"REAL SACRIFICE"
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 5, 2017
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Isaiah 58:6, 7 (ESV)
It has been said that man is hopelessly religious. By nature he longs for something to believe in and to worship, and if he can't find it, then he will make something up. As Christians we attribute this characteristic of man to the natural knowledge of God--the way in which God has revealed himself to man in nature and in the human conscience. To make a long story short, because of the natural knowledge of God, everyone knows, deep down inside, that there is a God who holds each one of us personally accountable for his or her actions. But since this natural knowledge doesn't reveal who this God is, many people aimlessly try in vain to worship this God and to appease His justice. People who don't know the true God will worship someone or something else that they look at as God, even if that someone is themselves and even if that something is an object of their own making.
In the Holy Scriptures the sacrifices of worship are often referred to in terms of fasting, since this was one of the most obvious forms of religious sacrifice. This is the image that Isaiah uses in the passage before us this morning. He mentions fasting in particular, but what he has to say about it could be applied to anything that we might do as an expression of our worship of God. In the same way, Isaiah talks here about various social ills and how God desires His people to respond to them, but what he says can also be applied to our primary task of spreading the Gospel. The Lord speaks to us today through His prophet, telling us what kind of worship He really wants from us and defining what real sacrifice is as far as He is concerned. Isaiah's words tell us that real sacrifice has an effect on both the person for whom the sacrifice is made and the one who makes the sacrifice.
Any real sacrifice that you are making for someone must first of all have an effect on the person that you are making the sacrifice for. That may seem obvious to us, but if you look around at some of the things that are done to promote various causes, it seems that many of these things don't really accomplish anything for the people for whom they are supposed to be advocating. For example, many of years ago, when I lived for a year in New York City, I heard a news story about some advocate for the homeless who decided to help the cause by spending a cold night sleeping on a subway grate in Manhattan. This was heralded by the media as a brave and moving act of compassion. At the risk of sounding cold and heartless, this individual didn't really accomplish anything for the homeless. All he did was get a lot of attention for himself. God says that if you really want to help those who are less fortunate than yourself, then do something that will actually help them; don't just make a big show of it.
The best example of the kind of sacrifice that God encourages us to make is the sacrifice that He Himself has made for us. In the Person of His Son Jesus Christ He came into our world not to make a name for Himself, but to accomplish our salvation. His perfect life was lived not just to show us how good He was; in that perfect life He offered to God in our place the perfect righteousness that the Law of God demands of us. When He went to the cross bearing our sin, He didn't do it just so everybody could take note of what Martyr He was; He did it to offer to God the only sacrifice that would sufficiently atone for human sin. God's kind of sacrifice is much more than some symbolic action or bold stand. In His Word we read: "In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19).
For a sacrifice or an act of worship to be legitimate, it must also have an effect on the person who is making the sacrifice. Otherwise it's not really a sacrifice. Through the years, in sermons, in classes, and in private conversations I have often discussed the question: "How much should a person give?" One of the points that I am always careful to make is that you should give enough that you miss it. If you don't miss it, you're only giving leftovers, and that's not really a sacrifice. Isaiah tells us that it is the Lord's will that we "share" our food with the hungry. That challenges us to give of ourselves. There is nothing said here about petitioning the government to feed the hungry with public funds; we are told to share what we have with those who are in need. What that means is that we are to be willing to do without certain luxuries so that others don't have to be without the basic necessities of life. It means subjecting our desires to the needs of others. And we are to do this not because we have no choice in the matter and not because we are afraid of displeasing God, but because we desire to do it out of the gratitude that we have toward God for all of His mercies toward us.
Here again we look to the perfect example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sacrifice that He made "for us . . . and for our salvation" (Nicene Creed, Article II) was one that cost Him--and cost Him dearly. He didn't in any way distance Himself from us or from the ugliness of our sin. Neither did He shy away from the consequences of our sin. On the contrary, He willingly took our sin and guilt upon Himself and nailed it to the cross in His own body. We can't even begin to imagine the depths of suffering that He was willing to endure in order to redeem you and me from the punishment that we so richly deserve because of our sin. He offered to God the perfect sacrifice of atonement for sin on our behalf so that we might be accounted righteous before God in spite of our sin. If you ever find yourself wondering what real sacrifice is, all you have to do is look at the cross of Jesus. That's sacrifice!
We who claim that we want to offer the sacrifice of worship to our God in thanksgiving for the salvation that He has given us in Christ had best be sure that we're serious about it. Worship is more than the symbolism and tradition that we so often think it is. Worship is more than something that we do for an hour on Sunday morning. It's a way of life--an attitude that touches and sanctifies everything that we think, say, and do. It is the answer to God's call, given through the apostle: "I implore you, brothers, by God's mercy, to offer your very selves to Him: a living sacrifice, dedicated and fit for His acceptance, the worship offered by mind and heart. Adapt yourselves no longer to the pattern of this present world, but let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect" (Romans 12:1, 2 NEB). We are capable of that kind of worship because of the Spirit who lives within us and gives us, through the means of grace, the power of Christ's death and resurrection. And we know that, because of the sacrifice of the One who lived, died, and rose again for us, God accepts our imperfect worship as if it were perfect for the sake of the perfect Christ.
Amen.
May the God who caused light to shine out of darkness cause you to increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all people, as His love abounds for us; and may the glory of His Son be manifested to you and in you, that you may be witnesses to all nations now and until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.