How Do We Offer Sacrifices That Are God Pleasing Today?:

To be worthy or to be considered righteous in the sight of God is what all religions are most concerned about.  Every religion but one teaches that people must make themselves righteous enough to be acceptable to God.  They teach that people must earn their own salvation.  These religions require their followers to provide their own works.  The only exception is the religion built on the solid ground of Christ’s works.  The Bible teaches us that people who have sinned and continue to sin can be righteous before God. By faith, Jesus becomes our righteousness.  He lived the perfect life which God demands.  His perfect life is transferred to us by placing our trust in him.  Even though we can be valiant in our efforts, the truth is that we can’t satisfy God’s demands for perfection (righteousness) based on our work and sacrifices.  Only through Christ are we righteous, by receiving full forgiveness and credit for Christ’s works.  With the peace and assurance from the knowledge of being forgiven and perfect in God’s eyes, our sacrifices become natural and voluntary outpourings of thankfulness for the work Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.  Our efforts to strive to do God’s will in our thoughts, words, and deeds are motivated by a heart-attitude of thanksgiving based on the security in knowing that all the necessary works have already been completed through Jesus.

These efforts are not motivated by a self-centered attitude of self preservation based on a requirement to earn our own eternal life.  Such efforts prove that person does not trust that Jesus already fulfilled all of Heavenly Father's requirements and disqualified that person from receiving full forgiveness and being credited with Christ's works.

The practice of offering Heavenly Father voluntary expressions of thanksgiving was also prevalent in the Old Testament.  Click here to go to the parallel Old Testament article addressing Grain Offerings.