Sacrifice
Good Morning,
America has the idea that our values are the best on earth, and that our priorities are superior to all others. I will admit that to the extent that we follow the truths of the Bible and the founders who sought complete freedom, America is superior, but it is all a work of God, not of our own.
Americans have many values that are far from Scriptural. We value feeling more than right; we value temporal life more than eternal life – and those ideas are completely wrong. We place family above all else — and God makes that idea clearly WRONG when He says in Proverbs 27:10
“... better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.”
Proverbs says a good friend close by is better than a brother far away. Jesus taught that forsaking family for Christ was a righteous act to be greatly rewarded.
Mark 10:29 “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,"
vs. 30 “But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”
The Saviour made it clear that earthly possessions are a hindrance to the service of God, and that there ought to be a willingness to forsake all for the cause of Christ.
Luke 14:33 “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
“…all that he hath…” is a big statement! This is why it is reasonable for a young person to attend an unaccredited college seeking the Lord’s direction for the future and possible ministry rather than making the first priority financial and earthly security.
When a missionary travels across the world for the furtherance of the Gospel, he leaves security, family, and social comforts; yet his purpose is eternal. When a missionary leaves his home country, he leaves behind grandparents who will lose out on much of the family fun at holidays with grandchildren and other special occasions.
Let us place this emotional situation into context: the Lord says our love for Him and the cause of Christ ought to so surpass our love for family that our love for family seems like hatred. That is surely the opposite of what we are taught in America today.
Luke 14:26 “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
Eternity awaits us; and in that eternal land, dwelling with our Saviour, we will never regret placing the eternal above the temporal. We will never regret seeking the Kingdom of Christ FIRST above all other things. No bus worker will wish he had spent his Saturday and Sunday sleeping in or working around the house when he sees Heaven. No one bringing church services to a jail or rest home will wish he had done LESS of that kind of work when he walks down golden streets.
Most of us have heard the name, William Carey. What few know is that when he chose to go to India as a missionary, his wife refused to go with him. Carey took his son and left (and this was on a ship in the late 1700’s). Some complications arose that forced the ship to return for a brief time, and Mrs. Carey changed her mind. She left with her family the second time — that decision was huge! Mr. Carey buried two wives and two children before seeing the fruit of the ministry revealed.
We understand that Jesus thought our lives were important enough to sacrifice His own body, reputation, and heavenly home for the will of God. So, when it comes to “self and family first,” we are certainly missing the eternal perspective that God desires us to have.
Romans 12:1-2 says that we ought to present our bodies a living sacrifice. Add that to passages mentioned above, and we see that God would have us lay our all on the altar of sacrifice.
The love of God and desire to do His perfect will should be vastly more important than jobs, comfort, security, and life itself.
Pastor