Precious Things Are Saved Only by Sacrifice

During the past two years the Lord has taught me much about sacrifice. Sadly, in today’s “me first” society, sacrifice has lost its true meaning. Most think of it only in terms of sacrificing one thing in order to attain something bigger or better. We gladly sacrifice a little here or a little there as long as we are sure the outcome will be in our favor. But true sacrifice, the kind that fuels the passion of the soul, has no such expectations.

The abundant life that Jesus offers is one that is based on sacrifice, but of course this message is not one that today’s world wants to hear much less live by. Jesus said that you would know His disciples by their love one toward another. He continually admonished His followers to love their neighbor as themselves and to even love their enemies. He lived the life of a servant and told His disciples when they asked Him who would be the greatest in His kingdom that “if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).

So, it is no wonder that the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2 to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. We can conclude then that the key to spiritual victory is not getting all you can get, but giving all you have. Many people flock into churches and seek spiritual experiences to get more of God when the issue is not what they need to GET but what they need to GIVE.

I don’t pretend that this is easy but as John MacArthur has skillfully said, “This [presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice] is absolutely necessary if we are ever to know the fullness of the blessing of God and be able to render to him the service that is due to Him and bring Him glory. Most Christians never really come to that place fully. They flirt with the world, they flirt with the flesh. They flirt with their own personal indulgences and desires. They become victims of the philosophy and psychology of the world around them. They buy into the world's bag. They entertain themselves with the world's mode of entertainment. They think along the lines the world thinks. And so they never really come to the place of total commitment that is discussed in these two verses and therefore they forfeit the fullness of the blessing that God would have for them.”

I think for many of us we meet a need here or help someone over there and we feel pretty good but God is asking for our mind, body, and soul. When He is in possession of us than we are most suited to serve others as He did and experience His full blessing in our lives. In other words, if our vertical relationship with God is where it should be than our horizontal relationships with others will also be in harmony.

I think so often we have this backwards. We work on our horizontal relationships in our own power and then feel like a failure and wonder why our walk has become a burden when the key from the start is to fill up on God and let his power flow through us. Of course, this takes much sacrifice, doesn’t it? It means turning off the TV, the radio, the computer, and communing with the Living God in His Word and in prayer.

What is even more frustrating is that when I have truly committed myself to the Lord my Christian life feels effortless and full of joy but soon, for whatever reason, I revert back to doing things myself and in my own power and soon the drudgery resurfaces.

I think it is important as we seek to know God more and to glorify Him within our lives to remember that anything worth having, anything that truly endures is always attained by sacrifice and the Lord is asking us to be a living sacrifice unto Him. Surely, this is not too much to ask by the One who sacrificed His own life for us so we may obtain eternal life.

“The Christian life is never measured in success but in sacrifice.” – Leonard Ravenhill

Sacrifice Not Success

Last Monday I began taking a Revivalism college course that is being held onsite at my church. During the class, my professor showed a YouTube video called “Agony” that contained an excerpt from one of Leonard Ravenhill’s sermons entitled "The Cost of Discipleship." Ravenhill was a 19th century English Christian evangelist and author who focused on the subjects of prayer and revival. He is best known for challenging the modern church to compare itself to the early Christian Church as chronicled in the Book of Acts. His most notable book is Why Revival Tarries, which has sold more than a million copies worldwide.

At one point during his sermon, Ravenhill says Christianity is not measured in success but in sacrifice. This point really caught my attention because I believe that part of the reason the Church today is not as effective as the early Christian Church is because we are a results driven society. We are constantly bombarded in our daily lives with statistics and metrics to measure how we are performing at work, at school, at home. It is no wonder that this mindset has crept into the church.

Jesus never focused on success when it came to the ministry. If anything, He continually admonished us to go and preach the gospel and let the Father worry about the increase (I Corinthians 1:6-7). He told us to love others, even our enemies, but perhaps due to our human nature and pride, we just can’t leave it at that, can we? We need something to achieve. We need a barometer to justify and validate our efforts.

One of the most quoted verses from the Old Testament is Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” I think when most people read this verse and see the word “prosper” they assume it means a person is saved as a result of hearing the Word of God. But the Word of God also prospers unto judgment too. I think of Noah and all that time he spent building the ark and warning his contemporaries of God’s pending judgment and no one got into the ark except for Noah and his family – eight souls total. Most would view that “result” and conclude that Noah failed in his mission because so few were saved; but in God’s view, Noah was a complete success because the Word of God he spoke and lived as he tirelessly built that ark was unto judgment.

My life and your life if you are a Christian, will not only be examples unto salvation but also unto judgment as God will use our words and lives to exact His justice upon those who have refused His salvation. This is why his Word is always prospering when it goes out because its purpose is two-fold – to save and to judge.

The key I believe for those of us walking with the Lord is to understand God’s gauge for success and it has nothing to do with pie charts, bar graphs, or flow charts. God’s measurement for success is simple – how much do you love Me? When Peter first saw Jesus after He resurrected in the Gospel of John, He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and three times Peter said yes, and three times Jesus told him to “feed His sheep.” Jesus is always measuring our heart never our actions or results. He looks upon the heart to see the love for Him and how it is manifested toward others. And to be honest, when the love of Jesus has captured your heart, all else fades away, doesn’t it? When we are truly ministering to the Lord than the response of others no longer matters as our “success” is found in Him alone.

“Five minutes inside of eternity I believe everyone one of us will have wished we had sacrificed more, prayed more, loved more, sweated more, grieved more, wept more.” – Leonard Ravenhill