A Sacrifice of Praise

The thought of living as the famous characters of the Old Testament did scares me.  A lot.  To say that they had it rough is putting it mildly; plagues, famine, flood, and, not to mention, their phonebook-thick book of rules give me the anxious hives just to think about!  Their lives were not simple, and their relationship with God was a complicated one.

One of the most fascinating, hard-to-understand practices of the Old Testament was the practice of bringing an offering before the Lord.  Not only were there different types of offerings based upon your particular transgression at the moment, but there were also extremely strict, detailed rules about how and when to prepare and present each offering in the Temple.  

Here's a CliffsNotes version of the five offerings seen in the OT:

• BURNT OFFERING (bull, ram or bird with no defect) a voluntary act of worship; atonement for unintentional sin in general; expression of devotion, commitment and complete surrender to God (Lev. 1, 6:8-13, 8:18-21, 16:24)
• GRAIN OFFERING (grain, fine flour, olive oil, incense, baked bread, salt, no yeast or honey) a voluntary act of worship; recognition of God's goodness and provisions; devotion to God (Lev. 2, 6:14-23)
• PEACE OFFERING (any animal without defect from herd or flock; variety of breads) a voluntary act of worship; thanksgiving and fellowship (includes a communal meal); included vow offerings, thanksgiving offerings and freewill offerings (Lev. 3, 7:11-34)
• SIN OFFERING (young bull, male goat, female goat or lamb, dove or pigeon, and 1/10 ephah of fine flour) a mandatory atonement for specific unintentional sin; confession of sin; forgiveness of sin; cleansing from defilement (Lev. 4, 5:1-13, 6:24-30, 8:14-17, 16:3-22)
• TRESPASS OFFERING (ram) a mandatory atonement for unintentional sin requiring restitution; cleansing from defilement (Lev. 5:14-19, 6:1-7, 7:1-6)

For those of us who live in the 21st century and embrace a relationship with the Lord where grace is at the core, this seems a bit out there.  All we have to do is pray and ask Him for forgiveness of our sins, and...yeah, we're done.  However, the more I have considered this thought, the more I realize that we still must bring a sacrifice before the Lord, and it will often cost us just as much.  These sacrifices do not mean for us the difference between heaven and hell, but they very much are at the center of any healthy relationship with Him.  

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 13:7-16:

"Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.  

Do not be carried away by all kids of strange teachings.  It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.  We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.  And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood.  Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore.  For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.  And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." 

I love how the Lord weaves a thread through the Old Testament and into the New.  He makes it clear that we no longer bring blood offerings, or must partake in ceremonial meals, in order to be made right with God; the ultimate blood sacrifice was made through the death of His Son.  However, He still urges us to consider the leaders of old, those who did live under the law, and to learn from their way of life and their faith-walk with the Lord.

I believe that we, as children of the Most High, must still bring sacrifices before the Lord.  What good is any relationship if you don't have to make sacrifices to elevate the other's worth above your own?

Our sacrifice is no longer one of flesh and blood, but a sacrifice of praise (v. 15).  Our lives are to be lived as a reflection of His glory, and our posture must be one of consistent and continual praise for who He is and what He has done on our behalf.

Just as there were five offerings outlined in Leviticus, I think we should constantly check ourselves against the following five ways of bringing offerings of praise to the Lord with our own lives so that we are living in remembrance of what God has done to bring us freedom from the law and into His glorious grace.

• TIME OFFERING (Psalm 46:10) "Be still and know..." is a direct command given to us in the Word of God, yet how often to we really do this?  In a world where the clock runs down more quickly each day and we pack our schedules full of "good" things, we must sacrifice our precious time by making time with the Lord our first priority.  "Even if it cuts into my time for housework, my time for my children, etc?"  YES!  By giving the offering of time to Him, we will be filled and refreshed to make better use of the rest of the time in our day, more able to love our children and husbands, more willing to run our households for His glory and fame, not our own.  We must give our time to Him and He will be faithful to give back to us even more.
• AGENDA OFFERING (Matthew 26:36-39)  Even God's own Son, Jesus, offered His will to God, seeing it as a worthy, necessary offering in order that God might receive praise.  In the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray before He was arrested and put to death, He spoke to God and shared His own desires, His own sorrow.  Scripture says He was "troubled," probably because He could see that the outcome of His current situation (death) might not be in line with what He naturally desired (life).  He said to His disciples that His soul was "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death."  He sweated blood.  He was FEARFUL!  Yet, even in the face of the painful death He knew was coming His way, He fell to His face before the Lord and said, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will."  He sacrificed His will, His desired outcomes, His control for the ultimate praise and honor of His Father.  We must follow His example and sacrifice our agendas, trusting that our Heavenly Father knows best and will be made famous through each moment of our lives, and as He sees fit.
• PRIDE OFFERING (Proverbs 22:4)  Scripture says that the wages of humility are "riches and honor and life."  In sacrificing our pride and being brought to a place of humility, we are receiving from Him back more than we could ever dream for ourselves.  We honor Him by sacrificing our pride, and in turn He honors us with spiritual riches and authentic, joyful life.  In order to be real before the Lord and to live a life that brings Him the sacrifice of our praise, we must humble ourselves before Him and others, reflecting the goodness of God and that He saw fit to save us as we were, wretches and full of sin.
• SELF OFFERING (1 Peter 4:10-11)  In order to praise God with our lives, we must empty ourselves of self, and instead allow Him to fill us to the brim with His Holy Spirit so that others might see His majesty.  All we are is "stewards of God's grace," and our behavior should be a reflection of that to those watching.  If we speak, we must sacrifice our own words as an offering of self, speaking instead "the very words of God."  In all we do and in all service, we must do it all "with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ."  To rid ourselves of all selfishness, we must daily allow Him to cleanse our hearts and minds through confession of sin, and then open ourselves to His Holy Spirit.  This will bring Him glory even in the simplest things.
• LIFE OFFERING (Matthew 16:24-27)  "...whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul."  What a profound statement from the Son of God!  Sometimes what we hold most tightly to is the very thing that God is calling us to lay down in surrender to Him.  In our current day and culture, at least in the USA, losing our lives in a literal sense in order to defend our faith is not a common story.  And I don't believe that Jesus was only talking about life and death.  I believe He meant that, in order to truly live, to truly exemplify a praise-giving relationship with Him, we must be willing to give ALL of our time, ALL of our agenda, ALL of our pride, ALL of ourselves.  We must be willing to give ALL.  Period.  Whether it means literally laying down our very lives for the sake of the Gospel, or whether it means laying down everything we hold dear, everything that brings us security, everyone and every relationship in our lives for the sake of bringing a sacrifice of praise to Him, this is what we must do.  This is the greatest sacrifice of all because it is all-encompassing, but it will also bring the most glory and honor to Him, the One who is worthy.  Romans 11:36, 12:1-2 says, "For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever!  Amen.  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."  In view of His mercy, in light of all He has given, in light of all He has done, in light of the fact that we have only glimpsed a fragment of His goodness and still it is overwhelming and beyond our understanding, what else can we do but offer all of us for all of Him?

A sacrifice of praise is a privilege to bring before Him.  The very fact that He allows us to have an open line of communication with Him through the blood of His Son is humbling.  We no longer have to go through the lifelong process of rites and rituals in order to be made right with Him.  We no longer have to approach a high priest to intervene and approach God on our behalf.  We can approach THE High Priest, the highest of all, at any time and for any need.  Once we are made right with Him through accepting the blood of Jesus as atonement for our sins, we are right with Him for eternity.  There is no longer any fear, any condemnation, for we are in Christ Jesus and He is in us.  A sacrifice of praise, a life of reflecting His glory, is a natural response to His ultimate sacrifice when we truly understand it, and the only thing we can do is praise Him because He is so worthy.