Last Sunday, I preached on Hebrews 5: 1-10, and my basic point was that Jesus is the best "high priest" we can have----he is the one who can truly save us. This week, our focus will be on Hebrews 7: 23-28, where we are reminded that Jesus' sacrifice was once and for all. Both of these points make me think about how we have our own "idols" in our life, but Christ satisfies us, saves us, and completes us.
The truth of it is that we have our idols. We have things in our lives that we "worship" over Christ. We can "worship" entertainment, people, money. We can even "worship" church and we can "worship" worship. When the way we reach God takes our attention, our praise, over and above God, we have created an idol and we have worshiped an idol. This is extremely difficult to handle for me. I can love a worship song more than I worship God. I can lift up my own spiritual disciplines over and above the God to whom they are directed. I can praise the people in my life that help me see and draw near to God more than God. I can cherish the relationships God gave me over God. I can be more dedicated to the church God has led me to over and above the God it worships and serves. But God is our focus! God is the reason! God has more for us...
Christ is our high priest, where our praise, attention, and focus is directed. Christ is the one who points us to God, opens up the relationship we may have with God, Christ is our High Priest.
God loves it when we sacrifice something for God's sake, whether it be for the church, in service to someone, or for our own spiritual growth and discipline. The danger is, though, that we can presume that our sacrifices are the ones that inevitably "earn" our relationship with God, "earn" God's love for us, and "earn" our own salvation. This can creep into our lives, folks. Believe me. This is what I mean by worshiping something other than God.
Hebrews 7: 27 says "Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself."
God is accessible by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, not what you do for God. What you do for God does not have to be out of obligation or duty, but out of the joy of your heart as you strive to be God's child. Your spiritual disciplines can become ways to seek God, not ways to earn God's favor. Your service to God's people can become ways to share the love of God that you have received; an outpouring of God's grace. Your service to the church can become ways to nurture the community of God in which you have been so nurtured. These can all become ways to worship God in joyful obedience to God.
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