Sacrifice Of Praise

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Hebrews 13:15 (KJV)

Sacrifice is the Greek word thusia, which comes from thuo- a verb meaning to kill or slaughter for a purpose.

Praise requires that our will kill anything that hinders us from praising the Lord. Examples would be: pride, self-consciousness, distracting thoughts, sadness, fatigue, etc. We must sacrifice our will to do God’s will. When we don’t feel like praising God, we should do it anyway. Why? We do it because the sacrifice of praise is based on the fact that Christ sacrificed Himself for us. Jesus offered up Himself for us so we should offer our praise to Him.

For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Hebrews 13:11-15 (KJV)

We must take our focus off ourselves and put it on Christ; who He is and what He’s done for us. Because we confess Christ, we give Him thanks for being the Lamb of God (John 1:29) that was slain for us to take away sin. Our sacrifice of praise is very little compared to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, so we continually give Him thanks and praise.

We glorify the name of Jesus, the name above all names, for there is no other name by which we can be saved. In the Old Testament, they offered animal sacrifices. Christ has fulfilled all of this, so now our sacrifice is spiritual. Although it is spiritual, it can be seen and heard by that which we do in praising and thanking the Lord. Sacrifices were offered continually in the Old Testament, and we do the same with our praise to the only One who is worthy- Jesus Christ.