Worship: God’s Triumphant Grace
God acts in grace. We live in God’s grace. Therefore God can lead us in triumph. Like holy incense, we can smell like a burnt offering to God when we live in his grace.
By now we all have realized that we are powerless to do what God wants us to do without His help. The Holy Spirit is our helper and comforter. Through the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, we can reach God’s standards. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot.
The very good news is that God has given His Holy Spirit to us through no effort on our part. We cannot earn God’s Spirit. The Scriptures teach that Grace requires no human effort.
In the moment of our greatest failures God is still triumphant. If we can face the darkness in the life we have in Christ, in God’s triumphant Son, then we can see God in the most painful places. We can share in His triumph.
In Christ God’s victory and triumph in our lives is certain. Christ’s death and resurrection has made that certain. So all of us should thank God for He is always in control. He is always victorious.
When Jesus said, "It is finished,” that means that everything that God had to do to satisfy His holy love and finish His complete triumph is just that, done.
Yet when we live in this world we often do not feel like triumph. We feel like failures. We are depressed, angry, fearful, resentful, bitter. One reason is because that is how our flesh makes us feel.
We are truly not able to be triumphant in this world personally. However, in Christ, through God’s grace, we are truly triumphant. We are more than conquerors through Christ. So by walking in the Holy Spirit we can be triumphant, even in this world. The Bible teaches us this. The lives of many Christians throughout the centuries teach us this.
Go into an Orthodox worship service. Smell the incense. Believers are like that incense to God. Because we are identified in Christ, we smell like a burnt offering to God. We are a sweet fragrance to Him. We are the spoils of His triumph.
