Monthly Archives: April 2014
It Is Finished? Or it is Consummated?….
“It is Finished”
John 19:30
IH
May you realize, not just what you have been separated from at the cross, but what you have been united to, for that is the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
One Word: Two Meanings
Have you ever heard someone, a teacher, your pastor, your spouse say something, and though you heard the words perfectly, you didn’t quite get what they are saying?
You heard them so well you could quote them back verbatim, and they would acknowledge you heard the words perfectly, but the message did not communicate? I hope you were smart enough NOT to do that by the way.
When we hear Jesus words, there are two ways of hearing it, “it is done away with….”, or ”it is completed”
The question is which we will hear,
and which we should hear…..
It is Finished!
The first way to hear these words, “It is finished”, is to consider all that has been dealt with, the bill that has been paid.
To think that sin has been made impotent, its power to cause guilt or shame has been eliminated.
The guilt and shame of being a sinner, wiped away in baptism, therefore the power of Satan’s accusation is no longer valid.
It is not that the Ten Commandments has been eradicated, it is that the curse for shattering them as we have, has been met. The terms of our relationship with God have been met.
In this man, beaten, brutalized and scorned, that the complete burden of sin has been placed.
The debt for our envy, the damage done by our gossiping about others, the pain caused by our desires, our lust, our thirst for revenge, for the times when we would play God, or use His name to get what we want, rather than find rest and our burdens revealed by him.
All that debt, all that pain, all that brokenness….
It is finished.
It is finished……
Yet it is more than that….
It is Consumated/Completed!
As I looked through the history of the church, I saw something more than what we’ve been separated from as the focus of these words. Augustine and the early church fathers used the equivalent of consummated, completed in regards to this phrase. It is consummated, it is complete, complete, it has been accomplished.
They talk not just of the payment of sins, our being freed from sin and the devil, and the power of death.
They talk of what we are freed to, that the Holy Ghost, which Christ surrenders here, would soon be breath out upon the church.
It is completed, the work Paul talks of in Ephesian 2:10
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
It is there, at the cross of Christ, this work has been accomplished, we’ve been taken into Christ, united with His death,
And with the hope of the resurrection, with that which we shall celebrate on Sunday.
It is completed this work to bring us to the Father, who finds us righteous, who welcomes us, His children, into His presence. Sharing in His death, we now share in His resurrection.
That’s the point, what Jesus completed at the cross. It is the so what, that changes a historical story into something that matters here in Brea, in the life of every person here this afternoon, that should matter to everyone who is driving by this church, to every person listed among our Facebook friends. They all need to hear it – every person alive and every person that will be born until He come again. He has become the Way, the Truth and the Life, even as His head slumped, and He breathed His last breath.
We now can walk with Christ, we who trust in His work, who God has cleansed with water and the word.
Yes – He finished off all that would finish us off, but He completed that which He came to complete – to make for the Father a people who would be His, who would recognize Him as God their Father.
We have been united to Him, we dwell with Him, we are protected, our hearts and minds even as we dwell in the indescribable peace of God our Father.
AMEN?
Did Jesus Rest on this Sabbath?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. 19 In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, 20 who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. 21 This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. 1 Peter 3:18-22 (NAB)
“Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell: The third day he rose again from the dead:” (1)
A conversation yesterday, between Good Friday Services, brought up the issue of what Jesus was doing, in the time between His death on the cross, and the Resurrection.
The people I was in dialogue with said he simply rested in the grave. They were using this to “prove” that everyone should worship on the Sabbath, during the time between Sunset on Friday, and Sunset on Saturday.
It brought up memories of my childhood, sitting in the pews at St. Francis in Lawrence, or St. Joes in Salem, and wondering about the line in the Apostle’s Creed above.
Why did Jesus have to descend to Hell? Wasn’t the suffering and death on the cross enough?
It bothered me greatly, and those I asked about it, had no answer. Which bothered me a little more. Would the Father let Jesus go to Hell, to suffer there for our sins? Why did He have to go?
I am not sure when I came across the verses in Peter’s epistle above, but they seem to settle the issue. Jesus didn’t go to Hell to suffer, but to preach, to proclaim the love of God, that He would die for the sin of the world. All sin. That those who trust in Him as their God, would know His salvation. it is not quite a victory parade, though it is to declare victory. And the gates of Hell cannot prevent it, Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One of God. He was sent, apostle’d to deliver to the Father, those who have, would, will become the children of God
The words about baptism are not remiss therefore, for it is in Baptism that we are united with the death of Christ, and with His Resurrection. Glorious events, worthy of praise, (yes the cross is glorious) for they show the depth of God’s love for us. Love that wouldn’t even let those imprisoned by sin not know of His love, of His grace. It is what takes those dead in sin, and makes them alive in Christ Jesus.
Which brings us back to the Sabbath, and the purpose of it.
It’s not about not working, for surely God is continually at work, sustaining the universe. And those of us, who preach, who lead worship, who do a myriad of things on Sunday (or Saturday – Romans tells us we have this Freedom) certainly are at work in the House of God. The Sabbath is about priority, teaching us to rest – not just from labor, but to rest in the presence of God. To be in awe of His love, to be aware of the depth of His love, that will even descend into hell to deliver the children of God to their home… with Him. That is why Paul says the sabbath is simply a foreshadowing of Christ, for it is in Him we truly find rest.
Even on a Saturday, while we prepare to celebrate the resurrection… Even here, the Lord of the Sabbath reigns, and because He does, we know we dwell in the Father’s peace, an indescribable peace, a peace that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
AMEN.
(1) The Apostles Creed
If You Want to Lord, You Can Make Me Clean. Jesus said… I Do Want To…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
23 Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. 24 Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23-24 (TEV)
40 A man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to Jesus, knelt down, and begged him for help. “If you want to,” he said, “you can make me clean.” 41 Jesus was filled with pity, and reached out and touched him. “I do want to,” he answered. “Be clean!” 42 At once the disease left the man, and he was clean. Mark 1:40-42 (TEV)
86 With God, I thought, every day seems more attractive. I can see “little bits” at a time. One day I notice some wonderful detail; on another, I discover a sight I had not seen before… At this rate, it is impossible to say what will happen next. Then, I noticed that He was reassuring me: “Your happiness will grow greater every day, for you will be drawn deeper and deeper into that divine adventure, into that great ‘complication’ with which you have become involved. And you will realise that I will never abandon you.”
Good Friday.
A Crown of thorns, a thick “royal robe”, placed on a back that is raw from a whipping, Spikes hammered through each wrist, One more hammered through the ankles. Ankles already tired from carrying the beam up a mountain side.
People mocking Him, the people who called for His death, the people who once praised and followed Him, but followed Him hear for a different reason…..to watch Him suffer and die.
Why?
We were not able to cry out, as the man did at the beginning of Mark’s gospel. A cry that echo’s David’s cry in Psalm 139. Examine us! Make us clean – completely. If you desire to Lord, you can.
And He did. By hanging on the cross.
He cleansed us of every sin, He brought us into Himself – we share in that death – we hang there with Him, nailed to that cross in our baptism. We rise with Him as well, brought into His very glory.
We receive all His promises, He guards us, never abandoning us, never forsaking us, always there, always faithful. The promises that we find more and more of, as we plunge the scriptures, as we meet and pray and hear God’s word together. As we kneel at an altar, and receive the Body and Blood of Christ. These details, declaring God’s desire – that we are all transformed, that explain His patience…His will, what He did, for us, as Christ hung on that cross.
This day, as you consider the cross, as you consider that Jesus endured that pain, for the joy set before Him. The joy of bringing us into the Father’s glory.
And here His answer to you….. I do want to… be clean!
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 581-586). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Thursday, Good Friday and Easter… not just History
Devotional Thought of the Day:
23 As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles; 24 but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 (TEV)
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Romans 6:5-11 (NLT)
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Colossians 3:1-4 (NLT)
19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:19-21 (NLT)
For the past thirty years, there has been a tendency to deal with Jesus, and especially the cross and the resurrection as a historical event. It is where they start, and Sunday there will be a lot of sermons that try to prove the resurrection.
But if that is all they do, if they engage people in “just the facts”, the message of Holy Week, the message of Christ’s death and resurrection will be overlooked. The heart of the message will be missed.
Re-read the passages above. There you hear that the Resurrection isn’t just about events 2000 years ago. They are events that are current, the proof is not just seen in the claims of Josephus or Eusebius, but in our very lives. We were there, or perhaps it is better to say we are there… our sins being laid on Christ, our lives being re-generated with His resurrection.
Because the death and resurrection, everything changes in our lives, the hope that we have for this life, and for the next is not some day dream possibility. It is the expectation based on the promises we have been given, the guaranty of that not being some historical proofs, but of something more – of a life filled with the Holy Spirit…
21 It is God himself who makes us, together with you, sure of our life in union with Christ; it is God himself who has set us apart, 22 who has placed his mark of ownership upon us, and who has given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (TEV)
The “all that He has in store for us” is not about wealth or fame or riches in this life, it is something far more. That we walk with Him now, that we are not just welcome in the presence of God, but that He desires us there, and draws us into His presence.
That just isn’t a historical event, it is something we live and breath. It is what establishes who we are, brings healing to who we were, and assures us of Christ’s presence in our lives.
Today on Holy Thursday,
Tomorrow as our hearts are found at the cross…
In times like Black Saturday, when we wonder if God is dead,
And on Sunday, as we realize we have risen with Him, just as He said!
Amen.
Why a Crucifix can be so incredibly important… not just during Holy Week
Devotional Thought of the Day:
23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. 1 Corinthians 1:23 (NLT)
20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:20-21 (NLT)
70 You asked me if I had a cross to bear. And I answered, “Yes, we always have to bear the Cross.” But it is a glorious Cross, a divine seal, the authentic guarantee of our being children of God. That is why we always walk along happily with the Cross.
For some it is a piece of jewelry, or an art piece, and artifact.
For others, it is something they do not want to face, so they remove them from homes and sanctuaries. They may say it’s divisive, or that they are afraid of it becoming and idol. Even a barren cross is seen as too close, and so they are removed, taken away, hid in a closet or irreverently thrown in a dumpster.
But there is something about a crucifix, about looking at a portrayal of a body wracked with pain, the crown of thorns, the nails through the wrists and ankles, the eyes that through the pain look out upon us.
The reason for the cross.
To make us the people of God,
This is what God the Father gave the son to endure, because He loves us……
This is what Jesus endured, hating its shame, but for the joy set before Him…. the joy of seeing us rise with Him.
This is what the Holy Spirit testifies to, the very power of the gospel that can save us all…..
Christ dying for us… and His crucifixion – the place where we died to sin…. the place where the promise comes home, we have risen with Him as well.
As i go through this life, as I see the effect of sin devastating marriages, crushing families, as I see the challenges of this broken world strike us with disease, as I see us choose, again and again, to tear down, to let resentment build, to seek after something that will quench our pain for the moment, whether it be sex or drugs or the latest television binge. Escapes that mean little but a moment away. We need something more substantial, something more enduring.
We need to remember when God came into our lives, dwelt among us, and the glory of God, displayed on a cross. The love of God so incredible, so unbelievable, so needed. I need to stop and meditate on the wondrous love that would drive him there, to deliver us from all that assails us. Crosses, crucifixes serve to call us to that point, to remember the love of God…. to remember His work – even now at work in us.
It is “the” game changer, that brings light to darkness, that dispells evil, that brings peace into chaos.
I don’t think we need less reminders… but perhaps far more.
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 514-517). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Dangerous Thought on Tax Day: A Day of Repentance
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand 2 No insults, no fights. God’s people should be bighearted and courteous. Titus 3:1-2 (MSG)
13 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; 14 they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. 15 It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. 16 Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. 17 Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government. 1 Peter 2:13-17 (MSG)
13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and some of the Herod-party to trap him in an argument. They came up and said to him, “Master, we know that you are an honest man and that you are not swayed by men’s opinion of you. Obviously you don’t care for human approval but teach the way of God with the strictest regard for truth – is it right to pay tribute to Caesar or not: are we to pay or not to pay?” 15 But Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said to them, “Why try this trick on me? Bring me a coin and let me look at it.” 16 So they brought one to him. “Whose face is this?” asked Jesus, “and whose name is in the inscription?” 17 “Caesar’s,” they replied. And Jesus said, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God!” – a reply which staggered them. Mark 12:13-17 (Phillips NT)
67 The scene of the parable is being repeated: it is the same as with those people who were invited to the wedding feast. Some are afraid, others have their own concerns, many… make up stories or give silly excuses. They put up resistance. That is why they feel the way they do: fed up, all in a muddle, listless, bored, bitter. And yet how easy it is to accept the divine invitation at every moment, and live a happy life, full of joy! (1)
It is April 15th, the day annual tax documents are do in the USA.
It’s also a day where we should confess our sins, and be absolved for them.
For disobeying the law, not man’s law (though some of us are guilty of that!), but God’s law. The law which tells us the government is something God has established as a blessing for us.
Now some of you are thinking – but the government uses our money for evil, the government is trying to persecute the church, the government is giving our hard earned dollars to those that do not deserve it, the government is, and the slander and disrespect goes on and on, without end. Unlike Jesus on the cross – who could have called down 10,000 angels while he was hanging on the cross, we want to call down God’s wrath on those who would take our idols, our Benjamins, Franklins and Lincolns. Heck we begrudge even the littlest Lincoln upon which the government has a claim.
Dare someone quote the words from scripture above, and ridicule and scorn will shift, from the government, to the one writing them. People (and pastors too) will start justifying their actions, and especially their words and their thoughts. In do so, they deny that sin occurs in thoughts and words, beside in the things we do. We toss our theology out the window – in order to protect the “rite” to free speech. Even when that speech is sinful.
It’s time to repent, its time to realize that in keeping the fourth commandment, (honor thy Father and Mother) that includes the blessing of the government God established, the government that has the right to tax us, and to set what those taxes are. It’s time to stop stealing, stop bearing false witness, to stop coveting our governments stuff. Instead we should pray for them, bless them respect them (and not just “the office).
We’ve got a much better thing to be doing, we can revel in the presence of God, we can rejoice at His love and mercy. That’s what it means to find our place in the wedding banquet, rather than in the marketplace complaining and slandering. It is what it means to live as forgiven, baptized children of God – to do things (like obeying the government) that we do – for God’s sake.
It’s a time for us to hear our sins are forgiven, that God has rescued us, that we no longer need to protect our idols.
It’s a day to know God’s mercy so well, the we show it to others….
May our Lord Jesus Christ walk with us this day, and may the Spirit of God, dwelling within us, empower us to keep these words above.
AMEN.
I am tired of it.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 500-505). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Why Would God Blind Them as to who Jesus Was?
(in order to make sense of the sermon, I have included the beginning of our service – the processional readings for Palm and Passion Sunday. THere is something about crying in one breath “Hossanna ! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” and in the next, “Crucify Him!” That tension, that uncomfortable gut wrenching realization that we would have cried out as they did…. is something we should experience, and oddly enough, where we find God’s greatest glory revealed. DTP )
Invocation
pastor: “In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit!” Cogregation: Amen!
Verses for Procession for Palm Sunday Matthew 21:1–9
pastor: “When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, congregation: Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” pastor : 6The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, congregation “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Processional Hymn All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name/Our God Reigns
pastor : (Later that Week) 21 So the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?” The crowd shouted back, congregation: “Barabbas! pastor:late Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” They shouted back, congregation: “Crucify him!” pastor ““Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?” But the mob roared even louder, congregation: “Crucify him!” pastor: Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!” 25 And all the people yelled back, congregation “We will take responsibility for his death—we and our children!”
Confession and Absolution
(we then proceeded into a time of confession our sins, and hearing the incredible words, that because of Christ, they are forgiven….It it with that context that the following sermon is delviered)
Why Would God Blind their Eyes?
Because Jesus Christ Had to Die…For Us
John 12:20-43
T In Jesus Name T
May You Grow in Awareness of what is yours as you walk in Christ, the grace, mercy and peace of God our Father. AMEN.
I don’t get it….
I usually love the mysteries of scripture, the things we call paradoxes. They are glorious, mystical things that cause our minds to eventually give up, and stand there, in awe of God’s wisdom and glory.
The mystery that is the Trinity, the paradox of Jesus being 100% God and yet 100% man. The mystery that we will celebrate as we take and eat the Body of Christ, in and under the bread; and drink the blood of Christ in and under the wine. I could go on and talk of how we are simultaneously sinners and yet righteous, or the mystery of our being Born Again, as God’s pours water over us, and replaces our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh….
There are other things, not quite to the level of these glorious mysteries, but still puzzling, and it takes a little to work them out. Things in scripture that just don’t make sense at first glance. We have to struggle with them, to understand how what it teaches makes sense, considering what we know about God.
Such is found in verse 40 of the gospel reading. (Click)
40 “The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts— so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.” John 12:40 (NLT)
Does this sound like the action of the God we know, who loves us, and desires that none should perish, but that all would come to everlasting life? That He would intentionally blind someone, that they couldn’t see His glory, that he would harden their hearts so that they couldn’t understand? Why would He stop them from turning to Him? Why wouldn’t He heal them?
Is this the God of love that we adore? (Click) Or are we missing something? Why would God blind their eyes?
The Mission: Bring Glory to the Father’s Name
As the gospel reading opened, just prior to the Triumphal Entry, the Great procession into Jerusalem we see something that we need to understand. Before Jesus enters Jerusalem, before the cries change from Hosanna to Crucify Him, Jesus will hear that the world has come, and has wanted to meet with Him.
A few Greeks have come to Jerusalem, and desire to meet jesus.
Think back to last week, when Caiaphas prophesied that it would be better for one Man to die, that the people of God would live. John’s gospel said – it wasn’t just for one nation, but looking to the Old Testament prophecies, that people from every nation would be saved when One Man died. Then there is this, from the dedication of the temple…
41 “In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name, 42 for they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, 43 then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. 1 Kings 8:41-43 (NLT)
That day has come, as men come from distant lands to pray, and they will soon know the glorious answer to their prayers – that God is listening. The time when Christ is to die, though they don’t get that yet. He points is out in places like verse 23-24 (click)
23 Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. John 12:23-24 (NLT)
In this, Jesus unites His glory to His death, the death where He is planted, but that very death provides a plentiful harvest and lives that are full of His love. That seems odd as well, for how is the death of a man, especially the torture and death that Jesus faced, something that would be glorious? Jesus will make the point again a moment later, (click)
32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” John 12:32 (NLT)
That word “lifted” up, is more often used in the sense of our phrase – “putting up on a pedestal”. To honor and cherish and praise the one lifted up, yet the crowd understood this meant he would be crucified? (click) Glorified or Crucified? (click) Or could it be both? (click)
The Challenge – Would We Cry to Crucify Christ?
Could lifting up Christ refer to Christ being glorified, to the Father’s name being praised, and to the crucifixion of Jesus?
It does – and that is why God would blind the people of Israel, and harden their hearts. Because Jesus needed to die for them, for us. It is here where we find our answer to the original question: (CLICK)
“Why would God Blind their eyes?” Because otherwise, as the other reading says, they wouldn’t crucify the Lord of Glory.
How many of you this morning, were comfortable saying the words the crowds cried on Good Friday? How many felt odd crying “Crucify Him!”? We struggle with the idea, and we weren’t even there in the courtyard. How could we cry out crucify jesus? The Son of God?
How many did felt a lump in their throat, or hesitated? How dare we call for His death, even to save us from our sins?
I think that is what makes it hard – knowing that it was our sins that put Him there. How many of us, considering our sin, our failures, our shame and guilt, would even ask Jesus to pay for those sins? Demand it? Yell it til Pilate submits?
Yet that moment, when what the crowds’ two cries are fulfilled simultaneously, when the Messiah, the Son of David comes and saves us, as His is nailed to the cross, that moment as He says, It is finished; that moment is glorious.
It is the moment we are delivered, the moment we find ourselves freed from sin, from all unrighteousness, the moment our eyes are opened, our stone hearts are replaced with hearts of flesh. That moment – when the crowds cries – Hosanna and Crucify Him are fulfilled… that moment is glorious.
As Christ dies, for us.
That’s the Moment the Father is Praised and Glorified for… Odd isn’t it?
If they weren’t blinded, if they hearts weren’t hardened, they wouldn’t have killed the Lord of Glory, They had already tried to make Him king, they wanted Him to free them, but they had no clue the kind of Kingdom He came to deliver.
I am not sure we get it all the time either…. It is too glorious, too incredible, more wonderful than anything we’ve ever seen, or heard, or even imagined
For It is at that moment, as we see Jesus, on the cross, beaten and brutalized that we realize the depth of God’s love for us, and we praise God, we glorify Him, we are in awe..
God loves us that much?
Yes, you and I.
That much!
Think about it for another moment…..
Imagine now crying out “crucify him,” understanding His love, His compassion, and His joy that drives Him to that cross……
to save you.
and me.
And the world.
May knowing the depth of Christ’s love for you, of the Father’s desire to make you His children, instill in you His peace, the peace of God which passes all understanding, and guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.
Why Are We Satisfied With GIGO? (garbage in – garbage out)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
7 But Christ has shown me that what I once thought was valuable is worthless. 8 Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ 9 and to know that I belong to him. I could not make myself acceptable to God by obeying the Law of Moses. God accepted me simply because of my faith in Christ. 10 All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, 11 so that somehow I also may be raised to life. Philippians 3:7-11 (CEV)
8 In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.Philippians 4:8 (TEV)
65 Once again you had gone back to your old follies!… And afterwards, when you returned, you didn’t feel very cheerful, because you lacked humility. It seems as if you obstinately refuse to learn from the second part of the parable of the prodigal son, and you still feel attached to the wretched happiness of the pig-swill. With your pride wounded by your weakness, you have not made up your mind to ask for pardon, and you have not realised that, if you humble yourself, the joyful welcome of your Father God awaits you, with a feast to mark your return and your new beginning. (1)
In the movie “Footloose”, there is a characterization of Christianity, or at least Christianity that used to be.
A Pharisaical legislative, in your face, take names Christianity where those that danced, or drank, or went to movies rated “PG” or worse were held up and scorned. Where the rules of behavior were set in stone, and by golly, if you weren’t going to obey those rules, you were going to be tossed out. If you questioned the rules, you were considered a rebel and someone to be watched.
A generation later, and perhaps we’ve gone the other way, yet are still “legislating” what is right and wrong. Or more accurately, we are simply legislating everything as right, and banishing any thought of the idea of something being “wrong”.
The Pendulum has reached the other side of the swing, This time, it has done what it rarely does – it has taken the church with it, gotten the church’s okay for what is vulgar, profane, sinful. I look at my fb page and what I and others post, and am shocked. Even if permissible, the things we post aren’t beneficial, (didn’t Paul say something about that?)
As one whose vocation, whose career deals with helping people in their brokenness, I see both these extremes as wrong. I have dealt, and continue to deal, with those damaged by these forms of legalism. The damage is horrendous, the pains are real, the broken families, broken marriages, broken friendships, broken people just mount up,
The ways that would excuse and/or justify any behavior, and the kind that would force behavior modification.
That’s not how it works in scripture, for like the old computer rule, these tactics focus on negative behavior – and even taking them in leads to sin. Garbage in, garbage out. Both ways do this – one by approving it, the other by making it tempting and looking good, in the very way we forbid it.
Holiness is something else though. It is abandoning all of these behaviors, not because we are forced too, but because we realize their value compared to the value of knowing Jesus, to knowing the love of God, to knowing His comfort and peace.
Paul’s idea of Phil. 4 – about concentrating on the “good stuff” isn’t law – it is 100% gospel, when you hear it with chapter 3 still fresh in your mind. Because those things he says to focus on are found in the presence of God. They are God’s nature. They lead us to adore Him, to want to be like Him, and in Him finding the strength to that which is positive. The more we see this, the less desirous the life of the prodigal will be, the more we realize the grip of sin was broken at the cross. There is something about that cross, about the crucifixes and crosses we have, that remind us of His love, of His devotion, of that which is unlike anything else we can now.
Will we see God’s glory for what it is? Will we walk with the Lord? Will we realize the garbage that we feed on daily for what it is, and leave it behind to know the love of God?
Lord have mercy on us, and help us to desire you in our lives, and therefore find the holiness that is found in your peace.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 490-495). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Treasuring God’s Gifts: Valuing our Parents
Treasuring God’s Gifts
Means We Value our Parents and all authorities
(rather than look down on them or provoke them)
Eph. 2:10, Exodus 20:12, Luke 10:25-38
† In Jesus Name †
May you be so overwhelmed by God’s grace and peace that your trust in Him overwhelms you anxieties and doubts, enabling you to know His work in your life.
As I look around the room, it would seem that it has been a while since most of us lived under out parent’s roof. Which is what comes to mind when we talk about the fourth commandment, the idea of honoring your father and mother.
We think that commandment that part of God’s plan is for children and young adults, those who still should be hearing their parent’s directions, and immediately going and obeying.
Take out the trash,
Clean your room!
Be home by 10.
Remember, the Bible says you have to honor your father and mother!
Of course, it is usually the parents reminding their children of this…
And the children always ask in confirmation – “what if they are wrong”, or “what if they want me to do something God knows is wrong….
As we have said throughout this series, this is not about being a robot and obeying the commandments of God. If we treat it that way, it is no wonder that scripture is used as a weapon, and that people react to it in “self-defense”, trying to prove they are not as bad as the next person is.
But when we see this “word” this part of the design that begins with God revealing Himself to be our creator, revealing Himself to be the Lord who delivers us from our slavery to sin and the devil, then it takes on a different understanding.
For we begin to value our parents and all authorities as gifts from God, we realize it is not about them or us, it is about God. Trusting Him at His word becomes more dominant in our life than our frustrations that come when we have to interact with fellow sinners, whose lives and decisions impact our life.
or at least sometimes we think they impact our life negatively.
What does it mean to Honor
Looking a little deeper into this, we need to define “honor”. It means to value, to treasure. That is very different from simply obeying people, or simply submitting to them.
Why would we treasure these people, why would we value them? I mean after all, aren’t they sinners just like us? We know they had bad days, challenges, maybe a temper or a rush to judgment. Maybe their faith seems week, or they didn’t believe at all.
How do we honor them, how can we value them then?
Again, valuing them is not based in their value as we perceive it, but in the value of God, and in trusting in His word, especially promises like Romans 8, that all things work out for good for those who love God. Or Jeremiah’s words about God having a plan for our lives, or of course our epistle for this season of lent….
That God is making our lives a masterpiece.
It’s a matter of trusting in Him. About knowing His love, about realizing the power of the gospel in your life,
The Extension
I mention before that from the responsibility of the parents, Luther extends out that responsibility to others. People who have callings like teachers, doctors, police officers, and even government. These people take a portion of the role of the parent, and we entrust people to their care.
This where faith is seems to be a challenge! How can we trust God in this! Their sins are usually much more public, and we have to wonder about their judgment, their care for our sake, their trustworthiness, how can we honor and value them?
We have to keep re-focusing, to know it is not about our trust in men, but our trust in God. Whether we are the three men thrown into the furnace, and were kept safe, or the one who uttered, 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!” Acts 7:56 (TEV)
Those words come a short time before the rocks were piled on him, as Stephen asked God to forgive those who were tossing them. That takes trusting in God, and knowing His promises.
But that is where is all keeps coming back to, this God who reveals Himself as our God, as our deliverer, as our provider, as our protector.
Who throughout scripture, is always faithful, who always hears His people call, A God who desires all to be saved. A God who delivers His people from oppression, who calls us His children, His people.
Who invites sinners to gather in His presence, that He can pronounce them clean, and welcome and give them faith and repentance, and transform them>>
As we trust in Him, as we realize the power of the death and resurrection of Christ, as we dwell in their presence… more and more… we know this…
The Lord is with you…
Therefore we dwell in His peace, in His glory, in something more incredible that we can conceive of, and know that we are guarded in this peace, our hearts and minds, by Jesus.
AMEN?
