+DEV+ A Response to Grace

Date: October 23, 2011 9:09 PM
Topic: +DEV+ A Response to Grace

A Response to Grace

"how much more, then, will the blood of Christ cleanse our conscience from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (HEBREWS 9:14)
Scripture Focus: Hebrews 9:11-22

The common view of religion today suggests that worship is something humans invented and performed to get God on their side. "If I pray enough, give enough, or serve enough, then God will bless me." Yet true worship never begins with us. Rather, true worship is always a response to the initiating grace of God. For the old covenant people of God, the exodus was the event that inspired countless songs of praise and devotion (see Exodus 15; Psalm 105). For generations to follow, the elderly would remind the younger that all their service to God - worship included - would not have been possible without God's redemption (Deuteronomy 6:20-25).

But now the greater exodus has come. Jesus Christ, the true Passover Lamb, has delivered us not from earthly servitude, but from the wrath of God, through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. Far from requiring our worship to atone for our sins, God inspires our worship by atoning for them Himself through the work of Christ. Is your worship flagging? Then remember all that God has done!

Insight: Do You Ever Feel Unworthy To Worship God? Remember Today That God Has Qualified You Through Jesus.