Feb 24, 2023 Blood: A Precious Thing – Words of Grace – February 24, 2023
I have a complicated relationship with blood. The sight of it can make me light-headed and cause my knees to buckle. When my blood is drawn, I look away, so I won’t see the needle enter my vein and the vile turn red. I figure it’s better to act like a wimp on the front end than to faint and confirm that I am one.
On the other hand, I have been a sporadic blood donor over the years. My name is not on the wall at the Red Cross donation center as a high-volume donor, but I’ve contributed enough blood and plasma to know I’ve helped some people. Knowing how precious blood is helps me overcome my queasy feelings and offer up my arm for another draw.
How much more is the blood of Christ precious in the sight of God and to those who by it are ransomed from sin.
1 Peter 1:18 says we are ransomed from our former futile ways with the precious blood of Christ. Whatever reluctance (or negligence) we may have regarding the priority of the blood of Christ, it will be overcome when we know its preciousness.
The blood of Christ is precious because it refers to his death on our behalf. When I give blood, I stop short of death. Jesus gave it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus died. His death was for us and in our place.
The message of the gospel is obscured, left incomplete, and mis-represented if it does not include the actual death of Jesus and the substitutionary nature of it. He died in our place. Sin leads to death; physical, spiritual, eternal death. Jesus died for our sin. Because he died, all who trust in him will be physically raised, spiritually alive, and eternally with him in the new world to come. This makes the blood of Christ a precious and necessary message for all to hear.
The blood of Christ is precious because with it we are ransomed. We know the word ransom as money paid to kidnappers for the release of people held hostage. The idea of ransom is broader and can refer to buying back property, paying off someone’s debt, and securing the freedom of slaves. Whatever the context, and commonality in all ransoms is that a price is paid to change the status of something or someone. With a ransom, property is transferred to a new owner, an indebted person is released from financial obligation, and a servant is at liberty to pursue a new kind of work.
The gospel is the good news that by the blood of Christ, we are ransomed from the state of bondage to sin, condemnation before God, and futility in life. We are free to be obedient children of God, at peace before him, and fruitful in life as we do his will.
Knowing the preciousness of Christ’s blood, and the change that his death brought about for us, is essential to our faith, hope, and holiness. That’s the message we will hear this Sunday at Grace Community Church.
This is D-Now weekend for the youth group. Keep them in your prayers. May the Lord draw them to himself, deepen their confidence in his truth, and capture their hearts with his love, and set them on the path of faithfulness and fruitfulness for his glory.
-Scott