i am an offering

Scripture will never cease to amaze me.  It truly is “living and active” as the book of Hebrews says.  So often I will come across a verse that I’m sure I’ve read before but all of a sudden it will become alive and breathe amazing new life into me.  It is also amazing that God chose to use Greek as the primary language of the New Testament.  More on that in a minute.

Hebrews 10:14

One of the verse that has jumped out at me lately and spoken to me over and over again is Hebrews 10:14.  Let’s take a look:

For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

At first glance this might not look like a particularly amazing verse of Scripture - but it is so packed full of truth that it is mind-blowing.  The part I want to take a quick look at now is the phrase “perfected for all time.”

Greek’s Perfect Tense

Unlike the English language, Greek has a lot more ways of saying things just by switching to a different tense.  We English-speaking folks think of past tense, present tense, and future tense.  In Greek there is the perfect tense, combining all three tenses into one, signifying that:

1. Something happened in the past.
2. Even though it already happened, the results of what happened are continually happening in the present.
3. The results of what happened will continue to happen forever in the future.

The phrase “perfected for all time” is in the perfect tense in Greek.  So what’s amazing is, Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross not only happened - it happened with lasting results. And these lasting results won’t fade.  In fact, they’re eternal.  Do you realize what that means for us?  We change daily.  We can’t rely on ourselves.  We will not go a day in our lives without sinning.  But if we trust in the Cross and what Jesus did there, the power of what happened didn’t stop! It is continually applied to us if we are trusting in the blood of Christ!  Even though we waver and fall, our status in Christ doesn’t! Even though we offer imperfect offerings because of our sin - Jesus has made them perfect forever through His blood!

What an amazing promise!

Fred McKinnon just shared a link to his answers to five questions on worship he was asked by The Worship Journals and asked that we comment on his post with the answers to our questions.  I thought this would make a better blog post than a comment so here we go:

Five Questions on Worship

1. What does Worship Mean to You?

Worship means exalting something greater than we currently or previously have exalted it in our own mind.  We could worship a situation.  We could worship an experience.  We could worship a thing.  To me, I try above all else to worship God.  This means surrending myself, my thoughts, whatever I might be exalting at any given moment in time and exalting Him above it all.  This means letting myself decrease and Him increase.  This means letting God be the object of my worship every minute of each day.

2. What Causes You to Worship?

Ultimately - the Holy Spirit.  I can’t worship without the power of God prompting me to do so.  It’s impossible, so the Holy Spirit is what causes me to worship.  But as far as what the Holy Spirit uses to prompt me to worship:  music is a given for me.  So many types of music are used to prompt me to worship.  It helps immensely if the music directs my thoughts toward God and who He is, but I can also be prompted by the beauty and design of orchestral music or the spontaneity and skill of jazz music.  I can see the Creator’s hand in the creativity and complexity of both of these types of music.  I am also prompted by seeing people honor and glorify God in decisions they make and situations they’re in.  Mountains also prompt me to worship.  They show me how puny I am and how amazingly huge God is.  If the mountains are that majestic - how much more the One who Created them!

3. How is Worship Displayed in Your Life?

I hope that it is displayed in the way I live it.  I desire to live a life that exalts God every day and puts to death everything that doesn’t.  I want to offer my life as a living sacrifice to Him.  I hope that worship is displayed in my marriage, my relationship with my daughter, my relationship with my church and pastor, my relationship with my co-workers and through every interaction I have with people.

4. What is Your Favorite Song and Why?

Can it be the top 50? :-)  I think at the moment the song that the Holy Spirit is using most to speak to me would be “Let Your Kingdom Come” by Sovereign Grace Music off of the Valley of Vision album. I keep coming back to it and it keeps replaying in my mind.  It is such a good declaration to lift God’s cause higher than our own and to get my priorities out of the way and make my life about His priorites.

How would you answer these four questions?  (You can be brief, if you like!)

Well, it has been a light couple of weeks of blogging from me and I apologize for that! Family’s been coming first lately as well as getting the house ready for some company this weekend. I hope to get back into the swing of blogging again full-on next week, but there will be a few posts this weeek.

You’ve probably seen this story already, but it was brought up at devotions this morning and man, it’s powerful. While the story doesn’t mention if anyone involved is a follower of Jesus, it’s good for us to see that these sorts of things still happen in the world. It is also good for us to remember that we should be the people that are making these things happen. Enjoy.

This morning’s staff devotion was such a huge encouragement to me. We were reminded that God is still who He says He is. God is still our refuge, strength, helper, protector and provider. God is still loving, forgiving, encouraging, and sustaining. But I think we often forget that God is still jealous, just, holy and perfect. The God of the New Testament is not a different God than the God of the Old Testament. God’s holy standard still needs to be met, and we still fall short of it and always will.

Human solutions will never fulfill God’s promises. But praise God for the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, that is the only thing that could have paid the price for our sin. God’s standard can only be met by Himself, so Jesus being fully God and dying paid the price that God demanded, and Jesus being fully human, yet without sin, lets Him offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice that God’s standard demands. What an incredible plan! As Pastor Wade said yesterday (and you brought it, by the way!), “It was a scandal.” I couldn’t help having a song by one of my favorite bands, “The Choir” running through my head:

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night

On the hillside you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that pours
From our blessed Savior’s side

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by his blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night

Miraculous night

What we have to remember though, is that even though Jesus paid the price that was demanded, and we are forgiven and set free, God is still God and still demands for us to live for Him. Let’s give our lives in response to His grace, and live with obedience this week.