The Sacrifice God Desires

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14 (CSB)

My experience of church is that there can be people whose theology is spot on, and who have impressive resumes and experience, and who appear to be upstanding members of society but they’re just jerks. Really, jerks. 

Worse, perhaps, is that we’ve created a theology that justifies both being a jerk with no need to stop. God loves me anyway, and promised me heaven, therefore it doesn’t matter how I act some say.

Ugh. 

It’s the same attempt to game God that existed in the Old Testament. There was a mechanism for dealing with sin under the temple system. If you did something wrong, you took a sheep or a pigeon and you made a sacrificial offering. In effect, the animal stood in for what you deserved. Great, but once people realize there is a mechanism, they start to game the system. “Wait, so you’re saying I can do whatever I want, and all I have to do is sacrifice a pigeon, and I’m okay with God?” So they would do just that. Especially easy for the wealthy for whom the expense cost little. They could live horrible lives, offer up a sacrifice and be on their way. 

It’s important to note that the sacrificial system predated the Jewish people, and was a culturally symbolic way of representing repentance. Sacrifice as repentance is what the Ancient near easterners, Jewish or not, knew as a way of truly repenting. In that way, it was a symbol God adapted for His purposes, rather than required. However, it was never about the sacrifice, and always about the changed heart. 

God knew the game, and after a while God said, enough with your dumb sacrifices. I don’t need them. (1 Samuel 15:22-23, Psalm 40:6-8, Psalm 51:16-17, Isaiah 1:11-17 are just a few. There are many more.) 

It was never about the sacrifice. In Psalm 50:10-12, he tells his people, If I were hungry, I own bulls on a thousand hills, and I know where every bird and insect is! I don’t need your sacrifices! And again in Amos, I hate your festivals. I hate the smell of your sacrifices. I won’t accept them … this is what I want: let justice flow like water, and righteousness like an unfailing stream.  (Amos 5:21-24). 

Perhaps my favorite, addressed to the very people Jesus is talking to, is when he quotes Hosea 6:6 which says

“For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” 

He quotes as 

“I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:10-13 AND 12:1-8)

Later, within the Christian era, they would do the same thing. Rich people would build chapels, and pay for people to pray for them well after their death, hoping their great tributes could win their way in.

God isn’t dumb. He knows your heart. I’d rather bet on a humble heart, and a changed life with devotion to Christ, than a thousand paid people praying for me.

Our self-righteousness and our perfect church adherence is not what God wants. It doesn’t please the Lord, regardless of what the systematic theologians say. But humility, and contriteness; A broken spirit, and honesty before the Lord does. Rather than gloating about how great you are before him, or taking pride in your confessions and actions, stand before him openly and honestly, recognizing your own weaknesses and your own failures. The irony of that is, not only will God see your humility and lift you up with greater dignity than you can muster (James 4:10), but, seeing yourself for how you really are, your kindness will also be amplified towards those around you who struggle. It’s super hard to belittle others when you recognize how you are just like them, if not worse (1 Timothy 1:15-16)