The Language of Repentance (Living Sacrifice Part 3)
A Call to Consecration: Worship That Costs Something
As a church, we believe worship is more than a song—it’s a surrendered life. At the beginning of the year, we entered a focused time of consecration: 21 days set apart to return to the Lord with our whole hearts. Consecration means to declare something sacred, to make it holy. It’s about being set apart, like your mom’s finest china—reserved for something special, not for everyday use.
God is holy—set apart, uncommonly good, full of light with no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). And through the saving work of Jesus, we are invited to become like Him. But this holiness isn’t something we can produce ourselves. It comes by receiving and believing in Jesus (John 1:11–13, ESV). When we do, we’re not just improved—we’re born again, adopted into a new family. And in this family, holiness is our inheritance and our calling.
Be Holy, for He Is Holy
1 Peter 1:14–16 (ESV) says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” When we are saved, God puts His Holy Spirit within us. That Spirit nudges and leads us toward a life that reflects our new Father—one that is holy, set apart, and filled with light.
But let’s be honest: we often resist. The purpose of consecration is to surrender again—to ask God to search us, to show us where we’ve been pushing against His Spirit, and to offer ourselves fully to His transforming work.
Worship Is Sacrifice
In 2 Samuel 24, King David finds himself in deep failure. He disobeys God's command by conducting a prideful census of Israel. The result is devastating—a plague that takes the lives of 70,000 people. But when instructed by the prophet to build an altar and make a sacrifice, David refuses to take the easy way out. Offered free oxen and wood, David responds, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24, ESV). He pays full price and makes his offering, and the plague is stopped.
This moment teaches us a vital truth: real worship costs something. It’s not meant to be convenient—it’s meant to be costly, because God is worthy. The English word “worship” comes from “worth-ship”—a response to what God is worth. When worship is true, it reflects His worth with our lives, not just our lips.
Repentance: The True Sacrifice
David's most well-known failure—his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah—gives us one of the clearest pictures of true repentance in scripture. After the prophet confronts him, David finally breaks. In Psalm 51, he pours out a prayer that has become a model for all who seek to return to God:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
(Psalm 51:10–12, ESV)
David understood what kind of offering God desired. Not a burnt sacrifice, but a broken spirit—a heart that is crushed over sin and humbly comes back to Him. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17, ESV).
This is what fasting and consecration lead us into. As we lay things down—meals, habits, comforts—we find that God reveals deeper places in our hearts that need healing, cleansing, and surrender. Fasting exposes the ways we’ve been led by our flesh rather than our spirit. And it invites us into the posture of contrition, which God never despises.
A Life of Worship and Renewal
On the other side of David’s repentance came a renewal. Of the 73 psalms David wrote, 59 were written after his failure with Bathsheba. His greatest worship came not from perfection, but from a life restored by mercy. The joy of his salvation was renewed, and praise overflowed from a clean heart.
This is our hope, too. As we respond to God’s call to consecrate ourselves—laying down what distracts and repenting where we've strayed—we position ourselves for the joy of a renewed life. Worship becomes not just what we do, but who we are.
Jesus is the better sacrifice. The one crushed—not for His sin, but for ours (Isaiah 53:5). He took the weight we could never carry so that we might be free to walk as children of God, holy and set apart.
Reflection Questions
What area of your life is God inviting you to set apart for Him during this season?
How is the Holy Spirit prompting you to respond with true repentance and surrender?
What would it look like to offer God a worship that costs you something this week?