Avoiding Christ-less Worship

9/19 Reading Portions: 2 Samuel 15; 2 Corinthians 8; Ezekiel 22; Psalm 69

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9/19 Reading Portions: 2 Samuel 15; 2 Corinthians 8; Ezekiel 22; Psalm 69

Listen to the audio devotional above, and/or read the written devotional below.

Psalm 69:22

Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.

PASSOVER

The Lord Jesus died between three and four o’clock in the afternoon, yielding up His spirit (Matt 27:46-50), coinciding with the daily, evening sacrifice (Num 28:3-4) and the sacrifice of the last paschal lamb for Passover consumption (Ex 12:6; Deut 16:16). Christ Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophetic Passover Lamb of God (1 Pet 1:18-20), for the deliverance from sin (John 1:29) through the death of God’s only begotten Son (Ex 12:29; John 3:16). As everything of the Passover table was ordained of God to foreshadow the crucifixion of Christ, the Passover Lamb (John 1:31), the unleavened bread (John 6:48), the bitter herbs (Isa 53:3), the wine of His blood (1 Cor 11:25), etc., the religious observance of the Passover became a Christ-less snare to the unbelieving Jews of Christ’s day. It trapped them in religious vanity—void of hope because their Passover observance was vacant of Christ.

We must not be so arrogant as to suppose it could never happen to us (Rom 11:21). The gathering of our local assembly could very well become a habitual ritual, as Christ-less as the contemporary rabbinical Passover table. Are we worshiping God in Christ or merely singing our favorite hymns? Are we communing with Christ in prayer or merely wanting our petitions fulfilled from a heavenly Santa Claus? Are we surrendering to the glory of God’s preached Word through the exaltation of Christ or merely getting instructions to get through the week and live our best lives now? If Christ is not our all in all (Col 3:11), our worship has become a snare, and worse, Christ has become nothing at all to us.

May our worship ever be
Fill’d with Christ, our Lord—
Our all, in all, and gloriously
Exalted from God’s Word.

“Avoiding Christ-less Worship” Photo by shraga kopstein on Unsplash