10/31/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
God’s ways are not our ways. This is made crystal clear to us when we consider God’s commands regarding sin and redemption. While we might be quite satisfied asking that people do what they can in their desire for reform and holiness, God requires perfection. While we like to decide what sins are serious and what could be overlooked, God says that all human sin condemns. While we might devise intricate and visible means of atoning for our own sin, God has something quite different in mind.
God has clearly revealed that sin, all sin, is deadly. He requires a perfect sacrifice to atone for sin. In the simplest terms, we can die of our sins and the sin which is common to humans. Otherwise, we can recognize that someone else, someone perfect, has died in our place. Nothing we could do, nothing we would ever devise, will bring help for sin.
Our Epistle from Hebrews 9:11-22 shows that Jesus, the perfect high priest, is the one able to atone by his perfect death for all the sin humans have ever or ever will commit. He is the one without sin who could offer himself up once for all (v. 12). This work cleanses our conscience (v. 14). This negates the elaborate schemes we could devise, what the author calls “dead works” (v. 14). Jesus accomplished this redemption by dying in the place of his people. This death is the work of both a sacrifice and a priest. The forgiveness is accomplished through shedding blood (v. 22) done by Jesus.
What does this men for us? It means that all our plans for holy living, all our attempts at reform, all the pledges we make to bargain with God, all are meaningless. The Christian walk is one of faithful reception, accepting that Jsus is the redeemer he promised to be.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
God’s ways are not our ways. This is made crystal clear to us when we consider God’s commands regarding sin and redemption. While we might be quite satisfied asking that people do what they can in their desire for reform and holiness, God requires perfection. While we like to decide what sins are serious and what could be overlooked, God says that all human sin condemns. While we might devise intricate and visible means of atoning for our own sin, God has something quite different in mind.
God has clearly revealed that sin, all sin, is deadly. He requires a perfect sacrifice to atone for sin. In the simplest terms, we can die of our sins and the sin which is common to humans. Otherwise, we can recognize that someone else, someone perfect, has died in our place. Nothing we could do, nothing we would ever devise, will bring help for sin.
Our Epistle from Hebrews 9:11-22 shows that Jesus, the perfect high priest, is the one able to atone by his perfect death for all the sin humans have ever or ever will commit. He is the one without sin who could offer himself up once for all (v. 12). This work cleanses our conscience (v. 14). This negates the elaborate schemes we could devise, what the author calls “dead works” (v. 14). Jesus accomplished this redemption by dying in the place of his people. This death is the work of both a sacrifice and a priest. The forgiveness is accomplished through shedding blood (v. 22) done by Jesus.
What does this men for us? It means that all our plans for holy living, all our attempts at reform, all the pledges we make to bargain with God, all are meaningless. The Christian walk is one of faithful reception, accepting that Jsus is the redeemer he promised to be.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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