Spiritual Sacrifices 2

I want to continue a look at the 7 spiritual sacrifices that we need to know about.

It amazes me that so many Believers treat church as a place where they go to do their duty or get blessed. That is so far below what God is expecting from us. Our primary role as Believers is to minister to the Lord as holy, royal priests. We should not be an "audience" at church, but the principle worship ministers. The role of worship teams and leaders is to see that this happens - so often, however worship teams do all the "work" of worship, and congregations simply follow along if they are able. Our whole worship focus in the Church seems to be on the music rather than connecting hearts with the Father. Music is merely the tool to achieve this end - rather than the beginning and end of worship.

The first sacrifice  mentioned in the Word is the sacrifice of joy - Psalm 27:6

Now we come to:

The Sacrifice Of A Broken Spirit—Ps. 51:16-17 

For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart - 

these O God, You will not despise

This is the psalm that David wrote after he sinned with Bathsheba. When David was confronted with the seriousness and effects of his sin, it broke his heart. David’s response was to came to the Lord with worship that streams from a broken or contrite heart. We might think that when something is broken it is destroyed, but in God’s hand, brokenness will birth worship, life and humility.

The Hebrew word that is used here is shabar. Not only does it mean to “break,” “crush,” “tear,” “hurt,” but it also means, “to bring to the birth.” In other words, something of God is birthed in us when we yield to His hand in the midst of any sin or suffering and allow His character to prevail. There is a maturity of worship that must come to us, where we are able to worship in the midst of our darkest hour. A life that is broken by the hand and presence of God is not a life that is destroyed, but a life that is birthed into even greater degrees of God's character. 

Psalm 34:18 says that God is near to those whose hearts are broken in this manner.

We are broken by our sin when we deal with it correctly as David did, but we can also allow the sacrifice of a broken spirit to flow from our hearts by being broken in the presence of God, as we read God's Word, and through difficult and often unfair circumstances of life.

Whenever we face trials correctly and worship from the depths of our hearts, the beauty of a broken spirit becomes evident.

We can never face who we can become in Christ until

we face who we are without Christ

7 Spiritual Sacrifices Part 1: HERE
7 Spiritual Sacrifices Part 3: HERE