Sacrifice
The following statements are from The Magna Carta, an English document from back in the year 1215 that limited the government's power over the Church. "Know ye that we, unto the honor of Almighty God, and for the salvation of the souls of our progenitors and successors,…, to the advancement of the holy Church,…. We have granted to God,…, for us and our Heirs for ever, That the Church of England shall be free,…
Those statements greatly influenced our First Amendment of the Bill of Rights when it says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
There's no disputing that the writers of those documents had strong beliefs that everyone should have the freedom to worship God. Why the history lesson? - Because we need to be reminded that our freedom to worship God, together as a body of believers, comes with a price. Earlier, we recognized those who served and sacrificed, and we also need to remember those who served alongside them and gave their lives so that we can have the freedoms that we enjoy today. Freedom is not free.
The federal holiday of Veterans Day is of course not in the Bible. But those things that we celebrate in our veterans - service and sacrifice - those things are there in scripture. Switching gears a bit - I want to look at a story from the Old Testament that looks at the idea of sacrifice. It's a story about King David leading the people of Israel and it depicts both...
I. David's sin and David's humility
The passage I want to look at is a rather long one but the story is compelling. Let's look at 1 Chronicles 21:1-24 (NIV)...
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. (2) So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are." (3) But Joab replied, "May the LORD multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord's subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?"
(4) The king's word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. (5) Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah. (6) But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king's command was repulsive to him. (7) This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.
(8) Then David said to God, "I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." (9) The LORD said to Gad, David's seer, (10) "Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.'" (11) So Gad went to David and said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Take your choice:
(12) three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD - days of plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.' Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me." (13) David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men."
(14) So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. (15) And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
(16) David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. (17) David said to God, "Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? O LORD my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people."
(18) Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. (19) So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD. (20) While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves. (21) Then David approached, and when Araunah looked and saw him, he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David with his face to the ground.
(22) David said to him, "Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price." (23) Araunah said to David, "Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this."
(24) But King David replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing."
First, I want to look first at David's sin. Why was God so angry because David wanted a census of the people? Scholars aren't completely sure on the details, but all agree that it had to do with the fact that God had commanded David to rely on Him for strength, not numbers. David clearly knew it was not what God wanted, but he did it anyway. And it's recorded in II Samuel that this process of the census took 9 months and 20 days to complete. So David knew the whole time it was not what God wanted - but he went forward with his plan.
Now, it may not seem to us to be a big deal, but the simple truth is -David directly disobeyed God. It may not seem like a good enough reason to send a plague and destroy 70,000 people - but apparently God saw it very differently. He saw the willingness to disobey Him in the leader of His people, His children, and He took dramatic action! We may see David's sin as small, God did not. He took it very seriously.
And we can say, "It's not fair the people were punished for David's sin!" - but we don't know God's reasons here. And God doesn't really owe us an answer. The sin of His chosen people may have been building for a while and this was the catalyst for God to act - but we simply don't know.
But we do know, however, that sin always has consequences. They may be delayed consequences - but there are always consequences. And there's no such thing as a completely private sin. Again, we could say, "Well, it's their sin - it's not hurting anyone..." But there are always consequences to us when we sin and to those around us - it's kind of a domino effect. We can see sins listed in the Bible that cascaded and affected people and circumstance for generations! Sin gets in the way of God's plans for our lives and the potential for those good things to be a blessing to others! So sin is always serious!
But it's after David's sin, that we then see David's humility. As soon as David recognized his sin, he immediately turned to God to admit his sin. That shows the depth of David's trust in God. Our usual tendency when we realize we've done wrong is to pull away from God. David knew that even though he had sinned against God, he had to go directly to God. And God then gave David options for his punishment.
That offer demonstrates God's love for David even in the midst of punishment. Both God and David knew that David had to pay a price for his sin, so God gave him three choices - three years of famine, three months of their enemies attacking them, or three days of the Lord's sword. David chose God's hand of punishment, because even though he knew God had awesome power, he also knew that God is a merciful God. He knew that there would be no compassion from a famine or his enemies. David chose wisely, and then we see…
II. God's wrath and mercy
Notice, however, that God showed His mercy only after His wrath. There was still a price to be paid for David's disobedience. God is a merciful God, but He's also a God of justice – meaning that justice demands that sin be punished. God dealt with David's sin in a powerful and dramatic way - and then God showed compassion.
If God would have just let David 'off the hook' because He loved Him, David would have 'gotten away' with disobeying God and David would have lead his people down the wrong path - and the Messiah, Jesus, would not have been born as a descendant of David's. But God always has a bigger plan - keep that in mind as we finish this account. Put a pin there – God always has a bigger plan…
Many people only want God's compassion without His wrath. They want to serve a God who's loving and never confronts them when they do anything wrong. God does love us, but He requires our obedience. God is loving, but He also demands justice – there is a price to be paid for sin.
By the world's standards, there are probably many 'good people' here this morning. I haven't robbed a bank. I haven't killed anyone. I haven't been in prison. So - I didn't do any of those really bad things - I guess that's 'good enough', right? But by God's standards of holiness and perfection - I am just as guilty because I am a sinner and sin separates us from God. And notice I didn't say 'big sins' separate us from God, but what we see as small sins are okay - no.
Our God is still a God of wrath and mercy. - But I'm guessing you've noticed that God doesn't seem to be in the business of 'smiting' people quite like He did in the Old Testament. And believers understand the difference is found in Jesus!
John 3:35-36 (NIV)
The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. (36) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
God is a God of mercy as well as wrath. And God's mercy took the form of 'God in the flesh', the person of Jesus! God desires that everyone has a chance to repent; that everyone has a chance to accept Jesus and spend eternity in Heaven!
2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NIV)
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. (21) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
You cannot overestimate God's great capacity for mercy! The account we read of David's sin was from I Chronicles ch. 21. But if you look back to ch. 17 - you see God telling David...
1 Chronicles 17:11-14 (NIV)
"When your days are over and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. (12) He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. (13) I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. (14) I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever."
God knew of David's coming sin - but God had already planned to forgive David and to bless him even before that sin! God had planned for Solomon, David's son to build the temple - AND God planned for Jesus, the Messiah, to come from David's lineage. "I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever." And remember when I said that God always has a bigger plan...?
Remember the threshing floor where God ordered David to build an altar and make his sacrifice? That was on Mount Moriah. And if we jump back about a thousand years before - we find this in Genesis 22:1-2 (NIV)...
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. (2) Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
God told Abraham to sacrifice his son on Mount Moriah - but then provided a ram for the sacrifice. That was the same location as the threshing floor where God would later allow David's son Solomon to build the temple for Israel's sacrifices. And the temple pointed to Jesus as God's lamb for the sacrifice for the sins of the world! God even used David's sin to further His plan for mercy all along! God's plans are always bigger!
We can clearly see that David wasn't perfect. David was a sinner – that was no surprise to God. But when David placed his focus back on God, he took that relationship very seriously - and God blessed Him, and through him, us! And at the end of that passage - David wouldn't offer a sacrifice that cost him nothing. And in light of that understanding, does my 'sacrifice'...
III. Reflect my gratitude?
The ultimate sacrifice for our sins was already made - Jesus paid the full price! We don't have to offer anything as a sacrifice for our salvation. But what do I give to show my gratitude...? What's my sacrifice and what does it cost me? What are we willing to give to God..? And are there things that we're perhaps holding back? We see that God didn't consider David's disobedience as a 'little thing'. In our lives are the 'little things' really little?
Do we maybe have the wrong perspective when it comes to sin? If God took David's disobedience so seriously – does God still feel strongly about our disobedience? Those 'little sins' that we may gloss over - are still a big deal to God. Casually using His name in vain, neglecting worship because we have other things to do; not confronting sin in our lives or in the lives of our families because it might make too many waves…? The things that we see as little may not be so little to God.
And are the 'big things' really big? Would David's 'big sacrifice' to God have been a big deal if he wouldn't have purchased the property and the wood and the grain? No. It wouldn't have been his sacrifice; it would have been David giving away someone else's things to God. It wouldn't have been from David at all.
What 'big things' do we give to God? And do they cost us anything? "Well, I put some money in the offering plate; I gave up over an hour to be here today. I've told the people at work I'm a Christian. I've donated various items for collections here - that's a big sacrifice." Those things are good, please don't get me wrong. And I don't want to diminish those works.
But let's look at our veterans. We aren't celebrating that they put on a uniform. We aren't honoring them for paying taxes to support the military. We aren't honoring them for giving a few hours to defend our country. We are honoring them because they gave themselves! They were willing to give themselves for our freedom – that's a big sacrifice! What are you willing to give to Jesus? He wants more than just your time or your money or even your service – He wants you!
So What?
Today, God is still the same God whom David served. He is a God of great mercy and great wrath. He paid the price for your sin, and mine, in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And because of the sacrifice of those who came before you – you have the freedom to accept Jesus and to worship God. That freedom cost some dearly.
Are you giving God things that really cost you nothing compared to giving yourself? God created everything, so when we give him tokens – we're just giving Him things that really are His in the first place. Are we giving 'that which costs me nothing?' In response to God's great mercy - choose today to give yourself fully to Jesus and share Jesus with someone else!