Jesus Frees
Us to Love God
Pentecost + 8 – August 4, 2019
Earthly and Heavenly Sanctuaries
Refrain in our house: “Don’t just say
you’re sorry; change your behavior.”
· It’s one thing to say that you’re sorry for something
you’ve done or not done
· But when it’s the same thing over and over again – you
kind of start to think that maybe the one apologizing isn’t really actually
sorry
· And so we remind our kids (in exasperation!) that we
want to see them change their actions in response to their expressed apology…
we want to see some fruit of repentance. ;)
We have a tendency to do this in our relationship
with God too
· To apologize over and over – every Sunday in church,
we confess our sins to God – things done and left undone.
o We have time to reflect on our own lives and failings
before the communal confession
o We repent; we ask for help to change and live anew
o And yet – next Sunday, we’re back again
· Sin has a way of recurring, of continuing to pop up
and reveal itself in our behavior
· And sometimes the guilt of that can drive us nearly to
despair – knowing that we don’t measure up to what God desires for and from us;
never feeling fully forgiven
· Knowing that our actions cannot “perfect our
conscience.”
· OR we may somewhere deep down think, “I’m really not
all that bad; I do lots of things for others, for the church, for God;”
o Thinking that our service and piety and just plain
“good clean living” mean that the consequences of sin won’t really be that
great – that God must be pretty happy with who we are and how we’re living
o Thinking that our efforts are enough
· But the reality is, whatever we do can’t ultimately fix what is wrong in our relationship with
God and with each other and with the whole creation…
And
author of Hebrews knew this to be true too
· End of chapter 8 quotes the book of Jeremiah – about
the new covenant God plans to make with God’s people – where the law will be
written in their minds and on their hearts and everyone will know the Lord –
and live accordingly
· Then talks about the system of the first covenant –
with really detailed instructions about how to build the tent/tabernacle and
all of the furnishings to go in it
o And what the priests were to do – going continually
into the first tent (not the Holy of Holies) to carry out their ritual duties
(incense and tending the lamp and offering bread and offering sacrifices)
o They did these things over and over (like we do with
confession)
o And yet these gifts and sacrifices offered cannot
perfect the conscience of the worshiper
o Can’t deal with the root problem and consequences of
sin – broken relationship with God
· And God cries out for that life that is truly
transformed – and yet also knows (much as we do with our kids) that a changed
life/heart/mind is not as easy as that; not fully under our control
And so Jesus comes, the great high priest – to
offer not the blood of animals, but offering himself, entering into the Holy
Place to give up his own life
· What Jesus does is something new; something that is
once and for all
o Yes, we still sin and we still feel those effects in
our lives and see them in the world around us
o But Jesus’ death on a cross removes the door that
stands between us and God; (a door we erected, I might add – behold, I stand at
the door and knock, Jesus says…)
· We still confess our sins and seek forgiveness – b/c
that changes us and helps us to live in the world as people who are forgiven
and being renewed
o It helps transform our understanding of ourselves and
our actions
· And in Jesus, we see that we are set free – from
guilt, from complacency, from captivity to sin
· Instead of performing the same ritual week after week,
hoping that this time will be the time that it actually “takes”, we are set
free – it shifts the way we see God and ourselves and the world
o It moves us from dead works motivated by guilt or the
belief that we and our behaviors are the determining factor in our relationship
with God – to a life in which we realize that in Jesus we are already free, already forgiven
· And so we are empowered to live in new ways – to not
just say we’re sorry, but to start to live lives that show our desire to live
in new ways, ways that are lined up with the living God
· We begin to trust and live into the abundant life that
Jesus promises, confident that God loves us and forgives us – so that we are
able to extend grace and mercy and forgiveness and love to others and even to
ourselves –
· In Jesus, we are transformed, renewed, called into
relationship with the living God – and sent to live lives filled with worship and service
to others and the world God made, in thanksgiving, love, and praise.
· Thanks be to God. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment