What is spiritual martyrdom? Would you really think of it as
important? Today we'll be looking at reasons why spiritual martyrdom is so important in the Christian life. Martyrdom, of this spiritual kind, is a sacrifice that is expected of all believers. It is not a literal death, but more of a dedication to God. It is a giving of ourselves. It is not giving up our life, but our livelihood. What we do with our life is part of it. So, first of all, what is spiritual martyrdom? Phil. 1:21 says, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." What is this verse saying? Well, to help clarify this, let's look at Romans 14:7. It says, "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." So, if we use a little deductive reasoning here, we can see several things from these two verses. The Bible says that to live is Christ..., but it also says that none of us can live to himself. Also, from earlier lessons, we already know that no man can serve two masters. It's not altogether impossible, but almost! There's the conflict of two allegiances and two instructions.

Christians must only live for Christ, and not this world. Now, when I say that, I mean that we shouldn't live only for material accumulation of wealth. From the last issue, we learned a lot about rewards in Heaven that came about by serving Him. A Christian's allegiance lies in Christ. But, the only way we can start is to give our life's purpose to Him for His edification.

The second thing we can learn from these two verses is that although to die is gain, man cannot die to himself. We already know that man cannot live for himself, and know we know that die to himself. Man does not die to himself, because to die (in this spiritual sense) is to cease from being subject to. To put it more mildly, we cease from being subject to Satan and his will, when we "die" to Satan, and give ourself to God. We need to forget what we want, and make God's will in our life a priority. John 12:24-26 says, "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." There are many, many truth's which we can learn from this passage.

First of all, it goes along with what I just said. In our spiritual life, we can do one of two things (since we can only be for one purpose in life, as we saw earlier.)., we can either live life as a "dead" Christian (spiritually dead), or we can grow and thrive in Christ. The verse talks about him that loveth his life. Now this isn't talking about the live of being alive, this is talking about those who like to live for this life. Luke 12:19 says, "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." In this verse, we saw how the rich man surveyed his goods and regarded everything as OK. He thought he had everything he could ever need. Seeing all of this, he mentally purposed to live a careless life, doing nothing. What good is that? That is exactly what John 12:24 talks about! He cared too much for lifestyle, instead of working for God, or dedicating something worthwhile to God's purpose. His dedication was to self, to take life as though nothing mattered. And, of course, everything does have a consequence.

As a result, God said (to the rich man in verse 20), "But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be acquired of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided".  When are we going to finally stop and think about who we live for? The Bible not only was talking to the rich man you know. Luke 12:21 says, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God" When our life's purpose is material gain, it is not rich toward God. In other words, what are we giving Him? We should be giving Him priority in our life.
Next, from John 12:24, we can learn that when we die to self, it brings about certain "fruits". Living for Christ brings about rewards in Heaven. If we look in the verse again, it says, "...and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" This, again, is not a hatred of being alive, but priorities in our life. It is our lifestyle. Those who die to self reap rewards that are kept eternally. The rich man couldn't take anything with him because all he worked for was earthly things. If we dedicate to Christ, the rewards of such are eternal. But, we must not do it just for rewards, we need to do it for Christ who died for us. It must be a willing dedication of service.

Next, a self-sacrifice involves constant rededication. I Cor. 15:31 says, "I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily" Now of course he didn't die a literal death, he dedicated himself anew to God. This constant, daily dedication is essential if we are to stay on track and keep focused on our goal. We are to serve our Creator for His glory, not ours. Each day, we should tell God to use us to the best of our ability. Doing it daily will help you remember, and will enable to task to be completed faster.

Remember, just like our dying to self, our physical bodies will erode away one day; so, we should make best of what little time we have. Luke 12:15 says, "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth"  What is our earthly life that we should live for ourselves? Since we can take anything with us, why should we devote our time to them. Living for Jesus brings it's own rewards: the best ones that He can give us are not tangible. What better reward would there be than to get to Heaven, and have Jesus say, "...Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things." (Luke 12:19). This verse also tells us that Jesus knows we should not consume our time with abundance of goods. He knows full well that we can handle small amounts.

Next, self-sacrifice involves a cost. What do you think sacrifice means? II Sam. 24:24 says, "And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but 1 will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing." In this verse, Araunah had offered David animals to sacrifice. But, David knew what should be done. You see, when there's a sacrifice, it gives it meaning. It's something that you had to part with, something which may have been very precious to you. A cheap sacrifice is exactly that! It's cheap! If we only give God a little bit of our time, without it cutting into our schedule, or doing it only when its convenient, it devalues the sacrifice.

Jesus Himself made the greatest sacrifice... He gave up His home in Heaven and His life! He gave up all of that, just so that one day we can live eternally. We can at least show some appreciation by working for Him! He died for us!! How do you think He feels when we throw scraps of our time to Him? Don't you think He might want something better? Putting Him first in our life can please Him, get His Will done, and get rewards for us!

Gen. 4:4-5 says, "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect." Abel, a shepherd, offered one of his own sheep to God for a sacrifice. This giving of a whole sheep was indeed a sacrifice back then. That lamb could have provided meat and wool. Cain's on the other hand was fruits and.... and., uh, food. The difference between these two was time involved. A shepherd's job required more time, because they had to be watched constantly. Food, on the other hand, just has to be watered a bit, cleared of weeds, and other things that wouldn't probably take up too much of his time. Cain gave God only what took a little time. I'm sure if he asked, he could trade Abel something for a lamb. Abel, though, gave of his time as well as material value.

Heb. 9:22 says, "And without the shedding of blood is no remission." Now, have you ever seen fruit bleed? Well, uh,...no. Neither have I. I John 1:7 says, "And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Blood is necessary for the redemption of sins,., not fruit., nor works! Oftentimes we try to pass God off with our works, what we grew, instead of offering ourselves as a living sacrifice! We need to offer our lifestyle and purpose in life to God, willing to work and ready to go. James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God." Romans 12:1 says, "....present yourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God." This verse also goes along with what I said earlier about how we die to ourselves and live for God. A living sacrifice it says... not a "spiritual dead" sacrifice. We need to want to work for God's purpose.

The next requirement of the sacrifice is that it should be holy. Are you living in sin? The sacrifices of the Jews were the best lamb they had, no blemishes (Gen.4:4). Sin is a blemish on our lives, how can we even think of offering God a sin pocked sacrifice? We need to forsake the world and grab onto Christ only.

The third requirement is acceptability. In your present spiritual condition, are you ready to submit., or do you have sin which you need Christ to forgive? Maybe your spiritual life isn't what it should be. But I suggest (and the Bible says so!) that we make every effort to give God our best, and make Him the priority in our life. I suggest that you talk to your pastor about it (and talk to God about it the most) and try and straighten things out with God.

Finally, we should ask ourselves whether we are giving God "fruit" sacrifices, or a "lamb".