REQUIRED SACRIFICE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude He had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.

1 Peter 4:1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Christians, we gain everything we could ever hope for or ever need, namely the assurance of eternal life as a child of God, filled with the Holy Spirit and guaranteed an inheritance in Heaven (Romans 8:14-17).

But here’s the other part of becoming a Christian that people unfortunately place less emphasis on. For when one chooses to believe in Jesus as Savior, they are to pick up their crosses and follow Him, abandoning all that the things of the world that were meaningful before. Jesus said so Himself:

“Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24

Need an example of what this looks like?

Consider Jesus’ encounter with the first disciples He would formally call.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once, they left their nets and followed Him.

Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. Matthew 4:18-22

Four men. All fishermen who had vocations that provided for their needs. Two were partnered with their father.

And yet, all four left what they were doing as well as the lives they once had to follow Jesus with no hesitation. You would be hard pressed to find any greater display of personal sacrifice in the scriptures outside of Jesus Himself.

Indeed, there’s no question that there is a required sacrifice the moment that anyone chooses to follow Jesus. We find the Lord speaking this through the Apostle Paul in the opening verses of the twelfth chapter of Romans:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1

Did you catch that?

Just as Jesus willingly offered up His body as a living sacrifice to save sinners facing a sure eternity in Hell, all Christians are to offer up their own bodies as living sacrifices, behaving in ways that are holy and pleasing to God. They are to become new creations, trading in their past selves for a new life in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17).  

In support of this truth, we find God’s Word speaking powerfully in the opening three verses of 1 Peter, chapter 4. Look again at these words found there:

So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude He had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.

To be Christian means one needs to conduct themselves in Christ-like fashion. This means a believer needs to be prepared to suffer and be “finished with sin”, exchanging “their own desires” for an anxiousness to “do the will of God”.

What was included in those past desires?

The scriptures tell us they include “the evil things that godless people enjoy” such as “immorality and lust” as well as the “terrible worship of idols” and engaging in “feasting and drunkenness and wild parties”. In other words, a Christian believer needs to leave behind any behavior that Christ wouldn’t engage and participate in. Period.

Jesus’ followers are in the world but they aren’t to be of it. Just as Jesus radically showed a new life, one that perfectly shunned sin and was totally committed to obedience towards God, His believers are to do likewise. They are required to sacrifice who they used to be for the new person God wants them to be through Christ, His Son.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.