by Recently, I pondered this word since reading a devotion. Over the years, to me, it’s become evident as people dwell in their “cieled houses” and many churches “lie waste” (Haggai 1:4) that most modern-day Christians have no idea what it means to sacrifice. Greed, the love of money, and the pursuit of status have become integral to daily life.
Many churches are floundering due to the lack of tithes and offerings required by God (Malachi 3:8) and/or the lack of sacrifice. “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.” (Romans 12:1).
Revival…send revival…the preachers preach, and the articles are written, but until Christians learn what sacrifice is, can there be revival? The old song titled “Revive Us Again,” written by William MacKay, (public domain), is a well-known song in churches. That last phrase begins with “Revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love…” The phrase “fill each heart with Thy love” nails it. Until Christians fill their hearts with God’s love and their love for God, can there be revival?
Presently, I see hearts filled with greed, selfishness, the love of money, and climbing an imaginary social ladder of success in Christianity. So how can hearts be filled with God’s love and a love towards God that sacrifice can be done according to the Bible? The word sacrifice must be analyzed and studied.
Most people know about the Old Testament sacrifices. The priests worked hard, sacrificing the animals as an atonement for sin, and the animals sacrificed their lives. Webster’s 1828 defines sacrifice as something that is destroyed or killed. If something is destroyed or killed, it becomes a sacrifice. Let’s flip that thought. If nothing is killed or destroyed—it isn’t a sacrifice.
Now, let’s tear apart some famous verses on sacrifice:
Hebrews 13:15-16 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 16But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
This says praising God continually is a sacrifice. How? In the flesh, when things are going badly, we want to complain, whine, and moan. We don’t focus on praising God. So, it becomes a sacrifice to put aside the sinful flesh and focus on praising God instead. How do we praise God? It’s not just in words. It’s in church attendance, tithing, and exhorting (encouraging) other believers. Then it becomes a sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice getting the children to all the church services. It’s a sacrifice to give tithes when there is no money in the bank for the mortgage. It’s a sacrifice when the body is aching to get out of the comfort of the pew and go sit next to another believer and exhort and encourage.
Remember our song phrase “Revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love…” Sacrificing in the areas of church attendance, tithing, and exhorting empties the heart of greed, loving money, and climbing the social ladder. It starts to fill hearts with loving God because we are being obedient to His Word.
Hebrews 13:16 above mentions “But to do good…” Many Christians have the ‘do good’ down pact, but their ‘do good’ isn’t a sacrifice. It’s a ‘do good’ when I can and when I have the money to. If that is the only way that someone ‘does good’—it’s no sacrifice.
Remember, the definition of sacrifice is to kill and destroy. If nothing is killed or destroyed, it’s not a sacrifice. For example, if doing good hasn’t killed or destroyed the finances—it isn’t a sacrifice. Now a financial destruction doesn’t have to be thousands of dollars, although for some it may be. It could be ten dollars that was put aside for milk and bread, but giving that ten dollars to someone worse off is a sacrifice because it means the giver could go without bread and milk for a week. That is destroying something. It’s destroying the desire for bread and milk for a week to help someone worse off.
On a bigger scale, the sizes of some of the modern-day “cieled houses” could be smaller so the church building can get tithes and update the air conditioning unit, fix the roof, or other necessities that churches are going without because members aren’t tithing but enjoying their grand ‘cieled houses.’ For example, instead of having 4,000 square feet homes to roam around in, families might have to make do with 2,000 square feet. Families could decide to do without and kill a desire to have something, so the church can go on and be a witness in the community to the lost and see souls saved. If families learned to do without and sacrifice, Biblically, imagine the impact on the children.
Is a picture being painted of what a sacrifice is? I hope. If the giver isn’t killing or destroying a desire for something—it’s not a sacrifice. It’s just ‘good works’ but not a sacrifice.
John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” This is a sacrifice. A person who is willing to die for another. True stories have been told of parents dying rescuing a child from a burning building or a swimmer drowning while rescuing another swimmer from a rip tide. This is true sacrifice. These people lost their lives for another. Jesus left the glories of heaven to live in this horrible world for thirty-three years. Then he died that horrible agonizing death on the cross for sinners to be saved. He sacrificed his life for us.
Someone with heaps of money tossing a small gift to someone lower on the social ladder isn’t sacrificing anything—it’s just a “good work.” If the giver isn’t killing or destroying something of their own to give a gift—it’s not a sacrifice.
Now to the famous Romans 12:1 “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.” If we are going to be “a living sacrifice,” it’s going to cost something. Something must be killed or destroyed. Could it be the greed to attain a special something, or the love of more money to work more hours, or the desire to move up the social ladder? To be a sacrifice, something must be destroyed—it must hurt. The giver—in the flesh—would probably gringe and be aggravated. Remember, it’s important how we give.
II Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” In my life, I’ve had the blessed privilege of knowing only a few people who truly understood what it meant to sacrifice and help others, and they’ve done it with a cheerful heart, where the receiver didn’t feel bad for taking something they gave. They sacrificed for another. They did it sincerely, cheerfully, because they loved their Lord, and both giver and receiver were blessed. I remember crying over an envelope given to me by a dear friend, now with her Saviour, that had several dollars in it. It wasn’t the amount that I cried over, but the fact that I knew that amount had cost my dear friend to go without some things so that I could have a few things I needed. That’s sacrifice. That’s what Jesus did for us on the cross. He gave us so that we could have something we needed—eternal life in heaven.
It is my thought that not until the modern-day Christians truly learn what it means to sacrifice and learn what it means to “fill each heart with Thy love” and to fill their hearts with their love towards their Saviour, Revival will never come to the churches. It’s not too late. Until God calls us home, it’s never too late. However, if he calls us home tomorrow, it could be too late for the neighbor, friend, or co-worker, or family member who never got saved because Christians never grasped what it meant to be a “living sacrifice” and loose some time or money to talk to someone about Jesus.
Revive Us Again by William MacKay, (public domain)
1 We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love—
for Jesus, who die, and is now gone above.
Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Hallelujah! Amen!
Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Revive us again.
2 We praise Thee, O God, for Thy Spirit of Light
who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. [Refrain]
3 All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain,
who has borne all our sins and has cleansed ev’ry stain. [Refrain]
4 Revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love.
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. [Refrain]
