April 3, 2008

The Sacrifice of Worship 

One word can paint a thousand pictures. When we hear the word, “sacrifice,” the images are innumerable. Sacrifice does not have the same value for everyone. It’s not like the word Birthday! Everyone has the same definition of Birthday; duh, the day you were born! The word sacrifice is always defined through the relevance of the individual that hears it, and is almost always associated with personal cost.

 

When God speaks to Abraham in Genesis 22, He does not leave what He is asking for open to Abraham’s perspective. God makes it very clear, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…and offer him there as a burnt offering.” Because Abraham has had a prior experience with God regarding sacrifices (Genesis 15) there is no doubt in his mind what God is asking. Watch the words God uses as he speaks to Abraham; take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love. It must have echoed with the same dull reality of hearing the Doctor say to my wife and I, “Your son Tyler will never live through the night.” There are some things God will say to you for which no amount of faith or trust will provide adequate preparation. It is in that initial moment of truthful despair, that an individual determines the Sacrifice of Worship.

 

Abraham’s actions from the moment God spoke to him reveal the level of sacrifice, and the intent of worship. He clearly tells those in his company, “The lad and I will go yonder to worship.” The Sacrifice of Worship is not found in the method you employ to offer God what you desire, it is rather the determination to bring God what He is asking for, in the manner in which He is requesting. We can term what we do in oblation to God as worship until we are exhausted from the exertion, but it will never be worship until God declares it to be so!

 

I have discovered in my own life that the Sacrifice of Worship will always include several key elements that separate it unto God. God will always provide the object He desires to receive in sacrifice. You will never have to guess what God is asking for. His requests will come from the resource of His blessing into your life. He will not ask for what He has not already given you! There will also be a season of separation in which you and the sacrifice will journey together to an altar of God’s choosing. He will show you when and where out of the solitude of a lonely path. The Sacrifice of Worship will also include a climb of structured obedience. Simple divine commands built one upon the other in a succession of obedience. Every step of obedience will elevate you into the next dimension of God’s purpose for requesting the sacrifice from you. That process will be counted to you as Righteousness.

 

The Sacrifice of Worship is simply your obedience to what God is requesting. Remember, it’s not worship until God says it is!