The Three Keys to Power Part 4: The Second Key (Sacrifice)

The Three Keys to Power Part 4

The Second Key (Sacrifice)

            But let’s return to the story of Elijah and the widow.  Not only do we see faith in action in spite of the risk and the doubt that the widow had, but the second key to influencing God is displayed right here in the story.  You see, if Elijah was just testing her faith why did he ask her to make for him first?  Why didn’t he just say, “Woman, go into the house and do as God has asked you to do.  Don’t doubt.  He will take care of you.”  That would have been plenty of a display of faith to move God.

            No, Elijah was demonstrating the Second Key to Power at the same time as he was demonstrating the First.  This is sacrifice.  Sacrifice is “an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.”  This is why in religious organizations a sacrifice is so sacred and holy.  It is a person giving up something important to them to their deity to show their deity that they view that deity as more important than themselves and this thing that they value so much.

            In the first age of mankind, between Adam and Eve and Noah and the Ark, mankind was to sacrifice animals to atone for sins.  Why did God require this?  Animals were the servants of mankind.  The Bible implies that animals were much closer to people than they are to us today.  In fact, animals were originally meant to be the servants of mankind, even as the angels are servants of God.  Therefore, when God set up the initial act of sacrificing animals, it was because God was having mankind sacrifice beloved servants as a price to pay for rejecting and rebelling against Him.

            This may sound horrible, and to many it may not seem right, but when you really study the scriptures and history you begin to see that this is very true and it is very right.  Think of it from the perspective of a kingdom.  What happens when a person rebels against a king?  That person is considered a treasonous rebel, and treasonous rebels deserve death.  They should not be allowed to live because if they are they might cause others to rebel as well.  So death is the only price that can be paid for treason.

            But what if someone loved someone so much that they’d be willing to die to pay that price for that person?  If that person was willing to die for the treasonous rebel then the treasonous rebel would owe that person a life debt.  In other words, that treasonous rebel’s very life would belong to the one who paid the price for their sins.  This is what Jesus did for us.

            However, before Jesus came, all humans were treasonous rebels deserving of death.  So God said, “I will forgive your sins temporarily if you sacrifice something valuable to me, a life for a life.  These animals are your beloved servants.  They are not as valuable to Me, God, as you humans are.  Therefore, if you are willing to sacrifice their lives, because they are your property and you can do with them whatever you desire, if you take their lives in exchange for yours, I will accept this sacrifice.  In other words, you show me, by sacrificing these animals, that you are truly sorry for rebelling against Me, your true King.  I do not want you to sacrifice humans, because I value humans too highly, but I will allow you to sacrifice your beloved servants, animals, to prove just how sorry you are.”

            But then God said, “However, I do not really like animal sacrifices.  In fact, I hate them.  I only accept them because there is no greater way for you to show Me that you are sorry for your rebellious actions.  Therefore, since I hate this practice, I will only put up with it for a time, because I love you humans.  When the time is right, there will come a day when I will create a human, who is Me in the flesh, who will die for all of your crimes, and I will accept this sacrifice as the price paid for all the sins of all humanity.  Then all humanity will owe this human, who is Me in the flesh, even your very selves.  I will then rule over you as your master, for I will have purchased you.  Then you shall be My people, and I will be your King, and you will no longer be rebels because you will have accepted this human, who is Me in the flesh, as King.  This is the only way you can truly be redeemed from being treasonous rebels and deserving of death.”

            So why do I think sacrificing animals was a much bigger deal to humans in the very beginning?  Several things.  God said that mankind was to rule the earth and subdue it and rule over all living things.  You rule over servants.  Therefore, if animals were to be ruled over by men then animals were created to serve man.

            Another reason that it is clear that animals were closer to humans is that in Genesis 9 God tells Noah that at that point and onward, “the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea.”  In other words, up until that point, animals did not fear humans AT ALL.  They, instead, were friendly to humans.  This implies that they were servants of mankind, helping men in life.

            In this very same chapter, there is another sign that this is true.  Verse 3 goes on to say, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.”  It then goes on to specify that humans are the exception.  In other words, mankind wasn’t even supposed to eat animals before this time period.  Why?  Animals were the servants of humans, not food.  God put fear in them so that they would no longer be as close of servants to mankind.  He needed them to become food for humans because after a great flood food would be scarce.  Therefore, mankind would need another source of food to supply their needs. 

            I think he also did this so that it would make it harder for humans to use animals in war.  Before this time, the Bible teaches that war was rampant.  My guess is that animals played a huge part in these wars.  By making it so that animals would now be wild and need to be domesticated in order to serve humans, by making it so animals feared humans, by making it so that animals could no longer speak to humans (for what good is a servant who cannot understand his master?), God was making it so that humans would not use animals as much if they wanted to hurt each other.  No…war would now be between man and man, thus making it a bit more difficult.

            Another sign that animals were beloved servants of humans is found in history.  Look at a vast majority of the ancient religions of the world and what you find is that many animals are revered by mankind.  Why did this practice begin and what would cause mankind to revere animals over other humans?  I mean…they worshipped animals as gods!  Many animal gods are depicted with weapons and tools and ornamentations. 

            If animals were beloved servants of humanity, if they could speak to humans and served them and fought wars for them, certainly that would explain why so many ancient religions revered them.  Animals can be stronger and more deadly than humans, for sure.  Many have natural weapons that can truly harm a human.

            So imagine if you were in a world where a lion was smart enough and bold enough to try to rule over a group of humans.  Imagine if a lion came into your neighborhood and started bossing you around and threatening to kill you if you did not comply with his demands.  Now imagine if that lion had other animal companions that were backing him up.  Imagine if a gorilla and a tiger and a host of snakes were right there with the lion helping him.  Imagine if a T-rex was also there to threaten you.  I think you might be frightened enough into doing whatever they said.  You might even bow down and worship them as gods if they ordered you to.

            But, if you also notice, animals in these ancient religions always came second to images of humans.  Thus, it makes sense that animals were worshipped by humans but they always served humans of higher authority.  In other words, in the ancient Hindu religions, we find there were three gods that ruled in the Indus Valley.  There was Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva.  These were more often depicted as humans than animals.  However, they might have some animals that represented them, but these images were second to their more humanlike forms.  Under these three were many gods, some of which were animal-like and some were humanlike.  Some had animals that symbolized them and some did not.

            So it makes sense that each had animal representatives in the Indus Valley.  For one god, a tiger may have been the god’s most faithful companion.  For another, an elephant.  For another, a peacock.  Since it seems the Bible is implying that animals were close companions of humans, and likely would have been able to talk with them, it isn’t a far stretch to believe that these animals were likely very close servants of humans, even fighting as generals in their armies, serving as administrators, and so forth.  It, then, makes sense that these animals would have been revered as gods, just as their human overlords would have been, to humans of lower status.

            Now let’s bring all this back to sacrifices.  What does this have to do with sacrificing being a key to power?  Sacrificing is taking something valuable to you and giving it away to prove that you value something else more.  Therefore, God is truly moved when someone sacrifices something of value to them to show God that they care more about Him, valuing Him, above whatever they are sacrificing.

            Let’s turn to 1 Kings 18, and we’ll see this second key more strongly displayed. This is the story of Elijah confronting the Prophets of Baal.  Basically, three years have passed without rain and God tells Elijah to go back and present himself to Ahab.  Elijah does so and challenges the Prophets of Baal to a competition.  He tells them, “If your god is the one true god let us create an altar and let him start a fire on the altar to consume the sacrifice.  However, if my God is God let Him start a fire on the altar to consume the sacrifice.”  Basically, whoever could call fire down from heaven would prove their god was the one true god.

            Notice immediately the first key is in play here.  Elijah is taking a great risk to present himself to Ahab and the people of Israel.  They wanted him dead because he caused it to not rain for three years.  Everyone truly blamed Elijah, not God, for the drought.  If he didn’t prove God was the only true God they would kill him for sure.  If he couldn’t bring rain back he was a dead man.  So the risk was Elijah’s own life, and he acted out of his trust in God that God would deliver him in spite of how crazy it might have been to expect fire to rain down from heaven.

            So the greater the risk to oneself, the greater the faith that it takes to still do what you know is right.  The greater the faith, the more it moves God to act on your behalf. 

            Now Elijah challenged the Prophets and he even allowed them to go first – that was how much he was showing he trusted in God.  This part is actually one of the funniest passages in scripture – or at least I think it is – because here the Prophets do everything in their power to get Baal to bring fire down and start the sacrifice on fire.  It’s amazing just how far people will go to try to disprove God is real.  These men built an altar, marched around it, cut themselves, beat themselves, etc. and nothing happened.

            And then, starting in verse 30, here is what Elijah did to bring about this miracle of God.  This is what Elijah did to influence God to give him a miracle.  We already know faith is present so the first key is in play.  Now let’s see what else he does to bring about the power of God.

            “And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.”

            Before we continue I want you to pay particular attention to how much work Elijah puts into repairing this altar.  It says, “And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood.”

            Wow! That was a lot of work he put into the repairing of the altar. Notice that Elijah didn’t just rebuild the altar in some random fashion.  He rebuilt the altar with purpose and in a way that was meaningful to God.  Twelve stones represented the twelve tribes of God’s chosen people.  In other words, Elijah was doing something to remind God of what God loved and cared about the most; the people of Israel. 

            Now let’s stop and think about it for a minute.  If you had worked hard to create some sort of symbol that represents a company you founded, wouldn’t you want someone to use that symbol as much as possible?  Every time you saw that symbol wouldn’t it bring a bit of pride and joy to your heart?  So someone might influence you in a more powerful way if they utilized your symbol in some artistic piece of work that they did, right?

            Well, the point isn’t so much about how we should always use symbolism when we want a miracle from God, but the point is that Elijah used a great deal of effort and designed the altar in a way that would please God.  He even put the wood in order according to the law and cut the bullock and laid him on the wood just like the law said to do.  

            So effort is necessary for the second key to be truly effective.  It isn’t just a flippant sacrifice that moves God.  It is the sacrifice that is purposeful and is done with care and effort.  The harder the sacrifice, the more effort you put into it, the more powerful it is.  If I fast, which is a form of sacrifice where a person gives up food, it is virtually meaningless if I was already going to give up food that day because I had such a busy schedule that I wouldn’t really have much time to eat.  However, if I fast knowing that there is a huge dinner feast coming up, and I even go to that dinner feast but respectfully decline all invitations for food, politely explaining that I am fasting, and I have to sit there and watch everyone eat such wonderful smelling food, that is a MUCH bigger sacrifice.  It takes a WHOLE lot more effort to do.  Therefore, it is much more effective because it is much more meaningful.

            Now, as if that wasn’t enough, here comes another major part of the sacrifice, starting in verse 33.  In fact, this is the true sacrifice, the true thing of value, that Elijah is placing upon the altar.  As if offering a bullock wasn’t enough, for famine and drought were in the land at that time and a bullock could have fed a lot of people, Elijah had an even greater thing to give to prove his love and devotion to God.

            Elijah says, “Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.  And he said, Do it the second time.  And they did it the second time.  And he said, Do it the third time.  And they did it the third time.  And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.”

            So why did Elijah pour water on the altar?  What was the significance?  A Sunday school teacher I had as a kid said that it was to show the awesome power of God.  She said that the fact that the water was completely evaporated by the fire showed just how hot the fire was and how powerful the act was.  No one could really replicate such a feat.

            I remember that when she said this it didn’t really sit well with me because as we read in verse 38, “…the fire consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”  Of all the things that were consumed by God’s fire here the water was probably the least.  I mean, to evaporate water with fire doesn’t take too much, but to consume the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones and even the dust…!  To me the power was demonstrated more by consuming material such as rock and dust.  I mean, God’s fire didn’t even leave dust!  It burned up everything!

            So what was the importance of the water then?  Why was this act so important?  The answer is the same as why Elijah asked the widow to feed him first.  You see Elijah understood that great miracles require great sacrifice.  Elijah told the widow to feed him first because he was trying to teach her to sacrifice.  He knew that sacrifice was pleasing to God, and if the widow sacrificed her last meal to Elijah, God would honor her for that. Then, when he needed God to bring fire down to show that He was God and Elijah was His trusted servant, Elijah knew that he had to provide the ultimate sacrifice he could offer to God.

            You see it hadn’t rained in Israel for three years.  There was nothing more precious for Elijah to offer than the water.  People would have killed for that water, and if God hadn’t shown up people WOULD have killed Elijah for sure for wasting so much of it.  Elijah knew that since no water had come to the land in such a great period of time that water was more precious than gold.  It was the life of the people!  To pour twelve barrels of water – again the symbolism of twelve to represent the tribes of Israel – on the altar, Elijah was showing God that nothing, even life-giving water, was more precious to him than God.  There was nothing more Elijah could have done to move God to act.  There was no better sacrifice.

            Do you have problems in your life that seem overwhelming?  Do you feel like life is out of control?  Are your kids acting crazy and getting into all sorts of things that you don’t want them to?  Do you feel like nothing you try makes a difference?  Just try sacrificing something important to you and watch how the circumstances change.  You want to get God’s attention?  Sacrifice!

            Now it can’t just be any sacrifice.  It has to be the right sacrifice.  God doesn’t want you to sacrifice things that are important to Him just so you can get His attention.  In other words, don’t go sacrificing what little time you may spend with your family to begin spending time at church.  If you don’t spend much time with your spouse and kids then obviously sacrificing that time for church isn’t the right thing to do.  God wants you to spend time with your children and your spouse so that you build a strong family and a strong home.  There is no greater ministry for a parent than to be a minister to your spouse and children.  They are your ministry first and foremost.  Your family unit is the most important ministry of your life!  Period!  So don’t sacrifice them to try to please God.  Find something God would want you to sacrifice.

            For example, if you don’t go to church because you have to work, that is one thing.  In our culture today, it is an unfortunate thing that some have to work on Sundays and Wednesday nights when church is in session.  However, some don’t go to church because they want to make time to play video games, watch TV, get extra chores done, sleep in, etc.  A sacrifice to God every week that you could do is go to church instead of these things that you enjoy doing.  If you want God to perform miracles in your life then you might need to at the very least begin to go to church every week.  Going to church is something God WANTS you to do, so find yourself a good church to go to and sacrifice those things that you like to do by going to church and worshipping God with other people.

            Now some of you may be saying, “But sacrifice is hard.”  Let me open your eyes for a moment.  Sacrifice is actually very easy.  We do it every day.  The problem is that sacrificing what our Flesh wants is hard.  In other words, sacrificing self and what we like and desire is what is hard.

            Let me break it down further.  When you wake up in the morning you have a decision.  Do you watch the news or pray?  Your Flesh says, “I don’t want to pray.  I’m tired.  I didn’t sleep well.  I’m hungry.  I need coffee.  I can’t even think straight yet.”

            Your Spirit says, “You need to pray.  If you put it off you’ll never do it.”  

            Now as many of you may know, it’s easy to sacrifice praying for watching the news and drinking coffee or eating breakfast.  It’s easier because we have a tendency to do what our Flesh wants because if our Flesh doesn’t get what it wants it usually throws a big fit.  Nevertheless, we sacrifice praying so we can watch TV.

            So are you having problems with your kids or your marriage is struggling?  Stop sacrificing time with your kids or your spouse so you can watch TV or so you can hang out with your friends.  Flip it!  Reverse it!  Sacrifice watching TV or hanging out with your friends to spend time with your kids and spouse.  It’s actually just that easy.

            If you’ve tried this, then maybe your problem is that when you spend time with your family you are sacrificing what they want to do so you can make them do what you want them to do.  Ouch!  That might hurt, but it happens SO often.  Flip it!  Reverse it!  Why not sacrifice what you want to do for what they want to do?  

            In other words, don’t drag your kids along with you to go see some horrible, blood and guts, R-rated movie that’ll give your kids nightmares for years when they’d much rather go see some goofy PG-rated movie.  Stop making them go bowling with you when they can’t even hardly lift a ball and they’d much rather sit down with you and play action figures.  

            If you want to change your kids’ lives or you want to turn your marriage around…if you want them to respect you and love… if you want them to start loving you instead of nagging you and resenting you…. stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about them!  What do they like?  What do they need?  What do they want?  Sacrifice those things you like, you need, and you want for what they like, need, and want.  Watch how, suddenly, even that rebellious teenager will turn around and change.  Sacrifice for your spouse and watch how the battles will stop and the romance will be rekindled.

            But maybe you don’t have kids or you aren’t married or none of that is your problem.  Maybe you have problems with your health or maybe it’s your finances.  Maybe you need a new job or maybe you have a substance abuse issue.  Whatever the case, whatever the problem, whatever your need…. God has the solution, and there are “almost” always things you have been sacrificing that you shouldn’t and things you ought to sacrifice that you haven’t.

For example, if you have bad health maybe you need to stop sacrificing eating fruit and vegetables for eating chips and fast food.  Maybe you need to start sacrificing in reverse.  Sacrifice the fast food and chips for healthy food.  Or maybe you have financial problems.  Maybe you need to sacrifice in reverse.  Instead of sacrificing your electric bill for a new DVD player you should sacrifice that new DVD player for your electric bill.  

Come on!  You know what I’m talking about.  Some people will cry and beg God to save them from financial ruin, but they’ll go to the store and spend $150 on a new outfit that they don’t need.  So many will wonder why they are so far in debt when they go out and foolishly buy a brand new car for $24,000 instead of a nice used car for less than half the price.

            The point is that if you want to start seeing changes in your life, many times sacrifice is the necessary step.  Notice, I said many times it is the necessary step.  The reason I say this is although sacrifice is powerful it is not the only key nor is it the most powerful key.  Remember, faith is also a key and we have one more left to discuss; the most powerful key!  Also, always remember, that even if you apply faith and sacrifice, and the last key, God is not a vending machine.  You can’t just use all three keys and expect that God MUST give you what you ask for.  Instead, do these things always with the attitude that, no matter how God responds, it is for your good and the good of all.  Even if you don’t get what you asked for, God has a good reason for it, and you will be blessed for your faith and sacrifice.