Ransomed! (Pt.2)

(Part 2)

“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”- 1 Corinthians 6:20

There was a heavy price paid for the freedom we enjoy in this country, but there was an even greater price paid for our spiritual freedom. Your ransom wasn’t cheap! It didn’t just cost Jesus His life. There was an immense amount of suffering that went along with it. His beating at the whipping post, His beard ripped out, the crown of thorns that dug deep into His brow, the mocking, the shame of the cross, the nails that pierced His hands and feet, and the spear that pierced His side combined to compound the agony Jesus experienced as He stood in for you and I.

But, why? Why did Jesus go to those links? Because that is what it cost to ransom you:

“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”-Hebrews 10:10-14

The writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 10:4 that “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” No animal would ever be a fitting substitute or meet the demands of sin. Only a man could ransom mankind. Only a sinless man, could become our substitute and not only would He have to die, He would have to offer His blood as atonement for our sins.

“In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.”-Hebrews 9:22

When we receive communion in our worship services, it is not simply a reminder of what Christ paid for us, it is a reminder of what we did not have to pay. Conceivably that is why so many people are disengaged when it comes time to receive communion. Because somebody else paid our price, it’s possible that we don’t really understand how much it cost. Let’s be honest, just as Hebrews 12:4 declares:

            “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”

When we take communion I wonder if it might be better if the juice were sour and the bread stale and tasteless: a reminder of the suffering and difficulty that Jesus experienced on our behalf; but perhaps it is better just the way that it is, because the then the taste of communion reminds us of the sweet sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf.

When we receive communion we are declaring to God and everyone around us that we recognize that Jesus offered up His body and His blood as a ransom for our sin. We did nothing to earn it, we certainly do not deserve it, but by His grace and mercy He laid down His life for us.

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church