Last night, we looked at the topic of time. For children, it can be hard to learn about time; they live in the present and find it hard to understand what has gone before (the past) or what lies ahead (the future). They are a good example of living in the present, but can find it hard to understand what is special about the past.

We looked at how time in our Christian world is divided into B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (‘anno domini’, in the year of the Lord, measuring from Christ’s birth) and how Christ is the defining point of history. We explored why Jesus had to die at Easter, exploring the fact that sin (our disobedience to God) meant it was necessary that a perfect Man died for our sins and how we could not manage that for ourselves! Only Jesus, being fully God and fully man, could do that.

Time may seem to be a paradox at time, but a God-centred view of time will always take the ‘long view’, unlike Satan who focuses on the now, trying to convince us that this is all we have. Ultimately, we live godly lives now because we know we have the future hope of Christ’s return and heavenly rewards await us.

Garry spoke from Gen 41:33-40 this morning, looking at Joseph’s plans for dealing with the impending famine in Egypt. The change, from being in prison to being 2nd in command to Pharaoh, was a rapid one; we could say that Joseph had ‘hit the big time’, sine he was appointed suddenly to a position of power and infuence. Finally, we see a ‘successful’ Joseph! But of course, this begs the question ‘What is success?’ How do we measure success? What does God call success? What do we have to do to be successful?

In Matt 17:1-5, we see the Transfiguration of Jesus and hear God’s commendation of Him. By this time, Jesus was well into His ministry, had healed many people, raised the dead, cast out demons and done many miracles.Yet God’s commendation of Jesus (calling Him His beloved Son with whom He was well pleased) was exactly the same at His baptism, before His ministry had started. (Matt 3:13-17) From this, we see that God measures success through our obedience, not through the outward results which matter so much ot us.Micah 6:6-8 reminds us that what God requires of us is ‘to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.’ We are required to walk humbly with God, following His ways, learning to obey Him wholeheartedly. In the Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14-15), we see that God gives responsibiity according to ability and what matters is our obedience to Him. God is looking for faithfulness and reliability (see Luke 12:48, 1 Cor 4:2).

We are not to despise the small things or consider anything unimportant or inconsequential.Joseph was a success in each situation, whether in prison or as prime minister. Success is to do the will of God, whether that is for an audience of One or for many. God measures success by how faithful we are. We don’t hit the big time by doing great things necessarily, but by doing what God wants in every situation so that we can hear his ‘well done, good and faithful servant.

Rom 12:1-2 urges us ‘in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.’ Each one of us has something precious to offer to God: ourselves! We all have gifts to share, talents that God has given to us, and our life of joyful sacrifice starts with ‘an openness to God’s will, a readiness to be vulnerable for the sake of others and a joyful attitude of love and service.’ (‘Sharing The Easter Story’, P 158)

The Message version says, ‘Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.’ Nothing is too small to offer to God; nothing is too big to withhold from him. When we realise that God is interested in everything in our lives, then we can give Him that most precious gift of ourselves.

Sin offerings in the Old Testament were the way that people dealt with the corrupting and pervasive problem of sin in the human heart. They involved the death of an animal and foreshadowed the death of Jesus Christ as a sin offering for all of humanity. Christ’s death puts us right with God, once and for all, and put an end to all the animal sacrifices that used to be made.

Now, our sacrifices are offered freely with thanksgiving, with acknowledgment of Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross. Heb 13:15-16 says, ‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.’ These are the sacrifices God wants from us today.

1 Cor 5:6-8 reminds us of how a little leaven (yeast) works through the whole dough. Sally Welch takes us into the realm of New Testament cooking, showing us that bread was made by keeping back a small piece of dough from the previous batch, which was left for a few days to ferment and then used as the raising agent in the next batch of baking. Leaven was not necessarily good after a while, however, and so once a year at least, unleavened bread was used to celebrate the Passover (and as a reminder of the haste with which the Israelites had fled Egypt). In this passage, Paul reminds us that we are not to allow any sin to remain in our lives, because it has the potential to infect the whole body. Yet we are well aware that it is impossible for us to deal with sin on our own.

The sacrifice of Christ has dealt with the problem of sin once and for all. Therefore, we can have hope in His cleansing and sacrifice. A life of sacrifice must always start on the foundation of Christ’s sacrifice for sin rather than relying on our own sacrifices.

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

It’s virtually impossible to look at the topic of sacrifice without looking at Genesis 22, the passage where Abraham is tested by God and asked to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac. Many view this passage with horror: how could God ask Abraham to do such a thing? What kind of God would test someone like this? As always, we have to interpret Scripture through the lens of Scripture, understanding that child sacrifice is something God abhors. But at the same time, this passage, which in many ways prefigures all that God Himself did by sacrificing His Son to save us, reveals to us not only God’s provision and compassion, but the need for us to be willing to lay everything on the altar for Him.

Letting go of even the most precious things is never easy. But it seems Abraham, whose journey of faith has taken many twists and turns over the years (not all of which are to be commended), has reached a place of quiet trust in God. Heb 11:19 tells us that Abraham realised God could bring back even the dead and so he was prepared to do the unthinkable because he knew God could still bring Isaac back. We remember each Easter that God did indeed bring Jesus back from the dead (see Heb 13:20) and understand afresh the sacrifice our Lord made in order to bring us to salvation.