sunday devotion

Due to the weather conditions that were forecasted in such a fashion as to threaten the cancellation of our Sunday services, we gathered for our weekly worship on Thursday, January 9th.
We encourage you to walk through this devotion on Sunday morning, January 12th since our worship services will not take place on that day.

You can do this alone or with your family!

Jesus Took Our Place

Isaiah 53:4-6, Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The Atonement in His Death
1. Atonement means to make up for an offense or to satisfy a debt owed.
2. The theological word for what Jesus did for us on the cross is Vicarious atonement.
  1. Vicarious is a big word we don’t really use much. Simply put it means to substitute for or to take the place of something or someone else.
  2. That’s what Jesus did for us. He took the place of punishment that we deserve because of our sin/offense to a Holy God.
Substitutionary atonement
1. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him(Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2. Thoughts to ponder from this verse:
  1. God the Father treated Jesus Christ as if He were guilty for every single sin ever committed by everyone who ever lived.
  2. God treated Jesus like we deserve to be treated so we could be treated like Jesus deserves to be treated; that's substitution.

Illustration story: There was a little boy who was notoriously late to come home from school. One morning his parents said, son, we want you to be on time today. It's a very important day. We need you to be here on time. Not only was he late that afternoon, he was much later than he had ever been before. His mother met him at the door, said nothing-- just opened the door. He came in. He said nothing.

At the dinner table, the little boy looked down at his plate. And there on his plate was a single slice of bread and just a glass of water, while his dad had steak, and potatoes, and all the trimmings. But he looked down, and there was nothing for him except the single piece of bread, and his heart sunk because of that. And his dad watched that happen and let it sink in for his son. And then the dad got up with a smile, walked over, and took the boys plate with bread, and exchanged it for his meal. And so dad took that single piece of bread, and that's all he had for dinner while his son enjoyed the steak and potatoes.

The little boy grew up and he said, all my life I have known what God is like by what my father did that night.

It's the language of substitution that helped him understand. Jesus took our place on the cross. And that's what the angel was saying to Joseph when he said, you will call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sin.

Why would God do this for us?
- Because of His love!
  - John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
  - Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In light of this amazing truth, how do we respond to God?
Jesus is deserving of our devotion, our obedience and a lifestyle of praising Him!
Glorify God through a lifestyle of worship and obedience!