THE SHEPHERD IS DEDICATED TO HIS SHEEP
On May 29th, 1994, I was standing by myself in front of the church with my back to the congregation. It was Sunday morning and the day of my confirmation. I had already answered the questions, I had already publically confessed my faith with the appropriate responses, and my father, who also happened to be my pastor, was giving to me my confirmation verse. And the passage of Scripture that I received that day should be familiar to you because it is from our gospel reading this morning, John 10:27-28: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” That verse was printed down on a piece of paper with my name on it, signed by my father, dated, and framed. And now it sits in my office on the top of a bookcase as a reminder about what happened that day. And it’s a reminder not only about what I promised to do and be as a Christian, but more importantly, it is a reminder about what Christ promised to do and be for me. Because in John chapter ten Jesus promised to give me eternal life. He promised that I would never perish. He promised to never let anyone snatch me out of his hand. My Savior promised to always be my Shepherd.
I don’t think this passage meant as much to me then as it does now. Because the farther I am removed from that event as a 14 year old, the more I realize that this promise from the Lord has never failed me. This statement from my Shepherd still remains. It is just as true today as it was on May 29th, 1994. And it’s just as true as it was when the apostle John first wrote these words on a piece of papyrus or when they originally came out of Jesus’ own mouth. My Shepherd is dedicated to me, his sheep. Our Shepherd is dedicated to us, his flock. And that will never change. That will always be true. No matter how undedicated we prove ourselves to be.
For the last 16 years since that spring Sunday morning in a little town in south eastern Nebraska, I have not been the most faithful of sheep to my Shepherd. Even though Jesus says right here in my confirmation verse, “My sheep listen to my voice,” I haven’t always listened to him. I’ve listened to other voices and opinions and suggestions (including my own) over and above the clear and wise words of him who loves me. I have ignored my Shepherd’s voice because I have been interested in something else. I have refused to apply his law to my life on certain occasions and I have failed to grasp the depth and the beauty of his gospel at times as well. Listening to my Shepherd hasn’t been one of my more commendable qualities.
Of course, Jesus also says about his sheep, “I know them, and they follow me,” but I certainly haven’t followed my Shepherd every step of the way either. I have followed my own ideas, my own plans. I have even questioned the direction that my Shepherd was headed on certain days and I was dragged along only kicking and screaming. There have been weeks when I have lost focus and veered to the right or to the left. There have been moments when something has distracted me and I lost sight of the cross and the tomb. I have been unstable and unreliable. I have been a disobedient little lamb. And although my confession of faith in front of that Christian congregation on May 29th, 1994, was genuine and heartfelt, I have not been 100% dedicated to the Shepherd every minute of every day of my life. And I would be fooling myself if I claimed otherwise.
But the Shepherd is still dedicated to me. He has remained stable in an unstable world. He has proved reliable when I have let him down. He has never allowed anything or anyone to harm my faith even though I have harmed him by my sinful actions. His promise of dedication to me is still in effect. He is still my Shepherd. I am still his sheep. And no matter how many ups and downs I have in this life that promise will always be my rock to which I can cling.
In the year 164 BC, a man named Judas Maccabaeus led a revolt in the land of Israel against the tyranny of the Greek and Roman government ruling over them. He did so because the temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated with pagan sacrifices and a foreign altar had even been set up in God’s own sanctuary. The revolt of the Jewish people succeeded. They regained control of the city of Jerusalem, they cleansed the temple, and they rededicated the Lord’s house on December 14th, 164 BC. And every year since that time all the way up until the present day, the Jewish people have celebrated that event with an eight day festival called Hanukkah. “Hanukkah” is the Hebrew word for “dedication” and those of Jewish origin are proud to commemorate what Judas Maccabaeus did a century and a half before Christ came.
Jesus himself was in Jerusalem for this festival during the time of our reading today from John 10. “Then came the Feast of Dedication [Hanukkah] at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.” And there, as the people celebrated the dedication of the temple, Jesus spoke to them about the dedication of the Shepherd. While the people were commemorating the place of prescribed sacrifices given to the Lord, the Lord was preaching about the promise that he was giving to them. Jesus really wasn’t all that interested in the Old Testament temple and the offerings that were brought there every day; he was more interested in the sacrifice of his own body that he would soon offer on the cross. He wasn’t concerned about the results of Judas Maccabaeus’ revolt; he was concerned about the results of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal. Because the results of what was to come would give his people something more to rejoice about than the restoration of a physical building; it would give them a reason to rejoice about the salvation for their souls! And so during that festival the Shepherd said about his sheep, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” These were words of comfort for a people who could never find comfort in the law. These were words of forgiveness for a people who could never earn forgiveness no matter how many offerings they had carried inside the temple courts. These are words of dedication - from the Shepherd to his sheep. There is no command here. There is no requirement. There is only a promise that your Shepherd will protect you and preserve you in the palm of his hand.
That doesn’t mean you don’t jump out of his hand on occasion! The Lord’s promise doesn’t mean that you can’t reject his helping hand or walk away from his loving grasp in times of weakness and pride. We do that all the time! Sometimes we just don’t want to be in the Lord’s hand. We want to experience things ourselves! We want to try out our own ideas! We want to be “free” to indulge our pet sins every once in a while! Jesus does not speak about our own sinful depravity here. He doesn’t discuss our own wicked habit of ignoring his Word. We are certainly capable of those kinds of things and we have proved it throughout our lives. But the rebellious actions of the sheep do not negate the promise of the Shepherd. Our sinfulness does not rule out his love. Despite our unfaithfulness he is still faithful. He doesn’t abandon us when we fall away. He doesn’t turn his back on us when we ignore him. He doesn’t close his open hand and shake his fist in anger. He reaches out to us. He pulls us in. He welcomes us home.
Consider what the Shepherd went through because he was so dedicated to his straying sheep. His sheep gave up perfection for a piece of forbidden fruit and so he came down to earth as one of them in the form of a baby boy. His sheep failed to keep his commands and so he kept them himself. His sheep were plagued by doubts and so he taught them. His sheep were overcome with worry and so he preached to them. His sheep were weighed down with guilt and so he prayed for them. His sheep hated him and so he loved them. His sheep ran away from him and so he carried a cross for them. His sheep murdered him and so he died for them. His sheep didn’t treat their Shepherd very well at all when he was here on this earth. His sheep don’t treat him well now even though he promises that he is still right here with us. Our Shepherd is dedicated to his sheep. He would have to be! He would have to be dedicated to his sheep to put up with everything he has put up with from his wayward flock!
In just under a month from now we will all be reminded about the dedication of our Shepherd once again because we will be privileged to witness another confirmation day. Two of the young ladies of our congregation will sit up here in front of church and answer some questions so that you can hear for yourself what they believe. They will publically confess their faith. And they will each be given a Scripture passage as their confirmation verse so that they remember what happened on this important event in their lives. It will be our own Hanukkah in a way - a Feast of Dedication. These two young Christians will verbally dedicate their life to being faithful to God’s Word, but they will also be reminded about the Shepherd’s dedication to them. And although John 10:27-28 probably won’t be mentioned in that special worship service, the promise that the Shepherd gives to them in John 10 will still be theirs. And it will be yours as well - just as it always has been. Whether you were confirmed as an eighth grader or not, whether you have been a member of a church for as long as you can remember or you never have been, this promise is for you. This promise is for every Christian. This is your Shepherd talking about you, his lamb: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” Rely on these words from your Shepherd. Go back to them when you fall. Remember them when you stray. Your Shepherd is dedicated to you. And nothing can ever change that.
Amen.
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - Heb. 13:20-21
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
4/18/10 - Easter 3 - Acts 9:1-19
YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED...
The early Christian church was in turmoil. Peter, the leader of the 12 disciples and a few of the other apostles had been arrested, flogged, and released with the command never to speak about the name of Jesus again. Stephen was then seized by the Jewish leaders and stoned to death for simply preaching the gospel. And on the day of his martyrdom Scripture says that “a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1). And even the Christians in those areas were being hunted down, arrested, and thrown into prison with little hope of ever to getting out. The early Christian church soon after the miraculous event of Pentecost didn’t look like it was going to survive for long. Congregations were split, families were forced to leave the city, and any organization was almost impossible. And so you never would have guessed what the Lord was about to do. In the middle of this violent persecution of his people, at a time of nation-wide arrests and unjust imprisonments, the Lord had in mind to spread his Word to the nations like he had never done before. He was going to use these events and people who were directly involved with them to bring about one of the greatest mission eras in the history of the church. And he was going to use a man named Saul to lead it.
You never would have guessed the Lord would pick Saul, would you? He was a Pharisee, for starters! From a religious group that had not only hated Jesus while he lived on this earth but was instrumental in getting him crucified! And on top of that, Saul was one of those who had watched Stephen be stoned to death and had approved of it. And to add even another qualification onto his ungodly resume: he was the main instigator in the arrest and imprisonment of believers throughout the country. Saul was anti-Christian! He hated the followers of the way of Christ and he had dedicated his life to hunting them down. No one would have ever guessed that Saul would be the one whom Christ would choose to spread his gospel to the world. But that’s exactly whom Jesus chose. Saul, who became the apostle Paul, went from searching for believers in order to arrest them, to searching for unbelievers in order to convert them. And nobody could have seen it coming. Not even Saul himself.
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’ …In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, ‘Ananias!’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered. The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’ ‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’ But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’”
I’m sure Ananias never would have guessed what the Lord would tell him to do that afternoon! “Purposely meet up with Saul from Tarsus? Walk right up to the guy who had a hand in murdering Stephen and is intent on arresting every single Christian in the entire land of Israel? You gotta be kidding me, Lord! He’s probably faking his blindness and his sudden conversion so that Christians come out of hiding and he can gather them all up at once! Lord, I don’t think this is such a good idea for me to personally go and see the number one enemy of your church!” Ananias was understandably skeptical about this plan of action. But, of course, the Lord was not about to be talked out of what he had been planning all along. And so he told Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the world. Go! I know this isn’t how you might go about it but I know what I’m doing and this is exactly what the situation calls for.” And so Ananias went. He laid has hands on Saul, he restored his sight, he baptized him, and there in the house of a man named Judas on Straight Street began the ministry of one of the greatest missionaries ever to walk the face of this earth. And Ananias found out that you can’t always guess what the Lord will do or when he’ll do it or whom he’ll use. Sometimes the Lord carries out his will in unconventional ways.
And that shouldn’t surprise us because the Lord’s grace is unconventional - almost by definition. God’s grace is not just undeserved love or unconditional love; it’s unconventional love. He loves those he shouldn’t love. He saves those he shouldn’t save. He does things for people he should have never even thought of doing. Who would have ever guessed that God’s grace would reach out to a man like Saul, convince his heart through the gospel, and mold him into a powerful preacher of the Word and an inspired author of Scripture itself? Who would have ever guessed God would love a murderer of his own people so much that he would do so much for him? And who would have ever guessed he would love us with that same kind of love?
We are certainly no more worthy of his love than Saul was. Not only were we at one time God’s enemies before we were brought to faith in our Savior, but even now as Christians we are pitiful failures, aren’t we? Think of how many times you’ve blatantly disobeyed the Lord without a second thought! Think of how many times you’ve simply ignored what God wanted and did whatever you wanted! Think about how many times you’ve said things that would make your face turn red if Jesus repeated those words to you. Think of how many times you’ve hated others. Think of how many times you’ve despised others. Think of how many times you’ve wished that bad things would happen to others. Saul was unquestionably a murderer, but so are we. “You have heard that it was said,” Jesus himself tells us, “‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment” (Matt. 5:21,22). If you have ever had bitter or inappropriately angry thoughts about another person you are labeled a “murderer” by God’s holy standard. And so I don’t know about you, but I’ve been a murderer hundreds of times over. And I will probably murder a hundred times more before I die. Who would have ever guessed that Jesus would save a murderer like me? Who would have ever guessed that Jesus would save a whole group of mass murderers like us? And who would have ever guessed he would have saved us in the way he did?
Could you have ever guessed that in order to fix the problem of our sins God would actually take on the form of a human body inside the womb of a virgin impregnated by the Holy Spirit? Would you have ever guessed that this God in human form wouldn’t use any of his divine powers for his own benefit while on this earth but only for his people? Would you have ever guessed that the Creator would then allow his creatures to torture him and mock him and spit on him and crucify him as if he were the murderer? Would you have ever guessed that the immortal God would die? Or rise from the dead? Or appear to hundreds of believers afterwards? Or ascend into heaven? Would you have ever guessed that our salvation would have played out in the way that it did? It was so unconventional! It was so unexpected! We couldn’t get ourselves to heaven and so God came down to this earth? We couldn’t keep the laws he asked us to keep and so God subjected himself to his own commands? We deserved to die an eternal death in hell and so Jesus died in our place? There was no way we could raise ourselves from the dead and so Jesus arose to secure our own resurrection? And now we don’t have to do anything? We don’t have to contribute in any way to our eternal life? We don’t have to be good enough or try hard enough or want it bad enough? God has done it all? Believe in Jesus and we are saved? How unconventional! How remarkable! How truly breath-taking that we have a God of grace. We never would have guessed he would save people like us. And we never would have guessed that he would save us in this way. But he did. It’s true. And because he went through all that trouble and all that pain to save you, your Lord will never take that forgiveness or salvation away.
That’s sometimes a truth that is hard to believe for new Christians and old Christians alike. It’s so unbelievable that God would actually do something like that for sinners. It took a while for the Christians during Saul’s day to believe what the Lord had done as well. Not only did Ananias have doubts about what had happened, but many other Christians were still a little afraid of what Saul had been in the past and what he now had supposedly become. But over time they saw that what they would have never guessed was actually true: God had taken the arch enemy of the Christian church and had made him into its strongest supporter. And the church thrived because of it.
You too will thrive under God’s grace. He will continue to carry out his will in your life just as he did in Saul’s - sometimes in some very unconventional ways. He will do what needs to be done in whatever way necessary because God isn’t bound by human impossibilities or well-laid plans or careful budgets or tireless efforts. In fact, the only thing God is bound by is his love because his love is what he promises to us. His love is behind everything he does for us. And if he needs to show his love to us in unconventional ways, then so be it. That’s what he’s going to do. You might not expect it. You might not even think it’s possible at times. But the Lord will come through for you and he will make sure that you, his child, are secure and at peace. Even if you seem to be in a hopeless situation with no way out.
There will be plenty of times in this life when you seem to be in a lose-lose situation. There will be times when your health or your family life or your job or your relatives or your mental stability seem to be unfixable. I’m sure Ananias and the other Christians around Jerusalem in the 1st century felt the same way as they were being hunted down for their faith. But look at what God did for them when they did not know what to do. That’s when the Lord is at his best, after all: when we don’t know what to do, when we are lost, when we are helpless, when we know that we can never solve the problem ourselves. That’s when God is at his best because then we can see God’s grace. Then we can appreciate his love. Then we can marvel at his incredible mercy for us sinners who don’t deserve it. God will take care of his people. God will take care of you. Especially at those times and especially in those ways you would never have guessed he could.
Amen.
“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:7
The early Christian church was in turmoil. Peter, the leader of the 12 disciples and a few of the other apostles had been arrested, flogged, and released with the command never to speak about the name of Jesus again. Stephen was then seized by the Jewish leaders and stoned to death for simply preaching the gospel. And on the day of his martyrdom Scripture says that “a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1). And even the Christians in those areas were being hunted down, arrested, and thrown into prison with little hope of ever to getting out. The early Christian church soon after the miraculous event of Pentecost didn’t look like it was going to survive for long. Congregations were split, families were forced to leave the city, and any organization was almost impossible. And so you never would have guessed what the Lord was about to do. In the middle of this violent persecution of his people, at a time of nation-wide arrests and unjust imprisonments, the Lord had in mind to spread his Word to the nations like he had never done before. He was going to use these events and people who were directly involved with them to bring about one of the greatest mission eras in the history of the church. And he was going to use a man named Saul to lead it.
You never would have guessed the Lord would pick Saul, would you? He was a Pharisee, for starters! From a religious group that had not only hated Jesus while he lived on this earth but was instrumental in getting him crucified! And on top of that, Saul was one of those who had watched Stephen be stoned to death and had approved of it. And to add even another qualification onto his ungodly resume: he was the main instigator in the arrest and imprisonment of believers throughout the country. Saul was anti-Christian! He hated the followers of the way of Christ and he had dedicated his life to hunting them down. No one would have ever guessed that Saul would be the one whom Christ would choose to spread his gospel to the world. But that’s exactly whom Jesus chose. Saul, who became the apostle Paul, went from searching for believers in order to arrest them, to searching for unbelievers in order to convert them. And nobody could have seen it coming. Not even Saul himself.
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’ …In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, ‘Ananias!’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered. The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’ ‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’ But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’”
I’m sure Ananias never would have guessed what the Lord would tell him to do that afternoon! “Purposely meet up with Saul from Tarsus? Walk right up to the guy who had a hand in murdering Stephen and is intent on arresting every single Christian in the entire land of Israel? You gotta be kidding me, Lord! He’s probably faking his blindness and his sudden conversion so that Christians come out of hiding and he can gather them all up at once! Lord, I don’t think this is such a good idea for me to personally go and see the number one enemy of your church!” Ananias was understandably skeptical about this plan of action. But, of course, the Lord was not about to be talked out of what he had been planning all along. And so he told Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the world. Go! I know this isn’t how you might go about it but I know what I’m doing and this is exactly what the situation calls for.” And so Ananias went. He laid has hands on Saul, he restored his sight, he baptized him, and there in the house of a man named Judas on Straight Street began the ministry of one of the greatest missionaries ever to walk the face of this earth. And Ananias found out that you can’t always guess what the Lord will do or when he’ll do it or whom he’ll use. Sometimes the Lord carries out his will in unconventional ways.
And that shouldn’t surprise us because the Lord’s grace is unconventional - almost by definition. God’s grace is not just undeserved love or unconditional love; it’s unconventional love. He loves those he shouldn’t love. He saves those he shouldn’t save. He does things for people he should have never even thought of doing. Who would have ever guessed that God’s grace would reach out to a man like Saul, convince his heart through the gospel, and mold him into a powerful preacher of the Word and an inspired author of Scripture itself? Who would have ever guessed God would love a murderer of his own people so much that he would do so much for him? And who would have ever guessed he would love us with that same kind of love?
We are certainly no more worthy of his love than Saul was. Not only were we at one time God’s enemies before we were brought to faith in our Savior, but even now as Christians we are pitiful failures, aren’t we? Think of how many times you’ve blatantly disobeyed the Lord without a second thought! Think of how many times you’ve simply ignored what God wanted and did whatever you wanted! Think about how many times you’ve said things that would make your face turn red if Jesus repeated those words to you. Think of how many times you’ve hated others. Think of how many times you’ve despised others. Think of how many times you’ve wished that bad things would happen to others. Saul was unquestionably a murderer, but so are we. “You have heard that it was said,” Jesus himself tells us, “‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment” (Matt. 5:21,22). If you have ever had bitter or inappropriately angry thoughts about another person you are labeled a “murderer” by God’s holy standard. And so I don’t know about you, but I’ve been a murderer hundreds of times over. And I will probably murder a hundred times more before I die. Who would have ever guessed that Jesus would save a murderer like me? Who would have ever guessed that Jesus would save a whole group of mass murderers like us? And who would have ever guessed he would have saved us in the way he did?
Could you have ever guessed that in order to fix the problem of our sins God would actually take on the form of a human body inside the womb of a virgin impregnated by the Holy Spirit? Would you have ever guessed that this God in human form wouldn’t use any of his divine powers for his own benefit while on this earth but only for his people? Would you have ever guessed that the Creator would then allow his creatures to torture him and mock him and spit on him and crucify him as if he were the murderer? Would you have ever guessed that the immortal God would die? Or rise from the dead? Or appear to hundreds of believers afterwards? Or ascend into heaven? Would you have ever guessed that our salvation would have played out in the way that it did? It was so unconventional! It was so unexpected! We couldn’t get ourselves to heaven and so God came down to this earth? We couldn’t keep the laws he asked us to keep and so God subjected himself to his own commands? We deserved to die an eternal death in hell and so Jesus died in our place? There was no way we could raise ourselves from the dead and so Jesus arose to secure our own resurrection? And now we don’t have to do anything? We don’t have to contribute in any way to our eternal life? We don’t have to be good enough or try hard enough or want it bad enough? God has done it all? Believe in Jesus and we are saved? How unconventional! How remarkable! How truly breath-taking that we have a God of grace. We never would have guessed he would save people like us. And we never would have guessed that he would save us in this way. But he did. It’s true. And because he went through all that trouble and all that pain to save you, your Lord will never take that forgiveness or salvation away.
That’s sometimes a truth that is hard to believe for new Christians and old Christians alike. It’s so unbelievable that God would actually do something like that for sinners. It took a while for the Christians during Saul’s day to believe what the Lord had done as well. Not only did Ananias have doubts about what had happened, but many other Christians were still a little afraid of what Saul had been in the past and what he now had supposedly become. But over time they saw that what they would have never guessed was actually true: God had taken the arch enemy of the Christian church and had made him into its strongest supporter. And the church thrived because of it.
You too will thrive under God’s grace. He will continue to carry out his will in your life just as he did in Saul’s - sometimes in some very unconventional ways. He will do what needs to be done in whatever way necessary because God isn’t bound by human impossibilities or well-laid plans or careful budgets or tireless efforts. In fact, the only thing God is bound by is his love because his love is what he promises to us. His love is behind everything he does for us. And if he needs to show his love to us in unconventional ways, then so be it. That’s what he’s going to do. You might not expect it. You might not even think it’s possible at times. But the Lord will come through for you and he will make sure that you, his child, are secure and at peace. Even if you seem to be in a hopeless situation with no way out.
There will be plenty of times in this life when you seem to be in a lose-lose situation. There will be times when your health or your family life or your job or your relatives or your mental stability seem to be unfixable. I’m sure Ananias and the other Christians around Jerusalem in the 1st century felt the same way as they were being hunted down for their faith. But look at what God did for them when they did not know what to do. That’s when the Lord is at his best, after all: when we don’t know what to do, when we are lost, when we are helpless, when we know that we can never solve the problem ourselves. That’s when God is at his best because then we can see God’s grace. Then we can appreciate his love. Then we can marvel at his incredible mercy for us sinners who don’t deserve it. God will take care of his people. God will take care of you. Especially at those times and especially in those ways you would never have guessed he could.
Amen.
“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:7
Monday, April 12, 2010
4/11/10 - Easter 2 - Rev. 1:4-18
EASTER HAS TAKEN CARE OF EVERYTHING
There are many names given to God in Scripture. And it’s always been interesting to me what names different people give to God in the different books of the Bible. For instance: the psalm writer Asaph prefers to use the regular name “God” in the 12 psalms that he penned, but the psalms written by the Sons of Korah almost always use the name “LORD.” (“God” usually emphasizes the power and might of the Creator while “LORD” usually leans towards his love and mercy). Isaiah calls him “the Holy One of Israel” far more than any other author while Ezekiel uses the name “Sovereign LORD” over 200 times in his book. And then there are those unique names of the Lord like “the Pride of Jacob,” “the Fear of Isaac,” or “the Most High God” - only used by Daniel in the Old Testament and only by two different demon-possessed people in New Testament times. God has been given dozens of different names. And specific names of God are used by specific people depending on the situation that the speaker is in at the time.
Jesus himself is given many different names throughout Scripture: “The Son of God” and “the Son of Man,” “the Prophet,” “the High Priest,” the “good Teacher,” “Master.” And each name depends on who is speaking, what they believe, and what characteristic of Jesus they want to emphasize. And so when you get to the first chapter of the book of Revelation, it should strike you not only what Jesus is called but also how many different names are used for Jesus in just a few verses. From verse 4 through 18 eleven different names are given to this second person of the Trinity: Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth, the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty, the Lord God, the one like a son of man, the First and the Last, the Living One, the one who is and who was and who is to come. Some of these names are written by the author John and others are spoken by Jesus’ himself. In any case, the amount of names here and the kinds of names that are used in this small section of Scripture make one thing very clear: Easter has taken care of everything. He is “the firstborn from the dead;” he is “the Living One;” he is “the ruler over the kings of the earth.” And the only way he can be given these names and all the rest of them mentioned here in this chapter is because of what he did on Easter Sunday morning. Easter is proof that Jesus has never let us down; and he never will. Easter has taken care of everything.
And we need that comfort, especially when reading through the rest of the book of Revelation! Because think of the kinds of things that are included in the remaining chapters of this book! Some of the visions about the events before Christ comes again and some of the visions about Judgment Day itself are a little bit frightening. There are some strange pictures in the remaining chapters and they’re somewhat disturbing. Because it is obvious from this last book of the Bible that there will be powerful enemies of Christianity and alarming attacks against the gospel all the way up to the very day Jesus comes back again in all his glory. In the book of Revelation Jesus doesn’t promise a pleasant place in which to live; he promises an ungodly world, an earth filled with the effects of sin, a place that is dominated by a largely anti-Christian culture. It certainly wasn’t something the apostle John would be looking forward to, nor is it something that we want to see happen. And so before getting into some of the details of these end times, Revelation chapter one piles on the names of our Savior, it overloads us with the titles and characteristics of our Lord to remind us exactly who he is and what he has done. These names of Christ show us that he has existed from before the beginning; therefore, he is in control of all things. These names of Christ show us that he died on the cross and he rose from the dead; therefore, he has paid the ransom price for our sins and defeated death. These eleven names of Christ written down in Revelation chapter one show us that he exists now and for all eternity; therefore, our future is safe in his hands. The names of Christ in this part of the Bible tell us exactly what he has done on Easter Sunday, what he is able to do for us now, and what he promises to do for us in the future. There is nothing for us to worry about because Christ has it all under control.
And so why do we always struggle to trust that this it true? We obviously know that this is true; we believe that this is true, but when life takes a hard left turn and we don’t know what is going to happen and we don’t know what to do, then we start to have some serious doubts that everything is going to be taken care of, don’t we? We like it when things are orderly, we like it when things are somewhat predictable, we like it when we are able to handle the various situations that come up in our lives, but that’s not always the case in this world! There are plenty of things that occur in your life that force you to stop whatever you’ve been doing: a death in the family, a terrible accident. There are other things that completely turn your life upside down from that point on: a pregnancy, a devastating catastrophe. And there are, of course, things that happen in this life that make your previous plans now impossible: your retirement saving depleted over these last 2 years, your family life in disarray, your marriage questionable at best, your body unable to do what you always thought it would be able to do... There are plenty of situations that make us question whether everything is really going to be all right.
We are fickle Christians, aren’t we? As long as life is going along smoothly and everything is happening the way we have planned, it’s easy to trust that the Lord will never let us down. But the minute things start happening that we didn’t plan for, the moment life starts to get a little bit bumpy and out of control, that trust we had in our God just yesterday starts to erode a little bit. We can’t see the end of it and so we worry about what it might be. We can’t see how any good will come out of it and so we despair that it will all be bad. We have no idea how this problem happened and we have no idea how to fix it and so we assume that it will always remain broken.
Is the Lord that untrustworthy? Is he that unreliable? Has he ever let us down before? What in our past or even in the history of this world would ever make us think that the Lord is unable to take care of everything in our lives? Why would we ever imagine that the bad situation we are in or the unfortunate problem we have to deal with is too much for our God to handle? It’s our sinful nature, to put it simply. That self-deceptive and festering sin that lives inside us tries to make us forget about what the Lord has done for us in the past and steers all of our attention to the uncertainty of the future. Sometimes we just need a little reminder. We need that encouragement from time to time that Easter has taken care of everything already. Christ’s resurrection has solidified our future. The apostle John even needed that encouragement.
When John received the vision which has become the book of Revelation, he writes that “I was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” John was placed on this small island in the middle of the Aegean Sea as a punishment. The government apparently didn’t want him to testify to the death and resurrection of Jesus and so they exiled him to a place that was about 13 sq. miles in size and surrounded by water. The less people John could talk to the better, as far as they were concerned. This island wasn’t where John wanted to be. Especially since this last book of the Bible was written around 95 A.D. and John would have been a very old man by this time. In fact, he was the last of the original disciples left. And if the historical accounts of the early Christian church outside of Scripture are accurate, every one of John’s fellow disciples had been martyred in some terribly brutal ways. John knew about his brother James being killed by the sword of King Herod. He knew about his good friend Peter being crucified upside down. He know about the apostle Paul - although not one of the Twelve, a great missionary for the Christian church - beheaded under the Roman Emperor Nero. And John was probably wondering what was going to happen to him. Would he die on that island or would he be martyred as well? Would he ever make it back to his home only to be arrested again? What would happen to the Christian church in that part of the world after John, the last apostle, died off? There were probably a number of pressing questions about the future that John was worrying about and he needed to be comforted. He needed to be encouraged. And so when Jesus himself appeared to him and gave him this wonderful vision about the times of the end, he comforted and encouraged John with something that John himself had once witnessed: the resurrection of Easter Sunday.
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to John. “I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” About 60 years before Jesus said these words to him, John saw his living Savior with his own two eyes on Easter evening in an upstairs room. He knew that Jesus was alive. He had talked with him; he had eaten with him; he had watched his Savior ascend into heaven 40 days after he rose from the grave. John even refers to Jesus earlier in this chapter as “the firstborn from the dead.” If there was anyone at that time who believed that Jesus was truly alive, it was the disciple who had stood at the foot of the cross during Jesus’ crucifixion and the one who then stood in the entrance of the cave on the morning of his resurrection. John didn’t need to be taught about what happened on Easter Sunday; he was the one who was teaching others. But John did need to be reminded of it. John needed to be reminded that what he saw 60 years ago was still in effect.
And so the Lord came to him and said, “John, it’s me, Jesus! Do not be afraid. I am the Living One! I was dead, as you well know. But now I am alive forever and ever just as you saw yourself half a lifetime ago. I haven’t left you even though I ascended into heaven. And I will never let you down - even though you are on an island of exile, even though you are in the midst of persecution, even though you are getting close to death. Because I hold the keys of death and Hades.” And John needed to hear that. He needed to be reminded about the miracles that he personally saw Jesus accomplish. He needed to be assured that Easter took care of everything. Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus lives. And so would he. And everything else would be worked out to that end. He didn’t need to worry about the persecution. He didn’t need to worry about that little island of Patmos. He didn’t need to worry about his age. He was going to go to heaven. He would live with Christ forever. And Jesus’ resurrection proved it. Had the First and the Last, the Living One, the one who is and who was and who is to come ever let him down before? John must have been comforted by these words from his Savior and encouraged by the names that Jesus used for himself. And even though the rest of the vision of Revelation contained some frightening images and John most likely died in exile on that island, this last disciple undoubtedly died in peace. Not knowing exactly what it was going to be like for him in the last few years of his life, but trusting that Jesus had already taken care of everything way back inside that vacant tomb on Easter Sunday morning.
You may find yourself on the island of Patmos from time to time. Troubled, worried, scared, lonely, closed in, sick, helpless, dying. But when you find yourself on that island, know that you have the very same assurance that John did and it’s based on the very same event. You have what we celebrated just last week. You have the empty tomb. You have the risen Savior. You have Jesus himself telling you personally, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Your Lord and Savior, your Alpha and Omega has proved to you what he will do by what he has already done. He has taken care of your sins. He has taken care of your guilt. He has taken care of your punishment. He has taken care of your every day life. He has taken care of your life in eternity. Your living Lord has taken care of everything. Live this life with that comfort in mind. And continue to revel in the aftermath of his resurrection until the day you rise to meet the Living One face to face.
Amen.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” - 1 Peter 1:3
There are many names given to God in Scripture. And it’s always been interesting to me what names different people give to God in the different books of the Bible. For instance: the psalm writer Asaph prefers to use the regular name “God” in the 12 psalms that he penned, but the psalms written by the Sons of Korah almost always use the name “LORD.” (“God” usually emphasizes the power and might of the Creator while “LORD” usually leans towards his love and mercy). Isaiah calls him “the Holy One of Israel” far more than any other author while Ezekiel uses the name “Sovereign LORD” over 200 times in his book. And then there are those unique names of the Lord like “the Pride of Jacob,” “the Fear of Isaac,” or “the Most High God” - only used by Daniel in the Old Testament and only by two different demon-possessed people in New Testament times. God has been given dozens of different names. And specific names of God are used by specific people depending on the situation that the speaker is in at the time.
Jesus himself is given many different names throughout Scripture: “The Son of God” and “the Son of Man,” “the Prophet,” “the High Priest,” the “good Teacher,” “Master.” And each name depends on who is speaking, what they believe, and what characteristic of Jesus they want to emphasize. And so when you get to the first chapter of the book of Revelation, it should strike you not only what Jesus is called but also how many different names are used for Jesus in just a few verses. From verse 4 through 18 eleven different names are given to this second person of the Trinity: Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth, the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty, the Lord God, the one like a son of man, the First and the Last, the Living One, the one who is and who was and who is to come. Some of these names are written by the author John and others are spoken by Jesus’ himself. In any case, the amount of names here and the kinds of names that are used in this small section of Scripture make one thing very clear: Easter has taken care of everything. He is “the firstborn from the dead;” he is “the Living One;” he is “the ruler over the kings of the earth.” And the only way he can be given these names and all the rest of them mentioned here in this chapter is because of what he did on Easter Sunday morning. Easter is proof that Jesus has never let us down; and he never will. Easter has taken care of everything.
And we need that comfort, especially when reading through the rest of the book of Revelation! Because think of the kinds of things that are included in the remaining chapters of this book! Some of the visions about the events before Christ comes again and some of the visions about Judgment Day itself are a little bit frightening. There are some strange pictures in the remaining chapters and they’re somewhat disturbing. Because it is obvious from this last book of the Bible that there will be powerful enemies of Christianity and alarming attacks against the gospel all the way up to the very day Jesus comes back again in all his glory. In the book of Revelation Jesus doesn’t promise a pleasant place in which to live; he promises an ungodly world, an earth filled with the effects of sin, a place that is dominated by a largely anti-Christian culture. It certainly wasn’t something the apostle John would be looking forward to, nor is it something that we want to see happen. And so before getting into some of the details of these end times, Revelation chapter one piles on the names of our Savior, it overloads us with the titles and characteristics of our Lord to remind us exactly who he is and what he has done. These names of Christ show us that he has existed from before the beginning; therefore, he is in control of all things. These names of Christ show us that he died on the cross and he rose from the dead; therefore, he has paid the ransom price for our sins and defeated death. These eleven names of Christ written down in Revelation chapter one show us that he exists now and for all eternity; therefore, our future is safe in his hands. The names of Christ in this part of the Bible tell us exactly what he has done on Easter Sunday, what he is able to do for us now, and what he promises to do for us in the future. There is nothing for us to worry about because Christ has it all under control.
And so why do we always struggle to trust that this it true? We obviously know that this is true; we believe that this is true, but when life takes a hard left turn and we don’t know what is going to happen and we don’t know what to do, then we start to have some serious doubts that everything is going to be taken care of, don’t we? We like it when things are orderly, we like it when things are somewhat predictable, we like it when we are able to handle the various situations that come up in our lives, but that’s not always the case in this world! There are plenty of things that occur in your life that force you to stop whatever you’ve been doing: a death in the family, a terrible accident. There are other things that completely turn your life upside down from that point on: a pregnancy, a devastating catastrophe. And there are, of course, things that happen in this life that make your previous plans now impossible: your retirement saving depleted over these last 2 years, your family life in disarray, your marriage questionable at best, your body unable to do what you always thought it would be able to do... There are plenty of situations that make us question whether everything is really going to be all right.
We are fickle Christians, aren’t we? As long as life is going along smoothly and everything is happening the way we have planned, it’s easy to trust that the Lord will never let us down. But the minute things start happening that we didn’t plan for, the moment life starts to get a little bit bumpy and out of control, that trust we had in our God just yesterday starts to erode a little bit. We can’t see the end of it and so we worry about what it might be. We can’t see how any good will come out of it and so we despair that it will all be bad. We have no idea how this problem happened and we have no idea how to fix it and so we assume that it will always remain broken.
Is the Lord that untrustworthy? Is he that unreliable? Has he ever let us down before? What in our past or even in the history of this world would ever make us think that the Lord is unable to take care of everything in our lives? Why would we ever imagine that the bad situation we are in or the unfortunate problem we have to deal with is too much for our God to handle? It’s our sinful nature, to put it simply. That self-deceptive and festering sin that lives inside us tries to make us forget about what the Lord has done for us in the past and steers all of our attention to the uncertainty of the future. Sometimes we just need a little reminder. We need that encouragement from time to time that Easter has taken care of everything already. Christ’s resurrection has solidified our future. The apostle John even needed that encouragement.
When John received the vision which has become the book of Revelation, he writes that “I was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” John was placed on this small island in the middle of the Aegean Sea as a punishment. The government apparently didn’t want him to testify to the death and resurrection of Jesus and so they exiled him to a place that was about 13 sq. miles in size and surrounded by water. The less people John could talk to the better, as far as they were concerned. This island wasn’t where John wanted to be. Especially since this last book of the Bible was written around 95 A.D. and John would have been a very old man by this time. In fact, he was the last of the original disciples left. And if the historical accounts of the early Christian church outside of Scripture are accurate, every one of John’s fellow disciples had been martyred in some terribly brutal ways. John knew about his brother James being killed by the sword of King Herod. He knew about his good friend Peter being crucified upside down. He know about the apostle Paul - although not one of the Twelve, a great missionary for the Christian church - beheaded under the Roman Emperor Nero. And John was probably wondering what was going to happen to him. Would he die on that island or would he be martyred as well? Would he ever make it back to his home only to be arrested again? What would happen to the Christian church in that part of the world after John, the last apostle, died off? There were probably a number of pressing questions about the future that John was worrying about and he needed to be comforted. He needed to be encouraged. And so when Jesus himself appeared to him and gave him this wonderful vision about the times of the end, he comforted and encouraged John with something that John himself had once witnessed: the resurrection of Easter Sunday.
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to John. “I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” About 60 years before Jesus said these words to him, John saw his living Savior with his own two eyes on Easter evening in an upstairs room. He knew that Jesus was alive. He had talked with him; he had eaten with him; he had watched his Savior ascend into heaven 40 days after he rose from the grave. John even refers to Jesus earlier in this chapter as “the firstborn from the dead.” If there was anyone at that time who believed that Jesus was truly alive, it was the disciple who had stood at the foot of the cross during Jesus’ crucifixion and the one who then stood in the entrance of the cave on the morning of his resurrection. John didn’t need to be taught about what happened on Easter Sunday; he was the one who was teaching others. But John did need to be reminded of it. John needed to be reminded that what he saw 60 years ago was still in effect.
And so the Lord came to him and said, “John, it’s me, Jesus! Do not be afraid. I am the Living One! I was dead, as you well know. But now I am alive forever and ever just as you saw yourself half a lifetime ago. I haven’t left you even though I ascended into heaven. And I will never let you down - even though you are on an island of exile, even though you are in the midst of persecution, even though you are getting close to death. Because I hold the keys of death and Hades.” And John needed to hear that. He needed to be reminded about the miracles that he personally saw Jesus accomplish. He needed to be assured that Easter took care of everything. Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus lives. And so would he. And everything else would be worked out to that end. He didn’t need to worry about the persecution. He didn’t need to worry about that little island of Patmos. He didn’t need to worry about his age. He was going to go to heaven. He would live with Christ forever. And Jesus’ resurrection proved it. Had the First and the Last, the Living One, the one who is and who was and who is to come ever let him down before? John must have been comforted by these words from his Savior and encouraged by the names that Jesus used for himself. And even though the rest of the vision of Revelation contained some frightening images and John most likely died in exile on that island, this last disciple undoubtedly died in peace. Not knowing exactly what it was going to be like for him in the last few years of his life, but trusting that Jesus had already taken care of everything way back inside that vacant tomb on Easter Sunday morning.
You may find yourself on the island of Patmos from time to time. Troubled, worried, scared, lonely, closed in, sick, helpless, dying. But when you find yourself on that island, know that you have the very same assurance that John did and it’s based on the very same event. You have what we celebrated just last week. You have the empty tomb. You have the risen Savior. You have Jesus himself telling you personally, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Your Lord and Savior, your Alpha and Omega has proved to you what he will do by what he has already done. He has taken care of your sins. He has taken care of your guilt. He has taken care of your punishment. He has taken care of your every day life. He has taken care of your life in eternity. Your living Lord has taken care of everything. Live this life with that comfort in mind. And continue to revel in the aftermath of his resurrection until the day you rise to meet the Living One face to face.
Amen.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” - 1 Peter 1:3
Monday, April 05, 2010
4/4/10 - Easter Sunday - John 20:3-8
ONLY BLOOD STAINS REMAIN
There was a lot of blood that poured out of Jesus’ body on the day of his death. He had been hit over the head with a staff by roman soldiers multiple times - undoubtedly leaving deep cuts and gashes that would never have a chance to heal. A crown of jagged thorns was pressed down into his skull. His back was scourged with metal-tipped whips 39 times. His hands and his feet were driven through with iron stakes. And his side was gouged with the point of a spear sending blood and water flooding to the ground. By that Friday evening Jesus’ blood had covered the steps and the courtyard of the Roman palace, left a trail on the road that led to a hill called Calvary, soaked into the wood of the cross, and pooled on the dirt below. Jesus’ blood was everywhere. It must have been a little bit disgusting to see and physically repulsive to those with weaker stomachs. There was so much blood, in fact, that the scene of Jesus’ torture probably reminded a lot of those Jewish believers about the altar in the temple covered with the blood of the dozens and dozens of animal sacrifices required of the people. Which would have been a fitting thought to bring to mind during Jesus’ crucifixion since all of those Old Testament sacrifices were meant to point to Christ in the first. Jesus’ blood had to be poured out because he was the Sacrifice to end all sacrifices. His blood was the ransom price that paid for our sins. “For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22) the New Testament book of Hebrews says. Jesus’ blood was necessary. His blood was essential to our salvation. And it poured out of his body until he bled to death.
Soon after Jesus gave up his life on that cross, two men named Joseph and Nicodemus came and took his body down from where he was nailed. But they didn’t have a whole lot of time. The Sabbath Day was going to begin at sundown and they wanted to get the body of Christ prepared for burial and into a tomb before that happened so that they could avoid doing any work on the Sabbath Day. And so as quickly as possible they wiped off Jesus’ body, wrapped him in burial linens and the customary spices, and laid him in a small cave used as a gravesite. They then rolled a large boulder in front of the entrance so that no one could get in and disturb the corpse of Christ. And there Jesus’ body lay from Friday evening until Sunday morning, void of life, covered in recent wounds, and wrapped in bloody committal clothes hastily put on by two men who had probably never done anything like that before.
But then Sunday morning rolled around. And a few Christian women rolled out of bed to go to the tomb where they found that the stone had been rolled away. And so they rushed back to Jesus’ chosen disciples to tell them the incredible and somewhat frightening news. And once the disciples heard what had happened, the gospel writer John records for us that, “Peter and the other disciple [John] started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.” There was nothing left in Jesus’ tomb on that first Easter morning except the burial linens Joseph and Nicodemus had wrapped him in a few days before. And although these linens were certainly stained with Christ’s blood, but only blood stains remained. There was no body! Jesus had risen! The blood had dried! And our salvation was complete!
Those grave clothes that were lying in the tomb that first Easter morning may seem like a minor part of a major story, but they really signify something very important: there’s nothing left for us to do. Because those blood stains on the white pieces of cloth were the blood stains of Christ himself. He was the one that suffered in our place. He was the one that experienced the very tortures of hell while on the cross. He was the one that gave up his life to conquer death. But those linens that were once wrapped around his dead body no longer had a body to wrap around. Jesus didn’t stay dead. He lives. And so there is nothing left for us to do. Jesus has done it all. He has permanently secured our salvation. We will now live with him in heaven forever just as he lives there forever. Even though we sometimes feel compelled to do something (anything!) for our salvation, Jesus has already done it all.
There are certain times in our lives when we feel pretty bad about ourselves, don’t we? Times when we feel guilty about our actions. We do something that is obviously horrible or we say something that is hurtful to those we love or we think about something that is undeniably inappropriate or hateful - and it’s especially at those times when we feel as if we now need to do something in order to get that forgiveness and that salvation back. Maybe if we act a little nicer to people this month we can then somehow make up for the terrible things we just did. Maybe if we just try our best not say those words again the Lord will reward us for our efforts and forgive us. Maybe if we pray more or go to church more or donate more than the Lord will like us a little better and we’ll be on his good side just like we were before.
Of course, when we start to think like that we are forgetting that we can’t do anything to impress the Lord. You can’t be good enough, you can’t try hard enough, you can’t pray or worship or give enough to make a difference in your status before God. Because being good and trying hard and praying and worshiping and giving do not cancel out the consequences of sin. God clearly says in the Bible that sin deserves severe punishment and there’s nothing you can do to change the Lord’s mind. And there’s nothing I can do either. No matter how many sermons I preach, no matter how many classes I teach, no matter how many people I visit, the Lord is no more impressed with me than he is with any other sinner. I don’t get forgiveness sooner because of my actions or have a better standing with God because of the title in front of my name. I can’t do anything that would make the Lord want to grant me forgiveness. There isn’t anything anyone can do.
And so that’s why we are focusing on the blood stained linens in that Easter morning grave: it doesn’t matter that we can’t do anything for our forgiveness and salvation because there’s nothing left for us to do. Those blood stained linens show us that Christ has done everything - we are off the hook! Even if we end up falling into an appalling sin that we never thought we would be capable of doing, there is nothing left for us to do to gain forgiveness. The blood is Christ’s; he paid for those sins; and now only blood stains remain. Even if our minds are constantly in the gutter and we would be embarrassed if anyone else saw what we were thinking on any given day, there is nothing left for us to do to gain forgiveness; only blood stains remain. Even if we have lived a life that is nowhere near what a Christian life should be, only blood stains remain; there is nothing left for us to do to gain forgiveness. The forgiveness and the salvation that Christ has won for you are already yours. You don’t ever need to get them back because he is continually holding them out to you. And he doesn’t require that you be good enough or dedicated enough or hardworking enough or Christian enough to get this forgiveness. He doesn’t require that you do anything because he already kept the requirements himself: a perfect life, a sacrifice for sins, and a victory over death. Jesus did it. There is nothing left for you to do. And those blood stained linens in that grave 2000 years ago prove it.
It was proof enough for Peter and John. When they got to the tomb and saw the strips of linen and the head cloth folded up by itself, the Bible simply says that they believed. They didn’t quite understand all of the implications of this event just yet, but they did trust that their Lord had truly risen from the dead. And that must have been a great comfort to these two followers of Christ. Because in the last few hours before Jesus’ death they had sinned against the Lord in multiple ways! On Thursday evening in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus had specifically asked them to stay up and pray with him, but they fell asleep instead. When Jesus was arrested by Judas Iscariot and the mob, the disciples all ran away. When Jesus was on trial in the courtyard of the high priest, Peter denied even knowing who he was. And while Jesus hung on the cross, the disciple John was standing right there. And although John didn’t necessarily sin in that situation, he couldn’t do anything about it either. He had to watch his God die right before his eyes. And so for the rest of that Friday night and all day Saturday and even early Sunday morning, Peter and John must have felt awful. They had abandoned their Lord when he was all alone and they hadn’t got a chance to speak to him again before he had died. I wonder if they got any sleep at all.
But then came the unbelievable news of Sunday morning and the race to the tomb and the blood stained remnants of Jesus’ death lying on the ground. And Peter and John knew: Jesus had done it! He had told them many different times that he would rise from the dead and now he actually did it! Jesus had beaten death! Jesus was alive! And if he was alive they would surely see him again. And they did. And they are right now. And so will we.
We will see Jesus face to face with our own eyes one day soon. Our bodies will rise from the grave because Jesus rose from the grave. We will get to live in perfection because Jesus lives there right now. We have nothing to fear from death; Jesus conquered it. We have nothing to worry about from the devil; Jesus destroyed his work. We have nothing left to pay for sin; Jesus paid it in full. He paid it by being punished. He paid it by suffering. He paid it by bleeding to death. But look in that Easter tomb this morning: only blood stains remain.
Amen.
“Where, O death, your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Cor. 15:55-56
There was a lot of blood that poured out of Jesus’ body on the day of his death. He had been hit over the head with a staff by roman soldiers multiple times - undoubtedly leaving deep cuts and gashes that would never have a chance to heal. A crown of jagged thorns was pressed down into his skull. His back was scourged with metal-tipped whips 39 times. His hands and his feet were driven through with iron stakes. And his side was gouged with the point of a spear sending blood and water flooding to the ground. By that Friday evening Jesus’ blood had covered the steps and the courtyard of the Roman palace, left a trail on the road that led to a hill called Calvary, soaked into the wood of the cross, and pooled on the dirt below. Jesus’ blood was everywhere. It must have been a little bit disgusting to see and physically repulsive to those with weaker stomachs. There was so much blood, in fact, that the scene of Jesus’ torture probably reminded a lot of those Jewish believers about the altar in the temple covered with the blood of the dozens and dozens of animal sacrifices required of the people. Which would have been a fitting thought to bring to mind during Jesus’ crucifixion since all of those Old Testament sacrifices were meant to point to Christ in the first. Jesus’ blood had to be poured out because he was the Sacrifice to end all sacrifices. His blood was the ransom price that paid for our sins. “For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22) the New Testament book of Hebrews says. Jesus’ blood was necessary. His blood was essential to our salvation. And it poured out of his body until he bled to death.
Soon after Jesus gave up his life on that cross, two men named Joseph and Nicodemus came and took his body down from where he was nailed. But they didn’t have a whole lot of time. The Sabbath Day was going to begin at sundown and they wanted to get the body of Christ prepared for burial and into a tomb before that happened so that they could avoid doing any work on the Sabbath Day. And so as quickly as possible they wiped off Jesus’ body, wrapped him in burial linens and the customary spices, and laid him in a small cave used as a gravesite. They then rolled a large boulder in front of the entrance so that no one could get in and disturb the corpse of Christ. And there Jesus’ body lay from Friday evening until Sunday morning, void of life, covered in recent wounds, and wrapped in bloody committal clothes hastily put on by two men who had probably never done anything like that before.
But then Sunday morning rolled around. And a few Christian women rolled out of bed to go to the tomb where they found that the stone had been rolled away. And so they rushed back to Jesus’ chosen disciples to tell them the incredible and somewhat frightening news. And once the disciples heard what had happened, the gospel writer John records for us that, “Peter and the other disciple [John] started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.” There was nothing left in Jesus’ tomb on that first Easter morning except the burial linens Joseph and Nicodemus had wrapped him in a few days before. And although these linens were certainly stained with Christ’s blood, but only blood stains remained. There was no body! Jesus had risen! The blood had dried! And our salvation was complete!
Those grave clothes that were lying in the tomb that first Easter morning may seem like a minor part of a major story, but they really signify something very important: there’s nothing left for us to do. Because those blood stains on the white pieces of cloth were the blood stains of Christ himself. He was the one that suffered in our place. He was the one that experienced the very tortures of hell while on the cross. He was the one that gave up his life to conquer death. But those linens that were once wrapped around his dead body no longer had a body to wrap around. Jesus didn’t stay dead. He lives. And so there is nothing left for us to do. Jesus has done it all. He has permanently secured our salvation. We will now live with him in heaven forever just as he lives there forever. Even though we sometimes feel compelled to do something (anything!) for our salvation, Jesus has already done it all.
There are certain times in our lives when we feel pretty bad about ourselves, don’t we? Times when we feel guilty about our actions. We do something that is obviously horrible or we say something that is hurtful to those we love or we think about something that is undeniably inappropriate or hateful - and it’s especially at those times when we feel as if we now need to do something in order to get that forgiveness and that salvation back. Maybe if we act a little nicer to people this month we can then somehow make up for the terrible things we just did. Maybe if we just try our best not say those words again the Lord will reward us for our efforts and forgive us. Maybe if we pray more or go to church more or donate more than the Lord will like us a little better and we’ll be on his good side just like we were before.
Of course, when we start to think like that we are forgetting that we can’t do anything to impress the Lord. You can’t be good enough, you can’t try hard enough, you can’t pray or worship or give enough to make a difference in your status before God. Because being good and trying hard and praying and worshiping and giving do not cancel out the consequences of sin. God clearly says in the Bible that sin deserves severe punishment and there’s nothing you can do to change the Lord’s mind. And there’s nothing I can do either. No matter how many sermons I preach, no matter how many classes I teach, no matter how many people I visit, the Lord is no more impressed with me than he is with any other sinner. I don’t get forgiveness sooner because of my actions or have a better standing with God because of the title in front of my name. I can’t do anything that would make the Lord want to grant me forgiveness. There isn’t anything anyone can do.
And so that’s why we are focusing on the blood stained linens in that Easter morning grave: it doesn’t matter that we can’t do anything for our forgiveness and salvation because there’s nothing left for us to do. Those blood stained linens show us that Christ has done everything - we are off the hook! Even if we end up falling into an appalling sin that we never thought we would be capable of doing, there is nothing left for us to do to gain forgiveness. The blood is Christ’s; he paid for those sins; and now only blood stains remain. Even if our minds are constantly in the gutter and we would be embarrassed if anyone else saw what we were thinking on any given day, there is nothing left for us to do to gain forgiveness; only blood stains remain. Even if we have lived a life that is nowhere near what a Christian life should be, only blood stains remain; there is nothing left for us to do to gain forgiveness. The forgiveness and the salvation that Christ has won for you are already yours. You don’t ever need to get them back because he is continually holding them out to you. And he doesn’t require that you be good enough or dedicated enough or hardworking enough or Christian enough to get this forgiveness. He doesn’t require that you do anything because he already kept the requirements himself: a perfect life, a sacrifice for sins, and a victory over death. Jesus did it. There is nothing left for you to do. And those blood stained linens in that grave 2000 years ago prove it.
It was proof enough for Peter and John. When they got to the tomb and saw the strips of linen and the head cloth folded up by itself, the Bible simply says that they believed. They didn’t quite understand all of the implications of this event just yet, but they did trust that their Lord had truly risen from the dead. And that must have been a great comfort to these two followers of Christ. Because in the last few hours before Jesus’ death they had sinned against the Lord in multiple ways! On Thursday evening in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus had specifically asked them to stay up and pray with him, but they fell asleep instead. When Jesus was arrested by Judas Iscariot and the mob, the disciples all ran away. When Jesus was on trial in the courtyard of the high priest, Peter denied even knowing who he was. And while Jesus hung on the cross, the disciple John was standing right there. And although John didn’t necessarily sin in that situation, he couldn’t do anything about it either. He had to watch his God die right before his eyes. And so for the rest of that Friday night and all day Saturday and even early Sunday morning, Peter and John must have felt awful. They had abandoned their Lord when he was all alone and they hadn’t got a chance to speak to him again before he had died. I wonder if they got any sleep at all.
But then came the unbelievable news of Sunday morning and the race to the tomb and the blood stained remnants of Jesus’ death lying on the ground. And Peter and John knew: Jesus had done it! He had told them many different times that he would rise from the dead and now he actually did it! Jesus had beaten death! Jesus was alive! And if he was alive they would surely see him again. And they did. And they are right now. And so will we.
We will see Jesus face to face with our own eyes one day soon. Our bodies will rise from the grave because Jesus rose from the grave. We will get to live in perfection because Jesus lives there right now. We have nothing to fear from death; Jesus conquered it. We have nothing to worry about from the devil; Jesus destroyed his work. We have nothing left to pay for sin; Jesus paid it in full. He paid it by being punished. He paid it by suffering. He paid it by bleeding to death. But look in that Easter tomb this morning: only blood stains remain.
Amen.
“Where, O death, your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Cor. 15:55-56
Saturday, April 03, 2010
4/2/10 - Good Friday - John 19:31-37
PIERCED FOR PROOF
I would imagine that many of you have crosses hanging on your walls at home. Maybe one inside a picture frame. Maybe another sitting on a shelf or a desk. Many of you have cross pendants hanging on your necklaces. And that’s a good thing. It’s a good thing to surround yourself with little replicas of that ancient torture device because the cross has fittingly become the symbol of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. It’s healthy to be reminded about his ransom price on a regular basis and it’s God-pleasing to show your faith in that small way. The cross is almost proof that you are a Christian. It is an outward sign demonstrating what you believe. But there’s something that goes along with the cross that we cannot forget: blood and death.
Both blood and death are inseparably connected with the cross. And I understand that you realize that the cross implies that Jesus bled to death on it. But I’m not sure that’s what we normally think about when we see a cross. We don’t normally bring to mind streams and streams of blood dripping off of the wooden beams. We don’t usually dwell on Christ’s battered body void of life. It’s almost as if we have a sterile cross in mind, don’t we? A neat and tidy, pleasantly rustic cross. Maybe an ornate cross or even an outwardly beautiful cross. Rarely do we view the cross as dark and ugly and sickening and saturated with Jesus’ blood. Seldom do we associate the cross with the disturbing feeling that is unique to death.
I don’t know how many times you’ve been around a dead body, whether in a hospital room or a funeral home or somewhere more personal, but death is stale. Death sucks the air out of the room. When you are in the presence of a body that no longer has life in it, it’s a little unsettling because it’s so unnatural. Death is nasty; it’s psychologically and sometimes even physically nauseating. And death is what happened on the cross. And not just any death, Jesus’ death. God’s death. The cross isn’t cute. The cross isn’t pleasant. The cross isn’t supposed to be a charming little trinket that simply adorns our walls. The cross is proof that God himself died. And so the cross and Jesus’ blood that ran down it are also proof that our sins are deadly.
Now I don’t think I have ever described my sins as deadly. I doubt many people have. Because it is instinctive for us to marginalize our sins. We try to downplay our sins as much as possible. Because we commit so many sins in so many different ways at so many different times that the seriousness of just one sin is lost in the sheer amount of them all. One single mistake seems so insignificant compared to all of those offenses that we have committed in the past. We might say something that we know we shouldn’t say and as Christians we think to ourselves, “Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have said that but it’s not a big deal.” And that’s it! That’s all we bother ourselves with and we never think about it again! Or we might do something that is obviously against God’s will and so we tell ourselves, “Well, it probably wasn’t the best thing to do but I guess it wasn’t that bad; I’ve done worse and I’ve seen other people do worse things too!” Our selfish actions are quickly forgotten; our careless words are shrugged off; our inappropriate thoughts are tolerated as long as we don’t act on them. It’s commonplace even for us to soften the awfulness and the severity of what we do and who we really are. We don’t like to think of our sins as deadly. We don’t like to think of our sins are worthy of condemnation. Instead we like to refer to them as nothing more than minor blemishes or unfortunate personality traits.
One of my favorite hymns in the entire hymnal, a hymn we sang earlier this Lenten season, is “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted.” The third verse of this powerful poem reads, “If you think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great, Here you see its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed; see who bears the awful load - ‘Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed, Son of Man and Son of God.” If you find yourself not taking your sins too seriously, all you have to do is look at the cross. Because the cross is where your sins come to a head. You cannot take your sins lightly when you see Jesus bleeding to death on a couple pieces of wood! You cannot possibly think that the evils your sins have produced are inconsequential when you hear Jesus crying out in pain and hellish torture! You cannot fool yourself into thinking that the guilt of your sins is no big deal when you see Jesus give up his last breath and then hang limp on the nails that have pinned back his arms! Jesus’ death shows your sins and my sins for what they are. They are damaging. They are destructive. They are damnable. And Jesus’ death proves it.
The apostle John records for us in detail what happened at Jesus’ death - because John was there! He saw it with his own eyes. He was standing with Jesus’ mother at the foot of the cross and he wanted us to know exactly what he himself witnessed. “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’”
There was no doubt that Jesus was dead. Not only did John see it with his own eyes but he also used the testimony of a non-Jew, a roman soldier, to solidify that fact. A man who had actually helped crucify the Lord used his spear to jab the Savior’s side, sending water and blood pouring to the ground. And this very centurion testifies that the Son of God was truly dead in every sense of the word. The Life-Giver was not alive.
And John writes these words for us because that’s exactly what we needed to hear. Oh, don’t get me wrong: the blood and the water that came streaming out of Jesus’ side are proof of what our sins did to the Lord. But the blood and the water that poured from that puncture wound are also proof of what our Lord did for us. Our sins sent Jesus to his death. But Jesus’ death won forgiveness for those very sins. It was crucial that he died! God himself had to die or we would be left with an eternal death sentence hanging over our heads! It was necessary for Jesus to give up his life so that he could give that life to us. There was no other way. If there were another way, Jesus surely would have taken it! No human being would want to go through that kind of agony if he didn’t have to. No human being would look forward to that kind of miserable death if he could die in a more comfortable way. But there wasn’t another way. This was it. The cross was the only option. An excruciating and humiliating death was the only choice. And so Jesus let death get the best of him so that he could get the best of death for us.
Can there be any greater demonstration of God’s love for us than his death on the cross? Yes, this created world is wonderful; it’s a visible display of how much God provides for his people. Yes, families and congregations and a prosperous country in which to live are signs of God’s mercy and compassion. But there is no greater love than self-sacrifice. And the cross is the ultimate example of that kind of love. Jesus sacrificed himself for us when he didn’t have to. He wasn’t forced to suffer; he wasn’t obligated to bleed; we had done nothing for him that he felt compelled to die. But he did it anyway. Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross for the sinners who put him there. Jesus bled for those who made him bleed. Jesus proved his love for us by ending his life for us.
And so this dark and ugly and sickening cross is also a little bit beautiful underneath. It’s beautiful because of death. Because the cross is where sin stops and forgiveness begins. It was where death and life met head to head. It is where death held the field for three days until life claimed the victory when the stone was rolled away from that empty tomb. And that victory is coming soon. Hang on to that hope until Sunday morning comes. In the mean time, for the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow, think about the cross. Think about all that blood. Think about Jesus’ death. It is proof of your sins but it is also proof of your Savior’s love. Without it we wouldn’t be here. Without the blood on Friday afternoon there would be no Sunday morning. Without the blood there would be no forgiveness. Without Christ’s death, we would not have life.
Amen.
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” - Rev. 5:12
I would imagine that many of you have crosses hanging on your walls at home. Maybe one inside a picture frame. Maybe another sitting on a shelf or a desk. Many of you have cross pendants hanging on your necklaces. And that’s a good thing. It’s a good thing to surround yourself with little replicas of that ancient torture device because the cross has fittingly become the symbol of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. It’s healthy to be reminded about his ransom price on a regular basis and it’s God-pleasing to show your faith in that small way. The cross is almost proof that you are a Christian. It is an outward sign demonstrating what you believe. But there’s something that goes along with the cross that we cannot forget: blood and death.
Both blood and death are inseparably connected with the cross. And I understand that you realize that the cross implies that Jesus bled to death on it. But I’m not sure that’s what we normally think about when we see a cross. We don’t normally bring to mind streams and streams of blood dripping off of the wooden beams. We don’t usually dwell on Christ’s battered body void of life. It’s almost as if we have a sterile cross in mind, don’t we? A neat and tidy, pleasantly rustic cross. Maybe an ornate cross or even an outwardly beautiful cross. Rarely do we view the cross as dark and ugly and sickening and saturated with Jesus’ blood. Seldom do we associate the cross with the disturbing feeling that is unique to death.
I don’t know how many times you’ve been around a dead body, whether in a hospital room or a funeral home or somewhere more personal, but death is stale. Death sucks the air out of the room. When you are in the presence of a body that no longer has life in it, it’s a little unsettling because it’s so unnatural. Death is nasty; it’s psychologically and sometimes even physically nauseating. And death is what happened on the cross. And not just any death, Jesus’ death. God’s death. The cross isn’t cute. The cross isn’t pleasant. The cross isn’t supposed to be a charming little trinket that simply adorns our walls. The cross is proof that God himself died. And so the cross and Jesus’ blood that ran down it are also proof that our sins are deadly.
Now I don’t think I have ever described my sins as deadly. I doubt many people have. Because it is instinctive for us to marginalize our sins. We try to downplay our sins as much as possible. Because we commit so many sins in so many different ways at so many different times that the seriousness of just one sin is lost in the sheer amount of them all. One single mistake seems so insignificant compared to all of those offenses that we have committed in the past. We might say something that we know we shouldn’t say and as Christians we think to ourselves, “Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have said that but it’s not a big deal.” And that’s it! That’s all we bother ourselves with and we never think about it again! Or we might do something that is obviously against God’s will and so we tell ourselves, “Well, it probably wasn’t the best thing to do but I guess it wasn’t that bad; I’ve done worse and I’ve seen other people do worse things too!” Our selfish actions are quickly forgotten; our careless words are shrugged off; our inappropriate thoughts are tolerated as long as we don’t act on them. It’s commonplace even for us to soften the awfulness and the severity of what we do and who we really are. We don’t like to think of our sins as deadly. We don’t like to think of our sins are worthy of condemnation. Instead we like to refer to them as nothing more than minor blemishes or unfortunate personality traits.
One of my favorite hymns in the entire hymnal, a hymn we sang earlier this Lenten season, is “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted.” The third verse of this powerful poem reads, “If you think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great, Here you see its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed; see who bears the awful load - ‘Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed, Son of Man and Son of God.” If you find yourself not taking your sins too seriously, all you have to do is look at the cross. Because the cross is where your sins come to a head. You cannot take your sins lightly when you see Jesus bleeding to death on a couple pieces of wood! You cannot possibly think that the evils your sins have produced are inconsequential when you hear Jesus crying out in pain and hellish torture! You cannot fool yourself into thinking that the guilt of your sins is no big deal when you see Jesus give up his last breath and then hang limp on the nails that have pinned back his arms! Jesus’ death shows your sins and my sins for what they are. They are damaging. They are destructive. They are damnable. And Jesus’ death proves it.
The apostle John records for us in detail what happened at Jesus’ death - because John was there! He saw it with his own eyes. He was standing with Jesus’ mother at the foot of the cross and he wanted us to know exactly what he himself witnessed. “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’”
There was no doubt that Jesus was dead. Not only did John see it with his own eyes but he also used the testimony of a non-Jew, a roman soldier, to solidify that fact. A man who had actually helped crucify the Lord used his spear to jab the Savior’s side, sending water and blood pouring to the ground. And this very centurion testifies that the Son of God was truly dead in every sense of the word. The Life-Giver was not alive.
And John writes these words for us because that’s exactly what we needed to hear. Oh, don’t get me wrong: the blood and the water that came streaming out of Jesus’ side are proof of what our sins did to the Lord. But the blood and the water that poured from that puncture wound are also proof of what our Lord did for us. Our sins sent Jesus to his death. But Jesus’ death won forgiveness for those very sins. It was crucial that he died! God himself had to die or we would be left with an eternal death sentence hanging over our heads! It was necessary for Jesus to give up his life so that he could give that life to us. There was no other way. If there were another way, Jesus surely would have taken it! No human being would want to go through that kind of agony if he didn’t have to. No human being would look forward to that kind of miserable death if he could die in a more comfortable way. But there wasn’t another way. This was it. The cross was the only option. An excruciating and humiliating death was the only choice. And so Jesus let death get the best of him so that he could get the best of death for us.
Can there be any greater demonstration of God’s love for us than his death on the cross? Yes, this created world is wonderful; it’s a visible display of how much God provides for his people. Yes, families and congregations and a prosperous country in which to live are signs of God’s mercy and compassion. But there is no greater love than self-sacrifice. And the cross is the ultimate example of that kind of love. Jesus sacrificed himself for us when he didn’t have to. He wasn’t forced to suffer; he wasn’t obligated to bleed; we had done nothing for him that he felt compelled to die. But he did it anyway. Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross for the sinners who put him there. Jesus bled for those who made him bleed. Jesus proved his love for us by ending his life for us.
And so this dark and ugly and sickening cross is also a little bit beautiful underneath. It’s beautiful because of death. Because the cross is where sin stops and forgiveness begins. It was where death and life met head to head. It is where death held the field for three days until life claimed the victory when the stone was rolled away from that empty tomb. And that victory is coming soon. Hang on to that hope until Sunday morning comes. In the mean time, for the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow, think about the cross. Think about all that blood. Think about Jesus’ death. It is proof of your sins but it is also proof of your Savior’s love. Without it we wouldn’t be here. Without the blood on Friday afternoon there would be no Sunday morning. Without the blood there would be no forgiveness. Without Christ’s death, we would not have life.
Amen.
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” - Rev. 5:12
4/1/10 - Maundy Thursday - Matthew 26:26-28
TAKE A DRINK OF FORGIVENESS
The disciples had eaten with Jesus before. Besides the Feeding of the 5000 and the Feeding of the 4000, Jesus’ chosen apostles certainly had many private meals with Jesus throughout the three years they sat at his feet. And they probably had participated in a few annual Passover meals with him as well. And so as they sat in an upstairs room set up for this special Old Testament feast one Thursday evening, commemorating once again the deliverance from Egypt and the angel of death that had passed over the houses with bloodstained doorframes, they didn’t think much of it as they were eating the unleavened bread and enjoying a few pieces of lamb and washing it all down with a little wine in the presence of their Lord. It was a normal holiday meal, no different than any other Passover celebration they had celebrated before. But as this annual feast was winding down, “Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”
I wonder what the disciples were thinking when Jesus said this to them. They probably glanced at each other across the table with some raised eyebrows and then looked back at Jesus to see if he was serious. And after figuring out that he wasn’t telling them a parable or using a figure of speech, they must have thought, “OK, Lord, if you say so…” And they all took a piece of bread from his hands and ate not just bread at that moment but his body as well. And then when the cup came around they not only took a drink of wine but of Jesus’ own blood. And for the first time ever on that Maundy Thursday evening, sinners actually ate salvation; they took a drink of forgiveness.
What a spectacular night that must have been for the disciples! Jesus’ body and blood miraculously offered to them through a couple normal items on their supper table! The forgiveness of sins not just spoken to them, but visibly given to them in a tangible form that they could taste and smell and touch! Jesus’ disciples must have been overwhelmed by this sudden display of his love. Of course, I don’t know how long they really had to dwell on this means of God’s grace because soon after this holy communion with Christ’s body and blood they traveled out to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed while they slept; Judas betrayed Christ and Peter cut off Malchus’ ear, Jesus was arrested and the disciples ran away, Jesus was put on trial, condemned to death, sent to Pilate, over to Herod, and then back to Pilate, marched out to Calvary and crucified. A lot of things happened in the few hours that followed the institution of the very first Lord’s Supper. I’m sure the events in the upper room got lost in all of the things that happened afterwards. But after it was all over, after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, after the disciples started going their own ways to spread the gospel and had time to reflect on the events of that Maundy Thursday evening, I’m sure they remembered Jesus’ words with joy. And every time they celebrated the Lord’s Supper with their own little congregations for years to come they undoubtedly held this new festival in high regard and treated it with the utmost honor and respect.
Maybe if we had been there in that upper room on Maundy Thursday evening with the disciples, hearing Jesus’ words of forgiveness from his own mouth, taking the bread from his own hands, and sharing the cup with the likes of Peter and James and John, then maybe we would treat the Lord’s Supper with a little more respect too. And maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the only one here who doesn’t always regard the Lord’s Supper as precious and as special as it really is. But I have a feeling that it’s sometimes a problem for you as well. Because it’s far too easy for us to act as if the Lord’s Supper is just another part of the worship service, something that we do on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month, but nothing more than that. And although it’s nice to have, it’s hardly anything special or unique or wonderful to us anymore. In fact, we are so familiar with this practice of the Christian church and we have participated in it so many times that our minds are usually elsewhere when the Lord’s Supper is in progress, aren’t they?
When walk up to the front here, any number of things can go through our mind. “Wow, Pastor’s shoes are a little scuffed up today… Why did the usher send up so many people at once? I can barely have room it’s so crowded… I hope I don’t drop the wafer… The wine tastes a little sour today… I wonder if so-and-so is going to take communion this time… I hope I can figure out what verse of the hymn we are on when I get back to my chair…” The fact that it’s Christ’s true body with that wafer you just put on your tongue - lost in the melee of thoughts and distractions. The fact that it’s Christ’s true blood with that wine that just ran over your lips - unnoticed and unimportant. The fact that Christ is giving you a chance to eat and drink forgiveness - appreciated but nothing that you haven’t experienced before.
And believe me: my thoughts during the Lord’s Supper are just as scattered and my attitude is just as irreverent. Rarely do I fully value the complete forgiveness I receive through Christ’s body and blood. Rarely am I completely conscious of my sins beforehand and have an aching desire to see them washed away in this heavenly feast. Rarely am I blown away by the grace and mercy of my Lord as the bread and the wine enter my mouth. I don’t despise this Holy Supper, but I don’t honor that well either. I don’t consider it as a pointless tradition, but I definitely don’t revere it as I should. The Lord’s Supper is one of the greatest and most miraculous blessings the Lord will ever give us on this earth. And so it’s a shame that we treat it as something that is nothing out of the ordinary. Because it’s anything but. It certainly uses ordinary elements, but it uses them in extraordinary ways.
And it will comfort you to know that the sins we commit against the Lord’s Supper during the Lord’s Supper are forgiven in the Lord’s Supper. That’s the very reason the Lord instituted this New Testament feast: it was meant to be a spiritual meal for sinners! It was not given to the disciples because they were perfect Christians; they would all run away from Christ in just a couple hours after they left! And so this meal was not meant as a stamp of approval for a holy life; it was meant to cleanse those who were unholy! The Lord’s Supper is meant for those who are surrounded by their sins, not those who are unbothered by them. The Lord’s Supper is meant for us. And here at the Lord’s table he offers us not just bread and wine, but his death and resurrection. He offers us his flesh that was crucified and his blood that poured out of his body. He offers us to take a drink of forgiveness. And it is free. It is sweet. It is instant. There is no probationary period for the blessing of forgiveness. The Lord does not put stipulations on this gift or hold it back until you prove yourself worthy. No, the moment you eat that bread and drink that wine coupled with the words of Jesus himself, forgiveness is yours. And not just a little bit of forgiveness. Not just forgiveness up to that point or forgiveness only for the sins you can remember. But forgiveness for all of your sins of all time. This little wafer and this little cup are a feast for your soul.
Please understand what a precious, precious gift this is. Every time you step up to the altar, you are a witness to and a direct recipient of a miracle of grand proportions. In one simple moment you the sinner are connected with Christ the Savior and his ransom cross. You will never be closer to your Lord on this earth than at this Supper. His real body and his real blood are at your finger tips. The same flesh that was sacrificed for you. The same blood that fell to the ground. Take that wafer in your hand tonight and every opportunity thereafter with trembling and joyful fingers. Hold that cup in awe and admiration. And praise your Lord for what he is doing for you at that very moment. Because you are eating salvation. You are taking a drink of forgiveness.
Amen.
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will. and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - Heb. 13:20-21
The disciples had eaten with Jesus before. Besides the Feeding of the 5000 and the Feeding of the 4000, Jesus’ chosen apostles certainly had many private meals with Jesus throughout the three years they sat at his feet. And they probably had participated in a few annual Passover meals with him as well. And so as they sat in an upstairs room set up for this special Old Testament feast one Thursday evening, commemorating once again the deliverance from Egypt and the angel of death that had passed over the houses with bloodstained doorframes, they didn’t think much of it as they were eating the unleavened bread and enjoying a few pieces of lamb and washing it all down with a little wine in the presence of their Lord. It was a normal holiday meal, no different than any other Passover celebration they had celebrated before. But as this annual feast was winding down, “Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”
I wonder what the disciples were thinking when Jesus said this to them. They probably glanced at each other across the table with some raised eyebrows and then looked back at Jesus to see if he was serious. And after figuring out that he wasn’t telling them a parable or using a figure of speech, they must have thought, “OK, Lord, if you say so…” And they all took a piece of bread from his hands and ate not just bread at that moment but his body as well. And then when the cup came around they not only took a drink of wine but of Jesus’ own blood. And for the first time ever on that Maundy Thursday evening, sinners actually ate salvation; they took a drink of forgiveness.
What a spectacular night that must have been for the disciples! Jesus’ body and blood miraculously offered to them through a couple normal items on their supper table! The forgiveness of sins not just spoken to them, but visibly given to them in a tangible form that they could taste and smell and touch! Jesus’ disciples must have been overwhelmed by this sudden display of his love. Of course, I don’t know how long they really had to dwell on this means of God’s grace because soon after this holy communion with Christ’s body and blood they traveled out to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed while they slept; Judas betrayed Christ and Peter cut off Malchus’ ear, Jesus was arrested and the disciples ran away, Jesus was put on trial, condemned to death, sent to Pilate, over to Herod, and then back to Pilate, marched out to Calvary and crucified. A lot of things happened in the few hours that followed the institution of the very first Lord’s Supper. I’m sure the events in the upper room got lost in all of the things that happened afterwards. But after it was all over, after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, after the disciples started going their own ways to spread the gospel and had time to reflect on the events of that Maundy Thursday evening, I’m sure they remembered Jesus’ words with joy. And every time they celebrated the Lord’s Supper with their own little congregations for years to come they undoubtedly held this new festival in high regard and treated it with the utmost honor and respect.
Maybe if we had been there in that upper room on Maundy Thursday evening with the disciples, hearing Jesus’ words of forgiveness from his own mouth, taking the bread from his own hands, and sharing the cup with the likes of Peter and James and John, then maybe we would treat the Lord’s Supper with a little more respect too. And maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the only one here who doesn’t always regard the Lord’s Supper as precious and as special as it really is. But I have a feeling that it’s sometimes a problem for you as well. Because it’s far too easy for us to act as if the Lord’s Supper is just another part of the worship service, something that we do on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month, but nothing more than that. And although it’s nice to have, it’s hardly anything special or unique or wonderful to us anymore. In fact, we are so familiar with this practice of the Christian church and we have participated in it so many times that our minds are usually elsewhere when the Lord’s Supper is in progress, aren’t they?
When walk up to the front here, any number of things can go through our mind. “Wow, Pastor’s shoes are a little scuffed up today… Why did the usher send up so many people at once? I can barely have room it’s so crowded… I hope I don’t drop the wafer… The wine tastes a little sour today… I wonder if so-and-so is going to take communion this time… I hope I can figure out what verse of the hymn we are on when I get back to my chair…” The fact that it’s Christ’s true body with that wafer you just put on your tongue - lost in the melee of thoughts and distractions. The fact that it’s Christ’s true blood with that wine that just ran over your lips - unnoticed and unimportant. The fact that Christ is giving you a chance to eat and drink forgiveness - appreciated but nothing that you haven’t experienced before.
And believe me: my thoughts during the Lord’s Supper are just as scattered and my attitude is just as irreverent. Rarely do I fully value the complete forgiveness I receive through Christ’s body and blood. Rarely am I completely conscious of my sins beforehand and have an aching desire to see them washed away in this heavenly feast. Rarely am I blown away by the grace and mercy of my Lord as the bread and the wine enter my mouth. I don’t despise this Holy Supper, but I don’t honor that well either. I don’t consider it as a pointless tradition, but I definitely don’t revere it as I should. The Lord’s Supper is one of the greatest and most miraculous blessings the Lord will ever give us on this earth. And so it’s a shame that we treat it as something that is nothing out of the ordinary. Because it’s anything but. It certainly uses ordinary elements, but it uses them in extraordinary ways.
And it will comfort you to know that the sins we commit against the Lord’s Supper during the Lord’s Supper are forgiven in the Lord’s Supper. That’s the very reason the Lord instituted this New Testament feast: it was meant to be a spiritual meal for sinners! It was not given to the disciples because they were perfect Christians; they would all run away from Christ in just a couple hours after they left! And so this meal was not meant as a stamp of approval for a holy life; it was meant to cleanse those who were unholy! The Lord’s Supper is meant for those who are surrounded by their sins, not those who are unbothered by them. The Lord’s Supper is meant for us. And here at the Lord’s table he offers us not just bread and wine, but his death and resurrection. He offers us his flesh that was crucified and his blood that poured out of his body. He offers us to take a drink of forgiveness. And it is free. It is sweet. It is instant. There is no probationary period for the blessing of forgiveness. The Lord does not put stipulations on this gift or hold it back until you prove yourself worthy. No, the moment you eat that bread and drink that wine coupled with the words of Jesus himself, forgiveness is yours. And not just a little bit of forgiveness. Not just forgiveness up to that point or forgiveness only for the sins you can remember. But forgiveness for all of your sins of all time. This little wafer and this little cup are a feast for your soul.
Please understand what a precious, precious gift this is. Every time you step up to the altar, you are a witness to and a direct recipient of a miracle of grand proportions. In one simple moment you the sinner are connected with Christ the Savior and his ransom cross. You will never be closer to your Lord on this earth than at this Supper. His real body and his real blood are at your finger tips. The same flesh that was sacrificed for you. The same blood that fell to the ground. Take that wafer in your hand tonight and every opportunity thereafter with trembling and joyful fingers. Hold that cup in awe and admiration. And praise your Lord for what he is doing for you at that very moment. Because you are eating salvation. You are taking a drink of forgiveness.
Amen.
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will. and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - Heb. 13:20-21
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Subscribe to Sermons
Posts
All Comments