A sacrifice of love

The ministry of Christ and the ministry of all the saints is a sacrifice of love for others..

Juvenal Santos

Readings: 1 Chronicles 29:3; 2 Timothy 2:10.

Let's pay attention to this phrase: "I endure everything for the sake of the elect." This is our demonstration of love for the house of God: to suffer all things for the love of the elect. As we do this, we will be able to see the ministry of the saints, we will serve the saints, doing everything so that they may be built up, and so that the Lord may obtain His glorious church. There is a promise: "If we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him."

I would like to talk about the sacrifice on the altar. The sacrifice represents our ministry. The ministry is a sacrifice of love; without this sacrifice, there can be no ministry.

Burnt offerings throughout the morning and afternoon

"When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in the cities while the people in Jerusalem came together as one man. Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers then raised the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. And they set the altar on its base, because they were afraid of the people of the land, and offered burnt offerings to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening " (Ezra 3: 1-3.)

The burnt offerings were offered in the morning and evening. There's a reason God has established burnt offerings morning and evening. It was a requirement for the people of Israel. They could not stop offering on any day. Every day, morning and afternoon, they had to offer sacrifices.

The morning and evening burnt offering speaks to us of the ongoing ministry of Christ. What is the significance here? Christ's ministry in the morning is an exclusive ministry, because it is a ministry that is exercised only before God, and without this ministry before God, there would be no ministry before men. Therefore, the afternoon burnt offering represents the afternoon ministry before men.

Christ had two ministries during His time here on earth. In the morning, He was with the Father, and in the afternoon He was serving men. In the morning, He was a pleasing sacrifice to God, and in the afternoon, He was a sacrifice for all mankind.

We have the same ministry that Christ had. We should have an exclusive ministry for God and an inclusive ministry for men. That is why the altar was restored so that the ministry of the saints might be complete, the Lord’s house could be built, and the glory of the Lord could come upon the house.

The Lord Jesus was a living sacrifice morning and afternoon. Let’s look at some passages:

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went into a deserted place, and there He prayed" (Mark 1:35), Here is the Lord as the morning sacrifice to the Father.

"But many saw them going, and they recognized him; and many were there on foot from the cities, and they arrived before them and came to Him. And Jesus went out and saw a large crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things "(Mark 6: 33-36). Here He is to serve the people; as the evening sacrifice.

If we go to the end of Mark’s gospel we can see when the Lord's sacrifice was consummated, at three in the afternoon, on the cross, for the sins of us all. That is the ministry of Christ.

We need to fulfill the ministry of Christ. And Paul says, in order to fulfill the ministry of Christ, he must fulfill what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for His body, the church. We are called to that. Thanks be to God. We have to do just as the Apostle Paul did. He said: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you. This sacrifice is not burdensome, I do it joyfully."

"None of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts. 20 : 24). For this to be true, we must sacrifice our lives. The word of God says that Christ died for us, and we died with Him, so that we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us.

The ministry is a sacrifice of love

The ministry is a sacrifice of love. God showed His love for us in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This sacrificial love is no respecter of persons. If we have that love we really see the church being built. And the Lord will have His glorious church, because the glorious church is not an extravagant spectacle, but it is the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus.

The apostle Paul says: "I fear that just as the serpent deceived Eve through his subtlety, you also might be deceived and turn away from the simplicity that is in Christ." In the past, the church moved away from the simplicity that is in Christ and lost its access to God. Then there arose a class of mediators.

The simplicity that is in Christ shows us that God is accessible, so much so that He placed the tree of life in the midst of the garden, because He wanted you to enter into Him and Him to enter into you. When Adam ate of the tree of life, Christ was to come into Adam. Then God's purpose was to be carried out. But Adam ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and it seemed as though everything had failed.

But thank God, He does not fail. God sent His Son, and the eternal purpose was fulfilled. Only when God sees Christ, does He see everything complete, everything restored. Everything is in its fullness, and the Father is satisfied. "He will see the fruit of the affliction of his soul and be satisfied." We must thank the Lord, because now He is restoring vision and access to God. There is no longer an intermediary class, there are no Nicolaitians. It is the body of Christ, the church, the saints. Hallelujah!

We can see this here in Ephesians. I believe the Lord is saying this to us, to awaken our hearts. The ministry of the saints through sacrificial love.

"...According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access..." (Eph. 3: 11-12). Access! There is no one above us other than Christ, the head of the church. Through Him we have access to the Father. We are all His children. Thank God for this wonderful work!

"...In whom we have boldness and access with confidence...". The smallest child among us can have access with confidence, through our faith in Him. Hallelujah! The Lord won’t say, 'Stand aside, little boy; You're too little to be here '. No. We have access with confidence through our faith in Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord!

Hebrews 10: 19-20 "Therefore, brethren, since we have freedom to enter into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way that He opened for us through the veil, that is, His flesh ... '.

We have freedom. "You will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". The truth is this: we have access to the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the truth we need to know. We do not need a person to intercede for us. Christ is the new and living way.

You know, when you go down a road, you have to walk. But in the way of God, it is the road that moves forward, because it is the living way. You just need to put your foot onto it by faith, and you'll have access to the Father, to the Holy of Holies. Thank God! It is not man who is the way, nor is it man who directs his steps. It is the way itself that moves forward. Thank God, we can enter into God by the living way.

Jesus said: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. " Maybe you do your best to get close to God. But it's not like that. You must believe and take the living way. The living way will take you to the Father. He is the morning sacrifice. Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ!

Mark's Gospel speaks of Jesus' sacrifice, the sacrifice of the morning and afternoon. Brother Christian Chen summarized the Gospel of Mark in a little story. He says that in the Roman Empire, there was a coin that had on one side, an ox plowing, and on the other side, an altar. The ox was on the altar or the ox was plowing. That is the ministry of the Lord Jesus: He is either on the altar, exclusively for the Father, or He is in the field, plowing. He is either serving God, or serving men.

Why was He the servant of men? Because He considered us as superior to Himself. The apostle Paul gave some advice to the Philippians: "Let nothing be done through strife or empty conceit; but in humility, let each one esteem others as better than himself "(Phil. 2: 3). Praise the Lord!

In Brazil, there is a movement that considers some as better than others. There, you have to have someone who is superior to you. But this is not that what the Bible says: 'Consider others above yourself.' A chain of command is not needed in the church; that is not the principle of God, but the principle of men.

The Lord knew this would happen. Therefore, he looked at the apostles, and told them: "Among you it will not be that way. Whoever wants to be the greatest, must be the servant of all. " That is what the Lord tells us. We will not act on anything else, but only on the truth of the life of Jesus. That is the ministry of Christ.

The Lord Jesus gave a commandment to the disciples. John 13: 34-35. "A new commandment I give you: Love one another; as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. " Why did He speak of a new commandment?

How many commandments did God write with his finger on Mount Sinai? Deuteronomy says that to them came the fire of the law. But now the Lord Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you." The Lord wrote a new commandment with his own blood. That’s why He has the authority to establish it. He wouldn’t establish a new commandment if His life was not committed.

The Lord has pricked us with His love. We cannot think upon His sacrifice without being moved, because the Lord loved us while we were still sinners. He took the vile things of this world, and when we go to Revelation, we see the glorious church there, the property of God, unblemished, fully glorified.

We have no reason to consider ourselves superior to others, or to want to be better than others. Jesus said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you ... pray for those who insult you and persecute you ... Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

A model church

I would like to show you a church that practiced the morning and evening sacrifice, "Moreover, brethren, we make known to you God's grace that has been given to the churches of Macedonia; that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, urgently pleading with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And not as we were expecting, but giving themselves first to the Lord, and also to us by the will of God "(2 Cor. 8: 1-5).

If we are in the presence of God, when we give ourselves to Him, we will know His will, and as we know it, we will give ourselves to others. That is the ministry of Christ, the operation of the ministry of Christ.

The Lord does not waste anything, He does nothing out of its time, He does not do things early or late; He does things according to the will of God. When Paul writes to the Ephesians, he says that God does everything according to the counsel of his will. Therefore, knowing the cross of Christ, the ministry of Christ will also operate in us. Then we will be complete in the will of God.

Without God’s will, we cannot serve. We cannot serve on our own account. We need to be in the counsel of God; we need to be present for the morning and the evening sacrifice. We need to expend ourselves for the Lord.

Through whom was the Church of Macedonia born? Was it through Paul? Was it through Peter, James, John, and Barnabas? No it rose up through the ministry of the saints.

"We always thank God for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing before our God and Father your work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ ... And you became imitators of us and of the Lord ... so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we do not need to say anything "(1 Thessalonians 1: 2-8).

Who brought the gospel to Macedonia? In 2 Corinthians we see the church in Macedonia, a rich church. Paul says that they gave themselves firstly to the Lord. "And then to us by the will of God." A church that knew and practiced the ministry of the saints. But who brought the Word there? The apostle Paul tells us that it was through those in Thessalonica.

Paul stayed a short time in the Church of Thessalonica. It is as if he had to wean himself suddenly from that church. And he left. And we see how these brothers practiced faith and love, and preached the gospel. That is the ministry of the saints: the sacrifice of love, the testimony of the gospel.

A call to offer life

We must be like Daniel. He went to Babylon when he was very young. He was a man who was consecrated to God. In his youth, he was not concerned about the things of the world. Even in Babylon, his heart was in Jerusalem at the altar. He spent his whole life waiting for the day of the return: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. Let my tongue cleave to my palate, if I do not remember thee; if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy "(Ps. 137:5-6).

Those who love the church will not forget to give their lives, to expend their lives as a sacrifice, for Jerusalem, for the church, for the body of Christ be built up for the glory of the Lord. Amen.

Synthesis of a message delivered in ‘Callejones’, in January 2007.