The "Altar-ed" Life

I am studying Old Testament worship this morning and I had a thought.  Have we eliminated the idea of the altar and sacrifice in the Church?  Within the context of the old covenant the very thought of worshiping God involved sacrifice.  Worship was costly.  Worship required sacrifice to stay in relationship with a Holy God and although we now have a more superior way of worship in the new covenant, I sometimes wonder if we have missed it. 

Every step of the way to relationship with God in the Old Testament required thought of sacrifice.  Even if it were a small sacrifice, one had to bring it to God.  You walked with your sacrifice.  You would smell and hear sacrifice.  The entire worship experience involved sacrifice.  It involved the altar.  Without the altar there was no place for the blood to be shed.  The altar was the place where the divine transaction took place.  It's where man's sins where covered temporarily by the innocent blood of the sacrifice and on that altar relationship with God was "altar-ed."

Today we have a totally different mindset as we go to worship God.  Instead of walking into the Church with sacrifice on our minds, we walk into Church thinking about ourselves.  We come into a worship experience with a consumerist mindset.  We rate our experience with God based on whether or not we liked the music or the message.  And the ironic thing about all of this is that the worship experience shouldn't be about us.  Ours worship is for God's consumption, not ours.  He is the consumer, not us.  And as for rating the service-  if anybody should be doing the rating it's Him. 

Now I realize that because of Christ's work on the cross one sacrifice has been made for all and that the sacrifice of blood is no longer required.  Christ blood doesn't cover our sin, it washes our sins away.  Praise God!  But let's not miss it here.  Our worship should still be costly.  Romans 12 tells us that our very lives are to be presented to God as "living sacrifices." 

When we remove the cost of worship we remove the altar in worship.  When we remove the altar in worship we remove the ability to be "altar-ed." 

So what does the altar look like in a New Testament Church service?

Comments

[Randall Brown]

Just found your site. Am working on a sermon on sacrifice and the morning altar as it applys to us today as contrasted to the literal, physical OT altar with a literal blood sacrifice. There are many parallels! Thanks for the great thought! Pastor Randall Brown, Ocala, Florida. Keep thinking, brother!

[Anthony]

Best post yet...I've already shared it with some friends.

[Dennis Erwin]

Great thoughts Pace! I believe you’re on the same lines as Albert Borgmann and his idea of “device paradigm;” when a thing or a practice gets commodified because it is detached from its context of engagement. His critiques are usually aimed toward technology, but I don’t think it must be exclusively so. How much engagement did it take for an Old Testament sacrifice? As you pointed out, a high amount of work took place. A great critique of my own action; where worship has become something I show up for and not something I work toward. Amazingly, I have heard recommended a disengagement from sacrifice especially in regards to online tithing. A great convenience and tool (one I use myself), I have heard it said that with the added feature to automatically recur your gift, you can set the amount and ‘forget about it.’ Although costly in the sense of money; I wonder at the disparity between the sacrifice you describe and the availability of ‘forgetfulness’ through our convenience. Just thinking out loud with you. Great thoughts.

[Anthony Coppedge]

This is on-target, Pace. I love hearing your heart and thinking on the sacrifice of praise that we bring to God daily - not just on the weekend.

Blessings,

Anthony

[Tyler]

Hey Pace-

I'm a new subscriber. Totally love what you are saying here. We get worship wars at church because people care more about what it does for them then what they can offer to God. We have lost the sense of the OT sacrificial system, which can provide an example for how we should view worship today.

Good words.

[Phil]

I appreciate this today! Even us worship leader types get caught up in this type of thinking...well, I know I do anyways. Trying to craft such a smooth service so much that we end up getting rid of the sacrifice for the sake of the "streamline". Man, what a battle!

In general, I've lost sight of this type of thinking that David had: "I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing" II Samuel 24:24

Again, thanks for the much needed wisdom!

[Mac]

Right on the money. Literally. But not exclusively. Well thought and said, Pace. Thank you.