3 More Sundays...

The official countdown is 3 more Sundays before we move into our new facility. Over the next few weeks as we prepare for our move, we will be building our worship gatherings on several different Psalms. This morning I began thinking through the next few weeks by reading Psalms know as the Songs of Ascent: Psalms 120-134.

Psalm 134 is written for the priests who served in the ancient Jerusalem Temple overnight. It calls out to remind them that during their work caring for the Temple, they are to continually turn their thoughts to the God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who is worshipped there. They are reminded that their work is their act of worship to God.

In Revelation 1:4-6 the Apostle John tells us that Christ has made everyone who believes in him a kingdom of priests to serve God. We serve God day and night by communicating the Message that our High Priest, Jesus Christ, has offered himself as the final sacrifice removing sin and God's wrath from the lives of everyone who believes in him. Just as the priests who served God in the ancient Jerusalem Temple faced the temptation of allowing their work cleaning the Temple and preparing it for worship, we too face the danger of allowing this holy truth that has changed our lives to become ordinary to us.

The LORD, the Creator of heaven and earth, has blessed us from Zion. He has made our complete forgiveness his free gift to us in the perfect life and death of his Son, Jesus Christ. Consider this gift God has given us and allow it to change your perspective. Stand back from your tasks for just a moment to gaze at the glory of the Temple whose foundation and cornerstone is Christ and is being built up as the lives of all his followers are brought together for his glory. Consider how your life has been changed by the truth that, once you have trusted in Jesus, nothing you ever do will make God love you less because you are completely forgiven in Jesus body that was broken and blood that was spilt on the cross. The truth that, once you have trusted in Jesus, nothing you do will ever make God love you more since God views every believer as though he or she has perfectly kept the law because Jesus perfectly kept the law on our behalf.