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1 Peter 2:1-5
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can also download our service at Baptist-Christian at iTunes. In our culture and society the word sacrifice has a negative connotation. Refer to Mr. Webster and you will understand why. However, if we look at Scripture, we will see because of the Resurrection, God has given a whole new perspective to sacrifice. Let’s consider sacrifice from the viewpoint of three of the most influential teachers in the New Testament.
- CHRIST’S TEACHING ABOUT SACRIFICE. We get only 3 chapters and 15 verses into Scripture before we learn God will provide a Redeemer for us. In Lev. 17 we learn the price for sin is life for life. Sacrifice is a synonym for death! When we begin to understand the true meaning of sacrifice we will discover that our current philosophy of sacrificing only part of our lives to God is impossible. No animal was ever partially dead! Now, read John 10:14-18 and focus on 18. Christ teaches us the NT concept of sacrifice is that it is voluntary! Jesus makes it crystal clear that He gave His life it was not taken from Him! A life sacrificed to God means that life is given in desire to serve. The amazing truth is that once a true Christian offers their life to God, He then gives it back better than it could have been without offering it to Him.
- PETER’S TEACHING ABOUT SACRIFICE! Our focal passage today helps us understand Peter’s perspective on sacrifice. If you want to see how God hakes a man from humanism to spiritual maturity, study the life of Peter. He teaches us sacrifice is spiritual, not just physical. Read all of chapter one in this letter and you’ll see God has given us eternal life and an inheritance that’s impervious to earthly destruction. Spiritual sacrifice means we die to self, not to life! We are God-oriented, not self-oriented! We voluntarily offer God the real us-our hear/mind/soul/strength. It is in essence giving back to God (through daily submission) a life He gave to us in Christ.
- PAUL’S TEACHING ABOUT SACRIFICE! Read Rom. 12:1, 2. What Paul is teaching is that the sacrifice God expects from true Christians is not beyond the realm of possibility. Paul teaches us the NT concept of sacrifice is reasonable. Another way of looking at it is whatever God requires of us in salvation can be reasoned in one’s mind to be within the realm of possibility. God tells us to do only those things He knows we can already do through the indwelling Holy Spirit. When we come to God with a truly broken and contrite heart that recognizes the magnitude of our salvation and offer back to Him the life He gave us, God then begins to work in us from the inside out. Gradually, the inside work begins to show on the outside. Such wonderful results then cause us to see that even physical life is worth living because it is filled with God’s blessings to us. If you are living with the OT view of sacrifice and see it as a burden, move into the NT where voluntary sacrifice of your spirit is most reasonable.
You will be glad you did. If we can help you answer your spiritual questions, call us at (574) 643-9419.
