"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 | |||
|
Be Holy Until Then | |||
|
What would a Christmas shopping list for the Lord look like?
At first it seems like it might be a good idea. Instead of expending so
much effort on shopping for family and friends, why not try to procure
gifts for God? But what would be on the list? Repentance from my sins More love toward others More gifts given to people in need Time sacrificed in service and prayer Time given to humble meditation on the Word Elimination of a bad habit or two Yes, a Christmas list for God is an odd-looking affair. And then we come to our text this Sunday, Hebrews 10:5-10, which begins with a quotation from Psalm 40:6-8, the beginning of which is: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, with burnt offerings and sin offerings The Old Testament system of agricultural sacrifices is no more--that's part of the point of the text--but we might do well to remember that even in Old Testament we learn that God is not placated or pleased with the mere offering of gifts. The emphasis, as we ought to remember at Christmas, is not on the gifts we give, but on the Gift He has given us. This passage from Hebrews is difficult because the end of verse 5 quotes not the Hebrew Old Testament, but the Greek translation of it known as the Septuagint. Psalm 40:6 says, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have opened. . ." In the Psalm the point is that obedience, listening to and doing God's will, is better and more important than sacrifice. It's a point Jesus and James also made. Yet the Greek version of the psalm talks about "a body you prepared for me." It's hard to make good sense out of that phrase in the original context, but the New Testament writer to the Hebrews clearly saw it as a reference to the sacrifice of Christ's body (see verse 10). It's not sacrifices, it's not even obedience that will please God. Ultimately, it's only His own perfect Gift, offered not by us, but on our behalf by Jesus Himself that will allows to be what God wants us to be, to be holy. So the strange history of the transmission of Old Testament biblical text through the Greek language allows a progression in understanding the depth of God's grace. What we give or do is always secondary to what God gives and does for us in Jesus. Our holiness is ultimately His gift, given through the sacrifice of Christ. Yet there is a still a call to be holy, to accept and live according to the gift we've been given. I can't redeem myself, I can't please God by my own efforts, but I can please and honor Him by receiving and living by the Gift. That's exactly what Mary did in our text from Luke 1:38, as she echoes Hebrews 10:9 (which is understood to be Jesus speaking), "Here I am. I have come to do your will" with her own, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me according to your word." Our holiness is always like Mary's, a reception of grace and a willing acquiescence in God's will. May that Gift be to all of us this Christmas, according to His Word. | |||
|
Profile |
I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
|
Blog Posts |
Archives |
|
|
SurgeMail - Blog Server Software |
Windows Mail Server Software |
UseNet News Server Software