What does it mean to “offer up spiritual sacrifices?” What does the spiritual sacrifice take the form of in 1 Peter 2:5?
This chapter gives Christians some incredible news. As believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are ALL priests. Whenever I tell people that I am a priest, they normally think of a Roman Catholic priest, but the Word of God declares that all believers are priests.
1 Peter 2:5 says, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an HOLY PRIESTHOOD, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 2:9 says, “But ye are a chosen generation, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
In the Old Testament, a man had to be born into the tribe of Levi to be a priest. That means that out of the 12 tribes of Israel, 11 of them were not qualified to carry out the duties and office of the priest. Since the death, burial, resurrection and ascension, we learn from 1 Peter 2 that ALL believers are priests. We have both a HOLY priesthood and a ROYAL priesthood. In the Old Testament, the priests offered the animals sacrifices to the Lord on behalf of the people. They also taught the people proper instructions about the law’s requirements. As New Testament, we have similar roles. We offer SPIRITUAL sacrifices to the Lord and we represent the Lord before the whole world, sharing the Gospel as the Lord provides the opportunity.
What are these ‘spiritual sacrifices’ we offer up to the Lord? Let’s read Hebrews 13:15-16, “By him (Christ) therefore let us offer the SACRIFICE OF PRAISE to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” We see here that this spiritual sacrifice is the ‘sacrifice of praise’, the ‘fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.” We sacrifice to the Lord today when we worship and praise Him. This sacrifice from our hearts is a ‘sweet smelling savor’ to the Lord. We read in John 4:23-24, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” The Lord desires the true worship of our hearts. This sacrifice is satisfying to the Lord and “with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
With our royal priesthood, we are privileged to share Christ with others. We “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, did you realize that you are a priest? You are! May we be faithful in exercising our priesthood to the honor and glory of the Lord. May we worship Him constantly. May we share Christ with others. This is not an appointed office. This is not the work of a few. Every single believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is a priest! 1 Peter 2: 5-9 tells us that we are ‘living stones’ and ‘are a chosen generation.’ What a great priviledge! May we walk in the good of what and who we are in Christ Jesus. (200.8)