The danger in sacrifice

Sacrifice feels good. It feels so good that we can come believe it is the highest response to the call of God on our lives. We think, “If I make enough sacrifices, God will really like me.” We come to believe that God, more than anything, demands personal sacrifice. We think that those who love God the most give up the most for him.

Today, I read words spoken around a dinner table to men proud of their sacrifice. Men who gave ten percent of all they earned to the church. Men who spent their lives learning the ways of God.   They knew sacrifice — giving, fasting, and a life of devotion.   Yet, they were found wanting.

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:10-13 NASB)

He desires compassion, not sacrifice.

In fact, self-focused sacrifice can become prideful self-service. If we allow sacrifice to become fuel for our self-righteous ego then it is no longer a service to God, but a service to self. Sacrifice can become an idolatrous game of oneupmanship.

He says compassion is better than sacrifice.   Why? What makes compassion different? Why does Jesus urge us to understand the higher value of compassion?  Where do We look to find examples of this kind of compassion?

Compassion goes beyond a deep sympathy for others; it is a compelling desire to alleviate suffering. Compassion sees a need and meets it. Compassion focuses on the need of the recipient, not the gift of the giver. Compassion is outwardly focused and not inwardly focused.

The more I consider compassion, the more I see Jesus in the answer — not just because of what he taught, but what he did.  Motivated by his great love for us, he left perfection and became a man.  He saw our brokenness, our selfishness, and our desire for recognition.  He knew that we were destined for eternal suffering without a remedy and chose to give himself to alleviate that suffering.  In the ultimate example of compassion, he gave himself up for us.

He saw my selfishness, had compassion on me, died to pay the penalty for my selfishness, and then rose from the dead to demonstrate his power over my selfishness.

As I consider all this means, I shift my focus. Instead of asking, “What does God want from me?” I realize, “In light of all that Christ has done for me, how can I not show compassion to others?”  Going step further, I see that when I do not show  compassion I am denying Christ.  Although I say I believe, my actions demonstrate a practical atheism.

It is this practical atheism that I fear more than unbelief.  

And so, the question will no longer be, “What must I give up for God?” It has become the better question, “Who needs to experience compassion from me today?”

The answer may still involve personal sacrifice, but it will be sacrifice motivated by Christ’s love and not self-righteous hypocrisy.

Related posts:

1. What to do with despair?