Altar: Sacrifice of Praise

We’re starting a new series this month called altars…Now altars were important because they signified the place where the divine and human worlds connected. It was a place of worship and sacrifice. God actively responded to the activities that happened at the altar.

Now even though the story we are going to look at today is from a different time period and culture we believe that there is a connection between the altars that these people built and the altars that we are to build.

We all have a life that we want…The perfect marriage, the over-achieving kids, the high-paying job, the diverse portfolio, the right education…And in order to accomplish or pursue these things, sacrifice is required. The problem is that for many of us we have sacrificed the wrong things for what we think is the perfect life.

In Romans, Paul talks about how our lives are a sacrifice to God. He’s being open about the fact that in order to follow Jesus, it does require sacrifice, however, the sacrifice that Paul is talking about, I think, are mindsets that we have about life.

He goes on to say in verse 2 that we need to let God transform us into a new person by changing the way that we think. Then we will know God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will…He’s saying the gap between where we are and what God has for us is for us to lay our wrong mindsets on the altar of God.

See for many of us we have sacrificed the wrong things for what we think is the perfect life, and what we want to do today is to sacrifice the wrong thinking for the life that God has for us.
And to do that we are going to look at this person named Abram and three mindsets that God is going to ask him lay down on the altar in order to live the life that God has for him.

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It’s all on Me

In the first few verses, God makes a distinction between what Abram is suppose to do and what God is going to do. God asks Abram to trust him, he invites Abram to live a life where he doesn’t think that he has to make it all happen on his own.

Isn’t it funny how we can take on the burden of making everything happen on our own…We try to land the right job, repair our marriage, get into the right school, walk free form that addition.

And yet, like Abram, God is inviting us on a journey that requires us to sacrifice that mindset on the altar of God; because it isn’t all on us.
In order to live the life that God has for us, we have to be willing to sacrifice that mindset that It’s All on Me…We have to lay that burden on the altar of God

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It’s Impossible for Me

Vs. 2 God tells Abram that He is going to make him into a great nation, he goes on in vs 7 and tells him he is going to give his descendants land…But there is a problem, Abram and his wife can’t have children. He’s 75, they’ve been trying for years and have nothing to show for it.

Yet God asks Abram to sacrifice the mindset that it’s impossible for me. How many times have we internally said those words to ourselves? It’s impossible for me to feel normal, to find the right person, to be happy, to not get a divorce, to find the job…

Our problem is that as humans we are limited and we only see things from a limited perspective and so it is hard to imagine a limitless God who can do anything and yet that is who God is.

I’ve heard it said that in the beginning God created us in His image and since then we have tried to create God in our image and so we try to put limitations on a limitless God and what we should do instead is put those limitations on the altar and give them to God.

In order to live the life that God has called us to live we have to sacrifice the mindset that It is Impossible for Me…We have to lay those limitations on the altar of God.

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It Has to Happen for Me Now

Verse 7, God tells Abram that I am going to give land not to you but to your descendants. He’s challenging Abram to think long-term not just short-term.
For us, this is a hard concept… We hate to wait, that’s why we switch lanes a million times on the 101, why we get upset at Starbucks if the line is taking too long. We have associated waiting with something must be wrong.

So God hasn’t answer my prayer that means something must be wrong…I didn’t pray the right way, He didn’t hear me, it’s too hard for him, he doesn’t care…We think that if it doesn’t happen now then it’s not God.

We over-estimate what God will do in a year and underestimate what God can do in a lifetime of faithfulness.

God invites Abram on a journey where not everything is going to happen right away, but it will on God’s timing, he is asking Abram to lay on the altar his timeline.

You may need to wait a bit to find that right person to marry, your marriage might not turn around right away, you may not get that perfect job offer right away…But are we willing to lay our timelines on the altar of God and say that we trust God with it?

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Altar Challenge

Are you sacrificing the wrong things for what we think is the perfect life? What if you sacrificed the wrong mindsets so that you can live the life that God has for you? What is it for you? Do you feel like it’s all on you? That’s it’s impossible for you? Do you struggle with wanting it to happen right now?

We can’t change the way we think, but Romans 12 tells us that God can. What we can do is identify the wrong mindsets and lay them on the altar of God and allow Him to change the way we think.

Romans 12:1-2 -“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice— the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Genesis 12:1-7- “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventyfive years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”

Psalm 55:22 - “Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”

Matthew 9:26 - “Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”