146 Sermon Illustrations on Sacrifice

A poor Protestant congregation in Lyons was trying to build a small house for their public worship. An old soldier brought all his three months' earnings. "Can you spare so much?" asked the minister. "My Saviour spared not himself," he answered, tears of gratitude and love trickling down his cheeks, "but freely gave his life for me: surely I can spare one-quarter of a year's earnings to extend his kingdom on earth."

After the battle of Antietam, a gentleman, passing over the field of blood, saw a man washing at a brook: as he came near, he recognized a doctor of divinity, the pastor of one of the largest churches in Philadelphia, and a delegate. Said he, "Doctor, what are you doing?" The doctor straightened up, and, pointing with his finger, said, "Over yonder are six hundred wounded men; most of them lying in the bloody shirts in which they were wounded. Our shirts are out, and we shall have none till to-morrow morning: so I thought I would take a few of the worst out here, and wash and dry them in the sun. Do you think there is any harm in it?" Said the gentleman, "Doctor, I know God has blessed you abundantly in your work in Philadelphia; but I do not think the Master ever looked upon any act of your life with more pleasure than upon this."—"I believe it," said the doctor, and turned to his washing. Demond.

In the battle of Fort Donelson, an orderly sergeant, seeing a rebel point a rifle at the captain of his company, sprang in front of him, received the ball in his own breast, and fell dead in the arms of the man he had saved. The noble soldier had been reared by the father of the captain, and had before declared, if he could but save the life of his benefactor's son, he should be happy.

In a hospital at Nashville, a wounded hero was lying on the amputating-table, under the influence of chloroform. They cut off his strong right arm and cast it all bleeding upon the pile of human limbs. They then laid him gently upon his couch. He woke from his stupor, and missed his arm. With his left hand, he lifted the cloth and there was nothing but the gory stump. "Where's my arm?" he cried. "Get my arm! I want to see it once more, — my strong right arm." They brought it to him. He took hold of the cold, clammy fingers, and, looking stead fastly at the poor dead member, thus addressed it with tearful earnestness: "Good-by, old arm! We have been a long time together. We must part now. Good-by, old arm! You'll never fire another carabine or swing another sabre for the government;" and the tears rolled down his cheeks. He said to those standing by, "Understand, I don't regret its loss. It has been torn from my body that not one State should be torn from this glorious Union."

— C. C. McCabe

An old man visited the army to see his two sons, and found them both wounded. Sitting between the maimed soldiers, he was asked if he regretted the sacrifice. "No!" exclaimed he earnestly: "if I had twenty sons, I would give them all to save this Union." A minister, dressing the wounds of a soldier, found that he had been shot through the eyes and the bridge of his nose, and that his sight was entirely gone. "Poor fellow!" said he, "this is hard."—"Yes, it is hard; but I would go through it again for my country," replied the sightless hero. Mrs. Ellet of Philadelphia, who had given two sons (Com. Ellet of the Rain Fleet, and Brig.-Gen. Ellet of the Marine Brigade) and four grandsons for the country, said, when the body of one of her grandsons was brought home, "I do not regret the gift to my country. If I had twenty sons, I would give them all, for the country must be preserved: and, if I was twenty years younger, I would go myself, and fight to the last."

As Farragut swept up the Mississippi, past the Vicksburg batteries, Lieut. Cummings had a leg shot away by a rebel ball. Refusing to go below, he shouted to his brave tars, "Get the ship by the batteries, get the ship by, boys, and they may have the other leg." A company of soldiers defending Rodman's Point were overpowered by the enemy, and took possession of a scow, in which to cross Tar River. When loaded, it stuck fast in the mud. Exposure was certain death. Several soldiers were about to spring out from the sheltering sides to push it off, when a large negro said, "You keep still, and save your life. I can't fight: I can push off the boat. If they kill me, it is nothing. You are soldiers, and they need you to fight." He leaped overboard, pushed the boat into the stream, and sprang back pierced by seven bullets, a sacrifice to patriotism.

No one can make sacrifice for another, without establishing a new bond of interest between them. A boy is rescued from death, and, ever after, he loves to tell, "That man once saved my life." The rescuer, too, feels a special interest in the one he has saved.

All nations have offered sacrifice to some beings whom they have deified. There is no region where the pilgrim's foot can travel, where you will not find offerings, some sanguinary, some libidinous, some foolish, but all to propitiate the anger, or secure the protection, of some fancied object of worship. There comes a cry groaning out of the great heart of humanity, "What is the acceptable sacrifice?" Strange divinations and streaming altars; cakes for the queen of heaven, and prostrations before the brazen image; children for the insatiate. Moloch passing through the scorching fire, — these are the responses from classical and pagan times. African Feticism, Hindoo immolations, and Burman cruelties, and the atrocities of savage cannibalism, — these are the hollow answers from the uninstructed consciences of heathens. Cold morality, and rubrical exactitude, and sacramental efficacy, and ascetical self-denial, — these are the polite and conventional theories of modern formalism. W. M. Punshon.

He that offers in sacrifice, O Pamphilus! a multitude of bulls and of goats, of golden vestments, or purple garments, or figures of ivory, or precious gems, and imagines by this to conciliate the favor of God, is grossly mistaken, and has no solid understanding; for he that would sacrifice with success ought to be chaste and charitable, no corrupter of virgins, no adulterer, no robber or murderer for the sake of lucre.

From the Greek.

An old man of more than fourscore years, afflicted with a bodily infirmity, for which he had been advised by a physician to use ardent spirit as a medicine, was presented with the total abstinence pledge. After reading it he said,

"That is the thing that will save our country—I will sign it!"

"No," said one, "you must not sign it, because ardent spirit is necessary for you as a medicine."

"I know," said he, "I have used it, but if something is not done, our country will be ruined, and I will not be accessory to its ruin. I will sign it!"

"Then," says another, "you will die."

"Well," said the old man, in the true spirit of '76, "for my country I can die"—and he signed the pledge, gave up his medicine, and his disease fled away.

It was the remedy that kept up the disease, and when he had renounced the one, he was relieved of the other. So it probably would be in nine cases out of ten where this poison is used as a medicine.

A gentleman of Sweden was condemned to suffer death, as a punishment for certain offences committed by him in the discharge of an important public office, which he had filled for a number of years with an integrity that had never before undergone either suspicion or impeachment. His son, a youth about eighteen years of age, was no sooner apprised of the affecting situation to which his father was reduced, than he flew to the judge who had pronounced the fatal decree, and, throwing himself at his feet, prayed that he might be allowed to suffer in the room of a father whom he loved, and whose loss he thought it was impossible for him to survive. The magistrate was amazed at this extraordinary procedure in the son, and would hardly be persuaded that he was sincere in it. Being at length satisfied, however, that the young man actually wished to save his father's life at the expense of his own, he wrote an account of the whole affair to the king; and his majesty immediately sent orders to grant a free pardon to the father, and to confer a title of honor on his son. The last mark of royal favor, however, the youth begged leave with all humility to decline; and the motive for the refusal of it was not less noble than the conduct by which he had deserved it was generous and disinterested. "Of what avail," exclaimed he, "could the most exalted title be to me, humbled as my family already is in the dust? Alas! would it not serve but as a monument to perpetuate in the minds of my countrymen the remembrance of an unhappy father's shame!" His majesty, the king of Sweden, actually shed tears when this magnanimous speech was reported to him; and, sending for the heroic youth to court, he appointed him to a confidential office.

The captain of one of Commodore Johnson's Dutch prizes related, that one day he went out of his own ship, to dine on board another; while he was there, a storm arose, which in a short time made an entire wreck of his own ship, to which it was impossible for him to return. He had left on board two little boys, one four, the other five years old, under the care of a poor black servant. The people struggled to get out of the sinking ship into a large boat, and the poor black took his two little children, tied them into a bag, and put in a little pot of sweetmeats for them, slung them across his shoulder, and put them into the boat; the boat by this time was quite full; the black was stepping into it himself, but was told by the master there was no room for him, that either he or the children must perish, for the weight of both would sink the boat. The exalted, heroic negro did not hesitate a moment. "Very well," said he, "give my duty to my master, and tell him I beg pardon for all my faults;" and then plunged to the bottom, never to rise again till the sea shall give up her dead.

The Rev. S. W. Hanna says: On the 10th of June, 1770, the town of Portau-Prince, in Hayti, was utterly overthrown by a dreadful earthquake. From one of the failing houses the inmates had fled, except a negro woman, the nurse of her master's infant child. She would not desert her charge, though the walls were even then giving way. Rushing to its bed-side, she stretched forth her arms to enfold it. The building rocked to its foundation;—the roof fell in. Did it crush the hapless pair? The heavy fragments fell indeed upon the woman, but the infant escaped unharmed; for its noble protectress extended her bended form across the body, and, at the sacrifice of her own life, preserved her charge from destruction.

The early Christians were remarkable for their brotherly love. When a multitude of Christian men and women in Numidia, had been taken prisoners by a horde of neighboring barbarians, and when the churches to which they belonged were unable to raise the sum demanded for their ransom, they sent deputies to the church that was planted in the metropolis of North Africa. No sooner had Cyprian, who was at the head of it, heard a statement of the distressing case, than he commenced a subscription in behalf of the unfortunate slaves, and never relaxed his indefatigable efforts, till he had collected a sum equal to nearly $4000. This he forwarded to the Numidian Christians, with a letter full of Christian sympathy and tenderness.

"In cases like these," he says in his letter, "who would not feel sorrow, and who would not look upon a brother's sufferings as his own? As the apostle says, when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Therefore we must consider the captivity of our brethren as our own captivity. We must see Christ in our captive brethren, and redeem him from captivity who redeemed us from death."

At a meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, the Rev. R. Young, of Truro, mentioned a very remarkable fact that had taken place in Cornwall, (Eng.)

"Two men were working together in a mine, and having prepared to blast the rock, and laid the train, the latter became by accident ignited. In a few moments a tremendous explosion they knew was inevitable, and the rock must be rent in a thousand pieces. On perceiving their danger, they both leaped into the bucket, and called to the man on the surface to draw them up. He endeavored to do so, but his arm was found too feeble to raise the bucket while both the men were in it. What was to be done? The burning fuse, which could not be extinguished, was now within a few feet of the powder; a moment or two, and the explosion must take place. At this awful crisis, one of the men, addressing the other, said, "You shall live, and I will die; for you are an impenitent sinner, and if you now die your soul will be lost; but if I die, I know that, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I shall be taken to himself." And so saying, without waiting for a reply, he leaped out of the bucket and prayerfully waited the result. On the other reaching the surface, he bent over the shaft to ascertain the fate of his companion. At that moment a terrific explosion was heard; a portion of the rock was thrown up and smote him on the forehead, leaving an indelible mark to remind him of his danger and deliverance. But the man of God, when they came to search for him, was found arched over by the fragments of broken rock in the mine, uninjured, and rejoicing in the Lord. This magnanimous miner exhibited in this act an amount of disinterested love and charity which has seldom been equaled, and is never found but in connection with the love of Christ. Here is none of that unholy daring of which we have instances among the heroes of Greece and Rome, who, actuated solely by a love of notoriety, inflicted upon themselves tortures, and even death; but that pure Christian character, which, at all hazards, even at the sacrifice of life itself, seeks to save the immortal soul of man. This is the kind of charity we have met this day to elicit, to strengthen and to direct, and without which it is impossible that the great object of missionary enterprise can ever be accomplished.

A pledge is considered very sacred and binding among the North American Indians. The following is an instance. During the Winnebago war of 1827, Dekkerre, a celebrated chief of that nation, with four other Indians of his tribe was taken prisoner at Prairie du Chien. Colonel Snelling, who then commanded that garrison, dispatched a young Indian into the nation with orders to inform the chiefs of Dekkerre's band that unless the Indians who were perpetrators of the horrid murders of some of our citizens were brought to the fort and given up within ten days, Dekkerre and the other four Indians who were retained as hostages, would be shot at the end of that time. The awful sentence was proclaimed in the presence of Dekkerre, who, though proclaiming his own innocence of the outrages that had been committed by others of his nation, exclaimed, that he feared not death, notwithstanding it would be fraught with serious consequences to his large and dependent family of little children; but if necessary, he was willing to die for the honor of his nation. The young Indian had been gone several days, and no intelligence was yet received from the murderers. The dreadful day being near at hand, and Dekkerre being in a bad state of health, asked permission of the Colonel to go to the river and indulge in his long accustomed habit of bathing; in order to improve his health. Upon which Colonel S. told him that, if he would promise, on the honor of a chief, that he would not leave the town, he might have his liberty and enjoy all his privileges until the day of the appointed execution. Accordingly he first gave his hand to the Colonel, thanked him for his friendly offer, then raised both his hands aloft, and in the most solemn adjuration, promised that he would not leave the bounds prescribed, and said, if he had a hundred lives, he would sooner lose them all than forfeit his word, or deduct from his proud nation one particle of its boasted honor. He was then set at liberty. He was advised to fly to the wilderness and make his escape. "But, no," said he, "do you think I prize life above honor; or that I would betray a confidence reposed in me for the sake of saving my life?" Nine days of the ten elapsed and his nation was not heard from, but Dekkerre remained firm, his fidelity unshaken, his countenance unmoved. It so happened that on that day Gen. Atkinson arrived; the order for the execution was countermanded, and the Indians were permitted to repair to their homes.

It is said of Pousa, the great Chinese potter, that having been ordered to produce a fine piece of work for the Emperor, he strove long to make it, but in vain. At length he threw himself into the furnace, and the result upon the ware was such that it came out the most beautiful piece of porcelain.

I hope that all you boys play baseball, and that many of you are on baseball teams. If you are, I suppose you know what is meant by a sacrifice hit. It is called a "sacrifice hit" when the score is close and a player comes to the bat, and, although he would like to make a run, nevertheless, for the sake of the man on the base, he makes a "bunt," so that, while the pitcher or shortstop runs up to get the ball and put him out on first base, the man on the bases may make another base. You see, then, that instead of making what is called a "grand-stand play" he just gives up his own glory for the sake of his team. Did you ever think that your parents are constantly making "sacrifice hits" for you? Whenever your mother goes without a new dress in order that you may have a better suit of clothes; whenever your father gives up some pleasure to keep you in school, they are making a sacrifice hit for you. And after all, boys and girls, that is about the only way the world has ever moved very far ahead. Socrates, an old Greek, made a sacrifice hit when he was put to death in prison with poison, because he wanted to make the young men of Athens wiser. Martin Luther made a sacrifice hit when he went to Worms, although he feared the Pope would kill him. But he was determined to get liberty for the people. But the biggest sacrifice hit that was ever made was made by Christ when He was crucified on Calvary, in order that the world might know that God was a Father and loved His children. And every boy and girl who would follow in the footsteps of Christ, and would be strong and noble, must be prepared to make sacrifice hits, -- to forget themselves and do things for the sake of others. Jesus said, "I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." And a minister is one who serves, one who makes sacrifice hits.

When Alexander was a young man, he was one day present at the offering of sacrifices, and Leonnatus, one of his teachers, who was standing by, thought he was rather profuse in his consumption of frankincense and myrrh, for he was taking it up by handfuls and throwing it on the fire. Leonnatus reproved him for his extravagance, adding that when he became master of the countries where these costly gums were procured he might be as prodigal of them as he pleased. Alexander remembered the reproof years later, and finding vast stores of these gums in Gaza, he sent to Leonnatus large quantities of them, telling him that he might not have occasion to be so sparing for the future in his sacrifice to the gods. (Text.)

At the heathen festivals in India, the traffickers in sacrificial goods resort to all sorts of devices. Low-caste men have baskets containing little pigs from two days to a month old. These they sell to the high-caste worshipers, cutting the throat of the pig in the presence of the buyer and smearing some blood upon his pious forehead. But by a trick known to the salesman, the windpipe is not severed, so he sells the pig over and over. In the same way coconuts are sold whose milk has been dry for years, and rotten fruit and blind animals are bought at bargains--anything is good enough for offerings to the gods!

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One of the New York dailies printed in one of its issues as a sort of sensational advertisement, coupons, which served, when filled out, as life insurance policies for the remainder of the day on which they were issued. One of the newsboys read it over and over, then called some of his companions and wanted to know if they supposed that “was on the level”; if the newspaper “would make good.” He decided at last that the proposition was one to be trusted and he cut out the coupon, tucked it away in the pocket of his ragged coat. A half-hour later he threw himself beneath the wheels of one of the surface electric cars and was instantly crusht to almost a shapeless mass. In his pocket was the coupon, together with a letter, stating that his mother was sick and in need of such assistance as he had not been able to obtain for her, and so had sacrificed his life for the insurance money that was to be paid to her.

As we read the story one does not think of the grimy hands and the unwashed face and the ragged coat. He does not hear the roar of the elevated trains above or the tumult and voices of the street below, but his eyes catch the glory of a second calvary and the soul is hushed before the divine and the eternal that beat in that little heart behind that stained and tattered coat. (Text.)

Mrs. W. F. Armstrong tells this incident of the native Karens, of Burmah:

An old Karen pastor came one day with a large contribution for the foreign mission work. I said to him, “How can your people give so much? I know they are very poor, the overflow of the river has swept away your crops, your cattle are dying of disease, it is the famine time with you.” “Oh,” he said, with such a contented smile, “it only means rice without curry.” They could live on rice and salt, but they could not live without giving the bread of life to their brethren.--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”

Theology of Passover. The lamb "bears" sin.

The 3 roles of God are outlined: judge, redeemer, covenant God. God saves us from himself (his wrath) by himself (sacrifice of Jesus).

Sermon for Thanksgiving 1992.

Colossians 3:15-17

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THE GIVING OF THANKS

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I. Thanksgiving in plenty or in want.

II. What God requires for true Thanksgiving.

A. Costly thanks. 2 Sam 24:24

1) Thanksgiving often involves sacrifice. Psalm 116:17

2) Our verbal praise is sacrificial. Heb 13:15

B. Clean thanks.

1) Sacrifices must meet God's conditions. Lev 22:29

2) Have clean hands and a pure, obedient heart. 1 Sam 15:22

3) Reconcilation with fellow Christians.

C. Continuous thanks. Eph 5:20

1) Praise is a way of life.

2) Be a living sacrifice.

III. What our Thanksgiving reveals about us.

A. Thanksgiving is an evidence of faith. Luke 17:11-19

B. Thanksgiving reveals the depth of our fellowship.

IV. How thankful are we?

A. Thanks for hard times, in plague times?

B. We should be thankful for the greatest gift of all - salvation.

During the Vietnam conflict, a young graduate of West Point Academy was sent to Vietnam to lead a group of new recruits into battle. He did his job well, trying his best to keep his men from ambush and death. However, one night he and his men were overtaken by a battalion of the Viet Cong. He was able to get all but one of his men to safety.

The one soldier who had been left behind had been severely wounded, and from their trenches, the young lieutenant and his men could hear their wounded comrade moaning and crying for help. They all knew that venturing out into the vicious crossfire of the enemy would mean almost certain death. But the groanings of the wounded soldier continued on through the night.

Eventually, the endurance of the young lieutenant came to an end, and he crawled out of this place of safety toward the cries of the dying man. He got to him safely and was able to drag him back. But just as he pushed the wounded man into the safety of the trench, he himself caught a bullet in the back and was killed instantly.

Several months later, the rescued man returned to the United States, and when the parents of the dead hero heard that he was in their vicinity, they planned to have him come to dinner. They wanted to know this young man whose life was spared at such a great cost to them.

On the night of the dinner party, their guest arrived drunk. He was loud and boisterous. He told off-color jokes and showed no concern for his suffering hosts. The parents of the dead hero did the best they could to make it a worthwhile evening, but their efforts went unrewarded.

At the end of that torturous visit, the obscene guest left. As her husband closed the door, the mother collapsed in tears and cried, "To think that our precious son had to die for somebody like that." That soldier owed those parents the best that was in him. It was evil for him to give so little thought to what they had lost because of him. Considering the price that had been paid for his life, his ingratitude was beyond comprehension. But we are just like him - Jesus died for us, yet we continue to sin. We fail to reflect on the cost of our salvation.