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Everyone likes a bargain. My husband, Jamie, loathes shopping. No metaphor adequately describes his disdain for shopping. On the other hand, I don’t mind it when I need to buy something. But, I can only handle an hour or two max. Then, I’m done. But Jamie? He’d rather take a beating (there’s my poor metaphoric attempt at describing his feelings) than shop. Be that as it may, even Jamie likes a bargain. If it’s buy one, get one free, you may get him interested. If it’s a clearance of 75% off, then he could be talked into taking a look.

Everyone likes a bargain, even Jamie.

Living by bargain

“Living by bargain” is not only easy when working in missions; it’s required. In our line of work, people contribute to help us do what we do, such as planting churches and community outreach. Without contributions and partners, we would be seriously hamstrung in our efforts. There have been many times I’ve felt hamstrung! But God has shown us that we don’t have to worry. When we’ve had those lean months (there have been many), God has made a way.

As a missionary, I must ensure that the bargain mentality doesn’t creep into my offerings to God. An offering is just that, an offering or contribution. They are easy to give because everyone likes a bargain. An offering or contribution is something we give that we can afford; it doesn’t affect us if we are parted from it. But a sacrifice is something that we offer, which is on another level of giving. It’s what Paul tells us is required of us:

So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. 

Romans 12:1 NCV

Contribution and sacrifice, there’s a difference

Sacrifices are things meant to die. In the Old Testament, a sacrifice was something tied to the altar, killed, and burned. A sacrifice goes beyond a contribution. It can be likened to breakfast. How? A chicken contributes eggs to breakfast. Pigs offer sacrifices for breakfast bacon. There’s a big difference.

Don’t get me wrong, contributions are good. I, for one, enjoy the contribution of scrambled eggs for breakfast. But the sacrifice of bacon brings breakfast up to another level.

Building an altar

There was a time when King David sinned, which resulted in the deaths of many in Israel. In 2 Samuel 24, he sinned by taking a census. This was wrong because, in so doing, he was measuring his strength by the number of people in the nation. God didn’t want him to rely on his strength, and thus, a plague broke out for three days. Many thousands perished because of David’s pride.

It didn’t take long for David to backtrack and repent. Even so, the price to pay for his sin was high. Understanding his error, he wanted to make things right and build an altar where sacrifices were to be offered. His quest to build an altar led him to a man named Araunah. Araunah had a piece of property that David wanted to buy to build his altar. He offered it to David as a gift, a bargain.

Then Araunah said to David, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people." Then Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the Lord your God accept you."

2 Samuel 24:21-23 NASB

Jumped at this bargain

If it were me, I would’ve jumped at this bargain. My reaction probably would have been something like, “Free land? Of course, I’ll take it. The Lord must be blessing me!” Many of us, including me, have come to the wrong conclusion that God doesn’t want us to inconvenience ourselves in any way in our service to Him. He wants us to live unencumbered. Didn’t He send Jesus to make our lives easy?

No, Jesus didn’t come to make our lives easy. Life here on this fallen earth won’t be easy. He came to free us from the things this earth ties us to. The love of money and wealth is a big thing that ties us up.

David understood that extricating himself from his sin required a sacrifice. A sacrifice hurts, but it reminds us of God’s greatness and His love in the face of our emptiness.

But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

2 Samuel 24:24,25 NASB

Bargain altars

Where have you built your altar? Was it a bargain? I understand everyone likes a bargain, but our altars of service aren’t meant to be a bargain. Our altars are places where we lay ourselves down so that God can receive what we give Him: ourselves.

Jamie preaches a message about altars, saying, “When have you ever seen a sacrifice come off the altar? A sacrifice is supposed to be dead. If you’re coming off the altar, you’re not dead.” The altar is the only place from which we can serve God.