Jesus the winemaker

Dying for our sins... boring. Healing the crippled... lame. Conjuring up an alcoholic beverage... priceless.


A friend recently told an account of a VBS teacher asking why Jesus is worthy of worship; her favorite reply came from a girl who said, "Because he turned water into wine."
My immediate tongue-in-cheek comment was "Dying for our sins... boring. Healing the crippled... lame. Conjuring up an alcoholic beverage... priceless."

But with some reflection on this I see a problem common with Christians on why we love the Lord. If someone presented this VBS teacher's question to the average church congregation the overwhelming response would consist of a long list of works Christ has performed to our benefit.

Now before going further I want to clear up the semantics of this question by stating the cause of our Love for him comes from him in what we know as irresistable grace. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). And that is why we love Jesus. Read the rest of the passage right now because it's good for you! 1 John 4:7-21.

So of course at this very moment, if your heart is right with God, you are asking (verbatim), "Alright, so then what makes Jesus worthy of worship?" I'm glad you asked that question because here is where we tend to lose focus and go all humanistic by thinking that Jesus earned a right to be worshiped by us because of what he did for us. Of course at this very moment, if your heart is right with God you're thinking (verbatim), "Ack! this is *PBL (performance based love). Surely there must be more to my love for Jesus than this shallow, self-centered utilitarianism." And right you are.

He is worthy of worship because He is the Son of God (Matthew 14:33). The emphasis of our love should come more from who He is than what He has done.

Care to dig deeper on this topic? appropriate to worship Jesus


*not to be confused with the all too tasty Peanut Butter and Liver sandwich