Sacrifice - Obedience

This message was delivered Sunday morning, March 1st, 1987, by Pastor Jay Passam of the North Way Christian Community. First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 9, For I am the least of the apostles, Paul says, and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. Say, I am what I am. I am what I am. And his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them. Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether then it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believe. The winter of 1777 and 1778, 200 years ago, was a pivotal turning point in the life of this nation. The Declaration of Independence had been signed, there had been skirmishes between the American Army and the British Army in different places in the Northeast, but it was that winter that George Washington led his troops into Valley Forge to spend what became the most difficult period of time of survival in the history of our nation. It was a difficult winter, lots of snow, and the temperatures were very cold, and the soldiers were poorly equipped. Most of them were not even dressed to survive in a mild climate, let alone a severe one. One historian records this, For the want of shoes, their marches through frost and snow might be traced by the blood from their feet, and they were almost as often without provisions as with them. Men are confined to hospitals or in farmers' houses for want of shoes, and we have no less than 2,899 men in camp unfit for duty because they are barefoot and otherwise naked. Lafayette wrote this, These unfortunate soldiers weren't one of everything. They had neither coats, nor hats, nor shirts, nor shoes. Some were literally naked in the fullest extent of the word. Imagine being a soldier, camped out in the snow, with no food to speak of, with no appropriate clothing, a hat, a coat, and no shoes. I want to ask you a question. How many of you today feel that this is something you'd like to just volunteer for and go out and try? It was made even more difficult by the fact that it appeared at that point that the whole Declaration of Independence, the entire accession from the Dominion of the British, was going to fall short because it looked like they were going to be overwhelmed by the better equipped and better trained Britons who were on our soil. I wonder, dear Church, what the Army of today would look like to those American Army soldiers of 1777. I wonder how they would look at them and evaluate their situation, their co-ed bunks and all those kinds of things that are happening in the Army today. And yet, you know, the Church had the very same experience. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. It says there in Hebrews 11, verse 32, the very same experience of deprivation has hit the Church. What more shall I say? Verse 32, I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David's sin on the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms and administered justice and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions and quenched the fury of the flames and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Verse 36, some faced jeers and flogging while outstillers were chained and put in prison. They were stoned. They were sawed in two. They were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground. Dear Church, you and I have inherited freedom because of the sacrifice of the American Army. You and I have also inherited spiritual liberty because someone preceded you who cared enough to sacrifice their very life for your liberty in the gospel of Jesus. Though it is not a popular teaching today, though most of the time we'd rather not hear it, from what I can read in the scriptures and what I can tell in history, there is no liberty without sacrifice. Liberty cost many of these men their lives and all of them their comfort. Liberty cost Abraham Lincoln his very life. Liberty cost many of our American soldiers in World War I, II and Vietnam, Korea their lives. And most of us sitting here today know little of that kind of sacrifice. And the liberty of Christ that many of us enjoy cost many reformers their lives. Do you know the things that the Church did to one another in the 16th and the 17th century to bring about the freedom that you enjoy this morning? Do you know what Martin Luther went through? He sacrificed everything to give us the seeds of the Reformation. Beloved, I'm standing here today with the privilege of telling you that we as a Church, by the grace of God, are postured right now in a time in history when we can literally mean the difference between bondage and liberty to thousands of people. Well, that may not mean a lot to you, but if you're one of those people that's in religious darkness, it'll mean a great deal. How many of you found your life changed when you found the liberty of Jesus? How many of you know people that are walking around thinking they know God and are totally lost? They are in a dark chamber of religion. My experience in talking with people yesterday and for, of course, years before that is, people build a religion that they're very comfortable with and then they manipulate that to their own ends and they won't even let you close to it most of the time. But underneath it, there's this craving for reality. You might be here today as someone that's never really come to know God personally. Maybe you were a Catholic all your life and your standard response when someone talked about their relationship to God was, well, I'm a Catholic. Or you might be a Presbyterian or a Methodist or an Episcopalian and you only relate to God according to the way your church taught you. Well, I'm here to say today there is liberty from a religious box today. There is a freedom that comes in God today to all who will open up, but it costs something. The church, I walked in this auditorium on Wednesday night and as Scott was leading us in worship and we were having a time before God, the Holy Spirit spoke to me as clearly in my spirit as I'm speaking to you right now and he said this question to me. He said, will my people sacrifice for my kingdom? Will my people sacrifice for my kingdom? I don't know if God knows the answer to that. I'm not sure why he asked me the question. But Lord, I begin right away to say, well, Lord, you know these people, they love you. And dear ones, there are some here that may have unseen that you don't know about that give time and give energy and give love and give care and give money and give everything they have. The Lord is asking me a question that was much more broad. He was looking across this great congregation, growing in the first service, I might point out. And he's saying, will this people sacrifice for my kingdom? Now, I want to tell you this today, that there is so much in us that would stand against us. You know what the common gospel of today is, everyone? The common gospel today is what can I do for me? What has Jesus done for you lately, Carl? Ever ask, you know, well, God brought me up out of the pit. He gave me new friends. He gave me new hope in my life. But what did he do for you today? If he hasn't done something for you today, then what you've got to do is get yourself back in the flow of the blessing train and get a hold of something that's going to start pouring in to you over and over again. Well, I want to tell you, church, that is not the way that we are going to see the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. And so I began to just think, well, Lord, what are you saying? What do you want me to bring to the people? And I want to tell you three things about grace today. I don't have an overhead, so I'll have to write these down on your own. Three things about grace, all right? Paul said, I am what I am because of the grace of God. Could you just say that right now? I am what I am because of the grace of God. Say it again. I am what I am because of the grace of God. The first thing I want to tell you about grace is this. Write it down. Reason will not satisfy. Reason will not satisfy your hunger for God. Reason does not work when it comes to grace. I want to tell you two brief encounters I had this week with people that will describe what I'm saying. Last Friday, I spent the day with two men who are being a part of this movement of prayer throughout the nation. The stories they were telling me about God opening doors for prayer. The President is opening up something in the Capitol this July. There's going to be an unbelievable thing in Constitution Hall and reconciliation, black and white, and churches meeting for prayer. It's an unbelievable thing everywhere we go. How many of you are already planning to be part of the prayer clinic in May to improve your prayer life? And we were talking back and forth about, well, what does it take for God to move in someone's life? Why does God choose you, brother, but doesn't choose you? Or so it seems to be up. What causes God to raise you up, brother, but to pass over you? Does anyone here know the answer to that? Because, see, the Scripture says, my ways are not your ways. God has made the strangest choices, didn't he, Scott? All through Scripture. You can say amen to that. He chose people that I don't know about you, but their qualifications to me didn't mount up very high. He had no reason to choose Abraham. He just said, I chose you because I chose you. And then we look at somebody that we think was a tremendous godly man like David, but what happened in his life? He got all messed up. And then he goes to Paul, who was taking Christians out of their house meetings, out of their home groups, and throwing them in jail. And when he could, he was making sure they'd be killed, just like Stephen. Would you choose someone like that to be the greatest living apostle of all time? God did. And you think about current history. God chooses the strangest people. And I can't tell you why he doesn't, and neither could this man. We talked back and forth. He said, I prayed for 30 years for God to bring a prayer revival, and nothing happened, and then all of a sudden, wham. Why? I don't know. But dear ones, had he stopped somewhere along the way, praying every day for God to bring prayer revival, I'm standing here to tell you, I don't believe he would be used the way he's used today. And then I got a letter this week that raised the question from someone here in our body. They were struggling with the call of God in their life, and they wrote it this way. I guess the main question, by the way, this all happened since Wednesday night when the Lord spoke to me. The main question that has been ringing through my head these last few days is does living a life of sacrifice count for anything with God? Does seeking to live a life of holiness and set apart for him have any merit at all, knowing that it's only by his grace? As I continue to fall and get up again, is it possible at all to make any difference? Is it all grace, and do I do anything? How many of you know that there's a theology that says just that? But you see, Paul comes and says in Philippians 2, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. You see, church, if all we do is just lay back and say, well, God, I'm here, if you want to use me, if you want to know something, I'll tell you, you will likely not be used. I won't say you won't be used because God can even take a slugger. How many of you are glad for that? Lift you right up out of your sleepiness and make you a man of God. If he can take a man like Paul and change him around. But church, reason will never cause us to understand how grace works, but I'll tell you this. We have got to see that either we hear the call of God as it's coming forth today and respond to it, or God will find another body of people to do it. Either we will wake up and move ahead, or God will just move right on past us. And a day would come that you'd come in this place and there wouldn't be the presence of God that you feel this morning. There wouldn't be the healings that occurred in the first service. There wouldn't be those who would come forward and say, I want to receive Christ in my life. Because God would lift and go up. That day will come if we don't take the grace of God upon ourselves and respond to it. Look what Paul says back in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He said, verse 10, This grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was within me. The second thing about grace is this. You have a responsibility to cooperate with grace. Responsibility. Reason will not satisfy when it comes to grace. It doesn't always make sense. And you have a responsibility to cooperate with grace. Do you know how much grace we're living in right now, church? Do you know how much grace is on our body? Do you know how much God has allowed you to enter into right now? Pastor Jack Sullivan left this morning. He's in an airplane right now to go to China. He'll be there for three weeks encouraging the church, traveling with Kevin Graves, the fellow that was here last October, visiting Jim and Kathy Fulmer, who are doing great out in China. Jim and Kathy wrote to me this week, got a nice letter from them, and they said, we love it so much we're staying for our second year. We're not even going to come home in the summertime. God's blessing us. He said, the only problem we have with our apartment now is that it's too small to put all the chairs in for our meetings when the people come in. Isn't that great? But, dear ones, one pastor in ten have a Bible in China. How many Bibles do you have? How many could you have? All that you could ever want and all the translations you could ever think of. Let me tell you, the grace of God upon this nation and upon this church is as great as I've seen anywhere. It's God's blessing. There is more love and relationship here than I've seen most any place I've ever been. There's more integrity and honesty among men and women here. There's more care for the downcast and the hurt. There's more comfort for the lonely that I've seen lots of places. There's healing. There's the Word of God that's taught and preached and shared. There's everything you need to be strong in Jesus Christ right here because of His grace. Someone say something. Amen. And the reason it is, I can't tell you why, God's chosen to be so. But it will all be in vain unless you cooperate with that grace. When I was in Bakersfield, I had an opportunity. Carol and I went to visit a young couple that I met when they were in junior high. I love that junior highers turn normal. It takes about 15 years. We were really blessed. We went to their lovely home there in Bakersfield that they purchased. They both have good jobs. And they're both in a leadership role in their local church there in Bakersfield. And do you know something? My mind raced back to the time that they used to sit there when they were just, they weren't even boyfriend and girlfriend back then. They were just there. And one of their very best friends sat between them all the time or with them all the time, I guess. And I happen to know that that particular person right now is off living with somebody that he's not married to, involving himself in lots of things that he should not have anything to do with, drugs and so forth. And his life is going absolutely nowhere. And I look and say, what is the difference? You see, they both came from staunch Roman Catholic backgrounds. They both had parents, sets of parents, who wanted them to have nothing to do with this freaky youth group. They both went to the same college even and had the same education. But they've walked in different paths. Why? You see, the grace of God was on both of them. But one received it and the other shunned it, ignored it, did not work out his salvation. Dear ones, I want to say to you today, don't think that every day you walk in here, it's going to be always the same. If you don't receive it, it will fall to the ground. And I don't know the day that you'll come in. I don't know the day that it will be like it was with Samson. Remember the story of Samson, the judge of Israel? He had that great strength. But when he got into the bed of adultery, he began to presume upon God. And so he got in there and when he woke up, he fought off those that were seeking to attack him. He did that three times. What happened the fourth time? Well, he woke up and someone had shaved his head and his strength was gone. You see, his grace. And so I see Paul saying to us today, the grace of God was not without effect in my life. Dear ones, I want to tell you, you've got to cooperate. The third thing you've got to do is to see that the release of grace in your life comes through sacrifice. Reason will not explain God's grace. Your responsibility is to cooperate with it. And thirdly, release comes through sacrifice. Paul says, look with me at the scripture. Verse 10, I worked harder than all of them. You know what the word work or labor is? It's the word kopos, which means to toil or to strive or to labor until I'm weary. I know that's not a lot of fun. That doesn't sound like a good time. But church, Paul says in Acts 20, I worked with my hands. Dave, I provided my own way. I wrote my own ticket. I never coveted anyone's gold or silver. I labored so that the grace of God would not be in vain because I was among you. But it may cost you everything, dear ones, to know that. The ship's captain was delivering his cargo over to West Africa. And as part of the cargo, two missionaries had jumped on the ship and had taken passage with him. And they got there, and the captain looked out to them and said, if you go out there in that wild jungle with no protection, no weapons, those savages will kill you sure as I'm standing here. The missionaries looked up at him, and the one responded, sir, I already died before I got on the ship. You see, that's got to be our attitude. I've already died. My life is not my own, Paul said. It belongs to me. Can you say that today with all conscience? You say, Jay, you're making me feel guilty. I mean, I know I've got a lot of problems, and now you're making me feel bad about it. What I want you to do is to say you need to cooperate with grace. And the cooperation begins with the simplest expressions of sacrifice. Paul says in Romans 12, in verse 1 and 2, present your bodies, in view of the mercies of God, present your bodies as a, say it again, as a living sacrifice. Now, in the old covenant, what did they do with sacrifices, dear ones? Fire. I mean, what could it possibly mean to be a living sacrifice? Well, it means that you live day to day with your life under God's lordship. It means that you present yourself as dead to self and alive to God in all that you do. And I want to say to you that sacrifice, sacrifice is the mark of cooperating with the purposes of God in your life. It's the very mark that's going to see you through. Do you know, the reason I can say that with confidence is this, the New Testament references to sacrifice all go back to one person. Do you know who it is? The Lord Jesus Christ. The reason I can tell you will not make a bit of difference in the kingdom of darkness, the reason I can tell you your life will not be all God wants it to be, the reason I can say that so confidently is that it took the son of God sacrificing his own life for you and I to have the liberty that we enjoy today. The Bible says that he who was without sin and knew no sin became sin, that we might live unto righteousness. Do you remember when Jesus was in the garden? And he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. And church, can I tell you that there was no other way for God to execute your deliverance apart from that death of Christ? You see, when Jesus said, Father, if it be possible, let it pass, what's the obvious conclusion? It wasn't possible. And so Jesus stood and faced the decision. Nevertheless, he said, not my will, but thine be done. And dear church, we are at that point. If there be another way that we could rise up and be a light in a dark and religious world, if there be another way that we could lead people out of bondage to fear, some people are so afraid they won't even come to their doors. If we could lead people out of the confusion of works righteousness into the liberty of sons of God, if there be any other way than sacrifice, then Jesus needn't have died. Are you hearing that? Because he died, we too must go the way of sacrifice. We too must lay down our lives and say, God, I'm willing. Because sacrifice is the mark of cooperating with the grace of God. You say, well, Jay, what does that mean? Well, I can't tell you how God would have you to change your lifestyle. I can't tell you when God says to you, I know this much. Who went out yesterday? Who was part of that 30 people? Was it comfortable going to those doors, Kent? Was it comfortable when somebody just looked at you like you were some religious freakway that had come and a real fruitcake that stopped at their doors? There's nothing comfortable about going beyond yourself, church. The only thing that I can tell you is it's going to cost us something. It'll cost you something to get up out of your bed to come to pray. But I'm telling you, if we'll pray, if you'll just get your life in discipline, that'll start the flow of God's grace like you've never known. Jesus got up, I believe, every morning and spent that time with his flock. I want to say to you, this is March the 1st, 1987. The next 90 days are going to revolutionize our understanding of the power of God if you will come and pray. We will see more happen in 90 days than we've seen in the last year if we'll come and pray, if you'll find your place here. I want to call you forth. Those of you that have been putting it off a little bit, start tomorrow. Tuesday morning, carloads from an inner city black church are going to come and pray with us here on Tuesday morning. We're going to seek God together as one people. And I appeal to you, come be with us. You say, well, I pray in my home. Well, that's fine. If that's all you can do, that's great if that's all you can do. But if it's just a matter of discipline, then come one time. Seek God with us. Discipline your sacrifice, your coming. Give your time. Be with people. Love the laws. Be available to God. After the winter of 1777, George Washington wrote these words. The leader of that great army at Valley Forge. He said this, The sovereign hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all of this, all the suffering, all the sacrifice, that he must be worse than an infidel and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligation. What kind of character for a man who had watched his own troops suffer starvation and freezing to death, who could say, It was the sovereign Providence of God that brought us to this point. And we sacrificed with it. And do you know in May of 1778, that army rose up out of Valley Forge? They were disciplined. They were strong. And they defeated the British and won our liberty. And I want to say to you, church, if we'll come forth and sacrifice as one person, we are going to come up out of this time. We are going to be stronger. We are going to be more committed. We are going to be more on fire of the things of God than we've ever known. Lord, I just commit to you right now these words. I thank you for a hearing church today, Lord. And I pray, my father, that everyone who has ears to hear would be open right now to what the Holy Spirit is saying in this assembly. Father, I pray for everyone today who doesn't know where to start but just simply says, God, I want you to receive me. I want you to receive me today. I'm willing, Lord, to give my life for yours. Come and receive me. Come and receive me. Would everyone please stand? Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. I want my leadership to come right now, please. Scott, all the elders. Home group coordinators, I want you to come right now. I believe the Holy Spirit is touching you. Come up and stand this Christmas, brethren. Dear ones, before we have communion together, I want to give an opportunity before anyone starts stirring around. The Lord is touching you today, and he's saying it's time for you, my son or my daughter, to take a step, a sacrifice. It may mean that for the first time in your life you're saying, God, I'm tired of working it out on my own. I'm going to receive the life that you've come to give. You may not be clear today if you really even know God. You may say, well, I'm a good Christian, but you don't know what that means even. You don't even know for certain that if you died tonight you'd be with God. You may be someone that's been coming northward for six months, but you've never identified yourself as wanting to align with the church. I believe God's been touching you today. You know something? Our sacrifice is possible because of his love. That's the only reason. I believe right now the Lord is touching a number of you to come and sacrifice. I want the coordinators that are here in this service to come, please. Brethren, some of the home group leaders, come. I believe God's touching people right now to come forward. Now, if you're here today, you say, Jay, I know it's time for me to make a commitment to follow God with all my heart. Whatever it means, I want to follow God today. I want us to pray together. Bow your heads, everyone, please. If that's you, I'm just describing your heart right now. You don't know the implications, but you're saying, I know that the Lord is speaking to me. I want to be willing to follow God wherever I need to go. That's me today. I need to make a commitment to follow the Lord. I just want you to put your hand up real quickly, wherever you are. Put it down. Anybody? Let me just see your hand go up. I'm willing. I'm willing to follow God. Yes, yes. Okay, yes. I need to make a decision. All right. Now, those of you today, there's many of you that put your hand up, but those of you today that say, Pastor, I need to do something specific. Pray with me. I don't know what God wants me to do, but pray with me. That's all I want you to say. Can I pray with you today about God's will in your life, whether it be to know Him, to be part of this church, to be part of a ministry? I don't know, but I know I want God in my life. Put your hand up right now. I want to see. Put your hand up and put it down. Yes, over here. Yes, yes. Yes, in the back. Okay. Yes, yes, over here. All right. Look at me. Keep your hands up, please. Look right at me. Yes. All right. I need to know God's will for my life. If that's your prayer, would you please come right now to these men. As we sing a chorus, I want you to come and say, Agree with me, brethren, to know the heart of God in my life. You come right now as we sing this song. Oh, Lord, you're beautiful. Come up now. Your face is on the way. The ministry happened up here right now. In just one minute, ushers, would you go back right now, please, and deacons and prepare for the communion? As we receive the holy communion that Jesus gave to us, I need to ask one final question. Are you here today with any doubt in your mind about your relationship with the Lord? If so, I can tell you how to have that doubt removed. I can tell you how to know that God is in your life, that you are born again, that God has touched you. The way you do that is by believing in Jesus in your heart and declaring him as Lord with your lips. It says that in Romans 10, verse 9. You need to believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. If you will do that today right here in this room, you will know God in your life. You don't need to be afraid. You don't need to walk out with fear or confusion. You can know today. Would you all bow your heads once again, please, for the sake of privacy for those who right now are asking that question. Just before we receive communion today, is there anyone that I can pray with today that would say, Pastor, I want to know that I have eternal life? I just don't know that today. I want to know. Just wave your hand at me real quick. I want to know that I have eternal life. Anyone that wants to know that, just wave your hand and look at me. Anybody at all today. Let me see your hands. Wave right at me right now. Praise God. And Lord, I just believe that every person in this room knows that if they die tonight, they spend eternity with you. If that not be the case, God, I pray that you would bear great conviction on these hearts. For, Lord, it's your will that not one should perish but that every one should come to eternal life. Please be seated, everybody. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had blessed it, he broke it and said, This is my body which is broken for you. Beloved, there's no greater sacrifice than Jesus' death for us. As you come and receive communion now, would you consider your sacrifice for him? I'm going to ask you to receive your element and then hold it, and we'll all partake together. Usher, would you come right now, please, and serve everyone with whom your God's amazing love, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let's receive this broken bread. Thank you. All sacrifice was blood sacrifice. Most of us have not sacrificed to the point of shedding blood, the Scriptures say, but Jesus did for us. One drop of this blood is more powerful and more precious than all the effort that we could ever put forth. This is how we come to know God. This was his provision. Receive the cup joyfully. As the ushers come now to serve you, receive it joyfully, and we'll partake all together also. Ephesians 3, verse 10. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, so somehow as to attain the resurrection of the dead. The body and the blood of Christ. Hallelujah. Let's present ourselves as we stand together. Most high, most high, O Lord, most high, in whom you see the faith. Be still, ye Christ-children. How many of you have a new heart to obey God today? I believe God's put that in me, and I trust it will go with me in that. Church, you just don't know how God's going to use you, but I tell you, in Jesus' name, he will. Just yesterday, I was with my daughter. We went down to Eaton Park to get a hamburger. It was kind of the middle of the afternoon. We had our little meal together. We were getting up to leave, and a young man, a severely retarded young man, came in with, I guess it was his parents, to sit down and have something. As we got up to leave, we kind of went right by their booth. This young man was starting to carry on. He really couldn't speak, but he was going like this. He was pointing at me and going like this. Kind of rocking as he does. And the parents were hushing him up, telling him, shh, making too much noise. He was kind of hollering and pointing, going, shh. And here, it turns out, that he's one of those young men that come every so often on Wednesday night with the Laniokas and populate. And you see, church, in his mind, he doesn't really know what's going on, but I'll tell you, in his spirit, he's hearing the word of the Lord. And I stopped, and we talked a little bit and laughed a little bit, and he just kept going like this. He knows. And everywhere you go, you're taking a message. Your life is a message. The last populate here in the church, you're going to change a part of that as we sacrifice before God tonight. You're precious in His sight. Wednesday night, I'm going to speak to you about how to handle discouragement in your life. If you're fighting with depression, I have a message for you Wednesday night. Let's be together to seek the Lord. God bless you. Turn to someone right now, and if you can say it with good conscience, conscience, tell them today, you love them in Jesus and your discourse. God bless you. And therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off. Let's throw off. You ready? You ready to throw this stuff off today? Everything t