A Sacrifice

DEVOTION

GENESIS

A SACRIFICE

Gen 8:18-22

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds — everything that moves on the earth — came out of the ark, one kind after another. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."

NIV

We have several truths here within these words. There is much we could say about the promise God made, and perhaps we will hold that for the next day, but first we need to look  at the altar and the sacrifice Noah made to God. Some of our scholars would tell us the without sacrifice there can be no religion. What we do see here is the first mention of a man building an altar upon which to sacrifice an offering. What we also know is that both Cain and Abel offered a sacrifice to God and that although it is not mentioned that Adam offered sacrifices to God, he must have otherwise his sons would not have known to do it. From these facts it is presumed that all men should offer sacrifices to God. We see much of this behavior throughout the Old Testament times. Because of the laws given to Moses regarding these sacrifices, it is also determined that sacrifice is for the forgiveness of sin. However, we are not told this is the reason Cain and Abel or Noah offered their sacrifice, especially Noah. If he had found favor in the eyes of God, if he had been declare righteous by God, and he did all the Lord God commanded him to do, what sin would he have offered this sacrifice for? We are not told that Noah sacrificed for the forgiveness of his sin, but that it was an offering of praise and glory to God for his divine salvation upon Noah and his family. We do know that God does require a sacrifice for sin. This is very much in the law given to Moses. But as we are shown the wonderful picture of Abraham offering his son, his only son whom he loved,  Isaac upon an altar and how God stopped him by providing a ram instead. This picture shows us how God sent his only Son, the Son he loved to die on the cross as a sacrifice once and for all to cover all our sins, past, present and future. This then put an end to any need of sacrifice for sin. But what about a sacrifice of praise to God as Noah did? We sing that song:

 We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.

We Bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.

And we offer up to you the sacrifice of thankgiving; and we offer up to you the sacrifice of Joy.

This may have been taken from the verse in Hebrews:

Heb 13:15-16

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

NIV

The song would tell us to being a sacrifice of thanksgiving and to sacrifice our joy, but it is never good to establish any doctrine from the words of a song. Instead we should look upon the scripture and determine what truth God has for us. We are to offer unto God a sacrifice of praise. There is no doubt about that. But what does that look like? First it appears as we use our lips forming words, those words are confessing his name. That is to profess we acknowledge him as our God. We believe in him. It would seem as we bring this sacrifice of praise, speaking praise to God, we are also not to forget to do good and to share with others. This would mean we are not to be islands unto ourselves but to be in community.  But the point here is in the fact we do offer a sacrifice of praise. However, the sacrifice which is the manner in which Noah was commended for is told to us as well.

Rom 12:1-2

12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

NIV

Noah fulfilled this command of God. He offered himself as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. He found favor in the eyes of God. He had not conformed to the pattern of the world he lived in. He had been transformed by the renewing of his mind, he know the will of God. This is our true sacrifice we bring to God, ourselves. Although some churches teach we should give sacrificially to the church, and perhaps there might be some scriptural bases, such as in the New Testament church where those who have property sold some of it so to give to those in need. But throughout all the biblical examples we are not told those who had much gave so much away it was a sacrifice to them. They were simply doing good and sharing, which is a biblical truth. However, if this was the example of a sacrifice then only those with plenty would be qualified to bring a sacrifice. Those who have little would be left empty handed, such as the woman who brought all she had, who Jesus commended rather than those who gave from their abundance. So those with little could bring a material sacrifice and indeed as in her case it was one.  No, the sacrifice we all can bring to God, no matter our station in life, not matter who we are, how much or little we have is ourselves. We can offer our very being to God, this is our spiritual act of worship. We place ourselves on the altar, forsaking all else for God.

Rom 6:11

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

NIV

Although we do not actually kill ourselves upon the altar, we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, but we count ourselves, we reckon, we consider ourselves dead to sin, as if we have killed ourselves upon that altar. Yet we are also to consider ourselves alive in Christ. A living sacrifice of praise.