The Perfect Lamb

Among the directives given for sacrificing in the Old Testament, we find the following: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats” (Exodus 12:5). The sacrifice one offered was to be like a diamond of the first water, the best one had.

Of course, we now live in the New Testament age, a time in which we no longer have to worry about sacrificing lambs. But I like what I have heard many a minister say: although we might not be under the Old Testament rules and regulations, they still give us insight into God’s heart and perspective, into His likes and dislikes, things it behooves us to keep in mind if we desire to please Him.

So, what does a “perfect” sacrifice translate into our life today? We're familiar with the old stand-byes--our time, our money--but maybe we can find other acceptable sacrifices by turning to ye olde reliable text--the Bible.

Hebrews 13:5 talks about "the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." Paul is telling us that offering praise to God even when we don't feel like it is a sacrifice God looks for.

A few verses later in Hebrews 13:16 another couple of sacrifices are identified: "But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." According to this verse, good works are considered a sacrifice that pleases God.

If we look at what Strong's Concordance says of the Greek word translated "communicate" we find the following: "koinōnía – properly, what is shared in common as the basis of fellowship (partnership, community)." This meaning is why some translations use "sharing" instead of "communicate" in that verse. Sharing would include giving to God as well as to His people and even to the needy at large. This, then, gives us a third sacrifice that pleases God : giving and sharing with others.

And then we have a birds' eye view of what those sacrifices should look like from none other than the first murderer in recorded history, Cain. We know the story: God accepted Abel's sacrifice, but rejected Cain's. Hebrews 11:4 gives us a clue as to the why, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh." Again we turn to Strong's Concordance for help in understanding what that faith Abel had was comprised of: the original word is pistis, meaning faith, faithfulness and is used in the context of  faith, belief, trust, confidence, fidelity, faithfulness. In other words, when Abel offered up his sacrifice, he didn't just throw "whatever" on the altar. He put his heart into it. He put thought into it. He had a reverence for God that drove him to offer the best he had. By implication, Cain was not constrained by any such compunction. I can hear him now: "An offering, you say? Okay, here you go, God. Whatever. Let me just throw this on the altar to get You off my back. Be happy You got something." Newsflash: Cain's cavalier attitude earned him misery for the rest of his life. He opted to do what was easy. And, sorry people,--easy does not equate the blessing of God. An acceptable sacrifice is one in which our heart is invested.

Let me share two examples of dubious giving (or almost giving) I've run across. True story. A man in Monterrey, Mexico, was approached by missionaries concerning his son. Feeling a call to the ministry, the son had asked them to intercede on his behalf about going to Bible School. He knew his father would not be in favor and hoped that the intervention of other adults would soften his heart and pave the way for permission to attend. Nope. It was not to be. Do you know what the father’s response was? “Take Timmy here. He’s not as bright as old Johnny. One boy’s as good as another and I want Johnny to go to university then help me in my business. Timmy’s more expendable—take him.” The father disdained giving the more "promising" of his sons to God. Let God have the one who didn’t do as well academically. Let God have what he perceived as "the dregs". (Note: in God's economy, there is no such thing as a worthless person. God doesn't care if you are valedictorian or at the bottom of your class. Proverbs 13:8 says that "the ransom of a man's life are his riches". God loved each of us so much that He sent His sinless Son to die in our place. He paid the most valuable ransom possible for each person. The father had it wrong--one son was not "better" than another. What was different was that God had a call on one of the sons and not on the other. You can't exactly switch calls on God. If He has a call on you, He has a call on you, not what's-his-face.) Johnny (not his real name) ended up not entering the ministry and, although I don't remember exact details, the end of the story was nowhere near what the father had envisioned. What would have been the outcome if the father had allowed the one with the call on his life, the son he deemed "better”, to enter the ministry? Sadly, we’ll never know.

Then there was the pastor’s wife who wanted to "bless" me when, as itinerating missionaries, my family and I had a stopover at her church. I thanked her for the clothes she gave me—torn hems and all. It was nice of her to want to give me something, but I couldn’t help noticing that what this same pastor’s wife wore in church was pristine, clean, and definitely not torn. Apparently missionaries were low man on the totem pole--people for whom ratty clothes should be good enough.

Unfortunately, it reminded me all too well of the missionary barrels my home church in South Texas would get from their northern counterparts. Mixed in with things that would benefit the poor in Mexico were a goodly number of torn, hopelessly stained clothes, and shoes that blared “Prostitute!” We couldn’t help but think that the less-than-perfect clothing came either as a tax right-off or a desire to let the person sending it feel they had done good while not sacrificing their good stuff.

So yeah, I have seen how our giving might benefit from keeping Old Testament requirements in mind.

This might be the New Testament era, but God is still the same. Do you think that because it is a more modern time He is now pleased with a dilapidated sacrifice? Do you think we can get in His good graces by giving what we would otherwise discard as trash? We might be under a covenant of grace, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). What made Him happy in yesteryear makes Him happy today. The kinds of sacrifices we give Him might have changed, but He still desires quality from those who claim to love Him.

Perhaps a good rule of thumb insofar as giving is concerned would be to ask ourselves, “Would I like this?” After all, Jesus said to do to others as we would have them do to us (Matthew 7:12).

Let’s purpose this year to give God our best sacrifices: our praise, our minds when they are freshest, our time for Him and for others, and our best gifts to His church and people. Our lives will definitely be the richer for it.

“And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 1:8).

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain" (1Corinthians 9:24).

"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward" (1 Corinthians 3:13-14).