Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Do Not Enter - Casually


Heb 9:7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance….

Heb 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption….

Heb 9:24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people…

Here is the perfect, spotless, sinless, high priest BECOMING the sacrifice for us, once and for all.  Jesus death was the greatest sacrifice ever made; sinless man dying for the sinners.  Allowing holiness to be marred by our shame, He who is the truth taking on our lies.  Perfect love traded in for absolute fear, the humblest man ever to live bearing our selfish pride. He who knew the wonderful joy of heaven filled with depression and sadness.  He who defined loyalty completely abandoned, in short, the perfect example of living the fruit of Spirit now enduring the utter lawlessness of man, infinite power submitted to the finite power of man.

In light His sacrifice, even in light of who He is alone, we must ask ourselves about our attitudes in worship.  Do we stroll casually into the presence of God, treading on the immeasurable sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf?  Are we more concerned about the kind of song, the rhythm, the music, and the words than we are our sacrifice of worship to the Almighty God?  Does it matter what the person next to us will do or will think?  Have we abandoned ourselves in worship to the only Worthy One?  Does the lighting, temperature, style, sound system, etc really matter all that much?  Here, in the depths of our souls, does God reign supreme?  If He does, all these other things really don’t matter much.  If He doesn’t, these things become our focus and we loose sight of the fact that He is worthy no matter the condition in which we find ourselves.  Let me encourage you to be prepared to enter into worship, to come with your heart ready to enter in, with your mind made up to worship no matter the distractions.  Consider His sacrifice on our behalf, on your behalf.  Let us come ready to enter into the most holy place of His Presence anticipating the wonderful things that can happen only in the place of full surrender.