Religious activity is important, but it’s not as important as obedience to God. This is why God says, “obedience is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). When we obey God, our religious activity is acceptable to him.
Jeremiah said, “I will certainly bring calamity on this people because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it. For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me” (Jeremiah 6:19-20).
Israel’s sacrifices were not acceptable because Israel was disobedient to God’s word. All the religious activity in the world cannot make up for disobedience to God.
Sacrifices and religious activity apart from obedience to the word of God is dangerous. The Bible says it is witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23).
Jesus told the Pharisees, “in vain do you worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). The Pharisees were serving Satan and not God (John 8:44) because their religious activity was not based on God’s word.
In the Old Testament, the Jews had to do all their sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. They were not allowed to offer sacrifices in other places. When they offered sacrifices in other places, they came under demonic bondage. This teaches we must first obey God in order to spiritually be in the place where our sacrifices are acceptable.
In the Old Testament, God blessed his people materially when they offered sacrifices. God blessed Abraham and he became materially wealthy (Genesis 24:35). God blessed Solomon, and he became the richest king in the world (1 Kings 10:23). The Israelites were blessed when their land was productive, they had many children, defeated their enemies, and amassed a lot of money.
Christians are called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God (Hebrews 13:15-16). These sacrifices include praise, thanksgiving, doing good, sharing with believers, and supporting true servants of God. We don’t offer these sacrifices in order to be cleansed from sin because Jesus offered a perfect sacrifice for sin on the cross once for all, but we offer these sacrifices in order to please God.
In the New Testament, we will be blessed when we sacrifice to God. But unlike the Old Testament, this is primarily a spiritual blessing and not a material blessing. The spiritual blessings of the New Testament are symbolized by the material blessings of the Old Testament. The land flowing with milk and honey symbolizes our inheritance in Christ. Milk refers to the word of God (1 Peter 2:2) and so does honey. The fruit of the land represents the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Victory over nations symbolizes victory over evil spirits (Ephesians 6:12). Gold and silver represents spiritual gifts and talents that we have from God.
Spiritual blessings are more important and powerful than material wealth. Jesus had no house of his own (Matthew 8:20), but he was full of the spiritual blessing of God and transformed the world. Peter and John had no silver and gold, but they had something better – the power of God to heal crippled people (Acts 3:6) and preach the gospel with power.
God will bless us materially when we sacrifice to him, but the primary blessing we receive is spiritual. And this is the real blessing that we need. This spiritual blessing will impact the world.
As we obey God, we can offer him spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to him. And as we offer spiritual sacrifices to God, he will bless us. This blessing will be primarily a spiritual blessing. The spiritual blessing of the New Testament is foreshadowed by the material blessing that the children of God enjoyed in the Old Testament. If we are rich spiritually, we have all we need. And these spiritual riches are eternal. Let us pursue spiritual riches, and lay up for ourselves heavenly treasure as we offer spiritual sacrifices to God according to his word.
Lincoln House Churches 