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“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

John 3:16 is one of the most familiar verses in all of Scripture and cuts directly to the good news of the gospel message. What an amazing and beautiful reality. What a blessed assurance of life everlasting (Hebrews 10:22) for those who trust Christ Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. How great our joy (John 15:11)!

As we worship through song together each week, we journey through various postures of praise and thanksgiving, lamentation, intercession. prayer, and exuberant exaltation. With this song, we celebrate the good news of God’s redemption of sinners saved by grace – and we call all to come to the altar and share in the richness of His goodness and blessing. It is both an exaltation and an invitation.

Churches are not temples built to glorify the saints within them, but rather houses of worship (Psalm 150:6), hospitals for the sinful and broken (Mark 2:17), and respite for the weary and downtrodden (Matthew 11:28). And here’s the reality: we are all broken and sinful (Romans 3:23). We all grow weary. And we all experience suffering at some point in our journey through this life (John 16:33). And with that reality comes a desperate need for a Savior – one whose Kingdom will not pass away (Daniel 7:14, Matthew 28:18, 1 Corinthians 15:24-25).

It is my desire for each of us to share in a deep personal reflection of our role as representatives of Christ and His Church – specifically His local church body – to draw in and make welcome a community in need. Are we engaged with those around us while we’re in these four walls? Are we personally going out of our way to welcome the new faces? Are we truly willing to share the Lord’s table and feast with our neighbors in observable and tangible ways?

My prayer this week as we introduce God So Loved:

Heavenly Father,

May we, the Church, come boldly and humbly before Your throne this week as we rejoice in Your daily mercy and grace. May we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit to root out the sins we continue to harbor in our lives; may we rely on You, Lord, for the strength and steadfastness to repent. May You be the center of our lives in a way that is evident to those around us who are weary and broken, hungry and thirsty, struggling with addiction and sin, and otherwise far from You. May we draw them near with Your glorious light and make them welcome at Your table (and ours). Thank You for loving and redeeming us while we were still sinners – and thank You for giving us a hope and a future that will endure forever. May the joy that comes from this blessed assurance overflow and permeate every aspect of our lives as we live for You.

Amen.

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Thank You Jesus for the Blood

I was a wretch, I remember who I was.
I was lost, I was blind
I was running out of time
 
Sin separated, the breach was far too wide
But from the far side of the chasm
You held me in Your sight

So You made a way across the great divide
Left behind Heaven's throne
To build it here inside

And there at the cross, You paid the debt I owed
Broke my chains, freed my soul
For the first time I had hope
 
CHORUS
Thank you, Jesus, for the blood applied
Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white
Thank you, Jesus, You have saved my life
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light
 
You took my place
Laid inside my tomb of sin
You were buried for three days
And then You walked right out again
 
And now death has no sting
And life has no end
For I have been transformed
By the blood of the Lamb
 
BRIDGE
There is nothing stronger
Than the wonder-working power of the blood, the blood
That calls us sons and daughters
We are ransomed by our Father
Through the blood, the blood
 

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13

Blood.  We know that for every creature, “its blood is its life” (Leviticus 17:14), yet the very connotation of the word can also bring thoughts of brutality, pain and death.  While the flow of blood sustains life, the shedding of blood ends it—at least in human terms.  As we introduce this new song, Thank You Jesus for the Blood, we as a church body have the opportunity to reflect on how Christ’s blood shed for us (Isaiah 53:5) and His subsequent resurrection (Matthew 28:5-6) secures and sustains abundant, eternal life. Jesus’ blood is for us life through death—just another example of how human understanding is often turned upside down in the context of God’s Kingdom (Philippians 1:21).

As I read through each day’s headlines, my heart breaks at the injustice, the malice and the lack of mercy exhibited between human beings. One needs to look no further than current events in Afghanistan or on the streets of our cities here at home. The bloodshed of innocents is a brutal reality of the fallen and broken condition of this world. It’s more than my frail flesh can handle, and I cry out, “Jesus, have mercy. Come quickly.”

But then I’m reminded of the ultimate Innocent One, whose blood was shed: God’s Son who dwelt among us (Matthew 1:23, John 1:14), lived a sinless life (1 Peter 2:22, Hebrews 4:15) and formed human bonds as a son, a brother, a cousin, and a friend over the course of thirty-some years.  He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), and to reconcile us to the Father while we were still sinners and enemies of God (Romans 5:8-10).  In the greatest act of mercy and love ever witnessed, Jesus took on the depravity of the entire world and every generation (2 Corinthians 5:21) as He willingly submitted to the brutality of Roman crucifixion.  His innocent blood was shed and applied as payment for our sin, satisfying the wrath of a just and Holy God, and securing our salvation once and for all, forever and ever (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus stands in stark contrast to the fallen world we navigate—and rarely is this contrast more visible than when we gaze upon the brutality and the beauty of the cross.

So as we sing the words of this song together and reflect on the cost of our atonement, may we remember who we were (and are) apart from the grace of Christ. May we recall that the old has passed away, crucified and buried with Christ in the likeness of His death. May we rejoice that the new has come, raised anew in the likeness of His life.  May we remember the price that was paid in our Savior’s blood to purchase us from sin and death. And may we sing out in humble gratitude for the Savior who applied His blood to our debt and paved the way back to Him.

Thank you, Jesus.

————–

Thank You Jesus for the Blood

I was a wretch, I remember who I was.
I was lost, I was blind
I was running out of time
 
Sin separated, the breach was far too wide
But from the far side of the chasm
You held me in Your sight

So You made a way across the great divide
Left behind Heaven's throne
To build it here inside

And there at the cross, You paid the debt I owed
Broke my chains, freed my soul
For the first time I had hope
 
CHORUS
Thank you, Jesus, for the blood applied
Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white
Thank you, Jesus, You have saved my life
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light
 
You took my place
Laid inside my tomb of sin
You were buried for three days
And then You walked right out again
 
And now death has no sting
And life has no end
For I have been transformed
By the blood of the Lamb
 
BRIDGE
There is nothing stronger
Than the wonder-working power of the blood, the blood
That calls us sons and daughters
We are ransomed by our Father
Through the blood, the blood
 

“I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:14-19

Are you discouraged or frustrated by the barrage of identity politics, labels and divisions that run deep even within families and lifelong friendships?  Consider even a few of the labels thrown around today. Mask or no mask.  Vaccine or anti-vax.  Red or blue, left or right, black or white.  The world tells us we have worth based on the labels we have or the ones we avoid. But make no mistake – we are missing the big picture when we adopt these labels and entrench ourselves (and others) in these identities above that which we have in Jesus.  When we categorize people (particularly those we disagree with) by lesser identities we forget the foundational truth that all people are precious in God’s sight, not just the ones who happen to agree with our position on a particular matter. In a city that glorifies and promotes division perhaps more than any other, we are called to be in the world, but not of it. It’s easy to identify ourselves and others according to the world’s lesser labels, but who does Jesus say we are? As followers of Christ Jesus, God’s Word bestows the following “labels” upon us, each a priceless blessing:

• WE ARE NEW CREATIONS.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
• WE ARE FREE.  Romans 6:6 says, “We know that old old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
• WE ARE RECONCILED TO GOD.  Romans 5:10 says, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.”
• WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD.  Romans 8:15-16 says, “…but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”
• WE ARE CO-HEIRS WITH CHRIST.  Galatians 3:29 says, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
• WE ARE FRIENDS OF CHRIST.  John 15:15 says, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
• WE ARE SECURE IN OUR SALVATION.  Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• WE ARE EQUIPPED.  Romans 12:6-8 says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
• WE ARE FULL & COMPLETE.  Ephesians 3:14-19 says, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
• WE ARE WASHED, SANCTIFIED & JUSTIFIED.  1 Corinthians 6:11 says, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

What palpable worth do the fading labels of this world have to offer in light of these eternal, invaluable promises?

As we seek to honor Jesus by knowing Him and making Him known, the RBC staff meets, worships and prays together each week. A couple months ago, Tony Cho led us in the song we’re introducing in Doxologies, My Worth Is Not In What I Own. Several worship team members have also expressed a deep resonance with its lyrics, particularly as we wrestle with the labels of the world versus the identity we are given in Christ. As we sing this song congregationally, our prayer is that it will aid each of us in reassessing where we find our worth: in the world, or in the Kingdom? In man’s words, or God’s Word? In the treasures we hold in our hands, or in the Savior who holds us in His?

May this song serve as a reminder of the solid truth that our identity if formed and founded in Jesus: that our worth is not found in human riches, worldly metrics, or cultural labels du jour, but in the name of Christ Jesus – our Redeemer, Treasure, Wellspring of our souls. 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matthew 6:19-21)

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My Worth Is Not In What I Own (At the Cross)

My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love
At the cross
 
My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose, in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed
At the cross
 
CHORUS
I rejoice in my Redeemer
Greatest Treasure
Wellspring of my soul
I will trust in Him, no other
My soul is satisfied in Him alone
 
As summer flowers we fade and die
Fame, youth and beauty hurry by
But life eternal calls to us
At the cross
 
I will not boast in wealth or might
Or human wisdom's fleeting light
But I will boast in knowing Christ
At the cross
 
Two wonders here that I confess
My worth and my unworthiness
My value fixed, my ransom paid
At the cross