Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Hebrews 13:15-16
Praise as Sacrifice
As many pastors say, if we see a "therefore" in scripture, we always need to figure out what it's there for. Looking back a little bit further, we can see that the author of Hebrews is talking about the old covenant and how ancient Israel gave sacrifices to the Lord so that they could be absolved from sin. This was called a sin offering. This is a little gruesome, but they would offer the animal in the Most Holy Place, and then they would bring the bodies outside to be burned.
This then leads to the author of Hebrews talking about Jesus's sacrifice. He also suffered outside the city gate as a sin offering for us, so that we might have relationship with God the Father. That is what we should offer, a sacrifice of praise to God. We don't like to think about the word "sacrifice," because it does mean giving up something that is of value for something more valuable. Our call is to openly profess the name of Jesus.
Don't Stop at the Prayer Closet
The author of Hebrews actually tells us how to do this practically, and that's in verse 16. A way for us to offer a sacrifice of praise isn't necessarily to sing worship songs. While it could be that, it's to remember others, to do good to others, and to share with others. Note that this has nothing to do with reading scripture, singing worship songs, listening to a good message, or spending hours in a prayer closet.
All those things could be good, but none of that is what the author of Hebrews is getting at here. It's all about serving others and helping others and doing good to others, as well as sharing with them. They even go so far as to say that these are the sacrifices that God is pleased with. My encouragement to you is not to forsake the former—Yes, pray! Read scripture! Listen to worship songs! Develop your personal relationship with Jesus!—but if that's all you do, then you're missing out on what the author of Hebrews calls the sacrifices with which God is pleased. Don't forget the former, or neglect the latter. The latter is doing good and sharing with others.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the ability to worship you and to praise you in our own ways. Help us to always remember to serve others and to help others and to share with others. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen