The Exchange

It dawned on me during our sermon series on worship that the entire Christian life is based on exchanges.

In the first week of that series, we established the fact that we are always worshiping.  We are always putting something as a priority in our lives, always choosing whether God has the final say on a certain aspect of our lives or if something else bumps him down the list.  Good worship is always done because we want to thank God for his grace and forgiveness.  It's not an attempt to earn God's love, but simply an opportunity to put him first as a way to express our gratitude.

In other words, good worship is giving away some temporal pleasure and receiving God's blessing in return--A good exchange.  Bad worship (or "sin") is giving away God's approval/blessing in exchange for some temporal pleasure.  The more I ponder those two statements, the more I believe that they cover everything about the Christian life.

For example, you can worship well at your business by making deals with integrity.  In doing so, you give away a few extra dollars you would have gotten "under the table" in exchange for God's approval and a clean conscience.  Or you can worship badly by cutting some corners.  In doing so, you get a few extra bucks, but give away godliness and  integrity.

Or think of being patient.  You can worship well by giving away that momentary pleasure of letting someone "have it" and taking, in exchange, the joy of being self-controlled.  Or you can relish the moment of cursing that person out, but you will have given away God's approval of your action and the peace that comes through a patient character.

Sex is the same.  You can enjoy a night's pleasure, but you will give away much more.  Prayer is the same.  You can gain an extra 10 minutes today by skipping prayer, but you will lose a tremendous amount in exchange.

Do you see the pattern?  Sin is always getting something temporary at the cost of something lasting and godly. 

But here's what I love most about this idea--Jesus is the one who was willing to be at the bad end of the exchange.

Think of the exchange Jesus made.  He took our sin from us and gave us his holiness in return!  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin [aka Jesus] to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  In other words, Jesus never sinned a single time, but he chose to hold out his hands and took our sin from us.  In doing so, he filled our then-empty hands with his righteousness, so that we could be ready for heavy.  He suffered the punishment, so that we could have eternal joy!  That's why Martin Luther called the gospel "the great exchange."

In view of that, we have an awesome reason to worship well.  Today, you and I will be faced with a million choices, endless opportunities to make an exchange.  I pray that we would give away temporary highs for the sake of God's eternal approval.  Just to hear our Father in heaven say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"  In view of Jesus' amazing mercy, I pray that today would be a day of great worship for you.

God bless,

Pastor Mike