Good to Great in God's Eyes - Make Great Sacrifices, Part 2

I want you to stop right now. Who is the greatest Christian that you know? The kind of person that, if it were possible, you would really want to be like them? Have you got it in your mind? What motivates them?

What makes them tick? What is it about their life that produced them being such a great Christian? We're going to learn the answer to that question today. Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the daily Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Drouie, and we're in the middle of our popular series, Good to Great in God's Eyes. Now, in just a minute, Chip's going to wrap up his message on one of the hallmark qualities of a mature Christian, sacrifice. And if you want to learn more about this subject, join us right after the teaching, as Chip will share a compelling challenge we all need to hear.

You're not going to want to miss it. With that, here's the second half of Chip's message as he dives right back into this idea of sacrifice. Lessons from the life of Paul. Paul is going to say in Romans chapter 12, Therefore, I urge you, brothers, notice, what's the motivation? In view of God's mercy, in view of all that he's done for you, in view of all of his love, what's he say? To offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship.

Would you circle the little phrase to offer? It literally means to present. The word when it's translated, it's called the LXX, it means the 70, and they translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek. And when they, this Greek word in all the Old Testament is when the priest would present the offering at the altar. And see, what the apostle Paul is saying, because he makes this great logical line, Romans chapter 1 to 3, everyone has this problem with sin, but God has solved it through this great, great gift of Christ on the cross. Chapters 4 and 5, by faith you receive that free gift. Chapters 6 through 8, now that you have this new life, you have died with him, you've been raised with him, it is in the Spirit's power that you live. And then chapters 9 through 11, parenthesis, by the way, I have a special plan for Israel as an agent of blessing, but they've dropped the ball. And so what I do is I'm going to put them on the shelf for a while, and I'm going to create this new thing called the church. And then he says now, in light of all that I've done, here's my will, I want you to offer you. And notice what? As a living and holy sacrifice, God wants you.

He doesn't want your job, he doesn't want your money, he doesn't want your stuff, he wants you. Lock, stock, and barrel. It's a living sacrifice, and I picture in my mind, you know, like that altar, and you know how they would put the animals on the altar? I imagine an altar that God wants us to kind of crawl up on, and say, God, I'm yours 24-7, 365. And the picture that comes to my mind is it's like having your checkbook, and you sign the bottom of the check, and you write your name, and then you take the check and you turn it like this, and you walk up to the door of heaven, you know, in the big throne room, and it's shut, and there's just light coming out of the bottom. And you take your check and you slide it under, and you say, Lord, I'm a living sacrifice 24-7. This isn't about Sunday, or it's not about a Wednesday night, it's not about just little times here and there. All that I am, all that I have is yours.

So, I've done it at a point in time, it's in the sense of the verb, to offer, it's at a point in time. Lord, what I want you to do is you fill out the top every day. You tell me what you want to do, where you want me to go, what you want me to give, who you want me to serve.

You just write on the top, and I've pre-decided whatever you write, that's what I'm going to do. That's the normal Christian life. And by the way, this is not salvation, this is chapter 12, right?

This is what's called lordship or dedication. I think it's one of the most missing teachings in the church today. I was at Penn State University, 1975, I've been a Christian about two and a half, maybe three years. And someone walked through this process through the life of Abraham and landed on Romans 12-1. And I realized I knew God, I was born again, my sins were forgiven, and on Thursday night I always went to Bible study, and on Friday and Saturday night I hit every bar and wheelie.

Like a lot of Christians, just living one foot here, one foot here, and you know what, I was miserable. And then Romans 12-1, I was at the conference and I realized, the problem is, I don't get this idea of sacrifice and worship coming together. And I was thinking, I need to do these duties, and I need to, you know, I'm supposed to read my Bible, I'm supposed to do this, and you know what? What I'm supposed to do, what's my spiritual service of worship? What God really wants is me.

Not one day a week, seven days a week. And so the apostle Paul summarizes this understanding of sacrifice and worship, the sacrifice God requires is my life, 24-7, surrendered to him to do his will. And I can look back, and I still remember, I was sitting on the floor, and I was doing that little study, and there were people here, and I got to Romans 12-1, I really understood it, and I said, God, you know, I won't do this perfectly, but I want you to know, today, I'm signing the bottom of the check. I'll go wherever you want me to go, I'll do whatever you want me to do, that scares me to death.

I'm not going to put basketball or a girlfriend or money ahead of you, and when I do, please show me, but I'm yours, lock, stock, and barrel. And I've had a lot of decisions and a lot of struggles, and two, three steps forward and a couple backward, I've done it very imperfectly. But part of when God tapped me on the shoulder in California, you know something, this wasn't a decision of am I going to obey. I decided in 1975, whatever he showed me I was going to obey, it was just a matter of working back through and saying, we've already settled this deal, now am I going to keep my end of the bargain or not.

Now here's the question I have for you. When did you do that? When have you ever done that?

When have you, I don't mean sort of generally and moving toward your life with God, when on a certain day, at a certain time, have you specifically said to God, I'm yours, living, holy sacrifice. Anything that's not in the holy part, I want to not deal with it, you know, I want to repent from. Here's the check, I'm yours, surrendered. You have freedom to do whatever you want to do in my life. And you know, for a bunch of control freaks, this is really hard, isn't it? And the stronger your personality, like mine, ooh, I mean this was a tug of war inside. But here's what I want to tell you. It's the smartest, most emotionally satisfying, wisest decision you'll ever make.

Because the alternative unconsciously is you've decided to be the king and the CEO and the master of your life and you're going to determine what's best for you and you're going to decide your agenda. And the only difference between you and Jesus is he knows all things, he's all powerful, he loves you, he has the ability to do anything for you and you don't. And he will let us have our way and he will let us reap the consequences of our way with tears coming down his cheeks.

Listen very, very carefully. This isn't great Christians. Okay, this is not great Christians. These are good Christians.

This is the normal Christian life. Didn't Jesus say in Luke 14 to a large crowd? Do you now understand why in the first 60 years of the church they turned the world upside down? They didn't have DVDs. They didn't have Bibles. They didn't have printing presses. How in the world could a group of 11 or 12 people and 120 loose followers in 60 to 80 years completely change the entire culture of the world?

Because the kind of Christians they were are exactly what I described on the left side of the page. If I need to die, I need to die. If I need to go to the lion's den, I need to go to the lion's den. If you need my money, you can have my money. If you need me to relocate, I'll relocate. I'm here in this thing called eternity, a little thing called time. Jesus, I follow you.

You tell me, I'll do it. It was that radical kind of follower that revolutionized the world. And what was it about what God extended? It was their faith that got translated into a love for God sacrifice, right? Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for another, and it was their love for others.

But it's a radical step of faith that leads to believing that Jesus is good, that God is in control, that life is about what He's about, not what we're about, that then gets translated into a life of radical love for God and love for others. So with that, some of you look still a little bit like... I forget what part of the country is. I'm in a heap of trouble. Remember that old phrase?

No, you're not. Or maybe to tap you on the shoulder to say, You know what? I get those plastic beads off your neck. I need to give you the real thing, but you don't get the real thing until you rip those plastic ones. And you know what? They're precious to you.

And when you see those plastic beads sort of bounce around on the floor, I can tell you from personal experience, part of that feels kind of bad. But can I give you a picture before we look at what motivates and how to become a great Christian? If, in fact, God is God and He owns everything, what part of Him asking for something that He owns makes us so uncomfortable? I have this amazing relationship with my bank. I don't know if you do, but I've got an amazing relationship with my bank. I put money in the bank, and I go up to the window to the teller, and I write down, I'd like to withdraw $1,000. And that teller doesn't go, What? Man, who do you think you are?

What do you mean? You want to withdraw $1,000? Hey, except manager, manager, manager. He's the guy trying to take $1,000 out of our bank. And the manager comes over and goes, It's his money. He gets to take it out any time he wants. So what part, what do you have that you haven't received? That's what Paul said.

The answer is zero. So what part makes us so upset if children are a gift from the Lord? If life and breath and money and job and skills and gifts are all given by God, why do we get so upset when he says, I'd like to make a little withdrawal here? And when I make a withdrawal of money, you know, it's not like I'm going to go party with $1,000.

I usually kind of have something good to do with it. So if you want to learn to move from being a good Christian, and here's what good Christians do, they do what's required to demonstrate their genuine devotion and love. And I want to tell you, I want to be a good Christian. But I want to give you now an overview of here's what great Christians do. Great Christians do what's required, and then they voluntarily go over and above what is required to express the depth of their love for their Heavenly Father and their relationship with Christ. That's what great Christians do. I mean, I don't have any verses that Mother Teresa needs to clean up and help people in the slums.

That's kind of over and above, isn't it? I don't have any verses that say that Bill Bright, near the end of his life, emptied his retirement to open up the country of Ukraine so there could be ministry in Ukraine, and he just figured, well, God will take care of me some way somehow. See, great Christians, that's not required. The difference is Abraham, obey, give your son. Later, remember Hannah? See, Abraham was a good follower. Hannah was a great follower. God said, I want your son. What did Abraham do? He obeyed. Hannah said, I long, in my heart, I long to express my love, and I really want to have a son someday, some way, and if you'd give me this son, Lord, you know what I'd like to do?

I'd like to have a few years and train this boy up, and then I'd like to give him back to you, sacrifice. Do you see the difference? Good Christians do what's required. Great Christians give over and above. So how do you become a great Christian? Now, this is the part that gets very positive.

So if some of you feeling a little woeful can say, okay, good, good, good, I'm ready for some of the positive parts. What motivates great Christians to great sacrifices? Let me give you four, four things that motivate them. Number one, they grasp God's unconditional love. They grasp God's unconditional love. Great Christians are out of the performance trap. They're not trying to get brownie points with God.

They're not looking for a big star on their refrigerated in heaven. They understand, I am totally loved unconditionally, totally apart from my works. What they want to do is they sacrifice out of gratitude. They sacrifice out of love.

It's about relationship and beyond duty. It's a deep sense of brokenness over their own sin, their indebtedness to God's grace, and gratitude for God's mercy and forgiveness. David was a great lover of God, even though he failed. And there in Psalm 51, what did he say? He said, God, if a burnt offering, if that's what you required, I would have given it. But he said, I've blown it.

I don't deserve anything. And then he comes to God and he says, but a broken spirit and a contrite heart, oh, God, you will not despise. When God sees someone pour it out when we've blown it and just, oh, God. Paul said, what motivated Paul to write 13 books in a night and a day in the deep and flogged three times with an inch of his life?

What did he say? First, he says, I'm the chief among sinners. I'm a debtor to grace. How can I give back? His life wasn't I gotta, I gotta should, well, I'm supposed to, here's the rules I need to keep.

It was out of relationship. Great Christians grasp God's unconditional love. I love in Luke 7 47, remember the immoral woman. And she's there with Simon, the Pharisee, and Jesus is there. And Simon's going through this deal where, well, he's obviously not a prophet because this is a woman of the streets and that she is there, you know, crying and wiping his feet with her hair. This guy can't be from God. Jesus reads his mind.

And you remember what he says? He says, Simon, those who have been forgiven much, love much, and those who have been forgiven little, love little. Now, we've all been forgiven the same, but this woman recognized because of the depth of her sin how much God loves her. And see, the fact of the matter is it doesn't take any more grace to forgive her than it does you or me, but because of her experience, she's aware of how much she's been forgiven. And you find the people that are the most tender toward God and have the greatest devotion, I will guarantee most often there is huge pain in their past, and there's something where they've experienced such forgiveness that they really believe not just with their head but with their heart and their emotion. Totally apart from my works, I am loved by God.

I live with a woman like that. When I met my wife, she went through horrendous things, and I met her when she was about three years old in the Lord. I had by this time memorized several hundred verses. I was sort of a workaholic Christian in my early days and memorized all these passages, you know, in my head, and I'd sit down and talk to her, and we'd have a conversation. I'd say, you know, quote this verse and quote that verse, and she goes, you know, we talk about some. She goes, well, that won't happen. I said, what do you mean? She goes, God's not like that.

Doo, doo, doo. What do you mean God's not like that? I just know him. He would never do anything like that.

That's not what he's like. And I got drawn to her because what I realized is my head was filled with Scripture like a Pharisee, and her heart was enlarged like the woman who'd been forgiven much and knew that she was loved. You read the mystics in church history, you know what you find? The people have this great passion for God. It's grasping and understanding how much you're already loved.

When you're already loved, it's not tit for tat. If I do this, will God do that? I'm afraid if I give this much money, oh, you know, if I really put my job on the line, you know, we don't believe down deep that God is for us. Great Christians grasp his unconditional love. Second, they embrace God's relational economy. God measures our love or devotion, not by the size of our gifts, but by the size of our sacrifice, Luke 2.12. I mean, Jesus makes this clear. He's apparently at the table, and there was a place where you could drop your gifts in, and he's there at the table, and he sees this woman, and people were giving large gifts, and it was great.

It's awesome. People that are given a lot should give large gifts, and then a lady comes by, and she's a widow. That means she has no way to support herself.

I mean, this is way beyond welfare, and she has two small copper coins, and it's all she has, and she drops it in. Jesus, whoa! Peter, James, John, come here, come here, come here.

You got to see this. Object lesson. And notice what this poor widow has put in more than all the others, because they gave out of their abundance, and she gave all that she had. See, people who become great Christians, what they realize is God doesn't measure the way we measure. I get thinking, you know, just take a financial example. You know, let's say you're making $20,000, and it's 20 years ago, and you got three kids, and things are tight, and you tithe. You know, $2,000 out of $20,000, I'll tell you what, you're talking some sacrifice, right? Well, let's say life really gets better, and you make $100,000 10 years later, and you give 10% of it. Well, you give $10,000 out of 100.

Well, not so much sacrifice. Let's say you make $200,000 20 years later, and you give 10%. Now you're giving, wow, $20,000. You say, wow, I'm really supporting the Lord's work. I'm giving $20,000, and you're eking by somehow on that other $180,000. I remember talking to a guy who was really excited and proud that I gave $10 million to the work of the Lord, and I said, that's great. That's awesome.

But then, you know, I kind of have these truth-telling sessions with people, and I get in trouble. I said, but out of $100 million, tell me, how much did that change your life? How much sacrifice was that?

The answer, zero. Now, am I saying it's wrong to give away $10 million? No, it's wonderful. Praise God. What I'm saying is don't confuse that with devotion, and don't confuse it with sacrifice. And so we have Christians that think, okay, 10% is God's part. I'm playing by the rules.

Doo-dee-doo-dee-doo-dee. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says the first portion belongs to God to remind me that 100% belongs to Him, and I'm just as responsible for the 90%, and those of us that have been blessed, that means we live in America, for at least most of us, that once I give that, then I'm asking God for opportunities.

How can I proportionally continue to give more and more and more? What? I don't have to. I don't got to. I don't earn brownie points.

Are you ready for this? I want to. I want to.

I love Him. It's not a should-duty requirement. I mean, do most of you go Christmas shopping going, no, how little can we spend on our kids? I mean, over $5, that's it. No, you're always asking, oh, you know, oh, boy, we really shouldn't spend quite that much, but. Why?

Because you love them. The third, people who make great sacrifices not only understand God's unconditional love and they embrace His relational economy, they trust God's eternal goodness. It's an absolute conviction that the rewards for their sacrifice far outweigh the cost.

This is awesome. Mark 10 studied that passage, verses about 28 to 31. Jesus is saying to disciples, and I love Peter, because Peter always asks the questions that I would ask if I were there, but I would get in trouble. You know, he's making all these strong discipleship. If any man will follow me, take up his cross, follow me, and Peter's going from the back row. Pastor Jesus.

Yes, Pete. We've done that. Like, what's in it for us? I mean, you know, I dropped the nets. I'm on another tour with you.

My wife's a little concerned about this, and kids haven't seen me in a couple weeks, and what's in it for us? Notice what Jesus says. No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me.

For me. It's personal. It's not sacrifice for the cause. It's not sacrifice so people think you're spiritual.

It's not sacrifice so it enlarges your spiritual ego. Anybody who's made a sacrifice when you leave mother or brother or homes or jobs for me and the gospel will not fail to receive a hundred times as much in the present age and in the age to come eternal life. See, Paul got this. Paul lived with this reality.

He said, this present temporary affliction, this price tag is not to be compared with what? The surpassing glory and weight of what we'll later receive. See, we don't believe in heaven anymore, and we don't believe in spiritual rewards, and we think right now really is all there is, and so we're holding on to those plastic beads because you know what? Now, I want to be spiritual, and I want to obey, and I want to be sort of in right with God, so what's the minimum? What's the very minimum I can do, God?

I completely missed the point. God's not looking for minimum Christians. He's looking for people who believe they're actually loved, who recognize that he doesn't measure by how much you give but by the level of the sacrifice that you give of your time, of your energy, of your money, of your heart, of your job, and in relationships. He's looking for people that actually believe. See, it's a compliment to God when we believe what he says, and it's an insult when we don't. When he says, I'm good, when the scripture says the Lord God is a sun and a shield, the Lord gives grace and glory, no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. You're not going to miss out.

Take off the plastic beads. You will get something better. The journey getting there will be scary. That's why we talked about faith first. The final thing that those who really make great sacrifices is they recognize God's sovereign ownership. It's an acute awareness that great sacrifice is not praiseworthy, but a privilege since all that we have belongs to him. All that we have belongs to him. In Luke 17, Jesus gave the parable and said, you know, which one of you, when your servant comes in from the field, say to him, oh, thank you very much and let me take care of you.

No, do you do that? Jesus says, no, what you do is you say to him, after you've cleaned yourself up, take care of my meal, and then afterwards, you say to him, you've only done what you're supposed to do. In like manner, when you obey me and do what I've called you to do, you've just only done what you're supposed to do.

See, it's not praiseworthy. We have this idea that we really ought to get something special, that we're really, and see, people that make great sacrifices, they realize they're just regular people. David, notice what he says here in 1 Chronicles 29, 14. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. Have you surrendered your whole life to Christ as a living and holy sacrifice?

In my world, I can write down Penn State 1975. Could it be that God brought you on this day, where a year or two or three from now, you would say, I bowed my head, and I said, 24-7, all that I am, all that I have is yours, and then you trembled just a little bit and you started taking off plastic beads and said, Lord, do with me what you will, I trust you, you're good. Are you growing and you're loving in your heart and your mind and your soul? If your heart is enlarging in love, it'll be revealed and financial sacrificed. If your mind is growing in love, you'll find yourself renewing your mind with God's word. If your soul is growing in terms of this relationship, you'll find yourself having deep talks with your Heavenly Father.

And if you're strength, loving God with your strength, you'll find yourself ministering somewhere using what he's given you. Conclusion is very simple. Sacrifice is merely love with clothes on. Where there is great love, there will always be great sacrifice. It's real simple, isn't it? I mean, that's how I know in my family. That's how you know with your friends. Love is just, you know, sacrifice with clothes on.

That's what it looks like. For God so loved the world he gave. Because you made it. Before we go any farther, I want to talk to you very personally. I said at the end of the teaching time that sacrifice is nothing more or nothing less than love with clothes on. Great Christians make great sacrifices. They make great sacrifices for other people. They make great sacrifices for the Lord.

And we're all fearful of that. And yet as we pause, we realize that what love really meant to each one of us is that Jesus laid down his life for us. He made a great sacrifice to pay for your sin, to pay for my sin.

And the response is not trying to be a good little moral person or going to church a little bit more or watching, you know, church online. The will of God is this. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, in view of God's great mercy that he purchased by sacrifice, I urge you, offer your body as a living sacrifice, wholly and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual service of worship.

I don't know where you're at, don't know what's going on, but I can tell you this. It is the will of God on this day if you have never done it, to offer all that you are and all that you have to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like signing the bottom of a check and then giving it to the Lord and say, you fill out the top, where you want me to go, what you want me to do, how you want me to act.

I'm all yours. The all-knowing, all-powerful, loving maker of the universe is worthy of all that you are. And sacrifice, surrender is the highway by which he gives you the very best in this life. If you've never done it right now, bow your head and ask the Lord to be Lord of your life.

Tell him that you are all in with no reservations. You'll never regret it. Well, if you're looking for some additional help in recommitting your life to Jesus and developing a deeper relationship with him, we have a great resource for you. It's Chip's series, True Spirituality, Becoming a Romans 12 Christian. Through his teaching, you'll discover a clear blueprint to become a genuine follower of Christ. And besides the broadcast, let me encourage you to order the book or get the small group resources.

There's a lot of ways to experience the foundational truths found in Romans chapter 12. To learn more about all the series resources for True Spirituality, go to specialoffersatlivingontheedge.org or on the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip, before we go, I can see you're wanting to jump in here one last time to share something with our listeners. Thanks so much, Dave. As we wrap up today's program, I have to tell you that one of the greatest things that happens through Living on the Edge is people make Jesus the Lord of their life.

And I've read literally thousands of emails, and the change that happens is just absolutely amazing, and it's a chain reaction. And so I just want to thank all of you that support the ministry financially because when someone makes Jesus the Lord, their marriage changes, their parenting changes, who shows up at work changes. Thank you very, very much for your financial support. And, you know, if you have not supported us or haven't supported us in a while or would just kind of like to make it a habit and maybe do it monthly, today would be a great day to say, you know something? Christians need to live like Christians, and I'd like to help Living on the Edge. Thanks so much for whatever God leads you to do.

Thanks, Chip. Well, if you're already a financial partner, thank you. With your help, Living on the Edge is ministering to more people than ever before.

But if you're benefiting from Chip's teaching and haven't yet taken that step, now would be a great time to join the team. To send a gift or to become a monthly partner, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or text the word DONATE to 7-4141. That's DONATE to 7-4141.

Or visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. Happy listeners just tap DONATE. As we close, I want to remind you that the Chip Ingram app is an easy way to share messages or complete series with others. So whenever you're encouraged by what you hear, I hope you'll pass it along to a friend or loved one who will benefit from it. And be sure to tell them how it made a difference in your life. We'll be with us again next time as Chip continues his series, Good to Great in God's Eyes. Until then, this is Dave Drewy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.