Hebrews 9:14

Hey, Brina talking. I've been wanting to share this post for a while now (three weeks), ever since Anna asked me to bring up Hebrews 9:14 in her bible study, because she wasn't able to come herself. I studied the verse and it really inspired me and showed me God's love, so I thought I'd share it with all ya'll in more depth than I explained at Bible Study. (This is straight out of my notebook, though, so my thoughts will be a bit jumbled.)

All of Hebrews 9:11-28 speaks of Jesus' perfection, in the way that he did not perform "useless rituals" (vs 14) to enter a "man-made sanctuary" (vs 24) but rather "offered himself unblemished" (vs 14) to "take away the sins of many people" (vs 28) so that "we may serve the living God!" (vs 14). Until that point in time, the priests "cleansed their conscience from acts that lead to death" (vs 14), some of that being "sins committed under the first covenant" (vs 15). With their useless rituals and guilt-driven sacrifices, they were only insulting God.

Side note: John Piper says in his book, The Passion of Christ, "When our conscience rises up and condemns us, where will we turn? We turn to Christ. This (Christ's blood) is the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give the conscience relief in life and peace in death".

Back on topic: we insult God with our useless rituals because, as 1 Cor 13:3 says, "If I have not love, I gain nothing." Guilt-driven sacrifices nowhere! But because of Jesus' perfect and loving sacrifice, we can change that. So basically, through his forgiveness and perfect, Holy Righteousness, Jesus gives us LOVE. Now we don't have to rely on rituals to cleanse our consciousness. As Francis Chan says, "Actions driven by fear and guilt are not an antidote to lukewarm, selfish, comfortable living... The answer instead is love-" and later- "When loving him becomes obligation, one of many things we have to do, we end up focusing even more from ourselves." This seems a bit off topic, but it does connect. The point is, Jesus sacrificed himself so we could love. "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death (or useless rituals - ei, acts without love), so that we may serve the living God!"

P.S.
Calvary Chapel has a worship night this Friday and it starts at 8 and goes on for about two hours - it's super fun and it's a really great opportunity to worship God. You guys should all come! My brother David usually carpools a whole bunch of people up there, so I can get you a ride if necessary :) Email me if you're interested