SACRIFICE. Yes, sacrifice among many who call themselves “Christians” has been Missing in Action. You hear fewer and fewer Christians who are going to the regions beyond just to share the gospel to the “unreached”. In churches right now, very few young people are stepping forward to go to formal Bible school training in preparation for a life-long service to our Master. Furthermore, there are so few of our brethren who are willing to give-up some of their time for some tracts distribution session in their community. And for those who are financially blessed Christians, so few of them are willing to give to small but effective evangelism-focused ministries just because these ministries aren’t that capable of bringing the news of their donations to as many people as possible. Why are these things happening? Simply because less and less people are willing to make a sacrifice.
This is such a sad scenario when you consider how much others who came before us have sacrificed just so the gospel could reach us. People have forgotten how Christ’s disciples gave-up their lives for the cause of the gospel. The lessons of the sacrifices of saints included in the book “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” have been degraded to the level of literary past-time. Even the examples given by modern-time martyrs like Richard Wurmbrand, Nate Saint and his companions, Martin and Gracia Burnham, and many more do not anymore receive the same attention and response from Christians who hear their stories as before. I feel grief when I think that if this amnesia to the sacrifices of the people mentioned continues no one will remember them in the next 20 to 30 years, even if it was us who directly benefited from their lives.
So why are Christians today less and less willing to make some sacrifices for the gospel’s sake? Let me offer some answers from my own personal observation.
The first culprit is the increasing materialistic motivation of people, Christians included. A lot of us have forgotten the admonition from the Scriptures for us “to store-up riches in Heaven…”. Instead of doing this, we spend most of our time trying our best to build the most admirable house in the block, purchase the sleekest car among our peers, have the most extravagant summertime vacation, earn enough to buy the most expensive designer clothes, etc. When I see this happening among Christians I know personally, I could only wish that they read what the Preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes say about these things…”Vanity. Everything under the sun is vanity! (v. 1:2)” And what did Solomon say should be our life’s focus at the end of the book after exposing the vanity of these things? “…Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man (v. 12:13).”
It’s sad that even some church leaders have forgotten that our whole duty is to obey God and not to amass as much material wealth as possible. I personally know several pastors who have even migrated to more progressive countries and take up secular jobs, totally turning their backs to their “calling”, in order for them to give their families what they perceive as “a better life”. To relieve themselves of some of the guilt, they would spare some of their free time during weekends to hold an hour of Bible study with some people they already know and whom they need not look for anymore. That’s good, but is that really God’s will in their lives? No wonder why we see fewer pastors’ children who are going to full-time ministry in their adult years. I can only imagine the positive influence Christians can inject into this sinful world if only all of us will sacrifice our material ambitions just so we can obey God’s call to serve Him with all our heart, soul and mind.
Secondly and closely related to the first culprit is the preoccupation of most churches with what has come to be popularly called as the “Prosperity Message”. This kind of message tells Christians that God wants them to be successful in their chosen fields in all of it’s aspects including the financial aspect, that’s why it is important that you do your best in whatever you are busy with so that God’s Will is realized in your life. So what’s wrong with this message? I’m telling you right now… A LOT! Any message that does not admonish Christians to copy the kind of life that Jesus lived is an erroneous message. Jesus came to this world to do two things: (1) to save us from the consequences of our sins and, (2) to set an example on how life should be lived. If preachers are not able to deliver the second message clearly, then they are not fully doing their jobs.
I once heard an interview done by Larry King to a very popular pastor of a mega-church in the state of Texas. When asked by King if it is really God’s will that we live a comfortable life, the pastor without any hesitance so proudly answered in the affirmative. Declarations like this are so dangerous for it further fuels a person’s materialistic drive resulting to a lesser willingness to do some sacrifices for God. I agree with what Pastor Paul Washer said when he was interviewed by Kirk Cameron and Todd Friel in one of the shows of TBN. He said, “As far as I know, God only promised two things for Christians… eternal life in heaven and sufferings in this world.” Jesus once said to his disciples, “In this world you shall have tribulations…(John 16:33)”, and He expects this kind of response to these tribulations… “…when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad… (Matt 5:11-12)”. I remember Todd Friel once said in The Way of the Master Radio, “Is it God’s Will that we live a comfortable life? No. His Will is that we be the light and salt of this world!” Very well said, Todd!
Sometimes pastors will say this, “Be obedient to what God calls you to do and He will reward you tremendously for it.” So what’s wrong with this message? Yes, nothing. The problem lies at what was not said. Preachers should also explain that when God promises blessings, it is not always material blessings. Furthermore, most of the blessings God promises to give us will be given not here in this life but in Heaven someday. This is the reason why Solomon explained that God has placed the understanding of eternity in man’s heart (Eccl. 3:11,14). I often make Christians think with this question, “If indeed God rewards Christians’ obedience with material prosperity, and throughout the New Testament time (including our time), there is no one who could equal the kind of obedience that Paul and Jesus’ disciples exhibited, then why can’t you read in any of the New Testament accounts of them that they received abundant material blessings?” The answer is obvious. God’s promised blessings vary and most of their rewards they received in Heaven. God’s blessings could be peace of mind, satisfaction with even the fewest of wealth, the virtue of longsuffering, etc. In fact, the lowest kind of blessing that God can bestow on you is material blessing. Making people believe that obedience to God results to material blessings is again so dangerous. If in their obedience the material blessings do not come, they will be turned-off from serving the Lord, and worse, make them backslide.
Lastly, the main reason why Christians of today are not ready to give their lives to God as a living sacrifice is because they do not fully appreciate the sacrifices that Jesus did for them. I believe that if only Christians would fully fathom what it caused Jesus to give us eternal salvation, more of us will lose ourselves for the gospel’s sake. The Scriptures said that although He is God, He made himself of no reputation and took the form of a servant and the likeness of man, and then humbled himself even to death in the cross (Philippians 2:6-8). And why is there less appreciation to Jesus’ sacrifice? Blame it on the modern gospel message that declares that God will give us love, joy, peace, fulfillment and lasting happiness if we will just “accept” Jesus into our hearts, and very little emphasis on the sins that we’ve committed against God that left Him with no other choice but to send His only begotten Son into the world to pay for the sins that we should be the one paying for.
The modern gospel message made us focus more on what we can get from a relationship with Jesus when the focus should be surrendering our lives to Him as a show of our high gratitude for what He did for us at the cross 2000 years ago. If Christians around the world who are preaching to the lost would only straighten up their message to conform to what Paul and the disciples preached, and that is “repentance towards God and faith on Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21)” because of what we did to make God die for us, then more of the converts of their ministries will surrender themselves to missions abroad and to the cause of evangelizing their communities.
So many unsaved around us, but so few sacrifices on our part to bring them to a personal relationship with God. May all of us be consumed with the thought of how much God showed His love to us so that we will be moved to likewise show our love to Him by giving the whole of us and not just a part of us, through personal sacrifices we will render. This way, more people will experience the love God has been offering everyone in this world. We have been forgiven and now expect eternal life in Heaven through the sacrifice Jesus. Isn’t it just proper that we also make our own sacrifices for God? Let us not waste the sacrifices made by people before by not setting an example of sacrificial living to people who will come after us. As one song said, “And may all who come behind us find us faithful.”
