Christian Living

---

"He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)

We all live a life of sacrifice one way or another. I sacrifice too much of my time, talent, and treasure for things that have no eternal value when all has come to its end. Some sacrifice is painless, and some are painful, but we look to see their value. Many, if not most of us do, and we do not give it so much thought along the way. Today I was looking at what is worth in the things I do. I as all hustle and bustle to survive in this world we live in. it is necessary to work. For most of my life, I have been short-sighted and worked for the benefit of payday. Later in life, I have lifted my perspective to the eternal view where the larger part of life will be spent. How much of my sacrifice has been an investment in the long view?
Sacrifice has been around since the fall of Adam and Eve into disobedience of God’s Word. At the serpent’s persuasion, they ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil, and the paradise they lived in changed. Sin entered their lives, and sin broke the fellowship between them and their Creator. They became ashamed when evil, perverse thoughts came into their minds for the first time. Once they were clothed in the glory of their Creator, and now they are naked with lustful thoughts. They gathered leaves and covered their bodies, and they were ashamed to be in God’s presence. The Lord God Almighty came looking for them and saw their nakedness and slew animals to cover their nakedness. Thus, the first sacrifice. "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them." (Genesis 3:21)
Adam and Eve and humanity to come was cursed with death, as God had told them if they ate of the forbidden tree, they would die, not only physically but spiritually. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23). God also promised a Savior in Genesis 3:15. From that day on, animal sacrifice was a way of life to take the best of the male flock and sacrifice it to the Lord for sin atonement. Through faith, God’s people believed the sacrificed animal life satisfied God’s curse of death.
Sin separates people from God. Sin breaks the clear path of communication we have with God. "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear." (Isaiah 59:2). In the Old Testament, the only way for God’s people to be free of the death curse was through animal sacrifice.
Moses came along with the Law of God, explaining the sacrificial system the Israelites were to obey. There was one law in Leviticus that was for a full-bodied sacrifice. "Now if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he is going to offer out of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before the LORD. He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slay it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood around on the altar." (Leviticus 3:1-2)
In the New Testament, Jesus was the sacrifice for our sins, and the Son of God’s sacrifice fulfilled the sacrificial system. His sacrifice has atoned for the sins of the world. The wage of sin is death, and when we sin, we are subject to the full wrath of God and the second death. Something has to die, if not ourselves. On this side of the cross, we live in the church age where Jesus has made the perfect sacrifice for us and paid humanity's sin debt. The express purpose of Jesus was to live in righteousness and pay the sin debt for those who believe in His name. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:10)
Jesus made the connection between the curse of death and the way of eternal life. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23). Jesus took on our sin and canceled the certificate of debt our sins have created. "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Colossians 2:14)
Today we have the council of the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin as we stumble and fall into sinful acts. As weak as I am, I confess and repent much too often and shutter to teach without being prayed up. I need a counselor to guide me through this darkened world of wickedness. God will dwell within us by His Holy Spirit, and we will know Him as He is in us. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (John 14:26)
I suffer to understand how people can set aside so great a love that their Creator would sacrifice Himself that we may live eternally with Him, as unworthy as we have been. The Creator of our life loved us so much that He paid the wage of our sinful lives and, by His grace, offered salvation through faith to all who will accept it. Why wouldn’t those who sit comfortably in the pews not sacrifice their time, talent, and treasure to testify of His love to their friends? Was the price not high enough to present our bodies a living holy sacrifice as a spiritual service of worship? "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." (Romans 12:1)
The key here is this, “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.” We present our whole bodies as a living sacrifice. In Leviticus, we read this. “He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering.” (Leviticus 3:1-2) They laid their hand on the head to identify with the sacrifice. To identify with our sacrifice, we lay our heart to the heart of Jesus that we can identify with Him. It is our way of drawing near to Him so God can draw near to us. "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." (James 4:8)

God being near to us prevents us from falling into sinful activities. He is the Father who is able to “deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13) Being near to the Father when we step from the path, He will call us back by shutting doors we cannot shut, or for His glory, opening doors we cannot open. Habits are easy to develop. It is breaking a habit that is hard. Starting our day in His word is a habit that will overcome all the bad habits or prevent us from developing new ones. Faith in Jesus will force a change of old habits. "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)
Paul continues the thought. "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2) The blessing is if we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice of service, then the Holy Spirit will lead us away from the pitfalls, and the habit of following the Spirit will bring us into a mindset of Christ-likeness. When I remain in the Lord’s presence, many of the evil thoughts and deeds I would have done cannot be done in His presence. Jesus will never forsake us, and when we side sept from the path, He will convict us by His Spirit.
The bondage of sin has caused me to sacrifice so much to support that sin. That was the old self, the self-sacrifices to be His gospel message, a light of His truth in a dark world lifting the name of Jesus, so others will know I am a king’s kid.
"For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin." (Romans 6:5-7)
The Christian is to be a living sacrifice as a spiritual service of worship for the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Lord Jesus Christ. “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10:10)
Thomas N Kirkpatrick
First Baptist Church of Durant, November 11/16/2021

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR