Sacrifice is at the heart of Christian discipleship. In the most basic sense it’s the essence of selflessness and devotion to God. It goes beyond mere obligation and transcends the boundaries of comfort and convenience. Sacrifice means giving of ourselves, our time, our resources, and our talents in ways that exceed the bare expectations.
In our offering of praise and thanksgiving to God, sacrifice manifests as an overflow of gratitude, an excessive outpouring of love and devotion. Yet a true sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God pushes us beyond our comfort zones and goads us to express our reverence and adoration in ways that extend beyond words and rituals. It becomes a lived reality in our relationships with others. We sacrifice our own desires and preferences to serve those in need, extending compassion and kindness to all, regardless of familiarity or affinity.
Sacrifice, in the context of Christian living, is a sacred act of love—a tangible expression of our commitment to follow Jesus’ example of selflessness and humility. Through sacrifice, we embody the transformative power of God’s love, shining as beacons of hope and grace in a world groping in the dark for redemption. We sacrifice ourselves because Jesus first sacrificed himself—for us.
Let us pray. May only God’s Word be spoken, and may only God’s Word be heard; in the name of Jesus. Amen.
From time to time, my mother would talk about the kinds of sacrifice that she was willing to make for us kids. She would even go so far to say that if it really came down to it, she would die for us. That’s probably true for a lot of mothers, fathers, and grandparents probably even too. The love they have for their kids is so deep and abiding that they would be willing to give up their own lives in order that their children live.
Let’s consider that for a moment, especially the expression “worth dying for.” Definitely in the case of parents and kids, it’s something that seems to make sense, that a parent would be willing to sacrifice their life so that their child lives—and this is usually something that is truly a life-or-death situation. But the expression that something is “worth dying for” is used in a lot of different situations, for a lot of different circumstances. It’s often used to say something is so profound, so significant, so important that you’d be willing to sacrifice everything, even life itself, to uphold it, to protect it, to keep it.
But what if we shift our perspective? What if, instead of focusing on what’s worth dying for, we focus on what’s worth living for?
When thinking about what’s worth living for, we find the essence of our existence. It’s in the moments of joy shared with people who mean something to us. It’s in the pursuit of our passions. And it’s the quest for knowledge and understanding. It’s in the laughter of children, the beauty of nature, in the warmth of human connection. These are the things that give life meaning, that make the everything worthwhile.
During this Lenten season, we acknowledge a remarkable, often even uncomfortable truth: that our lives are not our own. We’re bound to something greater, something divine, something eternal. In fact, we’re bound to someone greater, someone divine, someone eternal—to Christ Jesus our Lord. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to embrace this truth, to live it, to breathe it into every fiber of our being. Lent is a time for us to reorganize, reorient, and repent our lives according to this truth.
As we reflect on what’s worth living for, St. Paul offers us some pretty straightforward wisdom. “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves,” he tells the Roman Christians some almost 2000 years ago and us, even today. “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” It’s through the sacrifice on the cross and resurrection of Jesus that we find our ultimate purpose and identity.
In embracing the reality of Jesus’ sacrifice and victory over death, we recognize that all those things that are worth dying for are, in fact, worth much more living for. We proclaim Christ crucified, for God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. And so, it’s for this reason, we live our lives in service to the greater glory of God and approach our lives with an eye toward what’s truly worth living for, those things that are so profound, so significant, so important and marked by something greater, something divine, something eternal.
Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party. Born in 1908 in what’s now the Czech Republic, Schindler initially joined the Nazi Party to benefit from its connections for his business ventures. During World War II, Schindler acquired an enamelware factory in Kraków, which he used as a front to employ Jewish workers. Despite exploiting Jewish labor for profit initially, Schindler gradually became deeply affected by the suffering and persecution he witnessed. He began to spend his fortune bribing Nazi officials and providing food and medical care for his workers.
Schindler’s efforts intensified as he realized the extent of the atrocities committed by the Nazis. He famously compiled a list, known as “Schindler’s List,” of over 1200 Jews to be transferred to a safer location in his factory in Czechoslovakia. Doing this, Shindler saved these people from almost certain death in the concentration camps.
While Schindler himself didn’t die for his actions, he risked his life and sacrificed his wealth to protect his Jewish workers, many of whom were parents willing to make their own sacrifices for their children’s survival—because the scheme was definitely illegal by the Nazi regime and would’ve cost them their lives had word gotten out. Schindler’s selfless acts of courage and compassion show the lengths to which people will go to stand up for what’s so profound, so significant, so important that they’d even risk their own lives for it. And yet, it was in living his life in that Shindler made the greatest impact.
Living as a disciple isn’t for the faint of heart. It requires courage, conviction, and steadfast commitment to the path before us.
How many things are worth living for?
Well, there’s the obvious freedom. Nelson Mandela embodied the sacrifice for freedom. He spent 27 years in prison for his commitment to freedom for all South Africans, all the while demonstrating unwavering commitment to the cause of freedom and equality. He eventually became president of South Africa.
Then there’s justice and truth. Oskar Brüsewitz, an East German Lutheran pastor, epitomized the pursuit of justice through his selfless act of protest against the oppressive regime of the East German government. In 1976, Brüsewitz set himself on fire in front of a church, as a demonstration against the state’s suppression of religious freedom. His sacrifice symbolized the struggle for justice and freedom under communist rule and inspired others to stand against injustice and tyranny.
We also have the matter of faith. Convinced of the need for reform within the church, Martin Luther stood firm in his convictions, was excommunication and faced the threat of execution. Yet his courage and determination unlocked the freedom of the Christian good news for millions of people down through the centuries and have reshaped the course of civilization, to say nothing of Western Christianity.
People will sacrifice for their country, not just the government, but more importantly its people. Look at our all-volunteer military in this country. Or Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, who fearlessly challenged the Kremlin’s authoritarian regime, risking his freedom and safety for his beliefs in democracy and accountability. Despite facing multiple arrests, poisoning attempts, and imprisonment, Navalny continued to advocate for political reform and human rights in Russia, until his death in a Siberian penal colony just two weeks ago.
The list goes on and on. Human rights. Ideals, values, principles. Future generations of humanity. Personal integrity. All these and so many more are things people will risk their lives for, but it’s in living for these things that we see the true worth of their commitment. Let us also never forget: it’s not us who must die, for Christ has already died and risen again. “For we proclaim Christ crucified,” we hear today, again from Paul, this time to the Corinthian Christians, but also to us today, the Fitchburg Christians. Holding up the crucifixion, the execution, the death of Jesus may seem foolish to a world that peddles in backbiting, exploitation, and selfishness to uphold, protect, and keep our own lives good, but for us who call ourselves Christian, God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. As disciples, we know that this truth is worth living for because we know that precisely in our weakness, God’s strength is made perfect.
Recalling Paul again, when he tells us “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves,” he’s driving home the point that our lives are a sacred offering, lived in obedient, loving dedication to the service of the Lord who died and rose again to be the Lord of both the living and the dead. We have died and risen with Jesus and are called to live in the light of his resurrection glory.
What are we willing to die for? For what are we willing to live? As disciples of Jesus, we live each day guided by the light of Christ’s love and the wisdom of his Word. Whatever our station in life, we can be bold witnesses to God’s undying love, courageous in our convictions, and unwavering in our commitment to the gospel truth—that nothing, not even death or life, nothing at all in all creation will stand in the way of God having a relationship with whatever and whoever he loves, and that means you too. Our God, though he died and died for us, is a God who calls us to life, and to living life abundantly. There’s no doubt that there’s much worth dying for, but all these things are worth dying for precisely because they are worth much more living for. That’s why we embrace God’s call to live fully, love deeply, and serve faithfully, for we are his, now and forevermore, and that call is worth living for.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirt. Amen.
The Rev'd Daniel W. Spigelmyer, Jr. 