This has been a long-awaited topic I've been meaning to write about. There's been many thoughts and experiences on this issue; many I've been striving to retain, but some I will have to extract in the process. I received a strong enlightenment one day and truly desired to write about the justice and righteousness of sacrifice, but after much thought and much participation, I realized that the opposing side or topical issue that arises is much more relevant for certain people at this age; yet I will add a little bit of both sides in this post.
Legalism, to give a dictionary definition, is 'the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws.' Now laws are good depending on the objective of it, and also depending on whether or not we look at it as an exclusive unit of progress. Children from a young age begin to learn the rules and laws that we are to adhere by in order to be counted as a representative of good; in order to reveal our obedience to blossom as the best law-abiding citizen. This has been a common experiential situation and nothing unusual to our senses. The goal is to be a pleasurable and loved child comparatively to the rest, and sometimes, to arise above the rest. In this case, the reason for laws has slowly become distorted, twisted. This objective of laws has become to us Christians diseased and indulged.
This is the picture of what the Pharisees showed us; the well-keeping of Mosaic laws with added laws that were proved harsh and not beneficial to the Jewish people. Externally, if they were judged by all that they did, how much they prayed, how much they showed that they prayed, how much they fasted, how much they showed that they fasted, how much works they did and so on, they would have looked magnificently fanatical. When someone is considered Pharisaical, they are either defined generally as legalistic, or in specific; self righteously prideful, or self-deceivingly legalistic. Or to give an analogy, the obtaining of knowledge is a good thing depending on the heart of reason for such an objective. Knowledge without transformation is idolatry; knowledge without an outward change of the heart is nothing but a displeasure in the eyes of the Lord; nothing better than the gods made out of metal in Old Covenant times. And remember, this was the very reason for God's wrath, the flooding of the world, the curses to Israel, the dividing of the kingdom, the destroying of the temples, and the eventual gap that occurred in Jewish history. The modern Pharisaical image is either a purposely initiated self-righteousness because it is a constant obsessive sin that is consistently practiced or when someone is not taught the wholeheartedness of Christianity and has been emphatically shown the rules and regulations; one that aims at higher individualistic spirituality who constantly practices harder and harder disciplines. Either way, both is considered legalism and legalism is the wrong doctrine of the New Covenant, and if studied correctly, also the wrong doctrine of the Old Covenant. This is the word of the Lord:
"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."
Proverbs 21:3
There are many verses that gives us a knowledge of God's heart in his view of sacrifices besides this such at 1 Samuel 15:22 and Hosea 6:6 which shows that the Lord desires an inward obedience and a steadfast love rather than sacrifice. 1 Samuel 16:7 says that 'man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart' and Matthew 15:11 says that 'it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.' The reason for the wording in such a specific way in where one action eliminates the other is because of the context. People of this time were placing too concentrated a highlight on lawfulness and too opaque a highlight on the fruitfulness of the heart that caused Jesus' rebuke that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath; that if we concentrate on the act of rest for the sake of obedience alone then we are not visioning our salvation by grace alone. Through the pruning in this log in my eye have Jesus shown me the fault in my flesh and graciously overflowed into me a burning conviction for the discernment of laws and sacrifice in order for the purging of such sin that deteriorates us. God says that in the end, he 'will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts' in Hebrews 8:10. That ultimately and in God's sovereignty, He alone will intervene for our helpless souls, and he alone will print on our hearts and minds, that spirituality will be lived out from first the inward self, that which potentially names one who is defiled and one who is cleansed.
Let's, for a moment, break down some barriers on our thought of discipline. Where there is discipline, there is sacrifice; for if discipline is not sacrificial, it is not discipline at all, it is but a leisure activity. Discipline only comes when we substitute something that is good for something that is bad, or where we substitute something that is better for something that is good. Either way, discipline is a struggling process to do what is just and right. When the object of discipline becomes a joy, that is when a God-pleasing passion is created; this is when this action should no longer be referred to as a discipline, but a passion. Now this is only the desired direction that discipline leads to, whereas discipline can disastrously corrupt the soul for it is the active catalyst of legalism. When discipline becomes so focused on the action itself, but not the fruitful result that is aimed for, it slowly brings us to a state of unconscious perdition. When the discipline is not flexible in favor of the production of growth, then this becomes an issue we face. When 2 hours of prayer needs to be 2 hours of prayer without fluctuation, this can possibly be a problem. When reading the word or fasting is not the better discerned activity we are to be doing at a certain time or season in order that the Lord may be exalted, then this is a problem. We need to be a generation who astutely realizes that our spiritual act of worship is not limited in the actions of prayer and singing songs, not limited in reading the word and fasting, but our spiritual act of worship is truly the living out of our lives as sacrifices holy and pleasing to our God. This means that reading a secular book and enjoying time with friends at a museum can equally be worshipful to the Lord just as prayer and reading the word can be equally meaningless. This brings me to another point.
I've spent some time addressing issues of the depravity of sacrifice, but remember that just as one perspective is presented, there is on another side the rational fruit of sacrifice. Jesus preaches both as He calls Simon and Andrew and 'immediately they left their nets and followed him' in Matthew 4:20 and when he says 'whoever should come after me will deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me' in Matthew 16:24. Often times we have to know that sacrifice is what is just and right; to release ourselves from the external worries and influences to rest in the voice of the Lord does reveal steadfast love and obedience. Jesus Christ sacrificed for our sins on the cross and there should be no arguing amongst Christians and many nonChristians alike that this debt-erasing sacrifice was the ultimate justice and righteousness for generations and generations. The Lord does not desire sacrifice less than he desires mercy or steadfast love, for are they not placed in the same category many times? We must be exposed to the truth that there is not a moment in which we are not sacrificing one thing to do another; that we are always engaging in the act of sacrifice. The more specific dilemma that takes place then is which sacrifice is good and which sacrifice is better. We have to approach sacrifice with a carefully discerning mind, constantly asking for the wisdom of the Lord.
Jesus, would you continue to renew our minds so that we might approve what is excellent, and through testing, discern what is the will of God, your good, pleasing, and perfect will.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen
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