This is part of our Freedom Journey 2 Study; Previous page: Love Your Spouse
Honoring God with our resources is a form of “spiritual sacrifice,” and is form of worship to God. Peter explained, “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5 NASB). Peter went on to explain why we should offer spiritual sacrifices:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV
God called us out of darkness into the light so that we would bring glory to him through worship. In view of the incredible price that he paid for our redemption, we owe it to him to offer our bodies, finances, talents, time and other resources as sacrifices to honor him.
Examples of Spiritual Sacrifices
The Body: Our bodies are very important to God. In fact, Paul wrote that the body is meant for the Lord and the Lord for the body (1 Corinthians 6:13). This means that God wants to use our bodies to bring his light and truth to the people in our lives. We bear his image and are ambassadors of his love. If we use our bodies for evil, we can hinder God’s work on earth and may even become instruments of evil. If we use our bodies for good, we can literally be God’s instruments for on the earth for good. Paul wrote, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1 NKJV).
Here are some examples of how we can honor God with our bodies (Romans 6:13):
- Remain faithful to our spouse and abstain from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:13-20)
- Eat right; abstain from gluttony and drunkenness (Romans 13:13,1 Corinthians 5:11)
- Do good works (Hebrews 13:16, Romans 12:10-13, Romans 6:11-14)
- Control our thoughts – make them obey Christ and do not fantasize about sin (2 Corinthians 10:5) (see Control Thoughts)
- Control our eyes: Be careful what you look at – don’t look at things that you’ll lust after in your thoughts (porn would be an obvious example) (see Train Eyes); (1 Peter 2:11-12)
- Lift your hands to the Lord in worship and don’t use them for sexual sin
- Dress modestly so that you don’t cause others to stumble through lust
- Commit our bodies to the Lord’s service each day: a simple prayer for this is “Father God, I offer myself today as an instrument for righteousness and not for sin.”
Giving/Generosity: Many people are caught up in the pursuit of riches, impairing their relationship with God. Paul wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV). The way to recover from a such a condition or to prevent it from happening starts with being generous with the money God has given us. Here are few scriptures that confirm this:
“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.” Psalm 37:25-26 NIV
“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” Proverbs 11:25 NIV
Being generous is a separate issue from giving a tithe of your earnings to the Lord (typically 10%). Generous giving is over and above what we are tithing to our church or ministry. It truly reflects our heart condition and who is Lord over our finances. Practical ways to make this sacrifice include:
Give to the poor (Proverbs 22:9)
Lend to the person who wants to borrow from you (Matthew 5:42)
Give charitable gifts secretly (Matthew 6:1,3-4)
Give to people and ministries serving the Lord (2 Corinthians 8:1-7, 2 Corinthians 9:10-15)
Give cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:6-7)
Your spirit and heart: Though this sacrifice may seem less tangible, it is extremely important for us to practice. This sacrifice is made by laying down our pride and putting on humility. Pride sets God against us (Leviticus 26:19, Proverbs 15:25) and makes us vulnerable to the devil. Humility invites God to work through and in us (James 4:6-8).
The desire to control our lives is natural but can be a subtle form of pride. The question we can ask ourselves is, “Who really is Lord of my life?” Have we truly made Jesus Lord over our decisions, or have we simply given him lip service and kept ourselves on the “throne” of our life? Too many people declare allegiance to Jesus, and then continue to live as lord of their life never submitting to Jesus. If we think we can do a better job in running our life than God, or are constantly trying to wrestle control back from him, we’re suffering from pride!
David wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart–These, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17 NKJV). A broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart create a picture of true humility. It is up to us to “put on” humility. Peter described putting on humility like putting on a garment in 1 Peter 5:5-6. Practical ways to do this include:
- Consult the Lord on the decisions of life (Philippians 4:6-7): This is a form of submitting our will to God’s will (Luke 22:42, James 4:7). The first test will be if we’re willing to wait on the Lord for the guidance we’ve requested before we decide what to do. The final test is if we will follow the guidance the Lord gives us regardless of our personal benefit.
- Consider others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:2-4): listening to others’ points of view; not dominating conversations; being quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1:9, Proverbs 15:2; Ecclesiastes 10:14)
- Attend to the needs and interests of others in addition to our own (Philippians 2:2-4): This helps break down any self-centeredness we may be harboring. Having a giving heart helps us experience the joy of helping others.
- Humble ourselves before God by offering spiritual sacrifices: Spiritual sacrifices are vehicles for us to assert God’s Lordship in our lives and our allegiance to him. For example, fasting is a powerful way to humble ourselves before God. In doing so, we temporarily set aside our fleshy need and desire for sustenance in order to seek God. This forcible submission of the flesh to the spirit intensifies our submission and devotion to God. It invites God to work in us and minister to us in the area we are seeking him about to a greater degree.
- Use our speech to glorify God: The highest purpose for our speech is to praise God. God has given us tongues and lips to declare the wonders of his glory and salvation to all creation. Hebrews 13:15 NIV says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that confess his name.” Too often we use our speech for everything but praising God. Our tongue is a tool with which we can sow good or evil. God calls us to honor him by how we speak and to not speak evil (James 4:11-12).
James characterized speaking evil as mixing bitter water with fresh water. As a result, the bitter water corrupted the fresh water (James 3:11-12). Likewise our evil words will corrupt us and we will be judged by those words (Matthew 12:36-37). The Bible gives us clear instruction about what to avoid verbally. Examples of things to avoid include:
- Foolish and ignorant disputes (2 Timothy 2:23)
- Gossip; speaking evil about people (whether true or not)
- All “empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.” (2 Timothy 2:16 AMP)
- Foolish talking, complaining (Philippians 2:14)
- Coarse jesting, sexual humor, sarcastic humor (Ephesians 5:3-4)
- Voicing evil speculations or imaginations (2 Corinthians 10:5); saying or assuming the worst will happen; speaking in reaction to fear instead of faith
On the other hand, our positive words can refresh and restore us and others just as fresh water refreshes and restores our bodies.
Examples of speaking good words include
- Praising God (Psalm 145:2,6,12,21)
- Thanking God (Ephesians 5:3-4; Hebrews 13:15)
- Encouraging people in their faith and hope (Ephesians 4:29; Hebrews 10:24-25)
- Praising people for their good qualities (Proverbs 25:11; Hebrews 10:24-25)
- Prayer (Ephesians 6:18; James 5:15-16)
- Declaring God’s works to others; witnessing; sharing the Gospel (1 Peter 3:15; Ephesians 6:19-20), etc.
- Reciting scripture; speaking God’s word over a situation (Ephesians 6:17)
Personal Application Questions
What is the purpose of spiritual sacrifices?
Who benefits more from spiritual sacrifices – you or God?
Why is your body so important to God?
How did God model generosity for us?
Why is humility important to the health of our relationship with God? (James 4:6-8)
What do our words indicate about our heart? (Luke 6:45)
Jesus told the rich man in Matthew 19:16-26 that the only thing he lacked was that he needed to sell his possessions and give to the poor. The man refused and went away sad. What things in your life are you having difficulty yielding to God?
Please take a moment to confess your reluctance to surrender those things to God. Then ask him to build your trust in him and desire to surrender all to him.
As you read through the example sacrifices, what areas did the Lord prompt you to make changes in?
What actions will you take to make those changes happen?
Next Page: Get to know the Holy Spirit