What is an acceptable sacrifice today?

An experienced pastor once said with reference to shepherding the flock of God, “My assignment is to prepare the sheep for sacrifice.” Well said! The flock of God is called to be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1). Every Christian—every priest of God—is called to be devoted to a life of holiness.

Leviticus 22 speaks to this issue. The priests were here tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the “bread of God” (v. 25) was not defiled, either by their unclean hands or by unworthy offerings from the congregation. In other words, the sacrificial offerings were to be handled with holy hands and received from hearts humbled by God’s sovereign and redemptive grace. The sacrifices were to be holy.

The contents of this chapter teach us that if our worship will be acceptable to God then it must be holy. As it is expressed in the New Testament, we are required to worship God with holy hands and with humbled hearts (1 Timothy 2:8-9).

The Lord does not give ceremonial requirements of elders in the New Testament, but He does give moral requirements of all those who are going to serve Him.

So notice how the New Testament takes a principle that was illustrated in the ceremonial law, but its application is moral. So, elders who serve the Lord and who shepherd God’s people are to be morally upright. They’re to be holy in their family life, in their relationship with other Christians, and even in their reputations with the outside community. And all elders are given that charge in the New Testament to be holy. They’re called to the same kind of consistency as the priests. Even as the priests were to be consistent to obey the very ceremonial laws that they were supposed to be enforcing on the people, so also elders in the New Testament (elders and pastors, all of us who are called to the work of shepherding) are called to live morally the way that we are encouraging the people of God to live in accordance with His word. So in order not to be hypocritical, we’re to live out the truth that we are calling the people of God to embrace and live out.

It is possible for something to be offered (probably with the best intentions), but not accepted by God. This idea may be a bit jarring to us today in the light of ‘God will take us as we are’ and ‘we just have to do our best with the right heart’. There are standards that must be kept in the worship of God. These have been clearly laid out for us, not only in Leviticus, but also in the rest of the Bible.

The whole of the ceremonial law is designed to draw distinctions or boundaries between what is clean and what is unclean, what is holy and what is profane, what is allowed and what is not allowed; and are designed to heighten the idea, the understanding, of the holiness of God: that God is distinct; that holiness is different from sin; that God is not like the sinful world; that God’s people are not to be like the sinful nations.

All of these distinctions in the ceremonial code are designed to emphasize the uniqueness, the separateness, the distinctiveness, the holiness of God over against this sinful fallen world; and they are to show us that God is to be treated holy.

Application Questions:

1. How is your worship life? What are some of the ways in which you are choosing to worship God on your own terms?

2. When you sing the hymns or the worship songs, do you think about what you sing?

Quote:

God wants us to worship Him. He doesn't need us, for He couldn't be a self-sufficient God and need anything or anybody, but He wants us. When Adam sinned it was not He who cried, "God, where art Thou?" It was God who cried, "Adam, where art thou?" - A. W. Tozer

Prayer:

Lord, I thank you for helping me to understand the importance of worship and why it matters how I worship. Help me to evaluate my worship and truly worship you both privately and corporately. Amen.