Every believer in the Lord Jesus is a priest (1 Pet. 2:5,9, Rev. 1:6) and is called to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Here are three sacrifices he is called to offer. There is, first of all, the sacrifice of his body, according to Romans 12:1, a living sacrifice in contrast to the dead works and the dead beasts offered under the Old Testament covenant of the law (Heb. 6:1, 9:14). Then, in Hebrews 13:15, we see a second sacrifice, the sacrifice of praise. This is offered to God through the Lord Jesus Christ . All our praises and prayers go through Him in order to reach the Father. As our great High Priest, the One who presents the sacrifice, He takes away any imperfection and presents all according to his own excellency and virtue. The sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips confessing His name, is acceptable to God in the measure it comes from the heart; and from this same source, the lips of His redeemed offer praise. Thirdly, there is the sacrifice of our substance, our physical resources (Heb. 13:16, Phil. 4:18). Scripture teaches us to use our physical and material resources to do good, and to share with those who are in need. God is pleased with such sacrifices that are a practical expression of love, the very opposite of accumulating for self. All that is offered, our bodies, our praise, our goods must be offered by the Spirit, in a spirit of thanksgiving and appreciation for the one sacrifice offered once for all by the Father and the Son for “They went both of them together” Gen. 22:6, 8).
NOTE: All Bible references are from the King James Version unless otherwise specified. All unsigned material is in the spirit of Ecc. 12:11. Send all correspondence, comments, suggestions to: dailysowers@tlb.sympatico.ca
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