THANKSGIVING – OFFERING OUR HEART TO GOD
Heb. 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Psa. 116:17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the LORD.
Giving thanks is directly connected to the heart. There is nothing more lame than someone saying thanks when they don’t really mean it. With people, we can often get away with insincerity, with The Lord, not so much. He is unfoolable because He looks directly into our hearts.
These two scriptures speak of the sacrifice of praise or giving thanks to The Lord from our hearts. Our worship is deeply connected to giving thanks. Most worship flows out of the revelation of God’s goodness to us. Our response has to be thanks that pours from a thankful heart. All of us have been involved in so called worship that was not flowing from our hearts. Singing songs to or about The Lord that don’t touch our hearts is really a waste of time at best and actually is offensive to our God. Jesus often warned the spiritual leaders of His day about worship with their lips without the involvement of their hearts. If it is real, worship and thanksgiving flow from a grateful heart. Here is how Charles Spurgeon saw it.
“I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Being thy servant, I am bound to sacrifice to thee, and having received spiritual blessings at thy hands I will not bring bullock or goat, but I will bring that which is more suitable, namely, the thanksgiving of my heart. My inmost soul shall adore thee in gratitude.
And will call upon the name of the Lord, that is to say, I will bow before thee reverently, lift up my heart in love to thee, think upon thy character, and adore thee as thou dost reveal thyself. He is fond of this occupation, and several times in this Psalm declares that “he will call upon the name of the Lord,” while at the same time he rejoices that he had done so many a time before. Good feelings and actions bear repeating: the more of hearty callings upon God the better.”
If you think about it, Old Testament worship was quite serious. When the Jews approached The Lord in the temple, it cost an animal his life. In the New Testament it becomes even more critical, it cost the Son of God His life. The author of Hebrews had this in mind as he spoke of the sacrifice of praise. He had just spoken about the death of Jesus “outside the camp” and how we are to go outside the camp with Him. When we worship God from the heart we are going outside the camp, outside of the this world’s culture and system. It costs something to offer the sacrifice of praise. It cost the animals their lives, Jesus His blood, and it cost us our pride.