You may have been in a worship service before where the pastor encouraged you and your congregation to give God a “sacrifice of praise.” That phrase does not just sound “churchy” or “religious” — it is actually biblical! We find this statement in the Book of Hebrews where we read:
“Through [Jesus Christ] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Hebrews 13:15-16, ESV).
However, just because the phrase is in the Bible that doesn’t mean that we have a full understanding of it. So what exactly is a “sacrifice of praise,” and how do we give our “sacrifice of praise” to God?
Considering these verses and their context, we can know four descriptors that help us understand the meaning.
1. A Sacrifice of Praise Is Christ-Centered
The Book of Hebrews includes a lot of references to sacrifices, especially in chapter 13 where we read the phrase in question.
The writer was communicating to Jewish Christians in his letter that just like the animals were “burned outside the camp” of God’s people, Jesus “suffered outside the gate” of Jerusalem in order to “sanctify the people through his own blood.”
Now, today, because Jesus sacrificed himself to offer forgiveness to all people, we thankfully no longer have to slaughter animals in payment for our sins.
Instead, we who are forgiven get to give a different kind of sacrifice to God on a different kind of altar: a sacrifice of praise on the altar of our hearts.
2. Our Sacrifice of Praise Is Verbal
While we do not only praise and worship God in corporate services and congregational environments, those are also certainly some of the most common and most obvious times that we present the “fruit of our lips” to God.
We pray out loud, shout affirmations to the preaching of God’s Word, encourage one another, recite Scripture and repeat catechisms, and sing “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16) that worship God for who he is and what he has done in order to “acknowledge his name.”
Sadly, many Christians get so side-tracked with arguments centered on opinions and preferences of worship style that they (metaphorically or literally) put their hands in their pockets and refuse to sing, shout, or even listen.
In Bob Kauflin’s article on worship in the early church, he highlights the fact that corporate worship is supposed to be just that — corporate. The songs we sing are intended to be sung with others, not just by ourselves.
This is especially important to remember in our age of headphones that allow us to block everyone else out and listen to our own music in isolation.
I have actually heard of someone in a church service putting earbuds in their ears to listen to their own music instead of what their pastor or worship leader is singing!
As Kauflin explains, our praise to God in corporate settings will often require us to sacrifice our preferences for the sake of lifting up the name of Jesus with our voices along with others in our church congregation.
3. Our Sacrifice of Praise Is Normative
The verse states that we are to “continually offer up” our praise. That means that our verbal worship should be commonplace for us and part of our regular practices instead of being reserved for special occasions, just when we feel like it, or even just weekend church services.
Our praises to God should be “day and night, night and day” and they should “ever be on [our] lips” as the hymn-writers David Brymer and Kalley Heiligenthal describe.
May we declare what David declared in Psalm 145:1-3 when he wrote: “I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”
4. Our Sacrifice of Praise Is Biblically Obedient
It is unbiblical and irreverent to only worship when and how we feel “comfortable.” Scripture gives us a lot of direction on how our voices, attitudes, and actions can glorify God, and it is often at least a little uncomfortable.
This is not just about our physical expressiveness in worship through music or in a church service (such as raised hands or bowed heads), it is about a lifestyle of worship that is pleasing to God.
While that will obviously mean that we sing praises to God, it will also mean that we help people in need, fast from food, pray for our enemies, give to our local church, refuse to gossip, and many other disciplines that we find instructed to us in God’s Word.
Just like Abel was obedient to offer up the first and best of his flock in Genesis 4 and Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only son in obedience to God in Genesis 22, we must not, as the writer of Hebrews 13 wrote, “Neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
God has been clear in his Word that his goal for us is not just to offer sacrifices, but to primarily be obedient in our hearts.
He said through his servant Samuel, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22, ESV).
I heard a preacher recently say that God will never bring fire down on an altar that does not have a sacrifice on it.
The Apostle Peter explained that we "…like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:5, ESV).
Paul challenged believers to “…present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship (Romans 12:1, ESV).
I love how Travis Doucette wrote the following worship “value” in an article that I read recently: “We don’t hold back. We burn white-hot for the Savior King. Using our entire being we seek to pour out our praise in a costly expression as our sacrifice of worship. Foregoing anything casual or reserved, our worship is our unashamed and extravagant efforts to lift high the name of Jesus.”
Sacrificing is always difficult. Loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37) is difficult. In fact, truly living a sacrificial life may feel like we have to give up our life for the sake of Christ. But as Jesus said in Mark 10, it is only by losing our life that will we actually find it!
For further reading:
Are We Willing to Be Offered as a Living Sacrifice?
What Does it Mean to Praise God?
What Are the Psalms of Praise?
Why Do Christians Sing Praise and Worship Songs?
What Does Samuel Mean When He Says Obedience Is Better than Sacrifice?
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