He must increase, I must decrease

Hebrews 9:11-14

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; ¹² and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The writer of Hebrews was encouraging the Jewish people to find and maintain their faith in Christ. There were many who had become followers of Christ who began to return to the traditions and requirments of the old covenant, the laws given through Moses. For this reason much of the book of Hebrews relates and compares faith in Christ to the traditions and requirments of the law.

In today's text, the sacrifice of Christ is compared to the animal sacrifices that were meant to atone for sin and the heavenly tabernacle, where God resides is compared to the earthly tabernacle, which was made to resemble the heavenly one. What stood out to me as I reflected on this passage was verse 14,   how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?  It's the end result that the writer mentions here that caught my attention. How much more will the blood of Christ...cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. The end result of Christ's sacrifice is to be our service to the living God. The New Living Translation says it this way: ¹⁴ Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. So our service to and for God is also our worship of Him.

In Romans 12, Paul also draws together the idea of service and worship.   Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  

Paul calls us to this idea of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. It is a determination to do what he says  in the verse, to not be conformed to the world, but rather transformed by the renewing of our mind. The result of this process which Paul is writing about is that we might prove (test-know)  the good acceptable perfect will of God. 

Part of the transformation of our minds is to begin to rely on the witness of the Spirit rather than our own knowledge or understanding. To see and percieve by the Spirit rather than by what we know and experience. We need to ackowledge that we are unable with our finite minds to comprehend an infinite God. In order to present our bodies as a living sacrifice we must determine that we will allow our body to die to self. This process too has several aspects to it. There is a conscious effort we make to crucify our flesh. A daily choosing we have between satisfying self and seeking the things of God. There is also another path toward presenting our bodies and our lives as a living sacrifice.

We can follow the pattern of John the baptist who said in John 3:30,   " He must increase, but I must decrease."  We can either focus on removing the bad or unfruitful things from our lives, our thoughts and our minds, or we can as John says, allow Christ to increase in our lives. When we focus on the darkness or the things that are wrong in our lives we tend to feel unworthy of coming near to God. If we on the other hand draw near to God, making Him central, increasing our time and relationship with Him, we will find that self and all that needs to be removed will decrease. Light overcomes darkness. As Christ increases we decrease.

This brings us back around to verse 14 from our Hebrews 9 text. Our response to Jesus sacrifice for our sins is to serve and worship God.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Holy Spirit thank You for what You have done and what You are doing in my life. Thank You Jesus that You offered Yourself for my sin. Thank You Holy Spirit that You work in me to transform my mind, renewing it to enable me to see and percieve things from a heavenly, spiritual perspective. Thank You Father that all of this was Your plan from the begining, to restore me to fellowship with You. Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Holy Spirit increase in me. Fill me, overwhelm me as I worship and serve You.   Amen