Thanks Lionel for the inspiration!
Reading several blogs recently, which I won't link to for reasons which will be obvious, I am made vividly aware of the dangers of allowing ANYTHING to be added to the utter completeness of what God has done for sinners like me in the establishment and inaugurating His New Covenant, by the finished work of the Lord,Jesus Christ.
It is reported that one man made a substantial donation with the hope that his gift will make him more visible to God. Another argues that those who don't teach tithing are close to being heretics. Another argues that some believers are more important to God than others.
What do these people imagine the Lord of Glory is impressed by? Do they really believe that Christ's work was imperfect and has to be completed by their meager efforts? Does He have favorites amongst His own?
I must confess that I have nothing which I can add to the great design of the "clothes" I now wear, will wear until eternity, before my Savior God.
Nikolaus L. von Zinzendorf understood it well:
JESUS THY BLOOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
MY BEAUTY ARE,MY GLORIOUS DRESS;
’Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
Bold shall I stand in Thy great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.
The holy, meek, unspotted Lamb,
Who from the Father’s bosom came,
Who died for me, e’en me to atone,
Now for my Lord and God I own.
Lord, I believe Thy precious blood,
Which, at the mercy seat of God,
Forever doth for sinners plead,
For me, e’en for my soul, was shed.
Lord, I believe were sinners more
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
Thou hast for all a ransom paid,
For all a full atonement made.
When from the dust of death I rise
To claim my mansion in the skies,
Ev’n then this shall be all my plea,
Jesus hath lived, hath died, for me.
- Nikolaus L. von Zinzendorf, 1739
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About Me
- Aussie John
- G'day mates! My name is John and I'm an old Christian bloke, retired, through ill health, from being a teaching elder (pastor) amongst God's called out people. I have seen my retirement as God's gift of a caesura (a pause prior to an emphasis.),and am looking forward to what He has in store. I am happily married, for 55 years, to Val, the most precious girl in the world.
4 comments:
Well Aussie J, why don't you just make things clear? Oh you just did.
For that I thank you...again.
Paul,
Thanks for your comment.
Stone the crows,mate! When we are given such a clear view, that we have no option but to cry with the blind man of John 9, "The one thing I do know is that I used to be blind and now I can see!”
It simply seems to me that there are so very many who have serious spiritual cataracts, and who, though claiming to be disciples of Christ, like the Pharisees in John 9, are actually disciples of Moses.
I, and so many of my pastoral colleagues, were carbon copies of those Pharisees, a follower of Moses. I fell into the deepest darkest pit, and looking up to the light, all I could see was the Savior.
How light His clothing design is, compared to the heavy garments designed by Moses!
Your heading asks an excellent question, and the hymn you quote provides a perfect answer (and the only one). Many of the things folks want to attach to the way of salvation are fine afterword, but they can't add anything to the all sufficient merit of the finished work of Christ. Thanks!
Robert,
Never a truer word was spoken, "...they can't add anything to the all sufficient merit of the finished work of Christ."
Thank you for your comment.
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