. b. Something so forfeited.
How much do we offer up to our deity, you know our God. On the other hand, how much has he given up for you? And what does he expect of you?
1) God made a sacrifice John 3:16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. The king James Translation of this is probably one of the best known and most memorized verse in the Bible, in all traditions. I’m sure you remember it, John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Listen to what it says: God loved the people of the world so much that he did something for them. What did he do? He gave. What did he give? His only son. Who did he give his son for? The people of the world. Well to be a little more specific he gave his son for you. That is the ultimate practical definition of sacrifice isn’t it. Giving up something that’s important to you for somebody else. And it’s gotta mean something to you to be a sacrifice. I mean giving up brussel sprouts may very well be a sacrifice for you but I can assure you that it wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice for me.
But why did God do that, what prompted or motivated him to make such a sacrifice? And why did he have to make it?
Remember in the beginning God created man in His image, and that image was the perfect image. But man wasn’t content with what God had given him and so he exercised God’s greatest gift, his free will and rebelled against God. And he did it knowing the consequences. Throughout history God has sought to restore man to his previous greatness but man was either unable or unwilling to obey the rules and God being a just God was unwilling to change the rules.
And so he presented the ultimate sacrifice in the form or Jesus Christ and Christ paid for our sins with his blood, but that’s getting ahead of the story.
God’s sacrifice was the actual act of surrendering his son, not an easy task for man or for God.
2) Jesus Made a Sacrifice Hebrews 2:9 What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels. Because of God’s wonderful kindness, Jesus died for everyone. And now that Jesus has suffered and died, he is crowned with glory and honor! This particular passage contains at least 2 separate sacrifices that were made by the son of God for us. 1) What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels. Now remember that this was the same Jesus about whom John wrote in John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. And that includes Angels. But what does it mean when the Bible says that Jesus was made a little lower then the Angels? Well we gotta realize that when the Book of Hebrews was written it was written to people who were intimate with the Old Testament, people who would be familiar with Psalm 8. Listen to what David wrote in that Psalm, 4-5 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
Paul was simply using a literary device to say that Jesus came as a man. But why? Why would God become a man. Have you ever had a bird in your house. Or more precisely have you ever tried to get a bird out of your house? When we first moved to Truro. We lived in a little two story house on Robie St. which had a fireplace in the living room. Early one morning I heard such a clatter that I jumped from my bed to see what was the matter. I thought the fat man in the red suit was coming early. When I got down stairs I discovered that our tom cat, Mick, was trying to dislodge the fireplace screen. Upon closer examination I discovered that there was a bird trapped in the fireplace after flying down the chimney.
Well with me being such a calm methodical type person I tried to reason with the little bird and convince him to fly back up the chimney. Mick however was not real impressed with logic, and reasoning. He was much more geared to action and made a lunge at the bird knocking over the fireplace screen. And so the bird joined Mick and I in the living room where we where we were all joined by our little female Siamese. Now it must be a rule that if you are a small sooty bird loose in a living room that the first place that you have to head is for the white shears.
Well after what seemed like an eternity of me and the two cats trying to direct said bird out the front door, well at least I was trying to get the bird out the door, it went, back in the fireplace and up the chimney. Stupid bird. But I thought, how much easier it would have been for both the bird and me if I had been able to relate to him on his level, if I could have become like him.
God had the same communication problem with humanity, and so Jesus became like us. He left his heavenly home to come to earth. He forsook being God to become a man. Think about it from being all powerful God, to becoming a powerless infant. From being master of the universe he became a carpenter in a little village in Israel. From being the son of God to becoming the son of Joseph.
That is a sacrifice, Jesus gave up something very important and valuable and he gave it up for you. But Christ made another sacrifice as well. Remember the last part of Hebrews 2:9? It said, Jesus died for everyone. Jesus came to this earth as an infant, grew and lived as a man for 33 years, he preached the love of God, he performed miracles and he became recognized as a great teacher and preacher.
But all of that would have been worthless had Jesus not provided the ultimate sacrifice. And that sacrifice was Christ himself. When Jesus took the sins of the world, your sins and my sins upon himself and allowed himself to be crucified he paid the price for each one of us. He sacrificed himself so we wouldn’t have to. However, before a sacrifice can do anything for you first you have to accept it.
Let me illustrate. If one of you were caught for speeding. Now I know that would never, ever happen but bear with me because it would really help with the story if one of you were however unlikely that might be. And say the fine for speeding was $170.00 You still with me? And when you arrived at the police station to pay said fine I was already there and offered to pay the fine for you. Remember this is only a story. And you refused to let me pay, even though I was willing you’d have to pay the price.
Christ has offered to pay the price for our sins, all we have to do is accept that offer. But Christ sacrifice didn’t just mean dying for our sins, if that was the case he could have died of old age. The Gospel makes it clear that a lot of suffering and humiliation happened before Christ was allowed the dignity of death.
His sacrifice for us entailed being mocked, and humiliated. Being spit on and punched being whipped and having a crown of thorns jammed onto his head. It meant being nailed to a cross and dying a slow agonizing death. You see Christ didn’t just give up one thing, he gave up his dignity, his comfort, his position in heaven and he gave up his very life. And he gave them up for you. 1 Corinthians 5:7 Our Passover lamb is Christ, who has already been sacrificed.
So let’s see where does that leave us. God made a sacrifice for us when he gave his son. And Jesus made a sacrifice for us when he gave his life. But most of the scripture references about sacrifice don’t refer to the sacrifices that God made for us instead they deal with the sacrifices that man was to make for God.
But Denn, that was the Old Testament and as I’m sure you’re aware that doesn’t apply because we are no longer under the law instead we are saved by grace. I know that, hones I do, but I also know that Romans chapter 12 verse 1 is still in my Bible and I would suspect it’s still in your bible and it says, Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. And along with that I know that Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:5 And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house. You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God. And that Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi in Philippians 4:18 I have been paid back everything, and with interest. I am completely satisfied with the gifts that you had Epaphroditus bring me. They are like a sweet-smelling offering or like the right kind of sacrifice that pleases God.
Do you recall what act of giving impressed Jesus the most? The story is found in Luke 21:1-4 Jesus looked up and saw some rich people tossing their gifts into the offering box. 2 He also saw a poor widow putting in two pennies. 3 And he said, "I tell you that this poor woman has put in more than all the others. 4 Everyone else gave what they didn’t need. But she is very poor and gave everything she had." Why was Jesus so impressed? Because the widow made a, say it with me, a sacrifice.
When the rich young ruler approached Christ about eternal life how much did Christ council him to give away? 10%, 20%, 50%, 75%, 90%. Now the story is found in Luke 18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said, "There is one thing you still need to do. Go and sell everything you own! Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and be my follower."
Why so much? Because any less wouldn’t have been a come on you can say it, a sacrifice. The Bible is very clear on the point that if we have money enough to live well and do not share with those in need it is questionable if God’s love is even in us. And yet money is only a small measure of sacrifice.
it is interesting to note thought that when it comes to money as a measure of our spiritual condition often the amount that we give isn’t nearly as important as the amount that we keep.
There are very few of us in this theatre this morning who truly understand from first hand experience the concept of sacrificial giving, me included. And we have great givers, you folks do a great job, but I often wonder what would happen if we gave from the top of the pile instead of the bottom of the pile?
But enough about money. Let’s try annoying you about something else for a while. You see stewardship isn’t just about money it’s about our lives. Remember the scripture I read a little earlier in the message, Romans 12:1 Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. God wants living sacrifices, the problem with living sacrifices though is they keep crawling off the altar. Here’s a question: What would happen if every area of our life we put Jesus first?
The Christian life is full of sacrifices, and how far you go with Christ depends on how much you’re willing to sacrifice for Christ. And that’s why Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me.
If this Church is going to be all that God wants it to be it will require sacrifice. You might have to give up your musical preference, and say "I don’t like their music, but I like their vision" by the way that’s already happened. Some of you have made a sacrifice by worshipping in a theatre instead of a church. Greg and Paul have made a sacrifice by working for virtually nothing, why? Because they believe in the vision of BCC.
The music team gives up their Thursday nights to practice, they don’t have to but they do. Why? Because they believe in the vision of BCC.
Those that work in the children’s ministry give up a part of their worship service. Why. Because they believe in the vision of BCC.
The time will come that we will have a building of our own and in order to see that dream become a reality it will require effort and work on all of our parts. And yes it will even require a sacrifice. In the two building projects I have been involved in we did it with the people in our churches. And some people were committed to the vision and said I’m going to sacrifice my time for this project. Others came out and helped because there was nothing but reruns on television that night, and others, well they stayed home and watched reruns.
As we go about raising salary for Greg, the success of it will depend on how many of you are willing to make a sacrifice, and how much of a sacrifice you are willing to make. So far we’ve had eight response cards back and they’ve ranged from a dollar a week to twenty five dollars a week. I can’t determine what is a sacrifice for you, but I do know that Greg has made a pile of sacrifices for BCC, including turning down three job offers with other churches in the past twelve months, all of which were paying job offers. Today will be the last day the pledge cards will be in the bulletin.
Even your children’s spiritual life depends on your sacrifices. We have a summer camping program in New Brunswick with our denomination that is probably second to none. And the spiritual impact it will have on your children’s lives can never be underestimated, and that goes double for your teens, but it will probably require a sacrifice if they are going to go.
Youth Rally’s, Bible College, youth group activities, the importance that our young people place on these is usually directly proportional to the importance that parent places on them. I thought I’d bring that up just on the off chance that I had missed alienating some of you in this sermon. A pastor asked an old timer why he didn’t get any amens during a particular sermon and the answer was "You don’t say sic em to a dog that’s got you by the leg."
Because Abel had faith, he offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did
