thought of the day..#8- comparing sacrifices
Almost all the prophets in the OT wrote about how displeased God was with the people's sacrifices. One verse from Hosea 6:6 said
Before i talk about this, i would like to mention why the Israelites' sacrifices were displeasing to God - it was because while they offer sacrifice to God - they also offer sacrifice to Baal (the god of fertility), so basically they were trying to get the benefits from both gods. OF course there are other reasons as well but this is the main idea of it.
The issue that I am challenging about here is also mentioned by Jesus - but not directly (but very much direct if you think about it) in Luke 18:9-14 (parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector) also in Matthew 20-1-16 (parable of the workers in the vineyard). This issue had also started since the beginning of humanity - in the story of Cain and Able.
What does these three (i know there's a lot more examples but lets just take this three) have in common?
1. they all offer to someone (in the form of offering, sacrifice or service)
2. one character is comparing himself to the other
I know that i'm not supposed to take this verse out of context - but i do think that these three have the same underlying problem - which is this issue of giving half-heartedly. How do we know that they give it half-heartedly? By the fact that they are comparing their gifts with the other party.
While doing this - people might be angry or boastful as a result of it - which simply means that the method might be different but the aim is the same. They all are trying to gain God's favor by doing something for God. And not only that, they also failed to see their own mistakes. The workers in the vineyard - got angry at the Landowner for giving them the same wage. The pharisee thinks that he is so much better than the tax collector because he had done so many good-works for God. And lastly (which should be first) is Cain - who even goes a step further by killing his own brother.
I think this goes the same in churches these days. We too have the same tendency to compare sacrifices (in the form of anything - service, devotional life, maturity, ministry, church attendance, etc.). I think this is MORE deadly than offering sacrifices to other gods because this is truly a DISGRACE to the name of the Lord. We say that we offer "our live" to God - but only for the sake of worshiping ourselves. This is no longer a problem that is obvious to see but a problem of the heart! How disgusting our heart is.
Mind you again, the only way i know this is because I MYSELF does them so many times. But BLESSFULLY like all our other sins, God has His own marvelous and clever little ways to bring us back to His reality. He has His ways to rebuke us and remind us that we are being toyed with by this "dark" forces in our heart. And wonderfully He gave us the spirit of SELF - CONTROL. Which simply means the ability to say NO to sin! Even when it's hard! Even when it takes all your life to do it.
Saying NO to sin does not mean that you will stop it completely after you say NO to it.. It means that you will keep on wresting- struggling-fighting with it, but as long as you STRUGGLE against it means that you are not yet sinning. It is when you stop struggling with it and just follows whatever it asks you - and lets it controls you - THAT IS WHEN YOU ARE SINNING.
So yeah... it's quite a long post... but i want to challenge ourselves and when we are doing our ministry. Why do we complain so much? Why do we think that we have done more than others? What gives us the right to say that we are more hard-working than so and so? Why do we think that we are better than others?
It takes a long time for people to learn. And while people are learning, they may not be as productive. Furthermore, there is no such person in this world who can do things well without learning about what things to do first and practice doing it. So when someone is slow or unproductive in whatever ministry they are in - it's not for us to judge them but for us to HELP, encourage and pray for them.
Now wouldn't the world be better this way anyway? If this is to be applied to ourselves? I would want to live in this kind of world - would you?
This post by Desiring God.com gives a good insight to what i've been trying to articulate in this post...
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offering.The issue that i want to wrestle with today is not about offerings that are pleasing or not pleasing to God but about something that i think is more ambiguous, crucial and deadly than this. That issue is comparing sacrifices.
Before i talk about this, i would like to mention why the Israelites' sacrifices were displeasing to God - it was because while they offer sacrifice to God - they also offer sacrifice to Baal (the god of fertility), so basically they were trying to get the benefits from both gods. OF course there are other reasons as well but this is the main idea of it.
The issue that I am challenging about here is also mentioned by Jesus - but not directly (but very much direct if you think about it) in Luke 18:9-14 (parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector) also in Matthew 20-1-16 (parable of the workers in the vineyard). This issue had also started since the beginning of humanity - in the story of Cain and Able.
What does these three (i know there's a lot more examples but lets just take this three) have in common?
1. they all offer to someone (in the form of offering, sacrifice or service)
2. one character is comparing himself to the other
I know that i'm not supposed to take this verse out of context - but i do think that these three have the same underlying problem - which is this issue of giving half-heartedly. How do we know that they give it half-heartedly? By the fact that they are comparing their gifts with the other party.
While doing this - people might be angry or boastful as a result of it - which simply means that the method might be different but the aim is the same. They all are trying to gain God's favor by doing something for God. And not only that, they also failed to see their own mistakes. The workers in the vineyard - got angry at the Landowner for giving them the same wage. The pharisee thinks that he is so much better than the tax collector because he had done so many good-works for God. And lastly (which should be first) is Cain - who even goes a step further by killing his own brother.
I think this goes the same in churches these days. We too have the same tendency to compare sacrifices (in the form of anything - service, devotional life, maturity, ministry, church attendance, etc.). I think this is MORE deadly than offering sacrifices to other gods because this is truly a DISGRACE to the name of the Lord. We say that we offer "our live" to God - but only for the sake of worshiping ourselves. This is no longer a problem that is obvious to see but a problem of the heart! How disgusting our heart is.
Mind you again, the only way i know this is because I MYSELF does them so many times. But BLESSFULLY like all our other sins, God has His own marvelous and clever little ways to bring us back to His reality. He has His ways to rebuke us and remind us that we are being toyed with by this "dark" forces in our heart. And wonderfully He gave us the spirit of SELF - CONTROL. Which simply means the ability to say NO to sin! Even when it's hard! Even when it takes all your life to do it.
Saying NO to sin does not mean that you will stop it completely after you say NO to it.. It means that you will keep on wresting- struggling-fighting with it, but as long as you STRUGGLE against it means that you are not yet sinning. It is when you stop struggling with it and just follows whatever it asks you - and lets it controls you - THAT IS WHEN YOU ARE SINNING.
So yeah... it's quite a long post... but i want to challenge ourselves and when we are doing our ministry. Why do we complain so much? Why do we think that we have done more than others? What gives us the right to say that we are more hard-working than so and so? Why do we think that we are better than others?
It takes a long time for people to learn. And while people are learning, they may not be as productive. Furthermore, there is no such person in this world who can do things well without learning about what things to do first and practice doing it. So when someone is slow or unproductive in whatever ministry they are in - it's not for us to judge them but for us to HELP, encourage and pray for them.
Now wouldn't the world be better this way anyway? If this is to be applied to ourselves? I would want to live in this kind of world - would you?
This post by Desiring God.com gives a good insight to what i've been trying to articulate in this post...
Comments