The believers in the Old Testament showed theirworship to God by offering sacrifices, but whatkinds of acts do the believers in the New Testament do toshow their love, worship, and devotion to God? The apostlePaul identifies three spiritual sacrifices that bless us and thepeople around us: (1) the sacrifices or offerings1of praise,(2) doing good, and (3) sharing with others. “Through Jesus,therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. And do not forgetto do good and to share with others, for with such sacrificesGod is pleased” (Heb. 13:15-16).2When we do these things,not only is God pleased, but people are blessed.
Paul is describing to us what the Lord requires from us.The rest of this article will expand on the three sacrifices thatGod requires of us as part of our worship.
WE ARE TO OFFER THE LORD OUR PRAISES
First, the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us to “. . .let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is,the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Heb. 13:15).This does not mean that the mere singing of songs or the recitationof prayers with our lips in our worship constitutes acceptablesacrifice. The “fruit of the lips” must be the responseof the heart to the incomprehensible grace of God in JesusChrist. As we sing and praise God, let us remember that oursongs are to be sung to the Lord, to His glory and honor, eventhough they also serve to edify and admonish other believersas well as ourselves. “Let the message of Christ dwell amongyou richly as you teach and admonish one another with allwisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit,singing to God with gratitude in your hearts” (Col. 3:16).
Margaret Phippen writes about her father, a British minister,who was suffering from muscular atrophy. When his voicegave out, he took to writing. As he continued to deteriorate,his passion did not. Through his articles, books, and groups,he worshipped. On Easter morning, a few weeks before hedied, he wrote a letter to his daughter, saying, “It is terrible towake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, ‘Heis risen!’ But it would be still more terrible to have a voice andnot want to shout.”3
WE ARE TO OFFER THE LORD OUR GOOD WORK
A second spiritual sacrifice the Christian is urged to offeris the doing of good works. “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased”(Heb. 13:16). Not all the good deeds of men are acceptableto God. The man who presumes to offer to God his own goodworks to earn his own salvation instead of placing his full trustand confidence in the sacrifice of Christ is offering contemptto God. The apostle Paul spoke of the sad condition of theJews, saying that because “they did not know the righteousnessof God and sought to establish their own, they did notsubmit to God’s righteousness” (Rom. 10:3). He warned suchmen that “the wrath of God has come upon them at last” (1Thess. 2:16).
However, true believers were reminded by the same apostlethat they were to “be careful to devote themselves to doingwhat is good” (Titus 3:8). These are the works that are aspiritual sacrifice. What is included? Any deed which is donebecause of the love of God and the desire to honor Him is aspiritual sacrifice acceptable to God.
The first priority of God’s people is to worship Him, buildHis kingdom, serve Him, pursue His purpose, glorify Hisname, and honor Him in everything they do. They do thesethings by offering Him their good work. The faithful Christianfocuses on the Master. The goal of the faithful Christian is tobring glory to the Master. This is done by acts of mercy, lovewithout boundaries, and giving without limits.
Often I hear people say, “But I do not have talent to servethe Lord. I can’t sing. I can’t preach or witness. I don’t havemoney to give.” It’s not the gifts we have but how we allowGod to use them for His glory.
One of Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” items is a plain bar ofiron worth $5. If made into horseshoes, the bar of iron wouldbe worth $50. If made into needles, it would be worth $5,000.If made into balance springs for fine Swiss watches, it wouldbe worth $500,000. The raw material is not as important ashow it is developed. God says that we have spiritual gifts,but their worth to Him will be dependent on how we developthem.4As believers in Jesus Christ, we need to offer ourselves,in our entirety, to Him.
WE ARE TO OFFER THE LORD OUR POSSESSIONS
The third spiritual sacrifice mentioned in Hebrews is sharing.“And do not forget to do good and to share with others,for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb. 13:16). Wheneverthe believer, in thanksgiving to God, shares his materialsubstance with those in need or those who are engaged in the ministry of the Word, or when he cheerfully places a generouscheck in the offering plate to support the work of God and Hischurch, he is making an acceptable offering to the Lord.
Sharing is an act of worship. The genuine sharing of ourpossessions and money with God is our worship to Him. Thepresentation of our sharing should be a sincere act of worship.It should be clearly evident that this is a response of the entireheart to the goodness of God.
TRUE GIVING
An excellent model of true giving that involves the offeringof our praise, good work, possessions, and lives is demonstratedin the experience of the Magi. Giving is somethingthese men came a long way to do, and it was a demonstrationof their worship. Offering is always an indication of our trueworship.
In Matthew 2:16, we learn that Jesus may have been twoyears old by the time the Wise Men showed up. They musthave considered the worship of Jesus a high priority to spendtwo years of their lives, time, and possessions to find the newbornKing and worship Him.
Their worship was accompanied by gift-giving. It is worthnoting that these gifts were substantial. The Wise Men didn’trun out to Wal-Mart and get a blanket or something on sale.They gave expensive presents of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In addition to the honor and value of these gifts, theywere chosen for their special symbolism of Jesus Himself.The gold represented Jesus’ kingship, frankincense was asymbol of His priestly role, and myrrh prefigured Jesus’ deathand embalming.5For the Wise Men, Jesus was King, Priest,and Savior. In our offerings to Jesus, we also acknowledgeHim as our King, Priest, and Savior.
We give of our praise, good works, and possessions asstewards to support others and the church, but there is a muchhigher reason for giving. We give to acknowledge Jesus as ourLord and Savior and our special connection with Him.
1http://biblehub.com/greek/2378.htm, accessed March 23, 2018.
2Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is taken from the NIV.
3S. Joseph Kidder, Majesty: Experiencing Authentic Worship (Hagerstown,MD: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 2009), 37-38.
4James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale HousePublishers, 1988), 232.
5Biblical Archaeology, Why Did the Magi Bring Gold, Frankincense andMyrrh? https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-thebible/jesus-historical-jesus/why-did-the-magi-bring-gold-frankincenseand-myrrh/,accessed December 3, 2017.
S. Joseph Kidder is a professor of Christian ministry and biblicalspirituality at the Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist TheologicalSeminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA.
