All Cleaned Up

 

Text: Hebrews 9:11-14

Focus: Cleansing

Function: To celebrate our new life in Christ

¹¹But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), ¹²he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. ¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

Praise God and Good morning!

Today, we are celebrating our new life in Christ.

At first, I thought that the scripture that I chose to read, which is actually next week’s lectionary text, was a little bit heavy, or heady, for us to wrap our heads around as a means to celebrate the baptism and power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of 5 people today. Praise God!

The book of Hebrews is a pretty deep book of theology that talks a lot about the way Jesus’ allowed himself to die. He was killed for his message of loving the other regardless of whom and what they are. He embodied the love and selfless generosity that stands in the face of greed and selfishness, so they killed him to silence him.

But he did it as the Priest of God and through his death and resurrection, he proved that living the in what the early church called “The Way” is living the way of God. And God gives us the hope we need through the fact the Christ rose from the dead. I believe that we will as well.

And here is a simple thing that the book of Hebrews is trying to address: What were they supposed to do with all that ancient religion that they knew for generations.

He speaks of the sacrificial system built up around the Ancient Jewish religion and how those sacrifices ended now that we have Christ.

The sacrificial system had to do with the way they butchered meat and didn’t use the blood and expressed gratitude to God. It was a constant reminder that they were dependent on God.

It was a visual system. It was highly symbolic.

The author, is talking about Jesus when we come to the last verse of our text. It reads: “who through the eternal Spirit… ...(to) purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God.”

Praise God that we are free from dead works!

We are free from trying to earn God’s favor.

Now, We are all cleaned up and forgiven by trusting in Jesus.

He promises that the Spirit of God will cleanse and restore our conscience to God.

Some call it salvation. I call it restoration. Because the Spirit of God restores us to God through our conscience.

Our baptism symbolizes a both a death, or an end to selfishness, and a birth to the new life in love. Through Christ’s love and forgiveness, we are healed and restored.

We rest in the leading of God’s Spirit to help us follow Christ as he leads us. Through the Spirit of Christ, we follow God.