The Ultimate Sacrifice
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The phrase, “Get all you can and can all you get,” is one that I used to hear often from different people in different situations growing up. It was a phrase that seemed so common to me that it did not need a explanation; I knew what it meant. However, in the past 20 years, I have probably only heard it a handful of times.
The “get all you can” part is pretty obvious. Obtain as much wealth and possessions as possible. But to a younger group of people, specifically some of the teens that are with us this morning, the second part may not be as immediately understood to its fullest. My mother, as far as I am aware, never did any canning or preserving foods, or jams, or anything like that. We did, however, know plenty of people that did that.
How many of you here are “canners”? So this is exactly what the second part of that phrase is talking about, canning goods, preserving goods.
So the meaning of this phrase is, “Acquire as much as you can and save it, preserve it.”
There is another addition to that phrase, however, and it reads like this: “Get all you can, can all you get, then sit on the can.” Obviously, now we are incorporating the additional aspect of guarding all these things that we have gotten.
But not too long ago, I heard someone add one more line to that phrase. It went like this:
“Get all you can, can all you get, sit on the can, and poison the rest.”
This is goes beyond being selfish to being evil. It now expresses a desire not only to get riches, but to prevent others from obtaining riches of their own.
I don’t think that it is lost on anyone that we live in a culture of greed, and it is so easy to get caught up in it because we are constantly being bombarded by those messages.
But the best version of this quote, I believe, is attributed to John Wesley. “Get all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” John Wesley’s desire in communicating this was that his hearers would not just try to hoard to themselves all of life’s goods, but to save in order to be able to give.
Faith Forward
Faith Forward
Last week, we started the 6th chapter of Matthew as we made our way through the Sermon on the Mount. We looked at the first 18 verses and considered that what principle Jesus was teaching throughout these verses. We found that we are to be performing our righteous acts of giving, praying, and fasting for the Lord and not to be seen of men. We saw that if our intentions are to get people to see us and think or say good things about us, then that is our reward, but there is no reward from God for doing things like that. The first section of Matthew 6 deals with giving, and I am going to use that as a springboard to something that we are going to incorporate here at Good News.
It is called, Faith Forward. Faith Forward is the name of our new, annual Faith Commitment giving. At the end of this month, September 29, I will ask that wage earning members of our church make a commitment to the Lord and to the church body He has brought you to be a part, of giving faithfully to the Lord and the work that this church does.
Why Make a Commitment?
Why Make a Commitment?
You may be wondering, “Why should I make a commitment?” And that is a very good question. As a church, we rely solely on the donations, tithes, and offerings that our members give to operate. We have a mission, that mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ the world over.
As such, we have both operational costs and missional costs. The fact that we have lights, A/C (and in the winter, heat), and a building in which to gather is because of the tithes and offerings that are given to the the church.
The reason we are able to provide Bible curriculum to the teachers for both teens and children and the money that we give to missionaries around the world comes from the tithes and offerings that we give as members.
Since this is where our income comes from, we are unlike most corporations and businesses. Based on past performance, many businesses can come up with a pretty good estimate of what the income will be for the upcoming year.
Since Good News operates and performs its mission solely on the free-will giving of the members of this church, that is to say, we do not charge admission or subscription fees to attend or be a member here, then it is a little harder to budget for the following year, not knowing what might come in financially, and not even being able to accurately estimate it.
A commitment made prayerfully by each of our members and submitted to the church allows us to better plan for the ministries and operation of this church in the upcoming year.
How Does It Work?
How Does It Work?
I’m glad you asked! It works like this:
How does it work?
Take inventory - Take inventory of your income, weekly, monthly, yearly. There are people here that give regularly and have been doing so for a very long time. That may be you this morning, but every year I will ask that all of us take inventory of our income. Things may have changed. You may have gotten a raise, a bonus, a new job. Maybe you lost a job, got a pay cut, or something else. Whatever it is, taking inventory of our income allows us to know exactly what we are bringing to the Lord.
Pray - Acknowledge God’s command to give, and ask Him what He wants you to give
Fill out a commitment card - You will receive a commitment card. AFTER you have prayed about how much God wants you to give, fill that card out and turn it into one of the black boxes. You will notice that these cards have no place for a name. Do not put your name on the cards! The cards exist so that we can have a good, working budget next year, not as a collecting tool. Nobody will ever go after you and say, “Hey, I noticed you said you were going to give $100, but your last offering envelope only had $80. What’s the deal?” Because this commitment is not only to the Lord but to the rest of the church as well, we do ask that you turn in this card so that it can be properly counted and the church can benefit from knowing what will come in the following year. Don’t worry, you will not be filling those out today. These cards will be filled out and turned in on September 29th. We do want every member to give, but if you would like to fill one card out for you and your spouse, fee free to do that too.
Faithfully depend on God - after you have prayed and God has given you an amount that He wants you to give, realize that Satan is going to do all he can to make you forget about your commitment, not trust God, and live in fear. So, actively seek the Lord, Don’t let the enemy have a seat at your table, and depend on Him to provide what he has asked you to give.
Give - Then after you have done all that, give. Give faithfully. If you committed to giving monthly, give your offering monthly. If you committed to giving you offering weekly or every other week, give faithfully. But don’t just give faithfully, give cheerfully knowing that your gift goes to a variety of disciple-making/disciple-growing ministries. If we want to be able to make an impact on Cedar Rapids and the world with the Gospel, we are going to have to have some skin in the game.
When does all this start? Well, I hope that you will begin taking inventory and praying today. Later on this week, you will receive a letter detailing these things we have just gone over and along with a sample commitment card, so you will know just what it looks like and be able to ask me any questions about it.
So as I mentioned before, we are going to start a short series on giving. The Bible deals a lot with giving. And every year as we step into this time, we will also walk through the different aspects of giving that the Bible deals with.
The Ultimate Sacrifice
The Ultimate Sacrifice
But today, before we ever start talking about giving money or possessions or talents, I would like to talk about what it means to give ourselves.
We are going to be in Romans 12:1-2
1 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.
2 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.
Before we begin studying these verses, I have a question that I will repeat later.
“Don’t you think every Christian should be a Christian?”
We are going to unpack these verses and see exactly what they mean.
When we hear the words “Ultimate Sacrifice,” of what does it make you think? Someone sacrificing their life, someone losing their life to protect someone else or in the service of a worthy cause. We think of people like Jim Elliot who said this:
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” - Jim Elliot
How many of y’all are familiar with Jim Elliot?
Jim Elliot was a missionary to South America, hoping to contact a tribe that had a reputation for being absolutely brutal. Most of the people of that tribe had never seen what we would consider civilized people. When they did, they normally attacked them. This tribe of people, the Waodani, indigenous to Ecuador, was deemed savage by other indigenous tribes in the area. First contact for the purpose of establishing relations was made by Jim Elliot and four other missionaries who wanted to give them the Gospel. They landed a small plane on a sandbar near the Waorani village and had several friendly interactions with some of them. A few days later, the pilot observed ten Waorani men leave their village in the direction of the small airstrip they had made by the Curray River. These five men loaded up and landed on the airstrip, eager to meat the men and continue to build relationships, trust, and friendship. The missionaries had with them pistols, but had resolved not to use them against any of the Waorani tribe, and on January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Flemming, and Roger Youderian all met their death at the of Waodani spears.
We hear stories of men like these and we think, “They gave the ultimate sacrifice for the Gospel. They suffered the ultimate sacrifice in service of the Lord.” And I would not disagree. But January 8th, 1956 was not the day that they paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Jim Elliot and the others had sacrificed their lives years before that fateful day in Ecuador. They sacrificed their lives while still in the United States. They fully gave themselves to the Lord, indeed the died to their own selves before they had ever set foot in Ecuador.
The Least I Can Do
The Least I Can Do
We are plagued by the concept of doing the bare minimum. What is the least I can do and still pass? What is the least amount of work I can do and not get fired? Come finals time, I will have a handful of students that will ask me to simulate their grades and tell them what is the lowest they can get on the final and still pass the class. I get asked, “Do I have to do the homework from Spanish class?” And my answer is always the same, “If you want to pass, yes.”
Christians are plagued with this attitude as well. What is the least I can do? What is the least I can do to be a member of the church? Teach a kids class? Sure, what is the least amount of preparation that I can get away with?
Lead a home group? Fine, but I don;t want to do it more than ‘x’ amount of times.
Work in the nursery? Of course, but what is the least amount of times that I can help?
Follow Jesus? Yes, with all my heart! What is the least amount of time that I can pray for and still be good? What is the least amount of personal Bible study that I need to have and still be considered a disciple?
What is the least I can do?
Lets read Romans 12:1 again.
1 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.
Paul is saying, “I beseech you, I beg you. I am calling on you, brethren/fellow believers, by the mercies of God.” He is calling us to remember God’s mercies upon us. How have God’s mercies been manifested on us? Forgiveness of sin, adoption as children, acceptance when we didn’t deserve it. “By all those mercies, I am calling on all Christians to do a few things.”
Present Your Bodies…unto God
Present Your Bodies…unto God
Similarly to the phrase we saw at the beginning of the sermon, “Get all you can, can all you get, then sit on the can,” the word “present” has several meanings depending on its use.
In Spanish class, my Spanish 1 students are learning about ‘presentations.’ In English this normally would draw up the picture in our mind of doing a science fair exhibit or a PowerPoint presentation. In Spanish, it means ‘introduction.’ As in, “Let me present to you/introduce to you my professor, Mr. Jones.”
But the word for ‘present’ used here does not mean introduce and it does not mean to exhibit. Paul is not saying, “exhibit/show off your bodies.” He is not saying, “Introduce your body.” The word present here is use as a way of saying “to proffer, to yield, to offer up.” The Bible is telling us, “Offer up you body unto God.”
A Living Sacrifice
A Living Sacrifice
“How do we offer our bodies to God?” you might ask. Y’all are asking all the right questions, and this passage gives us the answer. As a “living sacrifice.”
But not a sacrifice of physical death. The sacrifices that the world and even the Jews were used to always involved killing something. There was no getting the sacrifice back. There was no money or goods exchanged for the sacrifice once offered. You took your lamb, your goat, your ram, or whatever animal you were going to sacrifice, and you killed it. Then you left it on the fire. The ones performing the sacrifice were not offering a butchery service. You didn’t go to sacrifice a lamb and walk away with a leg of lamb or two. You didn’t sacrifice your cow and get to keep some tomahawk steaks for yourself. Once you sacrificed it, it was gone. It was dead, and you got nothing back from it, except for whatever that sacrifice was for (sin, thanksgiving, etc).
This verse calls upon Christians to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. Dead, given over completely, fully burnt up, but still alive. It means that we offer our bodies, our lives to be used of God completely, with no reservations at all. None.
The sacrifices offered for sin and for praise and for thanksgiving were fully burned. All of the animal passed through the fire, not part of it and not most of it; all of it.
When we present ourselves as a living sacrifice, we understand that this is not death, but it is a complete surrender of every facet of our lives. Once we offer up the sacrifice, no part of us is untouched.
This word sacrifice is interesting. The verb form, to sacrifice, means ‘to put something to death, to slaughter as an offering.’ But the noun of the word sacrifice, which is the way it is used in this verse, means “the victim of the act of sacrifice.”
There are a lot of Christians with a victim mentality, but they got it all wrong. This is not holding the mentality that I am a victim of my feelings being hurt, or I am a victim of inconvenience, or I am a victim of an activity being changed and I don’t like it, or I am a victim of classes being shuffled around and schedules being changed and that inconveniences me. THAT is the wrong victim mentality. When we present our lives as a sacrifice, we are victims of death.
I worked with dead people for 3.5 years. For real, I worked at a funeral home for a few years. I transported dead bodies, sometimes in caskets, sometimes in boxes or crates, other times on gurneys, and sometimes in body bags. I bathed dead bodies. Washed them off. I shaved dead men’s faces. I cut dead people’s hair on a couple of occasions. I plucked and shaped eyebrows on bodies. Trimmed nose and ear hair. I dressed dead bodies, and put makeup on them. You know what? They never complained. They never said, “It’s too stuffy in this body bag. I don’t like the way you trimmed my beard. My the water is too cold. How about you use some shaving cream? Why are you using that tie? I never liked it while I was alive!” or anything like that. They just laid there. Quiet. Why? Because a dead person doesn’t care what clothes you put on their body. They don’t care how rough you are when you apply the makeup. And they don’t even care when you accidentally bang them on a doorway you’re rolling them through.
And it isn’t that they don’t care, it is that they CAN’T care. They are dead. There is no amount of discomfort that they can pay attention to anymore. I broke a poor woman’s hip while getting her ready for her funeral service, she didn’t even care. She couldn’t care. She was dead. Still is...
Too many Christians live ‘tortured lives.’ Everything is a big deal. Every discomfort and every inconvenience and every offence is torturous. Can I take the liberty of paraphrasing Paul a little? Just die already. Life is a whole lot better when you and I die.
Writing to the Christians at the church in Galatia, Paul gives himself as the example in Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth 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.
“I’m dead,” said Paul. “I am crucified. I am alive, but it is not me that is living, it is Jesus in me. My desires don’t drive me, my goals don’t drive me, you can’t offend me, bother me, or offend me. I am dead, and I live at the pleasure and by the power of Jesus Christ.”
Nate Saint was one of the five missionaries that were killed as they attempted to make friendly contact with the Waodani tribes. He was the pilot of the little plane. Before the missionaries took off that morning, Nate Saint and his son, Steve, had a conversation. With fear in his voice, a young Steve Saint asks his father, “If the Waorani attack, will you use your guns? Will you defend yourselves?”
To which Nate replied, “Son, we can’t shoot the Waodani. They are not ready for heaven; we are.”
After his father died, Nate Saint’s sister decided to live with the Waodani tribe along with Elisabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot’s wife after they successfully made peaceful contact with the Waodanis. When he was 10, Steve Saint began to spend summers with his aunt among the Waodani. He met Mincaye, the man who killed his father, though at the time he didn’t know it. Mincaye along with many others of the tribe had accepted Jesus as their savior because of the testimony of Elisabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint. At the age of 36, Steve returned to Ecuador when his aunt Rachel died. They buried her there in Ecuador. During that trip, Mincaye took Steve by canoe to the place where he and other men from the tribe had attacked the missionaries. Steve had never been there. Mincaye dug up a part of Nate Saint’s airplane. Looking at Steve with tears on his face and guilt in his soul, Mincaye said, “This is where it happened. They didn’t shoot us! This is where I speared your father.” Waodani tradition dictated that Steve, as the oldest male, was supposed to avenge the death of his father, and now, Mincaye had revealed himself as the killer.
Mincaye walked over to the canoe, pulled a spear out, held the point to his chest and placed the staff in Steve’s hand. “Kill me!” he exclaimed. But as Steve Saint looked at Mincaye, he dropped the spear and said, “Nobody took my father’s life. He gave it.”
Nate Saint and the other missionaries had sacrificed their lives fully, long before encountering the Waodani. These men were no fools. They gave what they could not keep, their lives. They Gave them to God lang before they were killed. And gained rewards they will never loose.
A Holy Sacrifice
A Holy Sacrifice
We not only are to be a living sacrifice, but when we present ourselves as such, we need to present ourselves as a holy sacrifice. What does Holy mean? The word “holy” here is a Greek word, hagios. Hagios means “morally pure, religious, fully consecrated.” Consecrated means - made or declared sacred; dedicated formally to a divine purpose.
We are to be fully, completely dedicated to God’s purposes and morally pure, not living in sin, not practicing sin, not comfortable with sin, and not OK with it.
Acceptable unto God
Acceptable unto God
We are not only to present ourselves unto God as holy sacrifices, but we are to be acceptable unto Him. The first recorded sacrifices made by man to the Lord were the offerings of Cain and Able. Cain’s offering was unacceptable, but Able’s was pleasing unto the Lord. Cain’s life was unrighteous, and when he offered his offering to the Lord, because his heart was not right, Cain’s offering was not acceptable.
This word, acceptable, means fully agreeable, well-pleasing.
I sacrifice so much for God. I teach kids, I work in the nursery, I host a home group, etc. But do you do it in a way that is fully consecrated? Do you live for the Lord outside of those times? Do you do things with a right heart and a right attitude? Or do you mumble and complain while you are sacrificing?
Remember, it is not your service that is the sacrifice, it is you. And if your heart is not right, then you are not an acceptable sacrifice unto God.
So, who should be a sacrifice like this? Pastors, missionaries, evangelists, teachers, worship leaders? Yes…but also every. single. Christian. This is the least you an I can do.
Our Logical Service
Our Logical Service
Romans 12:1 (KJV 1900)
1 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.
The word translated “reasonable” in this verse comes from the Greek work logikos. This is the same word that we get the word “logical” from. In fact, it holds the same meaning.
The only logical thing for you and I to do as Christians is to present our bodies and our lives, every aspect of them, to the Lord as fully consecrated to Him with a pure heart so that He can have absolute control over us. This is the only logical thing to do. You might say, “Bro. Mike, be reasonable. This is extreme! This is expecting way too much out of me. I’m not a pastor. That is for pastors.”
But I will remind you that the first part of this verse says, “I beseech you, Brethren.” Not “pastors.” Not “ministry leaders.” BRETHREN. For every, single Christian, presenting your life in this manner is the ONLY reasonable thing to do. This IS the least you can do and still be considered a reasonable Christian. This is our reasonable and logical service. It is logical because God gave everything to us, so it stands to reason that while we were undeserving and recieved everything from Him, that He being worthy, should get every part of us.
The word “service” means worship. This is what brings acceptable worship to God.
This is the basic of the most basic Christianity.
I ask again, Don’t you think every Christian should be a Christian? This is what it means to be a Christian. Fully consecrated, fully surrendered to God, and fully dead to self. This is basic Christianity. This is not “above and beyond” Christianity. This is the most basic. The least you and I could ever do to be able to render worship to God.
How in the world are we to accomplish that?
Change the Way You Think
Change the Way You Think
2 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.
That word “prove” means to discern, to know. The only way to know what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God is for you to change the way you think.
Stop thinking of yourself as alive. You need to be dead to yourself. Stop getting defensive, stop getting offended, stop being driven by your desires, your preferences, your goals, or your dreams. You’re dead, remember? And not just on Sundays, your dead on Mondays, and Thursday evenings, and Saturday afternoons. You’re dead when expectations are not met. So dead, in fact, that you can’t even get offended by it. Dead people are pretty much dead all the time. What drives us now is Jesus, everyday. That is it.
Start thinking of yourself as completely consecrated to God’s divine purpose in your life. Start thinking of yourself as holy. You’re not just holy on Sunday morning, you’re holy every day. You’re consecrated to God’s will on Tuesday morning before your morning coffee. You’re holy on Friday when all your work friends are at happy hour. You’re holy on Saturday morning when you wanted to sleep in, but your kids woke you up.
Stop thinking you are alive to your own self, get into the mindset that you have been consecrated to do God’s will, and get in the mindset that you are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a righteously acceptable life unto God.
Start actively seeking the will of God in your life. Look around you so that you can discern what God is doing around you and where He is guiding you.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Are you a Christian? Are you at least doing the basics of Christianity? There is a hymn that asks the question, “Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the Spirit control? You can only be blessed, and have peace and sweet rest, as you yield Him your body and soul?”
This may be an odd way to kick off a series on giving, but ultimately, the most important gift we can give to God is ourselves to be controlled by Him. Before we can cheerfully and generously give to the church, give to the needy, or give to missions, we must first start with ourselves. Give all of yourself to the Lord.
INVITATION: Stop recording, start music
There are so many unhappy Christians. So many Christians without love, peace, or joy. Every little thing sets them off, and they are offended at every turn. Offense happens when we aren’t dead to self. Isn’t it about time you just died to yourself and started to let Jesus live through you?
Is there anyone that would say with an uplifted hand, “Pastor, if I am honest, I have not offered my life up as a true living sacrifice that is acceptable unto God. Would you pray for me.”
If you raised your hand, then I am going to ask that you come here to the altar and get that settled with the Lord right now as the music plays.
Not saved? This is what it means to be a Christian. It means I repent of my sins, I turn away from them and in faith, I recognize that Jesus died to pay my sins and rose again on the third day. I then ask Jesus for the salvation he so freely gives to those that believe and ask for it.
This is how to become a Christian, but to live life like a Christian is to die to self and to live for God.
STOP MUSIC
Life Groups
Life Groups
What spoke to you, what stood out to you?
Why would Romans 12:1 be good place to start when starting a series on giving?
2. For you in this church, what does it mean to present yourself to God as a living sacrifice?
3. What does that look like in your daily life?
4. What comes to mind when you here the phrase “the ultimate sacrifice”?
5. Why is having a “bare minimum” mentality so harmful for our lives as Christians and for God’s work?
What are some example of “bare minimum” in the areas of ministry in which you serve?
6. How is death to self reflected in how we deal with discomforts and disappointments?
7. Why is changing the way we think so crucial to how we serve and worship God?
8. Why is complete and total surrender the only logical act of worship we could offer to God?
9. Have you given the ultimate sacrifice yet?
