To be a follower of the Crucified Christ means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss.
Sacrifice without obedience is sacrilege.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 199.
True generosity is not the prerogative of those who enjoy an adequacy of means. The most genuine liberality is frequently displayed by those who have least to give. Christian giving is estimated in terms not of quantity but of sacrifice.
2 Corinthians, Eerdmans, www.eerdmans.com, 1962, p. 288.
For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.
If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?
I never made a sacrifice. We ought not to talk of sacrifice when we remember the great sacrifice that He made who left his Father’s throne on high to give Himself for us.
Quoted by Curtis C. Thomas, Practical Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 133. Used by Permission.
Those who give much without sacrifice are reckoned as having given little.
Men of Integrity, v. 1, n. 2.
[This] is the kind of totally committed response the Lord Jesus called for. A desire for Him at any cost. Absolute surrender. A full exchange of self for the Savior. It is the only response that will open the gates of the kingdom. Seen through the eyes of this world, it is as high a price as anyone can pay. But from a kingdom perspective, it is really no sacrifice at all.
The Gospel According to Jesus, © John MacArthur, 1988, p. 141.
Obedience that doesn’t cost us anything may be more natural and glib than Christian. After all, self-righteousness “obeys” — and wonders impatiently what’s wrong with everyone else.
Blog Post: Hard Saying, September 28, 2010, Used by Permission.
Nothing less than a living sacrifice is demanded. Not a loan, but a gift; not a compromise, but a sacrifice; not our poorest, but our best. Not a dead but a living offering. Each drop of our blood, each ounce of our energy, each throb of our heart, we must offer to God.
Quoted by Curtis C. Thomas, Practical Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 133. Used by Permission.
Missionaries are not heroes who can boast in great sacrifice for God. They are the true Christian Hedonists. They know the battle cry of Christian Hedonism is missions. They have discovered a hundred times more joy and satisfaction in a life devoted to Christ and the gospel than in a life devoted to frivolous comforts and pleasures and worldly advancements. And they have taken to heart the rebuke of Jesus. Beware of a self-pitying spirit of sacrifice! Missions is gain! Hundredfold gain!
Desiring God, 1996, p. 210, Used by Permission, www.desiringGod.org. Get this book!
The way to think about self-denial is to deny yourself only a lesser good for a greater good… In other words, Jesus wants us to think about sacrifice in a way that rules out all self-pity.
Desiring God, © John Piper, 1996, p. 202, www.DesiringGod.org, Used by Permission. Get this book!
The way to think about self-denial is to deny yourself only a lesser good for a greater good… Jesus wants us to think about sacrifice in a way that rules out all self-pity. This is, in fact, just what the texts on self-denial teach.
Desiring God, 1996, p. 202, Used by Permission, www.desiringGod.org. Get this book!
Following Jesus doesn’t just entail sacrificial abandonment of our lives; it requires supreme affection from our hearts.
Taken from Counter Culture, Copyright © 2015 by David Platt. Used by permission. Website: Radical.net. Page 250.
[I can imagine Paul saying,] “Within the scope of the test of apostleship, what counts is not my doctrine or my orthodoxy, or my connections, but that my heart and life bear the brand of the cross: it has cost me something to follow Jesus.”
If God would grant us the vision, the word “sacrifice” would disappear from our lips and thoughts; we would hate the things that seem now so dear to us; our lives would suddenly be too short; we would despise time-robbing distractions and charge the enemy with all our energies in the name of Christ. May God help us to judge ourselves by the eternities that separate the Aucas from a comprehension of Christmas, and Him, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor so that we might, through His poverty, be made rich. Lord God, speak to my own heart and give me to know Thy holy will and the joy of walking in it. Amen.
Written just before he was martyred by the Auca Indians in South America.
Ultimately, the Bible makes the argument that the sacrifice does not come when we give our money away, but rather the sacrifice comes when we hold on to it believing it will bring us greater happiness with worldly treasures.
Sermon, Evidence of Grace, 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, November 2, 2014.
If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.
Quoted in: Alexander Strauch, Leading With Love, Lewis and Roth, 2006, p. 28, Used by Permission.
