What a keyboard taught me about the nature of sacrifice – 2 Samuel 24, Part 4

My church has a history of renting space in our building to other churches. In late 2018, sadly, one of those rental churches dwindled in size, and they decided to disband as a church.  The remaining members formed a house church, and they gave away their assets.  They gave our congregation a large financial donation and many of their church’s possessions.  One item they bequeathed to us was an electronic keyboard, and for years it sat in its case back in our music storage room. 

Last year one of the churches that currently rents from us had a keyboard die.  They asked about our keyboard, could they borrow it until they found a new one?  We said, of course.  Then they asked if they could buy it from us.  Our Worship serve team, which is responsible for our music equipment responded, “No, you cannot buy it from us.  You can have it, no charge. We give it you, as it was given to us.” 

What do you think? Was our action of gifting the keyboard sacrificial on our part? I ask that question because as we continue the story of David, his lack of trust of trust in God that led him to take a census of his military, and the resulting punishment God gave David, a plague that killed 70,000, the issue of sacrifice becomes front and center.

In 2 Samuel 24:18–23, God instructs David to purchase Araunah’s wheat threshing floor and build an altar on which to sacrifice, as an act of repentance to stop the plague. When David makes his offer to Aranauh, Araunah replies that he will give it to David. It’s a beautiful response.  Araunah is willing to part with his business so that David, who was guilty, can make a sacrifice to God and stop the plague.

Araunah could easily say, “No, I refuse to help you.  You got yourself in this mess, you get yourself out of it.” That would be a very negative response.  But some people believe in that approach.  Not Araunah. 

Another approach he could have taken would be “Sure, I’ll sell my facility to you.  What is a fair price?”  That fairness approach sounds extremely normal to me.  This is very much like eminent domain.  Say the government wants to build a highway.  They can claim eminent domain, which is a law that allows them to use the land whether the owner wants to sell or not.  In eminent domain, what is fair is if the government at least pays the owner a reasonable amount for the land.  Araunah doesn’t even ask for a fair price.

Araunah wants to give the land to David.  That means Araunah would be the one losing out.  Except Araunah doesn’t seem to view this as a loss.  For him, to give the land to David is a win.  Araunah wants to support his king, to support the process of sacrifice and renewal that David has begun in the wake of the census and plague. 

How will David react to Araunah’s generosity?  We read these incredible words in verse 24.

“But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

What a sentiment: “I will not sacrifice that which cost me nothing.”

Admittedly, God told David to buy it.  Yet this is not just begrudging obedience on David’s part, as if David is saying, “I would just take it off your hands, Araunah, but God told me I’m not allowed to, so I guess I have to pay you.” 

No, David really does want to buy the threshing floor.  When he explains his desire to buy it, he reveals a powerful principle: a sacrifice ceases to be a sacrifice if you never have to sacrifice. 

Remember the electric keyboard I mentioned at the beginning of this post? The rental church was super grateful when we gave the keyboard to them. While we appreciated their gratefulness, our decision to give them the keyboard was not a sacrifice for us.  We were not the ones who first bought it, and in fact we almost never used it.  The keyboard cost us nothing.  I believe we could say that what we did was kind, but it was not a sacrifice. 

David says “I will not sacrifice that which cost me nothing.”  What he is teaching us is the costly nature of sacrifice.  It is not sacrifice if it does not cost.  Living a sacrificial life will be costly.  In the Old Testament sacrificial system, the Lord asked the people to sacrifice animals that were pristine.  You don’t give God leftovers or that which is blemished.  When you sacrifice, it is costly.

We rightly view the relationship between us and God as sacrificial, but do we view the sacrifice flowing only in one direction?  Let me explain. God sacrifices for us.  He loves us so much that he sent Christ to experience human life. Jesus felt what so many human feel every day: hunger pangs, dark emotions, and broken relationships.  Finally, of course, Jesus endured a brutal beating and then sacrificed his life for us. 

In his birth, life, death and resurrection, Jesus did what we could never do, which is have victory over sin, death and the devil.  We are utterly dependent on and grateful for Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

But what about the other direction?  What about the relational direction from us to God?  We would do well to view our relationship with God as sacrificial in both directions.  Just as David rightly believes that sacrificing for God should cost him something, we examine our hearts and our actions to see if our lives are marked by costly sacrifice to God too.

Is your life marked by costly sacrifice to God? Think about it. How are you demonstrating costly sacrifice to God?

Photo by Martin Hexeberg on Unsplash