I always need Jesus

 

 

READ Nehemiah 9-13

Just because Jesus came into my life, forgave my sins, and made me a child of God does not mean that I no longer need His saving power. Today, reading these chapters remind me that even the most glorious and even miraculous experiences of God in no way indicate that I have ‘arrived’ and all will be easy sailing from this point on. This part of the story describes a high point. It begins with:

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. (Nehemiah 9:1–3)

Chapter 9 continues with an incredible prayer of praise and recommitment, loftier yet similar to prayers I have made over the years after sinful mistakes and realizing how much I need God. The chapter ends with: “Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing . . . .” which my many journals will affirm, yet even with the power of God and the Holy Spirit’s leading, the pattern repeats itself. It takes a long time to realize that even the most heartfelt intentions are not enough. Sin is too powerful for my determination to overcome.

Yet these OT saints were determined. They said, “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.” (Nehemiah 10:28–29) And followed up with a list of things they would not do, including “We will not neglect the house of our God.”

But they did. And Nehemiah returned to deal with their sin, warning and correcting them for forsaking the house of God, disobeying Sabbath regulations, and intermarriage with foreigners, reminding them of the dangers of these sins and asking God not to wipe out all the good he had done in His service.

These OT people give the impression that the favor of God depended on their obedience. In some ways it did, yet they knew their salvation depended entirely on God’s mercy. He did not forsake them. Instead, He sent them a Savior, better than their own efforts, better than Nehemiah’s leadership, better than the laws that governed them but they could not keep. And just as the plan of God determined, they crucified Him — that by His death, He would be the mediator of a new covenant:

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:11–14)

This is why salvation begins with Jesus but does not end there. That old sin nature still tries to rule, to do its own thing, even to serve God in my own strength just as the OT saints tried to do and failed. I cannot be what God wants me to be without the living power of Jesus Christ and a daily reliance upon Him, not relying on myself. As John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

This means letting the Word of God show me the ‘I parts’ that these may be confessed and be put out of the way so the Holy Spirit fills and rules all parts. This is a daily, moment-by-moment necessity — I always need the saving power of Jesus Christ.

 

God does laundry and takes out the trash

Normally my husband takes our trash cans out for weekly pickup, but he is taking a golf vacation so this became my task. Meeting one of our neighbors at the curb, we agreed that the task made us feel like we needed a bath!

This morning I wonder what Christ felt like when the sin of the world was put on Him. Did He smell the stench of it? Did He feel dirty and unclean, wanting to be WASHED Himself? These thoughts make me shudder yet getting rid of our garbage does feel good!

In the OT, the Hebrew word kābas means “to clean, cleanse, wash,” usually by treading, kneading, or beating in relation to laundry (never used about washing the human body). Kābas refers to ceremonially unclean clothing and carries the idea of “treading down” or “subjugating.” This word can also be used figuratively concerning the washing away of sins — which only God can do.

Psalm 51:2. “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

Jeremiah 2:22. “Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God.”

Another word, rāḥaṣ, is about human activity to make oneself clean in relation to covenant purity, a ritual yet important to signify the holiness of God. This word is used prophetically by Isaiah to describe what God would do in the future:

Isaiah 4:2–4. “In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.”

While the NT also speaks of washing in several ways, the above OT prophetic event is fulfilled when Christ became our high priest and washed believers by His blood.

Hebrews 9:11–14. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

NT verbs meaning to wash are used for other things, but when God does the action, sinners experience cleansing from guilt and new life from Christ — of which baptism is a symbol.

Hebrews 10:22. let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Titus 3:5–6. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. That God washes away my sin is a powerful and wonderful act of grace. This washing changes lives and as Jesus demonstrated, it also leads to another kind of washing: doing acts of humble service. He took a towel and washed the feet of His disciples, something normally done by a servant. Theologically, this symbolizes His humility and sacrifice on the cross where He washed away our sins and He intends that I behave in that same manner . . .  

John 13:12–15. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Later, those who literally washed feet were commended, yet this action illustrates many other ways where Christians can lovingly serve one another, humbly meeting needs of ordinary kinds as well as those more traumatic. Sometimes it might feel a bit like taking out the trash, yet no matter. Serving others is the joy of being a Christian, a joy known only by doing it and finding out that it is one more way to be like Jesus.