A Sacrifice, an Offering, of Praise . . .

I've been reflecting a lot on two different verses in the Bible. The first is Hebrews 13:15 which says, "Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name." The second is Psalms 119:108 which says, "Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your rules."

These two passages are ones I have a sense are loaded with a depth of meaning I can only scratch the surface of. I wonder, what does it mean to give our praise unto God as an offering, and as a sacrifice? I have to believe this is so much more than the casual praise we lift up to God so often, or the way we might sometimes simply sing songs of worship and praise without fully being cognizant of each word and fully lifting them to Him as if from the depth of our hearts. I am thinking out loud here, and I might be wrong, but to me praising God and talking about Him can be easy. I don't normally think of the word "praise" in terms of God in a context of a sacrifice or offering. To me those words imply a cost and a determined, purposed gift.

I wonder if I am too casual in my worship and praise. Well, I know I am. There is no way my worship or praise could ever match what He is worthy of as God—holy, Creator, the One in Whom all time and goodness and love and life and light find their very origin. So I know I am too casual with my praise. I could never give Him, or express to Him, what He is truly worthy of. But that being said, I know my praise is pleasing to Him and accepted and loved. But I am wondering, is there a level of praise that I could lift to Him beyond what I am? A level of praise that is costly to me and emanating from the very core of my being?

Obviously to praise Him—to choose to praise Him—in the midst of suffering, in the midst of circumstances where His hand isn't evident, in the midst of seeming "unanswered" prayers is "costly." It is choice we must make, contrary to what we might feel. I think I get that and how that choice could be an offering and sacrifice of praise.

But what about when life is going good? When it seems like I can see Him moving in my life, providing, answering prayers, and praise is easy? How can I then give Him my praise as a sacrifice and offering? What level of meditating on Him and His attributes and His holiness and His love might I need to make the effort to do to come to that place where my praise is a sacrifice, an offering? What does that mean?

I have a picture of Him on the throne, and my handing Him my praise as a gift. My praise must be a fragrance of my life. It comes before even my requests . . . "Our Father in Heaven. Hallowed. Holy be Your name . . ." I am so casual, so quick, to speak to Him (and I know that is my privilege as His child) that at times I believe I need to just pause, and collect myself, and to wrap myself around Who it is I am about to speak to, and to breath deeply and to be in awe, and to praise Him. To worship Him. To give Him my praise as an offering. A sacrifice.

And I am still trying to figure out fully what that means. But I believe when I do it will forever change my life.

What did Lazarus think?

I was thinking about Lazarus this morning. I wonder how grateful he was to Jesus for raising him from the dead. We know he was around Jesus after that.

John 12:2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.


I wonder how sacrificially he gave his all to Jesus after Jesus raised him from the dead. I wonder how many people were drawn to Jesus through the testimony and witness of Lazarus' new life.

John 12:9-11 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

I wonder if there is anything Lazarus would have held back from Jesus after that, or considered too great a price to pay to love and follow Jesus.

Then I thought about:

Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.


Romans 6:13b . . . but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

 I was dead in my sin. Cut off from God, Who is Himself life. And He raised me from the dead. And so I wonder . . . I wonder how grateful I am to Jesus for raising me from the dead. I wonder how sacrificially I give my all to Jesus after Jesus raised me from the dead. I wonder how many people are drawn to Jesus through the testimony and witness of my new life. I wonder if there is anything I would have held back from Jesus after that, or consider too great a price to pay to love and follow Jesus.

What is the proper response when someone has raised you from the dead?

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Using “Sacrifice” to Self-Justify Disobedience

When Saul disobeyed the Lord’s commands through Samuel to devote everything and everyone of Amalek to destruction (1 Samuel 15) it didn’t bode well for him—in fact, it cost him his kingship.

1 Sam 15:13-15   And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord." And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?" Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction."

Saul gave all the right “religious” sounding reasons for sparing the king and the best of the livestock, saying, basically, “It’s for a sacrifice to the Lord.” The problem in Saul’s situation is that God didn’t ask him for that sacrifice—He had told him to devote it ALL to destruction! (How often, I wonder, do we justify our own plans and desires that God never led us to by saying that it’s for the Lord, or that we will glorify Him in it, or that it will enable us to do more for Him? Instead of letting God lead us, we set out on our own and try and drag Him and His blessing behind us.)

Samuel countered Saul with a piercing commentary for us all to take note of (a passage later quoted from in Hebrews). In 1 Sam 15:22-23 Samuel says, "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king."

How easy it can be to consciously, or subconsciously, excuse, or move past, or minimize in our mind, our disobedience (doing wrong things, or not doing right things) because we are doing “religious” things that make us feel it is OK, or balanced, or better—or that even convince us we are pleasing God? We may go to church, or a Bible study, or tithe, or write blogs, or pastor churches, or serve on church boards, or ???, but if we are doing things that are in disobedience to God, then our “sacrifices” are missing the point.

God asks for obedience. Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey Him. Obedience is a mark of a surrendered heart to God and a love for God. It is much easier for us, often, to put the check in the offering box, or to go to church, or to do some religious “thing” than it is to obey God—and yet we can fool ourselves, and even others, by doing the religious and missing the obedience.

James 4:17 tells us: So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. This is a powerful verse! Obedience to God is not just not doing bad things, it is also doing the right things. We can be disobeying God by doing that which is wrong, or by not doing that which is right (this could be as simple as not visiting someone when the Spirit nudges us to!). We fool ourselves into thinking we are good Christians (or at least neutral) because we aren’t doing anything bad (and maybe we are even doing church things), but we might be disobeying Him by not doing the service, the loving, the forgiving, the laying down of ourselves, the giving, the seeking His plans and not our own, etc., that He has asked of us. God, it would seem through Saul’s example, is saying, “Yeah, I see that tithe check and that church attendance . . . but what about what I asked you to do?”

We must be careful, I believe, to not let our religious “stuff” numb us or fool us into thinking we are doing that which pleases God. I believe all of that pleases Him, but if it isn’t on top of basic obedience, then it would seem we’ve missed that which He calls us to, and that which is greater in His heart. The words of Jesus to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23 come to mind, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

Praise God we are forgiven! Praise God for His love and mercy! Praise God that He lives in us and through us and works out His plan for us through surrendered lives! But, let’s be careful to never use that as a safety zone to sin or seeking our own ways and pleasures and plans—and to never fool ourselves that God is joyous about our religious “stuff” if we’ve missed the basic heart of God and the obedience that comes from love.

God bless you all. Thanks for reading and being a part of my life.   —Erick