SACRIFICE

Romans 12:1,2; 1 John 3:16; John 15:9-13

I had in mind to speak about sacrifice. That is perhaps appropriate, considering that there are quite a few who have made an effort to be here today despite the snow. It is interesting how sacrifice came into the Scriptures, for it was in God’s thoughts from the very beginning, and was introduced when sin came in. It says that God gave man coats of skin for clothing (Gen.3:21). So sacrifice came in from the very beginning on the basis of the demand of God that man should be covered. I do not intend to go into the detail of it, but sacrifice was carried forward into the Levitical system – sacrifices, offerings, what was prepared and what was offered. These are important types because God has given them to us as examples of what sacrifice is.

Sacrifice continues in the New Testament in relation to all that God has prepared for you and me. We have read passages that speak of the Lord’s own sacrifice. It is appropriate to make mention of the Lord’s sacrifice in particular. He went a way that no other could go. I think that is the basis of sacrifice of which we should take notice in particular. In John 3, it says “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only-begotten Son” (v.16). That is an amazing thing to think about. Sometimes when we look at what we have to give, we might not always think of giving the very best in terms of sacrifice. God gave His very best. There was nothing greater that He could give. He gave His only-begotten Son. It is a tremendous thing to lay hold of God’s thoughts that, in terms of sacrifice, it was the very best that God had in mind, and that lesson is to come down to us today.

In the giving of His very best, God provided us with a means of salvation. God provided one of the greatest gifts that you or I could ever receive, the gift of salvation. What an amazing thing to lay hold of, that God would give, not just what was needed, but that which would satisfy His heart for eternity. The coats of skin were provisional and the Levitical system was provisional. They provided God with a basis to go on with His people, having met the need, or the condition, for that time. But God in giving His beloved Son has given a gift that will give Him pleasure eternally, the gift of salvation. Dear friend, if you have not taken advantage of the gift of salvation, lay hold of it from God today. It is very important to consider that it was not because of anything that you or I could do. God freely gave His beloved Son. It says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom.5:8). You think of that, the sacrificial offering in God’s giving His Son. I lay this before you to provide a view of the sacrifice that was in God’s mind from the beginning.

Examples of sacrifice in the Levitical system show the condition which required it, but it also says in Scripture that God took no pleasure in sacrifice and offering (Heb.10:6). That is something to think about, particularly as it applies to the matter of sin. That condition which was upon man would be provisionally provided for in the offerings, but what God desired was obedience, and that was seen in His beloved Son. What a sacrifice! The Lord said, “not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22:42. He yielded to God’s desire in relation to sacrifice. What a blessing for you and for me.

I say these things to lay some groundwork in relation to God’s thoughts about sacrifice. I was impressed by what comes into Romans 12, where Paul says, “I beseech you … by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice”. That is a very testing thing for me, but when it comes down to what God’s thoughts are for each one of us, we are to yield to His desires. It is not a matter of law. It is not a matter of saying, ‘I will do this because God has demanded of me to do it’. Paul writes that it is by the “compassions of God”. It is important to understand that sacrifice as it comes into the New Testament, particularly in these scriptures that we read, is on the basis of love. I did not read it, but we could have read of the Hebrew bondman. The Hebrew bondman says, “I will not go free” (Exod.21:5), and it is love which underlies that. Any sacrifice on our part is on the basis of the blessings that we are brought into, and of our appreciation of those blessings. What comes into Romans 12 about sacrifice is on the basis of love.

Love is a tremendous resource, a tremendous motivator that moves us to do things that are more than what we normally would do. You might say, it is difficult to consider what a living sacrifice is, but it is something that each one of us, and I speak for myself in particular, needs to consider. What is it that motivates me to do what I do, to give God what is so rightfully due to Him? That is a challenging question. We each one of us have a will. Each one of us has desires. Each one of us has motivations. But what is in mind here is something greater; it is giving God His place, it is giving God what He has requested of us. A living sacrifice is yielding ourselves entirely to God. I say this as tested myself. Do I yield myself entirely to God, that His will might be done? That is the example that was given in the Lord Jesus. He moved on the basis of love to give Himself. God loved, and it was the Lord’s love in yielding Himself, and that is the basis of what comes in here. It says, “… which is your intelligent service”. There is intelligence that comes into this, intelligence in relation to the will of God, intelligence in relation to the purposes of God, intelligence in relation to the blessings and pleasure of God. What a place has been opened to each one of us in relation to yielding ourselves a living sacrifice!

I also read in 1 John 3, “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”. We have spoken of the pathway which the Lord Jesus took, and it is an example which is given to us so that we might know what love is. God is love. The character of God and the character of His love is something that the world has demeaned in every way, but we have known love because of what Christ has done. It is shown to us; “We have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”. It says, “we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives”. Dear friends, what is in mind is that the Lord’s sacrifice would result in something in us. I have been thinking recently as to the power that is found in the unity of the Spirit in relation to the laying down of our lives for our brethren. It really presents the unity of the Spirit. There is one Spirit (Eph.4:4). God’s Spirit has been given to us on the basis of our acceptance of salvation, our request to the Father. The Lord Jesus says, “I will beg the Father and he will give to you another Comforter” (John 14:16), a Spirit who is eternal, “that he may be with you for ever”. What a resource is given to us. It is the same Spirit in each one of us (1 Cor.12:11) that leads to the working together of the body. It is yielding ourselves in relation to what is formed in Christ’s bride. What a blessed reality that can be for each one of us, but, dear friends, it is on the basis of our laying down our lives – setting aside what I am, and my needs and my desires and my demands, to be in relation to what is for Christ. That is by necessity laying down our lives for the brethren. What a tremendous asset is given in the Holy Spirit, that we might be conformed to Christ, be set apart in relation to Another, that we might be fully established in relation to the things of God.

I read also in John 15 to draw attention to the Father’s love. All of this is on the basis of the Father’s love. The Lord said, “As the Father has loved me”. The Lord Jesus knew fully the way in which the Father loved Him, and He can convey that love, the Father’s love, to each one of us. Dear friends, this could never be on the basis of our love, or our natural desires. It has its source in the Father’s love. “As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you: abide in my love”. It is Christ’s love which underlies our being brought into this area of things which has been opened up to us. What is set aside in us is replaced by the Father’s love. The Father’s love gives expression to everything that the Father is. And the Lord continues, “If ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love”. He goes on to say, “No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends”. What an expression! Christ laid down His life for His friends. Sometimes we are a little selective in relation to our friends. I would like to remind each one again that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. What an ultimate expression of sacrifice. God had in mind to give His only-begotten Son that we might see what love is.

It is a simple impression, but I trust that each one of us might be encouraged to be brought into the fulness of God’s love. That love underlies sacrifice. Sacrifice historically was giving the first fruits, the very best. Dear friends, I trust that each one of us might be encouraged to give the first fruits, to give the very best, to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, as Christ has laid down His life for His friends, for His name’s sake.

Address at Calgary

24 December 2016

J.K. Knauss