Untainted WorshipSample

WORSHIPING WITH SACRIFICE

Sacrifice is the offering of life and other things as a result of overflowing unreasonable love for God in response to His love and fellowship. It is one of the frequent outcomes of a life built on intimacy with God and accompanied with joy, not sorrow. Any sacrifice apart from this is burdensome and cannot come cheerfully. It must first be understood that Jesus is the sacrifice for everything and apart from Jesus, no one can bring anything to please God.

However, God has greatly ordained sacrifice to be a method by which God justifies His own in the presence of the saints and the world to the praise of His glorious grace. There is a huge difference between godly (God ordained) sacrifice and wicked (man wrought) sacrifice (Jer 6:20). Today, to offer your bodies to God is the biggest sacrifice and worship we can offer (Rom 12:1). When God’s fire consumes the sacrifice, the result of what remains is a pure consecrated offering which is God’s and what is seen through such a life is nothing but the Lord.

There is no element of human will or fleshly desire or of sin or of a selfishly acquiring nature. Elijah is an example of this kind of lifestyle, and the fire that consumed his offering in the midst of the wicked prophets was a physical demonstration of this spiritual reality of his life, a clear distinction of the above-mentioned difference between godly and wicked sacrifice. The purpose of sacrifice is to glorify God, not the one sacrificing. Read that in Elijah’s prayer: 1 Kings 18:36, 37.

“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?” - David Livingstone

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” - Jim Elliot