Sacrifice, III

“And do not neglect doing good and sharing,
for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” 
(Hebrews 13:16, NASB95)  

I Peter 2:5 says that part of God's purpose in drawing people to Himself and making them His children is so they can "offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Many think that Christians are people who do good deeds in order to earn their way to heaven--sort of a celestial barter system.  The reality is, Followers-of-Jesus engage in good works because they are on their way to heaven.  They have been   “rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred . . . to the kingdom of His beloved Son,” (Colossians 1:13).  Ultimately this Kingdom will overcome all the consequences of sin and death in this world.  The "whole creation," which "groans and travails" in it's current state, will one day be "be set free from its slavery to corruption" (Romans 8:21).
Clearly part of our worship of our Redeemer-God is to join with Him in doing Good works in this fallen world.  We cannot, by our human efforts, reverse the curse of sin, but we can--to use a former president's image--create points of light.  Properly done, and accompanied with appropriate Gospel witness, these points of light point to the Light of the world, Who is Jesus.

Christ-follower, find something good to do today.  Do it in the name of, and for the glory of the Lord.  It is a sacrifice with which God is pleased.

It's Something to Think About.

This STTA is part of a series inspired by Pastor Doug Williams's message from last Sunday.  In his handout he suggested that we look at these Bible verses to investigate "spiritual sacrifices": Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:15-16, Philippians 4:18, Romans 15:15-16.  We are doing that in this week's STTAs.  You can read past STTAs here.
Here is an article that explores the relationship between what God is doing in individual hearts and what He is doing in the world.
 

God's Story in His Own Words. a message composed of nothing but Scripture that presents the flow of Divine Revelation from "In the beginning," to the final "Amen."

You can find directions for getting where you really want to go here.