Sacrifice exemplifies the HUMILITY, and the LOVE, HE demands of HIS own!!!
We are born to SERVE; first THE LORD, then others, and so, one can see that sacrifice IS one with our walk with *GOD*! To SERVE has many definitions, though, as Children of *GOD*, it means to do the same as CHRIST did/does, to live to fulfill THE WILL of *GOD*, which includes a great many standards, conditions, behaviours, and characteristics, THAT we are enabled to serve others...
The self we are to hang on our cross, IS the gateway to err, to sin, as we are weak when it comes to appeasing ourselves, IF we are unlearned, and uncontrolled! We LONG to satisfy our desires, our wants, our every whim, regardless of the fact that nothing we do to please the self, lasts long, or is favourable in *GOD'S* sight! And so, we are required to leave the carnal flesh, and egocentric behind, to SERVE *GOD*, and others. In doing so, we GAIN, more than we might imagine, or see in this time frame, yet, the more we give, sacrifice, and deny of the self, the more BLESSED we are...
CHRIST JESUS NEVER did ANY wrong; HE NEVER sinned, HE NEVER erred, yet, because of LOVE, HE DIED in a tragic, horrible way, for OUR errs, and sins! THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, of which, as we become one with HIM, we are enjoined! Yes, sacrifice IS part, and parcel to THE COVENANT OF RECONCILIATION!!!
From way back in history, humanity has misunderstood sacrifice, and *GOD* left abundant indication of the sacrifice which pleased HIM! HE eventually became irritated with the people for their constant, albeit, insincere sacrifices of animals, incense, and fasting, and TRIED to explain to them what TRUE SACRIFICE was, though, to this date, it is not well understood...
ISAIAH 58...
1/ Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2/ They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
3/ "Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?" Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
4/ Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
5/ Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6/ This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
7/ Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
8/ Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9/ Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
10/ If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
11/ Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.
12/ The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; "Repairer of the breach," they shall call you, "Restorer of ruined homesteads."
13/ If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD'S holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice--
14/ Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Merely external worship does not avail with God; it must be joined to internal sincerity.
A fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin, and does not promote the putting away of sin, it is not a fast. These professors had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts. But they indulged pride, covetousness, and malignant passions.
To be liberal and merciful is more acceptable to God than mere fasting, which, without them, is vain and hypocritical. Many who seem humble in God's house, are hard at home, and harass their families.
But no man's faith justifies, which does not work by love.
Yet persons, families, neighbourhoods, churches, or nations, show repentance and sorrow for sin, by keeping a fast sincerely, and, from right motives, repenting, and doing good works. The heavy yoke of sin and oppression must be removed. As sin and sorrow dry the bones and weaken the strongest human constitution; so the duties of kindness and charity strengthen and refresh both body and mind.
Those who do justly and love mercy, shall have the comfort, even in this world. Good works will bring the blessing of God, provided they are done from love to God and man, and wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit.
You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.
These verses seem to contain the substance of Balak's consultation with Balaam how to obtain the favour of Israel's God. Deep conviction of guilt and wrath will put men upon careful inquiries after peace and pardon, and then there begins to be some ground for hope of them.
In order to God's being pleased with us, our care must be for an interest in the atonement of Christ, and that the sin by which we displease him may be taken away. What will be a satisfaction to God's justice? In whose name must we come, as we have nothing to plead as our own? In what righteousness shall we appear before him?
The proposals betray ignorance, though they show zeal. They offer that which is very rich and costly. Those who are fully convinced of sin, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, would give all the world, if they had it, for peace and pardon. Yet they do not offer aright. The sacrifices had value from their reference to Christ; it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. And all proposals of peace, except those according to the gospel, are absurd.
They could not answer the demands of Divine justice, nor satisfy the wrong done to the honour of God by sin, nor would they serve at all in place of holiness of the heart and reformation of the life.
Men will part with any thing rather than their sins; but they part with nothing so as to be accepted of God, unless they do part with their sins.
Moral duties are commanded because they are good for man. In keeping God's commandments there is a great reward, as well as after keeping them. God has not only made it known, but made it plain.
The good which God requires of us is, not the paying a price for the pardon of sin and acceptance with God, but love to himself; and what is there unreasonable, or hard, in this? Every thought within us must be brought down, to be brought into obedience to God, if we would walk comfortably with him. We must do this as penitent sinners, in dependence on the Redeemer and his atonement. Blessed be the Lord that he is ever ready to give his grace to the humble, waiting penitent.
We imagine sacrifice to mean this, or that, but, all we have to do is to study *GOD'S* WORD, to show ourselves approved, for then, we are knowledgeable, and understanding in ALL matters pertaining to our role, and duties in the HOLY HOUSEHOLD OF *GOD*! We FORGET that HE doesn't think like we do, doesn't see as we do, doesn't do much of anything as we do; HE IS *GOD*, and CANNOT be humanized, even though HE came as human, as SACRIFICE for us, HE was NOT humanized then, or now!!!
We, the carnal being, have been crucified with CHRIST JESUS, on the CROSS of REDEMPTION, and so, we sacrifice ALL which might take us away from our BLESSED relationship with HIM! We LOVE, we SERVE, we exist for HIS GLORY, and the GOOD of ALL; ever STRIVING to become more, and more like HIM, FOLLOWING HIM, in thought, action, and reaction! We FIGHT the good fight against the fleshy being, FOR the FREEDOM of the spirit, the TRUE being which belongs to *GOD*, but because of free will, has the option of refusing HIM, and that which is right, just, and good! We sacrifice because we understand that NONE of this is about us, and IS ABOUT HIM, and what HE offers eternally, but mostly, we do so in LOVE; as HE layed down HIS LIFE for us, we do for HIM, AMEN!!!
REV. LWINSOR © 2013
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOUR
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