LENT: Sacrifice
This is the fifth Sunday of Lent. We have been focusing each week on a theme related to the suffering and death of Jesus as we anticipate and prepare for his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Our theme this week is sacrifice.
Jesus’ life was marked by sacrifice from the outset. He was with God before the creation of the world … with God in all of His glory. He was the center of unbroken praise among all of the angelic hosts of heaven. Coming to earth was itself an unthinkable sacrifice. Paul said that Jesus emptied himself and took on the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7).
Not only was his coming a sacrifice, but Jesus’ entire life was marked by giving up his rights and spending himself for the sake of others. His feet were always walking toward the ultimate sacrifice of death on a cross.
The question that comes to mind is this: Why is sacrifice so central to God’s plan of redemption?
If you think about what it means to reconcile even a human relationship, you can see how sacrifice is always part of the process. Let’s say I offend you in some way. If we are to reconcile our relationship, you will have to sacrifice your right to be angry and move toward me with forgiveness. And I will have to sacrifice my pride and move toward you with confession and repentance. Without sacrifice there is no reconciliation. There is only hardness of heart and death of relationship.
In the same way, we must sacrifice to move toward God with confession and repentance. But we are not the ones who move first. It is not our sacrifice that saves us. God’s plan of redemption is about his sacrifice.
Redemption is a term of value, so there must be a cost involved. To redeem means to buy back. Because we are created in God’s image, He considered us worth the cost of redemption. However, the full cost of redemption fell on Jesus. All the curses of the Fall, including our sin, were placed on Christ.
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:5-14
Jesus’ life was marked by sacrifice from the outset. He was with God before the creation of the world … with God in all of His glory. He was the center of unbroken praise among all of the angelic hosts of heaven. Coming to earth was itself an unthinkable sacrifice. Paul said that Jesus emptied himself and took on the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7).
Not only was his coming a sacrifice, but Jesus’ entire life was marked by giving up his rights and spending himself for the sake of others. His feet were always walking toward the ultimate sacrifice of death on a cross.
The question that comes to mind is this: Why is sacrifice so central to God’s plan of redemption?
If you think about what it means to reconcile even a human relationship, you can see how sacrifice is always part of the process. Let’s say I offend you in some way. If we are to reconcile our relationship, you will have to sacrifice your right to be angry and move toward me with forgiveness. And I will have to sacrifice my pride and move toward you with confession and repentance. Without sacrifice there is no reconciliation. There is only hardness of heart and death of relationship.
In the same way, we must sacrifice to move toward God with confession and repentance. But we are not the ones who move first. It is not our sacrifice that saves us. God’s plan of redemption is about his sacrifice.
Redemption is a term of value, so there must be a cost involved. To redeem means to buy back. Because we are created in God’s image, He considered us worth the cost of redemption. However, the full cost of redemption fell on Jesus. All the curses of the Fall, including our sin, were placed on Christ.
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:5-14
posted by Will | 5:40 PM
2 Comments:
Will,
have you let the blog languish for a week to persecute us for not sending you submissions? we'll submit to your plea for submissions if you break the blogger silence.
Sorry, the blog silence has been deafening. The week in Seattle got me out of rhythm and – as silly as this sounds – I cannot type with my right hand, which makes me not want to type more than I have to. As evidenced by this comment, I CAN type, I just don’t LIKE to. So … I shall get over it and try to finish strong this week. Thanks for the push.
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