PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 313: Altar Building, Part 6
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 313
: Altar Building, Part 6
What are the New Testament spiritual sacrifices God wants us to offer to Him?
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Here we are again, back to our series on “Altar Building.” I do hope you are being blessed. Please tell others about this series because it is a very important series. There is so much in God’s Word about it. Even though, as I’ve mentioned, my husband and I, with our family, have been doing this for so many years, I have found so much that I didn’t even know myself as I have revisited this subject in the Word of God.
We are currently up to point . . .
No. 13. WE BUILD THE ALTAR AS A PLACE OF SACRIFICE
Back in the Old Testament, when they built altars, it was so they could sacrifice to the Lord our God. Now, we’re not making sacrifices of animals today of course. But it’s so interesting, how that everything in the Old Testament has its counterpart in the New Testament. A lot of people don’t realize this. They just think, “Oh, yes, that’s the Old Testament way back there. But now we have the New Testament.”
But no, it’s not like that, ladies. Everything in the Old Testament was a foundation, was a type for that which is in the New Testament. Here in the New Testament, we find where God talks about spiritual sacrifices. Back there in the Old Testament they made animal sacrifices. But now we make spiritual sacrifices. In the New Testament I have found twelve different places where it talks about spiritual sacrifices that God wants us to offer up to Him.
However, before we continue, I’d like to take you to a couple of Scriptures to confirm what I was saying before. Let’s go over to Acts, the very last chapter actually. Here Paul is in Rome. It says here in Acts 28:23: “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.”
Isn’t that interesting, ladies? From morning to evening, he expounded and testified about Jesus. Yes, and from where did he testify? It says from Moses. That means from the five books of Moses, from the Torah, and also from the Prophets, from the prophetical books in the Old Testament. So, Jesus is in the Old Testament. Paul, when he was expounding, didn’t have the New Testament. He expounded from the Old Testament.
Then let’s go over to the last chapter of Luke. This is where, after Jesus had died, two of the disciples were so depressed. They were walking back to their village of Emmaus. As they walked along, Jesus, who had now risen from the dead, although they didn’t know it, He came and walked beside them. He began to talk to them.
It says in Luke 24:27: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.” I love that Scripture further down, where it says, “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?”
And what were the Scriptures He opened to them? From the five books of Moses and from the Prophets. He expounded all the Scriptures concerning Himself. I think we’re a little bit shallow in our understanding of the Old Testament, aren’t we? If we would only get in and search, we would find that there is so much of Jesus in the Old Testament.
OK, now I started on this point last podcast. Now we’re up to point No. 5 of point No. 13 about spiritual sacrifices. This one is . . .
5) Payer is a spiritual sacrifice
We see that, of course, in the altar of incense in the tabernacle. I know I’ve spoken to you about this before, how the altar of incense always speaks of prayer and intercession.
We see it confirmed in the New Testament, when we go over to Revelation 5 and in Revelation 8, and in other places as well. It confirms and states absolutely clearly that the altar of incense is a place of prayer.
I’ll just read you the passage from Revelation 8:3: “And another angel came and stood at the altar,” the golden altar of incense, “having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” The altar of incense was right before the throne in the tabernacle. Later in the temple it was right before the curtain where you went into the shekinah glory of God where God dwelt amongst His people.
But now here is John, looking into the heavenly realm and seeing the golden altar of incense because the one in the tabernacle was a type of the heavenly one which is right there now in the heavenly realm. He does not see a curtain now, of course. This altar of incense is right before the throne.
So, precious moms, when we come to the Lord, and we’re crying out to Him in our time of need, and we’re talking to Him, and we’re praying to Him, we’re coming to that altar which is right before His throne room. Isn’t that so wonderful? It continues in verse 4: “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.”
Then we go over to 1 Timothy 2:1-3. We see here again how prayer is an acceptable sacrifice, because we’re talking about acceptable sacrifices. We can make sacrifices that are of our own doing. They may not be acceptable before God.
Remember when Cain and Abel came before the Lord, to bring their offering? Cain’s sacrifice was not received but Abel’s sacrifice was an acceptable sacrifice because he offered the lambs, the best of his flock, and the blood was shed. This Scripture talks about an acceptable sacrifice.
In fact, if we go back, just to remind you, can I take you back to Malachi? There are some amazing Scriptures here in the last book of the Old Testament. Here in chapter one, God is speaking to His people. Malachi 1:8: “And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?”
This was what they were doing back there. Because God had told them that when they sacrifice an animal, it had to be a pure sacrifice. When they sacrificed a lamb, they had to leave it for four days to see if there would be any blemish. If there was no blemish, if no sickness had come in those four days, then they could sacrifice the animal.
In Leviticus 22:20, it says absolutely explicitly: “But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer.” Every sacrifice had to be a pure sacrifice. So now, when we come to do spiritual sacrifices, they also have to be acceptable sacrifices.
Let me continue in Malachi 1:8: “Offer it now,” sick, blind, or lame, “unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.” No, of course not! Not even a governor is going to accept a sacrifice with a blemish. What about the Lord God of Hosts?
We go down now to verse 11: God says: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name.” What does the incense speak of? Prayers unto the Lord.
“And a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.”
He’s really challenging them there about how they were making light of the altar, just offering upon any old animal. They were saying, “Oh, what a weariness it is!” And they just snuffed at it.
Dear ladies, I think we have to be careful the way we talk about our altar, because, yes, God wants us to have an altar, as we’re talking about in this series, where we come into His presence, where we come to meet with Him. We can’t snuff at it.
I grieve when I say this, but I do have women, mothers who come to me. They do snuff at it. They’ll say to me, “Oh, Nancy, I don’t know. I just can’t make it happen in my home. I can’t get it together. I can’t get my children together. It’s just boring.” And they have all these excuses. They’re snuffing at it. “Oh, it’s such a weary thing! I’ve got other things to do.”
WE AS PARENTS MAKE IT HAPPEN
We dare not do this. God is challenging us here. All these excuses are excuses, because I believe we can make happen what we know we’re meant to happen in our homes. In fact, who runs the home? Is it the children or the parents? No, God has given to us parents, to us as mothers, and to our husband as the father—He has given to us the authority in the home. The children don’t rule us. Often parents complain that the children are making all these negatives. Well, we don’t listen to those negatives. We are the ones who make happen what is meant to happen in our home.
And when people will say, “Oh, it’s boring,” well, they must be making it boring because it shouldn’t ever be boring. I find that when we come in our time of family altar to meet with the Lord that it is the best part of every day, because we can’t wait to be in His presence. We can’t wait to hear what He is going to say to us through His Word. We can’t wait to cry out to Him because we need Him. How can we say that’s boring? Meeting with the Lord God of Hosts, meeting with the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords?
So, precious ladies, I believe we have to come. If we bring our spiritual sacrifices, we bring them with the right attitude so that they are an acceptable sacrifice. We’re not thinking, “Oh, well, here we are. Here we come again. This is what we’re meant to do.” Oh, yes! God wants us to do it! But it should be our delight, because we’re coming in His presence. Amen? Can you say amen with me? I do trust so.
Anyway, back to 1 Timothy 2:1-3: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.”
This is one of the acceptable sacrifices we offer to the Lord when we come to Him in prayer. It’s the first thing we do. It should be the first thing we do at the beginning of the day, in our homes. It should be the first thing we do when we come as the people of God to meet together as a church. First of all, we pray for those who are in authority. That’s an acceptable offering unto the Lord.
The next one . . .
6) Doing good to one another and fellowshipping
This one is in Hebrews 13:16: “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” What does that actually mean? “To do good and to communicate.” Well, that word “communicate” in the Greek is the word koinonia. I’m sure you’re familiar with that word. It means “fellowship, becoming part of one another.”
The Scripture is saying here that another spiritual sacrifice that we can do is to have fellowship with one another, and to do kind acts of mercy and kindness and goodness to one another. That’s the meaning of koinonia. Isn’t that interesting? So practical. The Word of God is very practical isn’t it?
Often we don’t think much about fellowship, or much about doing good or kind things for one another. But this is part of our spiritual sacrifices. In Acts 2:42, it’s speaking about what happened in the early church. It says: “And they continued steadfastly.” Then it tells us four things.
One, “in the apostles' doctrine,”
two, “fellowship,”
three, “breaking of bread,”
and four, “prayers,” with an “s” on the end, meaning plural. So, prayer was a very big part of the early church. I like to call this the “foursquare gospel” or the “foursquare early church.”
When Colin and I were first married, we went to the Philippine Islands where we were doing missionary work. We were very involved there with a church called The Foursquare Church. They were doing a mighty work in the Philippines. They had this big church in Mindanao Island where we were stationed. But they had begun hundreds and hundreds of churches across that island, and other parts of the Philippines.
The doctrine of the Foursquare Church, as they called themselves, was Jesus as Savior, baptizer with the Holy Spirit, healer, and soon-coming King. But I myself like to think of our lifestyle in the church as Acts 2:42—the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers, because those were the four things that the Bible says the early church did.
Of course, when they came together to hear the apostles’ doctrine, they were walking in the truth.
And they fellowshipped. Wow! We often forget about this in our busy lifestyles today, but it’s a very important part of our walk with the Lord.
Breaking of bread—that’s not just talking about communion. That is talking about hospitality. They met together and broke bread together as they fellowshipped in the Lord together. They prayed with one another. So, there are more spiritual sacrifices—fellowshipping, praying with one another, doing good deeds and kindnesses to one another. Koinonia.
(7) Presenting souls to the Father
Let me read Romans 15:16 (New English Translation). As a minister to the gentiles, Paul said these words: “I serve the gospel of God like a priest, so that the gentiles may become an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Ghost.”
Can I explain it a little more? The priests, of course, did the sacrifices upon the altar. We are now priests unto God. That’s why we must all do spiritual sacrifices because in Revelation it tells us, we’re now kings and priests unto God. Here, Paul is now leading the Gentiles into the gospel, and to the good news of the gospel, that Jesus is able to save not only the Jews, but the Gentiles. That was an acceptable offering unto the Lord. We also, as we lead people to Jesus, that’s an acceptable offering unto the Lord.
I love 1 Thessalonians 2:19. Now Paul is talking to the Thessalonian new believers here. He says: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For you are our glory and joy.” Paul was talking about these new believers that he led to Jesus.
But I think, what about our own children, dear mothers? They are our first responsibility. They are the ones who we first lead to Jesus, right from the time they’re very little. We’re leading them to Jesus. We’re reading the Word daily at our altar. As our little ones, even the little ones hear the Word of the Lord, their hearts are prepared to come to know Jesus. We’re leading our children into His kingdom. When we stand before the Lord one day, they will be our hope, and our joy, and our crown of rejoicing. They will also be our acceptable offering unto the Lord. Amen?
8) Loving others like Christ loved the church
Ephesians 5:2: “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and has given Himself for us an offering, and a sacrifice to God as a sweet smelling savor.” Here it’s talking about Jesus that when He offered His life upon the altar of sacrifice, when He laid down His life and shed His blood for our sins, it was a sacrifice to God. It was a sweet-smelling savor unto the Lord.
But then, the Bible tells us to walk in love and love others just like Christ did it, just like He laid down His life. He said that if we lay down our lives for one another, it’s also a spiritual sacrifice, and it’s a sweet-smelling savor unto the Lord. Wow! That’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s a challenge to us too.
Is that the kind of walk that we have, that we’re laying down our lives for others? Wow, I don’t think any of us are doing like Christ laid down His life for us, but may we learn to do it, even just in some greater measure. Learning to sacrifice our own lives, to lay down our lives for others. That’s a beautiful spiritual sacrifice unto the Lord and a sweet-smelling savor unto Him.
9) Suffering wrongfully with patience
1 Peter 2:19-20: “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”
So lovely ladies, maybe you’ve been accused wrongly for something. Maybe people have spoken about you behind your back and said things that are not true. You don’t feel very happy about it.
Well, you can get all mad and uptight and bitter, but that’s not going to help things. No, the Bible says here, when you do it, and you’re still right, you’re in the right, but you take it patiently, and God sees your heart, it says it’s a spiritual sacrifice unto Him. And it’s acceptable unto Him. So, be encouraged.
I don’t think there’s one of us who has ever missed out on someone saying something nasty about us, or something that’s hurt us. We can feel so bad about it. Some people can get into bitterness and self-pity, but it only destroys them. Instead of doing that, we must bless them. That’s what Jesus said. When people curse you, say things wrongly against you, bless them. Bless them. We don’t ever feel like blessing them, but we do it out of obedience. We bless them. As we do, God sees it as an acceptable sacrifice unto Him.
10) Faithful and sacrificial giving to those ministering the gospel
In Philippians 4:14-18, it talks about how Epaphroditus brought an offering from the Philippian believers to Paul. How did he talk about it? He said, “Oh, your offering was an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God,”
It was like they would do in the Old Testament, give an animal sacrifice unto God, but now in the New Testament, when we give abundantly, freely, we give to those who are spreading the gospel, who are out sacrificing and ministering full-time the Word of God in different ways. There are so many different ministries across the world. You all have different ones that are a burden to you, and you give to them. God sees it as a spiritual sacrifice. So, be encouraged about that.
11) Being ready to pour out our lives, even in death, for the brethren
Woo, this gets really challenging, doesn’t it? In Philippians 2:17, New Living Translation, Paul is writing to the Philippian believers. He says: “But I will rejoice, even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God.”
Over in 2 Timothy 4:6, he also talks about pouring out his life as an offering to God. So, when we are doing that, and pouring out our lives as an offering to the Lord, these Scriptures that mean even unto death, it is a beautiful spiritual sacrifice unto the Lord.
And the last one that I found in the New Testament is . . .
12) Children caring for their parents in old age
In 1 Timothy 5:4, it says that widows, and those who do not have a husband or family to look after them, or even grandchildren to look after them, the Bible says that the church should then look after them, “for this is good and acceptable before God.”
But the Word of God is very, very clear that before the church can take on an older woman to look after her, and that means she must be 60 years of age and over, she must have lived a certain lifestyle, which you can read about in 1 Timothy 5:10. First of all, the responsibility is that of the children or the grandchildren. That is a spiritual sacrifice.
You know, as we drive around the city, just the other night we were in the city, and I was driving around. I noticed these beautiful buildings. I said to my husband, “What are they?” He said, “They’re for the elderly.” Then there was another place we went and there was another lot of glorious buildings. Yes, that was another place. All over the city, and everywhere, there are these places for older people.
But you know what? They’re not really meant to be there. They’re really meant to be cared for by their children or grandchildren. That is the Word of God. Well, back in Bible days, they didn’t have these homes for them. But really, these homes are so second-best. They may even look beautiful. There are some families who can afford luxurious homes to put their elderly parents in their homes. It may be a nice place, but they’re devoid of family and children.
Then there are many who don’t have very much money, and can hardly afford even a very poor place, and it’s not a very nice place for people to live. But really, God wants our older generation in families. He calls this a spiritual sacrifice, acceptable unto Him. Amen?
OK, lovely ladies, we may not be making animal sacrifices any longer, of course. That is gone. But today we do make these spiritual sacrifices. It’s good to be reminded about them, isn’t it?
Did I take our whole session on that one point? What’s our time, girls? How much time do we have? Oh, wow! I can’t believe it! Perhaps I’d better stop. We’ll get onto No. 14 next time. I won’t take so long on the next one, OK? Let’s pray, shall we?
“Dear Father, we thank You again for Your Word, and all these beautiful things that You show us in Your Word. You show us how to live in our families. Thank You for showing us these spiritual sacrifices.
“Help us to be people who are willing to sacrifice, who are willing to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are well-pleasing to You, Lord, and are also a sweet-smelling savor unto You.
“I pray that You’ll bless every mother, every child, every person listening, Lord. Just bless them today, encourage them. I pray in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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