Biddeford Church of Christ

In a recent email I sent out to everyone, I mentioned a song written by Andrew Peterson that I have become very fond of lately.  In his song, he asked a question.  This question has been stirring in my mind as I read this book on biblical meditation.  The question is, “Is He worthy”  Is He worthy of all blessing, honor, and glory?  In the business of everyday life, I have never really considered and thus answered that question.  What happens if we do?  If I do?

Before we consider the text for today’s lesson, it would be helpful to understand the hope this chapter seeks to bring.  For instance, we can confidently know that “we have a building from God” (2^nd Corinthians 5:1) that awaits us.  This “building” is a new, resurrected body.  Our guarantee is the Spirit, which God gave to all who put their trust in Christ’s completed work on the cross (2^nd Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14).  This extraordinary love is what drives Paul to proclaim the message of hope.  What is that message of hope?  Paul says, Christ “died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”  Is He worthy?  He is!

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.

                                                                                                            2^nd Corinthians 5:21

Worthy, as I am using it this day, means having or showing the qualities or abilities that merit recognition in a specific way.  What is it about Christ and His work on the cross that deserves our attention?  The above verse provides three profoundly power reasons.  First, Jesus had no sin.  I know we can quickly run through the bible verses that speak of what Jesus represented while on this earth.  He was God who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) through the man Jesus Christ.  In His humanity, “he was tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15, NCV).

From the beginning of His ministry, being tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11), He did not sin.   The ridicule He repeatedly faced: the doubt of those who followed Him, the betrayal He encountered, the beatings He endured, and the ultimate sacrifice on the cross.  Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep, before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.”  Because of this, He is “able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).  Is He worthy?  But there is more, for He who was sinless God made “to be sin for us.”   He took on humanity’s sin!  My sin!  Your sin!  Peter writes that Jesus “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1^st Peter 2:24).  Through this act of unquestionable love, Jesus became “the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1^st John 2:2).   This word propitiation seems hard to understand, so let’s consider the NCV translation, which says, “He is the way our sins are taken away…”  He, who was sinless, chose to carry the burden of our sin my sins…enduring the penalty that I so deserved.  Is He worthy?

Although this alone gives sufficient reason to answer our question, there is one more powerful thought.  Jesus did all this that “we might become the righteousness of God.  The NCV reads, “Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ, we could become right with God.”  Paul writes in 1^st Corinthians 1:30-31, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God–and righteousness and sanctification and redemption–that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.'”  That is so amazing!  The sinner becomes sinless because the sinless took on their sin.  In so doing, the sinner can claim righteousness, not of his own, but that which God imputed upon him through Christ.  Is He worthy? He truly is!

As the song goes, He is worthy of all blessings, glory, and honor.  As I try to finish this article, tears begin to flow.  What God has done for sinful man, for me, is beyond words of gratitude.  The hideous nature of sin, so destructive and pervasive in this world, is no match for the love of God revealed to us through His Son and our Savior.  He is truly worthy of all blessings, glory, and honor. Thank You, Lord, for saving me.  May my life be renewed through Your grace to bring you all blessings, glory, and honor.  You are worth it all.

Dennis