Spiritual Sacrifices – Part One
 
“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a
holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ.”–1 Peter 2:5 (NIV)
 
Many Christians have discarded the concept of offering God
sacrifices as bloody, antiquated rituals with no modern
relevance. But relegating sacrifices exclusively to another era has
weakened the gravity and urgency of many central facets of the
Christian life.Certainly, Jesus is the perfect once-for-all sacrifice
for our sins and we are not bound to the Old Testament (OT)
Levitical system (e.g., Heb. 5-10). As “a holy priesthood,”
however, we are called to offer “spiritual sacrifices” (1 Pet 2:5).
 
Among those are the following:
 
A Sacrifice of Speaking – “Through Him, then let us continually
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that
give thanks to His name” (Heb 13:15; cf. 12:28 NAS). Using OT
language (e.g., Ps 50:14, 23; Hos 14:2), we’re told to offer praise
sacrifices from our lips instead of fruit crops from our fields. In
fact, the reason you’re part of the “royal priesthood” is so “that
you may declare the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light” due to His great “mercy” (1
Pet 2:9-10). Has your mouth made a sacrifice today?
 
A Sacrifice of Sharing – Since thankful praise is expressed with
our lives as much as our lips, the next verse reads: “And do not
forget to do good and to share with others, for with such
sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb 13:16). Material sacrifice is no
longer what we use to burn on the altar but what we use to bless
another.God is happy when we selflessly sacrifice for others (cf.
Matt 9:13; 12:7). Do you sacrifice by sharing?
 
A Sacrifice of Serving – In Phil 2:17 and 2 Tim 4:6, Paul adopts
another image from the OT sacrificial ritual; namely, “being
poured out like a drink offering.”Certain OT sacrifices featured
wine being ceremonially poured out (e.g.,Num15:1-10).When
Paul used the expression, it referred to willingly giving himself
to serve others at great personal cost. It’s a sacrifice worth
making. Are you?
 
A Sacrifice of Supplication – Because we have “a great high
priest…Jesus,” we no longer need a human order of priests to
mediate between God and people as in the OT (e.g., Joel 2:17;
Mal 1:9). Instead, we can ourselves “approach the throne of
grace with confidence,” offering prayer sacrifices to God (Heb
4:14-16; cf. Rev 8:3-5). Are you seizing this privilege?
 
For Discussion: How does or should viewing the above acts as a personal
sacrifice to God affect your thinking about them?