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TEXT: Hebrews 13:15
SUBJECT: Priesthood of Believers #5
Every Christian is a Priest. As such, he is to spend his life offering sacrifices to God. Under the Old Covenant, the gifts included things like sheep, goats, bulls, oxen, and so on. But under the New Covenant, we are called to give a different kind of gift. We are to offer up ourselves to God.
But "ourselves" is pretty abstract, isn't it? We must descend to particulars. What is included in such a gift? Well, in a word, "everything". We are to pledge everything to God without exception. Over the last three weeks, we have looked at giving ourselves to God in "mind", in "emotions", and in "body".
Tonight, "in words". That is the obvious import of our text, isn't it? The first part urges us to "offer God a sacrifice". The second tells us what that sacrifice is: "Praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name".
And here, the Apostle is not breaking new ground, offering up a weird, unnatural application. For this verse is everything but a quotation from Ancient Scripture. It is nearly identical, for example, to a couple of Psalms. 107:22 reads "Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing". 116:17 speaks much to the same effect: "I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the LORD". Hosea alludes to it in a colorful way, calling this duty "the calves of our lips" (14:2). This gift, therefore, has always been "a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God". As a New Covenant Priest, therefore, you are to offer your words to God.
This exhortation, however, assumes that you have already offered and are presently offering your heart to God. For words, no matter how beautiful, are unacceptable to God, if they proceed from a corrupt source. God never quarrelled with Israel as to the words of praise and thanksgiving they offered Him, but the attitude in which they were offered. "This people draws near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me..." To praise God while clinging to personal merit, to give thanks while discontent or covetous is to mock God and gravely imperil your soul. For He is the LORD who "does not judge according to appearance, but judges righteous judgment". That God suffers such blasphemies, bears with such sacrilege is a testament to His Divine patience. How often have we offered praise we did not mean and return thanks we never felt! "My Son, God entreats, "Give me thy heart!" God will overlook stumbling words from a sincere heart, but He will never receive the words of a hypocrite, be they ever so tastefully offered.
Let's look then, at the gifts we, as New Covenant Priests, are to offer God. The text specifies two: praise and thanksgiving. Praise may be informally defined as "acknowledging God for who He is". The expression, "praise God", therefore, is not really "praise" at all. It is an exhortation. And a very good one at that. You praise God, therefore, by confessing:
His uniqueness. "Who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?" Or, "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear; noses have they, but they do not smell. They have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat..."But our God is in heaven, He has done whatever He pleases". "God is not a man that He should lie". You praise God, therefore, by "sanctifying" Him, separating Him from all others, and bowing before His awful majesty, saying with the Hebrews of old, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!"
His holiness. "Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory". One who conceives of God as "An indulgent, old grandfatherly figure" cannot praise Him, no matter how many "Hallelujahs" he shouts. For that God is not the LORD. The God who is to be praised is "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders".
His tender mercy. "Who is a God like You, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retains not His anger forever, for He delights in mercy." One unacquainted with the tender mercies of God in Christ can never offer praise to His Maker. All He can do is resent the God who commands him to do what he cannot do and then judges him for not doing it. An emphasis on Divine holiness not hitched to a corresponding mercy will not produce a God-fearing people, but a people who hate Him. "Mountains, rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb". Peals of praise, after all, do not ascend from hell.
Any number of other Divine traits could be added to the list. But these should suffice to give you an idea of what praise it, i.e., "an acknowledging of God for who He is".
The second act of worship called for in our text is thanksgiving. i.e., "Giving thanks to His Name". Thanksgiving can be briefly defined as "acknowledging God's favors". To say "thank you" to anyone assumes a kindness he rendered you. To merely list a fraction of the things for which you should return thanks would take hours. And so, I'll notice only a few, perhaps the most conspicuous.
You ought to be thankful that God made you in the Divine Image. No other creature, not even the angels, shares this distinction. Do you think it is a small thing to be--even faintly--like God? Is it a trifling thing that you retain a shred of "the image of Him that created you, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness"?
You ought to be thankful that God sustains you every moment of your life. Everyone must concur with David, "There is but a step between me and death". How many times have you narrowly escaped accidents that would have surely taken your life? How many near-misses are you unaware of? But God does far more than protect you from mishaps. He positively communicates life to you. "In Him we live and breathe and have our being". Now, that God would sustain mankind at all is a cause for thanksgiving. But that he upholds an apostate race is even more remarkable. He gives breath to men who use that gift to curse Him.
You ought to be thankful that God chose to redeem your race and not His other fallen creatures. "For verily, He did not take upon Himself the nature of angels, but He took upon Himself the seed of Abraham." There are two fallen races: human and angelic. Both were in need of a Savior. Christ, therefore, might very well have chosen to become an angel and redeemed that race, maybe even the devil himself. But He did not. "For when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman..." The "best" devil has no hope. The worst sinner does. And that is something to give thanks for!
But chiefly, you ought to be thankful for the saving work of Christ for sinners. The incarnation. The early hardships. Flight into Egypt. Subjection to His parents. Baptism. Wilderness temptation. Appears in "home synagogue". Teaching. Miracles. "Contradiction of sinners". Last Supper. "Bloody sweat". Betrayal. Before Caiaphas. Judged by Herod. Sent to Pilate. Rejected by the mob. March to Calvary. Scorned by men. Forsaken by God. "Gives up the Ghost". Buried. Remains under the power of death for a time. Rises from the dead. Ascends into heaven. Sits down at God's Right Hand. Outpouring of the Spirit. Present Session. Returns in judgment. These things are so glorious, that if you can't breath a sigh of thanksgiving, then the "very stones will shout out in gratitude to Christ".
These four items, please remember, are but a tiny sampling of the many for which you should give thanks. As it is written, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you".
And so, as a New Covenant Priest, you are to occupy yourself in offering these two gifts: praise and thanksgiving.
But there is more to praise and thanksgiving than merely saying "praise God or Thank the Lord"--even sincerely. These two acts--since they are to be offered "continually"--assume a fixed disposition, an attitude if you will. As Priests, we are not only to say such things, we are to be them. We are to be thankful and (if I can make up a new word) "praiseful". This attitude will be heard, not only in your praises or giving of thanks, but in your general conversation.
If your conversation is full of praise and thanksgiving, it will be empty of other things. Things like: profanity, boasting, complaining, worrying, and vanity. Think about it for a moment. Are any of these things consistent with praise and thanksgiving? How can you boast if everything you have is from God? If God is worthy of praise, how can you complain or worry about His Providence? If God is so wonderful that He deserves a "continual praise and thanksgiving", then how can you take His name in vain--or, more to the point--fill up your conversations with nonsense!?
But more positively, if your conversation is to be full of praise and thanksgiving then--it is to be full of praise and thanksgiving! This means that you will have to cultivate ejaculatory prayers. Every now and then during the day--for just a few seconds--praise God and offer thanks. At appropriate times (maybe in the car?) "Speak to yourself in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord". Among the brethren, you ought to encourage their praises and giving of thanks by reminding them of the glory and great works of God. Even with the unconverted, you should--when called for--praise your Savior and express your gratitude to Him. And this (under the blessing of God) may do more for him than all sorts of a hyperactive evangelism. Here the example of A.W. Pink may be helpful. ( Cf. his sermon on "praising God" and its effect on an "accidental hearer").
And, as I've mentioned before, this offering is to be given "continually". In the best of times, we are wont to forget God. "When Jesuran waxed fat, he kicked against the LORD". In the worst of times, complain. But this too is inexcusable. For these Hebrews, according to an earlier chapter, were suffering "not unto blood resisting sin", but painful harrassment nonetheless. Yet they were to "continually" offer up these sacrifices to God. And so are we.
But if you think that is impossible, then I have two men to remind you of. Job. 1:21. But as bad as Job's state was, perhaps the most interesting example of "praising and thanking God" from an unlikely place, is found in this verse: "But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD". Do you know who said that...and under what conditions? Jonah. From the belly of a fish.
You ought--and can--offer these gifts unto your God, whatever your circumstance may be. But how do you do it? Or--to put it another way--how do you change your conversation from what it is to what it ought to be?
At this point, the key Scripture is Matthew 12:34: "O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks". There are, of course, certain external measures you can take to make your speech less offensive. Many unbelievers, for example, break the bad habit of cursing. That is all good and well and ought to be promoted. But if you want to make your speech more than "not as bad as it could be", you have to start at its fountain, the "heart", or as we would call it, "the mind". But how is this done?
First, and most obviously, you must cleanse your mind of those things which corrupt your sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. The influence of bad and foolish language over its hearers is beyond dispute. If you permit your kids to be around others who curse, you'll soon hear the same words coming from the mouths our your little ones. Every parent knows that much. But what we recognize in kids, we often miss in our own lives. Some bad talk you cannot avoid. "You are in the world". But other conversations, displeasing to the LORD, are easy to avoid. You are subjected to the influence of television, for example, by your own choice. The same is true of radio. And aren't there conversations at work and elsewhere you'd be better off staying away from? Don't you know (and maybe talk to) notorious gossips? Aren't you unnecessarily close to people who never tire of "vain talk"? Well, here the Bible is plain: "Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good morals". Again, it is not possible to avoid all defiling words, but--as Billy Bray put it--"You can't doing anything about the birds flying overhead, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair".
Second, if you are to continually offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, you must put something in your mind to evoke praise and thanksgiving. And, here, the best choice is obvious: "Scripture". If you're so cold as to not be able to think of anything in your life for which God should be praised or thanked, then read the Bible! There is plenty in there to stir up such holy words.
Third, if you're to praise and thank God, you must cultivate spiritual converstions. Nothing is more corrosive to the spirit than to want to talk spiritually, only to be saddled with the same old, tired, nonsense. Even if the talk is not "criminal" (e.g., gossip) it can still be unedifying. We need to not only be "not corrupted", but to be positively "built up". And here, a piece of friendly advice may be appropriate:
If you can't find a spiritual conversation to join, start one yourself! If it veers off, steer it back into the channel. Keep at it, you'll have one of two effects on your hearers. They will either grow so weary of you that they'll leave (thus saving you from further exposure to vanity) or they'll go along with you, thus meeting your need. And besides, you'll be helping them to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ".
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