Embrace Worship: Offering

Have you ever stopped to consider the scenes we read about in the Old Testament where animals are killed and burned on an altar as an offering to God? All the mooing and bleating. All the blood. All the smells. In truth, it’s an assault on our modern sensibilities. But in its day, offerings on the Israelites’ altars were a part of life. Despite all the goo and poo, these offerings were always given as “a response to the covenantal love and holiness of Yahweh.”¹ 

The early books of the Bible detail all the different types of offerings, but the most costly, the most complete were the burnt offerings. And their purpose was always atonement – where the sins of the person were transferred to the animal (Leviticus 1:4). Where the animal’s blood was shed on behalf of the person. A life for a life. 

An animal given as a burnt offering was burned in its entirety (vv.8-9). All of it – fat, meat, skin, bones, organs. This was no barbecue. It was an in-total offering that “symbolized the worshiper’s complete devotion and submission to God, as the entire offering was consumed by fire, leaving nothing for the offerer.”¹ Burnt offerings were costly, but the result was at-one-ment with God. The person was once again made right with the Almighty. 

Such an offering, and all its smells, was always received by God – and deemed “a pleasing aroma to the LORD” (v.9). 

As hard as it is for our post-resurrection minds to imagine, these offerings made a way for God’s holy presence to dwell among His people. Such offerings closed the gap sin created so that God could remain in relationship with those He loved. 

This system of animal offerings was one step in the plan of redemption and foreshadowed the once-and-for-all offering of Jesus. The old made way for the new – where Jesus made Himself an offering for our sins:

“Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.”

Hebrews 10:11-12 NLT

Jesus’ death on the altar of the cross “fulfills and transcends the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant.”¹ As such, we are covered in Christ’s blood; our sins have been atoned for. But let’s not get complacent, thinking we no longer need to make offerings to our Father in heaven. No, our worship is an offering! And our worship of God deepens each time we lay our very lives on the altar of God’s presence. 

Worship Facet #4 – Offerings

Offerings are gifts to God that are freely given. Beyond the burnt offerings, there were many offerings under the Old Covenant. Leviticus outlines all of them, a few in great detail – such as, grain offerings, given out of gratitude or devotion to God (Leviticus 2, 7:9-14); fellowship offerings, given with thankfulness and for peace with God (Leviticus 3, 7:11-34); sin offerings, given for forgiveness and cleansing (Leviticus 4:1-5:13.² 

It’s interesting to note that while the grain offerings are their own category, given as a “voluntary expression of devotion to God for His goodness,” they also accompanied other offerings, such as the daily burnt offering where a lamb was burned every morning and evening (Numbers 28:5).² Sometimes the grains offered on the altar were the actual firstfruit plants while other times it was grains crushed as flour or cooked as bread, and always with incense and olive oil (Leviticus 2:1-2,4,14). 

A seemingly less significant offering always came at the end of the daily burnt offering: the drink offering – where a specified amount of wine was poured out on the altar (v.7). Wine represented the fruit of the people’s labor and the joy of coming before the Lord. The burnt offering was not complete until the cup poured out its contents.³ 

So as we consider Jesus as the Lamb of God who removed all our sin through His death, we see the connections to the ancient burnt offering, and we notice the parallel bread and wine imagery of the Last Supper – the bread as His body, the wine as His blood. Bread that was broken and given. Wine that was poured out for us. Jesus “emptied Himself” on our behalf (Philippians 2:7 ESV). 

The connections between the Old and New Covenants are unmistakable and meaningful, aiding our ability to see the fuller picture of God’s plan. They also help us answer the question, “What is worship?” – it’s a giving of ourselves, a pouring out of ourselves to God. In this way, we become an offering like Jesus!

In his final letter, Paul gives us practical application for what it looks like to offer ourselves to God when he describes himself as being “poured out like a drink offering” (2 Timothy 4:6-7). Paul has given his everything for the gospel. He has obediently and joyfully poured out on others everything God has given him. And, just as the wine had marked the conclusion of the burnt offering, Paul’s analogy alludes to the end of his life and ministry. He is poured out to the very end (Philippians 2:17).

Paul shows us that living for God is an all-the-time offering of worship to God. It’s living a surrendered life.

Surrender

In another letter Paul lays out this idea of giving our lives as an offering to God:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”

Romans 12:1 MSG

Paul paints the picture of worship as surrender, as embracing everything God does for us. Chris Tomlin dubs ‘living surrendered’ as a “worship-led life.”⁴ In his book, he elaborates:

“The worship-led life requires that we become brazenly real and brutally honest about our own will. Then and only then can we make the turn to the transformational grace of surrender and the seven words that slay Satan: not my will, but yours be done.”⁴ 

Chris Tomlin

Theologian and author Lisa Harper also describes worship as a way of life – a way of posturing ourselves before God every day, emphasizing that “worship is really more about obedience, surrender and adoration.”⁵ And JD Walt exhorts us with the truth that when we worship God, “we humble ourselves in his sight and exalt him for all his worth.”⁶ 

How do we lay ourselves on the altar as an offering? We worship God with our whole lives. We embrace all that He does for us. We pour ourselves out, laying down our will for His. We posture ourselves before Him with humility, trusting Him with our obedience, surrender, and adoration – exalting Him with all we are and do because He alone is worthy!

And here’s the craziest part – this is not a one-and-done offering like Jesus’. Instead, it’s everything like that daily burnt offering, where every morning and every night we lay ourselves out before the Lord. Again. And again. And again.

Every day we worship with wholehearted surrender. So know that…

• Surrender isn’t ‘giving up’. Rather, it’s releasing our plans and purposes; it’s letting go of our pride and people – all the things we tend to hold too tightly to. When we surrender to God, we’re giving ourselves and everything we care for to One who cares even more than we do. 
• Surrender looks like open hands raised before God – because it’s us telling our Father that we trust Him. We rely on Him. We delight in Him. 
• Surrender means moving forward in faith, full of the Spirit – going into the world ready to be poured out as an offering to others on Jesus’ behalf.
• Surrender admits that if we don’t offer ourselves to God, we will offer ourselves up to something or someone else.

Worship. It is not us simply standing before a stage listening to music, putting money in the offering plate, or even taking notes during the sermon on a Sunday. It is all of this, yet so much more. It’s demonstrating to God with our lives that we are fully devoted to Him – it’s the bull and the bread; it’s the olive oil and the wine. It’s the burning of it all for God. It’s the pouring out of all our love for Him.

And I can’t help but picture the time Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Mary, literally poured oil onto the feet of Jesus. What a picture of making ‘self’ an offering, of pouring out all our love and devotion to Christ.

As we give each layer of our hearts to Jesus, we are better able to live ‘worship-led’ in every area of our lives. By making worship a way of life, we live filled by the Holy Spirit and poured out for the Father; we move through this world completely surrendered to Jesus every day. We become an offering and discover that we are a pleasing aroma to the Lord (2 Corinthians 2:15).

This is worship.

Father God, in this moment we see ourselves more clearly. We recognize our propensity for living by our own plans and for our own purposes. So we lay all this down before You. We lay ourselves at the altar of your presence. Lord Jesus, our Lamb, our Bread of Life, how we thank You for pouring yourself out like a drink offering. Oh, how we desire to live like You. Holy Spirit, fill us to overflowing with your presence, your peace, your power, your purposes – so that we might live from the grace needed to be fully surrendered to Jesus. We desire to live wholehearted for God. We desire to be poured out before Him for His glory – and for others, for their good. Help us to live worship-led lives. Help us to give God our full selves, layer by layer, until we are wholly His. Help us to live from the humble, wonder-struck posture: “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all.” In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
(Inspired by Isaiah 55:8-9; Leviticus 1 and 2; Romans 12:1-2; Philippians 2:7,17; Ephesians 5:18, 2:8-9; Chris Tomlin’s book, Lisa Harper’s podcast, and JD Walt’s post noted below; and lyrics from Isaac Watt’s hymn “Wondrous Cross.”)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

• 1 – This article on Burnt Offerings on Biblehub is very informative and helpful!
• 2 – This chart by Susan Merrill is so helpful!! (I’ve pasted at the bottom, as well).
• 3 – This article explains Paul’s pouring out as compared to the burnt offering.
• 4 – Chris Tomlin’s book, How Great Is Our God,^ pp.85, 88 
• 5 – Lisa Harper’s podcast episode on Back Porch Theology with Scotty Smith, January 1, 2025
•  6 – JD Walt, Wake Up Call, 3/16/22
• Did you notice I snuck a new song onto our Embrace Worship Spotify playlist? For all the conversation of us pouring out all that we are to Jesus, I don’t want us to forget that becoming an offering to Jesus is ALSO us pouring out all our love and devotion to Him. As such, “Jesus We Love You” is a song that leads us to such a place. You’re welcome. 😉
  
  We build an altar to You, holding nothing back —
  All our love, all our worship.
  Our affection, our devotion
  poured out on the feet of Jesus.
  We love You!
  Oh how we love You!
  You are the One our hearts adore!
• Each Wednesday I upload a “Teacup” teaching video that carries on the topic here. You can find all the videos on my Facebook Author Page, Instagram, and YouTube.
• Many of you have already found me on Substack! Thank you so much! While you’re on Substack, check out the ministry I’m blessed to be part of, the Devoted Collective. AND…don’t forget if you’d rather listen to these weekly posts, you can now do so on Substack — it’s easy to see and use the audio bar across the top of each post.
• My monthly newsletter, The Abiding Life, goes to email inboxes of those who have subscribed on my website, and I post them on Substack — usually within the first week of the month. My most recent edition can be found there, and you can subscribe for future newsletters on Substack, here.

Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike. These next three months we’re focusing on the rhythm of worship (surprise!).

• This week we are highlighting and ‘tabbing’ Philippians 2:16-18 in our Prayer Bibles! Each week this summer we’re marking significant passages about worship so that we can find them easily, put them to memory, and apply them in our abiding lives. These are words we can pray with a little personalization. They can also become words of reverence-filled worship. Hear these three verses in the NLT and be reminded that you are an offering to God:
  • “Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.” –Philippians 2:16-18 NLT
• We’re all called to share the truths about the work of Jesus. One way you can do that is by sharing this site and telling others your own stories of faith experiences. Believe it or not, we worship God each time we share our stories of faith! We use our whole selves to tell about our holy God!!

Featured Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash. “All the Bits and Pieces” photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
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