Proverbs 15:8–Pleasing the Lord in Prayer

Proverbs 15:8–"The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases Him."

This is one among many passages of Scripture that speak about what God is looking for in His children.  The point here is not that some pray while others offer sacrifices.  The reason the Lord detests the sacrifice of some but the prayer of others has nothing to do with the content of the prayer or the subject of the sacrifices; it's all about the heart of the person.  The wicked will not please God no matter how heartily they pray or even how much they give to charities; God is interested in the heart.  Let us then strive to be a people of honest goodness, made righteous by the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

Living for God or for Self

There were two women.  One of them, a driven young professional, planned her whole life.  She graduated from college, got her dream job, and worked hard her whole life, often sacrificing relationships to get herself ahead and to accomplish her goals.  When there were choices between doing something that furthered her goals or serving others, she would undoubtedly choose the former.  She built her life in the very way she wanted, never submitting to anyone's suggestions if they did not fit her agenda.

The other woman, the first's roommate in college, was an avid servant.  She would spend hours building relationships with the people she felt called to love.  She helped others move, she paid other people's rent if they couldn't make it, she even visited prison convicts.  She would volunteer at the local food shelf every weekend, which is where she met her husband.  They both felt called to help the needy and less fortunate, and so they decided to become missionaries to North Africa.  While their, he was killed while delivering medical supplies to a hospital and she was thrown in prison for teaching english to Muslim children.  She lived out the rest of her life in submission and service.

Both of the women died at the same time on the same day.  Jesus was there as they got to the gates of heaven.  He looked at both of them and smiled.  To the first woman, the missionary woman, Jesus hugged her close and said with a voice as gentle as velvet, "Welcome.  Come, step into my Kingdom.  For you have served Me with your whole life and for that you have received life eternal."  He then opened His arms and ushered her past Him into heaven.

Jesus the went to the other woman.  His expression changed to a somber one as He spoke sadly, "My child, you built your life upon yourself.  All that you did was for your own sake and for your own ambition.  Because you continually put your will before Mine, you have lived your life away from Me.  You served your goals and neglected what I had for you.  Because of this, you have forfeited your life and will spend eternity apart from me."  With that, Jesus turned away from her, leaving her sobbing in darkness for all eternity.

Jesus said in unambiguous language that, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take us his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done (Matt. 16:24-28)."

The point is priority.  What will we value: God or ourselves?  Our answer to this question will play itself out in how we live.  If we value God first, then we will live our lives focused on what He has for us.  Conversely, if we value ourselves first, then we will live our lives focused inward on what we think is best for ourselves.  To discover which one we may be, one need only look at the minutiae: if you continually see yourself behaving selfishly or looking to your own interests, then you probably are living a self-focused life.  Whereas if you find yourself seizing opportunities to love and serve others, then you are probably living a God-focused life.

While this may seem like a distant question, it is essential and has eternal weight to it.  In both of these cases, the relevant next-step is prayer and worship.  In order for us to start or keep submitting ourselves to the will of God, we need to be pursuing that will on a moment-by-moment basis.  Let us then come to Him in faith as to lay down our lives so as to pick up the life He has for us!

A Memorial for Memorial Day

Memorial Day, an American national holiday, is a day in which Americans remember the significant and costly sacrifices made by those who have fought for this great country.  It is a day when the nation pauses, like Veterans Day, to solemnly recall the great deeds of men and women of the past who, through their sacrifices, have secured America, past and future.

On this day, a day of memorial, it seems ever more appropriate and fitting to remember the ultimate sacrifice that has secured, for all who confess and believe, eternal life in the holy presence of God Almighty: the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  While this holiday has been set apart for the purpose of remembering the offerings of Americans, it is right for us also and always to recall the great offering that Christ made upon the cross, taking the sin of all mankind in His flesh and nailing it to the cross.  

Now, we who come to Him in humble faith, may enter into the presence of God by the blood of the lamb.  This is the pinnacle sacrifice in all of history that has made sure our heavenly personhood, a national heritage of holiness and heavenly nature that is secured by Christ and He alone.  Therefore, on this Memorial Day let us take a solemn moment to pause in remembrance of Christ.  Praise be to God for bringing us close to Himself by His own sacrifice!

Christ Forsaken

Consider the scene: a son, having been ever-obedient to his father and in the most intimate of relationships with him, is asked by his father to give up his very life.  Moreover, the father tells his son that in giving up his life for a specific taks of his father's he will be scorned by man, be beaten, and murdered in a horrific and painful death.  Add to this, then, that in the moment of sacrifice the father tells his son that the son will become totally separated from his father for that moment in time as a result of the task the father has set for him.

This is the radical nature of Christ.  Having been in perfect divine-community with the Father for all eternity passed, He was disavowed from His Father at the moment of His greatest passion on the cross.  Jesus' physical suffering paled in comparison to His spiritual agony at being separated from His Holy Father for the first and only time in all of eternity.  As Jesus cried out in utter anguish, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?"

The moment cannot be overstated for the profound tragedy of what happened: Jesus, the very radiance of the glory of God the Father, was sacrificed upon the cross as the sin of mankind was concentrated in His body and atoned for in His death.  And, as He breathed His last breath, He was separated from the Father.

In truth, because the Holy Lord God cannot be in the presence of sin, when Jesus took on the whole weight on mankind's sin focused in His flesh, God had to turn away from His own Son in judgment.  This is the apex of love, which God has lavished upon us.  Having punished Jesus for the sin that was so rightfully due each of us, God made a way for our sin to be paid for and for us to enter into His divine presence.  The truest love of all was then God denying Himself in punishing His Son so as to glorify Himself at Christ's exaltation (resurrection).

Now, upon confession and belief in the work of Christ Jesus, we can take part in the wonderful love of God through His Son because Jesus took the sin of all mankind in our stay.  Let us then praise God for the perfect sacrifice He has made in destroying His Son!

Acceptable Sacrifice and Worship

Worship is a full-person ordeal.  It requires conviction in love and Spirit.  Additionally, because worship is, in its basest form, stepping into the presence of the Holy Lord and because He cannot be in the presence of sin, we must put on Christ and strive to keep in Christ for the purpose of worship.  Because of the gravity inherent to worship, to relegate it to brief liturgy, hymn singing, or a time of prayer is far less than what God asks of us.

The Old Testament has some revealing things to say about the true nature of worship.  The first instance of worship is in regards to Cain and Abel.  We may remember the end of the story with Cain murdering Abel and God banishing Cain, but we should never forget the beginning of the story and why Cain killed his little brother.

Gen. 4 tells us that at some point Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to God, Cain of the field and Abel of the flock.  Both brought a sacrifice of praise and worship, yet God disregarded Cain's in favor of Abel's. It was God's determination of the value of their sacrifices that roused Cain's jealousy and caused him to murder his brother.  Both brothers sought to worship God with sacrifices of praise, God considered Abel's worthy and Cain's less-than.  The pertinent question is why?

There are two reasons that God favored Abel's sacrifice over Cain's.  The first is the sacrifice itself: Abel brought the firstborn of his flock.  While it could never be said that farming isn't a toilsome lot, the sheer value of animals cannot be overrated.  The firstborn was the most valuable thing anyone could offer.  Abel's sacrifice cost him more than Cain's.  The measurement of worship is how much it costs the worshiper, not how it stacks up against other worshipers (Mark 12:41-44).

Secondly, Abel's heart of sacrifice was not out of obligation, it was out of love.  The content and state of the worshiper's heart is the measurement of worship.  Abel offered worship out of his sincere love and reverence for the Lord.  Because of this, God found Abel's sacrifice acceptable.  This should prompt us to have the same mind among us in worship.

At the final analysis, God wants our worship to be sincere, reverent, and costly.  While most Christians would agree with the first two, the last should not ever be eschewed in favor of more comfortable worship.  We need to give Him our very best.  Only when we give Him the very best of ourselves will we be offering Him acceptable and pleasing sacrifices and worship.  As Paul says, we need to offer our very bodies fully to Him as our sacrifice of worship (Rom. 12:1).  Let us then commit to worship that which may be pleasing in His sight!