Sincerely
Truly
In truth
Psalm 4:5 “Offer sacrifices of righteousness and trust in the Lord.”
The psalmist says, “Offer sacrifices of righteousness and trust in the Lord.” What is a “sacrifice of righteousness”?
Leviticus describes the types of sacrifices that were to be offered in the temple. There were five types of sacrifices: burnt offering, grain offering, peace offering, sin offering, and trespass offering. These were sacrificial rituals offered to restore the relationship with God, express gratitude, and receive forgiveness of sins.
The burnt offering is a sacrifice of complete dedication of oneself to the Lord.
The grain offering is a confession of faith that everything we possess belongs to the Lord, who is the true owner.
The peace offering is a sacrifice that brings about reconciliation through sharing.
The sin offering is a sacrifice of ourselves for our sins, and the trespass offering is a sacrifice to compensate for sins committed against our neighbors. These are the sacrifices that should be offered in the “temple of our hearts.”
Because we ourselves are the temple where we offer sacrifices. Making all these sacrifices in the temple of our hearts is what constitutes a “sacrifice of righteousness,” and the Lord’s Prayer concisely teaches us this.
When we cultivate this nature of worship within ourselves, we can achieve “maturity of character” and ripen. We are not simply growing old, but maturing. It’s about transforming our nature into one of worship and trusting in God in all things.
There is one thing to be careful of here. If we try to perform worship within ourselves as a form of “self-realization,” then we cannot truly become a temple. A sacrifice offered on an altar where the self is not consecrated loses its meaning.
There must be an altar within us, and we ourselves must be consecrated on that altar for the Lord to dwell within us. Consecration is obedience. When we dedicate ourselves to the Lord through obedience, we become true temples.
To achieve this, we must purify our “temple of the heart.” Just as Jesus drove out the thieves from the temple and purified it, we must drive out our own will and purify ourselves so that God’s will may be fulfilled within us.
Therefore, we must not cease the work of using the whip of the Holy Spirit to drive out the desires of our own will that are contrary to God’s will. This is because the “sacrifice of righteousness” can only be offered in a holy temple.
A life of sincerely worshipping the Lord God,
truly loving others,
and being set free by the truth,
is the sacrifice of righteousness that pleases God.
Heavenly Father,
May Your will, not mine, be fulfilled within me
as a “sacrifice of righteousness.”
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
By Rev. Jaewoong Chang
(Heavenly Vision Community Church)
