Sacrifice II

Long before one got to the Tabernacle or the Temple of the Old Testament era, he would be aware of the sacrifices being offered.  The smoke rose up and odor filled the 

countryside. That is an image that is often used to describe the sacrifices in the Bible.   Actually there were two altars in the Old Testament system of worship.  The Altar of Incense, where sweet-smelling incense was offered, and the Brass Altar used for the sacrifice of animals.  Any of us who have left meat on the grill too long are familiar with the rather acrid smell of burning flesh, but it would appear from Ephesians 5:2 that even those animal sacrifices produced an aroma that pleases God.
Hebrews 13:15, compares our praise and thanksgiving to those sacrifices, ". . . let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name."  Psalm 141:2, Revelation 5:8, & 8:3 compare the prayers of God's people to those sacrifices.
We tend to think of prayer as something we do because we want something.  When we look at the model prayer that Jesus gave us as our example for addressing God, we find it has much more to do with what God deserves than with what I desire.  It begins,
 

    “Father, may your name be kept holy.
      May your Kingdom come soon."  
(Luke 11:2, New Living Translation)

When I address my Heavenly Father in sincere praise and thanksgiving, He is pleased.  He is certainly worthy of my worship, and so much more.

"We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord."  (Maranatha  Music)  When I consider that since Jesus death, and resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, believers in Christ are the Lord's Temple, that opens-up the offering of this sacrifice to anytime, anywhere possibilities.

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.
 

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.

Who's It About, Anyway?

Lots of what passes for Christian teaching in our day has to do with success.  God will make us better, richer, prettier, skinnier, more influential, etc., etc., on and on.
Underneath all these claims there is a bit of truth--sort of.
When we live by God's principles there is a change that takes place in our lives.  It affects every part of us.  Food is no longer one of our gods so gluttony with its accompanying results no longer tends to plague us.  Wasteful and destructive habits tend to be controlled so, quite often as our waistline shrinks our bank account swells.  Bad habits often produce bad results.  Deal with those destructive patterns and quite likely the outcomes will improve.  People who seek to live by Biblical virtues like goodness, kindness, mercy, truth-telling are probably going to get along better with the people in their lives.  Other thing being equal it will help their marriage, and make them better parents.
Christianity is not, however, primarily about me. 
The ultimate criteria of the success of the universe is not whether or not life has been good for me.  In the final analysis it is about whether or not God is pleased.  Ephesians 1:6 tells us that what God is doing, He is doing so it will result in the "praise of the glory of His grace." 
So let's learn from God's word, let's follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and gain encouragement from fellowship with God's people.  There is certainly nothing wrong with enjoying those benefits, in fact our enjoyment of them is part of what brings glory to our Heavenly Father.  Let's make sure, however, that we don't try to pervert the plan of God into something that is all about me.

It isn't.

It's STTA.

  

Find out more about God's plan here.  Write to find out more.