Sacrificial Cost

Have you ever re-gifted a present? Have you ever ripped one of your music CDs and given it as a gift to a friend? Have you ever won tickets to an event you weren’t interested in and given them to someone as a present? I guess what I’m asking is, have you ever done something for someone where on the surface it looked like you made an effort, but in reality it cost you nothing? What if you found out that someone close to you did that to you? How would that make you feel? I bet you’d feel as if the gift was really no gift at all because a true gift should cost the giver something. David knew that, and he was not about to provide God with a sacrifice that demanded nothing of himself. He was not about to give God a gift that was really no gift at all. It says in Second Samuel chapter 24, verse 24:  

“But the king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.’”

Earlier, we learn that David went to Araunah to buy his threshing floor so that he could build an altar to the Lord in an effort to stop a plague on his people. Out of kindness, Araunah offered it to King David for free along with animals to burn as offerings to the Lord. But David knew that a sacrifice, or a gift, to God is not any gift at all if it cost him nothing. What are you offering to the Lord? Are you claiming that you are doing something for God, but in reality it is more for yourself? Or are you offering God something that is of no value to you as if you are doing him a favor? God doesn’t need our money, he doesn’t need our time, and he actually doesn’t need our love. But it is to our benefit that he desires these things from us. We can honor God by giving him, or sacrificing something, that is of value not only to the kingdom, but to us. I would encourage you to think about what you are doing in God’s name. Examine any ministry work you do, or any money that you are donating in his name. Are you doing it for him, or for yourself? Are you doing the ministry work with the wrong motives? Are you doing it to get closer to someone you like? Are you doing it to seem more important to those around you? Are you doing it because you’re getting paid to do it? If so, are you really doing it for God? In your financial giving, are you doing it to be thanked or praised by others? Would you still give if there were no tax write off, or free air miles attached to your gift? If so, are you really doing it for God? We all need to examine our motives when serving God, because we should never choose to offer God a sacrifice that costs us nothing.

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There are times when we do something in God’s name, it results in a win/win; the kingdom for which we are ministering gets something out of it, and we also get something out of it. I don’t think there is any inherent problem if that were to happen. But if that is a determining factor as to whether we would do it or not, we might want to ask ourself if it is really for God. It could’ve been a win/win for David to accept the free plot of land along with the free animals for the sacrifice. After all, he gets what he needs with no effort and God gets what he “needs”. But God is more concerned with our heart than our sacrifice. In fact God says in First Samuel that “obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” So I would encourage you to avoid shortcuts when it comes to God. Whatever you do for him, do it with all of your heart, without desiring anything in return. That is the heart of a true servant.

Many Good Days

My uncle once told me that more than desiring a long life, his desire was to have a good quality of life. In other words, his primary desire was to be healthy in his old age, to be able to travel and do whatever he wanted without being hindered by any ailments or disabilities. To him, living without any physical or mental limitations was more important than living a long life. But I say, “why can’t we have both”? Why can’t we love life and see many good days? Psalm chapter 34, verses 11 through 14 shows us one way that we can have our cake and eat it too if we are willing to seek and pursue it. Its says:  

“Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”

I agree with my uncle. My desire isn’t really to have “many days” of life. I’d much rather see many good days as outlined in this Psalm. To do this, it says that we need to keep our tongue from evil and from speaking lies; that we are to turn from evil and do good; that we are to seek peace and pursue it. If you think about it, if we are able to do these things, what we are actually doing is managing our stress. If we guard what we say by speaking life with words that uplift; if we avoid divisive speech and telling lies, we will inherently have less stress. It takes work to keep up a lie. As you construct more details about your lies, it will become more difficult to keep things straight and to make sure there are no holes in your story. But if you tell the truth, there is no stress. If you are able to come clean and allow the burden of your secret to be lifted from you, there are no lies to maintain and no added worry from being found out. Evil talk also contributes to stress. Confrontation can heighten your blood pressure and can make you say or do things that you may later regret. By having a calm and peaceful spirit, we can avoid fraying relationships. If you struggle with telling the truth or lashing out in anger with evil or divisive words, I encourage you to diligently appeal to the Holy Spirit. Ask him to change your attitude and your perspective. Allow him to give you a newer purer heart that is less confrontational and less prone to lie. In doing so you may be unwittingly paving the way to seeing many good days in your future. 

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The tongue is talked about a lot in the Bible. One reason is because once we say something we can’t take it back. But if we are able to keep our tongue from speaking evil and our lips from telling lies, we will find that with that comes less stress, and with less stress comes many good days of life. Change isn’t something that comes easily to most, but sometimes change is exactly what we need. This Psalm encourages us to turn from evil and do good; to seek peace and pursue it. This isn’t just a good biblical principle to live by, it could mean the difference between living a hard life filled with stress and regret or living a good life filled with many good days.

Good to Bad

Where do you stand when it comes to the “once saved, always saved” debate? If you’re unfamiliar with this long-standing argument, it stems from the question as to whether once someone becomes a believer, if it is possible for them to ever “lose” their salvation? Is it possible for them to turn from God; to reject him to the point of going to hell, not heaven, when they die? Very intelligent, godly, discerning believers fall on both sides of this argument. Every believer would agree that we can't earn our salvation. The Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith alone. It is a gift - the ultimate gift. But can the gift be returned? Can we turn so far from his righteous ways that we forfeit the gift? I don’t know for sure. There are strong biblical arguments on both sides. But I believe that we can reject him to the point of sending ourselves to hell. There are many verses that I could argue support this notion, and some that may seem to contradict it. But this is what God says in Ezekiel, chapter 18, verse 24:  

“But if a righteous man turns from righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.”

My commentary explains that this is a “warning against those who knowingly and willfully turn from righteousness.” As with everything, I believe that it begins and ends with our heart. What happens when a believer in Christ decides to reject Christianity and becomes a Muslim or a Buddhist then later dies? What happens when a believer chooses to reject his faith, abandon his wife and children, and embrace a life of orgies, drugs and all manner of wickedness, then dies? These are real life examples. And I know of several others; ones where even “once saved, always saved” believing pastors struggle to find answers to those they’ve known who have died under similar circumstances. When it comes to this question, I’ve always thought it wise to err on the side of caution. I think it is better to believe that it is possible to lose our salvation and be wrong than to believe that we can’t and be wrong. As far as my life is concerned, I don’t ever want to test this question. I choose to follow Christ with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength until I die, or until he returns, and I hope you do too.

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I debated, for a while, whether I should explore this argument here. Some may argue that the “once saved, always saved” argument is fruitless; that it doesn’t matter and that we will all know the truth when we get to heaven. But if this question will determine whether some of us will get to heaven or not, it does matter. I heard one pastor say that once we are saved we are going to heaven whether we want to or not. Many ardent believers in the “once saved, always saved” argument don’t even want to consider the other side. Many may become angry, discussions can become heated, and relationships can become frayed. My desire is not to sow fear or doubt. My desire is to encourage us all to seek the Holy Spirit in discerning his word; to allow him to teach us what is true so that we can clearly, and with all confidence, share that truth with others. So I encourage you to read the Bible. Allow what you’ve been taught to be tested through the scripture. If you’re at peace with what you know the Spirit has shown you, great. But if you aren’t, and the question of “once saved, always saved” continues to elude you, press God for an answer. The answer to this question may not affect you, but it could affect someone you know who has completely turned their back on God. It may plant an added level of urgency in your prayers for their soul.

No Honor

The notoriety that can often times come with success can have a strange effect on relationships. It can change the one who is blessed with success but it can also change the people who knew the person before they became successful. When someone gains success, notoriety, or are honored among many, they are often told “not to forget where they came from”. This saying is meant to keep them grounded. It is meant to help them remember their humble beginnings and to not forget those they knew before their life situation changed so drastically. But what about their family, friends and neighbors? They can change too. Is there a saying for them? I would argue that there is. In John, chapter 4, verse 44, it says:    

“(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country).”

Why would this be true? Why would someone, who is so honored by God, have no honor in his own country? I would argue that it is because when a person finds success, those who knew them before they became successful have a tendency to become jealous, indignant, or may have a hard time coming to terms with the idea of someone who used to be like them all of the sudden becoming a big shot. They may be struggling with the notion that someone they knew as “ordinary” is now being treated as someone “special”. Later, in John 6, verse 42 it says: “They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, who’s father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven?’” And it goes on to say in chapter 7, verse 5: “For even his own brothers did not believe him.” Jesus’ own brothers had a problem with who Jesus became. They had a difficult time accepting that the person they knew as a biological brother is now being heralded as a healer and a prophet; one who now claimed to be the Son of God. Why do I bring this up? Because if God blesses you through your ministry efforts with notoriety and success, don’t expect to find honor among those you’ve grown up with. I’m sure this isn’t always the case, but there is biblical evidence to support it.

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Imagine if your annoying little brother, or the bully down the street, or the underachieving kid at school would one day become a major figure in God’s plan for the world. How would that make you feel? How would you treat them? I would encourage you to treat them with the same honor as anyone you may consider a hero in the faith. I would encourage you to see them through God’s eyes, and to understand that God can, and often does, use those who we may not choose to do his work. King David dealt with these same kinds of reactions from his father, brothers and even Samuel initially. It is human nature to become indignant, jealous, or even bitter towards those whom God chooses to raise to a place of honor. If you struggle in this area, I encourage you to look beyond any selfishness or indignation that may well up within you and show honor for the one God chose for this task.

Drawn to Evil

I was listening to a podcast recently about the dark web. The “dark web” is place on the internet where anyone can operate with complete anonymity. It is almost as if those who surf the dark web are invisible because they can do anything without being identified. They can operate in the dark. What I learned from that show was more about the human condition than the dangers of the dark web. When we think there are no consequences to our actions; when we think no one can see what we are doing, our hearts often go to a dark and evil place. We may find ourselves doing things that, if we were operating in the light, we wouldn’t even think of doing. That is why believers need to continually be on guard. We need to continually pray that our hearts are not drawn to what is evil. Because if left to our own devices, I’m convinced that it is in our nature to desire it. Instead, we should pray Psalm 141, verse 4, which says:     

“Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.”

Sin can be enticing. We can often be tempted to do what we know is disobedience to God. That is why we need to be on guard. We all go through our highs and lows. There are times when we are close to God and there are times we are far from him. There are times when we are high in the clouds or in the promised land so to speak, and there are times when we find ourselves in the valley or in the desert. Anyone can fall to sin. And most of us have no idea how far we can fall. So I encourage you to pray this prayer from Psalm 141: “Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.” To think that any of us are mature and righteous enough that we can resist any temptation is arrogant and dangerous. David, a man after God’s heart, committed adultery. Moses, the chosen deliverer of the Israelites, murdered someone. Peter, upon whom Jesus said he’d build his church, denied Christ three times. And Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, turned to worshipping other gods. We can also fall. So I encourage you to pray that the Holy Spirit help you to stand firm.

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Denying our flesh is a daily battle. That is why Jesus tells us to take up our cross daily and follow him. We can’t succeed on our own. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us. We need to continually guard our heart. In Ephesians, Paul talks about the “breastplate of righteousness”. The breastplate guards the heart if its wearer. How is your heart today? Are you allowing it to be drawn to what is evil? Are you taking part in wicked deeds? Are you indulging in the delicacies of sin? Any of us are subject to finding ourselves in that place. So I encourage you to “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”