Reed Mueller

Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking hard at what motivates worship (here) and what God-pleasing worship is. While last week we looked at what pleasing praise is (here), this week we looked again at Hebrews 13:13-16 to discover what pleasing sacrifice is (download/podcast feed/iTunes).

I do not believe that God is pleased in sacrifice for sacrifice sake. God is neither ego maniacal nor sadistic and thus the reason for sacrifice can’t be found in his need or our pain. So what is the reason? To shape us into who we were always meant to be; in essence, to heal us.

For this to make sense, healing must be construed correctly. It can’t be about alleviating pain (for many times, sacrifice for God or others results in discomfort of some kind, be it physical, emotional, interpersonal, or financial). True healing is healing that shapes us into what we were always meant to be: whole persons, accurately reflecting Christ in our world. That is why God is pleased with sacrifice, because it is part of our healing, part of God’s placing of each of his children into his work in the world (1 Peter 2:4-5).

In the message I made reference to three healing (and therefore pleasing) sacrifices:

1. The healing sacrifice Christ made on our behalf (verses 13-14);
2. The healing sacrifice we make when we confess Jesus Christ as Lord (this is sacrifice because we remove ourselves from the center of our own lives and healing because it is Jesus who is placed there; verse 15);
3. The healing sacrifice we make in our attitudes and actions toward others (this is sacrifice because we seek to heal others by seeing them as better than ourselves and healing because by this we become more like Christ; verse 16 and Philippians 2:3-11).

In all of this I implied (to my chagrin) that healing comes as we sacrifice through our own power. While it is true that healing comes through sacrifice, it is not true that healing sacrifice must be (or should be) done on our own power. Far from it, our energy, motivation, and power to sacrifice for others and for God in a healing way comes from His Spirit, as he leads, moves in us, and empowers us (Romans 8:12-17; Galatians 5:22-25; Ephesians 3:16; Colossians 1:29). So move about in God’s lead as you sacrifice by confessing him and serving others…and in so-doing you will participate in your own healing!

By the way, thanks for your comments (either emailed or posted to the blog) to the “feed-forward” entry earlier in the week! They helped me consider this post.

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