The Sacrifice of Giving Thanks

Hebrews 13:15-16

Once the Church Age began the Levitical priesthood was no longer needed. Jesus Christ is now the high priest and we have direct accesses to him by his blood. Therefore, when someone is saved today, they are placed into the body of Christ by the baptism of the Holy Ghost which makes them part of a spiritual priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). As spiritual priest one of the sacrifices they are to offer in found in the passage for this lesson. In this lesson we will identify this spiritual sacrifice, show why we should offer it, and also apply it to our marriages in order to have a greater appreciation for our spouses.

What is the spiritual sacrifice in the passage?

In the passage we are told to “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually”. Then it is said that this offering is “the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name”. Simply put this is expressing our thanks to his name for what he has done for us.

Why is giving thanks called a sacrifice? Saying thank you is a humbling process which for us is a sacrifice. Think about when someone you don’t like does something nice for you, is it not hard to tell them thank you. Is shows us we need other people and that takes self out of the picture. So, giving thanks is really a sacrifice.

Why should we be thankful to Jesus Christ?

1) He did something for us that he did not have to do (2 Corinthians 8:9)

• We often think that he had to come and die on the cross to save man, but he could have simply let us perish.

2) He did something for us that we could not do (Romans 5:6-8)

• Man could definitely not have died for himself nor saved himself. Jesus was the only solution for man’s problem with sin.

3) He deserves our thanks (Romans 12:1)

• With what he has done for him it is only reasonable that we should make this sacrifice.

How can we apply this to our marriages?

We can apply it using the same principles as we did with Jesus.

1) When it comes to our spouses remember that they did not have to marry us, they chose us.

2) Through marriage our spouse does for us that which we cannot do for ourselves.

3) Our spouses therefore deserve our thanks, therefore we should be more appreciative of what they do for us rather than expect it.