A very important distinction is discovered when someone takes classes at RKS, and that is the difference between Self Sacrifice and Sacrifice of Self. We are often ignorant of this difference until one is met with the cold shoulder of heaven. Just as Cain and Abel both sacrificed to God, one offering was acceptable and the other was not. Abel’s sacrifice received some kind of validation; Cain’s did not. Why did God favor one but not the other. What is God trying to tell us in this story in the very beginning of the Bible? Remember, this is the first act of worship or ministry recorded in the Bible. This is also where the first murder is recorded, which was over how to properly worship God. This is an extremely important foundational truth for us to understand. Abel’s offering was a forward-looking type of Christ’s shed blood. This story points to a right and wrong way of thinking about how we worship or serve God.

We can begin to see the difference between the right and wrong way by discerning the difference between self-sacrifice and sacrifice of self. Self Sacrifice is when we give up the things we want to give up, the way we want to give them up, when we want to give them up. We are in control during the entire process. This is nothing more than the works of the flesh disguised as religious sacrifice. Sacrifice of Self is when we put our entire being on the altar of God; we allow Him to show us what He wants us to sacrifice, the way He wants us to do it, when He wants us to do it. We are dead to our choice in the matter. Instead of offering things to God we are actually offering ourselves, our very souls to Him, and we are what He is after. We often fall into the religious delusion that God wants us to sacrifice stuff, when He actually wants us to sacrifice self. It usually takes years before the typical believer discerns the difference. One results in dead religion, the other in life-giving Christianity. Oswald Chambers wrote along this line:

“It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a call or a word from God, because then you are not bothered by what He requires. Common sense covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide.”

Excerpt from “Roadkill Seminary”

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