We spend an inordinate amount of time in our lives justifying ourselves. You may be scratching your head about that statement, but please hear me out. To justify one’s self means to argue why you are in the right. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in an election year. We are being bombarded right now with candidates who are arguing why you should vote for them–why they are the right person for the job. Put in other terms, they are justifying why they deserve to be in office.
Furthermore, as people pick their particular candidate, they work to justify the reasons they chose a particular candidate. For instance, a person voting for Hillary Clinton might say, “I’m voting for her because she has a lot of political experience.” A person voting for Donald Trump might say, “I’m voting for him because he is not part of the political establishment.” The person voting for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein might say, “I’m voting for him or her because he/she is not Clinton or Trump.” The person who is saying these things is justifying their position on their vote.
But we don’t just justify ourselves when it comes to our votes. No. Far from it. We justify ourselves in almost every arena of our lives. We submit our resumes and interview for particular positions justifying–or proving–why we deserve that position. Then we justify why we deserve to keep that position or merit a raise. We argue our particular ideology and justify as to why it is correct. We submit reasons that we don’t attend church regularly justifying our lack of attendance on a given Sunday or series of Sundays. We even have to justify ourselves to our children. Some parents might be wondering at that statement, but here’s the reality. I know you are like me because there are times when you tell your kid to do something or tell them they cannot do something, and they look at you and ask the dreaded question, “Why?” Essentially, the why is asking for a justification as to your command–even if that justification becomes, “Because I told you so!” Any time you argue your stance or give reasons for your words or behavior, you are striving to justify yourself.
And perhaps one of the greatest questions we face as humanity is this: given the vastness of our universe and the extreme rarity of life in that universe, why are we here? What is the purpose of our existence? Why do we even exist?
There has been much ink spilled over this question, and the answers are far reaching. I do not have near enough time to cover them in such a short period of time–so I will only speak from the perspective of one who believes in God. I choose this path because the vast majority of the world’s population believe in some sort of deity, and there is a common belief that God created the world, and God created us. Each religion has different reasons why God created us, but all of those religions are also in agreement that humanity has failed to live up to the expectations of the deity.
Again, every religion believes that the God who created this world and created us has some sort of expectations for how we live our lives. Every religion has as part of its code of conduct to treat others as we would wish to be treated, and every religion realizes the failure of humanity to do exactly that.
And so every religion wrestles with the question–how do we justify ourselves before our Creator? How do we make things right when we go wrong? If our Creator is just, then how do we account for the injustice we have done?
Paul has wrestled with this question from Romans chapter 1 verse 18 until chapter 3 verse 20. Paul’s answer is: there is no way that we can possibly account for our injustice. There is no way we can justify ourselves. At the end of our lesson last week, Paul left us standing in the cosmic court room without any defense; speechless, condemned before a just and holy God. The only thing that we could look forward to at this moment was experiencing God’s wrath against our sin. The outlook was very, very bleak.
Which is why Paul’s opening words in verse 21 are so sweet. “But now...” “But now...” These words signify a break in what would normally be expected. They signify that something out of the ordinary is taking place. “You would expect that God would unleash His wrath upon you who stand condemned by your sin, BUT...” What a sweet word “but” becomes. Let’s turn to the text.
Verse 21, “21 But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, Remember that Paul has made an important distinction between Jews and Gentiles. Jews are under God’s Law and are condemned because they don’t follow it. Gentiles are outside of God’s law and condemned because they don’t meet the standards they hold for each other. If God is going to save ALL, then His saving power must come from outside the Law, or Gentiles will be excluded. Since God cares about ALL of His creation, He must act irrespective of the Law–this is what Paul is getting at with these words. But, this does not nullify God’s Law. This does not nullify God’s covenant with Israel because the Law and the Prophets testify or point toward’s God’s saving and just action toward the world.
And that saving action, God’s justice is revealed in verse 22: the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. The righteousness of God; the justice of God is revealed–not in following the Law; not in obeying the commands of God; not by being a perfect individual; not by trying to do more good than bad; but it is manifest through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
Now, we need to take just a moment here to talk about faith. Oftentimes, you will hear people define faith as belief without evidence. You will hear people define faith as some sort of intellectual assent. This is summed up in the statement, “I don’t see any evidence of God, yet I believe that He exists.” This is not what Paul means by the word faith–not at all. Paul means trust. There is a big difference between intellectually believing something and actually trusting in that something.
I have illustrated this with a joke in previous sermons. An atheist skips church on Sunday morning to hike in a remote area of a state park. While walking along the trail, the trail gives way and he falls. He just happens to grab a branch sticking out of the cliff side. It is too steep to climb up. It is too far to simply drop.
The atheist yells and yells, but to no avail. Where he is, is too remote. There is no one around. His arms are growing weary, and he has no options available. In a last ditch effort, he turns his eyes skyward and says, “You know, I’ve never believed in you, but if you really do exist, I could use a little help.”
The atheist is shocked to hear a voice reply, “I do exist, and I will help you.”
A huge sigh of relief escapes the former atheist as he asks, “What should I do.”
The voice replies, “Let go.”
The former atheist then says, “Is there anyone else up there?”
That, my friends illustrates perfectly the difference between belief and trust. The person who simply believes in God will still hang on despite the voice. The person who trusts God, lets go. That is the meaning of faith.
This is important considering what follows next. For there is no distinction, 23since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. Paul reiterates what he has just outlined in Chapters 1, 2, and part of 3. We stand condemned and guilty. We don’t even come close to reflecting the glory of God, but God has changed our standing. God has rendered a not guilty verdict. God has said, “You who deserve my wrath now receive my love.” Period. End of story.
Of course, that should make us celebrate–particularly if we know the depths of our sin; particularly if we have had the mirror held up to ourselves in Romans chapters 1, 2, and 3. But how can God do this? Sure, it’s good news for us, but what about all of the people we have hurt by our sins? What about the people we spread gossip about and whose reputations have been ruined? What about the times we took things that didn’t belong to us? What about the angry words we spoke that cut like a knife? And remember, God does not simply change your status–anyone who trusts in Jesus’ action–their status is changed as well. The murderer–what about his victims? The racist–what about those toward whom he has spewed hate? The white collar thief who stole millions–what about those who lost their retirement? How can God forgive like this and still call Himself just? How can He claim that justice will be served if our sins are completely forgiven?
Here is how: Christ Jesus has become the sacrifice of atonement. Whenever a sin is committed, some sort of restitution must be paid. If you crash into another’s car, you must pay for the damages in order for things to be made right. If you hurt someone’s reputation, telling everyone you were wrong makes amends. And if you forgive someone, instead of making that other person pay for what he or she did, you pay for it yourself. And if you pay for another’s damages, you have taken on their guilt. There are those who might argue that this isn’t true justice, but think about this for a moment. If your kid breaks a window at school and the school threatens to kick your child out if damages aren’t paid for; what parent will allow their kid to be kicked out? What parent wouldn’t jump in and pay the price for their kid? And if a kid is running in the street, what parent wouldn’t swoop in to push them out of the way of an approaching car and being hit themselves? Love pushes you to accept and take punishment for others–to pay the price for those who cannot pay themselves. Examples of this abound–AND GOD HAS DONE THIS ON A COSMIC SCALE. God has paid the price for all sin through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. For your sins, for my sins, FOR ALL WHO HAVE SINNED. And the promise that all will be made well stands for those who trust in what God has done in Jesus. This becomes effective when you trust in Jesus and not yourself.
Let’s press on before we talk about the implications of this finishing up verse 25, He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. The question for Jews at this moment would be, “Well what about all of those who came before Jesus? What about the Jewish people and the promises God made to them? What about the forgiveness of their sins?” Paul touches on this here. Most scholars agree that Paul is saying that God never fully punished those sins. God never gave folks what they deserved and reserved judgement until this time. He passed over their sins until this present time.
“But they never had the opportunity to believe in Jesus?” is the obvious retort. Here is where I would like to make a bit of an adjustment in the translation from the Greek. For the Greek text literally reads, “it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has the faith OF Jesus.” Now remember what I said earlier: faith equals trust. The faith of Jesus means relying totally and completely upon God. Jesus exhibited this faith, and Paul will show what this means in regards to those who have come before in the next couple of chapters. People before Jesus didn’t have the opportunity to trust in Jesus, but they did have the opportunity to trust in God, and Paul will show that Abraham did–as did others in the Jewish faith. Hence, because they trusted God, they too have been justified.
Now, what is the significance of this? It means you are right with God. You don’t have to prove yourself with God. You don’t have to trust in yourself to try and do as much good as you can to balance out the cosmic scales of karma. God has already handled that for you. You are in right standing with Him–not because of your own work but because of the work accomplished on your behalf–the work of Jesus. Can you trust in the work of someone else on your behalf? Can you trust in the work that He has accomplished for you?
This isn’t easy to do because we are taught to justify ourselves. We are taught to think that everything is up to us when we argue; seek a job; work at school; make a decision; cast our vote. “Justify yourself!!” society screams. But Christianity says, “You are already justified. In the greatest court of all, you are already made right. There is nothing more you need to do because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.” When you trust those words, when you believe down deep that you are already justified despite not deserving it, there is a peace that invades your entire being. You no longer feel like you have to prove yourself to anyone and everyone. For the God of this universe has said that you are right. And if you are right with God, what more do you have to prove? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, because you have nothing more to prove, you are free. Gloriously free. By God’s gracious act through the sacrificial atonement of Jesus you are set free when you place your trust in Him. This is most certainly good news. It is the Gospel. Amen.
Showing posts with label sacrificial atonement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sacrificial atonement. Show all posts
Monday, October 31, 2016
Monday, May 9, 2016
Denial is not Simply a River in Egypt
I love where my kids are at right now. They are truly fun. They are right in that middle zone where they are out of diapers, potty trained, and independent enough to dress themselves and get their own breakfasts. Yet, they are not quite at puberty, arguably the most trying time for kids and parents. They are right in the middle, and I am enjoying it while it lasts.
How enjoyable is it? In the past month or so, both of my daughters have come up to me separately and said, “You are the best dad in the world.” It really is a heart-melting moment. But, do you know what I have done every time? Folks may question my sanity and parenting style because of what I am going to say next, but I’m going to see how this plays out in the long run. Each time my girls have said, “You are the best dad in the world,” I have replied, “Thank you sweetie. I appreciate this and I am going to remember this because in about two or three years, you are probably going to think that I am the dumbest person in the world.”
Every time I’ve said this, my girls look at me and say, “Daddy! Why would you say that?”
I respond, “Because in a few years, you are going to be a teenager, and most teenagers think their parents are dumb and don’t understand anything.”
My girls have both said, at this point, “Daddy, I don’t ever want to say or think that.”
I reply, “I hope not either.” I have hope, but I’m not optimistic. I remember my own teenage years all to well. I’ve been around more than a few teenagers since then. The odds are not in my favor. Human nature is too powerful. So I confronted my daughters with this prophecy. They weren’t happy with it.
You may wonder why I share this with you. I share it because I think it is related to the events taking place in our Gospel lesson this morning as we progress through the 14th chapter of the book of Mark.
This text follows immediately after the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and as Jesus and his disciples depart the upper room, they do so by singing the hymn. Now, if this is a Passover meal and they are following the oldest known sequence of this meal, then they were singing what is called the Hallel Psalms. This would have ended with Psalm 118. It is an intriguing thought to think that as Jesus left this final meal with his disciples, He would have had these words on his lips:
The Lord is my strength and song; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! The Lord’s right hand has lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” I will not die but live and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
Think about that with the knowledge that Jesus is now entering into the final hours of leading up to his arrest and crucifixion. “I will not die but live and will proclaim what the Lord has done.” Ironic. Tragic? Definitely hopeful.
When everyone reaches the Mount of Olives, Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “You will all become skandalizein.” Skandalizein is the Greek word that is translated will fall away, be offended, be made to stumble. Mark Edwards writes in his commentary, “Skandalizein...does not mean that the disciples will willfully defect but that external factors will act upon them and cause them to do so...We do not plan on sinning, but neither do we hold the fort when we ought.” This is an important point–one that we will come back to in a little while. But first, we must consider this text more deeply, for Jesus backs up his words by citing Zechariah chapter 13. “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”
Let me read to you this quote in context from the Old Testament so that you might get more of an idea of what is going on. Zechariah 13:7-9, 7“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the Lord of hosts. Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. 8In the whole land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive. 9And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people”; and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”
Now, let me point out that in this Old Testament passage, it is God Himself who is striking the shepherd. It is God who is taking this action so that He may purify and refine His people. It is necessary for the shepherd to be struck down. Now, the historical situations of Zechariah and Jesus are not the same. They are not the same at all. So, Jesus is taking this passage and redefining it to help us, and the disciples understand. Unfortunately, they will not understand at this point. Not in the least. They will not understand until after the cross and resurrection. For the moment, they are flabbergasted that Jesus would suggest that God would strike Him and that they would scatter.
Before we get to the disciples’ reaction, let me point out to you a little snippet that even the disciples missed. They were reeling from what Jesus said, and I am quite convinced they missed hearing Jesus say, “28But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” The disciples did not hear this and did not understand this because the notion of an individual resurrection had no thought in their minds. Nowhere in Jewish literature or thought was there the idea of a resurrected Messiah. They didn’t understand this. They didn’t grasp this. It was foreign, so they focused on what they did know: Jesus said they would all desert him; be scandalized by him; abandon him and be scattered.
Jesus confronted them, and they didn’t like it. Peter, being Peter is the first to speak up. Peter, with his bravado and self-confidence and self-assurance stands against this prophecy. Peter, the fisherman who had spent hours hauling in nets full of fish, steering boats, who probably had well defined biceps and six-pack abs. Peter who believes he is tough enough to do anything. “Lord, even if everyone else deserts you, I will not.” Peter doesn’t exactly have a high view of his friends, does he? Peter obviously thinks he’s better than the rest of the disciples here, doesn’t he? Peter doesn’t like what Jesus said, and so he denies that he will abandon Jesus.
But Jesus has none of it. Jesus knows human nature too well. Jesus knows what he will face. Jesus knows what Peter will face. Jesus knows the deep down fear and anxiety. “Truly I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
“31But he said vehemently, ‘Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And all of them said the same.” All of them said the same. Brash. Unflinching. Self-confident and self-assured. Arrogant. Remember last week when I said that betraying a friend after eating a meal with them was considered the worst kind of treachery in the Middle East? Jesus has essentially said that all of the disciples would do this. Judas would be the betrayer, but all would fall away. No one wanted to take part in such treachery. No one wanted to fall away. All wanted to stand. All asserted that they would stand. Confident in their strength, they wrote checks with their words that they would not be able to cover. They sought to justify themselves before Jesus
And how we love to do the same thing. How we love to justify ourselves and revel in our own strength and self-confidence and self-assurance. How we love to pat ourselves on the backs and tell ourselves that we are strong enough to stick by our choices. How we vehemently promise to God, to our friends and family, and to ourselves that we will do things differently; be better; do more.
• I can quit drinking anytime I want.
• I won’t get angry with you anymore.
• I won’t go to those websites anymore.
• I will eat healthier.
• I will exercise regularly.
• I will go to church more often.
• I will give more to charity.
• I will spend more time with my kids.
• I am in charge of my life, and I will do better.
And it all sounds good until you don’t. Until you fall right back into the same habits; same routines; same behaviors. And when we are confronted? When someone points out that our words do not match up with what we are doing? What do we do? Let me tell you what I do. I am the king of excuses. I am very good at blame displacement. I can give you a million reasons why the circumstances around me have led me to say what I say and do what I do. In the famous words of the German theologian, pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I am all too ready to “justify my sin instead of proclaim the justification of the sinner.”
But Jesus doesn’t let us get away with that. Jesus knows us too well. He will confront us in our sin. He will confront us with how he knows we will act. Because He knows the end results. We will see those results in due time. We will see Peter’s denial. We will hear the rooster crow. We will see the disciples flee. We will even hear about how one of them was caught by his clothes and wiggling free ran away naked and ashamed.
And if we ever run into the real Jesus, we will find ourselves standing in front of Him naked and ashamed as well. We will stand before Him and know that we have missed the mark. We will deeply know our hypocrisy. We will know how our self-confidence and arrogance led us to say things we should not have said and do things we should not have done. We will know how we were never better than others despite a desperate want to be so. We will know shame even though we have spent more than our fair share of time trying to avoid feeling shameful. We will know how we turned our backs on Jesus and we will know that the right thing for Him to do is turn his back on us.
But, at that moment, when we know that He should turn His back upon us, we realize the significance of those words from Zechariah 13. “I will strike the shepherd...” The shepherd will be struck down. The Good Shepherd will be struck down as He lays His life down for the sheep. Jesus, the Good Shepherd will be struck down as He lays down His life for His disciples–for you. For when you stand before Jesus, you will know beyond a doubt that you are not worthy to be in His presence. You will know you are not worthy to be in God’s presence. You are unholy. You are broken, battered, torn. You deserve the wrath of God–to have God turn His back upon you. But the Good Shepherd intercedes. He takes upon Himself your sin, your guilt, your shame. He faces God’s anger and wrath in your place. He has God turn God’s back against Him.
Standing in Jesus’ presence naked and ashamed waiting for Him to turn His back on us, He stretches out His arms and dies for us–in our place, pouring His life out for us in an act of wondrous love. He clothes us with new garments of dazzling white as He says, “You are forgiven. I have paid the price for your self-assurance; your self-confidence; your arrogance. I have covered in action what you could not do yourself. I lay down my life for you because I love you.”
This is the Good News. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.” God did not send Jesus to condemn you, but to save you. And He will go before us to gather us together once again. The sheep that are scattered will be drawn back to the Good Shepherd, and they will be vastly different.
At the end of the book of Mark, after the resurrection. The same young man who ran away naked and ashamed is found in the tomb. He is found fully clothed in a garment of pure white. He unashamedly pronounces that Jesus has been raised from the dead. This young man has been transformed by what Jesus has accomplished for him. And this transformation happened to the rest of the disciples as well. When they came in contact with the risen Lord, it changed them greatly. Whereas they once deserted Jesus and ran from persecution, as they proclaimed the good news of His death, they later embraced persecution and even death. They refused to run any longer. Death, fear, anxiety no longer had power over them. How is it that they were able to overcome these things which oftentimes still have power over us? They didn’t trust in themselves to stand up to these things. They didn’t trust in their own power and understanding. They trusted in Jesus. They trusted in what Jesus had done. They trusted in His love; in His mercy; in His grace. They knew if they tried to have confidence in themselves, they would fail once again. And so, they trusted in Jesus. Their hearts rested in Jesus and His work. And here is further good news for you and me.
It happened to the disciples, and it can happen to us. We too can know that type of transformation. We too can face the challenges of life with much less fear and anxiety and worry. But we have to stand being confronted by Jesus. We have to stand knowing that we are broken. We have to stand before Him and know that we have fallen short of His expectations. We must know our weakness and failure, but we must also know Jesus’ deep love. We must also know how much this God incarnate was willing to go through to show us how much we are loved and cherished. You see, if you know you have failed but you also know you are deeply loved, your heart and life changes. Arrogance, self-assuredness, self-confidence, and brashness are replaced by deep humility. Fear, anxiety, and worry, are replaced by hope and trust that Jesus will see you through. You brag less; love more; rest your confidence in Jesus instead of yourself; and seek as many opportunities as possible to worship the one who laid down His life for you. When you realize the Good Shepherd was struck down for you and that He now seeks to gather you in, your life and heart is changed. Rest in His grace, love, and mercy. Amen.
How enjoyable is it? In the past month or so, both of my daughters have come up to me separately and said, “You are the best dad in the world.” It really is a heart-melting moment. But, do you know what I have done every time? Folks may question my sanity and parenting style because of what I am going to say next, but I’m going to see how this plays out in the long run. Each time my girls have said, “You are the best dad in the world,” I have replied, “Thank you sweetie. I appreciate this and I am going to remember this because in about two or three years, you are probably going to think that I am the dumbest person in the world.”
Every time I’ve said this, my girls look at me and say, “Daddy! Why would you say that?”
I respond, “Because in a few years, you are going to be a teenager, and most teenagers think their parents are dumb and don’t understand anything.”
My girls have both said, at this point, “Daddy, I don’t ever want to say or think that.”
I reply, “I hope not either.” I have hope, but I’m not optimistic. I remember my own teenage years all to well. I’ve been around more than a few teenagers since then. The odds are not in my favor. Human nature is too powerful. So I confronted my daughters with this prophecy. They weren’t happy with it.
You may wonder why I share this with you. I share it because I think it is related to the events taking place in our Gospel lesson this morning as we progress through the 14th chapter of the book of Mark.
This text follows immediately after the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and as Jesus and his disciples depart the upper room, they do so by singing the hymn. Now, if this is a Passover meal and they are following the oldest known sequence of this meal, then they were singing what is called the Hallel Psalms. This would have ended with Psalm 118. It is an intriguing thought to think that as Jesus left this final meal with his disciples, He would have had these words on his lips:
The Lord is my strength and song; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! The Lord’s right hand has lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” I will not die but live and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
Think about that with the knowledge that Jesus is now entering into the final hours of leading up to his arrest and crucifixion. “I will not die but live and will proclaim what the Lord has done.” Ironic. Tragic? Definitely hopeful.
When everyone reaches the Mount of Olives, Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “You will all become skandalizein.” Skandalizein is the Greek word that is translated will fall away, be offended, be made to stumble. Mark Edwards writes in his commentary, “Skandalizein...does not mean that the disciples will willfully defect but that external factors will act upon them and cause them to do so...We do not plan on sinning, but neither do we hold the fort when we ought.” This is an important point–one that we will come back to in a little while. But first, we must consider this text more deeply, for Jesus backs up his words by citing Zechariah chapter 13. “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”
Let me read to you this quote in context from the Old Testament so that you might get more of an idea of what is going on. Zechariah 13:7-9, 7“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the Lord of hosts. Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. 8In the whole land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive. 9And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people”; and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”
Now, let me point out that in this Old Testament passage, it is God Himself who is striking the shepherd. It is God who is taking this action so that He may purify and refine His people. It is necessary for the shepherd to be struck down. Now, the historical situations of Zechariah and Jesus are not the same. They are not the same at all. So, Jesus is taking this passage and redefining it to help us, and the disciples understand. Unfortunately, they will not understand at this point. Not in the least. They will not understand until after the cross and resurrection. For the moment, they are flabbergasted that Jesus would suggest that God would strike Him and that they would scatter.
Before we get to the disciples’ reaction, let me point out to you a little snippet that even the disciples missed. They were reeling from what Jesus said, and I am quite convinced they missed hearing Jesus say, “28But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” The disciples did not hear this and did not understand this because the notion of an individual resurrection had no thought in their minds. Nowhere in Jewish literature or thought was there the idea of a resurrected Messiah. They didn’t understand this. They didn’t grasp this. It was foreign, so they focused on what they did know: Jesus said they would all desert him; be scandalized by him; abandon him and be scattered.
Jesus confronted them, and they didn’t like it. Peter, being Peter is the first to speak up. Peter, with his bravado and self-confidence and self-assurance stands against this prophecy. Peter, the fisherman who had spent hours hauling in nets full of fish, steering boats, who probably had well defined biceps and six-pack abs. Peter who believes he is tough enough to do anything. “Lord, even if everyone else deserts you, I will not.” Peter doesn’t exactly have a high view of his friends, does he? Peter obviously thinks he’s better than the rest of the disciples here, doesn’t he? Peter doesn’t like what Jesus said, and so he denies that he will abandon Jesus.
But Jesus has none of it. Jesus knows human nature too well. Jesus knows what he will face. Jesus knows what Peter will face. Jesus knows the deep down fear and anxiety. “Truly I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
“31But he said vehemently, ‘Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And all of them said the same.” All of them said the same. Brash. Unflinching. Self-confident and self-assured. Arrogant. Remember last week when I said that betraying a friend after eating a meal with them was considered the worst kind of treachery in the Middle East? Jesus has essentially said that all of the disciples would do this. Judas would be the betrayer, but all would fall away. No one wanted to take part in such treachery. No one wanted to fall away. All wanted to stand. All asserted that they would stand. Confident in their strength, they wrote checks with their words that they would not be able to cover. They sought to justify themselves before Jesus
And how we love to do the same thing. How we love to justify ourselves and revel in our own strength and self-confidence and self-assurance. How we love to pat ourselves on the backs and tell ourselves that we are strong enough to stick by our choices. How we vehemently promise to God, to our friends and family, and to ourselves that we will do things differently; be better; do more.
• I can quit drinking anytime I want.
• I won’t get angry with you anymore.
• I won’t go to those websites anymore.
• I will eat healthier.
• I will exercise regularly.
• I will go to church more often.
• I will give more to charity.
• I will spend more time with my kids.
• I am in charge of my life, and I will do better.
And it all sounds good until you don’t. Until you fall right back into the same habits; same routines; same behaviors. And when we are confronted? When someone points out that our words do not match up with what we are doing? What do we do? Let me tell you what I do. I am the king of excuses. I am very good at blame displacement. I can give you a million reasons why the circumstances around me have led me to say what I say and do what I do. In the famous words of the German theologian, pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I am all too ready to “justify my sin instead of proclaim the justification of the sinner.”
But Jesus doesn’t let us get away with that. Jesus knows us too well. He will confront us in our sin. He will confront us with how he knows we will act. Because He knows the end results. We will see those results in due time. We will see Peter’s denial. We will hear the rooster crow. We will see the disciples flee. We will even hear about how one of them was caught by his clothes and wiggling free ran away naked and ashamed.
And if we ever run into the real Jesus, we will find ourselves standing in front of Him naked and ashamed as well. We will stand before Him and know that we have missed the mark. We will deeply know our hypocrisy. We will know how our self-confidence and arrogance led us to say things we should not have said and do things we should not have done. We will know how we were never better than others despite a desperate want to be so. We will know shame even though we have spent more than our fair share of time trying to avoid feeling shameful. We will know how we turned our backs on Jesus and we will know that the right thing for Him to do is turn his back on us.
But, at that moment, when we know that He should turn His back upon us, we realize the significance of those words from Zechariah 13. “I will strike the shepherd...” The shepherd will be struck down. The Good Shepherd will be struck down as He lays His life down for the sheep. Jesus, the Good Shepherd will be struck down as He lays down His life for His disciples–for you. For when you stand before Jesus, you will know beyond a doubt that you are not worthy to be in His presence. You will know you are not worthy to be in God’s presence. You are unholy. You are broken, battered, torn. You deserve the wrath of God–to have God turn His back upon you. But the Good Shepherd intercedes. He takes upon Himself your sin, your guilt, your shame. He faces God’s anger and wrath in your place. He has God turn God’s back against Him.
Standing in Jesus’ presence naked and ashamed waiting for Him to turn His back on us, He stretches out His arms and dies for us–in our place, pouring His life out for us in an act of wondrous love. He clothes us with new garments of dazzling white as He says, “You are forgiven. I have paid the price for your self-assurance; your self-confidence; your arrogance. I have covered in action what you could not do yourself. I lay down my life for you because I love you.”
This is the Good News. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.” God did not send Jesus to condemn you, but to save you. And He will go before us to gather us together once again. The sheep that are scattered will be drawn back to the Good Shepherd, and they will be vastly different.
At the end of the book of Mark, after the resurrection. The same young man who ran away naked and ashamed is found in the tomb. He is found fully clothed in a garment of pure white. He unashamedly pronounces that Jesus has been raised from the dead. This young man has been transformed by what Jesus has accomplished for him. And this transformation happened to the rest of the disciples as well. When they came in contact with the risen Lord, it changed them greatly. Whereas they once deserted Jesus and ran from persecution, as they proclaimed the good news of His death, they later embraced persecution and even death. They refused to run any longer. Death, fear, anxiety no longer had power over them. How is it that they were able to overcome these things which oftentimes still have power over us? They didn’t trust in themselves to stand up to these things. They didn’t trust in their own power and understanding. They trusted in Jesus. They trusted in what Jesus had done. They trusted in His love; in His mercy; in His grace. They knew if they tried to have confidence in themselves, they would fail once again. And so, they trusted in Jesus. Their hearts rested in Jesus and His work. And here is further good news for you and me.
It happened to the disciples, and it can happen to us. We too can know that type of transformation. We too can face the challenges of life with much less fear and anxiety and worry. But we have to stand being confronted by Jesus. We have to stand knowing that we are broken. We have to stand before Him and know that we have fallen short of His expectations. We must know our weakness and failure, but we must also know Jesus’ deep love. We must also know how much this God incarnate was willing to go through to show us how much we are loved and cherished. You see, if you know you have failed but you also know you are deeply loved, your heart and life changes. Arrogance, self-assuredness, self-confidence, and brashness are replaced by deep humility. Fear, anxiety, and worry, are replaced by hope and trust that Jesus will see you through. You brag less; love more; rest your confidence in Jesus instead of yourself; and seek as many opportunities as possible to worship the one who laid down His life for you. When you realize the Good Shepherd was struck down for you and that He now seeks to gather you in, your life and heart is changed. Rest in His grace, love, and mercy. Amen.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Cutting Off Your Hand Doesn't Work
Last week, as we read through the book of Mark, we saw how Jesus coached His disciples in dealing with those who were not members of the “in” group. An exorcist was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, but this exorcist was not a part of the inner 12. Jesus sternly said, “Do not stop him for someone who does such a deed in my name will not soon turn against me.” These are powerful words as we deal with our fellow Christians who do not believe as we believe. Jesus name is what unites us, and doing what we do in His name renders most differences moot.
Then, Jesus spoke about those who do not follow Him as a disciple. “Truly I tell you anyone who gives you a cup of cold water because you bear the name of Christ, that person will not lose the reward.” Again, hearing Jesus’ words is important because this isn’t about the things we do–this is about how people treat Jesus’ disciples. If a non-believer gives YOU a cup of cold water, then they will not lose the reward. If Jesus regards even a non-believer this highly, the disciples should as well. For Jesus came to save the world, not just a select few. Only those who blatantly reject Jesus, whose hearts are consumed by other things, who seek their own satisfaction and self-preservation will bear some serious consequences.
This is why Jesus teaches what He teaches in our snippet from Mark chapter 9 this morning. Jesus shifts the focus from those who are outside the faith, from the outer life, so to speak, to the inner life of the believer. Jesus cuts through all external things and gets to the heart of the matter. This is extremely important to grasp, especially since today is Reformation Sunday–a special day for those of us who call ourselves Lutheran Christians–a day when we strongly emphasize God’s grace and our inability to save ourselves. How does this all come together? Let’s turn to the text.
Jesus begins with some powerful, strong words: 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
It is important to note that in the ancient Jewish world, people literally did blame their extremities for sin. William Lane in his commentary on Mark says, “It was not a Palestinian custom to refer to an abstract activity but to the specific member of the body which is responsible for it.” So, in the culture, it was acceptable to say, “My hand sinned. My foot sinned. My eye sinned.” Jesus confronts this thinking and says, “Well, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If you foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eyes cause you to sin, pluck them out.” Jesus pushes the culture’s logic to its logical conclusion. It’s better for you to be lame or blind than to be sinful. It makes perfect sense, but it is horrifying.
Not only is it horrifying, it’s also forbidden by Jewish scripture:
Deuteronomy 14:1 reads, “You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.”
Deuteronomy 23:1 reads, “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” (Bet you didn’t know that one was in there!)
There is a reason behind these laws for the Jews understood God to be holy and whole, complete. If you were incomplete. If you were not whole, you were seen as further away from God. You were seen as less than what you should be. For Jew to hear Jesus say, “Cut off your hand. Cut off your foot. Pluck out your eye.” would invoke absolute horror! The Jew would have thought, “You are asking me to separate myself from God–to become incomplete–to make myself less than I should be!”
But is Jesus doing such a thing? Is Jesus telling us to cut off our hands and feet or pluck out our eye. No serious scholar believes such a thing because of this pertinent fact: if you cut off your hand, you will still sin. If you cut off your foot, you will still sin. If you pluck out your eye, you will still sin. The cause of sin does not reside in your hand or your foot or your eye. The cause of sin is much deeper. Jesus knows this. Jesus has taught this. Unfortunately, it is not sinking in.
Remember way back in Mark seven, there was an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees where the Pharisees were complaining that Jesus’ disciples were eating with unwashed hands. There’s a lot that is happening in that exchange, but eventually, we get to the place where Jesus says this, “4 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ 17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
It is from the human heart that evil intentions come. Hear that one more time: it is from the human heart that evil intentions come. Jesus pushes the cultural logic to its horrific conclusions to get people past the absurdity of it. Jesus pushes the cultural logic to its horrific conclusions to show that blaming hands and feet and eyes for sin is asinine. Sin is a condition, not of the extremities, but of the deepest recesses of the human heart.
It is easy to blame a hand for stealing. It is easy to blame a foot for walking into a house of ill repute. It is easy to blame an eye for looking at another person with lust in your heart. It is easy to blame the rich for all the world’s problems. It is easy to blame those on welfare for their unwillingness to work. It is easy to blame capitalism for poverty. It is easy to blame communism for destroying human rights. It is easy to blame Democrats or Republicans or conservatives or liberals. It is easy to blame teachers for kids failing to learn. It is easy to blame elected officials for failing to deal with the problems of a given community. It is easy to put the problem “out there”, residing in someone else. But Jesus won’t let us get away with that. The problem isn’t in the hand. It isn’t in the foot. It isn’t in the eye. The problem isn’t out there with any group or institution or form of government. The problem is in the human heart.
Now, most folks don’t like this. Most folks would like to blame circumstances that are out there. It absolves them of responsibility. However, the Christian faith is not about shirking responsibility. It’s about accepting it, and accepting the fact that each and every one of us is indeed sinful. We are not just people who do bad things–who are imperfect. No. We are much worse. We are rotten to the core. We are self-centered and seek our own self-preservation.
You may not like me saying that, but let me see if I can show you the depths of your own sinfulness. Why do you do most of the things that you do? What is your motivation for getting up in the morning and going to work or engaging in any sort of activity? What drives you? I am not asking you to give me a superficial answer to this question. I really want to know.
You see, I get up most mornings and exercise. I make two laps around Cat Spring doing interval training. Most of you know I have lost quite a bit of weight in the past couple of years, and I want to keep it off. Some of you know my motivation behind it. A couple of years ago, my kids and I were visiting my parents. We were going to go to the Texas State Aquarium, and my kids ran up to their grandpa and said, “Grandpa, are you going too?” Grandpa, my dad, said, “Sorry, I can’t. My knee is hurting too badly.” Now, my dad hurt his knee playing football. He is also on the heavy side. These two things came back to haunt him. I hurt my knees playing football. I was on the heavy side. I saw the future in an instant–a future that if I am blessed with grandchildren that I could face. And I did not like that picture. I did not like the idea of my grandchildren asking me if I could go with them and having to turn them down. I decided right then and there to lose the weight and hopefully save my knees. Now, who did I lose the weight for? You could say that I did it for my children and my hoped for grandchildren. But that is not the truth. I didn’t want to deal with the disappointment of my grandchildren. I didn’t want to deal with their hurt. I didn’t want to see that in their eyes because IT WOULD BOTHER ME. My reasons are selfish. They have nothing really to do with my future grandchildren. They have nothing to do with this body that was given to be by God. My motivations are purely selfish. Purely.
Do I need to give further examples? Do I need to delve into why you get up and drink a cup of coffee? It’s because you enjoy it, right? You like the taste. Would you drink it if you didn’t like it? Would you drink it if you got no benefit from it? Oh, here’s another story putting the crosshairs directly on me. When I was on internship at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Waco, I did a lot of visitation. I really enjoyed visiting the little old ladies who were all too happy to provide snack for me. They found out I liked to eat, and they were happy to spoil me. One day, I went to visit Emma. I was told that Emma tended to be on the depressed side. She hadn’t done well after her husband had died. I hoped to cheer her up. Emma and I visited, and then she said, “I have something for you. It’s some fresh banana bread.”
A little part of me died inside. I hate bananas. I really do, especially since the taste of a banana makes me gag. Literally. I will gag when I taste banana. So, here is this wonderful lady; who went out of her way to make me this bread, who was a little on the depressed side, who didn’t need her intern making any sort of negative comments; what was I to do? I choked down the bread. I did something I didn’t like in the least. Hiding my gags and chugging water, I got that darn bread down. Self-sacrifice? Hardly. I wanted Emma to enjoy the visit. I wanted her to think positively about me and what I brought to her. I choked that bread down for purely selfish reasons.
Are your motivations any different? Do you engage in activities that you get no benefit from; no enjoyment out of; no satisfaction at all, yet continue to do so because it is the right thing to do? Most of us don’t. Not in the least. In fact, most of us know the right things to do, but we don’t do them because it costs us. It costs us dearly.
Which is why Jesus says, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” Most scholars are perplexed by this saying, but interestingly enough most of them link Jesus’ saying with Leviticus chapter 2:13, “You shall season all your cereal offerings with salt; you shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offerings; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” These offerings were sacrificial offerings. They were offerings set forth showing a radical dependency on God. They were offerings saying, “Lord, we trust that you will get us through thick and thin, and we bring the first fruits of our grain to you to be burned in fire, with salt.”
But Jesus is taking this offering a step further. It’s not the first fruits that are offered and burned and refined and salted–it is us. We are refined and salted. We endure the fire and refinement as living sacrifices. St. Paul puts it this way in Romans chapter 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
This is the calling Jesus gives to His disciples. Don’t be superficial. Don’t look at your hand, your foot, or your eye. Look at the deep recesses of your heart and let the sinfulness of it be burned and refined. Offer your very self as an offering to God. Discipleship is not for the faint of heart.
Now, anyone who grasps this and understands this should be terrified. Really. If you understand what I have proclaimed to you to this point, you should be shaking in your shoes. For Jesus is demanding your entire being. He is asking you to walk away from all the desires of your heart. He is asking you to walk away from your own motivations and selfishness. He is asking you to forsake your identity and your well being to follow Him. It’s not a very good sales pitch. Most of us, if we were honest, would say no. We would say not a chance. None of us here this morning would accept such terms because they are just too difficult. The need for self-preservation and self-satisfaction is just too strong. We are unwilling to sacrifice ourselves.
But there is One who was willing. There was one who was able. There was one who did such a thing in our place. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it dozens of times, we must understand all scripture through the cross. We must understand all of Jesus’ teachings through the cross. The cross is the center of our faith and understanding, and Jesus knows you cannot and will not sacrifice yourself. Jesus knows the depths of your sinfulness. Jesus knows the hold that sin has over your heart. And He must break that hold. He must show you that following Him and trusting Him is worth the sacrifice.
And so when you could not sacrifice yourself, He sacrificed Himself. When you were afraid to face the fire, Jesus descended into Hell and faced that fire for you. When you were afraid of the pain of forsaking yourself, Jesus faced the ultimate forsakenness as the Father turned His back on Him as He hung on the cross. Jesus looked at you in the midst of your sin and in the midst of your selfishness, then looked at His Father and said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice on your behalf.
When you could not do; when you were in bondage to your self, Jesus did. He saved you from yourself when you could not. This was not something you earned; rather it was given to you by sheer grace. And when you are moved by this, when those chains fall off your heart because you know you are deeply sinful yet deeply loved, you want to die to yourself. You want to become a living sacrifice. You want to be salted with fire. You want to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. Your heart beats with a deep gratitude for the One who gave Himself up for you because He loves you.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. This is most certainly true. Amen.
Then, Jesus spoke about those who do not follow Him as a disciple. “Truly I tell you anyone who gives you a cup of cold water because you bear the name of Christ, that person will not lose the reward.” Again, hearing Jesus’ words is important because this isn’t about the things we do–this is about how people treat Jesus’ disciples. If a non-believer gives YOU a cup of cold water, then they will not lose the reward. If Jesus regards even a non-believer this highly, the disciples should as well. For Jesus came to save the world, not just a select few. Only those who blatantly reject Jesus, whose hearts are consumed by other things, who seek their own satisfaction and self-preservation will bear some serious consequences.
This is why Jesus teaches what He teaches in our snippet from Mark chapter 9 this morning. Jesus shifts the focus from those who are outside the faith, from the outer life, so to speak, to the inner life of the believer. Jesus cuts through all external things and gets to the heart of the matter. This is extremely important to grasp, especially since today is Reformation Sunday–a special day for those of us who call ourselves Lutheran Christians–a day when we strongly emphasize God’s grace and our inability to save ourselves. How does this all come together? Let’s turn to the text.
Jesus begins with some powerful, strong words: 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
It is important to note that in the ancient Jewish world, people literally did blame their extremities for sin. William Lane in his commentary on Mark says, “It was not a Palestinian custom to refer to an abstract activity but to the specific member of the body which is responsible for it.” So, in the culture, it was acceptable to say, “My hand sinned. My foot sinned. My eye sinned.” Jesus confronts this thinking and says, “Well, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If you foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eyes cause you to sin, pluck them out.” Jesus pushes the culture’s logic to its logical conclusion. It’s better for you to be lame or blind than to be sinful. It makes perfect sense, but it is horrifying.
Not only is it horrifying, it’s also forbidden by Jewish scripture:
Deuteronomy 14:1 reads, “You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.”
Deuteronomy 23:1 reads, “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” (Bet you didn’t know that one was in there!)
There is a reason behind these laws for the Jews understood God to be holy and whole, complete. If you were incomplete. If you were not whole, you were seen as further away from God. You were seen as less than what you should be. For Jew to hear Jesus say, “Cut off your hand. Cut off your foot. Pluck out your eye.” would invoke absolute horror! The Jew would have thought, “You are asking me to separate myself from God–to become incomplete–to make myself less than I should be!”
But is Jesus doing such a thing? Is Jesus telling us to cut off our hands and feet or pluck out our eye. No serious scholar believes such a thing because of this pertinent fact: if you cut off your hand, you will still sin. If you cut off your foot, you will still sin. If you pluck out your eye, you will still sin. The cause of sin does not reside in your hand or your foot or your eye. The cause of sin is much deeper. Jesus knows this. Jesus has taught this. Unfortunately, it is not sinking in.
Remember way back in Mark seven, there was an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees where the Pharisees were complaining that Jesus’ disciples were eating with unwashed hands. There’s a lot that is happening in that exchange, but eventually, we get to the place where Jesus says this, “4 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ 17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
It is from the human heart that evil intentions come. Hear that one more time: it is from the human heart that evil intentions come. Jesus pushes the cultural logic to its horrific conclusions to get people past the absurdity of it. Jesus pushes the cultural logic to its horrific conclusions to show that blaming hands and feet and eyes for sin is asinine. Sin is a condition, not of the extremities, but of the deepest recesses of the human heart.
It is easy to blame a hand for stealing. It is easy to blame a foot for walking into a house of ill repute. It is easy to blame an eye for looking at another person with lust in your heart. It is easy to blame the rich for all the world’s problems. It is easy to blame those on welfare for their unwillingness to work. It is easy to blame capitalism for poverty. It is easy to blame communism for destroying human rights. It is easy to blame Democrats or Republicans or conservatives or liberals. It is easy to blame teachers for kids failing to learn. It is easy to blame elected officials for failing to deal with the problems of a given community. It is easy to put the problem “out there”, residing in someone else. But Jesus won’t let us get away with that. The problem isn’t in the hand. It isn’t in the foot. It isn’t in the eye. The problem isn’t out there with any group or institution or form of government. The problem is in the human heart.
Now, most folks don’t like this. Most folks would like to blame circumstances that are out there. It absolves them of responsibility. However, the Christian faith is not about shirking responsibility. It’s about accepting it, and accepting the fact that each and every one of us is indeed sinful. We are not just people who do bad things–who are imperfect. No. We are much worse. We are rotten to the core. We are self-centered and seek our own self-preservation.
You may not like me saying that, but let me see if I can show you the depths of your own sinfulness. Why do you do most of the things that you do? What is your motivation for getting up in the morning and going to work or engaging in any sort of activity? What drives you? I am not asking you to give me a superficial answer to this question. I really want to know.
You see, I get up most mornings and exercise. I make two laps around Cat Spring doing interval training. Most of you know I have lost quite a bit of weight in the past couple of years, and I want to keep it off. Some of you know my motivation behind it. A couple of years ago, my kids and I were visiting my parents. We were going to go to the Texas State Aquarium, and my kids ran up to their grandpa and said, “Grandpa, are you going too?” Grandpa, my dad, said, “Sorry, I can’t. My knee is hurting too badly.” Now, my dad hurt his knee playing football. He is also on the heavy side. These two things came back to haunt him. I hurt my knees playing football. I was on the heavy side. I saw the future in an instant–a future that if I am blessed with grandchildren that I could face. And I did not like that picture. I did not like the idea of my grandchildren asking me if I could go with them and having to turn them down. I decided right then and there to lose the weight and hopefully save my knees. Now, who did I lose the weight for? You could say that I did it for my children and my hoped for grandchildren. But that is not the truth. I didn’t want to deal with the disappointment of my grandchildren. I didn’t want to deal with their hurt. I didn’t want to see that in their eyes because IT WOULD BOTHER ME. My reasons are selfish. They have nothing really to do with my future grandchildren. They have nothing to do with this body that was given to be by God. My motivations are purely selfish. Purely.
Do I need to give further examples? Do I need to delve into why you get up and drink a cup of coffee? It’s because you enjoy it, right? You like the taste. Would you drink it if you didn’t like it? Would you drink it if you got no benefit from it? Oh, here’s another story putting the crosshairs directly on me. When I was on internship at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Waco, I did a lot of visitation. I really enjoyed visiting the little old ladies who were all too happy to provide snack for me. They found out I liked to eat, and they were happy to spoil me. One day, I went to visit Emma. I was told that Emma tended to be on the depressed side. She hadn’t done well after her husband had died. I hoped to cheer her up. Emma and I visited, and then she said, “I have something for you. It’s some fresh banana bread.”
A little part of me died inside. I hate bananas. I really do, especially since the taste of a banana makes me gag. Literally. I will gag when I taste banana. So, here is this wonderful lady; who went out of her way to make me this bread, who was a little on the depressed side, who didn’t need her intern making any sort of negative comments; what was I to do? I choked down the bread. I did something I didn’t like in the least. Hiding my gags and chugging water, I got that darn bread down. Self-sacrifice? Hardly. I wanted Emma to enjoy the visit. I wanted her to think positively about me and what I brought to her. I choked that bread down for purely selfish reasons.
Are your motivations any different? Do you engage in activities that you get no benefit from; no enjoyment out of; no satisfaction at all, yet continue to do so because it is the right thing to do? Most of us don’t. Not in the least. In fact, most of us know the right things to do, but we don’t do them because it costs us. It costs us dearly.
Which is why Jesus says, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” Most scholars are perplexed by this saying, but interestingly enough most of them link Jesus’ saying with Leviticus chapter 2:13, “You shall season all your cereal offerings with salt; you shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offerings; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” These offerings were sacrificial offerings. They were offerings set forth showing a radical dependency on God. They were offerings saying, “Lord, we trust that you will get us through thick and thin, and we bring the first fruits of our grain to you to be burned in fire, with salt.”
But Jesus is taking this offering a step further. It’s not the first fruits that are offered and burned and refined and salted–it is us. We are refined and salted. We endure the fire and refinement as living sacrifices. St. Paul puts it this way in Romans chapter 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
This is the calling Jesus gives to His disciples. Don’t be superficial. Don’t look at your hand, your foot, or your eye. Look at the deep recesses of your heart and let the sinfulness of it be burned and refined. Offer your very self as an offering to God. Discipleship is not for the faint of heart.
Now, anyone who grasps this and understands this should be terrified. Really. If you understand what I have proclaimed to you to this point, you should be shaking in your shoes. For Jesus is demanding your entire being. He is asking you to walk away from all the desires of your heart. He is asking you to walk away from your own motivations and selfishness. He is asking you to forsake your identity and your well being to follow Him. It’s not a very good sales pitch. Most of us, if we were honest, would say no. We would say not a chance. None of us here this morning would accept such terms because they are just too difficult. The need for self-preservation and self-satisfaction is just too strong. We are unwilling to sacrifice ourselves.
But there is One who was willing. There was one who was able. There was one who did such a thing in our place. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it dozens of times, we must understand all scripture through the cross. We must understand all of Jesus’ teachings through the cross. The cross is the center of our faith and understanding, and Jesus knows you cannot and will not sacrifice yourself. Jesus knows the depths of your sinfulness. Jesus knows the hold that sin has over your heart. And He must break that hold. He must show you that following Him and trusting Him is worth the sacrifice.
And so when you could not sacrifice yourself, He sacrificed Himself. When you were afraid to face the fire, Jesus descended into Hell and faced that fire for you. When you were afraid of the pain of forsaking yourself, Jesus faced the ultimate forsakenness as the Father turned His back on Him as He hung on the cross. Jesus looked at you in the midst of your sin and in the midst of your selfishness, then looked at His Father and said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice on your behalf.
When you could not do; when you were in bondage to your self, Jesus did. He saved you from yourself when you could not. This was not something you earned; rather it was given to you by sheer grace. And when you are moved by this, when those chains fall off your heart because you know you are deeply sinful yet deeply loved, you want to die to yourself. You want to become a living sacrifice. You want to be salted with fire. You want to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. Your heart beats with a deep gratitude for the One who gave Himself up for you because He loves you.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. This is most certainly true. Amen.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Why Abide in Jesus?
Jesus says in our Gospel reading this morning “Abide in me as I abide in you,” and then He goes on further to give us the results of what will happen if we abide in Him. This morning, I will attempt to do three things: 1) Answer the question of why we should abide in anything. 2) Show how abiding in anything other than Jesus will lead to disappointment and chaos. 3) Show why you should abide in Jesus above anything else. It’s a rather large task before us, so let’s jump right in.
The first thing we’ve got to deal with is why we should abide in anything. Well, really we don’t have a choice but to abide in something. The Greek word used by Jesus here is μένω which can mean several things: “abide”, “remain”, “to remain in a place”, “to stay in the house”, or even “to stay alive” or “to stand fast.” And we all stand fast; we all remain; we all stay alive in something. However, most of us don’t really take the time to think about where we abide; where we stand fast. We are kind of like fish who are surrounded by water. It is so natural for a fish to live in water, he wouldn’t know what it was like to live in anything else.
So it is with how we live. We simply go through most of our lives believing certain things we have been taught–things which are deeply imprinted within our hearts. For instance, most of us, since we live in the U.S. have a deeply imprinted belief that if we work hard, do the right things, then we will achieve some measure of success. We have a deeply imprinted belief that all people are equal and have certain inalienable rights. We have a deeply imprinted belief that we are free to do as we choose as long as we do no harm to anyone. These are so deeply ingrained that if we were taken out of our culture, we would indeed be like a fish out of water. Many of us would have a very difficult time adjusting to anything else. Why? Because we abide in this particular worldview. We stand fast in this particular worldview. And even if there are those of you here this morning who question this particular worldview, you need to realize, you have a worldview of your own. You have a way of looking at things that help you understand reality. You have a way of looking at the world and dealing with all the information in the world that helps you cope with life and make sense of things. We remain or abide in those worldviews most of our lives. And it is very hard to change them. Very hard.
But sometimes we run into things that force us to deeply consider why we believe what we believe. We run into things that force us to ask ourselves, “Is this where I want to continue to live? Is this where I want to continue to abide? Do I need to shift my thinking or change how I view the world?” I have run into this more than a few times with folks throughout my career as a pastor. Usually, these times occur when someone experiences deep sadness or loss. If someone loses a job or a spouse or is faced with cancer, such questions usually arise. I mean, if you have been taught that if you work hard and do good things, then you should be successful, then what happens if you lose your job or fall on hard times? Were you not working hard enough? Were you not good enough? Do you see how this affects such a worldview? I hope you can, because now we are getting into territory number two: the vast majority of worldviews will lead to disappointment or a sense of superiority over others where you hold others in contempt. Let me say that again: the vast majority of worldviews will lead to disappointment and a sense of superiority over others where you hold others in contempt.
Let me try and illustrate this by turning to recent events in Baltimore, MD. Many of us have seen the images of rioters destroying property and burning buildings. Many of us have seen the video of the mother slapping around her teenage son. Many of us know the reason the riots have occurred is a reaction to what happened to Freddie Gray in the back of a police van and the accumulated distrust of a community toward law enforcement officials. Pundits are pointing a lot of fingers and spreading a lot of blame, but let’s delve deep, very deep.
Let’s begin with looking at those who blame the police for the violent uprising. In a very real way, they hold the police officers in contempt because they believe the police have used their power and authority abusively. This side believes they are continually victimized, and they justify the actions of the rioters by saying, “At some point all the anger and frustration boiled to the surface, and they lashed out at injustice.” The folks are disappointed in a system which seemingly keeps them burdened and heavy laden without allowing them the freedom to escape poverty. Many become hopeless, and I think it’s why these communities have a prevalence of drugs. A lot of folks in these communities only live for their next fix. Disappointment reigns as does contempt for those who they see as oppressing and abusing them.
On the other hand, there are those who blame the rioters themselves. There are those who believe if folks just followed the law and obeyed the rules, then they could improve themselves. They tend to say, “These folks are just looking for an excuse to get something for nothing. They are just waiting for an opportunity to do whatever they want, and they have no regard for the law; they have no respect for officers.” The folks on this side of the street believe they are morally superior to those who are rioting, and they are disappointed with a system who will not crack down on such lawbreakers. In reality, there is very little compassion being shown by this group, in my opinion.
Now, I will say that this oversimplifies things a bit. For we could nuance things very easily and say that there are more groups involved in this whole ordeal, but to keep time in mind, I will only deal with these two groups. Can you see how the two worldviews lead to disappointment and contempt for others? Can you see how the two sides are at great odds with each other? Can you see how there is very little room for compromise or agreement on anything? When worldviews like this clash, enmity and strife become the norm, and inevitably, worldviews will clash.
The question becomes: what is the solution? Can there be any sort of resolution? Can we just agree to disagree? No. I don’t think so. The stakes are very high. We need law and order. We also need freedom. We need to deal with those who break the law, but we also need to deal with the injustice of they systems which have kept people in poverty. And more laws will not do it. You see, people know they shouldn’t be breaking the law. Cops know they shouldn’t abuse criminals–the vast majority don’t. People know they shouldn’t riot–the vast majority don’t. I mean, why do you think some cops try to destroy or appropriate cameras which catch them abusing others? Why do you think many rioters covered their faces and hands and ran from cameras? They know they are doing wrong!!! We know we are doing wrong, even when our worldview tells us we are wrong, we still break the law!!!
I’ve outlined the problem, I think. Hopefully, I was clear. So, what is the solution? Jesus says, “Abide in me.” You may try and stop me here and say, “Well, why should I abide in Jesus. Aren’t there Christians who fall on both sides of those worldviews? Aren’t they divided on those lines as well?” Yes, Christians are divided on those lines as well, but if they are abiding in Jesus, they will not hold others in contempt, and they will not be filled with disappointment. What do I mean by that?
Well, I need to do a little bit of work here because we have to get to the heart of Christianity. We need to see what distinguishes Christianity from all other worldviews–all other religions–all other philosophies. Every other religion and every other philosophy will look at what is going on in Baltimore and say, “We’ve got to try harder. We’ve got to follow the law better. We’ve got to love our neighbors better. We’ve got to work to overcome this division. We’ve got to follow the tenets of our religion better.” The emphasis is all on us. We’ve got to do it!! But as I pointed out earlier, we already know what to do. Trying harder isn’t going to get us there. It hasn’t throughout history. It won’t now. So what will? Only a change of heart. And how do hearts change? How do hearts lose their contempt for others? How do hearts turn from anger and hopelessness and disappointment to love and hope?
Christianity says: Trust in what Jesus has already done for you, and to the extent you trust in Him–to the extent you abide in Him–to the extent you make your home in Him–to the extent you stand fast in Him–you will begin to love others. You will begin to erase the contempt you once had for them. You will no longer see yourself as superior to them. You will not be disappointed, instead you will have tremendous hope which will give you abundant life.
How is such a thing possible? How does abiding in Jesus do this?
You have to realize what Jesus did for you. You have to realize that when every other worldview says, “Try harder to be good, and then you will receive the rewards,” Jesus says, “There is no way you can achieve the standard that my Father and I set. There is no way you can ever work hard enough. There is no way you can be perfect. You are and always will be a failure in this respect. But I love you even if you are a failure. I accept you even if you fall short. I will never stop loving or accepting you.”
“How can I trust you on this?” You might ask Jesus?
And His answer is the cross. His answer is, “I died for you.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.
You see, when you believe that Jesus died for you when you were a sinner; when you believe you were accepted when you least deserved it, you are humbled. You cast aside your haughtiness and your self-righteousness because you know you didn’t measure up; but you don’t grovel in victimhood and self-hatred because you know you are accepted. You can neither be too high nor too low. And your heart finds peace. Your heart finds itself longing to love even those whom hurt you. Your hearts finds itself full of hope that there can be a better way and that reconciliation is possible. And you have proof of that with the resurrection. Because Jesus lives, you will live also–not only for eternity, but you will live with a lasting, assuring hope. Nothing can ever take that from you. There is never then an need to escape the world and live for the moment–you are now abiding in the True Vine. You are now getting your identity from Him. You are now getting your sustenance from Him. You now have an unending source of love and hope and compassion flowing through you. A love that makes reconciliation possible–not because of anything you have done or how hard you have worked, but because of what Jesus has done for you and even for the one who opposes you.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, you abide in us even without us asking. You died for us when we least deserved it. You accepted us when we were failures. You rose to give us hope. May we abide in you. May we trust you. May we find our identity in you that our divisions will cease; that we may be reconciled to one another; and that peace may reign. In your name we pray. Amen.
The first thing we’ve got to deal with is why we should abide in anything. Well, really we don’t have a choice but to abide in something. The Greek word used by Jesus here is μένω which can mean several things: “abide”, “remain”, “to remain in a place”, “to stay in the house”, or even “to stay alive” or “to stand fast.” And we all stand fast; we all remain; we all stay alive in something. However, most of us don’t really take the time to think about where we abide; where we stand fast. We are kind of like fish who are surrounded by water. It is so natural for a fish to live in water, he wouldn’t know what it was like to live in anything else.
So it is with how we live. We simply go through most of our lives believing certain things we have been taught–things which are deeply imprinted within our hearts. For instance, most of us, since we live in the U.S. have a deeply imprinted belief that if we work hard, do the right things, then we will achieve some measure of success. We have a deeply imprinted belief that all people are equal and have certain inalienable rights. We have a deeply imprinted belief that we are free to do as we choose as long as we do no harm to anyone. These are so deeply ingrained that if we were taken out of our culture, we would indeed be like a fish out of water. Many of us would have a very difficult time adjusting to anything else. Why? Because we abide in this particular worldview. We stand fast in this particular worldview. And even if there are those of you here this morning who question this particular worldview, you need to realize, you have a worldview of your own. You have a way of looking at things that help you understand reality. You have a way of looking at the world and dealing with all the information in the world that helps you cope with life and make sense of things. We remain or abide in those worldviews most of our lives. And it is very hard to change them. Very hard.
But sometimes we run into things that force us to deeply consider why we believe what we believe. We run into things that force us to ask ourselves, “Is this where I want to continue to live? Is this where I want to continue to abide? Do I need to shift my thinking or change how I view the world?” I have run into this more than a few times with folks throughout my career as a pastor. Usually, these times occur when someone experiences deep sadness or loss. If someone loses a job or a spouse or is faced with cancer, such questions usually arise. I mean, if you have been taught that if you work hard and do good things, then you should be successful, then what happens if you lose your job or fall on hard times? Were you not working hard enough? Were you not good enough? Do you see how this affects such a worldview? I hope you can, because now we are getting into territory number two: the vast majority of worldviews will lead to disappointment or a sense of superiority over others where you hold others in contempt. Let me say that again: the vast majority of worldviews will lead to disappointment and a sense of superiority over others where you hold others in contempt.
Let me try and illustrate this by turning to recent events in Baltimore, MD. Many of us have seen the images of rioters destroying property and burning buildings. Many of us have seen the video of the mother slapping around her teenage son. Many of us know the reason the riots have occurred is a reaction to what happened to Freddie Gray in the back of a police van and the accumulated distrust of a community toward law enforcement officials. Pundits are pointing a lot of fingers and spreading a lot of blame, but let’s delve deep, very deep.
Let’s begin with looking at those who blame the police for the violent uprising. In a very real way, they hold the police officers in contempt because they believe the police have used their power and authority abusively. This side believes they are continually victimized, and they justify the actions of the rioters by saying, “At some point all the anger and frustration boiled to the surface, and they lashed out at injustice.” The folks are disappointed in a system which seemingly keeps them burdened and heavy laden without allowing them the freedom to escape poverty. Many become hopeless, and I think it’s why these communities have a prevalence of drugs. A lot of folks in these communities only live for their next fix. Disappointment reigns as does contempt for those who they see as oppressing and abusing them.
On the other hand, there are those who blame the rioters themselves. There are those who believe if folks just followed the law and obeyed the rules, then they could improve themselves. They tend to say, “These folks are just looking for an excuse to get something for nothing. They are just waiting for an opportunity to do whatever they want, and they have no regard for the law; they have no respect for officers.” The folks on this side of the street believe they are morally superior to those who are rioting, and they are disappointed with a system who will not crack down on such lawbreakers. In reality, there is very little compassion being shown by this group, in my opinion.
Now, I will say that this oversimplifies things a bit. For we could nuance things very easily and say that there are more groups involved in this whole ordeal, but to keep time in mind, I will only deal with these two groups. Can you see how the two worldviews lead to disappointment and contempt for others? Can you see how the two sides are at great odds with each other? Can you see how there is very little room for compromise or agreement on anything? When worldviews like this clash, enmity and strife become the norm, and inevitably, worldviews will clash.
The question becomes: what is the solution? Can there be any sort of resolution? Can we just agree to disagree? No. I don’t think so. The stakes are very high. We need law and order. We also need freedom. We need to deal with those who break the law, but we also need to deal with the injustice of they systems which have kept people in poverty. And more laws will not do it. You see, people know they shouldn’t be breaking the law. Cops know they shouldn’t abuse criminals–the vast majority don’t. People know they shouldn’t riot–the vast majority don’t. I mean, why do you think some cops try to destroy or appropriate cameras which catch them abusing others? Why do you think many rioters covered their faces and hands and ran from cameras? They know they are doing wrong!!! We know we are doing wrong, even when our worldview tells us we are wrong, we still break the law!!!
I’ve outlined the problem, I think. Hopefully, I was clear. So, what is the solution? Jesus says, “Abide in me.” You may try and stop me here and say, “Well, why should I abide in Jesus. Aren’t there Christians who fall on both sides of those worldviews? Aren’t they divided on those lines as well?” Yes, Christians are divided on those lines as well, but if they are abiding in Jesus, they will not hold others in contempt, and they will not be filled with disappointment. What do I mean by that?
Well, I need to do a little bit of work here because we have to get to the heart of Christianity. We need to see what distinguishes Christianity from all other worldviews–all other religions–all other philosophies. Every other religion and every other philosophy will look at what is going on in Baltimore and say, “We’ve got to try harder. We’ve got to follow the law better. We’ve got to love our neighbors better. We’ve got to work to overcome this division. We’ve got to follow the tenets of our religion better.” The emphasis is all on us. We’ve got to do it!! But as I pointed out earlier, we already know what to do. Trying harder isn’t going to get us there. It hasn’t throughout history. It won’t now. So what will? Only a change of heart. And how do hearts change? How do hearts lose their contempt for others? How do hearts turn from anger and hopelessness and disappointment to love and hope?
Christianity says: Trust in what Jesus has already done for you, and to the extent you trust in Him–to the extent you abide in Him–to the extent you make your home in Him–to the extent you stand fast in Him–you will begin to love others. You will begin to erase the contempt you once had for them. You will no longer see yourself as superior to them. You will not be disappointed, instead you will have tremendous hope which will give you abundant life.
How is such a thing possible? How does abiding in Jesus do this?
You have to realize what Jesus did for you. You have to realize that when every other worldview says, “Try harder to be good, and then you will receive the rewards,” Jesus says, “There is no way you can achieve the standard that my Father and I set. There is no way you can ever work hard enough. There is no way you can be perfect. You are and always will be a failure in this respect. But I love you even if you are a failure. I accept you even if you fall short. I will never stop loving or accepting you.”
“How can I trust you on this?” You might ask Jesus?
And His answer is the cross. His answer is, “I died for you.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.
You see, when you believe that Jesus died for you when you were a sinner; when you believe you were accepted when you least deserved it, you are humbled. You cast aside your haughtiness and your self-righteousness because you know you didn’t measure up; but you don’t grovel in victimhood and self-hatred because you know you are accepted. You can neither be too high nor too low. And your heart finds peace. Your heart finds itself longing to love even those whom hurt you. Your hearts finds itself full of hope that there can be a better way and that reconciliation is possible. And you have proof of that with the resurrection. Because Jesus lives, you will live also–not only for eternity, but you will live with a lasting, assuring hope. Nothing can ever take that from you. There is never then an need to escape the world and live for the moment–you are now abiding in the True Vine. You are now getting your identity from Him. You are now getting your sustenance from Him. You now have an unending source of love and hope and compassion flowing through you. A love that makes reconciliation possible–not because of anything you have done or how hard you have worked, but because of what Jesus has done for you and even for the one who opposes you.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, you abide in us even without us asking. You died for us when we least deserved it. You accepted us when we were failures. You rose to give us hope. May we abide in you. May we trust you. May we find our identity in you that our divisions will cease; that we may be reconciled to one another; and that peace may reign. In your name we pray. Amen.
Monday, April 27, 2015
Why the Cross? Part 2
Then Jesus said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.
Last Sunday, I delved into the question: Why? Why was it necessary for the Messiah to suffer and then rise from the dead on the third day? Why was the cross necessary? I took quite a bit of time to focus on the aspect of sacrificial atonement and the cost Jesus bore to forgive our sins. If you missed that sermon, it can be found on my blog. I will be happy to give you the web address for that.
However, there is another aspect we must consider when it comes to the cross. For there has been a long running criticism of those of us who preach that Jesus has given us our salvation–free to us, but costly to Him. In the early Church, there were those who thought that proclaiming grace then gave no incentive to people to change their lives and live according to God’s will and purpose. Centuries later, when Martin Luther, the namesake of the Lutheran church, called Christians back to the understanding of grace and the cross, there were even more calls that people would no longer seek to follow God’s commands. I mean, if your salvation does not hinge upon your performance, then why even attempt? Why change your life? Why do things differently?
The answer, we will see, is the cross, but let me start with this analogy.
I want you to pretend that you have just reached the age where you can legally drive. For much of your teenage years, you longed to be able to drive a car and experience the freedom of the road, but you wondered if you would ever be able to afford a car. You wondered if your parents would ever be able to afford a car.
On the day you came of age and completed your driver’s exam, a guy shows up on your doorstep. He comes up to you and congratulates you on passing your exam, and then he hands you a set of keys. They are the keys to a brand new car! He says, “This car is yours. We provide free cars to everyone here in this region. Enjoy driving!”
You are ecstatic! You tell your folks you are going driving, and you head out. You drive around and are exhilarated! You pick up several of your friends. Before long, you have the radio turned up as loud as it can go. You are yelling back and forth at your friends. You are on cloud nine. Then your cell phone buzzes. It’s a text. You reach down to look at it. You try texting back, and you run off the road. You manage to slow down, but you still run into a tree. The car is totaled. Luckily, you and your friends are not injured, but your beautiful, new car is toast. You cry. You wonder if you will ever get another chance to drive. A tow truck hauls your car away.
You wake up the next morning sore and bruised, and you are surprised by a knock on the door. You open it, and the same man who gave you the keys yesterday is there today. He says, “I know you had an accident yesterday and your car was totaled. You may be wondering if you can drive anymore. I have good news. You get another car. I told you. We provide free cars for the people of this region.”
You are excited beyond belief. This time, you are a bit more careful, but after several months, your cell phone buzzes again. You check it again. You wreck the car again. You have a bit of grief again, but you wonder if you will get another car.
Sure enough, you do. You can’t believe this! Even if you wreck your car, you are given another one. So, you become fearless. You begin to drive like the proverbial bat out of you-know-where. You speed. You run stop lights. You take chances. You have several more wrecks. Doesn’t matter. There will be a new car waiting in the morning.
After one such wreck, earlier than usual, there is a knock on your door. It’s not the car guy. Instead, it’s someone else. It’s someone driving an old, beat up car with all sorts of wear and tear. You wonder to yourself why this guy just doesn’t run the car into a tree and get a new one. He looks at you and says, “Bet you were expecting the car guy. I always try to get in before him. Come with me this morning.”
You hesitate. You don’t know this guy. But he is reassuring and there is a certain air about him. You trust him and climb in his old beat up vehicle. He drives you beyond the outskirts of town. You look out the cracked window and see a large factory up ahead. The man drives the car right toward that factory.
As you approach, however, you see something very strange. There are myriads of cars out front of this factory–cars that look just like the one’s you’ve been given. But the whole place is surrounded by fences with razor sharp wire at the top. There appear to be watch towers with armed guards in them. The man driving you has to go through several checkpoints just to get you in. A helicopter hovers above, obviously watching for something.
The man parks and leads you in. He says, “You know, I was once like you. I drove with a reckless abandon. But then someone showed me what I am about to show you. Have you ever wondered where your cars come from?”
With that, the man leads you forward. You walk into the factory, and you are stunned by what you see. Huge assembly lines first catch your eye, but then your eyes move to the workers. You are appalled! The workers are all wearing filthy rags. They look like they haven’t slept in weeks. They barely seem able to stand and walk. Supervisors constantly yell and scream at them to get busy. When someone stumbles or falls, physical force is used to motivate them. If someone is unable to get up, they are trampled upon, and someone else is forced to take their place. You can hardly watch.
The man then takes you to the lunch room. You see the ragged clothed workers hurriedly eating a meal. They are eating something that would make a billy goat puke. “They only get 10 minutes before they are forced back to their work stations,” the man tells you.
The man then motions you to follow. You go to the workers’ homes–if you can call them that. They look like jail cells. There are meager foam mattresses on the floor which look only an inch thick or so. Dilapidated tables and chairs litter the cells. These workers are literally slaves. And then it dawns on you! The reason the region can afford to give you free cars is because of slave labor! Your “free” care is bought with a great price!
The car ride back to your home is a quiet one. When you arrive, there in your drive way is a brand new car. The man looks at you and says, “Now, what will you do?”
What will you do indeed? Will you continue to drive recklessly? Will you continue to do things which would put the life of your car in jeopardy? Would you even have a desire to drive that car ever again? If you know the terrible price paid for you to have that “free” car, would you ever look at driving the same again?
Of course you wouldn’t. If you have even a smidgen of compassion in your heart, you couldn’t look at your car without seeing the faces and condition of those who built it. You might never even drive again! But why? Why wouldn’t you drive?
Because you would be acting out of guilt, and here is where the analogy breaks down when comparing to what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Because Jesus was not being held against His will. Jesus was not bound to the cross by any force natural or supernatural. He could have walked away from it. He could have called a legion of angels down to rescue Him from it. He didn’t have to drink the cup. That was what the Garden of Gethsemane was all about. He prayed, “Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me, but nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.” Jesus could have walked away from His sacrificial death, but He didn’t. He entered into it freely, willingly, but also with great terror and anguish. He didn’t have to hang on that cross to save you, but He did because He loves you.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.”
And when you arrive at the foot of that cross...
When you see Jesus hanging there in pain...
When you see the pierced hands...
When you see the pierced feet...
When you see the crown of thorns...
When you see the blood flowing from the lashes...
When you see Him cry out in despair, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
When you see Him die the death that you deserved to give you the gift of salvation that you didn’t deserve...
When you see Him face abandonment from God so that you never have to...
When you see Him pay the price for your freedom...
Can you keep driving your life the same way? Can you keep doing things recklessly without any thought to God or to others? Can you willingly break God’s commands knowing what Jesus did for you? Can you go through life seeking your own will instead of the will of the Father?
When you arrive at the foot of the cross and you understand the size of the debt you owe; when you understand the nature of your separation from God; you understand that Jesus willingly paid the price to reconcile you unto God; when you see just what it cost Jesus to purchase your redemption; your heart changes. You feel horribly bad, and then strangely accepted. You feel like the dirtiest of worms, and then like the apple of God’s eye. You feel worthless, and then extremely valuable. And you know you can never look at the world the same again. You can never look at another person with anger and contempt again. You can never hate another person who is created in the image of God again. You can never hate yourself again. Your heart overflows with an abundance of love for what God has done for you, and with an incredible desire to share that love with others.
If you never saw the great cost paid by Jesus, your heart would never change. But because of His willing sacrifice, even the hardest heart is brought to its knees. It is at the cross where such change occurs, and it is why the Messiah had to suffer and die. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Last Sunday, I delved into the question: Why? Why was it necessary for the Messiah to suffer and then rise from the dead on the third day? Why was the cross necessary? I took quite a bit of time to focus on the aspect of sacrificial atonement and the cost Jesus bore to forgive our sins. If you missed that sermon, it can be found on my blog. I will be happy to give you the web address for that.
However, there is another aspect we must consider when it comes to the cross. For there has been a long running criticism of those of us who preach that Jesus has given us our salvation–free to us, but costly to Him. In the early Church, there were those who thought that proclaiming grace then gave no incentive to people to change their lives and live according to God’s will and purpose. Centuries later, when Martin Luther, the namesake of the Lutheran church, called Christians back to the understanding of grace and the cross, there were even more calls that people would no longer seek to follow God’s commands. I mean, if your salvation does not hinge upon your performance, then why even attempt? Why change your life? Why do things differently?
The answer, we will see, is the cross, but let me start with this analogy.
I want you to pretend that you have just reached the age where you can legally drive. For much of your teenage years, you longed to be able to drive a car and experience the freedom of the road, but you wondered if you would ever be able to afford a car. You wondered if your parents would ever be able to afford a car.
On the day you came of age and completed your driver’s exam, a guy shows up on your doorstep. He comes up to you and congratulates you on passing your exam, and then he hands you a set of keys. They are the keys to a brand new car! He says, “This car is yours. We provide free cars to everyone here in this region. Enjoy driving!”
You are ecstatic! You tell your folks you are going driving, and you head out. You drive around and are exhilarated! You pick up several of your friends. Before long, you have the radio turned up as loud as it can go. You are yelling back and forth at your friends. You are on cloud nine. Then your cell phone buzzes. It’s a text. You reach down to look at it. You try texting back, and you run off the road. You manage to slow down, but you still run into a tree. The car is totaled. Luckily, you and your friends are not injured, but your beautiful, new car is toast. You cry. You wonder if you will ever get another chance to drive. A tow truck hauls your car away.
You wake up the next morning sore and bruised, and you are surprised by a knock on the door. You open it, and the same man who gave you the keys yesterday is there today. He says, “I know you had an accident yesterday and your car was totaled. You may be wondering if you can drive anymore. I have good news. You get another car. I told you. We provide free cars for the people of this region.”
You are excited beyond belief. This time, you are a bit more careful, but after several months, your cell phone buzzes again. You check it again. You wreck the car again. You have a bit of grief again, but you wonder if you will get another car.
Sure enough, you do. You can’t believe this! Even if you wreck your car, you are given another one. So, you become fearless. You begin to drive like the proverbial bat out of you-know-where. You speed. You run stop lights. You take chances. You have several more wrecks. Doesn’t matter. There will be a new car waiting in the morning.
After one such wreck, earlier than usual, there is a knock on your door. It’s not the car guy. Instead, it’s someone else. It’s someone driving an old, beat up car with all sorts of wear and tear. You wonder to yourself why this guy just doesn’t run the car into a tree and get a new one. He looks at you and says, “Bet you were expecting the car guy. I always try to get in before him. Come with me this morning.”
You hesitate. You don’t know this guy. But he is reassuring and there is a certain air about him. You trust him and climb in his old beat up vehicle. He drives you beyond the outskirts of town. You look out the cracked window and see a large factory up ahead. The man drives the car right toward that factory.
As you approach, however, you see something very strange. There are myriads of cars out front of this factory–cars that look just like the one’s you’ve been given. But the whole place is surrounded by fences with razor sharp wire at the top. There appear to be watch towers with armed guards in them. The man driving you has to go through several checkpoints just to get you in. A helicopter hovers above, obviously watching for something.
The man parks and leads you in. He says, “You know, I was once like you. I drove with a reckless abandon. But then someone showed me what I am about to show you. Have you ever wondered where your cars come from?”
With that, the man leads you forward. You walk into the factory, and you are stunned by what you see. Huge assembly lines first catch your eye, but then your eyes move to the workers. You are appalled! The workers are all wearing filthy rags. They look like they haven’t slept in weeks. They barely seem able to stand and walk. Supervisors constantly yell and scream at them to get busy. When someone stumbles or falls, physical force is used to motivate them. If someone is unable to get up, they are trampled upon, and someone else is forced to take their place. You can hardly watch.
The man then takes you to the lunch room. You see the ragged clothed workers hurriedly eating a meal. They are eating something that would make a billy goat puke. “They only get 10 minutes before they are forced back to their work stations,” the man tells you.
The man then motions you to follow. You go to the workers’ homes–if you can call them that. They look like jail cells. There are meager foam mattresses on the floor which look only an inch thick or so. Dilapidated tables and chairs litter the cells. These workers are literally slaves. And then it dawns on you! The reason the region can afford to give you free cars is because of slave labor! Your “free” care is bought with a great price!
The car ride back to your home is a quiet one. When you arrive, there in your drive way is a brand new car. The man looks at you and says, “Now, what will you do?”
What will you do indeed? Will you continue to drive recklessly? Will you continue to do things which would put the life of your car in jeopardy? Would you even have a desire to drive that car ever again? If you know the terrible price paid for you to have that “free” car, would you ever look at driving the same again?
Of course you wouldn’t. If you have even a smidgen of compassion in your heart, you couldn’t look at your car without seeing the faces and condition of those who built it. You might never even drive again! But why? Why wouldn’t you drive?
Because you would be acting out of guilt, and here is where the analogy breaks down when comparing to what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Because Jesus was not being held against His will. Jesus was not bound to the cross by any force natural or supernatural. He could have walked away from it. He could have called a legion of angels down to rescue Him from it. He didn’t have to drink the cup. That was what the Garden of Gethsemane was all about. He prayed, “Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me, but nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.” Jesus could have walked away from His sacrificial death, but He didn’t. He entered into it freely, willingly, but also with great terror and anguish. He didn’t have to hang on that cross to save you, but He did because He loves you.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.”
And when you arrive at the foot of that cross...
When you see Jesus hanging there in pain...
When you see the pierced hands...
When you see the pierced feet...
When you see the crown of thorns...
When you see the blood flowing from the lashes...
When you see Him cry out in despair, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
When you see Him die the death that you deserved to give you the gift of salvation that you didn’t deserve...
When you see Him face abandonment from God so that you never have to...
When you see Him pay the price for your freedom...
Can you keep driving your life the same way? Can you keep doing things recklessly without any thought to God or to others? Can you willingly break God’s commands knowing what Jesus did for you? Can you go through life seeking your own will instead of the will of the Father?
When you arrive at the foot of the cross and you understand the size of the debt you owe; when you understand the nature of your separation from God; you understand that Jesus willingly paid the price to reconcile you unto God; when you see just what it cost Jesus to purchase your redemption; your heart changes. You feel horribly bad, and then strangely accepted. You feel like the dirtiest of worms, and then like the apple of God’s eye. You feel worthless, and then extremely valuable. And you know you can never look at the world the same again. You can never look at another person with anger and contempt again. You can never hate another person who is created in the image of God again. You can never hate yourself again. Your heart overflows with an abundance of love for what God has done for you, and with an incredible desire to share that love with others.
If you never saw the great cost paid by Jesus, your heart would never change. But because of His willing sacrifice, even the hardest heart is brought to its knees. It is at the cross where such change occurs, and it is why the Messiah had to suffer and die. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Why the Cross? Part 1
(Sunday morning as I was preparing for worship and preaching the following sermon, I was struck with another set of thoughts which needed to augment this piece. Those thoughts will appear in my next sermon to be posted next week.)
Jesus said to the disciples, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.
The question that I want to deal with this morning in my sermon is this: why did the Messiah have to suffer and die? Why did Jesus have to go to the cross? Why is it that everything in Scriptures led up to that pivotal moment where Jesus had to die and then be raised from the dead?
This is more than just an academic question. It’s important because it cuts to the very heart of Christianity and our reason for existing as a Church. It’s important in our current day and age because there are a lot, and I mean a lot of people who still wonder why Jesus had to die. There are a lot of people who wonder why the cross was necessary.
The bewilderment is nothing new. The early Church had to deal with folks’ questions about the cross. St. Paul even says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 23, “23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” The cross was a stumbling block to Jews because in the Law it was written that anyone who was hung on a tree was cursed by God. If Jesus were the Messiah, then He was supposed to be blessed by God, certainly not cursed by God. The fact that Jesus was hung on a tree caused them to stumble. As for the Gentiles, it was utter foolishness that God would die. God was omnipotent, and omniscient, all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal and immortal. God certainly could not die. The idea that He would was utter foolishness. Even then people had a hard time coming to grips with the cross.
Today, there is much discussion about the cross as well. Some cannot fathom the idea that God would use such a brutal and bloody method to save the world. God could have chosen something different. Some believe the cross is some sort of divine child abuse and cannot grasp that the Father would send the Son to experience such a thing. Some only give the cross worldly implications and separate the cross from any sort of significance for salvation. Indeed the cross still spurs conversation in this manner.
Yet, in order to truly understand the Gospel, we have to come to grips with the cross. We have to come to grips with its significance and the reasons, as Jesus said, “it was necessary,” for these things to happen. Why was it necessary?
Well, first we have to understand the nature of God. Now, I know there are many who will say simply and truly, “God is love.” You are absolutely right. For the writer John says this very thing in 1 John 4. “God is love,” John proclaims. And some folks jump on this and emphasize love. They then see God in our understanding of love: compassion, kindness, pouring out Himself for us, making us feel good about ourselves–kind of like a Hallmark deity. Interestingly enough, I’ve been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics, and in this book, Bonhoeffer says something profound. He says, we read this all wrong. We tend to emphasize the word love when we should be emphasizing the word God. God is love–meaning, if you want to know what love is, you look to God and not vice versa. It makes perfect sense as the writer John continues in 1 John when he says, “for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. “
”Love is that God loves us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” This is the reason the cross is necessary. You may still be wondering why?
Here’s why. If we need to understand love through God, then we need to understand the nature of God–and God we must understand that God is the One in whom ultimate justice and ultimate mercy come together. God must be a God of justice, and God must be a God of mercy. The two cannot be separated. Here’s why.
First, we must understand that God is a God of justice. He has to be. If God were not a God of justice, He would not be worth worshiping. I mean, let’s think about this for a moment. Many of you have heard about the atrocities that ISIS is committing in Iraq and Syria. You have heard the stories about how they have beheaded prisoners, burned prisoners alive, and raped and tortured women. Imagine if God in heaven looked down upon this and said, “Oh, this is wrong. You shouldn’t do such things, but hey, I’ll forgive you anyway. I will take you to be with me and perfect you so that you will never do this again. You will join me in paradise.” If you were a perpetrator of such crimes, you might be very comforted by this kind of God; however, if you have even a little sympathy for those who have been victimized by ISIS, you would recoil at such thoughts. You would recoil at such a God. A God who forgives without justice is a God who has no compassion on victims–who is not interested in fully righting the wrongs. Such a God might be forgiving, but such a God does not have love. There must be justice.
And in Scripture, it is revealed that God indeed is a God of justice. There is a promise of recompense and punishment for those who do wrong. God promises to look with kindness upon the widow and orphan; those who have been pushed to the edges of society. God promises to right the wrongs that have been committed against the poor and oppressed. God promises to let His wrath burn hot against such evil and destroy it–no matter how big or how small.
Now, that last statement should give us pause. God’s wrath and judgement will burn against injustice and evil no matter how big or how small. That might cause you to scratch your head for a moment for you might think, “God will also punish small sins? God will punish say, stealing a piece of candy or disobeying my parents when they tell me no and I do the opposite? God will punish me if I don’t give offerings to the church? God will punish me if I tell a little white lie to prevent pain on the behalf of another?” Why would God do such a thing. I mean, I’m not like ISIS and killing people or anything. Why would God’s wrath burn hot against a little sin?
Just this: on Easter I used the example of the Butterfly Effect or that one tiny change across the globe–a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan–could cause massive changes in Alabama by brining tornadoes. That illustration still stands, but perhaps it’s a bit abstract. Let me use another one which may hit closer to home, especially with all you hunters out there.
When you are sighting in a gun at 25 yards, and you are ½ an inch off, do you say, “Well, I’m close enough. No need to get things dead center.”? Of course you don’t. You can’t accept being off that much. Why? Well, because at 50 yards, you are going to be off even more. At 100 yards you will be off an even greater distance. At 200 yards you will be far away from the bull’s eye. At 300 yards, you may miss the target altogether. The further away you get, the further off you will be. You’ve got to hit perfection so that as time passes and distance passes, you will still hit the target. If you aren’t perfect, there will be consequences.
God knows this, and He demands perfection. This is why He treats anger towards another person like murder. This is why He treats lust like He treats adultery. You could say that this seems overly harsh, but in reality it’s not. Why? Because anger is a condition of the heart–it’s the same condition that leads to murder. Lust is a condition of the heart–which leads to adultery. It all starts in the heart as far as God is concerned. And if your heart isn’t tuned into God and His will, He will judge and let His wrath burn hot.
You might think two things at this point. #1. You might say, “Well, my heart is tuned to God, and He should give me a break on messing up.” I respond: If your heart is tuned to God, then why do you tell that white lie? Why do you not give an offering to the church? Why do you get angry at another person when you feel slighted? Here’s why: for those moments; for that time; something else was more important to you than the love of God. You were afraid of the consequences of telling the truth so your well being took precedence. You didn’t give because you wanted to hold onto your money, and it replaced God. You were more concerned with your own feelings of being wronged than offering forgiveness. In all of these things, God took a back seat, and He did not rule in your heart. The other thing you might say is this: #2. There is no way anyone can avoid the wrath of God. It is hopeless. Might as well give in and enjoy what we can before God burns us to a crisp. That would be an appropriate response if God were not a God of mercy.
For if God had no mercy, then we would all be in a pickle. We would all stand condemned and under His wrath for our failure to live the lives we should live. And we have no excuse. I mean, every culture in the world knows and has in its code of conduct that you should treat others as you would like to be treated. Every culture knows we should care for one another and be fair. However, just as true of every culture in the world is the fact that it is not done. We know what we should do, but we do not do it.
So, God, it seems might be in a bit of a pickle Himself. His wrath must burn hot against sin. It must burn hot against us missing the mark. In order for justice to be served, there must be recompense. There must be punishment to right the wrongs. However, if every wrong were righted; if every sin were punished, then all would be condemned and mercy could not be shown. How can this conundrum be resolved?
I would like you to now think about how you act when you are wronged by someone else. I am quite sure that everyone here this morning has experienced such a thing. You have had someone tell you that they would do something only to renege on their word. You have had someone say an unkind thing about you. You have had someone say something that cut you to the heart. You have entered into an agreement with someone for services or goods and had that person take advantage of you. How do you respond?
Most of us cut the other person off physically or emotionally. Most of us refuse to associate with that other person or institution any longer. Most of us say, “That’s it. You have hurt me, and I refuse to have anything to do with you.” And we don’t, unless an apology is issued–unless restitution is made. Unless someone acknowledges the pain they caused and feels bad themselves, we will not engage the relationship again. Unless there is repayment for abuse, we will stay away from the one who harmed us. Payment, either emotionally or physically is demanded. It’s the way we operate. It’s the only way we get justice. Someone has to pay.
Now, if you forgive a person who has harmed you; if you continue in a relationship with another who has treated you badly; who bears the cost. If forgiveness is extended, then you bear the cost yourself. You bear the emotional and physical burden. The other is forgiven, but cost is still borne. You just take it upon yourself and do not make the other person pay.
If you have this in your head, I would like you to think now about all the times you have missed the mark. Think about all the times you were off, even just a little bit. Think about all the times when you were a ½ inch off at 25 yards but then as time and distance happened you missed the target all together. Think about such things over the entire span of your life. Think about the vast population of the world and how they have all missed the mark. Think about how you have grieved your heavenly Father with such actions. Think about how much damage has been done because of how we have missed the mark in such a manner. Think about all that pain and frustration and anger. Add all of that up. If you multiply such things by the billions of people who have lived, can you possibly imagine how much wrath is built up? Can you imagine the amount of anger God must have for our failure to love one another? What could possibly pay for it? What could God possibly demand in order to make things right? What kind of restitution could satisfy the damage we have done? The price must be extremely high.
And if God forgives? If God bears the cost Himself? If God takes that wrath and absorbs it what kind of payment will make satisfaction? If God bears His own wrath on our behalf, what could it cost Him? If God took on human flesh and bore our sin and the cost for that sin Himself, what would that look like?
The answer can be found at Calvary on a cross.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.
God incarnate, Jesus bore the wrath of God destined for us. He offered Himself as payment so that we didn’t have to face what we deserved. This is why Jesus had to die. This is why He had to hang on that cross. This is why the cross saves us.
Jesus said to the disciples, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.
Thank you, Jesus for what you have done. Amen.
Jesus said to the disciples, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.
The question that I want to deal with this morning in my sermon is this: why did the Messiah have to suffer and die? Why did Jesus have to go to the cross? Why is it that everything in Scriptures led up to that pivotal moment where Jesus had to die and then be raised from the dead?
This is more than just an academic question. It’s important because it cuts to the very heart of Christianity and our reason for existing as a Church. It’s important in our current day and age because there are a lot, and I mean a lot of people who still wonder why Jesus had to die. There are a lot of people who wonder why the cross was necessary.
The bewilderment is nothing new. The early Church had to deal with folks’ questions about the cross. St. Paul even says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 23, “23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” The cross was a stumbling block to Jews because in the Law it was written that anyone who was hung on a tree was cursed by God. If Jesus were the Messiah, then He was supposed to be blessed by God, certainly not cursed by God. The fact that Jesus was hung on a tree caused them to stumble. As for the Gentiles, it was utter foolishness that God would die. God was omnipotent, and omniscient, all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal and immortal. God certainly could not die. The idea that He would was utter foolishness. Even then people had a hard time coming to grips with the cross.
Today, there is much discussion about the cross as well. Some cannot fathom the idea that God would use such a brutal and bloody method to save the world. God could have chosen something different. Some believe the cross is some sort of divine child abuse and cannot grasp that the Father would send the Son to experience such a thing. Some only give the cross worldly implications and separate the cross from any sort of significance for salvation. Indeed the cross still spurs conversation in this manner.
Yet, in order to truly understand the Gospel, we have to come to grips with the cross. We have to come to grips with its significance and the reasons, as Jesus said, “it was necessary,” for these things to happen. Why was it necessary?
Well, first we have to understand the nature of God. Now, I know there are many who will say simply and truly, “God is love.” You are absolutely right. For the writer John says this very thing in 1 John 4. “God is love,” John proclaims. And some folks jump on this and emphasize love. They then see God in our understanding of love: compassion, kindness, pouring out Himself for us, making us feel good about ourselves–kind of like a Hallmark deity. Interestingly enough, I’ve been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics, and in this book, Bonhoeffer says something profound. He says, we read this all wrong. We tend to emphasize the word love when we should be emphasizing the word God. God is love–meaning, if you want to know what love is, you look to God and not vice versa. It makes perfect sense as the writer John continues in 1 John when he says, “for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. “
”Love is that God loves us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” This is the reason the cross is necessary. You may still be wondering why?
Here’s why. If we need to understand love through God, then we need to understand the nature of God–and God we must understand that God is the One in whom ultimate justice and ultimate mercy come together. God must be a God of justice, and God must be a God of mercy. The two cannot be separated. Here’s why.
First, we must understand that God is a God of justice. He has to be. If God were not a God of justice, He would not be worth worshiping. I mean, let’s think about this for a moment. Many of you have heard about the atrocities that ISIS is committing in Iraq and Syria. You have heard the stories about how they have beheaded prisoners, burned prisoners alive, and raped and tortured women. Imagine if God in heaven looked down upon this and said, “Oh, this is wrong. You shouldn’t do such things, but hey, I’ll forgive you anyway. I will take you to be with me and perfect you so that you will never do this again. You will join me in paradise.” If you were a perpetrator of such crimes, you might be very comforted by this kind of God; however, if you have even a little sympathy for those who have been victimized by ISIS, you would recoil at such thoughts. You would recoil at such a God. A God who forgives without justice is a God who has no compassion on victims–who is not interested in fully righting the wrongs. Such a God might be forgiving, but such a God does not have love. There must be justice.
And in Scripture, it is revealed that God indeed is a God of justice. There is a promise of recompense and punishment for those who do wrong. God promises to look with kindness upon the widow and orphan; those who have been pushed to the edges of society. God promises to right the wrongs that have been committed against the poor and oppressed. God promises to let His wrath burn hot against such evil and destroy it–no matter how big or how small.
Now, that last statement should give us pause. God’s wrath and judgement will burn against injustice and evil no matter how big or how small. That might cause you to scratch your head for a moment for you might think, “God will also punish small sins? God will punish say, stealing a piece of candy or disobeying my parents when they tell me no and I do the opposite? God will punish me if I don’t give offerings to the church? God will punish me if I tell a little white lie to prevent pain on the behalf of another?” Why would God do such a thing. I mean, I’m not like ISIS and killing people or anything. Why would God’s wrath burn hot against a little sin?
Just this: on Easter I used the example of the Butterfly Effect or that one tiny change across the globe–a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan–could cause massive changes in Alabama by brining tornadoes. That illustration still stands, but perhaps it’s a bit abstract. Let me use another one which may hit closer to home, especially with all you hunters out there.
When you are sighting in a gun at 25 yards, and you are ½ an inch off, do you say, “Well, I’m close enough. No need to get things dead center.”? Of course you don’t. You can’t accept being off that much. Why? Well, because at 50 yards, you are going to be off even more. At 100 yards you will be off an even greater distance. At 200 yards you will be far away from the bull’s eye. At 300 yards, you may miss the target altogether. The further away you get, the further off you will be. You’ve got to hit perfection so that as time passes and distance passes, you will still hit the target. If you aren’t perfect, there will be consequences.
God knows this, and He demands perfection. This is why He treats anger towards another person like murder. This is why He treats lust like He treats adultery. You could say that this seems overly harsh, but in reality it’s not. Why? Because anger is a condition of the heart–it’s the same condition that leads to murder. Lust is a condition of the heart–which leads to adultery. It all starts in the heart as far as God is concerned. And if your heart isn’t tuned into God and His will, He will judge and let His wrath burn hot.
You might think two things at this point. #1. You might say, “Well, my heart is tuned to God, and He should give me a break on messing up.” I respond: If your heart is tuned to God, then why do you tell that white lie? Why do you not give an offering to the church? Why do you get angry at another person when you feel slighted? Here’s why: for those moments; for that time; something else was more important to you than the love of God. You were afraid of the consequences of telling the truth so your well being took precedence. You didn’t give because you wanted to hold onto your money, and it replaced God. You were more concerned with your own feelings of being wronged than offering forgiveness. In all of these things, God took a back seat, and He did not rule in your heart. The other thing you might say is this: #2. There is no way anyone can avoid the wrath of God. It is hopeless. Might as well give in and enjoy what we can before God burns us to a crisp. That would be an appropriate response if God were not a God of mercy.
For if God had no mercy, then we would all be in a pickle. We would all stand condemned and under His wrath for our failure to live the lives we should live. And we have no excuse. I mean, every culture in the world knows and has in its code of conduct that you should treat others as you would like to be treated. Every culture knows we should care for one another and be fair. However, just as true of every culture in the world is the fact that it is not done. We know what we should do, but we do not do it.
So, God, it seems might be in a bit of a pickle Himself. His wrath must burn hot against sin. It must burn hot against us missing the mark. In order for justice to be served, there must be recompense. There must be punishment to right the wrongs. However, if every wrong were righted; if every sin were punished, then all would be condemned and mercy could not be shown. How can this conundrum be resolved?
I would like you to now think about how you act when you are wronged by someone else. I am quite sure that everyone here this morning has experienced such a thing. You have had someone tell you that they would do something only to renege on their word. You have had someone say an unkind thing about you. You have had someone say something that cut you to the heart. You have entered into an agreement with someone for services or goods and had that person take advantage of you. How do you respond?
Most of us cut the other person off physically or emotionally. Most of us refuse to associate with that other person or institution any longer. Most of us say, “That’s it. You have hurt me, and I refuse to have anything to do with you.” And we don’t, unless an apology is issued–unless restitution is made. Unless someone acknowledges the pain they caused and feels bad themselves, we will not engage the relationship again. Unless there is repayment for abuse, we will stay away from the one who harmed us. Payment, either emotionally or physically is demanded. It’s the way we operate. It’s the only way we get justice. Someone has to pay.
Now, if you forgive a person who has harmed you; if you continue in a relationship with another who has treated you badly; who bears the cost. If forgiveness is extended, then you bear the cost yourself. You bear the emotional and physical burden. The other is forgiven, but cost is still borne. You just take it upon yourself and do not make the other person pay.
If you have this in your head, I would like you to think now about all the times you have missed the mark. Think about all the times you were off, even just a little bit. Think about all the times when you were a ½ inch off at 25 yards but then as time and distance happened you missed the target all together. Think about such things over the entire span of your life. Think about the vast population of the world and how they have all missed the mark. Think about how you have grieved your heavenly Father with such actions. Think about how much damage has been done because of how we have missed the mark in such a manner. Think about all that pain and frustration and anger. Add all of that up. If you multiply such things by the billions of people who have lived, can you possibly imagine how much wrath is built up? Can you imagine the amount of anger God must have for our failure to love one another? What could possibly pay for it? What could God possibly demand in order to make things right? What kind of restitution could satisfy the damage we have done? The price must be extremely high.
And if God forgives? If God bears the cost Himself? If God takes that wrath and absorbs it what kind of payment will make satisfaction? If God bears His own wrath on our behalf, what could it cost Him? If God took on human flesh and bore our sin and the cost for that sin Himself, what would that look like?
The answer can be found at Calvary on a cross.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.
God incarnate, Jesus bore the wrath of God destined for us. He offered Himself as payment so that we didn’t have to face what we deserved. This is why Jesus had to die. This is why He had to hang on that cross. This is why the cross saves us.
Jesus said to the disciples, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.
Thank you, Jesus for what you have done. Amen.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Indescribable Joy
I am going to start out my sermon this morning with a bit of a confession. It might be a bit shocking, but it’s true. For the longest time, I’m not sure I knew what it meant to love Jesus. That might be a little weird coming from a pastor, but as I examine the history of my heart, I know what I said to be true. I’m not sure I ever understood what it meant to love Jesus.
Don’t get me wrong. I mean. I knew Jesus was important. I believed every word of that wonderful children’s song that we all probably know and love, “Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.” Yes. I believed that song to my very core. But loving Jesus? That was another matter. That was something I wasn’t quite sure about.
I’m sharing this with you this morning just in case I’m not the only one who struggles with the idea of loving Jesus. I mean, for most of us, we get the notion of love from our relationships with others. We love our spouses. We know what that kind of love is. We love our children. We understand that kind of love tremendously. We love our parents and relatives. We get that. We also love our friends, but not quite in the same way we love our family. But loving Jesus...what is that all about? What does that entail? I’m not sure I ever understood this idea until recently. I will say this, if you have understood it, then perhaps you should have been up here preaching to everyone instead of me.
We are continuing our walk through 1 Peter chapter one, and this morning we are going to focus on verses 6-9, “ 6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Focus your attention for a moment on verse 8. We are going to begin right here and then move into the rest of these verses. How does this verse resonate deep within your heart? When you hear Peter say, “Although you haven’t seen Jesus, you love Him; and even though you don’t see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,” does your heart skip a beat? Do you find yourself pondering the deep mystery incased in these words? Do you find yourself stopping and thinking, “Geez, I cannot even begin to grasp what it would be like if Jesus were not a part of my life.”?
If these words do not have this kind of effect on you, I understand. They didn’t have that kind of effect on me for the longest time partially because I heard them as prescriptive instead of descriptive. I heard them as, “This is how you are supposed to feel. Now, make it happen. Love Jesus. Rejoice. Have indescribable and glorious joy.” And I couldn’t make myself do that. I couldn’t force myself to love Jesus. I couldn’t force myself to be joyful. I couldn’t force myself to rejoice. Maybe we can do such things externally and superficially, but not down in the deep recesses of our hearts.
Now, again, I may be completely and totally wrong in how I am handling this. Perhaps this isn’t a struggle for you. Perhaps you have loved Jesus deeply and have never heard such things in this manner. Perhaps you rejoice and have within you a deep and indescribable joy. This is a very good thing, and I rejoice for you in this. However, my experience in the church tells me that more people struggle with this than not. My experience tells me that there are very few people who have this kind of deep down sense of joy and rejoicing. Most folks I run across still are filled with worry, and bitterness, and anger, and concern. Most folks still get caught up in pointing out the faults of others and thinking, “I would never do something like that.” Most of the time we spend in our respective congregations is spent dealing with these kinds of issues–trying to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do–instead of trying to figure out how we can introduce people to Jesus and help them grow in their faith.
And I think, again, I could be wrong, but I think the problem lies in our human condition. What do I mean by that?
Just this: I think one of the reasons I had trouble loving Jesus is that I thought I was a pretty good person. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of living a good and moral and upright life. I mean, I am a pastor who is serving God. I am married and have been faithful to my spouse. I work hard to be a good father and provide for my wife and kids. I try to be kind to others and help out whenever I can. My wife and I give 10% of our income to the church every month. I try to be a good neighbor. Hey, even though I get angry at the bicyclists on the road, I never even give them half a peace sign! Oh sure, I knew I made mistakes. I knew I was sinful, but I basically thought I was pretty good. I basically thought I was doing an okay job of living out a Christian life. I never really was convinced of my brokenness. I knew I committed sins, but I didn’t really think I was all that sinful.
This actually led me to be pretty self-righteous. It led me to become angry when people wouldn’t do what I thought was the right thing. It led me to hold people in contempt, not outwardly, but deep in the recesses of my heart. It led me to think that if folks would just be like me and listen to what I said, then everything would work out right. If everyone just listened to me when I said, “Jesus tells us to do this...” and then did it, well, then everything would work out in the long run. Our church would grow. I’d feel really, really good about myself. The higher ups in the church would notice what we were doing, and they’d ask me how we accomplished it. I would be all to ready to tell them and brag about what I had done–oh, and of course, what you had done. This mentality actually led me to use Jesus as a kind of stepping stone to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. I was using Jesus to accomplish my goals and my ends, and to this extent, I don’t think you can ever love someone you are actually using.
When it was revealed to me that this is what I was doing–it was a long process in which this happened, it cut me to the core. Here I was thinking that I was doing all this great stuff when in actuality I was a self-centered brat. I was consumed with myself, and when you are consumed with yourself, you don’t do a very good job of loving others. And when you are consumed with yourself, you don’t really find a lot of joy and cause for rejoicing. Because we live in this world and are constantly running into others who do not see eye to eye with us, we are constantly trying to get our way and get people to think like we think and do like we do–when we are self-centered, it wears us thin. It makes us very fatigued, and it drains all the joy out of us. This is where I found myself. Weary. Worn. Angry. When things didn’t go my way and I felt like I was suffering, I took it out on others, and I cried out to Jesus, “Why are you doing this to me? Aren’t I following you? Aren’t I preaching and teaching in your Church? Aren’t I doing enough to satisfy you? What did I do to deserve this?”
And then I met Jesus at the foot of the cross. I met Jesus hanging there with blood running down His head. I met Him with nails piercing His feet and hands. I met Him as the skies darkened and He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In not so many words, “What did I do to deserve this?”
And I knew Jesus didn’t do anything to deserve that cross. Jesus lived the perfect life. He lived the kind of life that I should live but was too self-centered to even consider. He was kind and compassionate and brought healing to many. He showed us the nature of God and brought people to God who were once far away. He loved those who were considered unlovable. So why? Why did He hang there on that cross?
And Jesus looked at me and said, “I’m hanging here for you. I’m hanging here because you are self-centered. I am hanging here because you are self-righteous. I’m hanging here because you aren’t loving others like you should. I’m hanging here because you are using others to achieve your goals. I’m hanging here because even if you tried to make everything right, you are doing it again for your own selfish reasons and not purely for doing what is right. I am hanging here because God demands your life for putting yourself at the center of the universe instead of Him. I didn’t want to see you perish. I didn’t want to see you come under His wrath and judgement, so I took your punishment for you. I took your place. And I am doing this because I love you.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.
This Jesus; this God made flesh was on that cross dying for my sake, and the knowledge of my sinfulness coupled with the knowledge of what Jesus did cut me deep to the heart. This is what Jesus did for me. This is what Jesus did for you.
“6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
When we realize that the salvation of our souls has come purely by grace; purely by Jesus’ actions for us when we were still sinners, we cannot help but be overcome by overwhelming mystery and indescribable joy. We cannot help but realize that there is nothing on this earth that can move or shake us. We cannot help but realize that any amount of suffering or trials or tribulations are painful, yes, but we know–WE KNOW–they are only a hiccup in the road for we have a God who suffers too. We have a God who died. And we have a God who was raised from the dead. The God who loved us enough to die for us; loves us enough to bring us to new life. He loves us enough to bring good out of evil. He loves us enough to turn our suffering and our mourning into dancing. How can you not love a God like that? How can you not love Jesus? Oh how I love Jesus because He first loved me! Amen.
Don’t get me wrong. I mean. I knew Jesus was important. I believed every word of that wonderful children’s song that we all probably know and love, “Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.” Yes. I believed that song to my very core. But loving Jesus? That was another matter. That was something I wasn’t quite sure about.
I’m sharing this with you this morning just in case I’m not the only one who struggles with the idea of loving Jesus. I mean, for most of us, we get the notion of love from our relationships with others. We love our spouses. We know what that kind of love is. We love our children. We understand that kind of love tremendously. We love our parents and relatives. We get that. We also love our friends, but not quite in the same way we love our family. But loving Jesus...what is that all about? What does that entail? I’m not sure I ever understood this idea until recently. I will say this, if you have understood it, then perhaps you should have been up here preaching to everyone instead of me.
We are continuing our walk through 1 Peter chapter one, and this morning we are going to focus on verses 6-9, “ 6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Focus your attention for a moment on verse 8. We are going to begin right here and then move into the rest of these verses. How does this verse resonate deep within your heart? When you hear Peter say, “Although you haven’t seen Jesus, you love Him; and even though you don’t see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,” does your heart skip a beat? Do you find yourself pondering the deep mystery incased in these words? Do you find yourself stopping and thinking, “Geez, I cannot even begin to grasp what it would be like if Jesus were not a part of my life.”?
If these words do not have this kind of effect on you, I understand. They didn’t have that kind of effect on me for the longest time partially because I heard them as prescriptive instead of descriptive. I heard them as, “This is how you are supposed to feel. Now, make it happen. Love Jesus. Rejoice. Have indescribable and glorious joy.” And I couldn’t make myself do that. I couldn’t force myself to love Jesus. I couldn’t force myself to be joyful. I couldn’t force myself to rejoice. Maybe we can do such things externally and superficially, but not down in the deep recesses of our hearts.
Now, again, I may be completely and totally wrong in how I am handling this. Perhaps this isn’t a struggle for you. Perhaps you have loved Jesus deeply and have never heard such things in this manner. Perhaps you rejoice and have within you a deep and indescribable joy. This is a very good thing, and I rejoice for you in this. However, my experience in the church tells me that more people struggle with this than not. My experience tells me that there are very few people who have this kind of deep down sense of joy and rejoicing. Most folks I run across still are filled with worry, and bitterness, and anger, and concern. Most folks still get caught up in pointing out the faults of others and thinking, “I would never do something like that.” Most of the time we spend in our respective congregations is spent dealing with these kinds of issues–trying to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do–instead of trying to figure out how we can introduce people to Jesus and help them grow in their faith.
And I think, again, I could be wrong, but I think the problem lies in our human condition. What do I mean by that?
Just this: I think one of the reasons I had trouble loving Jesus is that I thought I was a pretty good person. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of living a good and moral and upright life. I mean, I am a pastor who is serving God. I am married and have been faithful to my spouse. I work hard to be a good father and provide for my wife and kids. I try to be kind to others and help out whenever I can. My wife and I give 10% of our income to the church every month. I try to be a good neighbor. Hey, even though I get angry at the bicyclists on the road, I never even give them half a peace sign! Oh sure, I knew I made mistakes. I knew I was sinful, but I basically thought I was pretty good. I basically thought I was doing an okay job of living out a Christian life. I never really was convinced of my brokenness. I knew I committed sins, but I didn’t really think I was all that sinful.
This actually led me to be pretty self-righteous. It led me to become angry when people wouldn’t do what I thought was the right thing. It led me to hold people in contempt, not outwardly, but deep in the recesses of my heart. It led me to think that if folks would just be like me and listen to what I said, then everything would work out right. If everyone just listened to me when I said, “Jesus tells us to do this...” and then did it, well, then everything would work out in the long run. Our church would grow. I’d feel really, really good about myself. The higher ups in the church would notice what we were doing, and they’d ask me how we accomplished it. I would be all to ready to tell them and brag about what I had done–oh, and of course, what you had done. This mentality actually led me to use Jesus as a kind of stepping stone to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. I was using Jesus to accomplish my goals and my ends, and to this extent, I don’t think you can ever love someone you are actually using.
When it was revealed to me that this is what I was doing–it was a long process in which this happened, it cut me to the core. Here I was thinking that I was doing all this great stuff when in actuality I was a self-centered brat. I was consumed with myself, and when you are consumed with yourself, you don’t do a very good job of loving others. And when you are consumed with yourself, you don’t really find a lot of joy and cause for rejoicing. Because we live in this world and are constantly running into others who do not see eye to eye with us, we are constantly trying to get our way and get people to think like we think and do like we do–when we are self-centered, it wears us thin. It makes us very fatigued, and it drains all the joy out of us. This is where I found myself. Weary. Worn. Angry. When things didn’t go my way and I felt like I was suffering, I took it out on others, and I cried out to Jesus, “Why are you doing this to me? Aren’t I following you? Aren’t I preaching and teaching in your Church? Aren’t I doing enough to satisfy you? What did I do to deserve this?”
And then I met Jesus at the foot of the cross. I met Jesus hanging there with blood running down His head. I met Him with nails piercing His feet and hands. I met Him as the skies darkened and He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In not so many words, “What did I do to deserve this?”
And I knew Jesus didn’t do anything to deserve that cross. Jesus lived the perfect life. He lived the kind of life that I should live but was too self-centered to even consider. He was kind and compassionate and brought healing to many. He showed us the nature of God and brought people to God who were once far away. He loved those who were considered unlovable. So why? Why did He hang there on that cross?
And Jesus looked at me and said, “I’m hanging here for you. I’m hanging here because you are self-centered. I am hanging here because you are self-righteous. I’m hanging here because you aren’t loving others like you should. I’m hanging here because you are using others to achieve your goals. I’m hanging here because even if you tried to make everything right, you are doing it again for your own selfish reasons and not purely for doing what is right. I am hanging here because God demands your life for putting yourself at the center of the universe instead of Him. I didn’t want to see you perish. I didn’t want to see you come under His wrath and judgement, so I took your punishment for you. I took your place. And I am doing this because I love you.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.
This Jesus; this God made flesh was on that cross dying for my sake, and the knowledge of my sinfulness coupled with the knowledge of what Jesus did cut me deep to the heart. This is what Jesus did for me. This is what Jesus did for you.
“6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
When we realize that the salvation of our souls has come purely by grace; purely by Jesus’ actions for us when we were still sinners, we cannot help but be overcome by overwhelming mystery and indescribable joy. We cannot help but realize that there is nothing on this earth that can move or shake us. We cannot help but realize that any amount of suffering or trials or tribulations are painful, yes, but we know–WE KNOW–they are only a hiccup in the road for we have a God who suffers too. We have a God who died. And we have a God who was raised from the dead. The God who loved us enough to die for us; loves us enough to bring us to new life. He loves us enough to bring good out of evil. He loves us enough to turn our suffering and our mourning into dancing. How can you not love a God like that? How can you not love Jesus? Oh how I love Jesus because He first loved me! Amen.
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