Living Sacrifice
"I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all]
the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies
[presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy
(devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your
reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship"
(Romans 12:1, AMP).
In the service at Hope Church in Springfield Pastor Gary has been teaching on giving. He said he has neglected the subject. When he quoted the fact that only 18% give more than $500.00 a year I was befuddled. I just could not understand believers that don't give, that refuse to give, or disobey in their giving. Unbelievable! It comes from the firm conviction that giving is a blessing, an act of worship, an act of obedience that goes to the heart of who I am. My wife and I are amazed at the blessing of God over our lives as we give, tithe, missions, missions projects, and to aid pioneer pastors struggling in their call of ministry.
In the service on Sunday, there came an exhortation that encouraged the congregation to give themselves to God with the Romans 12:1 passage. Pastor exhorted the congregation to do the same. I was reminded of a situation in India serving in Madras that God had used that passage. After the service on Wednesday night seeing Pastor Gary in the hall Jeanne encouraged me to relate the story.
In Mylapore, Pastor Thilagaran was forced out of his building by Hindu owners. As the congregation started coming to church early Sunday morning they were met by thugs who threw rocks, rotten fruit and had sticks to hit the people and drive them away. When I got a call, I immediately went prayed with pastor and his wife and left to go preach at the scheduled service at Nunganbakkam with Pastor Samson. Though I had prepared a message it was laid aside as the Lord began to speak to me another message. It was that I was to talk about sacrificial giving. God was asking me to take an offering for the Mylapore Church that had no place to meet. I shared with the people the message God had given to me about giving and the principles of God's blessing in giving. I shared with the congregation the events of the morning in Mylapore. I asked them to give a sacrificial offering to aid the Mylapore Church.
Ushers came, we prayed and then three young men stepped up to the altar area. I went to each of them and asked what they wanted? One young man wanted to give an eye, and two wanted to give kidneys. The shock of what these young men offered caused me to stop the offering. I asked the ushers to come back. In that moment God gave me an answer for them and the congregation. The Romans 12:1 passage of offering your bodies as living sacrifices. I shared this with the congregation and the young men. I asked them to climb into the offering bags as it were! Symbolically to take a step to give themselves to God. They had no job and no money to give. They wanted to give. If they gave a body part for someone in need they would be paid a large sum of money for it. They felt then they could give.
That morning I asked the people to give themselves and to also give sacrificially as God directed them. So many people took off watches, rings, gold earrings, gold nose studs and gold necklaces in the offering. As the users brought the offering to the front I asked the deacons and pastor to come and pray over this offering as we were going to take it to Mylapore Pastor. We took the offering from Nungambakkam to Mylapore, Madras (Chennai) to present it to the church in Mylapore. Tears were shed, men praying one for the other and loving each other as their hearts were touched by the sacrifice of the church offering for them. It may have been more symbolic than substantial in total amount, but the result in the three young men was wonderful. Over the next several years these young men had good jobs, married and had children. The lessons learned from a sacrificial offering and they offering themselves to God proved to them the help, provision and blessing of God in giving.
"No sacrifice I ever make for Christ could be compared to what He has made for me." C.T. Studd was a man who gave up a huge athletic career for the Lord. He could have been very famous. He said, "If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." There is nothing I could ever do that could ever outweigh what Christ has done for me."
I'm sure you have heard of David Livingstone, the great missionary who went to Africa. He disappeared for years as he was serving the people of Africa, sharing Christ with them and ministering to their practical needs. He didn't do it for anything he could get out of it and people were amazed by his sacrifice and good heartedness. Frequently when he was interviewed by people they would say, "Oh, Dr. Livingstone, what great sacrifices you have made," and this was his reply: "I never made a sacrifice. We ought not to talk of sacrifice when we remember the great sacrifice that He made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us."
In light of the sacrifice Jesus made for us, we owe Him everything. The apostle Paul reminds us of what Jesus gave up for us:
"You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Jesus walked away from it all to come to the slums of this earth in order that we might be saved.
In the service at Hope Church in Springfield Pastor Gary has been teaching on giving. He said he has neglected the subject. When he quoted the fact that only 18% give more than $500.00 a year I was befuddled. I just could not understand believers that don't give, that refuse to give, or disobey in their giving. Unbelievable! It comes from the firm conviction that giving is a blessing, an act of worship, an act of obedience that goes to the heart of who I am. My wife and I are amazed at the blessing of God over our lives as we give, tithe, missions, missions projects, and to aid pioneer pastors struggling in their call of ministry.
In the service on Sunday, there came an exhortation that encouraged the congregation to give themselves to God with the Romans 12:1 passage. Pastor exhorted the congregation to do the same. I was reminded of a situation in India serving in Madras that God had used that passage. After the service on Wednesday night seeing Pastor Gary in the hall Jeanne encouraged me to relate the story.
In Mylapore, Pastor Thilagaran was forced out of his building by Hindu owners. As the congregation started coming to church early Sunday morning they were met by thugs who threw rocks, rotten fruit and had sticks to hit the people and drive them away. When I got a call, I immediately went prayed with pastor and his wife and left to go preach at the scheduled service at Nunganbakkam with Pastor Samson. Though I had prepared a message it was laid aside as the Lord began to speak to me another message. It was that I was to talk about sacrificial giving. God was asking me to take an offering for the Mylapore Church that had no place to meet. I shared with the people the message God had given to me about giving and the principles of God's blessing in giving. I shared with the congregation the events of the morning in Mylapore. I asked them to give a sacrificial offering to aid the Mylapore Church.
Ushers came, we prayed and then three young men stepped up to the altar area. I went to each of them and asked what they wanted? One young man wanted to give an eye, and two wanted to give kidneys. The shock of what these young men offered caused me to stop the offering. I asked the ushers to come back. In that moment God gave me an answer for them and the congregation. The Romans 12:1 passage of offering your bodies as living sacrifices. I shared this with the congregation and the young men. I asked them to climb into the offering bags as it were! Symbolically to take a step to give themselves to God. They had no job and no money to give. They wanted to give. If they gave a body part for someone in need they would be paid a large sum of money for it. They felt then they could give.
That morning I asked the people to give themselves and to also give sacrificially as God directed them. So many people took off watches, rings, gold earrings, gold nose studs and gold necklaces in the offering. As the users brought the offering to the front I asked the deacons and pastor to come and pray over this offering as we were going to take it to Mylapore Pastor. We took the offering from Nungambakkam to Mylapore, Madras (Chennai) to present it to the church in Mylapore. Tears were shed, men praying one for the other and loving each other as their hearts were touched by the sacrifice of the church offering for them. It may have been more symbolic than substantial in total amount, but the result in the three young men was wonderful. Over the next several years these young men had good jobs, married and had children. The lessons learned from a sacrificial offering and they offering themselves to God proved to them the help, provision and blessing of God in giving.
"No sacrifice I ever make for Christ could be compared to what He has made for me." C.T. Studd was a man who gave up a huge athletic career for the Lord. He could have been very famous. He said, "If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." There is nothing I could ever do that could ever outweigh what Christ has done for me."
I'm sure you have heard of David Livingstone, the great missionary who went to Africa. He disappeared for years as he was serving the people of Africa, sharing Christ with them and ministering to their practical needs. He didn't do it for anything he could get out of it and people were amazed by his sacrifice and good heartedness. Frequently when he was interviewed by people they would say, "Oh, Dr. Livingstone, what great sacrifices you have made," and this was his reply: "I never made a sacrifice. We ought not to talk of sacrifice when we remember the great sacrifice that He made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us."
In light of the sacrifice Jesus made for us, we owe Him everything. The apostle Paul reminds us of what Jesus gave up for us:
"You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Jesus walked away from it all to come to the slums of this earth in order that we might be saved.
posted by Dr. James O. Lowell at
11:48 PM
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